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Posted by: enderswift Dec 20, 2008 - 4:46 AM

endless researching continues, here is what i know so far:

Okay first off lets get the axles out of the way.

what you need is to buy an 153 tranny(e135 mr2 tranny 93+ w/LSD is best) that comes with axles. next you need to buy good condition st185 axles. you take the e153 inners, and the st185 outers and combine them. The passanger side needs a spacer (so the cv isnt stretched hence risking popping out) whose width depends on whether or not you have lsd/nonlsd/aftermarket lsd. there is a sticky that elaborates on the exact combinations, and to save my fingers i wont elaborate here.

buy a trashed st185 outer shaft, separate the outer-race and added it next to the same piece between the MR2 inner and current st185 outer, it may need to have a portion machined off of it depending on the aforementioned lsd combo (good thing i work with cnc ). The drivers side may or may not need a spacer as well, some people say they need it, others dont.

now on to mounts,

people have tried using combinations of gt and mr2 mounts but always ran into trouble with the rear mount. So much trouble that they decided to just weld on new mounts. Im not a big fan of that so I would just stick with the tried and true st205 mounts all around. Expensive, but there are good deals out there.

next up: shifter cables,

According to several members in various stickies on the net, GT shifter cables work. However the general feeling is that gt cables are more trouble than they're worth and that its best to stick with st205 cables. Again this could get expensive, but the determined prevail

ALRIGHT, that takes care of that on to the rest:

there are a few sites that discuss the mechanical aspect of converting the e153, cheif among them is http://www.geocities.com/zegoat2000/e1531.html.
This is not a very good write up. in fact, it sucks but cant find much else. It would be great if someone put together a more detailed write up, or if one exists to point me to it. Anyway, this site together with the following list of parts i found in the fs section leads me to a bunch of questions:

Tranny conversion items specifically needed to convert an MR2 tranny(E153) to work in FWD mode for a 6th gen Celica.

1-ST205 shifter cable stay bracket for shifter cables - MR2 bracket is not compatiable for Celica cables

2-ST205 gear selector assembly - this goes in the tranny and is what directly changes the gears internally of the transmission

3-ST205 shift lever arm - secures to the top of the tranny and is required for the gear selector assembly to function properly

4-ST1x5 AllTrac front CV axles - required in order to bolt onto the MR2 inner axle shafts and transfer the power from the transmission to the wheels

5-st205 cables

6-ST205 electronic speedo sensor(JDM) - specific to E15x transmissions, depending on the instument cluster ie. electronic speedo(JDM)=electronic speedo sensor(JDM), required in order to gauge proper vehicle speed

7-USDM>JDM mechanical speedo/cruise control conversion sensor - same as electronic speedo sensor but specific to E15x mechanical speedo sensor(USDM) and required in order to convert to electronic speedo gauge(JDM), retains cruise control

8-USDM ST185 mechanical speedo sensor - specific to E15x transmissions, depending on the instument cluster ie. mechanical speedo(USDM)=mechanical speedo sensor(USDM), required in order to gauge proper vehicle speed

9-USDM ST185 mechanical cruise control sensor - specific to E15x mechanical speedo sensor(USDM) and required if you intend to retain functional cruise control)

original thread ^: http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=63754&st=0&p=735693&#entry735693

lol sorry about that looooong intro but i want everyone to be on the same page as me

my questions are:

1.could someone go into the specifics of the mechanical part of converting the e153 please? That website is just horrible

also, Im dreaming of getting a 93+ LSD USDM e153 but numbers 6-9 confuse me. Which sensors would i have to change out to get that transmission to work with a jdm 3rd gen 3s being dropped into an st204?

2.that may be too wide ranging of a question so maybe someone could explain the differences between mechanical/electronic sensors and how they differ on usdm vs jdm applications? That way i could figure out my specific combo

again sorry for the huge post, please point out any mistakes and please help me out

Posted by: presure2 Dec 20, 2008 - 8:41 AM

converting to FWD is easy.

on the tranny, there are 4 bolts that hold a cover on where the selector would normally go in a FWD situation, you remove that cover, the 2 plugs on the top of the tranny (one is a fill bolt, the other is a breather vent), remove the 2nd shift lever that attaches to the tranny with 2 bolts. then pull the mr2 gear selector arm out of the tranny. (make sure the tranny is in neutral when you do it.)
then, the FWD selector goes in where the cover plate was, the 2 top plugs go in, and you will have to drill 2 holes for the other shifter arm (the spots are there for them, you just have to drill and tap them)

for the speedo sensor, you just need a electronic speedo sensor from a 93+e153. no big whoop. jdm, usdm, it shouldnt matter, all it does is send a pulse to the ecu.

as far as mounts, and cables, you NEED the 205 rear mount, and shifter cables, dont let anyone else tell you otherwise.
it wont shift properlly without them.

