83 celica gt swap Options

[83gt]

Hey guys, Im a new member and I will be picking up a 83 celica gt in the next couple weeks, and id like to build it into a drift car, similar to a hachiroku. I want to swap in a 1jzgte or 7mgte. I know the main problem with these swaps is that the engine bay for the celica is 4 inches shorter than the old celica supras, but i have a friend that can do the modifications to the firewall so the engine will fit.

I have a couple other questions though.

1. Will the shifter sit farther back than the current one because the engine is longer? If so, will other modifications to the body need to be made because the shifter will sit farther back?

2. I know the chassis for the celica was not built to hold the larger I6 engine, how much fabrication will be needed to mount the engine?

3. I have heard that these engines may throw off the balance of the car, will suspension and strut bars add enough balance and rigidity?

4. I have never dealt with an engine swap before, so what does this mean as far as speedo gauges and such?

5. Has anyone heard of any other reasonable swaps for this car? (sr20? )

6. Lets say i wanted to do a rhd conversion also. Would both of these conversions need to be done at the same time?

Keep in mind that i have another car for my DD. This will be an ongoing project for me and some buddies. Also because this wont be my DD, i will be gutting the interior to make any necessary modifications. Im going to start from scratch basically. Once i get the car im gonna strip it down and clean it up and start from there. Should make for a fun project.

[Valo666]

Best bang for your buck if you wanna make it into a drift car...find an older 20R motor from the first gen celica/supra's, throw the 22REC head onto the block, get a good cam in there and your set. Only other thing i would do is maybe weld up the diff or find a LSD from a 86 4wd 4Runner's front end and throw it in the back. You can spend the time and $ on throwing in a 1J or 2J or 7M, but they will throw off the cars weight, plus they are all heavy motors. If you build up the 20 series motors that they come with, it keeps the balance and weight in check. The other thing you could do is theres a company called LC Enengering that make fully built and blue printed 20 series motors for any thing from offroading or circle track, carburated or turboed. You can make alot of power from these old simple motors.

Other problems you might run into with swaping in a more modern motor is the speedo's on the MKII's are cabel driven. So you would have to retrofit somethin to get it to work, or swap your factory guages out for all new modern gauges.

But the other biggest problem is, these cars dont make very good drift cars. My girlfriend whos on this site (Keroppi) had one, and the thing was a tank, you could get it sideways, but couldnt hold it just due to the sheer weight of it/underpowered. Mind you it was also probably cuz the car had a viscous LSD and i was mostly gettin 1 wheel peels. But the main thing is, its not a very practical drift car as is, your gonna need to do some serious A. practise, B. car control drills, and C. mods to get the power up and the suspension handeling better. Ive drivin minivans with less body roll than a Mk2.

EDIT: Link to LC Engeniering's webstore

This post has been edited by Valo666: Nov 23, 2008 - 9:23 PM