SKDZ-EZ V6 ADub

[Mr-Paulio]

Hi team,
Unfortunately this will be a bit backwards as I have been too busy lately in the workshop to keep up with a build thread.
And I just want to start with the fun stuff, like where I am at currently. Then what is still to do. And when I get some free time I will go back to where it all began.

Firstly a few pictures of my 3VZ-FE 1989 AW11 MR2.
She's alot of fun!!

Engine bay

Boot

Excuse the dust. Poor baby had been alone in the garage for awhile. (Plus I have a long gravel driveway which was used for testing. Traction was often an issue and makes a mess )

Last week I had a chrome RX8 HKS muffler set fitted and the exhaust fabricated to suit. Great custom work by "Might Muffler" In Takanini, Auckland. As their is not a lot of room to play with back there. I was also happy with the cost for the work they did. I might have to get them to look at making custom manifolds for me in the future?

Exhaust

She sounds a lot gruntier now. Especially when I open it up through the country roads! (And supprisingly is not obnoxiously loud! As it is straight pipe to this muffler set.)
Unfortunately in doing so on the way home she got a bit hot. Coolant was bubbling in the overflow tank as I pulled in my driveway.

So. The list of things to do looks like this.
Checking for leaks in the cooling system.
New coolant, thermostat and cap.
New custom overflow tank.
The cam covers are coming off to relocate the oil filler to the other cam cover for ease of access. Also more room between this and the firewall I will then install new breather ports and an oil catch can.
Heatwrap the new exhaust.
Repair oil leaks from the cam covers, under the dizzy, and the sump.
Clean the sump, baffle, pick up, engine flush and new oil and filter.
Possible oil filter relocation and oil cooler install.
New gearbox oil (Redline MT90) as well as replace the damaged drain and filler plugs.
Install aftermarket gauges.
And install tacho adaptor so factory tacho reads correct.
And I think that's it...

Then just drive it regularly. Make sure all the Gremlins are under control and get involved in some track days and club runs!

[85AW20v]

Might be an idea to take the radiator out and take it to a radiator shop. Have the tanks taken off and the cores cleaned out as then you'll know it's not the front end that's the problem. Crap can build up in the cores after nearly 30 years.....

[Mr-Paulio]

Might be an idea to take the radiator out and take it to a radiator shop. Have the tanks taken off and the cores cleaned out as then you'll know it's not the front end that's the problem. Crap can build up in the cores after nearly 30 years.....

Yup, good advice thanks. But I don't feel like that is the issue in this case. As I have a new Ali radiator and both the fans now are wired to the cooling circuit. And barely run for long. Even when the overflow tank was bubbling. Also had bled the system and it had been fine for awhile until I gave it a good thrash. But could probably have been a bit of an air lock still? The gauge didn't read high either. But I think that was because I had made it back just in time.
Either way I think new coolant, new cap and new thermostat are good ideas anyway.
Cheers.

[Mr-Paulio]

And one last pic of the whole car

[mickeyduck]

Nice exhaust there Paul, I can't wait to hear it!

Re the cooling - I've suggested this to others before and been shot down for it but I'll say it again anyway. Consider getting a rad made with a core that's twice as thick. If you take out the aircon radiator that sits in front of the engine's radiator, you'd be able to fit a much thicker rad. Even though a thicker radiator isn't quite as efficient at its rear-most side compared to one that has more frontal surface area, the fact that it cools twice as much fluid each time it fills means you get rid of more heat from the engine. Old school simplicity that worked extremely well for me when I built a race-worked HR Holden years ago (Bathurst XU1 spec). I had mine built by Western Radiators and it was a copper one.

If you do decide to try that I'm sure someone will pounce on your aluminium rad. Maybe even me...

The other thing I've occasionally wondered about is whether it's possible to plumb an AW's aircon radiator into the engine's radiator so it becomes an additional engine radiator. Don't know if it can handle the pressure of course, or if the pipes are in the right place, but might be worth a look?

