[SOLD] mknz's SW20 (Formerly Alex's)

[Swampy]

Get the gen 3... noted.

[Wayne]

Oh lol .. 10 psi stock ...
your mates one from from limiter bashing it .. its got nothing to do with the boost .
lesson number one in cars .. almost nobody tells you what they were really going
basically there very prone to [Expletive Deleted] that have no idea what there doing .. [Expletive Deleted] with them and killing them .
lesson number 2 ... you wont bend a rod like that .. with boost ... RPM is harder on rods than boost is .. up to a point .. but that point is not 16 psi

[DravidDavid]

Oh lol .. 10 psi stock ...
your mates one from from limiter bashing it .. its got nothing to do with the boost .
lesson number one in cars .. almost nobody tells you what they were really going
basically there very prone to [Expletive Deleted] that have no idea what there doing .. [Expletive Deleted] with them and killing them .
lesson number 2 ... you wont bend a rod like that .. with boost ... RPM is harder on rods than boost is .. up to a point .. but that point is not 16 psi

The 16psi case was different. But he also destroyed his engine. Not sure to what degree.

He was cruising on the motorway, put his foot down and lost all power. But I've just learned he discovered his turbo actuator had given up on him when he was dissecting it. Can't say he isn't one to bash the limiter from time to time though. Damage could have been inflicted previously.

[Wayne]

if you look at the destroyed engine the kinetic force required to do that much damage high rpm is a requirement.
IMO if you want a great engine .. gen a gen 4 put some rods in it a decent ecu and a decent turbo sized to keep exhaust pressures down and you have the makings of a great street engine ,
Or just grab a gen3 NA engine .. rods pistons caldina intake and a drain .. and you have a engine that will see you well past 500 hp .
its to hard to get a gen 2 engine thats not stuffed these days .. all the ones ive opened all have delaminating big ends and poor compression .. there just getting to old

[Swampy]

You don't need to cut and polish if its adhesive. Rubbing alcohol is what I used to use, but did it cheapo and used hand sanitizer. The alcohol in it is the key ingredient.

[Wayne]

alcohol is the cornerstone in any repair based project

[Dontcopy]

Been on the road for a month and half now and most of the teething problems are solved.

The new fuel pump shit itself so that was replaced, and the alternator pulley + belt was replaced with the correct one. So it's all good to go!

Next on the to-do list is a new exhaust, intake, install the FPR and repaint some little bits and pieces.

[Benckj]

What type fuel pump died on you?

[Wayne]

was a Chinese 340 lph pump ... but it would appear that even after cleaning the tank out while it was out .. he got some dreadings gas and the dirt in it went through the pump ...
well this was the diagnosis of the fellow that did the pump replacement .
be careful where you fill up ...

[Dontcopy]

Yup, the guy was adamant it was dirty fuel. Unfortunately I can't work out if it was BP or Gull, leaning towards Gull since it was the last place I filled up.

[Dontcopy]

For those who do not know, this car is for sale. Any interest please PM me

[Dontcopy]

This is still for sale. Will take $6000 for club members.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/988630746

Alex

[Dontcopy]

Sold to a club member!

[mknz]

There's a study break coming up and the other MR2 has been sold giving me some funds. Neither will be used wisely

[mknz]

So, this hasn't been updated in a while. There were a few issues.

I took out the Tein springs, and Paulio was kind enough to give me standard W20 springs. I need the extra clearance to get in/out of my driveway without doing this extra stupid snaking motion and for club runs when we inevitably end up on dirt/gravel roads with a high centre section.

Raising the ride height caused the axle to change angles and scrape on the oxygen sensor shield, so I clearanced it. This probably wouldn't have happened if it had the axle-block mount there.

Missing bolts between the transaxle and block, missing gearbox mount through bolts, but at least Wayne warned me of these because he wasn't given much time to throw it back together. I was salty when Manukau Toyota asked $80 for ten bolts. They tried to tell me how special they were. HAHAHAHA. Not when you can buy them for below 2 USD. The lesson is always go to NST instead, it's just that they're far away for me.

It started sitting after the slave died, which was the start of my clutch not disengaging issues. I replaced it with one from ASL through work.

It still wasn't right and never had been as the clutch bite point was just above the floorboard. Adjusting the pedal and bleeding didn't help. In denial or procrastination that I had to pull the box, I rebuilt the master cylinder with a Frenkit rebuild kit from ASL. The kit was shit to be frank which I expected after I saw the box and was reminded of the Frenkit brake rebuild kit I got from BNT a few years ago. Luckily it was in pretty good nick and it mostly just got a good lube to help things slide easier.

During this, I picked up an E153 which apparently has an aftermarket differential in it (Clive and thus I have been told it's a clutch type) along with the axles minus the outer constant velocity joints.

The W11 served fine for my boost, and twisties fix (luckily, it's been reliable, thanks Charlie) in the meantime but I until I fix the tune it's far too slow in a straight line. Now that I'm finally done with university™ I decided to just [Expletive Deleted] do it and fix the less slow car.

So, with the hands of a couple of mates and some 'ugga duggas' I ripped out the featherlight S54 with ease. The only annoying part was that because my exhaust is one piece between the catalytic converter and tips, it routes between the rear cross member and the rear sway bar. Making all three easier to remove as one large unit. Thank you whoever greased the male splines of the outer CVs as I could press them out of the hubs with a finger).

I highly recommend to anyone wrenching on a W2X that they read the 1993 version of the BGB too as it contains much more information and has some error fixes compared to the 1991 version.

