Man tries to engine swap one of the rarest Toyota models in the world but it ends in disaster

A British car-lover attempted to swap the engine out of a super-rare Toyota Sera, but things didn’t go to plan. 

Toyota launched the Sera in 1990 before wrapping up production six years later. 

During its production only 15,941 examples were produced. 

And if you’ve never heard of the model, it’s probably because it was only officially sold in Japan and is a very rare find in other countries.

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He wanted to create a performance version of the Toyota Sera

While many car enthusiasts are content with getting their hands on a rare and unusual model – like this guy who bought a 1957 Chevy limousine on Facebook Marketplace, or the man who got this abandoned Chevrolet Laguna S-3 for just $200. 

But when mechanic and content creator Jack McNeil got his hands on an ultra-rare Toyota Sera he decided he wanted to try and turn it into a performance version – or a Sera GT Turbo, as he dubbed it. 

Toyota never released a performance model Sera, so McNeil had to wing things a bit when it came to trying to make one. 

He took out the standard 1.5 liter inline 4 5E-FHE engine and swapped it for the more powerful 4E-FTE that had been fitted in the Toyota Glanza. 

Things started off fine for McNeil and his Sera when the engine fitted snuggly into the bay and he was even able to turn it over and get it running. 

Things then took a turn for the worse

So far so good, right? But disaster was just around the corner.

With a large amount of the work done and dusted, the Toyota Sera sprung a leak that left poor McNeil completely stumped. 

Thankfully, with a bit of research, McNeil was able to get to the bottom of the problem, but it wasn’t an easy issue to fix and required the mechanic to remove the engine. 

And his bad luck didn’t end there – after removing the engine, McNeil spotted a huge crack in the block. 

“That is not ideal,” he said.

“Oh deary me. I don’t think we’re going to be able to use this engine.” 

Now, you might think that would be the end of his bad luck, right?

Sadly not.

After getting his hands on a replacement 4E-FTE engine, he began the painstaking process of swapping everything over for a second time – but just as that job was almost done he was hit with more bad news.

As he tried to fit the exhaust manifold onto the new engine, ‘the unthinkable happened’ and a previous repair on the head gasket snapped and the whole thing became unusable.

Ouch. 

Despite his run of bad luck, McNeil has vowed to continue with the project – here’s hoping his luck turns around quickly.

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