has any one actually done the 4ac swap?

[zillakilla]

I have a 83 4wd sr5 wagon and I am in the process of swapping out the 3a for the 4ac that came out of a corolla. the new engine is a transverse mount and I am running into difficulties. if anyone has done this swap personally I would really appreciate a little help. thanks

[dlb]

welcome, zillakilla. what difficulties are you running into, specifically?

[irowiki]

Everything external to the 3A needs to bolt to the 4A, if that helps!

[keith]

I've done it, but I got a reman long block off ebay pretty cheap. I didn't have any problems. Look in the Repair Guides, I did some write ups there along with others who have also made this swap. There is a lot of good info there. If after reading those write ups, if you still have issues, ask about them here, but be specific.

[Petros]

welcome to the forum,

I have done it, everythign bolts up nicesly. but you have to basically strip everything of the outside of the old engine, and install it on the new one. Everything bolts up, but nothing external is the same, so you have to pull it all off.

From memory: you have to swap both the oil pan and the oil pick up, very important to keep the correct pick-up with the correct oil pan, they are different depths. you have to swap the front pulley, the alternator and engine mounts, the water pump and water pump housing w/ the rear metal heater hose on the back, the intake and exhaust manifold, the flywheel and clutch and the metal plate that mounts on the back of the block behind the flywheel, the power steering and A/C mounts and pumps (if your car is so equipped), the starter, the coolant outlet (at the front, right side of the head), and the heater hose return at the back of the head. And also the front timing chain cover. You have to of course strip all of these parts off the replacement engine and install the 3a parts for your car to install the on your 4ac. There are also some minor brackets and wire bundle mounts as well. Basically you have to strip both engines down to the just the long block (block and head, with all the internal parts), and swap everything over.

All of this must be done before you try and install it in the car. make sure you use a torque wrench to install the flywheel and clutch, and the intake/exhaust manifold. You will need new gaskets and o-rings for all these parts, you can get by with reusing the metal gasket on the intake/exhaust gasket if it is not damaged, and using permatex only on the oil pan.

The engine long block is a direct replacement, but almost none of the external parts are interchangeable or usable in the Tercel because the transvers mounted 4ac is configured completely differently. You must salvage everything off the 3a to make the transverse 4ac engine work in the Tercel.

It is not such a fast swap, but it can be done with just unbolting and bolting on the correct parts, and everything will fit. Other types of engine swaps require you to make new parts, brackets, adapters, etc. so this is a straightforward swap, but it is not just a drop-in deal.

Good luck.