Progress! Almost there.

One month later the swap is coming along nicely and is very close to completion.  I don't have hardly any pictures of the progress due to lack of access to a camera.  Therefore, the few pictures that I have are from my cell phone camera.  With a three day weekend coming up I'm hoping to be drive the car very soon.  I'd love to take it to Caffeine and Octane on the 5th. 

The Engine Has Arrived!

The has engine finally arrived and man is it clean.  Below is how it looked when I got it from the freight terminal and into my truck. 

Read more to see the progress I have made.

Gen3 Engine Ordered!

I paid $2000 shipped for a complete swap minus the transmission.  It should arrive Friday or next Monday.  Here are the pictures from the seller.  It has approximately 50-55k miles.  More pictures after the break.

Engine Swap Progress + New Parts

I went by Summit Racing to pickup their engine hoist.  It's somewhat pricey from the I have no more money left perspective but It is WELL worth it.  I will not be able to install the new gen3 engine without this, even though I was able to get old engine out without one.  I assembled the stand and went to work separating the gen2 from the transmission.  I'm doing this because I need to take it off to disassemble the gen2 so that I can part it out but I am reusing this transmission along with the clutch on the gen3 engine.

New Wing and Wire Tuck

The gen2 engine is completely removed from the car.  I spent some time putting the rear suspension and subframe back together.  Now the car is off of the jack stands and has become a rolling chassis.  I also "tucked" the body wiring harness.  This consists of taking the engine bay fuse box and relocating it into the trunk along with the igniter and ignition coil.  The aesthetic appeal is the only reason for hiding the wire harness.  It is still accessible in the trunk and if done properly, takes up no usable cargo volume.

Engine is out

I spent the better part of two nights dropping the engine out of the car.  I've linked to a couple of websites which walk through the process of removing the engine from an mkII mr2.  You'll notice that both sites use an engine hoist to lower the engine to the ground and one site even utilizes a 4 post lift to raise the car up.  I own neither of these useful pieces of equipment nor do I have garage space.  This makes the engine removal process trickier.  It is definitely not impossible but the order in which parts are removed is crucial.  At the very least 4 jack stands, two jacks, and cinder blocks or pieces of 2 by 4 or required.

Cylinder #4 Retired = Time for a Gen3

I discovered that cylinder #4 has a serious problem.  It is most likely a cracked or broken piston ring land.  A compression test showed 160psi but the leak down test indicated a 22% leakage.  There were no bubbles visible in the coolant fill neck nor was there leakage from an adjacent cylinder so that about rules out a broken head gasket.  No sound was coming from the intake pipes nor the exhaust pipes which can rule out the valves.  Along with the fact that it is a common failure point on MR2s, the symptoms and test results point to a broken ring land in cylinder #4.
      It was suggested to me that getting a complete engine swap would be the most cost effective choice.  A rebuild requires lots of work at a machine shop plus the labor from a knowledgeable engine builder who can be hard to find locally.  These labor costs can quickly add up to more than a swap.  Also with a complete swap, I have a 90 day start up warranty and I get a complete set of engine components including the wiring harness.  I have my suspicions with the harness that was on my engine.  This also gives me a unique situation where I can sell good parts from my engine to help fund the swap.  My CT27 was recently rebuild and has 0 miles on it.  These are worth $800 in this condition.  With a rebuild, all costs come out of pocket.  With either choice the blown engine needs to be removed and the new engine installed.  This labor cost is only avoidable if I complete the work myself.  Hopefully a friends shop will be available and I can save over $1000!
     I have decided on a gen3 swap which I can get for $2100 shipped to my door from a well known MR2 specialty shop.  This does not include the transmission because I will be reusing the current LSD transmission that is in the car.  Going this route means I have put all of the good engine parts from my gen2 up for sale on MR2OC.com.  I've already made several sales and I'm well on my way to purchasing the gen3 swap.
     When the engine arrives, I will be doing some preventative maintenance while it is out of the car.  This is the best time to do a few part and gasket replacements because of the ample room.  With the engine inside of the car, some tasks are almost impossible without removing a long list of parts.  Some of the things I plan to buy before installing the gen3 are:
UPDATE: After figuring up the costs, I've had to revise my list.

-Spark Plug Wire Set (includes plastic cover) $76.93
-Distributor Cap Seal $2.77
-Distributor Rotor $7.37
-Distributor Cap $40.00
-HFH and HFHOE both are $13.00 each
-Water Pump $132.16
-Timing belt idler $104.44
-Timing belt tensioner $48.09
-ATS Timing Belt Replacement Kit includes ($104)
-----Timing Belt
-----Cam Seals
-----Crank Seal
-----Oil pump shaft seal
-----Oil pump O-ring
-----Both valve cover gaskets
-Have fuel injectors cleaned and flow tested by Witchunter $80.00
Stay tuned for more updates.  I am shooting for an early May install date but I hope to receive the engine a little before then so I can get started.

