Best to buy a jap spec as most others have said. Here are my thoughts if you do want to perform a swap:
Hoonsy
- I'll need an E153 Gearbox with the matching turbo model axles. Are the Bathurst and GT hubs the same?
You need turbo hubs, as the axles and splines differ between NA and Turbo. You will be better off (financially) keeping the S54 gearbox as it is quite capable of handling the extra torque of the turbo motor. Just don't do any hard launches and you ought to be fine.
Hoonsy
- 3S-GTE Engine (preferably Gen3) including the matching ECU and a complete wiring harness
It is possible you will get away with simply only needing the engine harness if you are swapping in the gen3. Should be compatible with the NA body loom from the same year. Obviously the turbo boost pressure gauge pin won't be hooked up on your NA harness.
Hoonsy
- I know the interiors differ. Bathurst is missing center console box (no care given there) but the quality of cloth seats and door card trim is massive
You can get a centre console box for about $20 off ebay, great addition to get some extra storage. The seats in the Bathurst are basically the same as Jap spec G-Limited/GT-S except the lack of lumbar adjustment (same as G spec). The door card trim in the jap spec is different but not necessarily better and really not worth the change.
Hoonsy
- Pretty sure all the GT/GT-S models came with foglights, whereas my Bathurst doesn't have any. Wondering if the Bathurst has the wiring harness there somewhere. I know it's missing the button and brackets.
Foggies are an optional extra on all models except GT. Thankfully the addition is very simple on most cars because they should be wired up from factory! If your car is pre-wired, the front passenger fuse box will have sockets for a "FR FOG" relay and "15A FR FOG" fuse. Populate the sockets with the right components, fit your fog lamps and add a switch for the fog lamps in the dash. The switch goes on one of the three blanks under the driver's side air vent.
Hoonsy
- Safe to assume the GT has larger brake calipers+rotors so obviously would need those
There is no difference between NA and Turbo brakes for rev2 and later, although GT spec comes standard with sports ABS. ABS is an option for Bathurst and all Jap spec cars before 1996 (rev 4). It's standard on rev4 and later.
Hoonsy
- Turbo vented engine lid obviously
Turbo lid weighs more and is more fragile but looks kinda cool I'll admit.
Hoonsy
- Turbo Dash Cluster vs N/A Dash Cluster. Assuming that with the 3SGTE loom a turbo dash should just be plug and play?
The speedos are interchangeable between aussie and jap spec, except if you have a rev2 or earlier where the speedo is mechanical, rather than electronic.
Don't forget some other things you should do along with the engine swap:
- Clean out the entire fuel system including the fuel tank. 20 years of cruft will have been building up. You need the turbo spec fuel pump as the NA fuel pump is inadequate.
- Wire up an aftermarket boost gauge as the stock toyota one is terrible
- Clean out the cooling system
- Consider if you want to have water to air or factory spec intercooling. It would be much easier to fit W2A at the time of the swap when you have the car in bits, rather than afterwards.
- You need a complete exhaust system, as the cat is built into the dump pipe on the turbo vs being separate on the NA. Best to source a factory turbo exhaust first so that you can get past emissions/noise tests or whatever for a legit swap.