Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 22:34:14 GMT

Alright, here is the list of everything I can remember that you will need to remove/undo in order to remove the 3SGTE from the top of an N-Spec Toyota Caldina GT-Four ST246.

- Radiator and coolant lines
- As much of the loom as possible (Some clips beneath the fuel rail are near-impossible to get to, but can be done with the engine partically out)
- Throttle body
- Intercooler
- Entire bonnet
- Front drive shafts
- Rear drive shaft from transfer housing
- Automatic shifter cable
- Power steering pump (A mechanical pump bolted to the engine. The bolts are a little hard to get to, but can be undone from beneath, and is probably easier then undoing all the hosing. You can leave all the hosing done up this way.)
- All the various brackets and mounts that you can see from the front (too many to list, but there are plenty of little brackets here and there for securing wires and hoses.
- The entire Turbo and exhaust assembly.
- Down pipe and first exhaust section that goes from down pipe to long pipe.
- Air filter box
- Front bar/grill
- A/C compressor
- All engine mounts and associated brackets to allow for extra clearance around engine
- Subframe cross bar that goes between subrame and front bar

Difficulties I ran into:
- The Caldina is a four wheel drive, so it has a transfer case to a rear drive shaft. This case juts out a fair bit, and sticks right between the front sway bar and steering rack above it, and the sub-frame below it. There is barely any room for play here, so the engine must come forward to allow the engine to lift up and out. This is why so much has to be removed from the front of the engine to give it the clearance at the front to swing forward.

- The Intake manifold is nigh-impossible to remove with the engine still in, and it will give you only approximately 20mm of room to travel up before running into the rain-guard metal wall that runs along the bottom of the windscreen. Annoyingly, the rear mount that connects to the subframe has two studs that need about 25mm of vertical movement to come free from the subframe. This caused a huge delay in the removal. We took the easy way out of cutting the rear mount studs pain-stakingly with a hacksaw blade/reciprocating saw (I do not neeed the mounts), but if you wanted to do it flawlessly, the steering rack would need to come out. It would be doable with the engine still in, but a lot of awkward angles and contraptions would be required to torque the bolts off. The sub frame would need to be loosened, but it can't be dropped due to the sway bar/steering rack resting on top of the transfer case.

Honestly apart from the mountain of parts you need to remove, it is a straight forward process. I'm just a novice with this sort of stuff, so take everything I say with a grain of salt as it is just my personal experience with the process. I don't know if I can say I truly got the engine removed from the top, as I did cut two studs, but I fully believe it is doable if you were patient enough with the steering rack/sway bar removal.

Once the engine was loose inside the engine bay, it was easy to maneuver the engine/transmission around the space so that it could come forward and rotate to clear the various pieces that jut out.

It would be easier to remove from the bottom, for sure, unfortunately, we did not have the luxury of setup that needs.

Any questions anyone has, feel free to PM me or post on this thread, more than happy to help and share my own experience with the removal.

A timelapse of the removal is coming, I'll link it later once it's up.

Enjoy some photos:

- Engine just before removal, stripped as much as possible

- Engine now loose but still stuck between subframe and steering rack

- Engine free now, just a matter of spinning and going up/down to clear the various snags
- Engine and Car
- All done, waiting for a full rebuild and upgrade treatment

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:38:47 GMT

MG_MR2
Good work, it definitely would’ve taken me more than a day

I had the benefit of my old man lending me a (significant) hand

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (MG_MR2)

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:23:26 GMT

Good work, it definitely would’ve taken me more than a day

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:08:45 GMT

Okay, so finished up for the day, and... Success! Engine removal from the top is possible! And not excessivly more difficult that it's not worth it. I timelapsed the removal so I'll edit that together and update the post with some photos and more detailed explanation of what was required.

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (Admin)

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:30:21 GMT

Good luck with it, though I reckon that taking it out underneath will involve less swearing. 🙂

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:44:45 GMT

Hey Glen, I am going to give a top removal a shot. Will update with progress but you basically need to remove as much as possible (which is not a problem, as I am rebuilding the engine anyway). Having a look around the engine bay, it does seem possible but it requires a much more comprehensive strip down. Only concering thing is the intake manifold. Can't remove it due to awkward position of the bolts against the firewall. That could snooker the removal.

Engine will come out tomorrow one way or another, so will update then.

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (Admin)

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:21:14 GMT

I have taken one out of a ST185 and the only way is to take it out from underneath.

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (MG_MR2)

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 21:20:11 GMT

👍 good to hear. Look forward to seeing some progress shots

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 20:46:50 GMT

MG_MR2
Hey mate, go to the last page of this:

Other than being a good read it should help you out.

Thanks a lot MG. Article was super useful. The pictures supplied were very helpful.

Re: Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (MG_MR2)

Tue, 17 Aug 2021 19:39:52 GMT

Hey mate, go to the last page of this:

https://www.gtplanet.net/...w20-mr2.209447/page-26

Other than being a good read it should help you out.

Engine removal - 3SGTE Caldina ST246 2004 (JonnoRay)

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 12:32:25 GMT

(Admin please delete/move if incorrect forum)
Hey all,

Recently aquired a 2004 Caldina ST246 with a Gen 5(4.5) 3SGTE engine in great condition. I'm going to be taking the engine out and rebuilding it, hoping to swap out my tired old Gen 2 3SGTE in my 1989 SW20 GT. I have searched all over for the last few days on guides of how to drop the engine out of a 2004 Caldina, and even gone to the auscaldina forums, but my request has been pending there for a while and I'm not sure if the forums are still maintained, you can't read anything without a valid account. I even obtained a translated repair guide, without luck.

Basically, Having a look at the engine bay, it is not clear to me if the engine is meant to come out the top or the bottom, and if anyone has had any experience with this, I could use the advice. It seems like it would be hard to get out the top, but my garage setup would make a top engine removal much more desirable if possible. I'm thinking that the removal of the front bumper assembly would make it much easier, but hard to tell.

This type of swap is becoming more popular, as it is the only way to get the last generations of the 3SGTE, so I'm hoping someone here has done the same.

So yeah, if anyone has any experience, please let me know. Thanks :)

Apologies if this is not allowed in the forum, just thought I'd give it a go.