E153 Trans Swap

[mikemounlio]

I will be going to a Toyota E153 trans in the near future. My goal is to have the car around the 600hp mark. In order to put that power down i will be swapping to the stronger e153 trans. This is going to take me quite a while to do as there is still plenty about the swap i do not know yet. I will be doing this swap into a Festiva. My end goal is a clean looking swap! I will be keeping track of everything i spend on the swap just in case someone else wants to do the same. I will also make sure to make a jig for my motor mounts! I dont see a big need for e153 mounts but hey you never know. I will be spending the next few months gathering parts. I am in no hurry as i dont have the funds all put together for the motor portion of the project so this is gonna be a slow slow trans swap.

Things i do know:
E153 is in the MR2 Turbo & the Toyota Camry v6 manual.
The E153 is hydro clutch release, cable shifted
To mount to the BP you will need an adapter plate (mine is sitting on my floor, no going back now)
The E153 is about 1.125" total wider with adapter then the g-series
The E153 uses an intermediate shaft just like the G-series box.
The axles bolt to the trans and to the INT. shaft

Things i dont know:
Mount locations on the box
which all hydro parts i will need ( will look at hydro g-series cars for parts)
How to mount the Camry shifter linkage
The offset from where the drivers side axle mounts to the trans to the mounting face of the trans to the block.
The width of the axle mounting locations.

As you can see i have many questions and lots of parts to gather. Im super excited about the entire process!

If you have any information that you may think will help me by all means please post it up.

[mikemounlio]

E153 to BP adapter plate. It is 3/8" thick. The adapter was 325$ shipped and got here in just a couple days. I got it from Riel Performance Parts on Facebook.

https://i.imgur.com/SlIbo1z.jpg

I was given a link to a nice writeup from another page to help with the install. I have yet to really read it but from a quick glance it looks to have great info in it.

http://www.clubprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?45016-How-To-Toyota-E153-transmission-conversion&p=587348&viewfull=1#post587348

[mikemounlio]

Small update: I have located a trans near me! I ran into an issue with taking the day off to go get it. Looks like Ben has agreed to go get the trans for me. I will be paying Ben for his time and giving him gas money and i now owe Ben a solid!

Picking up a stock e153 for 265$ No clue what all they are going to give me with the trans but ill have one soon.

Running total of E153 swap:
Adpater plate = 325
Trans = 265

[mikemounlio]

I am picking up a used flywheel and clutch kit that has already been made to fit this very application. Also i am waiting on a couple different shops to email or call me regarding the shifter linkage and shifter box. Not bad for just 2 days of looking in down time at work.

I have not yet looked for the escort parts that i will be needing. I figured they would be kinda eassy to find. I might even get lucky and find them locally. This project is gonna be moving right along until i come to the point of not having the time to build the mounts. I have a few other projects in the way of this build. At least ill have the parts on hand.

Running total of E153 swap:
Adpater plate = 325
Trans = 265
Clutch kit ready to go = 350

[dliverance]

Is the e153 also available in the celica? Also, does it come stock with an LSD? That is a good reason for me to do the swap

[RobotKarate]

Definitely take lots of pictures of this process.

[mikemounlio]

Is the e153 also available in the celica? Also, does it come stock with an LSD? That is a good reason for me to do the swap

Some of them have a stock LSD. I know some of the MR2 got a stock lsd. Im not sure if any camry had a stock lsd. Id beat it was an option but not 100% on it. I plan to add a nice LSD to it.

[mikemounlio]

Definitely take lots of pictures of this process.

Im going to do a full writeup once its all said and done. That way anyone with a festy can do it even if they have no clue where to start. I will do it like my suspension write up kinda. I know carlos made it fit but he has a front tube chassis. I will make it fit somehow but with keeping the festy up front. Might have to get crazy on the supports but ill get it.

[chrisofna]

The E15X transmissions came in V6 Camrys, Turbo MR2s, and AWD Celicas. The AWD Celica being different obviously.

[Rick the Quick]

For what it's worth, Wikipedia has a lot of information on this topic.

[mikemounlio]

I never knew they came in the Celicas. I have found quite a bit of information out there on the box and how to swap it. The big difference is that im now putting it in a festiva and not the cars they were. Plus i want to make it 100% easy to do for others. If you really want to build and push the bp the g series might not be a good option. SO the e153 is i guess the next best option out there.

[Rick the Quick]

Thanks for doing the dirty work for the rest of us Mike and for that matter thanks for all the write ups you have given us. I will be satisfied with my G transmission if I ever get it and the B6T installed. After working all day I don't have enough energy left for my projects. However if I ever wanted to do a transmission upgrade I would be interested in a 6 speed with a higher (lower numerically) high gear. I did purchase the higher 5th gear set up (Protege?) for the G transmission and have yet to put it in. I remember driving the Capri donor car out here from Chicago and if I remember correctly it was turning 4K RPMs at 70 mph or about 18 mph per every 1,000 rpms. My Super Glide is running just under 100 mph at 4K. That's about top speed BTW...LOL. As the Festiva should be at least 900 lbs lighter then the Capri with hardtop I would like to see somewhere around 30 mph per 1,000 RPMs in high gear.

[Team Lightning]

My 5th gear modded g series trans. IMG_2710.jpg

[william]

I'm about 3500 at 70 without the gear swap. I've got one just been to busy to swap it in there. But man 3k at 75 sounds awesome. I'm on 165/55/14's and my speedo is five fast but 3500 at 70 is va gps and stock tack. On the way home from madness last year I did 80 all the way home from the coast that's 4k and averaged 34 not bad for a worn out b6d at 4k rpms

[Team Lightning]

I had 165-45-15's on mine for a while, at 80 on the speedometer gps was showing 72-73. I now run 185-55-15's and it's at 70 indicated, gps reads 70. At about 4700rpm gps says 126.6