What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

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fasontales
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What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by fasontales »

What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification? Just wondering. Thanks.
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by NWMO »

fasontales,

The only straight forward engine swap I am aware of is the 4AC. I am slowly wrapping mine up right now (been too cold to do much) and look forward to seeing how the 4AC does.

Chris
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Mattel »

Depends what you mean by too much modification. A number of members have put in a fuel injected 4afe or 7afe but needed to fabricate exhaust header, so some firewall modification for the distributor and of course a wiring loom/ fuel pump alter.

Need to combine various flywheels to clutch and combine different engine mounts etc. sump off Tercel etc

but will give you a 50% jump in power!
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Petros »

all of these engines have the same trans bolt up pattern: 3ac, 4ac, 4afe, 7afe, 4age. there might be more, but those are the ones people have actually done on this forum.

only the 4ac is a direct bolt in swap. all of the others take fabricating parts, adapters and installing new engine wire harness and EFI fuel system, but they can be made to work with much effort.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by fasontales »

Petros wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:59 pm all of these engines have the same trans bolt up pattern: 3ac, 4ac, 4afe, 7afe, 4age

only the 4ac is a direct bolt in swap. all of the others take fabricating parts, adapters
What do you mean exactly when you say adapters are needed? I’m only exclusively asking about the Tercel 4wd tranny bolting up to other Toyota engines.
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Petros »

All of them will bolt up to the transmission without issue, but the 4age has a different flywheel bolt pattern and the stock 4age flywheel will not work with the Tercel4wd trans without modifications. The others you can bolt the 3ac flywheel to the back of the crank so it will work with the Tercel4wd trans. Also, the starter ends up on the other side of the engine, though that does not look like a problem, but may require some clearnacing or heat sheilding from the exhaust head pipe.

the 4age is the most complex to adapt, it has an 8 bolt rear crank flange for an 8 bolt flywheel (all the others have six bolt). you can either get a 4ac crank and swap it into the 4age to make the tercel flywheel bolt on to the back of the 4age, or you can modify the Tercel crank to weld up the holes and machine it for 8 bolts in stead of six (takes a knowlagable welder and a skilled machine shop...good luck finding those) or you can cut down the 4age flywheel to fit the 3ac ring gear onto it, takes a skilled machine shop.

You will have to make a new header for all of the flow through engines (all but the 4ac), and a new exhaust system, you can either spend big bucks for a carburetor adapter, or you can adapt the EFI to work in the Tercel (fabricate your own wire harness so the commuter will control the fuel injection from all the sensors you have to adapt and install), and install a high pressure fuel system for the fuel injection system. There may be hood clearance issues that either you cut a hole in your hood and but a scoop on it, or fabricate a fiberglass hood with a bump/lump to accommodate the engine. On the 4afe you will either have to convert over to a distributorless spark system, using a crank fired trigger and a spark control system, or you have to cut a big hole in the firewall to make room for the distributor that comes off the back of the head. this means adapting or relocating the heater since it is on the other side of the fire wall at that point.

that is all I can think of off the top of my head. there are many minor issues to resolve as well. Engines with the EFI system are an improvement but require installation of the EMC, wire harness, sensors and the high pressure fuel system. there are these nice duel side draft carb setups I have seen for the 4age, but they are more costly than sourcing EFI stuff from the wrecking yard.

Typically you will need to find a larger radiator, and work out a way to route the coolant hoses and heater hoses to and from radiator and heater.

the 4ac requires none of this. it is a direct bolt in swap over. the 4ac with a performance street grind camshaft, a weber carburator, a lightened flywheel and cleaned up intake/exhaust ports, perhaps a full 2" exhaust system, will gain you about 30-40 hp without any special fabricated parts. anyone of the other engines will gain you about 60 hp or more (depending on how far you want to push that engine), but a much more effort and cost.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
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fasontales
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by fasontales »

Petros wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:24 pm All of them will bolt up to the transmission without issue, but the 4age has a different flywheel bolt pattern and the stock 4age flywheel will not work with the Tercel4wd trans without modification [...]
Thanks for the info, I just wanted to know if the engine bolted right up without the need for adapters and you answered the question.
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Petros »

Fasontales,

what are your plans? what are you going to build?
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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fasontales
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by fasontales »

Petros wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:23 pm Fasontales,

what are your plans? what are you going to build?
Going off your list of easy swap engines, deciding between 4afe and 7afe. Which one is more reliable? It's going onto tercel tranny so I'm not looking for power I'm looking for long term reliability as a daily driver.
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Petros »

both of these engines were designed for reliable and economy. I would choose the 4af, it would have better economy and reliablity.

the 4afe will also give you less fitment trouble because the 7afe is much taller. the 4afe has a remarkable torque curve that is very high and almost flat across the whole rpm range, it is also going to give you the best fuel economy since it is less displacement and specifically designed for economy in the later models corollas. there are lots of them around too, there is even a carburetor version the 4af, which would save a lot of trouble to get to work in the Tercel. Though fuel injection is superior, the 4af would save a lot of cost and messing around converting the fuel system to EFI
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Mattel »

I have the 4afe in my corolla all-trac. it is a great engine. good torque and reliability. the 4age is the performance version but are very expensive in Australia. I''m not sure where you are from. the 7afe is a 1.8 litre updated (7th generation) version of the 1.6 4afe. I wasn't aware that they are physically larger because they seem to fit well in Corolla when people have transplanted them to update a tired 4afe but it does make sense. I'm also not aware of anyone changing one into the Tercel 4wd.
basically 3ac in the Tercel is 55kw. 4afe is 77kw and 7afe is 88kw.
If you like to tinker and can get your hands on a 4afe I think it would be a great improvement.
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
88 Corolla 4wd Wagon 5speed, All power options, Fact Sunroof, Diff Lock, 14" SX Alloys, Hankook Tyres, 4afe, King Springs, Upgraded Headlights, Full Synth oils, Tow Bar, 210,000kms
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by fasontales »

Petros wrote: Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:52 pm both of these engines were designed for reliable and economy. I would choose the 4af, it would have better economy and reliablity.
Mattel wrote: Wed Jan 30, 2019 5:13 am I have the 4afe in my corolla all-trac. it is a great engine. good [...]
Thanks, there's a $200 corolla on craigslist now with a 4afe. Picking it up.
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Re: What other toyota engines would bolt up to the tercel tranny with little to no modification?

Post by Petros »

way to go, getting a whole car will give you all of the bits and pieces you will need to not just do the swap, but also all the detailed parts, ECM, wire harness, etc. to make it all work. I think even the large fuel tank, with the EFI fuel pump mounted in it might be able to be adapted to the Tercel (I looked at it once it appears if you alter/flex neck for fuel filler it can be made to work).

You will either have to make a complete custom exhaust system for it so it will clear the starter, steering, and frame configuration, or alter an after market header. It might save some work and cost to buy an inexpensive header for that engine, only to get the flange and tubes, and than cut it up and weld it back in place so it will fit in the tercel4wd.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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