Posted by: enderswift Dec 20, 2008 - 1:46 PM

thanks pressure,

read your post and went back the geocities page and stared at their stuff for a while. then i noticed there is an alltrac caption the bottom of the picture... So thats not even a e153, even though i cant a transfer case or anything that would indicate that its an alltrac 0.o

could i trouble you for a picture with some labeling so I can get a better sense of how all the parts go together and what exactly need to be drilled out. it would be MUCH appreciated.

also, the replacement gear selector, can it come off of my s54? or does it have to be an st205 component as well? and what is this shifter arm business?
(please bear with me, i havent seen an e153 up close yet and i dont want to use my s54 as a template)

as for the speedo, im hoping i could just use the one that would come with my trans... question is wheather that mr2 speedo would be plug and play with a st204/st205 wire harness. or is there work involved with that?

what of the reverse light? also plug and play? I dont want to sound naive thinking everything will be perfectly ready to go, i just wanna see what else i would run into

Posted by: presure2 Dec 20, 2008 - 5:11 PM

QUOTE (enderswift @ Dec 20, 2008 - 1:46 PM)

Posted by: enderswift Dec 20, 2008 - 5:48 PM

okay that makes things waay easier. Its not as daunting as i thought at first. I hope the st205 shifter selector and such will work on this can anyone 100% confirm ?

pressure, i just read what you wrote on my other thread, you're saying i could save alot of effort by using the e153 from a lexus/solara?

does that mean those already have the correct selector,bracket and arm from the get go? what about the speedo? still compatible?

if the answer to the latter is all yes then all i would have to worry about is axles correct?

Posted by: enderswift Dec 27, 2008 - 10:29 PM

bump

Posted by: presure2 Dec 28, 2008 - 7:43 AM

QUOTE (enderswift @ Dec 20, 2008 - 5:48 PM)

Posted by: enderswift Dec 28, 2008 - 3:47 PM

thank you sir

Posted by: MGCustoms325 Aug 6, 2010 - 5:12 PM

Very old thread revival! Manny, quick question, I have everything out on my mr2 e153 and the gear selector still wont come out. Any suggestions? Also, what do I use to cover the hole once I reinstall the fwd gear selector? Thanks!

Posted by: presure2 Aug 7, 2010 - 6:15 AM

did you remove the 2 plugs on the top of the tranny?

Posted by: MGCustoms325 Aug 7, 2010 - 7:35 PM

Ok. I got it off today. You have to loosen a screw on the under side of the mr2 gear selector knob. Then you beat the life out of the bolt thats in there with a hammer until it comes out and the knob will come off. Then its just a matter of sliding out the actual selector from out of the tranny and installing the ST205 gear selector. Don't know if it was already confirmed that the ST205 gear selector worked but it in fact does. I just have to drill the 2 holes and tap them and my tranny is set. Just have to figure out how to cover the hole that is now left from where the mr2 selector shaft went in through.

Posted by: zeus83 Mar 4, 2011 - 5:57 AM

QUOTE (presure2 @ Dec 20, 2008 - 9:41 AM)

Posted by: Culpable04 Mar 4, 2011 - 9:01 AM

some older E153s use mechanical sensors if I'm not mistaken, and you need to replace the sensor for an eletronic one in order to get the appropiate signal to your speedo / ecu


and yes ST205 sensor will work.

Posted by: zeus83 Mar 4, 2011 - 9:51 AM

problem solved!

just exchanged the electronic with the mechanical and voila!

the problem now is finding the MR2 LSD drive shafts...very hard to find here.....i bought a 3VZ shafts but the outer Axle spline on the left and right are 31mm thick compared to the MR2 30mm, can the ST185 outer axles still be used?

Thanks!