Another project Thread - MR2

[Dale V]

agw_01 - I'll only be using the mr2 as a toy really, so it will only be going out in the dry, i have my camry as a daily driver, so it should stay quite clean

Engine looks fantastic

What paint are you using? I'm going to get mine looking nice like that before it goes back in

for the block i used halfords engine paint, which took about 3 coats before it looked even, the silver bits have been done in halfords brake caliper paint (tried and tested for engine wear on my old engine so its all good), the gold and black bits have been done with plasicote enamel, which is good for about 150 degrees C i believe, and the blue cam cover and brackets are done with normal Zircon blue to match the car

ChoÞÞer - its took a fair old while to do, theres time when you feel like its going nowhere and then bits start to go back on which gives motivation. I've been working on the engine since january, but i only get to work on it 1 full day a week and evenings

cheers for all the comments

 

[Dale V]

well the engine is complete:

the gearbox and all bits and pieces are on too (not shown in the pic), so its ready to go in the car when i get a dry day

so this morning i started work on the gauges i bought, and wanted to mount them in a position that wasn't intrusive and looked like it came from the factory. Most gauge dins that go in the normal stereo slot dont fit properly imo, and as these are 52mm gauges it makes it more difficult ... so i got to work making my own

so first of all, i took the dash surround and cut out 3 recesses so the guages sat further up in the surround, allowing for the stereo to fit below

I then had to make a surround plate to fill the gaps that would be around the gauges, i wanted something quite sturdy so i used an old registration plate

once i was happy with the fit, i bonded it on the back with fiberglass

after this the front visible section had a few coats of black foilatec interior spray

and then in went the gauges, which were a tight fit, but i put a few drops of araldite on so i knew they wouldn't move

then the dash wiring was spliced into for the 12v/earth/dimmer and the modified surround installed

The gauges are autoguage oil pressure, oil temp and water temp, all i need to do now is run the sensor wires under the arm rest tunnel and to the engine bay

 

[Simian]

Looking good!... Wish I had the Technical Nowse to do this!!!

 

[Dale V]

well ive not updaed this for a while, but alots been done

i finally got the engine complete

and after a final inspection from my nosey cat...

... I decided to wheel the engine out and get it installed:

and it was placed under the car:

the car was then lowered onto the engine, and bolted up:

subframe, suspension, brakes and wheels then went on, and it was then time to work on the exhaust

Now the backbox is for a mr2 turbo, and the manifold including flexi is for the american 2.2 mr2, so it was going to be a pain. But out came the grinder and welder, and by taking my time measuring, i had something looking about right

so after tacking it all up, the exhaust came back off and was welded up, then placed back on, all good

the first start up... eek, i was very nervous, but confident aswell, after getting the oil pressure up, i cranked it over, and on the 4th crank with a bit of throttle, the car came alive, it felt good, no bad noises, just what i expected.

I did however have a bad idle, due to a number of reasons, my dizzy timing was out, the throttle body i was using needed to be re-set up with the TPS settings, and a few other issues with bleeding the coolant. this is still an ongoing thing, i have it idling a about 900rpm, but its still REALLY lumpy, obviously due to the cams and flywheel, but i think im going to raise the idle to 1000rpm, and see how it goes

the run in period is well on its way to being complete, ive covered about 800miles so far, and given the engine plenty of load and engine braking to get the piston rings to seal, its still on mineral oil at the moment, and im just imagining my rev limiter is 5000rpm, but pushing the engine hard to that limiter, ill change the oil at about 1000miles to a fully synth, and open her up a bit more

The engine does feel alo better than before, you can feel its got a lot more power, and its dying to get past the 5000rpm barrier to open the cams up, it really should give a good kick up the bum at the higher revs. The exhaust is a bit loud, but it seems to be getting quieter each day i go out in it, im considering sending the exhaust away to a specialist to get more deadening into the backboxes, but we will see

a few more pics of it sitting on a level surface

 

[andi]

That engine looks fantastic in the bay, you've done a great job! Nice one.

 

[ZG002]

not sure on the exhaust but loving the rest of it. Got to love those 3sge's

 

[loltim]

Superb work mate, well done

What's with the Yamaha badge, did they make part of the engine?

 

[Hxc]

Exhaust is a bit too big for my liking but all the other work is quality mate

 

[DreXeL]

Absolutely fantastic work, makes me wish I had took the time to make my engine look clean and new like that when I did it.

What's with the Yamaha badge, did they make part of the engine?

It was co-developed by Yamaha AFAIK, like the Ford Sigma (Zetec-SE).

 

[Zip]

Superb work mate, well done

What's with the Yamaha badge, did they make part of the engine?

I think Yamaha helped design the head of the engine.

. The Dual Over Head Cam (DOHC) 16 valve cylinder head designed by Yamaha is made of aluminum alloy.

 

[Dale V]

thanks folks for the comments

as said the engine is developed by Yamaha, i believe quite a few of Toyota's engines are tbh.

Ive been playing with the timing and throttle body recently, to get the idle something like....... its damn lumpy lol, sounds quite purposeful imo. Just a few more tweaks to do, and i have the MOT on thursday which should be fun. The 1000 mile mark is coming up quite fast also, so i need to buy a fully synth oil.

left on the list to buy is a Greddy Emanage, and a wizards nitrous kit

 

[Matt82]

what running in method did you use?

 

[Dale V]

-20w50 mineral oil
-start car, immediately rev at 2000rpm and hold for 20mins (runs the cams in properly)
-drop oil and replace with fresh 20w50 mineral oil, check for leaks on oil and coolant
-take car for a drive of about 50miles, wait until oil is upto temp and get the engine under load with plenty of low down revs (not labouring revs) then take it to an imaginary limiter of 4000rpm
-drop oil and replace with fresh 20w50 mineral oil, check for leaks on oil and coolant
-keep driving car with plenty of load and engine braking, now imagining the rev limiter is 5000rpm, lots of downshifting and getting the rings bedded in

at 1000miles i will change to a fully synth and raise the revs

this engine has not been 'babied', if i did baby the engine, the rings wouldnt seat and throughout the engine life it would have high oil consumption

 

[Matt82]

good stuff, sounds like it was well thought out.

im itching to rebuild something soon. might buy a replacement engine for mine, build up the spec and then try the hard run in process.

love the work you did on it though. congrats

 

[Dale V]

well its been 1500 miles on the new engine all is fine, I have managed to get a decent idle from the cams, so I thought it would be worthwhile to get some kind of management in the form of a greddy emanage ultimate

and then add a pinch of ooomph from a direct port wizards of n.o.s nitrous kit

including a 11lb bottle
300w bottle warmer
maximiser progressive controller
TPS adapter
nitrous guage
25bhp to 250bhp jets included

that should be a laugh :unsure:

Im just waiting for my emanage custom harness, and then ill get it all installed!