Ae82 + 3sge

[merc-blue]

I have been milling over this concept for abit
I started working at renault about 4 months ago and the clio sports are surprisingly good cars so the idea of building a AE82 with a 3SGE has been an idea i have been toying with.

I have the normal questions about conversions like has anyone seen it done? did it work? is it easy? can i shoehorn a whole ST162 front end into the car or similar?
I have done a few searches and found abit of info. it will fit in there but thats all i got,
Is there a particular model 3SGE i should look at like a later one from a ST204 or what ever the late model FWD celica is
I have seen a few rough unfinished 3SGTE conversions but im not looking for the ball smashing power of a turbz

[The Real Roadrunner]

check out the IPRA forums, there is a guy on there that runs an AE82 with a beams engine in it thats built by Yager, not sure on power output but the car is pretty quick around a circuit.

cheers
linden

[Shifty]

clio sports are surprisingly good cars so the idea of building a AE82 with a 3SGE has been an idea i have been toying with.
I like a car so I'm going to build something completely different

I have the normal questions about conversions like has anyone seen it done?
It's a fairly straightforward job and although there's a fair bit of work I think the results would be quite impressive. There's actually a video of two on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogi7izVp688
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5zmcH07JUQ

did it work?
I'm not sure what you mean by 'did it work' but yes the engine fit and the car ran and the guy was very happy with the performance. I'm in the middle of a 3SGTE conversion on mine, and it is all fairly straightforward.

is it easy?
I wouldn't call it "easy" but 95% of the stuff is available at your local wrecking yard. If your car isn't already EFI you can get the tank & lines from an AE82 Twin Cam, you can swap on brakes from various other Corolla/Celica/Camry models, the radiator from an SV21 Camry should work fine (assumign you want an upgrade, the stock radiator should be OK too).

I have a set of engine and gearbox mounts to bolt it in, if you're interested send me a PM and we can work something out. I can post them no problems. If you're located in Brisbane I also have other parts that would be very useful but are too big to ship.

can i shoehorn a whole ST162 front end into the car or similar?
I'm not sure why you'd want to, there are various bolt-up brake conversions for the AE82 so there is no need to swap everything over. The only other real drama will be the brake master cylinder which you'll need to change - I'm using a booster & master from an ST162 Celica.

I have done a few searches and found abit of info. it will fit in there but thats all i got, Is there a particular model 3SGE i should look at like a later one from a ST204 or what ever the late model FWD celica is
Apart from getting a FWD one, it doesn't matter.

Once you've got one in there, you should be able to chop and change without too many dramas. The later the engine the better condition it will be in and the more power it is likely to make, but it's also likely to be more expensive and have more complex wiring to deal with so a simple ST16x/ST18x swap will be heaps.

I have seen a few rough unfinished 3SGTE conversions
I assume you've seen my car on this forum. Having given you all this advice I'm very happy to have you call my car 'rough'



This is mine, it sits a little differently than this now but you get the idea. Obviously you'll have a lot more room at the front as mine has the turbo setup and you'll just have a normal exhaust.

It all fits in fine, main issues are:

custom engine mounts - I can hook you up with the main engine and gearbox mounts, and the others you can just adapt from an SV21 Camry, or probably even a Celica. I haven't gotten to those two yet but they're very simply.
crossmember clearance - you will need to either space the crossmember down 25mm, or have it modified slightly to accommodate the larger engine
wiring - make sure you ge the factory ecu & wiring loom with your engine, this will make wiring literally a one hour job.
battery tray - as you can see from my picture it fits fine with the tray in, but if you will be removing the engine a few times it's probably easier to delete the battery tray (which I have now done) as it makes it a little tricker to get in & out.

[merc-blue]

Shifty no thats not the one i saw, the one i saw was a compleate mess mounts looked like they were made with old guttering arch welded together. i mean REALLY rough.
and i would be intrested in the mounts if you got a few pics