Front Lip Refresh and Gauge Cluster Update

After a few years of use and a poor initial installation, the front lip on the car was in need of some serious help.  It wasn't mounted using the correct OEM brackets, and the paint was coming off.  So I sourced all six brackets from Toyota and got locking nuts and paint from the store.  I also imported a set of aluminum rings to go around the gauges in the instrument cluster as well as an LED set to replace the old incandescent bulbs behind the gauges.  They both really give it a more updated look.  Check out the big improvement for both the gauges and the front lip.

Upgrade the stock radio with OEM Toyota Double DIN unit

My car came with an old crappy Kenwood CD player which looked too flashy and out of place.  Here is a cheap alternative to buying aftermarket CD players which also retains that clean factory look.

Georgia Summers (T-Top Replacement Knobs and Clips)

Being in the south, Georgia's summers can get pretty hot. When I bought this car, it did not have the sun shades which latch onto T-Tops.  Nor did it have the catch on the T-Top glass to receive the latch from the shade.  Unfortunately, Toyota no longer stocks the plastic knobs or catches and no one in the aftermarket reproduced these making these pieces highly desirable and almost worth just as much as the shade itself.  Therefore I had to do some research.  I bought a set of great condition black T-Top shades and after a tip from pyrotoxin on MR2OC.com, the solution was as easy as a trip to a NISSAN dealership!  It turns out that the same knobs and catches which are used on a older Z car are still stocked by Nissan and actually work on the MR2 as well.  A long standing and widespread problem in the MR2 community has now been solved!  Details after the jump.

Georgia Showers (T-Top Leak Fixes)

     Most MR2s came with T-tops.  In fact, an MR2 with a sunroof or a plain hardtop is actually somewhat rare and highly sought after.  I thought the T-tops would be a neat feature to have in the car.  I found myself removing them for my daily commutes up the interstate to work.  Little did I know they would cause some problems. 

Surprise!

During the process of repairing the door wiring, I discovered that the fog light switch needed at least 2 wires repaired and I also found this little guy.  What is it?

Driver Side Door Lock Light Ring Upgrade

This is a How-to that I originally posted on the MR2OC.com forums. I am sorry for the blurry pictures, I could not tell that the camera had not focused correctly until after I was done. I'm not sure if I called this the right thing but basically I changed out the stock green light that shines on the outside driver door lock. Its a faint green and I will show you how to put in "super" bright led. I put this in the interior sections because its along the same lines as the ignition light ring.

Back to stock

So after perusing the aforementioned websites I started to realize that the setup of the engine created by the previous owner was somewhat risky. Specifically the 550 supra injectors and the NEO-AFC. The reason being because of the MR2's hybrid ignition control system. The MR2 uses a distributor to fire off each spark plug but the ECU can advance or retard the ignition timing also. A problem arises when piggyback style tuners are added into the equation. Piggyback tuners "trick" the ECU into doing what it wants. Because of this, situations can arise, if tuned without this knowledge, where the AFC tricks the ECU and into altering the timing and inadvertently causing detonation inside the cylinders which will break the ring lands off the pistons and then you are in a world of hurt because you engine needs to

                                                                                       be removed and opened up to repair.

Door Wiring

As I mentioned in the first post, the door locks and window switches on both the drivers side and passenger side worked intermittently. At all times I could lock and unlock the doors as well as roll up and down both windows but it may not have been from the same door. For example, sometimes I had to use the driver side switches to roll up and down the passenger window.

Speedometer fix

When I bought the car, the speedometer was not operational. The previous owner instead of trying to fix it correctly, just bought a GPS unit and used the speed readout on it to get by. After doing research before buying the car I learned that the problem could be one of four things: the front drive cable, the rear drive cable, the sensor itself, or the gear inside of the transmission which drives the sensor. With the later meaning that the transmission would need to be torn apart, I was cautious of buying the car but after learning that it was very rare for the gear inside the transmission to fail, I decided that this would be something that I could fix.
Once I was able to dig into the car, I found out the transmission that the previous owner had installed was a 93+ transmission which use an electronic speed sensor, not a cable driven sensor. The electronic speed sensor was still on the transmission with nothing connected to it. The front cable was still on the car and the rear cable was gone. I ordered the front and rear cables along with a mechanical speed sensor. I was able to recoup some money by selling the electronic sensor. After using this how-to to install all of the parts and then adjusting the tachometer needle, everything was squared away and functioning properly. Mission Accomplished

btw if you own an MR2 I recommend snooping around Stephen Mason's website to find other fixes for common MR2 problems.

