Hey guys, its been awhile, I have this swap thread going on 2 other sites, and I did start it here almost a year ago, so I thought I should be fair and fill you guys in... so I just copied my posts from the other forums to here for your viewing pleasure.
Brian - 10/5/07
This thread is to track my progress so if anyone cares they can see how its going.
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November 28th 2006. (pictures soon)
Today I went to Ed's work and while he waxed, washed and polished is MR2 like a madman I Cataloged all the parts I have and what I need to get. Then I removed the AC Comressor to sell on ebay (who needs AC
). Then I split the transmission from the engine to check the clutch. Ed examined it and determined I need a new clutch disc. But We agreed it would probably be better to buy a whole clutch kit
($200-400). So that is what I will do next.
December 1st 2006
Intercooler Arrived today, its from a Cellica GT4.
December 5th 2006
Catalytic Converter Arrived
December 5th 2006
Bought Battery box for battery conversion.
December 10th 2006
Started work on restoring trunk and converting battery to trunk.
January 22nd 2007
Stalled so far, got a new job as a car audio Tech....may make enough to put engine in Mid-Febuary.
February 8th 2007
Purchased Rear Turbo Axle Assy. From a MK2. $145. Also Bought Fuel pump and Hardware for $125
March 2nd 2007
Purchased Clutch, Pressure plate, and Rlease bearing for tranny.
March 3rd 2007
Purchased a 87 MR2 Shell, T-Tops included. Currently swapping parts.
March 11th 2007
Removed body harness, E brake, radiator brackets, and a bunch of other stuff from the 89 to be put in the 88.
March 23rd 2007
Towed the MR2 to a garage across town started work.
April 3rd 2007
Engine is almost ready to go in, just need to prep the harness and rent jig.
April 15th 2007
Today I got quite a bit done. I installed the passenger Headlamp Assembly. I started to install the alarm in a nice covert spot. Then I spent most of the day removing the gas tank. Scince the last time I updated the Thread I have ordered Seats and a Driver Side Headlamp assembly.
April 16th 2007
So Ive picked up the pace it seems, Kicking ass every nite after work, And after two days and alot of gasoline Ive finally installed the new Walbro Fuel Pump. It went in easy enough. After that I struggled to put the gas tank back, once I got it in I was on easy street. So after Two days I have gotten the gas tank taken cared of and started work on the security system. Tommorrow I think I will cut off the old mounts and battery cage and start preping the engine bay.
May 28th 2007
Well I havent updated this thread in awhile but I have been working on the MR2 as much as possible latley. But unfortunatley I havent had much money scince business is slow at work. So there isnt much I have done. Today however I was able to remove all the old rotors, calipers and pads so I can eventually put in new ones, also it helps make moving the car easier scince the old brakes were frozen. Im really close to getting the engine mounted, I just have to wait until ed gets back from his trip to MI.
July 13th 2007
Its been awhile, but scince last time I have been doing mostly prep work, such as body and engine prep. Yesterday I managed to get the doors back on after painting the sills white. The car will end up being pure white as an exterrior color. I have also completley changed my interrior from Blue to Black, using interrior spray paint. It came out perfect and looks OEM. I also Purchased some new Rotors, and I am planning on Re-using the calipers for now.
August 1st 2007
Well I have been busy. I have scince finished the first half of my MR2 video (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuT744yBpks) and have been doing alot to the body. I started filling in all the body lines so that all the pannels will blend. Otherwise the body would be hideos. Half the car is now Primered and ready for pain. I have allso completley installed the interrior. The engine JIG Finally showed up! I got the mounts and this saturday my buddy Ed is gonna weld them for me, as well as some other things. I have Installed the headlights, the Driver side headlamp assembly is really crooked, the subframe is all banged up in that area and its hard to get it strait. I have also done some details like re-finishing the muffler and Intercooler. Ive been hard at work these past few weeks and its only a matter of a few more weeks before I can finally start the MR2 up for the first time with its new engine.
August 16 2007
Well the two body mounts have been welded thanks to Ed (GrandLordKhorne), and the engine bay has been fully preped. Ive started working on the wiring but I have stopped because I realized most of the wiring needs to be done with the engine installed. So I am putting that off. Most of the body work is complete. Ive fixed the rear bumper cracks and re-molded the seams. Almost ready for paint now. The interrior is still not fully complete, only because there is still some wiring to be done inside and I have to put the other door on. Im having a very hard time lining up the driver side door, it doesnt shut properly and it is striking the fender and bending it in...very annoying. Im hoping to have some engine mounts by the end of the month so i can finally installal the engine and probably drive it this september.
September 9th, 2007.
