5M E to 5M GE/6M GE Conversion Guide

[spiller]

This guide was compiled my MKIISUPRACAR on supraforums.com.au.

ULTIMATE TOYOTA MA61R SUPRA 5ME to 5M-GE/6M-GE CONVERSION GUIDE, FOR DUMMIES.


This is quite an easy conversion for people who are limited to about $1300 - $1500 AUD to cover the whole thing. This guide will walk you through all the steps, precautions and pitfalls you may encounter when doing this swap. I will start from buying an engine to driving with the new engine.

Buying a 5m-ge:

When buying a 5m-ge there are a couple of things you MUST look for before purchase. This could mean the difference between you wasting $1500 or making it worthwhile.
Firstly you will need to find an MX73 Cressida and find out what year model it is, try to get a late model 5m-ge as these had knock sensors and oxygen sensors, and a couple of other good technology upgrades that the early 5m-ge’s didn’t have. My engine is a 1985 model.

The next step is to find out how many K’s it has, 200,000 –250,000 is probably what you will end up with. I wouldn’t go over 250,000km, as the engine will most likely be on its last legs.
Once you have found a good RUNNING MX73 Cressida you will need to go and check it out.
The things to look for are:
1- Smoke, if the engine smokes give it a miss for your wallets sake!
2- Vibrations, if the engine has vibrations at certain rpm levels it could mean the bottom end bearings are gone, also give it a miss!
3- Oil in the engine bay area, if the engine has any oil leaks it will show up in the engine bay and at the back of the engine, it will be a thin layer of black grime on the engine bay or lower engine area. This could be simple or it could be major, it depends on where the oil is leaking. If it is all over the bay give it a miss!
4- Damage to the sump/ steering rack, look under the car for damage to the oil sump and steering rack, this could mean it was in an accident of some sort, or it was flogged and run up a gutter? Who knows, if it looks badly damaged give it a miss!
5- Look at the harmonic balancer, if there is chips in the harmonic balancer it could mean the engine has been in an accident or worse it has been running with a crap balancer. Which means that the bottom end could be worn from a vibrating crank.
6- Oil in water/water in oil, this step is vital, cheek for water in the oil. Remove dipstick and check that the oil isn’t a milky light brown colour, if so avoid this engine at ALL COSTS, it will have a blown head gasket. Also check the water, if there is water in the radiator that is a plus, but if it has oily residue such as weird colours on the top of the water it also means it could have exhaust gasses in the water, which means it has a blown head gasket or cracked head. One other sign of head problems is if there is no water in the radiator and there is a rusty oily residue under the cap and in the fill hole.
7- Make sure car has full engine loom, coil, ignitor, afm, full afm piping and all belts and pulleys on.
8- Water pump, firstly check for funked bushings, grab the pump pulley and wobble it up and down, if it has play the water pump is stuffed and you will need another one. To check for corrosion, take the water pump hose off and run your fingers inside the metal pipe. If a white powder is collected but the surface is relatively smooth it should be ok. If a white powder is collected but the surface is rough and full of holes it means the engine has a lot of inner corrosion. Which is bad. Give it a miss if so.
9- Give the engine a start. If all the stuff is there to start the engine, give it a turn over with some fresh fuel. Let it idle for about 30 seconds, if it over revs or coughs and splutters at start it could just mean it needs new oil/water/plugs/leads/dizzy clean/mixture tune/timing check/throttle tune. Which can all be done at home.
10- If the engine has passed all these tests it should be a goer. Make sure if you purchase the car, to put some wheels on it so they don’t damage the sump with the tilt tray truck on delivery.
Ok that’s about it for the buying guide. Stick to that, don’t cut corners or foresee any of those points and you will end up with a sweet running engine. It took me a week of full time searching to find my engine, and I rang and looked at approx 45 different engines and cars.

