SA63 W55 into RA65 auto

[Aus_James]

Hi all,

I have an SA63 manual with a W55 box that I want to put into my RA65 which is an auto. Other than the bell housing, will I need any other parts?

Or will I be able to get all the parts (pedals, hydraulics, flywheel, tail shaft etc.) from the SA63 and just need a bell house for a W5x to 22RE engine?

cheers

[red_rolla20v]

i have a manual ra65 with the 22re motor and the w55 box mated fine. but you may have a different bellhousing because of the sa63 engine? ive scrapped that motor and put a 4age 20v in and re-using the w55 so ive got that bellhousing just sitting at work if you end up needing/wanting it.

and as far as i know the only difference between sa63 and ra65 is crossmember, instrument cluster and a few other little things. pedals, hydraulics should be the same, flywheel you will need from an manual 22re, and same for tailshaft

[Aus_James]

Hi Red Rolla, thanks for the reply. But I've since solved this problem by buying a manual RA65. So I now have the SA63 manual and RA65 auto for sale. They're in the for sale section.

I appreciate the offer but for now, I don't need it. However, I am interested in your car and how it goes with the 20v. People complain that the car engine wouldn't have enough torque for an RA65, but I find that hard to believe. How does it go?

Was it hard to install and mate to the W55? What bell housing did you use? something from the W50 range?

[red_rolla20v]

haha all good

well the turbo should make up for the lack in capacity in the engine...but it isnt finished yet! still have another couple bits to assemble but the engines in...only required a little bit of mucking around with mounts to fit it. ive done the coilpack conversion and bought the cooling bits off Sam Q so i don't need to mess with the firewall. should be firing it up next couple of weeks and then i may do a build thread...

as for the bellhousing, i bought one off a guy on here (can't remember name) and mated straight up to both gearbox and engine perfectly but the bottom shield doesn't line up...everything else is fine. its a custom one but no labels or anything althought i think its the same as the niteparts one.

anyway im hoping that the package ive made will give the ra65 chassis plenty of go!

[Aus_James]

Ah, a turbo will really make it go! However, I think a 20v with 160+hp would still make the RA65 into a fun little car. They aren't as small or light as the AE86 which is 950kgs, but at 1150kgs, they are still quite light. And taking out the 22RE 2.4 engine and putting in the 4AGE should save a little weight too. Where about's in Melbourne are you?
I'm out in the eastern suburbs near Bayswater and I've met another bloke in Ringwood doing up an RA65 for drifting. A few of us around!

[red_rolla20v]

living and working in huntingdale at the moment...

yeah ive met another guy with a red ra60...i do agree with the power it SHOULD make, the weight difference will be almost insignificant. and i like the size of the interior compared to the ae86...

its good to see us old celica boys amongst the ae86's hoping to make some toyota meets when the cars up and running and i get my licence back hehe

[CrUZida]

I haven't read all the replies, but the SA63 shifter position (ie, where it comes out of the box) is wrong for an RA65. So you'll need one of those (from either RA60, RA65 or MA61).

You'll also need a tailshaft as the SA63 will not fit (too long)

[Aus_James]

Yup, thanks for that. In the end I've found an RA65 manual, so I'm now selling off both SA63 manual and a lovely RA65 auto.

The reason I went RA65 was because it allows more engine options than the AE86, not to mention much cheaper to start with. I do track days with my father in an MX5 and it's about as good as a four cylinder sports car as you can get, so I want something different. I'm thinking a 1UZ V8, hopefully the VVTI version. Maybe the 1GGTE but they are harder to come by now, only 2 litre and not as proven as a 1JZ. But the 1JZ is very heavy as well.

It'll probably come down to what is available and what skills I can utilise to install and tune. I want to keep the costs down, use the W55 gearbox and standard diff which means I'm capped to about 300-350hp. If I want more, then I'll need at least the R154 (1.5k) and a different diff plus all the work to make it fit. Starts to get really expensive. I'm hoping to have something for around 4-5k on the road. I'm currently up to 1.8k for a stock car with some sportier suspension.