Well well well... I have been moving along quite nicely without having a job. Yes Im terrible I know. But Alot has been acomplished in the past few weeks. Last week I finished most of the body work that is needed, then I focused on more wiring but gave up because there is no point without the engine harness to intergrate too! So For the past week ive been waiting for the engine mounts to arrive and which they have. Today I ordered all the nessesary hardware for them (I hope) and Bought an Engine hoist scince I will need it for more than a week, and they place around here that rents them wants $44 a day....so it was cheaper to buy one. With that I put my tranny back on finally! Lined up the clutch without a tool and got it on the first try, which is good for me cause I cant seem to find one. Im just concerened about the orientation of the clutch disc. Does the side with the longer shaft go towards or away from the flywheel? I think I put it away from the flywheel. Oh well I will double check just to be sure. Everything is just about ready now. As soon as the mount hadware arrives I will be putting the engine in for good. I will have pictures tommorow probably.
September 10th, 2007.
I finally got the bolts for the engine. I went to the garage and started working right away. I put most of the engine back together but there are a few bolts im not sure on how much to torque so I came home to double check. Its 4:08pm and around 6 im going back to put the engine in! Wish me luck.
September 12th, 2007. ENGINE IS IN!!!
After 7 hours of work I finally got the engine installed in the MR2. Most of the time was spent figuring out the vacuum system and some of the electrical components on the engine itself. It took 2 cinder blocks, 4 short peices of 2x6, and a large peice of 1x8 but I managed to raise the car 35" from the rear. With that I slid the engine underneath and then lowered the car. It was tighter than I thought it would be!
I almost killed myself trying to get the damn engine to line up with the mounts. I had to tilt the engine back to get it to line up but couldnt do so for the longest time. Finally I used 2 screw drivers to line it up and hammer in the bolts through the mounts.
So its now in there and looks awsome. Tommorow im going back to finish some wiring, hooking up gas lines and coolant lines and then finally this week I will put together the axles. Then I may be able to drive it next week.
September 23rd 2007.
So I have been busy latley trying to get my life on track and at the same time im pouring money into my MR2 to finish it because I dont have forever at the garage im at.
In the past week I have pretty much figured out what I have left to buy and what I have to do to get the car running. Tonight I worked for 5 hours on the Gas, Coolant, Vaccum, and Electrical systems. I got porbably 90% of the Vaccum system figured out, and I cant do anything with the coolant and gas lines because I need to buy things like a filler Neck from a MK2 and new fuel filter and lines.
I managed to do some wiring, I labeled everything, plotted where everything willl go, mounted the components, and made a list of things to get. The hooking up part of the swap I am taking my absolute time with and sparing no expense to get it right the first time.
A friend of mine, and who I consider an Expert on cars in general came by to look at my axles. I have a Passenger and a Driver side S/C axles. and Two Turbo Axles. He said that if I had the outer CV's Un-Compressed fit (pulled apart) that we could basically take the S/C Outers and stick them on the Turbo shafts with the exact distance I need from the hubs. Im not sure if this will work but Im willing to give it a shot if it saves me time and buying more parts it will be worth it. Plus my friend hasnt been wrong about these things in the past.
But alas, I have terrible news. My not so mechanically inclined buddy joe was given the task to put on my front Tranny/Engine Mount braket. Simple no? Well I told him to "Finger Tighten" the bolts..... he ends up using a socket wrench and torquing it to all hell and stripping the bolt holes out!!!! Now i have to be super cautious and re-tap the hole bigger and use a heilo coil to get the mount on. This is very dangerous because if im not carefull I can ruin my tranny.
Other than that Im happy too say I dont think I will have to extend my shifter cables Like some others have, the way they sit now they are plenty long enough almost too much slack but they seem to work perfect! But instead I now have to get a longer throttle cable.
Here is the list of parts I need to finish my car basically, if anyone can sell me this stuff or point me in the right direction it would be appreciated, I will also post this list in WTB section.
- Fuel Filter
-Cellica 3S Front Mount Alternator bracket
-Cellica 3S TB inlet
-MK2 Coolant Filler Neck
-Bolts for 02 Sensor
-MK2 Fuel in/out lines
-MK2 Throttle cable
-MK2 Distributor (i may have one)
- ? Fuel injector resistor pack
-Misc. Vaccum hoses
-Rear Engine mount bracket
-3S Tranny Speed Sensor
-Axles need to be un-compressed fit
-New Speedo Cable
-MK1 COR (Circuit Opening Relay) w/plug *Must have*
-2 or 0 gauge power wire (non audio grade preffered)
-Power Distribution block with fuses.
September 28th 2007.
All the wiring for the Engine and Body harness has been completed. I finished it earlier tonight. I also have ran the main power cable down the car and to the battery box at the front.
I opted to run the wire along side the gas tank on the opposite side of the coolant pipes. Then it goes up through the gromet the A/C lines usually go through in the frunk. The battery box is actually a Marine plastic box with Top cover. I felt this was the cheapest and easiest solution to securing the battery.
I used 4 Gauge wire to go from starter to battery for now. Only because the two wires that come off the alternator are 8 Gauge and only one 8 gauge goes to the cars main fuse boxes. the other 8 gauge goes to the starter to charge the battery. I figured I didnt need a 2 or 0 guage and its a short length from starter to Frunk to begin with.