Things you will need:
1- New gear box oil
2- New engine oil and a filter
3- Power steering fluid
4- 1 after market mx73 top radiator hose (it fits but has a bit of a kink)
5- Exhaust flange gasket
6- 20 cans of export degreaser (don’t get the concentrated shit that you mix with water, it doesn’t work)
7- A cleaning brush set
8- Oil pan
9- Oil funnel
10- 14mm, 12mm, 10mm half inch hex and multi fit sockets
11- Half inch long bar
12- Half inch short bar
13- Half inch ratchet
14- Half inch torque wrench (has to be able to fit half inch sockets)
15- 10mm –50mm ring spanners. Hex and multi fit
16- 10mm – 30mm open ender spanners
17- 10mm - 30 mm pipe spanners
18- a set of good screw drivers
19- A clutch alignment tool. Tell the man or woman at the shop: I want to put a clutch and pressure plate back onto a flywheel. They will show you what tool you need.
20- A 5m-ge spigot bearing (absolutely critical if changing to w55 or w58 manual)
21- New belts.
22- Possibly new alternator and water pump.
23- A grinder with a metal cutting wheel.
24- Engine crane
25- Flat concrete surface with good light and a fair bit of room.
26- Good torch.

That does it for the requirements side.

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Pulling and installing both 5m-e and 5m-ge/6m-ge


5m-e

Firstly when you get the car home line them up side buy side with about 150 cm between each car. Take off each cars bonnet.
Drop all the fluids out of each car including water, oil, PS fluid and Gearbox oil. Start on removing the 5m-e. Undo the fuel line from the fuel filter, which is located on the passenger side near the engine mount. Im pretty sure it’s a 12mm hollow bolt.
Unclip the wire going to the starter motor and unbolt the large neutral lug. Unbolt all wires going from the engine to the body.

Now that all the wires are off, its time to take off the water hoses. There is one behind the engine and also one connecting into a vacuum valve. Undo these two pipes.

Now undo the radiator pipes, the radiator shroud and radiator. (it only has two bolts at the top) the radiator needs to be pulled out while leaving the shroud behind – (the fan is in the way)

Once the radiator is out, pull the shroud out. Now its time to remove the fan. I just removed the blade part not the whole clutch part. It has 4 10 mm bolts, use your 10 mm ring spanner here.

Once the fan is out you can start to remove the afm and air induction pipes. A suggestion I have to make to you is that you get tonnes of little bags and put the bolts that come off certain things in separate bags and name them accordingly.

Next undo the 3 bolts that connect your headers to your downpipe, give the downpipe a yank and it should come off quite easily. Unless you have a bracket attached to the block which will also need to be undone if your 5m-e has it.


Now to take off the PS lines, only take off the ones going to the cooling pipe and the pump and reservoir. None of the ones on the steering rack apart from the two that come from the pump and reservoirs

Once the afm is off and the induction pipes are removed move onto undoing the engine mount bolts undo them and put them in a bag named block mount bolts (there should be 4 bolts and 4 nuts) I think there 14mm.

Time to undo the gearbox cross member, take out the 4 middle bolts, there should be an earth wire in one of them and bag’n’tag them.
Now get a car jack with wheels and put under the gearbox and lift the gearbox about 1cm off the cross member. Now undo the cross member leaving the jack under the gearbox.

There is tail shafts brace about 1 foot behind the gearbox, undo that (2 bolts) and let the tail shaft droop down. Do not undo the tail shaft at the join, as this is where the tail shaft is balanced!

Next clean your hands thoroughly and get your Philips head screw driver ready, its time to take out your interior. Start with the centre console and the radio housing, and then take out your glove box. You will notice the ECU is just above the glove box, unscrew this and unplug it all. Now pull the wiring loom through the firewall back into the engine bay.

Move onto the shifter, take off the large rubber boot with the metal ring around it (4 bolts 10mm), take off the smaller boot, now pull off the smallest rubber cover and put the shifter into the neutral position.
Undo the 4 Philips head screws and remove the shifter.

You are now ready to pull the engine out of the car.


5m-ge/6m-ge

Repeat this whole process but with the 5m-ge you don’t need to do the gear shifter removal, you will just need to unclip the 3 waterproof plugs near the Auto gearbox and unbolt the t bar shifter mechanism under the car (1 bolt 12mm I think) on the drivers side of the gearbox. Can’t miss it.

