Ok, this is a question I have been thinking about for a long time. In the future I plan to do a 3s-gte swap. The question I have is.......... Is it better to get the whole front (clip I guess its called?) of an actual gt4 or is it any different to get a clip of a mr2 3s-gte? I would think that getting the clip from the mr2 would require you having to buy more parts but the clip from the gt4 (since it is the same body style) would already have most of the things needed?

its better to get a gt4 - doing a Celica/MR2 ecu swap is hella hard!

ya just get the gt4 clip...

Can you use the tranny from the GT-4 clip?

get the gt4 front clip and don't worry to much about the ecu.. just get hks EMS...

QUOTE (Supersprynt @ Jun 11, 2003 - 9:27 PM)

its better to get a gt4 - doing a Celica/MR2 ecu swap is hella hard!

it isnt the ECU thats really that hard, its the harness routing that would be a BI+CH.
and no, you cant use the tranny, the tranny is AWD, youd need either a GT trans/axle, or a 3SGE trans/axle to keep it FF, OR you could be a psycho bish like mike and do the AWD conversion.

you could use the tranny from an mr2 turbo, but an mr2 rear clip will need more parts to go into a celica.

What would need to be done and how much does it cost to do a full 4wd conversion?

well, you would need to take out your entire trans/drivetrain(all the axles and such) and put in the 4wd stuff. to do this you need the rear bedpan from a gt4( when you open up your hatch, thats like the floor, on a regular celi it goes down too far and the rear axle wouldn't fit w/o a lot of modification) also i believe a relocated gas tank is necessary, again use one from a gt4. you pretty much need the mechanical parts of an entire gt4, unless your a psychopath and getting a custom trans/drivetrain built.

yea just get an ST205 front and rear clip like I did and swap in the whole floor, trunk, rear subframe, gas tank, etc.... also the shocks, tranny, etc. all of the drivetrain, like suspension, brakes, axles, hubs, halfshafts, rear driveshaft, rear differential, etc. so pretty much the whole damn car.


then have fun wiring the ECU to interface with your car...

the funny thing is this, spend like 5k just on materials for GT4 conversion then if you can do it yourself, its prolly less than 1k in additional expenses. but if you cant do it yourself its gonna be around another 3-5k to have all that work done. so we're lookin at between 5-10k over the cost of the car (about 15k) so overall cost of an unmodded USDM/JDM GT-4 is between 20-25k depending on your level of skill, but lets just say its 25k, cuz lets face it most ppl couldn't do it themselves. Did anyone ever think of buying a GT-4 from Europe where they have Left Hand Drive cars? I understand Belgium has the best importing of cars cuz of their laws and such. mostly low mileage cars in good condition, ect. supposedly the best car market in europe. you can buy a GT-4 for about 10k, less if your lucky, in Europe. so lets go crazy and say it would cost 5k to ship it. so thats 15k for a GT-4, and if im not mistaken its a lot easier to get a car from Europe than a car from japan over here. just food for thought.

[QUOTE]GT2GT4 Posted on Jun 14, 2003 - 5:54 PM
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yea just get an ST205 front and rear clip like I did and swap in the whole floor, trunk, rear subframe, gas tank, etc.... also the shocks, tranny, etc. all of the drivetrain, like suspension, brakes, axles, hubs, halfshafts, rear driveshaft, rear differential, etc. so pretty much the whole damn car.


then have fun wiring the ECU to interface with your car...
[QUOTE]

Just curious, why do you spend so much money on your girlfriends car?

it WAS mine

QUOTE (Pvc99gT @ Jun 14, 2003 - 10:43 PM)

the funny thing is this, spend like 5k just on materials for GT4 conversion then if you can do it yourself, its prolly less than 1k in additional expenses. but if you cant do it yourself its gonna be around another 3-5k to have all that work done. so we're lookin at between 5-10k over the cost of the car (about 15k) so overall cost of an unmodded USDM/JDM GT-4 is between 20-25k depending on your level of skill, but lets just say its 25k, cuz lets face it most ppl couldn't do it themselves. Did anyone ever think of buying a GT-4 from Europe where they have Left Hand Drive cars? I understand Belgium has the best importing of cars cuz of their laws and such. mostly low mileage cars in good condition, ect. supposedly the best car market in europe. you can buy a GT-4 for about 10k, less if your lucky, in Europe. so lets go crazy and say it would cost 5k to ship it. so thats 15k for a GT-4, and if im not mistaken its a lot easier to get a car from Europe than a car from japan over here. just food for thought.

ok that would work but how do you think that you are going to get it legalized for road use????


they have to make sure that it will pass the crash test rating before they can issue a VIN for it.

so go ahead and spend 15K to bring one over here. then get it tested. then spend however much it will cost to fix the damage for one of the tests. then have them do another crash test on it and a different angle and different kind of crash all at different speeds. by then you have spent more and more and more repairing the vehicle for the next test. the the price for a VIN..

now dont tell me that that will be less than 25K.

you could do it illegally

get a junked out celica from a junkyard. get a clip importer to bring a gt4 over here without the drivetrain and other things in the car like the engine and ECU then send that to you...then a week or so later..send the rest of the car that they left out when they sent the shell....then get the VIN plates off of the junked celica and put it on the JDM gt4. and just claim a conversion when the cops pull you over cuz you are on the wrong side.


edit: if you do it illegaly just make sure that you completely get rid of the junk USDM celica. like take it completely apart body panels and all..possibly scrap it out to people on here and celica.net

some people's cars are not in very good condition and they are just waiting for someone to sell them something cheap instead of buying a vent or something for 80 bucks from the dealer.

guys~~ quick question~~~ is it legal to make a 3sgte swap??? meaning is there a lotta paperwork to do if i want it to b legal. also wut will happen when i go for inspection. do they hab the 3sgte as one of the engines for the celica?
btw~~~ celica dun cost 10k. get a 6th gen celica for that price if u wanna keep it stock. u can get 94 95 celicas for under 4k if u wanna swap engines and all. so~~~ 15k should do. daz if u dun gotta pay crazy prices to get it legalized.

ps. how do u source the rear end parts? directly from japan or europe? can i find the parts in the us?

actually, no crash testing would need to be done to import a GT4. You would just need to get it legalized to US. Customs and DOT federal standards, then depending where you live, state standards.

QUOTE (Stipt @ Jun 15, 2003 - 9:06 AM)

actually, no crash testing would need to be done to import a GT4. You would just need to get it legalized to US. Customs and DOT federal standards, then depending where you live, state standards.

crash testing will only be needed if you intend on importing several gt4's and selling them as motorex does with skylines