Turbo Charged Rav 4

Greetings everybody!
I know this is a Celica forum but I have a technical question and I think this the right place. I'm in Jamaica and I have a turbocharged rav 4. The setup is basically a 3sfe motor with the 3sgte turbo, manifold and top-mount intercooler. The internals are stock and it runs pretty good, 165HP to the wheels and 175lb ft of torque coming from stock figures of 105HP to the wheels and 114lb ft of torque.
Anyway, my question is this, I'm trying to get some more power out of my car so I'm thinking about getting the 3sgte pistons & rods. Now everybody tells me the same thing - GET A 3S-GTE and be done with it, but those motors are ridiculously expensive and very hard to get so I'm trying a "work-around". Plus I’m trying to avoid the headache of an entire engine swap. Now my research so far has shown that the blocks are fundamentally the same barring a few differences, and the bore X stroke are the same (86mm X 86mm) but I need to know if the 3sgte rods will work with the 3sfe crank? can anyone shed some light???

Welcome to the board, and your Rav4 sounds like fun.

However, I don't think any of us has ever messed around with the internals of a 3sfe so I doubt you'll get that answer here. But who says 3sgte's are expensive? Excluding shipping, you can get one for $500-1000 depending on condition and what the engine includes. Swapping the engine in is your best bet unfortunately.

Good luck though.

I hear you db. But you have to remember that I'm in Jamaica and our exchange rate is 1 us dollar = 65 Jamaican dollars. so a 1000 dollar engine to you is a 65,000 dollar engine to me. and that’s just a straight conversion that doesn't include the shipping and the custom duty that I'm gonna be charged when it gets here. Those engines usually run about 85 TO 90,000 dollars here (when u can get one), and that doesn't include the gearbox either. A complete engine & gear box is easily between 120-150,000 dependent on where u buy it so I'm better off swapping the internals at least cost wise

hey grip addict, sorry bout the cross posting not too verse on using a forum and was jus tryin to cover all the bases. Anyway, to answer your question, I don't know if the 3SGTE head will fit on the 3SFE block but on my car I used the stock 3SFE head with a little porting and polishing and it works pretty well so I'm not gonna mess with anymore. I jus want to strenthen the bottom end since I want to run more boost. That's why I was checkin on the Rods & Crank match up.

If you wanna know about that kind of thing i would ask the MR-2 boards as well. And a buddy of ours here on the boards who did the same thing to his rav 4


his name on the boards is

DJSUENO
same name on AIM ....(sorry if you didnt want you name out )


Good luck

my goodness...i would be the MAN in jamaica! lol

I know one big difference is the 3s-ge and gte have oil squirters underneath the pistons. Maybe you should try to find a 3sge short block.