Gen 4 engine into ST185 All Trac

Considering. I am told it is very straight forward. Keeping Gen4 Air/Air intercooler and AllTrac hood. looking for reliable street use and trouble free long distance driving. Any documented conversions, pictures, advice or known complications/ contraindications? The rest of my street ST185 AllTrac is in very good shape.
 

alltracman78

Active member
To start, I've never done this. All my "advice" is what I've read/been told.

Physically it should bolt right in. You can use your 185 transmission or the 215/245 one. Even the auto if you so desired [though you'd have to source a shift cable and shifter].
Wiring shouldn't be that difficult, there's nothing crazy like drive by wire or fiber optic signals.

The intercooler doesn't fit with the Alltrac hood, it's larger than the 185 one. You have to cut part of the hood bracing. Not worth it for me. This is the main reason I went with a 205 engine instead of a 215.
 
There is somebody who does turn key wiring. They modify the Gen4 harness to plug into ST185 directly. Very clean results. I am told the hood has to be trimmed but will fit at the end with stock outside apperance. I also heard that ac and power steering lines connect right up to Gen 4 pumps. Have never seen a finished product or pics.
 

UtahSleeper

Active member
rallygarage":3eep7jv4 said:
There is somebody who does turn key wiring. They modify the Gen4 harness to plug into ST185 directly. Very clean results. I am told the hood has to be trimmed but will fit at the end with stock outside apperance. I also heard that ac and power steering lines connect right up to Gen 4 pumps. Have never seen a finished product or pics.

Wiregap does turn key wiring. You send them your stock harness with the harness from the 4th gen and they make it 1. Worked well on my st165.
 
Yes. Wiregap was recomended. Thanks. I am not worried about cutting hood reenforcement on St185. Still easier then St165 I am told.
 

UtahSleeper

Active member
rallygarage":1lz3ftx9 said:
Yes. Wiregap was recomended. Thanks. I am not worried about cutting hood reenforcement on St185. Still easier then St165 I am told.

Yes, cause we dont have a scoop to work with lol.

I just cut a whole and plan on getting an appropriate scoop when I finish the rest of the car.
 

GT4times2

Moderator
I have a 4th Gen/Caldina swap in one of my Celicas (st185). The swap is relatively straight forward. A few snags here and there, but it's not a PITA. I'm not done with everything. Nothing I couldn't finish up in a weekend (what's left of it, anyways). I just haven't had time lately. I dealt with Doug from WireGap in Atlanta, GA. Pretty straight forward guy that'll get the job done. Here are a few (rough) pics. Again, I will start my project thread for this car and the others and get into details.



 

lumbercis

Moderator
My car has a running caldina engine also. Pretty much everything bolts up. The only thing I'd have done different is not use the ST215 gearbox. For one, it's still an E150F, so I don't think it has the beefed up syncros like the ST205 gearbox. More importantly, it doesn't have the internal gear to run a mechanical speed sensor so you'll lose speedo and tach. I think it's easier to use the original gearbox or source a 205 gearbox. The ST215 one doesn't seem to be anything special.

You'll need a tach adapter...I would NOT use the common MSD adapter. That's what I have and it's been flaky. Spend some extra money on something more reliable like an M&W. There's probably other options.

You'll need a custom midpipe solution to connect to the 215 catalytic converter. Or else a custom downpipe which I would think would be harder. This only applies if you're using the stock gen4 manifold-turbo. Standard gen3 manifold/turbos bolt up and exit in the stock location.

You should upgrade the fuel pump to a 550cc unit which is what the stock caldina uses. OEM Supra pump is the same part # I think.

Can't think of anything else that's a big gotcha. I used "mr220v" aka Wiregap for my harness and it was excellent work.

http://www.primemr2.com/ are the current gen4 gurus and can answer any questions you have: Unless you're a dedicated DIY'er you might just want to have them take care of your swap for you.

Good luck,
J
 
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