THE FIND I started out looking for a good car, any car that I could get cheap and use for AutoX. I was racing in my fathers 280z with a 383 stroker, but still it was not mine. I found my car in an alley looking pretty bad. The owner was complaining about having to add power steering fluid every time they drove it, and wanted to get rid of it for $500. After talking to him some more, and taking it for a test drive (as long as it was in bad condition anyway, I made sure to test its raceability). When I returned, I talked him down to $250 and drove it off. I had been looking at many different race options on the net, and was particularly interested in a GT4, but in my neck of the woods there is no chance in hell of finding a GT4. The GTS was the next best thing though. Already has 4 wheel disc brakes, 5 bolt wheels, 3SGE engine, and even the seats are race inspired. 1ST MODIFICATIONS I have an extremely low budget for this car, so if there is a cheap way for me to fabricate something I will do it. I took the car to the first race as is, and had a blast. I could really see the potential in this car. That being said, the car was leaning all over the place, the tires would not hold, and I was in serious need of more low-end torque to pull me out of the tight corners and obstacles. I even lost a mud flap. A spectator said I was leaned over so far that the flap was scraping the ground, which is what eventually took it off for me. First I figured I had to address the power steering fluid issue, as autox requires a lot of cornering (safety first). After looking at the rack and all of the connections I found the issue, and tightened up a couple of connections (the big problem the previous owner was afraid of was tightening some bolts. His loss). I did however decide to replace the rack because there was a lot of slop in the old one. This was a relatively easy task, the biggest issue again, you guessed it the hard to remove bolts. While I had everything apart I figured I would replace the timing belt as well, but much to my dismay no matter what tool I rented to remove the pulley, I could not get that task completed. I did however replace my brake pads, and paint my calipers. Next, up on the blocks, and out came the old springs and shocks. Well actually this took two days. Mostly due to the fact that the bolts were not budging, no matter how much solvent I put on them. I finally got to the point, on a few bolts, that I cut them off (knowing that I had new ones to replace them). Next I installed new Eibach lowering springs and KYB shocks. Both fit fine, and definitely helped lower my center of gravity, and lessen the lean in corners (eventually I will change out the springs again to a stiffer rate with the same ride height). The next item was tires and rims. I wanted to get wider rims, but did not have the budget to do so. I found a set of 2003 Celica steelies, $100 for the set. They were much more to my liking 15x6.5 vs the stock 14x6. The tires I chose were Falken Azenis 205/15/55. Not as wide as I wanted, but as they were changing over to the new tread compound they were cheap. $75/tire, and the tread wear was 200. My goal would be closer to 140 tread wear. I want something that will stick, but also allow me to drive to races and not have a trailer or second set of tires. This may change later. I went to my next race, and was pleasantly surprised. Suspension and tires were considerably better, but I still needed to find a way to reduce body roll even more. So, I fabricated strut tower braces out of some 1” electrical conduit, by hammering the ends flat and drilling the appropriate holes. I repeated this in the back. I know it sounds a bit silly, but this was the best $5 spent on this car. These strut braces made all of the suspension seem to work together. At the next race one of the spectators noticed my inside wheel come off of the ground in a hard corner. I think I will have to work on weight distribution a bit as well, as these cars are very tail happy, much to my surprise. The major issue now was more low-end torque. My next race was the end of the 3SGE. I had to hold the car in a lower gear in order to have enough pull to get out of the corner, and this proved to be the end of the 3SGE. I ended up with a main bearing issue among other things, and the car had to be towed home. In retrospect, I do believe I could have pulled the engine apart and fixed the issue. I could have replaced the engine with another 3SGE. Instead I took the opportunity to move to the 3SGTE. THE SWAP SO FAR I sourced a JDM 2nd Gen 3SGTE online for ~$850. It came with ECU and uncut harness. The main reason I chose the 2nd Gen is the cost/HP. The 1st Gen and the 2nd Gen were nearly the same price, but the 2nd Gen had more HP and torque. So, that was a no brainer. I did like the idea of the Air to Water intercooler on the 3 rd Gen, but for the added cost up front did not justify the increase in HP and torque. Almost double the cost for about 25 HP. After reading the 3SGTE power primer, I should be able to match the HP of the 3rd Gen for a fraction of the cost. My goal at this point would be to be somewhere between 225 and 300hp again focusing on what ever modifications will ultimately give me the most torque. Also I will be working on any modifications that will keep the turbo lag to a minimum. So a larger turbo, etc is definitely out of the question. We have a few STI’s that race with us, and they have gone hog wild with the size of their turbo. Sure they get 500hp out of the things, but that turbo hits hard just about the time they have to hit the brakes for a corner, or worse just as they are pulling in to a sweep. All this serves is to upset the balance of the car, reduce tire life, and potentially spin them off track. None of these items leads to a faster track time. Good dependable, smooth power is the best for what we do. I am also not interested in blow off valves, or waste gates, unless I can see a very definite change in my torque or lag. I may experiment with that later. I did some talking with a local import shop, and they told me that they could get the new engine in for $800 no problem. As it turns out I got it done for $650, but they could not figure out the wiring. The mechanic that I was talking to said it would take him many hours to cross ref the two diagrams and repin the whole system. I decided to take possession of the car as is, and figure