What you need to swap an E153 in where you've had an S54:
-Shifter cables (so your gear stick doesn't lean).
-Turbo mount insulators, stiffer ones or inserts to handle the extra weight (LHS) and the extra torque of the engine (front and rear) although you don't strictly need them to bolt up.
-LHS and rear gearbox mount brackets (front is the same part number).
-The appropriate speedometer sender for your gauge (mechanical cable or electric).
-The suitable clutch kit (clutch disc to suit the gearbox, flywheel and pressure plate to suit engine).
-Either purchase Camry or MR2 turbo hubs XOR outer CV-joints from an ST185 Celica (part number CV105627/CV105727 non/ABS all NZ aftermarket part companies should understand those numbers) which has the male 26 splines ~27mm wide of the NA hubs, the internal female 27 splines ~30mm (29.62mm on my axle [male] end) wide of the E153 axles and comes to the same length. I got two Fargo CV105627 joint kits (grease, circlip, boot clamps, boot, nut, CV joint, nut-locking-thingy-with-a-hole that I've forgotten the actual name of) through work
-The appropriate gearbox oil based on your differential.

An E153 axle shaft end

The great gearbox oil debate:
My understanding is factory viscous and open differentials should use Redline Lightweight Shockproof XOR 75W-90 transaxle oil which is brass/yellow-metal safe (some GL-5 use a different extreme pressure additive which is appropriate) depending on your beliefs. Clutch type such as Kaaz or TRD should use either a 75W-90 as before but also requires a limited slip differential additive (which is hard to find standalone in this country) or according to Bill Strong start with the base 75W-90 and increase the additive until the diff stops getting angry at you. I got three of the 1L Motul 75W-90 FF LS (at the recommendation of another club member with personal experience) because it's designed for transaxles with brass synchronisers and clutch type LSDs from North Shore Toyota for ~$150 with the club members discount which is in the same ballpark as MT-90.

A word on Exedy clutch kits:
If you have a 3S-GTE (or another engine using the same flywheel) and an E153, then you'll want TYK-7248 which in their listing is the cast-iron fork. The only difference in the pressed metal fork version is the throwout bearing. We concluded that the Australian catalogue (which the NZ is based off) is wrong because there never was Australian domestic market MR2 delivered with a 3S-GTE and so they reused information from other vehicles with the same engine. They are adamant that there are some 3S-GTE equipped vehicles that use a pressed metal fork and consequentially a different TOB. To the best of our knowledge, all W2X MR2s use the same TOB (Toyota part number 31230-20191 | Exedy part number
BRG2356). Exedy NZ provides genuine Toyota TOBs in the TYK-7248 clutch kits, so you don't need to worry about them failing. To sweeten the deal, they will also machine your flywheel for you (for a valid warranty, only takes ~30mins, and because it's shiny). Finally, the pressure plate has cutouts that allow you to fit 6-point impact sockets with ease compared to Xtreme clutch pressure plates.

All up this cost me about ~$1500, but if you have an open differential and don't buy new parts, then it'll only be about ~$1000.

I came to install everything on Monday, easy money, right? HAHAHAHAHAHA nope.

The clutch kit and flywheel went on easy. For reference, the thicc side of the clutch plate goes towards the transaxle (my clutch kit said so). The alignment tool provided (Exedy part number DCT-11) is designed for rear wheel drive configurations as it sticks out at the end to sit in the pilot bushing. Considering the tool is made of plastic it shouldn't be too hard to cut it off. My car is up high enough on jack stands ~0.5m that I could sit inside the hole and use the tool to line up the clutch disc by eye (used the concentric machined rings on the clutch disc in comparison to the pressure plate springs). If your flywheel and bolts aren't sitting flush with just give it a jiggle (rotationally and along the three axes), the bolts should be able to be hand-tightened.

The real suffering came when it was time to install the hopefully not-crunchbox E153. It's light enough to lay on the floor and press it up but not light enough to hold it up long enough to line it up and shove it in. I do not recommend using one nor two floor nor scissor jacks to lift it either, we wasted a few hours trying this because the centre of mass is in the most awkward place, and the flat surfaces of the gearbox end up tilting it which ultimately results in the gearbox falling off the jacks when you come to line it up. Furthermore, jacks result in less space underneath. We gave up and borrowed an engine crane from a mate but were still unsuccessful due to the [Expletive Deleted] dowel on the block (my E153 is missing its one).

To be continued...

Inspecting the old clutch kit:
When I yanked off the old clutch, I noticed that except for the lack of lubrication and pressure plate that everything looked fine; TOB spun fine, the flywheel still had machining marks, the Exedy NA clutch disk seemed near new. The very experienced mechanic at the back of my work confirmed one of my suspicions: the pressure plate springs were sitting at different heights so when pushing down on it using his hydraulic press it was apparent the slack had to be taken up before it fully disengaged properly. Exedy confirmed another two of my suspicions; there was insufficient lubrication where the TOB slides on the transaxle and that the pressure plate had been overthrown.

Minor things:
-2011 Century-Yuasa battery finally died and replaced.
-Brake lights stay on, probably due to the rubber pad on the pedal breaking.
-Some tyre rub on the front LHS wheel well on the rear could be due to bushings, alignment or tyres.
-There's some minor surface rust.
-Rear tyres are on their last legs, and I plan on getting some 215/40/17 and 245/40/17 RE003s on special.
-Install the AliExpress catch can.
-Had to install a breather filter on the idle air intake valve.
-The BOV wasn't properly connected.
-At one point in time, I checked the boost, and it was only 10PSI. I remember Wayne saying something about the vacuum system needing sorting for it to boost correctly. I'll have a look at this later.
-It's filthy after sitting outside. There's a couple of rust spots I'll tackle but looking a bit rough keeps it under the radar till I'm passing.
-I'll need to chuck all my plastic spares on it and ask Simon for whatever spares I don't have.

EDIT:
Updated Toyota part number (typo)