The MR2 Owner's Club of New Zealand

Hi guys,

I'm thinking to install a tenth generation HKS turbo timer in my Revision 1 SW20. It says on HKS' website that on SW20 models it "may cause some interference". Has anyone installed one of these?

My friend has this one. It works fine.

I just installed an Apexi timer into my SW, mostly for the voltmeter function and for $#!&$ and giggles of useless 90s Japanese things. I bought the HKS adapter as they are the same thing, plug and play. All I had to do was wire in the ground wire, wire in the handbrake wire and done.

As a side note, these units do absolutely nothing to help wear on your turbo or oil system. It's one of those Japanese things. A solution to a problem you never had.

The modern turbo timers are actually a decent bit of kit and quite useful for those tat know what they doing. If you get a type 1 it will have speed and rpm inputs from ECU. As part of the many features it will measure and display;
>Max speed obtained
>Max rpm reached
>System voltage
>Timer for ignition to remain on or TT function.

While these parameters may not seem important high/low alarms (gauge colour change and audible sound) can also be set which give you useful info such as over rev, shift points, low system voltage, etc. Calculations can also be used such as 1/4 mile times or 0-100kph which are displayed on timer.

As far as the timer function this is not exactly useless as when in countdown mode the front rad fans and IC fan turn ON which in turn help cool down the engine, coolant & turbo. This helps extend life of turbo by not coking the oil within cartridge. Some would argue that using modern synthetic oil this function is not required. Without a TT or simply waiting before shutting down engine does not achieve the additional fan cooling.

Most MR2's like to boil coolant in block on shut down and many owners are told that this is a normal harmless function of this car. Running a TT helps avoid this boiling which I believe is a symptom of mid engine design as it will stress the coolant system and introduce air pockets into the water jacket. Can easily push a button on TT to abort function if desired.

So for the minor cost of buying one of these devices it has a range of features not many are aware of. I've used a HKS TT which I bought for under $50 for years. I only have it set to 30s which I find adequate to drop temps and do not have the boiling coolant on shut down.

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I remember reading on one of those USA MR2 group forums about Toyota themselves allegedly recommending to idle the car for up to 5 minutes post 'enthusiastic' driving. I suspect they may have been trying to sell something. Anyway I've had that same issue with coolant boiling off and noticed it would either not happen, or take much longer to happen, if I idled the car for a few minutes after getting home. Hopefully the TT can help avoid that boiling from happening. I'm sure it sounds worse than it is.

I'm looking at this specifically:
https://www.rhdjapan.com/hks-turbo-time ... model.html

That one will work fine although it is a rather large unit to mount and have limited features vs the Apexi one.
The only thing you have to do is splice into the handbrake wire and ground it. Buying the TT-3 adapter harness directly from Redline Performance rather than the Trademe store is cheapest in NZ. You would be silly not to buy it for $25+ shipping. Photos at the bottom.

I placed the wire into the back of the handbrake switch terminal and used some heat shrink to secure it in place. That why it is removable without damaging the wire. Then I grounded it to this stud next to my stereo ground. Plugged it back in.