GT4 3S-GTE
 

Ok, so, please dont hang me in the town square for my continuous stream of wildly speculative material, but I have an idea unique to this strange little car of ours.

So, the toyota celica GT4 with its 3s-GTE engine has a 68.5" track. The FRS also happens to have a 68.5" track.

The FRS came with a longitudinal engine and transmission, and all the swaps seem to focus on this fact. The only AWD swap I know of is the RB26DETT that @PrimeMotoring is working on.

Nobody has made any mention of a transverse engine at all, which I understand, because most longitudinal cars will not fit a transverse engine. The little boxer in the FRS is a STAGGERING 31" wide though. The front frame rails are pushed way out there. That got me thinking, maybe it could be done. The front crossmember would be in the way of the rear driveshaft, but it can be cut up a bit, and two of the new engine mounts will have to be welded to the outer frame rails. Once again, no big deal.

Oh, and we lose a gear. the E154F is a 5 speed box.

Why all this nonsense? beacause I want a rally coupe dammit.. :burnrubber:

The engine and transmission can be had as a package for about $1900. EDIT: I know the cost of completing the swap will be many times more than that, with the fabrication, install, front spindles, tuning, standalone ECU, wiring, etc. Is there an ECU that does CANBUS for an engine this old?

Now, I'm borrowing a photo from vorshlag to make my point.

EDIT: 3sgte and transmission weigh 421 lbs. Stock motor and trans weigh 480 lbs. That pulls 59 lbs off the front end of the car. Not bad.

Go look up Nameless' Gravel Machine Gun if you want a rally GT86.

Just buy another all-trac gt4. DONE. AWD FRS... Oh man the oxymoron going on here ahaha

My constructive feedback, height would be my concern. FWD engine/trans combos can be tall and then having to mount in order to have that tail shaft fit over the steering rack could push it all pretty high.

I wish we could find all-trac's here. They are very rare. The people who have them for sale usually want too much for them(5k+) or they are on their last leg.

Is this going to your Porsche rear trans axle? *rolls eyes*

The 3sgte is a tall engine and its also tilted towards the firewall quite a bit. Anything can be done with enough funding but is it worth it? Probably not, just buy an all-trac.

ECU Master's EMU.

/shameless plug.

HAHA :bellyroll:

Forgive me for the next few weeks while I'm moving.. I'm deprived of my car and driving a much hated rental :mad0260:, oh, and I have lots of spare time on my hands. I'm fielding a few different ideas... Yes the transaxle is another, separate and unrelated idea... It's a great time sink for now.

Why 3sgte over ej20? It would be a much easier swap.

A jap spec ej20 is a superior motor to the 3sgte.

And I'm a toyota guy, it pains me greatly to make that statement.

Buy a 2 door gc8. They're great cars. And fast. I had one doing 12.8 completely stock, other than replacing the mid pipe. I had a st205 gt4 for years, and compared to the gc8 it felt far heavier, and the quickest 1/4 I ever got it to do was a 13.2; that was full exhaust, clutch, 17psi, stripped interior. Blah blah.

The gc8 had far better ratios for acceleration. The st205 had far longer gearing, which made it feel more sluggish.

if you destroy an all trac celica GT4 I will be so pissed at you.

I'd completely disagree on the engine superiority thing & yes I've owned both.

Not sure I would say the EJ20 is superior over the 3sgte. If anything, the 3s is slightly better. Less moving parts, easier to service, and still makes great power. The 3s has been pushed into the 1000hp range. Not sure I would ever trust an EJ to do that.

Would it though? I didn't think you could mount the engine forward far enough to line up the front axles. Pretty sure that swap had been ruled out... On curiosity, what's the distance on a WRX EJ from the front transaxle centerline to the front of the crank pulley?

On the stock FRS, the axle centerline runs straight through cylinders 3 and 4. Staying with a subaru motor, it'd be better to just forget the engine swap, hook up an FA20 forester transmission and F*** with the front axles... That being said, it looks to me that the engine would have to be moved at least 6 inches forward in the bay.

That being said, you might be on to something. There's enough room in front of the motor for a pretty good-sized turbo, maybe there's enough space to move the motor forward instead.. Front crossmember would still need a bit of modification.

Images: FRS drivetrain, FA20 forester engine / trans