Worth modifying?

well its an alternative to having the huge intercooler block your raditor. Both get cooling with that setup.

true but thats an odd angle to have it at. That and I'd need to find out the exact dimensions to see if it'd fit. That and I'd still rather have it at the classic position. You usually don't mess with a car if you can see a good sized intercooler peeking out from the front bumper. Just looks better in my opinion. But it's a nice idea

another MD owner.... :shock:

south or north part?

uhh North. Specifically North West

yeah thats the setup i was talkin about

i forgot, or you can wait for the 2006 corolla and see what toyota is going to do.

Alrighty. Just wanted to map out exactly what the cost would be for a full 3SGTE swap. not just the tranny and engine, everything that would be technically needed. And since I got such a nice reply, I got a few people to help me out . So I'll map out what I can think of off the top of my head and put rough prices. So feel free to add or change the price. Again this is more of curiosity than anything.

3sgte engine and tranny swap+labor= 6 grandish
Big Brake kit (TRD)= 1,7500
Bigger rims and tires (duh) 1,500
Suspension= 500 ish?
Ecu, Possible Piggy and a SAFC= 900 ish
Probably custom exhaust= 600 ish
Full clutch upgrade (clutch, pressure plate, etc) 700 ish

All I can think of off the top of my head without thinking too hard. Long day at work, too lazy to concentrate. So if you see anything I missed or I guessed pricing wrong, lemme know. I'll take no criticism what so ever .

If you wanted to get a used 3SGTE with no turbo or anything, you could build up a 400HP monster for the 6K you listed.

Just a thought :wink:

silly me I forgot the most important part, TURBO. Doh... Ok so I saw 3.6k for a greddy M2 upgrade kit, T78 I believe, and 890 for the big perdy intercooler. then about what a grand or so for the install. so about 5.6k for the turbo system. Thanks matrix I almost forgot the key part :wink:

Well, if you get a "front clip" froma Caldina or a "rear clip" from a turbo MR2 then the turbo comes on there :wink:

I was talking about getting a crappy motor (one in bad condition) and rebuilding it and upgrading the turbo with that same 6K it would take to buy one in new condition.

Eh if I get an engine I'm getting a nice one, not a junkyard one :wink: that and I got bored and looked up some shtuff for an Mr2 and found a nice greddy turbo upgrade kit and a nice sized intercooler. So I kinda stuck to that, and I can always sell the stock one on ebay. good ol ebay. nice idea though

Too bad that an MR2 I/C is a side mount cause the engine is in the back :wink:

oh yeah...I knew that. Well not really, but there's so much room in the '03 engine bay I'll figure out something :wink:

Ya Just be prepared to fabricate some parts, or more then likely have someone fabricate them. Did you get the contact information from the 3sgte thread about the guy in florida who can do it?

mm I don't plan to get in contact with people who can do it until I got 3/4 or more of the total cash. Just so I don't plan too far ahead. Also, if I just went for the swap, 3rd generation 3SGTE (emmisions not for a while) and the tranny, I should be ok right? At what basic HP point would it be basically manditory to have a brake and suspension upgrade?

Well I wouldnt say it was mandatory anywhere if you are just doing normal driving, but Id say If you are driving fast, racing, autocrossing, something like that, you should get 4 wheel cross drilled rotors as soon as you can. The stock brakes kinda suck, as Ive found out.

meh true, in that case I need them now. But I might just be careful so I can get it sooner. I'll probably do the big Greddy turbo upgrade last since that and a I/c will cost as much as the actual swap. :wink:

Interesting, I was reading a site where I could get the 3SGTE. ToySport I believe it was. The one thing I noticed was, no warranty...at all. Although this may not seem like a big deal, if I set up the engine and there is very low compression or high oil compression I'm kinda screwed. I don't want a half ass engine sent to me, then again I don't see much of a way around it :roll: So being the fact that I might spend 6 grand and get a shitty engine has me thinking second thoughts about this. It would be nice to have but risking a faulty or low compression engine might not be worth my dreams of a 11 sec quarter in a rolla :wink:

Toysport has been around for a long time workin with toyotas and i dont think they'd sell u an engine that's already messed up. they prolly dont offer a warranty cuz if ur buying an engine from them they figure its gonna raced so if they did warranty them they'd spend all their time fixing engines ppl broke

:roll:

True but no ones perfect. I could spend the money to get it installed to end up with a 6 grand chunk of steel. then pay more labor fees to put my old "stuff" back. I understand the fact that if I buy it, do something wrong and blow it up they shouldn't fix it. But just getting it in good condition is another story. So it's an option but then again so are lots of other things. This just happens to be the one with the best hp increase. :wink:

lol what u dont agree with my post?

cross drilled rotors are for looks.

How do you figure that? the do help with braking, how is it just for looks. i should add cross-drilled ventialted brakes, like porche carrera style.

...well imho it's very easy to make a Corolla handle very well as there are quite a few suspension options

- Hotchkis springs
- Koni struts
- Tein SS coilovers
- Hotchkis sway bars
- Hotchkis strut brace w/adjustable camber
- TRD strut brace

...engine wise, it could be kind of costly to get a level horsepower you may find acceptable. The TRD blower (w/header and full exhaust and water injection)is a nice start another option I considered was a custom turbo kit built around the Garrett GT28RS and MWR big bore kit. However, this approach can quickly pretty expensive.

True, I was thinking about a big bore kit depending on a few things. If they have to make a custom turbo kit they might have to take the engine out to size up a few things. So if I already gotta pay the labor fee to yank the engine I might as well bore it out and sleeve it a lil bit. plus a little reinforcing never hurt. Suspension wise the car's pretty stable. I wouldn't consider massive adjustments beyond a strut bar or springs unless I really felt I couldn't 100% control the car in all "normal" situations. :wink:

well i think my car definately needs some good coilovers and sway bars cuz i routinely push it right up to its limits, but the factory suspension isnt all that bad