How-To Swap your 3E-E (91-94 Tercel) for a 5E-FE

This article was originally posted by Ryoga on TercelOnline.com, and was edited and republished here with permission.  It explains what steps are needed to put a First Gen 5E-FE that can be found in a 92-95 Paseo into a 91-94 Tercel.  The benefits of this swap include an 18 hp increase (about 20% more power), a 16 valve head versus the 12 valve head, more aftermarket support for the engine, and it is one of the best $$$ to hp upgrades you can make on your car.  Enjoy.

Just did the swap... didn't take any pics(honestly, if you need pics you probably should be paying someone else to do it)... sorry... but here's how I did it(on the cheap ):

Things you need:

7,8,10,12,14,17,19,24 and 30MM sockets. Combination wrenches in all but 24 and 30 are nice, too.
Torque Wrench
Breaker Bar
Pliers
Wire Cutters
Screwdrivers
Prybar(or screwdrivers )
2 Jaw Puller
Jackstands
Large oil pan
Coolant
Tranny Fluid(Gear Oil)
Oil
Either an Engine Crane or something sturdy + a come-along
Time

Recommended but not required:

5E-FE Cap, Rotor, Wires and plugs
5E-FE Timing Belt
New Fuel Filter
New cotter pins
A Friend

Procedure:

Purchase JDM 5E-FE from eBay - If you can find an auction that will include "the parts needed for a tercel swap", that will just make things easier... who knows... maybe they'll give you the 5E ECU and harness ... All I got was the engine w/ a cut harness.. You will NEED both manifolds, the throttle body, the dizzy and (not entirely sure on this one) the fuel rail.

Depressurize your fuel system by removing the gas cap.

Disconnect and remove your intake and battery, including the plate the intake sits on.

Pull off all vaccum lines and wires connected to your engine and LABEL THEM!!! You should be rather specific with your vaccum lines, too... because port vaccum, manifold vaccum and throttle body vaccum are all very different things. You should take pictures as well to use as reference.  Now would be a good time to drain your coolant and disconnect those hoses as well.

Break your lug nuts and your axle nuts loose. Have fun with those rusty cotter pins .   This is where a breaker bar will come in handy as the axle nuts are torqued to 160 + ft. lbs.

Jack your car up and put it on jackstands. You're asking for an early death if you rely on jacks.

Drain the Transmission fluid and remove the axles. There are about a thousand ways to do this, so I will not detail it here.

If you're a cheapass like me and don't have a crane (I used a swingset and a come along), hook your suspension back together sans axles and put your wheels back on so you can roll your car out of the way.  If you are using an engine hoist, you do not need to do this step.

Disconnect your speedo cable and your shift linkage. If your shift linkage bracket is rusted as bad as mine you'll want to just unbolt it from the trans rather than pulling those clips out... Just don't drop those bolts into your speedo hole(!!!)

Remove the clutch slave cylinder from its bracket and move it out of the way. You should not have to disconnect anything that will require you to rebleed it.

Disconnect anything else I may not have mentioned... A/C lines, Fuel lines(now would be a good time to change your fuel filter), etc. Anything that might get in the way.

Hook your engine to the crane (or swingset ) and put slight tension on it. The more evenly you space your chains the easier it will be to unbolt the engine from the mounts.

Unbolt the engine from the mounts.

If you are using a swingset (or tree), lower the car now. Go slowly so the engine doesn't get caught somewhere bad.

Pull the engine. It caught on the battery tray when I did it... I just bent it up a little and rocked on.

Pull whatever you need off of this engine now. Alternator, Starter, Trans, Clutch, etc. You will need the ENTIRE passenger side engine mount. So remove (break ) your timing belt cover and unbolt that bitch.

Any sensors that got smashed on your 5E-FE engine should be replaced with the good ones from your 3E-E engine. I had a couple junk temp sensors. If you don't like soldering, you'll also want to pull your injectors(at least the two brown ones... you'll see)

Drain any fliuds left over in your 5E-FE engine.

Since you'll have to remove your timing belt cover on your new engine to bolt on the engine mount, now would be a great time to replace your timing belt and water pump.

My engine came with an automatic flywheel, so I had to unbolt the whole thing. I also changed the steel plate behind the flywheel, because the JDM one was bent to hell.
A Craftsman 15MM 6pt. 3/8 dr. deep well socket is a PERFECT clutch alignment tool for this engine .  If you bought a new clutch (recommended while the engine is out) you clutch kit should come with an alignment tool.

Bolt all your accessories to the new engine. We even put the alternator/water pump belt on before we put the engine in because it was easier to tension the belt that way.

Put the new engine in the car and bolt it to the mounts. NOTE: Some things are easier to reconnect before the engine is all the way in

Reconnect everything exactly as it's labeled (if it fits... more on that below)... some things will require creative routing.

You can use your 3E-E throttle cable. Just move the bracket over one screw hole and hack off the part the hits the TB (picture pending)

If you're a dumbass like me and didn't pull your old injectors, cut those two connectors that don't fit and solder on the ones from the cut harness(THIS IS STUPID. DON'T DO THIS. IT WAS LATE AND I WAS TIRED. I WASN'T THINKING WHEN I DID THIS. COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.)

Thanks to GT_Revva for the following information: "there are 4 wires on one plug of the 5EFE dizzy. i think they're red, white, black and green. the corresponding plug on the 3EE dizzy has 2 wires, one red and one white. cut the plug off the 3EE diizy and attach the corresponding wires...ie red > red and white > white and disregard the other 2. this will make the 5EFE dizzy compatible with your ECU harness."  Just match the colors.

I pulled the ignition coil and that big something or another that doesn't get used by the 3E-E ECU and put in my ignition coil, wires still attached... but that's because I wasn't getting spark from the original one. You shouldn't have to do this. Your 3E-E rotor is identical to the 5E-FE rotor.

Throttle body: Use the 5E-FE one. The 3E-E one is smaller and hits on the fuel rail. It takes a different TPS, but you can get one of these off of a 93-97(I think?) Geo Prism and the corresponding Corolla.

Extra crap on the engine: IAC Valve connected to the manifold - I just left the connector in this and removed and plugged the vac line going to it and put a cap on the open vac port. You have one of these on your firewall and should have connected its vaccum lines to the right places already. That funny MAP sensor thingy... I think it's a pressure restrictor(to protect against intake backfires blowing up your MAP sensor)... I left it in there and just put a large vac line over the threaded side of it. Hooked it to the vac line coming off the manifold that also had a pressure thingy inline. That should be it.

Hook up your battery and fire it up!

If you need more decriptive things or specific pictures (that I can take with everything put in the car already), just let me know.