Also there will be auto transmission lines, don’t mistake them for PS lines. These can be cut out as are not needed for the manual transmission. They will leak mass oil everywhere so be sure to have a pan ready.

Note: when pulling the engine out, be sure to have someone under the car rolling the jack along with it under the gearbox and also easing the tail shaft out of the yolk.

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5m-ge/6m-ge Auto – Manual:

Tilt your 5m-e into the normal upright position, but blocks of wood under the shallow part of the sump until the engine is level, now undo all the bolts on the rear of the engine including the brackets on the side of the block, im pretty sure all these are 14 mm. USE THE HEX SOCKETS! Not the multi-fit ones!

Once all these are undone, bag and tag them. Now pull off the gearbox, it should come off relatively easily. You will see two metal plates. In between the gearbox and the block, take theses off and clean them up and store them.
Next is the pressure plate clutch and flywheel. Unbolt all of these items in order and remember to bag and tag the bolts that came off the different parts. I think most or all of the bolts are 10 mm.

When pulling the clutch and pressure plate off, be sure not to get them oily. Keep them as dry as possible!
Now remove the flywheel, (6, 14mm bolts I think) watch your fingers, as it is quite heavy.

Now that the clutch flywheel and pressure plate is removed, you can move onto taking off the auto transmission off the 5m-ge.
Again tilt engine right way up, unbolt all the bolts and take off the gearbox.
Now you should see a large round donut shaped thing. This is called a torque converter take this off but be sure not to spill the oil out of it, as it holds a large amount. Once this is off you will see a thing called a flex plate, it is just a smaller flywheel. Remove this and put it with the torque converter.
Also remove the two plates behind the gearbox.

Its time to use that spigot bearing. At the back of the 5m-ge you will see a hole in the centre. It’s the only hole that the spigot bearing will fit into. Clean the hole and start pushing the bearing in, push it in as evenly as possible. When it start to get tight use the hammer and a large bolt or piece of metal that I the same size as the outer ring of the bearing. And tap the end until you feel that the bearing will not go in any further.
This is so the bearing is not damaged in the process of installing it.

Next put the flywheel back onto the engine, it can be tricky lining up the holes as they are un-even and only fit 1 way. Tighten the bolts to ……………………… on your torque wrench.
Now that the flywheel Is on, get your clutch alignment tool and read the instructions on how to use one, there quite simple but not all are the same. Put your clutch and pressure plate in order of how they came off (don’t forget the thick metal disk that goes with the clutch) now slide your clutch alignment tool into all of them like a kebab and tighten it up.
Put it up against the flywheel, get the bolts that where bagged and tagged as “5m-e pressure plate to flywheel bolts” and bolt the pressure plate along with the clutch to the flywheel (finger tight) keeping the clutch alignment tool in at all times!

Now get your 10 mm ring spanner (hex) and tighten them up to a reasonable tightness.
(Don’t go hardcore on the little 10 mm nuts, and tighten them until the head snap’s off. Cause if you do that, your fucked.)

Now that the clutch is aligned you can loosen the tool and take it out.
Now its time to put the gearbox back on.
Firstly get the two plates you stored and put them where they where on the 5m-e. Now slide the gearbox spline into the middle of the clutch, this will slide on with a little persuasion.
Once the gearbox is on the block support it with something while you screw in the two top bolts in place (finger tight)
Now go around the whole box and screw in all the bolts.

Note: Some of the gearbox bolts are a slightly different length so be sure to remember exactly what bolts go where. Draw yourself a picture if need be.


Once the bolts are done up finger tight on both the gearbox and smaller brackets right next to the gearbox, continue with your 14mm (I think) hex socket and tighten them up. Remember if you tighten one up to much and strip the alloy bell housing or snap a bolt head. Your bell housing is fucked. So don’t go hardcore.

Your engine is now ready to be dropped into your supra. Double checking things like timing belts and pulleys before the engine goes in, can save ALOT of frustration later on once the engine is in the car.

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Installing the 5m-ge/6m-ge Manual Transmission Engine:

Firstly, gather all tools and put in a neat organized gang on a towel. Get the car jack with wheels, under the supra and get ready to put the gearbox on it.

