Phoenix Tuning Project: Tercel 4EFTE Swap

[Dr Tweak]

Starting tomorrow is Alex's 4EFTE Tercel swap. The car is a '94 with the 3EE engine, 1.5 liter making like 80hp or something like that.





The engine is a 4EFTE from the Japanese Toyota Starlet GT. It is a 1.3 Turbocharged engine making 135hp and 115ft/lbs. It is quite east to upgrade this engine and get it near the 200hp mark.



This job is going to be a lot easier than Mantis!

[Dr Tweak]

When we got this car, the engine wasn't running right. In fact, it would barely run for me at all.

Gee, I wonder why:



Packed FULL! It's a wonder the engine could get any air!

Here's the engine seperated from all but a couple last items, I'll pull it first thing in the morning.





Then I'll start (and maybe finish) the wiring.

One thing about this swap, I really got spoiled working on Mantis because there was NO rust at all... this thing is really rusty, I snapped a couple bolts today, and broke one tool.  :brick:

[Dr Tweak]

So the reason that the engine didn't come out yesterday is because the speedometer cable was rusted and wouldn't come off. I worked on it this morning and got it loose. Then I pulled the engine. It's a tight squeeze through that Tercel engine bay!





Landed:



Empty engine bay:



And the usual wiring fun!



The wiring is less complex than with Mantis, but there's a lot more wiring in the harness because with the older Toyotas they put a whole bunch of stuff into the engine harness that doesn't have to do with the engine, so they have to be sorted out. All of the engine wiring is done, it's just the rest that needs to be sorted out.

[Dr Tweak]

Hey all, it's been a while since I made an update. Reason being that I was on vacation as you all know, then I was sick last week so I'm running a week behind right now. Anyways I got cracking on it the past couple days and made quite a bit of progress on the wiring.

What's throwing me a curve right now is that the tranny is electronically controlled, and there are some wires coming from it which are NOT on the engine diagrams and since the car is from Japan, I can't get the diagrams for the tranny! So.... I'm having some fun with that. Other than some of those trouble items, all of the engine wiring is done. I've got to work out some things and then I'll try to fire it up next week.

Anyways, enough talking, here's the pics!

4EFTE installed:



Another shot showing some of the wiring:



And the interior with some wiring showing:

[Dr Tweak]

Today I put in about 5 hours and I got the engine all hooked up. The engine is cranking but not starting, it's a wiring issue that I will sort out on Wednesday.

I also filled the engine (obviously), primed it, filled the tranny, and installed the axles. The car is back on it's wheels now.

[Dr Tweak]

Woot!

I spent some hours last night looking over the diagrams, realized my mistake, and went out to the garage to fix it as soon as I got home. Traced a couple circuts and swapped a few wires, and bam! She fired
right up.

I still have to sort out a couple minor bugs, and then I'll test out the tranny

[Dr Tweak]

Install is done, wiring is done and loomed. I need to install the grill, take a peice of the hood support out (for the intercooler), and put the interior back together. And install an O/D switch.





Oh and get the exhaust done.