4th gen 3sgte into st185 celica

[loudstealthGT-Four]

Hey guys, have found a motor with loom and ecu for a sale near me from a caldina st215. What I'm wondering is will it bolt in? And will the wiring need to be altered to suit the st185 sensors and that?

Cheers Tyler

[GTT Kerryn]

Pretty sure you can use your existing engine mounts, loom, sensors and ECU - correct me if im wrong guys but it should be a straight enough swap... however 4th Gen 3SGTE has a higher compression so you will need an ECU chip set and tune...

?

[Alex B]

So in other words you need an aftermarket ECU?

[sergei]

Very different engine.
You will have issues with trying to run ST185 ECU bits with ST215 engine. For starters there is no distributor (DLI). Different crank sensor signal. Different injectors (top 540 vs side 440).

You course of action will be using ST215 sensors/injectors and ECU/loom and mating it to ST185 body loom, or using an aftermarket ECU.

Other than that it will bolt on.

[loudstealthGT-Four]

I'm getting the ecu and loom as well just wondering if the loom will plug into the st185 sensors and stuff on the firewall or will I need to buy st215 sensors

[Akane]

I think the main problem is trying to sort out a (cheap) solution for DLI.

The cheapest I think will be running dual ECU, using the Caldina ECU to control the spark/fuel/temp, while the ST185 ECU controls the other boring stuff (aircon / rad fan) and stuff like vehicle speed etc might need to be spliced and sent to both ECU's?

But then how will the ST185 ECU get a engine RPM signal......
hmmmmmmm :S

[Alex B]

I don't see it being fun. Fivebob will be the man with the answer, but I have a feeling it may not even run, especially if its an auto ECU.

[loudstealthGT-Four]

It's a manual ecu

[sergei]

How much of an engine you have?

Judging by how you have described it you have only long block.

This could be a real pain. I am 99% certain ST185 manifolds will not bolt on.
Do you have injectors?
Do you have coils?
Do you have inlet manifold?

If you have semi-complete engine, then course of actions is simple:
get rest of the sensors (WTS and air temp does not have to be off ST215 caldina, as long as it is off same heritage and same plugs Toyota it should work).
Since you are getting ST215 Engine loom with manual ECU, it will fairly simple for an observant person to splice it with current loom (to get power and other bits to ECU, and to supply speed signal and various warning lights and tacho signals to dash).

If you missing whole bunch of stuff, the best way is to get cheapish Links and use them with minimal sensor setup. You will need generic water and air temp sensor, map sensor is built in budget Links, I am fairly certain Link is capable of driving 4 coil/igniters.

TL;DR:
Use Caldina ECU and sensors to run the engine, you will have to splice the looms together (no plug & play).

[fivebob]

Shouldn't be a problem if you have the complete loom. All sensors are on the motor so there's no need to interface to any ST185 sensors. Although there will probably be some extra wiring for which you will not have corresponding parts on the ST185, this won't be a problem as none of them will affect how the ECU functions.

However you will also need the plugs for the cabin part of the loom that connects to the ECU, but they're easy enough to get hold of.

The only (minor?) issue will be the evap system, would be best if you got the ST215 system with the motor, but I'm sure it wouldn't cause any unsolvable problems if you don't.

[fivebob]

Also the ST185 tacho won't work as it is basically a coil -ve trigger an the ST215 tach output won't supply the necessary voltage.

There may be an issue with the A/C idle up as I'm not sure the the signals from the ST185 A/C computer are compatible.

[jayray]

Are you saying you can get an ST215 motor to work (with the standard ecu) in another car fivebob?
I think I read somewhere you saying its all but impossible to make it work in an sw20?

[fivebob]

Are you saying you can get an ST215 motor to work (with the standard ecu) in another car fivebob?

If the ECU is a manual one then there should only be minor issues, like A/C and Power Steering load inputs and tacho outputs.

If it's an auto ECU I have no idea if it will work or not as ST215 Auto ECUs interface to the TRC/VSC systems, and may not like the lack of signals. There is also the issue of the missing signals/outputs from the auto .

[loudstealthGT-Four]

I would be getting complete engine from throttle body to downpipe with everything on the engine. Not planning on having A/C so would be removing all nessesary stuff for that.

[speedracer07]

we had to install an MSD tach adaptor (pn 8920) to get the tach working.

http://www.msdpowersports.com/pdf/frm22049_pn8920.pdf

Dr. Tweak from phoenix tuning (www.phoenixtuning.com) in the USA does a harness conversion service and has put quite a few caldina's into st-185's.

I just had him redo my harness for my sw20 (car was running but I had no faith in the wiring as the mechanic I had do it did a hack job). IMO it was well worth the money to ship it to him to get it done.

R