Put the new 5m-ge engine into the engine bay and rest the engine on the cross member, do not let all the weight off the engine crane as the gearbox will hit the ground. Put the car jack under the gearbox and jack it up when the engine is resting on the cross member.

Note: when dropping new engine in, watch out for the steering rack fluid lines! They are extruded a fair bit and can get caught on your gearbox and bent!

Now get someone under the car to line up the drive shaft with the gearbox yolk, get them to ease it in as you slide the engine forward further. Once it is in, you can begin re-attaching the cross member under the gearbox. Firstly attach the 4 middle bolts, don’t forget the earth wire! Then do the 4 outer bolts of the cross member. Once this is done yo can take out the car jack and take away the engine crane. All the hard physical work is over!
Give yourself a pat on the back if you have gotten this far. =D

The next step is to do up that tail shaft brace that’s just after the gearbox… don’t forget about this!

Now for the AFM (Air Flow Meter. You must use the 5m-ge one as the 5m-e one is to small. If you using the original air box grab your grinder and make that hole the same size as the new afm opening. This will allow an unconstricted flow of air into the engine. Btw get a K+N filter.

Now… its time to start hooking up hoses and leads and stuff, make sure u put your fan and rad shroud in before you hook up the rad hoses.
Take out the old supra accelerator cable and install the cressida one.
Now its time to hook up the power steering lines… get the ones of the cressida and fit them accordingly, they will fit on one way so its pretty easy to work out.
Be sure to hook up the fuel line underneath the car on the efi side.

Wiring:

For wiring information and a guide on the wiring part of this conversion please contact Enchanter on www.supraforums.com.au his written and illustrated guide will help you out on the wiring side of this conversion.

Once the wiring is complete and the gearbox shifter sound proof boot is bolted down you can continue to put the dash and other interior parts in.

Note: I suggest you test the engine first before screwing the glove box back in place.

REPLACE ALL FLUIDS! Don’t forget!

Now that everything is pretty much complete you can test start the car
Turn the key to accessories and walk round to the front of the car and poke your head in the engine bay
Cheek that no smoke or buzzing sounds are coming from the engine wiring.
If everything seems ok, turn the engine over; It may take a while on the first initial start.
Let it idle for about 20 mins, check the water after a about 30 secs of starting.
If its all good take it for a spin leaving the bonnet off! So you can see anything going wrong.

Note: When you take it for a spin be sure to carry extra water in bottles, a fire extinguisher and a phone.

After about 500km replace the oil and filter again and get some Toyota red coolant.
I recommend using BP ultimate unleaded. Penrite oils, Valvoline oil filters and a k+n air filter.

[spiller]

conversion pics

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7...ture395zj0.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/6...ture397xo9.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9...ture398ag2.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9...ture398ag2.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/6...ture399dr8.jpg

Guide written buy Jon (MKIISUPRACAR) on www.supraforums.com.au
Any questions please forward them to my email address: jono_hamilton@hotmail.com

Enjoy.

[Screamn_Sleeka]

Nice write up, very detailed.
Third post, half way though there is a "......................" where is should say the ft/lb for the flywheel.
And the pics dont work.

[Johnzoku]

that is one serious write up... very well done!!!

+ rep for you!

[driftkid]

awsome thanks

[spiller]

i am the 5M GE to 6M GE conversion king!

[CrUZida]

Note: If you find an early/Gen1 5MGE (82-84) then it should plug'n'play with the 5M-E wiring.

Gen1 5MGE's have twin V-belts on the alternator/waterpump pulleys, big square TPS's, no knock sensor, and some other subtle differences.

[driftkid]

Hmmm interesting... there is an mx73 on ebay think it went for 300 bucks. Maybe i should of picked it up

[cambelt]

Its going to be a process finding a good 5 or 6M these days.
Dave

[derekjay]

Bumping this thread. Are the picture of this still available? Thinking of pulling my 6mge. Doing some work on it and then reinstalling it.

[spiller]

Not too sure, I just posted this for the author so maybe contact him by email?

[andrew_mx83]

bah do it properly and throw a 24 valve head on it :)