I have an '89 Celica GT 3SFE. With the exception of the retarded cool-air intake, the kid I bought it from bolted on, its bone stock. That being said, other than new headers, a fuel managment system and that crappy cool air intake, what would you recommend as good upgrades that would cause it to explode. I've been told that anything over 300hp is a no-go as there are no oil squirters at the bottom of the cylinders.
It's a 3sfe... Address the intake, header and exhaust (header and exhaust you can throw on a 3sge system to upgrade) and rape it until it blows. By the time you have a good power-producing build in a 3sfe, you may as well swap in a red/blacktop or turbo motor.
Yup. I have an 89 gt also with the 3SFE. Its a great gas saving motor with decent low rpm grunt but beyond that, I wouldn't bother.
asides from intake, getting the complete GE exhaust (up to 3rd gen, beams won't fit) is a great upgrade for the FE. otherwise if you look at Stig's research on the differences from a GE/GTE/FE you'll see that the FE is simply not capable of even 200hp, like you said no sprayers, but also weak rods, 6 bolt flywheel, less aerodynamic crank, etc. 2nd gen 3s-ge header should bolt on to the rest of the FE exhaust after the cat. check out jwagner162's thread
Biggest drawback is the cams - hard to cut, can't be degreed etc The head combustion shape isn't good for flow, later motors addressed this with better shaped chambers in the head & piston and better cams. The rods aren't made for revs, the rods are OK but the bolts are a worry. Best, easiest route is to swap out for a 92-99 5S motor and use your electrics etc. They also came with better headers and I don't think gen2 headers are easy to find stateside. Power/torque will be similar to a healthy 3S-GE at a fraction of the cost 300hp for any 2000cc four-stroke is about max, even the race teams struggle to get over 290hp and they aren't reliable either, besides being too peaky for road use
