Old V New

[Big G]

So the time has come... the Princess wants to pull her KE55 hardtop out of mothballs and start working on it to get it back on the road. No specific time line but soonish.  She wants to improve performance so she can be faster than her brothers 4AGE powered KE70 wagon. So that is down to me to decide what goes into it engine wise. I like the idea of period correct so I am thinking 2TG but with a turbo or ultimately a supercharger (lurve that whine). There is a limiting factor in as much as she wants to keep it auto....I know.... but its her ride. I have researched and been unable to find anything other than the 3 speed celica box to go behind it (not the best for highway rollin). Then there is the 4AGE option supercharged  out of the box easy install from what I have read. A modern 4 speed auto is a possibility. In the end it needs to be reliable as once it is done I don't want my head under the bonnet every 5 minutes or answering those midnight roadside calls. The swap will be with a minimum of alterations to the vehicle and all the old parts will be retained in case totally original car values go through the roof in the future. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Old V New what do you reckon

Cheers 

G

[parrot]

Any crappy old 2TG is going to cost a shitload to buy, and 5 shitloads to rebuild.  Basic stuff like chain guides and tensioners are hella expensive and hard to find.  4AGE 16 valves are 35-40 yrs old now.  Parts are easier to get, but if you want it reliable, it needs to be fuel injected.  There are three distinct looms feeding into a factory ECU and you need input from all three to make it run properly.  If you do that, it is super reliable other than possible issues with heat soak in the distributor internals.  They go alright standard, but nothing dramatic.  Plenty of people have turboed them or stuck a 4AGZE in instead.  but it isn't as simple as everyone makes out.  Plenty of people get by the easy bit of bolting things together, spending lots on diffs, tailshafts, brakes, fuel systems etc.  Hard bit is making it all run reliably, and the engine management is critical.  How many 95% complete projects do you see for sale.  You can carb it, but not as reliable.   You will be hard pressed to find an auto to run behind it too.  

Possibly a 3SGE out of an altezza?

 

 

 

 

 

[altezzaclub]

"Any crappy old 2TG is going to cost a shitload to buy, and 5 shitloads to rebuild."

Yep!  Always the problem..  For a show car you would use something old, but for a daily I'd look at the newest you can. The 3SGE setup is 20years old already, so that's at least 250,000km on the motor and gearbox.  It's a tall motor, I'll tell you more when we finally get this one fitted into Steve's AE86. 

I'm leaning towards an MX5 motor & 6-speed for the next setup in The Girls KE70, that 4AGE won't last forever. Do you put $4K into rebuilding an old motor and another $2k or $3k into a gearbox rebuild, or buy $6K worth of newer but used motor?

A lovely option, even better to drive, would be the dead stock setup from my son's Fiesta ST turbo, they bolt on to a RWD gearbox, or my daughter's i30 N-line, both turbo 1.6L.

The hard thing is making a conversion reliable, as Parrot said. Leave it all dead stock with all the stock ECU setup..

[Big G]

Thanks for your words of wisdom guys. Sooo many things to consider. I want it to be a one time thing so I will do my research and in the mean time try and talk the Princess into getting her manual license it will give me more options for sure.

 

Cheers

 

G