BUILD: My love-hate relationship with the latest SW20

[tooomanyprojects]

Hi all, been an MR2 owner for three and a bit years now and figured its about time i join the forums.


This is my latest one (third one I've owned). Its a SW20 GT that came to me as a (barely) rolling body. I bought it as the previous MR2 was full of bog.

During the first engine swap.

I swapped the 3rd gen 3sgte over from my old car (the black one pictured above). Smashed that out over about 3 days and it ran well for 7 months before i installed a new down pipe that held my waste-gate flapper closed. the car free boosted, and hit fuel cut at about 20psi. Good bye ring-lands.

broken ringlands

Anyway long story short I've now done a forged rebuild, and a few other modifications as below:

1989 SW20 GT hardtop body.

CHASSIS/EXTERIOR:
•92+ front lip
•92+ subframe conversion
•lowered Springs (unsure of Brand, maybe Dobi?)
•brakes upgraded to the later, Gen 3 setup all round.
•Wedsport mesh style wheels 17x8/9 +35 for street, (also have some Rays/Volk CV Pros same sizes less offset that i indend to use also)
•G-spec front bumper and Bomex side skirts


INTERIOR:
•dish steering wheel
•Gen 3 N/A seats and door cards
•aftermarket headunit and speakers (complete rewire to properly delete that factory "super sound" stereo)
•Converted from cable drive to electric speedo to match the gearbox.

FUEL:
•DW200 fuel pump
•not yet installed but i have a set of SARD 850 injectors to in for when i do my power tune (still on run in tune ATM)

ENGINE:
•Full overhaul including new, genuine Toyota oil pump, water pump etc.
•Cometic head gasket
•CP 9:1 forged pistons, .5mm over size
•Eagle forged h-beam rods,
•ARP rod bolts
•ARP head studs
•ARP flywheel bolts
•Gen 4 3sgte intake manifold (off a caldina)
•Factory CT20b turbo and manifold
•3inch downpipe to an HSK hi-power silent exhuast.
•Water to Air intercooler, using a honda civic readiato as a heat exchanger up front and an icebox in boot.
•Innovate LC-2 wideband O2
•Link G4+ plug n play ecu

DRIVE:
•Gen 3 turbo gearbox with 2-Way LSD (don't ask why it came from japan with like that when i bought the half cut)
•Excedy 5-puk ceramic clutch

Any way, here are a few of the photos I've taken along the way. and yes, next step is tune, then paint.

result of broken ring-lands

new pistons

so shiny

gotta love genuine parts

new vs old

assembled and ready to go back in

it sat like this for way too long

how the engine bay looks

last weekends adventures in palmy

best way to transport wheels

[Benckj]

Very cool and nice work building another 3sgte. Hope to follow your project and final completion. What power/performance goals are you shooting for?

[tooomanyprojects]

i dont really have any goals power wise. i basically just wanted to have a solidly built MR2 that wouldnt break again. and that was fun to drive.
ideally with my current set-up somewhere between 200-220KW at the wheels would be nice.

i do intend to take the car on track days and MR2 club runs once ive been for this tune, however i just found out today that my W2A leaks (a little bit of green coolant came out my BOV. i used red for engine coolant and green for the W2A so i could make leaks etc easier to fault find. )

[Benckj]

Kind of surprised with all the upgrades you stuck with the Ct20b. I know you mentioned running 850 injectors but not sure what fuel rail or regulator is being used.

[tooomanyprojects]

so at the moment i only have the 550cc injectors in for the run in (made things easier at the time).

the plan was to see what sorta duty cycle they are under and if i need to ill swap them out for the 850's. but i still have the stock rail and reg. like i said, im not really going for massive power at this stage. but with the mods ive done, it means if i want more power in the future, its mainly bolt ons. (and maybe a little head work)

[Alsw20]

Kind of surprised with all the upgrades you stuck with the Ct20b.

Proven performance?

[tooomanyprojects]

also, i feel like if the only thing holding you back is your turbo, the rest of the engine must be pretty safe right?

[GDII]

Kind of surprised with all the upgrades you stuck with the Ct20b.

Proven performance?

CT20b FTW. Works well and no major boosting issues.

[GDII]

This is my kind of build. Will be following this and any updates. Keep them coming, good job.

[tooomanyprojects]

Just a quick update after a mission of a weekend.
Got my car suck on a hoist for 2 hours.
Replaced my front sway bar links after I Found out I snapped both of them.(How does that even happen?!?)

New wheels got painted (thanks tom)

And made it to the hawkes bay meet on Saturday.

[tooomanyprojects]

So in true "what can go wrong will go wrong" spirit, I decided to enter the Hawkes bay car club drag event yesterday. The day before my tune.

Second run of the day (first timed run) I tried to change to 4th at about 7krpm/ 150ishkm and hit a wall. Loud crunching/grinding.

The good news, if you're gentle you can get it into 4th. And once it's In, you're good. All other gears work perfectly.

Also the tuner says he can still work with it. So tune is going ahead.

Bad news, I believe either my shifter or my 4th synchro is stuffed which means it's coming apart again. :/

On a side note. I managed a 13.47 1/4mile with no 4th gear, on my "run in tune" which is not too bad I guess.

[Benckj]

Great to see your making progress and enjoying the build. Hopefully after you get the trans & tune sorted it will increase your reliability & track time. What fluid are you running in the gearbox?

[tooomanyprojects]

It currently has redline MT-90 and a bottle of redline friction modifier.

Why's That? Reckon the fluid stuffed the synchro?

[Benckj]

Fluid type could have something to do with it. I'm a fan of the Redline Lightweight Shockproof myself as the MT90 just didn't last. Never had an issue using LWSP and it seems to be the preferred choice overseas.

[tooomanyprojects]

I might run that next time. I'll still need the friction modifier though as my diff is nuts.