I often see car enthusiasts openly discuss great motors like the lsx series of engines, ford’s 5.0/302, the kseries, 4g63’s and 2jzgte’s as examples.
I rarely see any open discussion of 3sgte engines, theyre older motors i gather that toyota developed in the 80s for WRC and eventually jgtc.
In terms of specs, its similar to a 4g63, turbocharged, iron block, aluminum head, dohc, 4valves per cylinder, oem 540cc injectors, etc.
In car communities i never see folk so little as mention those motors in discussions, almost like they never existed in the consciousness of car enthusiasts at all.
Was it a bad motor is why it got ignored or what’s going on here?
Good engine, but technologically behind its contemporaries, really heavy, and worse in parts availability compared to almost all the other Japanese performance 4 cylinders. Easier to make power with SR20, K20/24, or 4G63T.
I dont agree with some of that.
The engibe had 5 uopdates in its lifespan.
The only really rare/custom parts i have a hard time finding/albeit not impossible are high quality aftermarket intake/exhaust manifolds. Have i ever had a 3sgte down long term due to utter lack of parts? No.
Power delivery, im not entirely sure what qualifies as good vs bad. The motor is almost like a 2/3 2jzgte. 2jzgte’s are heavy and very famous for being overengineered for substantially more power.
Stock ecu/fuel system on my gen 3, is good out to 300-330whp. My biggest concern is age of components 30 years deep. When all this stuff was newer, not so much.
Stock bottom end is good into 400 or450whp b4 i might start to lose confidence. Its an older motor, its co temporaries are 4g63, ej20, honda bseries, and sr20det. Some of the 4th/5th gens have oem chickenlegs for rods that id lose faith in after 350whp, i suspect thats where that tidbit comes from. Iirc the gen2s and gen3s are known for a robust oem stock bottom end for substantial increases in power.
Im personal friends with one of the foremost tuners of 3s/5sgte’s in the country, hes been doing it for 20 years…im curious how much he’d agree with what’s been stated.
I’m not really interested in arguing. You asked what we think, so I told you.