MR2 forums

It turns out that two years prior to buying this car, I joined an MR2 enthusiast forum, MR2OC.com, to look at cars for sale and to learn more about the MR2. I didn't end up getting an MR2 then but now that I had one, I went back and my account was still active. This is the website that I mainly use to ask questions, answer questions, post updates, and to buy parts. Sites like these are a huge help and also help greatly to grow the MR2 community. MR2 shops also design new parts and market them to forum members (sometimes with discounts).

Here are a list of some MR2 forums that I recommend visiting.
MR2OC
MR2 Board
MR2OC.co.uk
TwoBrutal

Intro Part Deux (Car Specs)

Here are the specs of the car from the previous owner

Make: Toyota
Model: MR2 NA-T Swap
Year: 1991
Mileage: 16x,xxx on Chassis 7x,xxx on Motor 8x,xxx on Tranny
Options: Pwr Locks, Pwr Windows, A/C, Heater, T-Tops, Pwr Steering, Tilt Wheel
Mods:
JDM 3sgte engine swap
ATS CT27 turbo,
Walbro 255hp Fuel Pump
Supra 550 injectors
BERK intercooler
TEIN Flex coilover
Sparco Racing steering wheel
HKS fuel cut defencer
HKS blow off valve
HKS Intake
Blitz boost controller
Apexi NEO-SAFC
Blitz Nur Spec Catback Exhaust
TRD Spark plug wire
TRD Front and Rear sway bar
TRD shift knob
5Zigen wheel 16'' with Yokomaha ES100
3rd GEN 94 5 Speed Transmission with LSD "Just installed with axles"
timing belt / clutch /water pump/ rotor and brake pad
was done a year ago i believe
Kenwood MP3 CD player
6.5 Infinity Ref. speakers in doors
400w jenson amp
Authentic Greddy sides
Autometer CF boost gauge

RECENT Updates within past month
New 3rd Gen 94 LSD Tranny with Axles
Brand New Windshield
New Wipers
New H4 Glass Headlight Housing
10,000k HID Kit
Blitz Nur Spec Catback Exhaust
JDM Kouki Taillights *Rare*
Synthetic specially made seat covers they look great
New Valve cover gasket
Twosrus Valve cover bolts kit
JDM Turbo front lip
New NGK spark plugs
New Battery
Brand new paint not even a month old.

So it begins

This is a blog I created to chronicle the life of my 1991 Toyota MR2. I have a lot of catching up to do as I have had this car for almost 3 years. I bought it on March 3rd 2008 from a guy on the north side of Atlanta, GA. His name was Dan and he seemed to be in his early 20's.

Here is a link to the ImportAtlanta.com thread where I found the car. You don't need to be a member to view it.

http://www.importatlanta.com/forums/showthread.php?167798-TW-91-MR2-Turbo-Must-See!

No I did not pay his asking price. I also bought the car without the '94 tail lights which knocked down the price even more.

Here is a link to a photobucket album with a bunch of pictures that the previous owner had taken.

http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm252/Mike02188/MR2/

As far as the history of the car, here is what I know:

-It had 6 previous owners making me the 7th

-It is a 1991 Toyota MR2 NA chassis and had a 2nd gen engine and transmission swapped into it

-The 6th owner replaced the transmission because it died on him. I believe he said it had something to do with the axles.

-When the turbo swap was completed, the person doing the swap re-used the NA body wiring harness and hacked it up to "work." Turns out the CEL never worked and that's how I discovered the original NA harness. I have since replaced it with the proper 93 Turbo body harness.

-It was originally painted red from the factory. The paint was faded and possibly oxidized at one point and the 6th owner bought it from the 5th owner under the stipulation that it was repainted. Turns out the 5th owner had it painted for $400 at a MAACO who did a horrible job. They did not remove a single piece from the car when they painted it. This means the entire engine bay, front trunk, door jambs, rear trunk, gas door lid, etc, all still show red paint. The paint itself also is of poor quality. I believe it was a single stage paint. If you look up close to the car, you will see many small lines in the paint. I've put several hours of my own time into correcting these lines. So far I have only repaired the hood, front bumper, and the two front fenders. Pictures of all of this to come later.

-There were a few problems with the door locks and window switches. One or the other door wouldn't lock and one window only roll down by using the switch on the other door. Turns out the door wiring harnesses had a few breaks in it. This is actually a common problem with MR2s because the rubber boot covering the wires actually pulls on the wires and over time from opening and closing the door thousands of times, they 20 year old wires break.
-There was an aftermarket alarm system installed up under the dash. When I found it I called the previous owner and he had no idea it was there. I also found a few wires which were cut. More on this later with pictures.

-The shades for the t-tops and the bags which hold the t-tops (for when they are removed) were both missing along with the spare tire and the plastic trim which both go in the front trunk.
-There was some random old FM transmitter or signal amplifier or something just chillin under the carpet in the passenger foot well near the radio.