'89 Camry All-Trac engine options

RecklessWOT

New member
Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, tried searching and only came up with stuff about swapping in the 3S-GTE or Celica suspensions, etc.

A little background: I have an '89 that's in pretty decent shape. Only has 156k on it, body is straight and there's not a lot of rust for this area (though it died the day after a snow storm and I never washed it so sitting for 6 months covered in salt hasn't exactly been good for it). Rear struts are blown and it could use some exhaust work, but other than that I think the car is great and I don't want top get rid of it. Problem is, the thing doesn't run so well anymore now that there is a rod sticking out of the block (it will still start for short periods of time though to move it around the driveway with that rod slapping around and whatnot, gotta love Toyota). When the engine first blew up I thought it was a great excuse to throw in a GTE, but since then things have changed. I since bought a house in the white mountains of NH and am moving up there so not only are funds limited but I also am starting to realize that winter is coming up fast and my all-trac camry with it's little push button locking center diff is the only car I have in my fleet that's reasonable to try to drive through the harsh winters up there. I need to buy a truck too, but for now I think fixing the camry is my cheapest option, and I really just don't want to let it sit around anymore.




So long story short I am looking for the cheapest way to throw another engine in this thing. Not worried about performance, just want it running again. I tried just finding a replacement 3S-FE for it but being that it's AWD and from what I gather the crank is different on cars built before 5/89 makes it very specific and hard to find an engine at a junkyard. There's only 2 available anywhere near me but they have been sitting in inventory for about 5 years and they both have around 250k miles on them so i think I will pass on those. I don't care if it is the exact same engine or not, as long as it is compatible. Does anyone have any idea what other cars I can use an engine from? I want this to be a relatively simple swap with as little fabrication/modification as possible, and I'd like to keep it under $1k.
 

RecklessWOT

New member
masco":rtq7nhh4 said:
5sfe should bolt right in. run it on your stock camry electronics.

That's the 2.2 in late 90s Celicas and Camrys up to like 2000 or 2001 right? I think to bolt up to the diff there are some holes that need to be drilled and tapped, that about it? Should be easier to find and that little bit of extra power would definitely be appreciated
 

phattyduck

New member
To do a 5s-fe, you would need one that came stock with a distributor (so, '96 and earlier, I think?). You also will need the right flywheel - I'm not sure if the 6-bolt 3s-fe and 5s-fe are compatible. It might be a good time to do a clutch kit anyway.

Otherwise, yes - just a little grinding of the block. I think all the mount holes are there otherwise (a few guys on Toyotanation have done this swap now). Use all your stock 3s-fe manifolds, distributor and electronics.

-Charlie
 

RecklessWOT

New member
phattyduck":147edidc said:
To do a 5s-fe, you would need one that came stock with a distributor (so, '96 and earlier, I think?). You also will need the right flywheel - I'm not sure if the 6-bolt 3s-fe and 5s-fe are compatible. It might be a good time to do a clutch kit anyway.

Otherwise, yes - just a little grinding of the block. I think all the mount holes are there otherwise (a few guys on Toyotanation have done this swap now). Use all your stock 3s-fe manifolds, distributor and electronics.

-Charlie

This is extremely helpful. Thank you very much

Hah, and yeah I actually have a new clutch kit in the shed already- the last one was so shot it was hard to get up hills on the highway by the time the engine finally went (took some careful pedal work to keep that thing going down the street) due to a combination of having 150+k miles on the original clutch and the large rear main leak that played a large part in the death of the engine. As cooked as I let that thing get I would assume I'd need a new flywheel by now anyway (or some serious resurfacing if it turns out I can use it). I really hope that kit will be compatible with the new flywheel, I'll have to look into it
 
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