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4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:21 pm
by tannerdanger
Hi, ive been searching forever looking to some specific answers to some questions. Ive come close to the answer but couldnt get a straight one so I thought id post, so forgive me for asking what I'm sure is a question thats asked way too much...anyway...

I want to swap a 4age into my sr5. I know you gotta do a GTS conversion yada yada yada, but is that all necessary? I know the GTS rear end is better, but it will take a long time for me to source parts and my 4ac is in rough shape. Is it possible for me to just swap in the 4age and not have to worry about the rear end till I have the money and all the parts together? And if I do wait, do I run a risk of breaking the rear end apart or is that not really a big worry?

I also read you don't need a GTS bellhousing if you get stainless steel clutch lines and heat wrap the exhaust any input on this?

I heard that you can just drop in a 16v into a sr5 with just 4age engine, harnesess, ecu, feul pump and heat wrapping the clutch line.

And also, would it be possible to swap in a 20v doing this same thing? or is that pushing it...

any help would be awesome, sorry again for questions that are probably way over asked...I just couldnt get a straight answer on them and don't want to spend a bunch and wait forever trying to do a full GTS conversion right out of the gate.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:35 pm
by taki
i mean, you can run a 4age on the sr5 8 bolt rear end, and i know even TRD made an LSD for the 8 bolt that is super rare. answer to your question is no you dont need a gts rear end. and also as far as bellhousing, for 4age, you can use an sr5 transmission, but you must atleast use the GTS bellhousing for it to work.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:34 pm
by tannerdanger
well i heard you only needed the bell housing because the clutch master is on the opposite side of the exhaust to keep it from overheating, but if i get steel braided clutch lines and heat wrap the clutch master, could I avoid having to switch the bellhousing? In all reality if I order an engine it will probably come with the transmission anyway, but if I swap it, I don't need a custom driveshaft or anything? and do I run a risk of trashing my sr5 rear end?

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:35 am
by dr.occa
Either bell housing will work. Heat wrapping the exhaust isn't enough to protect the clutch line to the slave cylinder. You'll need to fabricate an actual heat shield doubled up with some Dyna Mat or something of equal or better heating shielding quality.

If you ran the SR5 5 speed on the 4AG then you wouldn't have to get the GTS hard clutch line; you can stick with your pre-existing SR5 clutch lines and slave cylinder, etc...

Remember, you're going to need to drop in either an in tank electric fuel pump or go with an inline external electric fuel pump (I recommend a bosch external) and you'll need to go to at least a 5/16 or 3/8 fuel line.

A GTS fuel tank isn't necessary either.

The SR5 rear should hold up just fine to a factory 4AGE motor. It only puts down approximately 90-98 whp and give or take 75lbs/ft torque.

There's also a way to convert an 8 bolt Toyota rear end from drums to rotors and calipers.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:02 am
by tannerdanger
ok so essentially I could just do this with an engine with harnesses and ecu, and a aftermarket fuel pump? On that note if I did get a GTS tranny to go with it, all I would need is the GTS clutch master and lines right?

Also does all this also apply to the 20v or is swapping the 16 and 20v different?

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:48 am
by JDMwhiteboy
the 20v swap would be a little bit harder than the 16v. You not only have the swap of the 4age but ontop of that you have all the things what come with the 20v swap aswell. The sr5 rear end is 4:10 gearing (gts is 4:30, quicker acceleration) so you will like that on the highway but for me i swapped to a GTS end just to get rid of the drum brakes. As for the clutch master I believe that the master is the same but the line is whats different, dr occa or mckenney correct me if im wrong. I also thought that the stock exhaust wouldnt clear the fork with a sr5 bell housing on a 16v.

Side note Project Car mag did a 2 issue story of full break down to sr5-gts swap. you can order them online if you like.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:25 pm
by tannerdanger
i have the mags, I just need a new engine and cant afford/dont have the time to source every part required for the full GTS swap. i just want the new engine now to buy me some time to source everything else needed for the rest of the GTS swap

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:10 pm
by mandm177
well, if youre looking for some parts, i have the GTS fuel and brake hardlines that go from the tank to the engine bay.

i also have a drop in 20v blacktop with ecu harness, COP setup, and tranny

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:46 pm
by JDMwhiteboy
The parts you need are there for either swap, the real question is how much time and money you want to put into this? If you want my word, you get what you pay for.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:48 pm
by mandm177
i say, go for the blacktop swap. just ask JDMwhiteboy of his first hand experience ;)

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:59 pm
by taki
I did my first 20 valve swap on my old car when i was a senior ages ago, it wasnt as easy as doing an SR swap but its worth it. I ran an SDS standalone because the harness i had was too shot to work with, and also back then aerodyne industries made alot of parts to make the 16v to 20v swap easier like 16-20v header adapters, a waterblock to reroute lines, even a cam run dizzy so you didnt have to hammer or cut the firewalls.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:00 pm
by tannerdanger
woah woah woah...sr20 swap is easier than 20v into SR5?

JDMwhiteboy wrote:The parts you need are there for either swap, the real question is how much time and money you want to put into this? If you want my word, you get what you pay for.
I plan on doing it right, but id like to do it in stages. Like I said my current motor is in bad shape, and completely gutless. I'd like to just drop in the engine, then work on the rear end later on once i get the money saved up for that. I just dont know if my current motor will last long enough for me to save up for everything I need to do a complete conversion all at once.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:04 pm
by tannerdanger
another reason I'm wanting to do it this way, is because I have a friend who has a used 4age from a mr2 so obviously the full conversion wouldnt be possible from him but atleast i could get the engine. Im also in F%&*)(@#ing arkansas, so ae86 parts are rare so like I said, sourcing all the parts for a full conversion would take shipping parts from all over the web so it will take a while.

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:28 pm
by JDMwhiteboy
tannerdanger wrote:woah woah woah...sr20 swap is easier than 20v into SR5?
I was referring to the 16v v 20v swap. One thing to remember with the 20v swap, your putting in a motor that was designed for a fwd car into a rwd car. Aswell with any of these swaps your taking a car set up for carb and turning it EFI, that will bring little things like what dr occa said with needing to install your own fuel pump. The pros of the 16v and 20v are that they block and the tranny bolt right in, the sr will take custom motor mounts, tranny mounts, etc. (I haven't done the research for a sr swap so idk if there are any pre-made kits available) Plus with sites like this, club, and yahoo japan its really just down to finding the guy who will ship. At that point money talks

Re: 4ac-4age swap question, GTS rear end necessary?

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:26 am
by taki
JDMwhiteboy wrote:
tannerdanger wrote:woah woah woah...sr20 swap is easier than 20v into SR5?
I was referring to the 16v v 20v swap. One thing to remember with the 20v swap, your putting in a motor that was designed for a fwd car into a rwd car. Aswell with any of these swaps your taking a car set up for carb and turning it EFI, that will bring little things like what dr occa said with needing to install your own fuel pump. The pros of the 16v and 20v are that they block and the tranny bolt right in, the sr will take custom motor mounts, tranny mounts, etc. (I haven't done the research for a sr swap so idk if there are any pre-made kits available) Plus with sites like this, club, and yahoo japan its really just down to finding the guy who will ship. At that point money talks


this pretty much summed up why i said it. sr20s are for dummies

20v swaps take knowledge and more research. and are for the big boys ;)