i have the chance to buy a very nice 84 celica gts. the body is near perfect and the engine is good to. i want to buy the thing and drive it for a year or so and save up for a major project. a 13bt or13bre or 20b. i wanted to know if anyone has done this to a 84 celica. i know their are plenty of older celica and corollas out their with rotarys. and i have seen the video of the corolla with the 20b. but i just wanted to know what i may be getting myself into for this swap?

 

Man, I can think of a lot of good swaps but that's not one of them. That model Celica is a heavy car and with a rotary... no thanks.

Just leave it all Toyota so you can easily sell it again in the future and spend your cash on something else. Go with a 22RE-T if you want to be different. That woould be a nice setup and help the resale out.

 

well that model celica weighs in at 2750 lbs. thats around the same as most 2nd gen rx7s. so i dont think it would be a bad swap at all. now i dont know the exact weight difference between a 22re versus a 13b but i doubt the rotary is heavier.

the stock 22re pushes out a blazing 105 hp 137 tq.

now versus a stock s5 13bt at 200hp 196tq.

i think im going to be heading in the right direction.

also on these model celicas the 22re sits a little to the front. ive read on some celica forums about using the rotary to make it more of front-mid engine car.

 

I was referring to the 22RE-T... as in a factory Toyota 22RE-Turbo. Lots of cheap mods for those engines. They were offered in some of the old Toyota pickups from the 80's.

You were speaking of a 20B into a AE86 chassis Corolla earlier, that's a night and day difference. IIRC those model Celica/Supras don't have the greatest support here for that independent suspension either. At least the really old Celica chassis used a straight axle so you could go ballz to the wall fairly easy.

I like some fugly cars, but IMHO that model Celica is truly butt ugly. It's your money so do what makes you happy but that's my 2 cents!

 

I say throw in a p-ported 4 port 13b and then slap on a big turbo and enjoy. with a haltech or something.
You are getting into a bunch of custom stuff but if you know how to weld and have access to one this whole thing should be easy.

goodluck