88 Camry All-Trac. Motor Swap Qs/Progress

[flyingdutchman]

Picking up an 88 Camry All-Trac today with a trashed motor (hole in the block). I was wondering if a 3sGE would swap right in? Or do I absolutely need to get a 3Sfe. Otherwise I was thinking about getting a short block & rotating assembly from toyota and throwing the heads I have on there. Suggestions are appreciated!

Seems like all the importers only have the GEs and GTEs, etc. that'd be an awesome motor for later but right now I just want to get the car running.

Also, I read somewhere that the alltrac blocks had a set of holes tapped into them to mount the t-case to, is this true?

[88gt4DE]

Bolt up the same being both 4cyl . I would make sure you can get harness and ecu also ... those are prol def different. Short block from Toyota is prol discontinued I'm sure and if they do have it aint gonna be cheap ...

[flyingdutchman]

Hey thanks man, just found a JDM importer which has the all-trac specific motor for $650 & free delivery, so i'm going to take that route. Updates to follow!

[phattyduck]

There are a few of us Camry Alltrac guys on here. Let us know if you have more questions. If you get the right motor, it should be an 'easy' swap. Swapping to a GE or GTE motor would require re-wiring, but not a whole lot of other changes.

-Charlie

[88gt4DE]

GTE would be awesome ... good luck with the project

[flyingdutchman]

I'd love to throw the GTE in but I don't have the time at the moment, maybe in the future!

Ordered the engine today and almost have the old one all pulled out. Just need to remove the front swaybar and unplug the wires inside the car. Unfortunately shop isn't open until Monday :/ Going to the store tomorrow to get all the engine bits.

In the meantime, found a video on youtube which I'm pretty sure has the same car in it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA2xxv5HbfU) Sounds like it wasn't getting too much maintenance at the time

[88gt4DE]

Pictures !!!

[flyingdutchman]

No progress to report today, was busy at the shop. Snapped a few photos when I could. Shes a little dinged here and there but mostly good!

Motor also showed up today, seems good. Turns over nice and builds some compression. They really hack those things out of the clips though, looks like someone took bolt cutters to everything which attached it to the car ahaha.

[88gt4DE]

No progress to report today, was busy at the shop. Snapped a few photos when I could. Shes a little dinged here and there but mostly good!

Motor also showed up today, seems good. Turns over nice and builds some compression. They really hack those things out of the clips though, looks like someone took bolt cutters to everything which attached it to the car ahaha.

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Yeah they sure do hack them up ... must be nice to be on the hacking end

[flyingdutchman]

Yupp, but I pulled the manifolds/etc today, and thankfully it all looks good. Which means I have spares to play with! Hopefully the engine stand will be free tomorrow and I'll drop it out so yall can get some photos.

[flyingdutchman]

Dropped the motor today after some shenanigans. Does anybody know how to fix a broken captive nut on a swaybar to body mount? The nut is inside a frame pocket with no access.

Started moving parts over to the new engine. The only parts that look like they crossover are the alternator & p/s brackets. Also replaced some gaskets. Hoping to get the trans & transfer case moved over to the new engine tomorrow and maybe start installing.

[New Guy]

hooooooooooooooly- did you buy that near San Jose? I recognize the vid, he actually maintained it pretty well (at least the one in the vid, assuming they are the same rig) but it did the same thing mine did. It just sorta started knocking and blew up. I almost got him a 5S to swap in but the cheapest way to get it to him from where I was at the time (New Mexico) would be a hand delivery rather than shipping, and neither of us had the time/money to do that.

At least, I *think* I'm thinking of the same rig. But I do know for sure it was the guy in San Jose who popped an engine and was looking at a 5S. That's what I did with mine (same year as yours. ) and I can say the stock 5S is about perfect for a Camry All-Trac. I'm now looking at a future 5S-GTE with my bottom end rebuilt to go under a GTE head. Yeah, I blew my new motor up.

[flyingdutchman]

I picked it up in Richmond actually. The guy I got it from said it blew up while he had it, big oil streak in the street too! Plate number is 3CYG994. I guess I can't really say, but it definitely didn't sound good in the video, and the rod was hanging out of the back of block ahaha Anyway let him know its getting fixed, would've hated for one of these to go to the scrapper!

Yea I would've liked to do a different motor but with my budget & the time I have available it wasn't going to happen :/ We'll see what the future holds though; I always spend way too much money on my cars Sorry to hear about the 5S, what happened? Got any photos?

[New Guy]

I have a bunch available on ToyotaNation under the user name '88 All-Trac.

The 5S just started knocking, I was commuting to/from school and there's a curve in the highway designed to kill S-engined cars. (Steep uphill, with a sharp curve to the right at ~55mph, requiring use of a low gear and high-g turning for an extended period) but I shut it off before the knock got significantly loud.

I'm currently looking for a set of stock 3S-GTE rods, as the crank will proooobably need to be turned so I may as well get some stronger/lighter rods in there. Haven't looked yet to see if my big end got burnt.

I did my entire 5S swap (including new gaskets everywhere, the engine, and a Fidanza flywheel) for under $750.

[flyingdutchman]

Wow! Where'd you get the engine from to make that budget? I was having trouble finding a 3S-FE and ended up giving out $700 for just the engine, dammit. That sounds like an awesome build though! I found your build thread but I've got to get up early tomorrow, so it'll have to be a nice after-work read.