ra40 engine conversion?

[noobra]

hi all, umm yeh look i have been searching (that means actually using the search function ) yet have not been able to find quite what im looking for.

im in a position where i may be able to get a 79 ra40 for cheap and am currently counting my penies and sorting out my options. if the car turns out to be good however i will most likely buy it.

however it comes with the stocko rc and a rather un-savoury auto option (death from above for all auto's!!). so since i know its beeen done a million times and afaik its a fairly simple swap to put a rg into it. but. i want manuel at the same time so if i can get my hands on a nice second hand rg and manuel box would i still be able to just slip it in? would there be any mods needing to be done?

im a first timer as far as engine anything goes so, links and all help appretiated. basically want i want out of this car is a nice cheap, reliable first car. and a bit of mechanical experience under my belt.

cheers dan,

p.s what other options as far as engine and g/box go, would be better or easier? im thinking $500 and under for a second hand engine and box with me doin all labour.

[haison]

Lol what happened to the TA/RA celicas??

Edit: Actually read the post this time. Yeah 18rg is the way to go. Should be a fair few floating around in the classifieds. Conversion itself should be piss easy, they're pretty much identical. Only thing I can think of would be that the wiring loom needs to be re-done. Not too familiar with em though, I'm sure others here would be a bit more helpful.

[noobra]

thank haison, yeh i still want a 28. but too expensive atm and i need a car in the mean time.


maybe you can come round and help me out if i get it??? hahaha cheers anyway

[barned01]

Go to a wreckers and scout an ra40 there.
from that grab the gearbox and lever
Pedal
Clutch and parts.
someone else can confirm if you need the speedo cable or not.
Have a look in the engine bay and see if you need anything from around the brake booster area (clutch master cylinder maybe (ironically despite having an ra40 manual, i don't know much about this area either))
the crossmember.
possibly also the tailshaft.
with the 18rc first, bolt it all up to that and get it running and moving so that you know you have everything working.

best idea might be to take pictures of tyour car and transmission area, and compare it to a manual version, get everything that the manual gearbox connects to in some way and you should be laughing

Then worry about the 18rg after that point.

For 500 I would say you could get an engine and gearbox, but you might still have to go over that to get it all actually working.

[noobra]

thanks for that. so are you saying that a manual g/box from an rg will bolt straight onto the back of the rc?

also any wreckers or motor/transmission places highly recommended in and around melbounre eastern suburbs?


-cheers dan.

[barned01]

for your intents and purposes, yes the transmission that is on the back of any manual powered 18rc ra40 at the wreckers will do you fine for your eventual 18rg upgrade

[noobra]

i had a talk to the mechanics near my place. and they suggested that the g/box tunnel may be different shape/length to a manual one. therefore requiring mods and an engineers cert (has was saying that they are a lot tighter nowdays). also the length of the gear box could mean needing a new drive /tail shaft. and to relocate the shift knob and cut up the interior.

so basically if this is all true i cbf. too much effort for what i had originally thought to be a straight forward sawp. but if anyone wants a $700 ra40 auto, pm me....

[barned01]

I would be incredibly interested if this was the case, i believe none of that will hold up though.

When an RA40 was rolling through the production line they would have pressed one car, not two, into shape as this would have saved costs.
Somewhere through that production line they would have put an engine crossmember in, so far we are the same regardless of transmission.
next up they put an engine in (i know this isn't the case as it is all done in one part but i want to simplify this for you), again the 18rc is the same engine in both versions of transmissions and sits in exactly the same spot.
Next comes the transmission, here is where it changes.

Now if we recall they have only pressed one piece of sheet to make the floorpan of the ra40 to simplify costs so:
the the gear shifter hole will be the same for both a manual and automatic
the tunnel will be suitably big enough to house either transmission.

The only thing that wiil be different will be how the gearbox connects to the car floorpan, this is fixed with the gearbox cross member but becuase the floorpan is made to accomodate both transmissions, any necessary bolt holes will be there for you to mount whatever transmission you like to it that came from that model.

Yes the length of the transmissions may be different and yes you MAY need a tailshaft (which i mentioned above) from the manual version if this is the case.

But I strongly fail to see why there would be 2 different cars to accomodate for different transmissions, they would have made 1 car to fit either transmission.

So I stand by my suggestion, just go to a wrecker and grab anything related to a manual ra40 and it will all swap over. I assure you it won't be that much, and it won't be that much of a pain in the arse either and you won't have to get your angle grinder out and you won't have to have your hammer near by to do creative massaging of the transmission tunnel. compared to engine transplants anyway.

[jonra23]

Barned01 is right, I would be finding some other mechanics to talk to.

[thechuckster]

noobra: your engineer is not worth throwing money at!

you can fit a W58 supra box in the tunnel of an RA40 - and that's a larger box than the humble W50 found behind 18R/RGs.

Your engine choice will be determined by your budget - you'd be lucky to get working 18RG for $500. Just change to a manual gearbox and maybe replace the stock carbi with something slightly larger.

You'll need:
gearbox (inc bellhousing and body seal where gearstick goes into cabin)
tailshaft from a manual RA40
gearbox cross member
clutch/pressure plate/flywheel/throwout bearing/ spigot bearing
slutch slave and master
hard and soft lines to go from master to slave
manual pedal box (with will repalce your brake pedal along with fitting a clutch pedal)
manual centre console (cosmetic purposes)

[noobra]

hmm. thanks for the reassurness huys. i agree that it is stupid for a car to have made a diff shell for the one car, however i do trust this mechanic....even though what i wrote may be wrong-its not his direct words and more or less my interpretations of what he said-.

so if i have time i will check out the car and some wreckers and peice things together. again thanks to all.

[thechuckster]

Noobra: we're not kidding - there is NO DIFFERENCE in the gearbox tunnel between manual and auto. Either you heard wrong, or the mechanic gave you dud information.

anyway - there's a few shopping lists to choose from. have fun at the wreckers.

cheers,
Charles.

[rob]

noobra, chuckster and barned are on the money with what they are saying so listen to them.

they are some of the few people on the forums with the most RA40 experience along with myself and i agree with them and not your mechanic.

[Norbie]

Just a quick note: often the size/position of the hole for the shifter differs slightly between manual and auto. Not sure if this is the case for the RA40 but it is for other Toyotas. This is a very minor issue though; all it means is you may have to extend the hole half an inch, which can be accomplished with a pair of tinsnips in a matter of minutes.

The above is correct though, the overall shape of the transmission tunnel is exactly the same. My RA23 was originally auto and the W50 5-speed bolted right in with no clearance issues; all I had to do was extend the shifter hole a little. The RA40 will be no different.

[GA61XX]

Here is my RA40, with 21R & weber, from a RA60



Stock RA40, W50 box & tailshaft. Used front engine mounts, & coustom sump, made from 18r & 21r sumps.