What engine to swap?

[ozone]

I'm considering dropping a V6 engine into my 1988 Corolla GTS. The obvious choice and some would say the best choice would be the 1mzfe from the gen 1 Solara/Camry. However, I want a whole donor car for a number of reasons and many of the one's I'm seeing have pretty high miles on them. But I have seen a few wrecked later model Solaras going cheap enough and the thought of only 15K miles on my replacement motor is very attractive. But from what I'm hearing, the 3mzfe may not be the greatest choice because even though it has a larger engine, it has drive by wire and it is not calibrated for speed, but for economy.

So the questions are:

Is it that noticeable? Would anyone here who has driven both generations of V6 Solaras care to comment on whether the newer cars felt significantly slower. I know the newer models are heavier too, so that might have an effect.

Can anyone comment on another reason why the 3mzfe might not be a good choice. For instance, is it bigger than the 1mzfe? I was under the impression that they were virtually the same engine, but the newer one was tweaked a little and of course it's 3.3 liter vs. 3.0 liter. But physically, they are pretty much the same size, right?

My plan would be to use the E153 5 speed transmission. I don't drive automatics.

Aren't they still making the Solara? Maybe I should go test drive one.

Anyway, comments are welcome.

Thanks.

[Midias]

The 1mz 5 speed and 3mz auto should be right about on par interns of performance.

[ozone]

Thanks for the response.

Man, you just gotta love that avatar!