Well folks after much deliberation and last minute jitters as to whether or not I want to actually do this,,,

It has begun and the shop has the car now.

I will post as many pictures as I can as the swap is performed.

The motor is a 20 Valve 4AGE Toyota twincam, called a
"BLACKTOP" it is rated by Toyota at 165 horsepower. The motor will remain essentially stock and employ the factory ECU and ITB fuel injection as it comes from Toyota. Transmission is a T-50 from a Corolla GTS.

Wish me luck,, I am nervous as heck!

Jay

Good luck, sounds like a very interesting swap -- and should be quite something to drive when you are done.

So the power to weight ratio of a Saturn V should be enough then?
Good luck indeed Jay, I've always had a high regard for this swap and look forward to pics / vids.

woohoo!!

Wow, wonders if it will fly.

Hey! I wanna do that one. Keep a detailed record please.

So what is going under the rear end to keep all that power on the pavement? This one is going to be fun! How much does the Toyota engine and tranny weigh compared to a 1275 and tranny?

I am very interested in the t-50 swap as I believe it could be a good candidate for 1500 5-speed. Please keep us posted.


Oh... and ITB's are the bomb!

The rear end is also going to be Corolla GTS. They come with LSD if you pick the right one and obviously, it will have to be narrowed etc.

Last numbers I looked through the trans weighs a little less and the motor a little more for a whopping gain of about 20 pounds, so a new glass hood should take car of that. My hood has those pins at the front and is also cracking so I wanted to replace it with a FG one anyway, just didn't want to do a whole one piece glass nose since my front fenders are extremely nice.

The motor fits without the heater tray removed and I'd like to keep the stock heater depending on whether or not the distributor hits it. This motor has the dizzy driven off the rear of the exhaust cam.

Jay

Get rid of that dizzy and install Megajolt!



Yeah, your gonna need to get rid of that extra 20 pounds with only a 110HP gain over stock.

Move the heater back, and move the battery to the trunk.

Battery to the trunk is an idea I was kicking around... hadn't thought about moving the heater back. I suppose it would still be above that "plenum thing" in the rearmost position.

Of course there isn't alot of room in the trunk either with the flux capacitor back there and all!

You have to build a new plenum, but it would be easy to do. Moving the battery to the back might also give you better weight distribution and lower your center of gravity (you could possibly recess it a bit.

I thought I've seen one of these conversions before and it involved doing some major surgery to the transmission tunnel and the front cross member. Need to go and do some research this one. I can see it now, no Honey that spare 1275 that has been cluttering the back of the garage up and that spare tranny, they'll be there for a while until my next project is complete. Oh that other engine and transmission and rear end and yes I'm going to hang it from the garage I-beam and lower it into the car. And yes you won't have access to the garage for your car for another year or so. I can hear it now. Time to start hiding extra cash for this project.

So what did the Corolla GTS run you? What are you figuring on the cost to drop the Toyota drivetrain into your Spridget. Hopefully figure on making it a Round Arch as well to fit some bigger tires under the rear end.

Motor, complete with ECU, Alternator, Injection etc
= $1200

Transmission, T-50 5 speed
= $350

Rear End assy, with narrowing job and mods for pickups etc.
= $750

Swap labor and fabrication,
= $1700

I budgeted 4-5K for the whole thing complete and this is what the shop owner and I agreed to after selecting pieces to be used.

Things that may err,,,,, WILL be additional,

Guages,
Brakes,
Frontline / Huffaker or like coil over front suspension
Clutch

Thanks did find several sites on Toyota - Spridgets swaps when I Googles 4AGE and Spridget. Not in ther budget this week but good to know. This swap is just about double what a 5 Speed conversion is and then it is so much more. Wil lbe intersting to watch and follow your porgress . Take lots of pics. So do we have an estimated completion date yet?

Estimated completion time is two weeks. But honestly I am expecting it to be a full month.

I may have decided to replace the seats I just spent a fortune on having redone since, once in the car,,, I just don't like them. New bottom pans and foam kits from moss, new upholstery and all fitted by a proffesional and,,,,, I feel like I am sitting on a huge pillow. Maybe I can have some foam taken out of the bases but I am thinking about racing seats instaead and just upholstered to match the cars red interior. Bummer..

Well that was quick!

they have had the car a half of a day and have called me to pick up my 1098 and trans (rivergate 5 speed)..

Maybe it will take less than a month.

You wouldn't uh...be...uh..selling that 5 spd...would ya?
I've got a 1275 rebuilt and sitting in the garage that's just dying to have one behind it before I install it!
Seriously..if you're interested in selling it, send me a PM.

Thanks,
Devin

RZ, I am very envious. You are going to have one fine car when this is done.