ae101 engine conversion

[GUDGRL]

Hey all,

ive got a fully standard ae101 levin with a 4A-FE engine that has 171kms on the clock.
is it worth buying a 20v silvertop engine for $350 (not sure on kms) and chucking that in?
Also how much roughly do you reckon the conversion would cost?

im selling her atm coz of the kms and the engine, but if its a good idea to chuck tht engine in then ill get onto modifying her.

Thanx, any help is much appreciated

[pidge]

There is little point modifying one car to be the same as one that is readily available. All you do is piss money away on the project... (I've been there, done that, could have taken a year off my mortgage or bought a AE101 GTZ levin in 1999/98...)

For an engine conversion, you will need:
- Engine
- ECU (i.e. more $$)
- Wiring loom (even more $$)
- Gearbox (assuming the 4AFE gb is different from the 20v 4AGE one)
- Time (or more $$$ again)

By the time you have done that, the you will have altered the car suffciently that you may need to get a cert. Not to mention insurance hassles because of having a modified car.

You have a perfectly adaquate car at the moment. Go open a savings account that gives extra interest for putting money each month (e.g. National Bank goal saver - you get bonus interest for simply putting in $20 a month), and put the money you won't be spending on putting 98 octane in each fill of your tank. Once you have enough to buy a 20v Levin, buy it and sell your 4AFE Levin. Then you have a Levin with a 20v engine, and its not modified.

[Chickenman]

Yeah, what pidge said. I'm more interested in where you getting a 20v for $350? I looking for nother engine 3sge=$1100+gst(gen 3 i think, not sure)
3sfe $550. So who your contacts?

[Distrb]

There is little point modifying one car to be the same as one that is readily available. All you do is piss money away on the project... (I've been there, done that, could have taken a year off my mortgage or bought a AE101 GTZ levin in 1999/98...)

For an engine conversion, you will need:
- Engine
- ECU (i.e. more $$)
- Wiring loom (even more $$)
- Gearbox (assuming the 4AFE gb is different from the 20v 4AGE one)
- Time (or more $$$ again)

By the time you have done that, the you will have altered the car suffciently that you may need to get a cert. Not to mention insurance hassles because of having a modified car.

You have a perfectly adaquate car at the moment. Go open a savings account that gives extra interest for putting money each month (e.g. National Bank goal saver - you get bonus interest for simply putting in $20 a month), and put the money you won't be spending on putting 98 octane in each fill of your tank. Once you have enough to buy a 20v Levin, buy it and sell your 4AFE Levin. Then you have a Levin with a 20v engine, and its not modified.

amen to that!

someone please archive this, and make a copy, and put it somewhere that all can see....

but in all reality, by the time one has saved the required moneys to do what is detailed in the quote above... the focus will have changed towards a different car................

it always does

[pidge]

amen to that!

someone please archive this, and make a copy, and put it somewhere that all can see....

but in all reality, by the time one has saved the required moneys to do what is detailed in the quote above... the focus will have changed towards a different car................

it always does

It's like the Sub WRX nutters. They buy the WRX for about $16k, then crank the boost up.

Oh no, the clutch is slipping. Better get a grippier clutch...
$2k+ later, new clutch.

(couple of hard luanches later) BANG. Scratch one standard WRX Gearbox. Put in STI gearbox or WRX gearbox with uprated internals (<insert deity of choice> knows how much)

(couple of hard launches later) BANG. Scratch the centre Diff... etc

Moral of the story: if you want an STI, just buy one.... If you can't afford the STI, guess what, you can't afford to peform the incremental upgrades to a base model car to meet the specs of the top model. There's a reason they cost that much. Buy a run-a-bout until you can afford what you really want. Oh, AND DON'T FORGET YOUR INSURANCE!

Mind you, a friend of my did reasonably well, got a modded (intake, Exhaust, Phissshhh BOV etc) 1997 WRX Manual for about $11k landed and on-road costs. Mind your, the 1st/2nd gear synchros are borked, and 3rd isn't too hot. And it didn't seem faster than my (AFAIK) bog standard Levin GTZ...


Separate rant:
If you can afford to buy a car but not to run it, (petrol, Registration, maintenance, insurance), don't buy the car. It will end in misery. as a rough guess, running costs for a car are between 20c to 30c a km, plus the fixed yearly costs fro Rego, warrant and insurance - and thats a total of $400 to $1000 depending on the car and driver - ie $10 to $25 a week.

[toyonut]

it is not worth it because the engine you are converting to is readily available any way and you will need a cert for brakes, suspension and engine because it produces more power than a 4A-FE. Some of these may not require a cert, eg brakes and suspension, but you will probably have to uprate them as well.

[GUDGRL]

cheers for all that info guys, definantly makes sense not to do it!

chicken man: i found it on trademe. heres the link.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 965928.htm i dont know if its any good, but it was just an idea.

thanx again guys