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Hi Rx peoples, I know that the RX is not the most popular candidate for motor swaps but just wanted to ask if anyone out there has thought about it or planned it or even done it post in here and share your results.
I have always had in the back of my mind a thought that if the auto trans ever goes ont he wifes RX300 I would convince her I had to order a 3sgte with a awd 5 spd transmission and just find a way, any way to get it into the RX all working and happy. I know the mr2 guys swap in the 1mz v6 from our cars all the time into the mr2 which holds a 3sgte, so I think its likely quite possible.
In fact the auto trans would bolt up to the 3sgte as far as I can research they are compatible, but I don't think the auto trans would last with turbo power especially after raising the boost.
Is there anyone else out there who can vision a 3sgte awd manual rx300, likely lowered a couple inches on some agressive wheels. I can just picture awd burnouts in a small SUV just causing mass confusion and happiness at the same time. anyways, its just a thought I have had for a while thought I would share that it could be a possible swap but likely pretty difficult to figure out all the parts for the first guy. lets see what happens with the RX in the future.
It would definitely make quite the sleeper if that was done!
The only non-stock engine swap that I can remember being done, was a 3MZ-FE swap which was done a few months ago.
I like to browse craigslist for cars, and I once came upon an RX300 with a manual transmission. I should have emailed and asked for details, but I didn't.
A 3mz swap is definately interesting but not enough future bolt on power for me, I would love to push a 3sgte to around 400hp and see how fun the car is . would probably get good gas mileage out of boost also.
as for a manual rx300, it wouldn't be as hard as the full swap you can pretty much get Solara 5 speed and bolt it up for a fwd model and figure out some combination of axles to use, for an awd model you would prob be looking at the celica awd trans and maybe the v6 soloara bellhousing will swap over, not really positive on that one. I am sure there is some frankenstein of toyota parts that would get the job done, but it would be much more fun to leave it bolted to the 3sgte and drop the whole thing in there.
I would venture to say swapping in this car will take longer due to having to figure every little thing out, but might be worth it instead of repairing the auto.
only thing I couldn't see working out is the engine management, I don't think they have an obd2 ecu for a 3sgte.
would have to use some newer 4 cylinder ecu (maybe a 1zz or 2zz ecu?) and some sort of advanced piggyback as I like my cars to have everything working.
The RX300 keeps going though so hopefully I wont have to consider it for several more years.
Yeah, the 3MZ-FE doesn't offer enough of a performance boost to bother with doing a swap, IMO.
The ECU would definitely be a cause for concern. Do you have emissions testing in CO?
How many miles on your RX?
For the effort, i would agree its wouldn't be worth it but the extra torque would be fun in a 1st gen body but don't expect burnouts.
Slapping on the TRD supercharger would be much easier to add fun if you can find a good condition one.
Reportedly, the 1mzfe supercharger for the Solara dynoed 260+whp. however, the driveline loss of an RX is much higher and would bring that number down.
While you can't compare one dyno to the next due to calculation and condition differences, to give an idea of drivetrain loss, here is a dyno chart someone posted a while back showing a 21% drivetrain loss at the wheels for a stock awd RX.. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...yno-chart.html
Note the baseline dyno for the 1st gen is 156whp.
I gotta admit the idea of putting in like a 5 speed trans does sound cool to get the highway rpm's down and hopefully provide more gear ratios in turn providing a bit better fuel mileage. And the idea of slapping on a turbo or supercharger does sound cool too but its all a question of whether or not it is feasible and how much work is involved, etc.
I gotta admit the idea of putting in like a 5 speed trans does sound cool to get the highway rpm's down and hopefully provide more gear ratios in turn providing a bit better fuel mileage. And the idea of slapping on a turbo or supercharger does sound cool too but its all a question of whether or not it is feasible and how much work is involved, etc.
well that is a very interesting find, forgot about the support there is for these v6's, and it does run well its just got no punch and the auto transmission loss is huge thing
I understand most of these swaps in this chassis are not worth the effort yet, but once someone does it and everyone knows how everything changes.
so maybe the best thing is to keep the motor and ecu, supercharge it, throw a piggyback on it, and fit the celica awd manual transmission w/lsd to it, that would actually be pretty nice still and make good power.
I will have to look into this whole celca AWD trans with the v6 bellhousing on it and see if it is even possible.
I have heard there is an abundance of them out there for cheap because the celica guys over here swap them in their fwd cars and junk the awd transmissions as its not worth converting a 2wd celica to an awd all-trac generally speaking. apparently another awd trans option is the rav 4. http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43696
this thread in post 4 the guy says an all trac transmission will bolt up to a 1mz. pretty nice if that is the case. the celica shares the same engine layout as the RX300 does. http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...nsmission.html
Good post. Thanks for stirring some interest in the RX...
I think the best bang for the buck may be to have a trans specialist give an honest quote to beef up the trans.
Then drop in a 3.3 motor with the SC, then piggyback the ECU.
Drop her down a couple inches.
Should be real fun.
For those who have serious cash to build up the 1MZFE correctly for serious boost either by turbo or SC, here is something i came across that will whet the appetite or turn your stomach
For those who have serious cash to build up the 1MZFE correctly for serious boost either by turbo or SC, here is something i came across that will whet the appetite or turn your stomach
Thats not a turbo. Its a super charger.
Unless youre referring to a link up top.
Oh; my bad then! lol. If you mean that round thing on the lower right of the pic; then that is what i thought was a turbo. But if its a supercharger then thats pretty sick too!
i dont think i wanna know how much that setup cost to put together!. Can you say ouch? I sure can lol .
Last edited by matts6887; Apr 19, 2015 at 07:32 AM.
Reason: editing
wow that is one sick 1mz, and it is definitely a large turbocharger where the battery normally is.
the build list does say a trd supercharger but I don't see it on top of the motor its pretty hard to miss it has a pulley facing the left and says trd on it so not sure what happened there.
It would seem building up the motor is a better idea than swapping, but building the auto is expensive and its still an auto. If someone works out a manual swap that can hold some power then the RX performance scene would be set.
Engine Swaps
