RA28 Engine Upgrade

**barned01** · 11-08-2006, 05:34 PM

twentyeight:
No offense mate but for what i am reading you haven't done much of this sort of thing before.
If this is the case, Regardless of power outputs of the engine, you should work to a level you are comfortable with.
To me It makes a bucket load of sense just to go to an 18rg(ue if you can).
As an engine conversion it is a brilliant place to start.
You don't have to touch brakes, diffs, gearboxes or anything along those lines.
Thus you can concentrate on getting an 18rg while you still drive the car around.
Freshen it up (yes, pull it apart, get new bearings, rings, timing chains, gaskets), and when it looks the goods, take the 18rc out, put the 18rg in and start to work out how to get it to run.

By doing it this way you get to learn in stages without overcommiting yourself.
you learn about engines (by pulling it apart and rebuilding it)
you learn about wiring of efi or fueling/piping of slightly different engines into the same car and what is involved, and you end up with a car that is more than adequate for every day driving.
Look in a couple of years time about your next step, such as the 1g, 3t, 3vz, 3s or 1uz as all of those engines require you to look at more things which ultimately will detract you from your goal of doing an engine conversion without loosing interest in it.

**RAIncarnated** · 29-09-2006, 08:03 PM

Heres an intesting additon to the crossmember question, would a Carina crossmember do the trick? its a T series crossmember! Or incorrect width again

**MWP** · 29-09-2006, 10:51 PM

Forget about the 3T-GTE.
Its now quite old, and does not have any advantages over the 1G-GTE.

The 1G-GTE will be easier to find, easier to install, may be cheaper and of course, more powerful.
Leave the 3T-GTE's for the TA22 guys.

**GasedT18** · 10-01-2007, 09:34 PM

Hi all,

while searching for info on 3T-GTEU's - I'm interested in obtaining one for quite specific reasons, I came across this thread.

I detect more than a little dismissive tone in some replies to twentyEight's question - even though it was quite optimistic 'slot straight in' . While I am not familiar with RA28's and I know there are post which cover many aspects of one conversion or another it can be quite a slog searching to get comprehensive, detailed and accurate information that assumes little or no prior knowledge (I have enough difficulty matching up model numbers to what I think the car looks like). It's not as if there are stickies documenting the conversions that a novice could follow without asking so called 'dumb' questions and includes a list of required parts and sources for them. Perhaps the best bet is to find someone, if your lucky, who is know to have done exactly the same thing and PM them and hope they have time for you?

I think barned01 has some wise advice ....."By doing it this way you get to learn in stages without overcommiting yourself" and there does appear to be some effort going into getting improved performance out of 18R-xxx's
(cf http://www.toymods.net/forums/showth...highlight=18R).

That it is suggested that twentyEight does a 6 cyl conversion when he's indicated a 4 cyl conversion seems ludicrous to me.

While the 3T-GTEU is 'old' and hard to find it doesn't make it an unreasonable choice. I'm old and hard to find

. Any engineers certificate process if required for this conversion would likely to be simpler by virtue of the fact that the 3T-GTEU is a 4 cyl engine with less power (~160 BHP in factory condition) than the 6 cyl 1G-GTE (~180-210 BHP in factory condition) - which I would have thought would require at least better anchors and others as Smokey228 has pointed out

I think the question comes down to why bother with a 3T-GTEU conversion when there are bolt on mods to the existing engine that would be a better bang for the buck.

For me a 3T-GTEU or 2T-GTEU/3T hybrid makes sense as I have a T-18 (TE-72) and I'd prefer to stick with the same engine (block) number that is on my reg. But yes finding them (3T-GTEU) is difficult - especially an unmolested one - Not everyone can afford to do complete conversions in one go or spend hugh dollars all at once either - and this may mean for me sticking within the HP limits of the existing clutch and gearbox for a while.

Cheers

David