1994 Corolla 4agze Conversion

okay, so here's the deal. i've been leaking coolant through the head for awhile. i took the car to my mechanic, and he said i either have a blown head gasket or a cracked head. either of which i'd have to fix myself, due to having no money. he also informed me that my transmission was basically shot. he's very trustworthy, and i have no doubt that it is.

so it'd all probably cost me well over $500 just for parts. well, so i was thinkin, would it be possible to drop my 1.6 liter stock engine and throw in a 4agze? i could get a good deal on the engine/tranny combo. i mean, more than $500, but it'd be well worth it. and i could get a lot more power. if i'm going to swap the head gasket and transmission anyway, i'd just as soon swap everything and get all the benefits of a good engine.

how possible is this? will it be able to be installed without major body work? please help me out, i need my car back. also appreciated is any technical info (HP, etc.). what fuel efficiency am i shooting in the range of?

I tried putting a 1.8L 7A-FE engine into a car that I took out a 1.6L 4A-FE engine.

 

The engine fit physically (I did change the mounts and the transmission - not compatible with newer engine).

I also changed the main electrical wiring harness and the ECU/ECM.

The problem was that the connectors on the harness and the ECU/ECM were wired differently and I did not have the expertise to take the multi-pin connectors apart and re-wire them, so I pulled out the parts I put in and put a similar engine/tranny combination back in.

It was the same as what had come out, and after finding a bad relay, worked like a champ. I sold the car last month.

Now I have a 1994 that I am putting the 1.8L 7A-FE engine into. I basically bought another car to suit the engine I had already bought.

I have no idea what troubles you will run into by trying to swap a different engine (the 4AGZE) into it.

Maybe similar compatibility problems.

same engine mounts, you can get a trans with an LSD in it from an MR-2 for cheap, dont get a C series trans, get an E series as theyre more robust. you'll need a PCM and wiring harness uncut. look around for an engine which comes with an uncut harness and correct PCM.

bikes problems arent normal and were due to getting all the parts from all over, different engine than the pcm was, one was obd and the other obd2, different emissions specs as well.

same engine mounts, you can get a trans with an LSD in it from an MR-2 for cheap, dont get a C series trans, get an E series as theyre more robust. you'll need a PCM and wiring harness uncut. look around for an engine which comes with an uncut harness and correct PCM.

 

bikes problems arent normal and were due to getting all the parts from all over, different engine than the pcm was, one was obd and the other obd2, different emissions specs as well.

Definitely get the wiring harness and the ECM from the same donor - to avoid compatibility issues.

 

 

so lemme get this straight: if i pull the motor/trans/ecm/harness/etc. from an mr2, will it have the same mounting configuration as my corolla? will i be able to drop in the mr2 motor without major problems?

mr2 4agze should literally drop right in, i think all the mounts will be in the right places since theyre both A block motors. you might need to do a little axle work, since i think the outboard mr2 splines are different, so you just make a custom axle by taking both apart and adding an mr2 inboard to a corolla outboard.

yall're amazing. thanks so much for your help. i'll undoubtedly come back with some questions/project pics, but i'm good for now.

also check out and ask around on the corolla section at toyota nation, they know more about this than i do.

mr2 4agze should literally drop right in, i think all the mounts will be in the right places since theyre both A block motors. you might need to do a little axle work, since i think the outboard mr2 splines are different, so you just make a custom axle by taking both apart and adding an mr2 inboard to a corolla outboard.

Does that mean that the axles are different lengths?