On the part about undertable, I think it's best we not talk about it in the open. It's a "sensitive" issue.
If you want to do things thru the front door, log on to the JPJ website, send your enquiry to the "Kawal Selia, Bahagian Teknik" yourself. It's actually not a standardise law, meaning it's up to their discretion whether to approve or not. Who knows, you may get lucky & you don't even have to pay a single sen to do it & better still, it's totally legal. I've been told that for special cases like these, you'll need to apply for a "BG10" form or something; meaning, you'll have to go thru 2 inspections rather than the usual one. First, the JPJ will test your car & after they're happy with it, they'll issue you a letter. Then only you bring this letter for the PUSPAKOM for inspection. After that, it's home run; just get it registered at the JPJ.
But in your case, your original chasis being EE90; meaning it's a 1.3, so it may be more difficult as compared to if you had an original 1.6 chasis, bro.
Your RM 10k budget may just be enough to dump in the ST185's 3S-GTE. Here's a rough estimation:
1. ST185 halfcut RM 2.8k
2. MR2 gerabox RM 1.8k
3. 4A-GZE drive shafts RM 400
4. Workmanship RM 2k
Total RM 7k
You still have a balance of RM 3k to do all the minor stuff e.g. timing belts, lubricant & stuff... etc, etc...
So I think you may just barely pull thru.
Handling wise, it'll be advisable to use higher rate springs on your front as the 3S engine is much heavier than the 4A.
*Disclaimer:
I'm no expert, so if I'm wrong, pls don't shoot me. What I said here is just based on my experience & personal knowledge.