Im going to be getting a battery this week coming up and I will be able to make sure everything works electrically (door locks, windows, mirrors, acessories, door pins, IC fans, Lights, etc etc etc). Im hoping everything works on the first go, I mean I did have to remove and re-install the whole body harness, chopping it up a bit along the way.
At the end of this project one thing im curious to see is if my heater controls will work. Im hoping they do because I had some problems hooking them up when the dash was apart.
As for the big moment (starting the engine for the first time) Im still trying to get up $200 so I can get my front/back MK1 to MK2 mount adapters I ordered.
Once those are installed I can easily finish the minor details and start the engine within one days worth of work.
Tommorow Im taking my axles to a few different shops, I wanna see if they can at least un-compress them for me so I can remove the outer CV's. And if possible re-build my Turbo axles with the S/C outer CV's.
Haloween this year will mark the 1 year aniversery I became a MR2 owner. It is my personal goal to have the car driveable by then.
and at this rate it should come true
(I still dont know how Im doing so well when Im unemployed at the moment....maybe its all the free-time
)
September 28th, 2007
So ya, today I worked on the two for about 5 hours. I managed to do alot. I re-installed my radiator and hooked up the wiring for it (it was hacked), and also started working the front bumper (it had cracks in the seams). After that I decided there would be no harm in installing the rear trunk lid, seeing as I was done in the trunk anyway. (now I have a flat place to hold my tools when I work on the engine
).
Turns out the Rear brake disc's are something outrageous (i think autozone quoted $97 ea.)
So i decided I need to save some money and I took my rear discs and experimented. (they are completly covered with rust). So i took some Rust jelly that eats off the rust and turns it into a primer. Once it was dry I used Steel wool on one rotor and Sandpaper on the other to see if the rust would come off. And to my excitement a good 75% of it did! I did however buy front Rotors, so those are brand new.
October 5th, 2007
So guys the past few days have been productive. I have every pannel re-installed on the car. I primed and painted the whole car. Its a very very very cheapo paint job ($60 at the most) [I used Dupli-color spray cans
]. And I only went this route because I could not leave it primer, especially with the New England Winter approaching. Also the car looked horrid. At least now its one color and it looks decent, and its protected from the elements. I went through all the proper steps with Priming, sanding, 2 coats of paint, and a couple of coats of Clear. And in the end it does look good. Eventually I do plan on taking the car to be professionally worked and painted to perfection. I just dont have that kind of money yet.
(this car I have never driven, I bought it as a shell remember?) Well for the first time ever, I turned the car on. I put jumper cables from my other cars battery to the battery cables in the frunk and turned the key to the "on" position for the very first time. It was a tense moment there, Most everything worked. Headlamps, blinkers, lights, gauges, doors, windows worked.
However, a few troubling things didnt work. The blower motor does not work at all. Im not sure, but I do remember when I installed it I hade a very hard time getting it in place and I think the plug may have come un-plugged. And if this is the case then I am going to just leave it for now because getting behind that dash is hard.
The other item that didnt not seem to work is the COR. (Circuit Opening Relay). I wired the relay exactly as shown in diagrams and I even tested the relay to ensure it worked. But when I had my friend turn the key to "on" and I felt the COR to see if it clicked on....It did not. Maybe its too soft of a click I cant feel.
The good news is the ECU seems to work, The Check engine lite was on, indicating the ECU does get power.
I was itchin to turn that engine over, but I dont have those 2 front and back mount adapters yet so Im afraid to even try. So Im gonna have to wait for now.
The car physically is 99% now. The engine swap itself is about 80% completed.
Here is the list of things I need to finish this project (Althought I have no money for this week so I cant buy anything until next week, it sucks
)
- Front/Back Engine mount adapters (Down payment on them) $285
- Rear Engine/Tranny Mount $45
- Heilo Coil kit (I think thats how its called) To fix the stripped holes for the front mount.
- Shifter Cable bushings $26
- MK2 Gas Lines (To Fuel rail and Return)
- MK1 Fuel Filter $15
- Radiator Hose (Water Pump Side) $10
- Heater Core hoses (Not a necessety but do need them eventually)
- Vaccum Hose (Various)
- OEM Toyota Bolts for Mounts $15
- Speedometer Sensor
- Speedometer Cable
- Throttle Cable from either MK1 N/A or MK2 Turbo $40
- Cellica Alternator Mount or 5SFE Alternator Mount w/ Alternator
- Accessory belt
- Distributor (I may have one coming to me soon)
By the 24th of october If I save all my checks I will have approxemently $540 ($720 by the 31st). My deadline for this car to be driveable is Haloween night.
I hope I can make it, its a race against time.
(FYI: The deadline doesnt really matter, I gave myself a personal goal of haloween night because that will be 1 year scince I bought my first MR2. If its not finished its not a big deal)
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