st215/245 tiptronic into st185 gt4?

**jonathan yee** · 20-11-2010, 02:53 PM

my dear beautiful wifey need s a new car, she loves the celica, i hate driving boring 5sfe auto's.

she has to have an auto, and i'd love to build an auto AWD st185.

i have done eng conversions/drop's before, so the mechancal swap will be fine provided the auto tranny will fit in and driveshafts will be able to used /mix matched from the st185/st215 etc,

but does anyone here have exp with the size and mounting of the auto tranny's compared to the manual boxes?

would the tiptronic be able to be wired in effectively? i'd be able to grab all the boring st184 auto shifter/pedal boxes.

and no i wouldn't just whack a 3sgte onto a stock st184 auto, i'm presuming the caldina tranny would be similar/from same family as the camry V6 auto's albiet with a rear transfer case etc.

a quick google came up with nothing, and no getting her a manual licence (altho the logical solution) is not an option.

**thechuckster** · 20-11-2010, 08:26 PM

isn't the 215/245 engine and g/box ECU one unit?

**jonathan yee** · 20-11-2010, 10:38 PM

probably? if i did the conv i'd use the st215/245 eng as well. get rid of the 2nd gen 3sgte

**Mole** · 20-11-2010, 10:47 PM

Could always get a aftermarket transmission ECU, prolly cheaper then trying to swap whole engine + other engine ECU as well.

**jonathan yee** · 20-11-2010, 11:19 PM

well i'd prob do the swap myself, all the mechanical stuff anyway, only thing is i'm not %100 sure about the wiring in of the tranny. i'd buy a halfcut for prob around 2-3k, i'm sure the auto's fetch alot less.

i wasn't aware they made after market ecu's for transmission units, tho that sounds like a good option

**MWP** · 21-11-2010, 05:47 PM

Easiest way would definitely be finding a ST215 (or even ST245) auto halfcut.
Use as much as possible from the halfcut which will make wiring, etc easier.

Besides hacking in the auto shifter, removing clutch pedal, etc, it shouldnt be too much different to a normal full conversion.

**AndyTTR** · 21-11-2010, 07:36 PM

Sounds like an interesting project!

I'd go with a full half cut, the wiring to get the auto box to run should be entirely in the engine wiring harness. Usually the only other wiring is for indicator lamps, OD off / ECT PWR buttons and the like which is fairly straight-forward.

I'm not familiar with the Caldina, but if it has a tip-shift mode you might need to retrofit the selector?

The other thing to keep in mind would be the rear diff ratio - if you don't get the matching rear diff for the AWD auto box bad things might happen...

NINJA EDIT: Another source for gearboxes might be SXA1# Rav4's. They have the 3SFE + A540 gearbox... not sure it could take the power though?

**Mole** · 21-11-2010, 07:38 PM

For the shifter buttons, grab a auto ZZT Celica wheel, pretty sure it has the same gearbox, but either way it has buttons on it to shift and its a nice wheel.

**jonathan yee** · 21-11-2010, 10:44 PM

ah so the caldina tiptronic has the shift button's on the steering wheel?

i haven't actually seen a caldina up close, but saw a halfcut on ebay for 1200odd and it didn't appear to have a side area for the gearstick to be" tipped" back and forth in manual mode.

yeh i'd def get a halfcut if i was gonna do the conv, but i was wondering whetehr there's any diff between manual and auto drive shafts, also the difference if any between the gt4 and caldina shafts.

also in my exp auto boxes have different mounts to manual in the normal st184/204. but it's easy to get the correct mounts.

but there was never an auto in the st185 to get the mounts from.

have found out that this conv is actually underway at a shop over here in WA so hopefully they'll be happy to give me needed insight.

good call on the correct diff ratio, would've completely forgot about that. anyone got a link for caldina specs?

**StuC** · 22-11-2010, 10:15 AM

dont forget st184s came out in auto as well so interior trim and cross members should help out there.

**jonathan yee** · 22-11-2010, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by jonathan yee

would the tiptronic be able to be wired in effectively? i'd be able to grab all the boring st184 auto shifter/pedal boxes.
.

yeh. tho i wonder how different the auto shifter from the caldina is as they aren't straight up and down, they dog leg. but yeh that'll be the least of my worries i think

**Puffy** · 26-11-2010, 02:58 PM

Very interesting project. I would not be game to try it if the car was for my wife.
I would play it safe and just buy her a Caldina.

**ar5boosted** · 03-06-2017, 08:14 PM

I have an ST215W engine in my ST185 GT4. I helped out with the wiring.

Most of the issue is getting the ECU wired in and the Instrument Cluster working.

From what I saw the mechanic do, it's straightforward. The Caldina Auto is very nice but honestly, just buy a Caldina.