out the wiring on my own. That was two years ago, and now I am back at it trying to get this car back on the track. Some of the things that I have learned recently are that you always want to hold onto parts until you are complete with your project. For instance, the shop that installed the engine on my car told me that there would be no reason to keep the old block around, so they scrapped it. To this point, I have found no reason for 3SGE parts with the exception of one minor piece. The engine wiring harness was still attached to that engine that went to the scrap yard. The shop did not think it was necessary for the new engine to function. Now two years later I know that it is necessary. TO DO LIST I am trying to source a 1986-1989 wiring harness for a 3SGE. My plan is to send the 3SGE harness, the 3SGTE harness, and my ECU to Phoenix Tuning (Tweak’d Performance) for them to build me a new plug and play harness. I looked into RCTS in Calgary, but they were much more expensive. After speaking with a few people on this forum, about my catalytic converter/down pipe, I need to source a downpipe instead of replacing my catalytic converter (Montana is not very strict on emissions, so even though I plan on driving it on the road, it is not necessary to have the catalytic converter in place). Once I have these two things in place I am sure I will have to source a handful of sensors. The AFM is probably the biggest issue. I have had thoughts about trying the 3SGE AFM, but I understand that they are not compatible. I need to fabricate a hood scoop. The 3SGTE fits in the car with the hood completely shut, but I do need to get air to the intercooler. My plan is to source a mustang style scoop, cut a hole in the hood leaving the support members in place, and then probably drill a few air relief holes at the back of the hood to allow hot air out. While I am on the topic of air, I would like to change out the airbox for some other sort of direct air source. I am thinking I may be able to remove the plastic portions from below my headlights, and squeeze in some sort of fresh air inlets there. I will also need a larger radiator, and a few fans. Exterior will remain virtually the same, but I would like to get the OEM lower front skirt, and then fabricate front and side splitters. I am not sure if these will really make a difference for the tracks that I race on, but I figure it could not hurt. Besides, I think it will add a nice touch to the already good styling on the exterior. Suspension will need to be addressed again. I will need to fabricate a new front strut bar. My original one will not fit with the TMIC. So, I think I may try to come up with something similar to the one Mafix fabricated, and then maybe try to get some additional support under the car. Stiffer springs will also be needed as mentioned above. This time I think I will go to my local spring shop to get what I want. Brand really does not matter any more. I would also like to go up to a 15x7 or 15x7.5 rim, probably keeping my existing tires for the moment and stretching them over the rim to help with tire roll. Once these tires wear out, I will probably move to a Nitto or Toyo. I am probably going to try to stay with a steel wheel, and noticed the other day that Diamond Racing does a front wheel drive offset now. That should work out great for me. Brakes will also need to be upgraded. I plan on switching over to the ST185 front and rear, as well as changing over to SS braided lines. After my first race on the new engine I should be able to determine what items from the 3SGTE power primer I will need to implement if any. PROGRESS PHOTOS I have attached a few photos at the track, as well as some recent photos with the 3SGTE in place. Engine in place New airbox, and battery needed Speed Source engine mount Had to remove one fan for clearance. I will try to get something on the outside blowing in for this. You can see the mark on the hood lining. So clearance is close, but the hood does shut. This also causes the problem with my strut bar. The mark on the lining will make it easier to cut the hole though:naughty UPDATE So, I am trying to wrap my head around finishing this swap. And this is where I am. My harness is off to Tweak'd to get spliced. that has been a long time coming. thank you to those on this site that helped. My head is now running to what comes after the wiring. I am assuming I will have some sensors to work out. But going back to the TMIC, I am wondering how much air needs to get to this item? Would I be better off with a FMIC? Will cutting my hood and installing a scoop work with the TMIC? Can I get air to the TMIC without cutting up my hood? Any help on this would be appreciated.
Epic sleeper, lol :thumbsup: Good write-up, and good work with the conversion so far. At the relatively low speeds of autocross the front splitter won't generate any great beneficial level of downforce, but you're right it'll look better What gearbox are you using? LSD?
Thank you for the response. I am definitely a fan of the sleeper, and all additional parts added will most likely be flat black, over the original blue. Still using the original tranny. I believe we just had to change out the bell housing. No LSD. I would love to do one eventually as I think it would be very useful on track. As for the splitters. I agree with speeds of 65mph or less, they are not going to help me. I want the front splitter so I can get more air up into the engine bay, and I feel from a design perspective the side splitters will give me a great opportunity to match up my sides to the outer most part of my wheels.
Stock single core radiator ? you may get away with it but I'm guessing your going to be hammering the turbo pretty hard so you should definetely consider a dual core aluminum rad on ebay for $200 http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1986-1989-To...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4abbeb0426
If its the fan on the passenger side it's the AC fan get a cheap pusher fan and mount it on the outside of the rad
This is also part of my plan. what I am not sure of right now is whether I want to get rid of all the AC junk totally or not. I am not sure if at a later time I may want to be able to hit that cool button. My guess is that it will all come out, and that will give me plenty of room for the new pusher fan. Are there any advantages to a dual pusher vs. a single?