When you bleed the coolant be sure to do so like the BGB says. It's important to fit vertical hoses to the heater and radiator bleeders and to set the heater to full hot while the car is running. Let it idle for a while at running temperature too so it can move the coolant right through the system and pump out any air bubbles. I usually give it 10 or 15 minutes. I've seen too many guys kill their AW engine because they don't bleed the coolant properly. Just a factor of the rear engine front radiator bizzo so it will apply whatever motor is in there of course. I'm sure you know all that anyway but hey, for the benefit of others later...

Anyway mate I'm soooooo hanging out to see you on a run. Just gotta get my own MR2 back on its feet (W.I.P.)

[Mr-Paulio]

Nice exhaust there Paul, I can't wait to hear it!

Re the cooling - I've suggested this to others before and been shot down for it but I'll say it again anyway. Consider getting a rad made with a core that's twice as thick. If you take out the aircon radiator that sits in front of the engine's radiator, you'd be able to fit a much thicker rad. Even though a thicker radiator isn't quite as efficient at its rear-most side compared to one that has more frontal surface area, the fact that it cools twice as much fluid each time it fills means you get rid of more heat from the engine. Old school simplicity that worked extremely well for me when I built a race-worked HR Holden years ago (Bathurst XU1 spec). I had mine built by Western Radiators and it was a copper one.

If you do decide to try that I'm sure someone will pounce on your aluminium rad. Maybe even me...

The other thing I've occasionally wondered about is whether it's possible to plumb an AW's aircon radiator into the engine's radiator so it becomes an additional engine radiator. Don't know if it can handle the pressure of course, or if the pipes are in the right place, but might be worth a look?

When you bleed the coolant be sure to do so like the BGB says. It's important to fit vertical hoses to the heater and radiator bleeders and to set the heater to full hot while the car is running. Let it idle for a while at running temperature too so it can move the coolant right through the system and pump out any air bubbles. I usually give it 10 or 15 minutes. I've seen too many guys kill their AW engine because they don't bleed the coolant properly. Just a factor of the rear engine front radiator bizzo so it will apply whatever motor is in there of course. I'm sure you know all that anyway but hey, for the benefit of others later...

Anyway mate I'm soooooo hanging out to see you on a run. Just gotta get my own MR2 back on its feet (W.I.P.)

Thanks Charlie, I certainly like that it fills the large gap at the back up nicely.
As above I don't really believe it's the radiator that is the issue ATM. Should be plenty of capacity. And both fans run on on the radiator now, with no condenser or air flow restrictions. As I said the fans don't operate often or for long. So at speed it should work great! Possibly still a bit of an airlock? Although I did run it in plenty and topped it up a few times. And I had taken it on a few runs since with no issues. Also no heater lines anymore to worry about. More than likely I suspect the radiator return pipe on the engine and it is a poor design. Just a pipe and o-ring with one bracket holding it all in place. And it has leaked a bit on me before. So I may weld that fitting together. And fingers crossed it's not a HG!
As a AC engineer by trade I an tell you using the AC condenser will be no good.
But on my burnout car back in the day I did run two radiators in the circuit which seemed to work well!

Yup, can't wait for the next run! Hopefully all the lil bugs ironed out by then!!

[Alsw20]

3VZ so probably BHG

[Gleshlich]

Awesome to see another 3VZ. Much be insane in an AW!

[Mr-Paulio]

3VZ so probably BHG

Profit of doom!
I know it's a common issue. But everything is crossed

[Mr-Paulio]

Awesome to see another 3VZ. Much be insane in an AW!

Is certainly some fun. Has some real get up an go, and grunt. Although I have been considering a supercharger for the future already.... I cant leave anything alone!

[Mr-Paulio]

"I did some shit"

Quick update.
No issues with the cooling system since. Also fitted a new Ali (black) overflow to tidy up the engine bay. Still will do the thermostat, remake the thermostat housing which has a stupid designed wiggly radiator pipe. New cap and new coolant (the coolant has been around the block a few times, in and out of the car over the years, diluted probably etc)
Biggest achievement was modifying the cam covers. So now I have more clearance to the fire wall. And can actually use the oil filler cap without removing the engine!

And with new cam cover gaskets a few niggly oil leaks were fixed. As well as a large one in the sump by refitting a missing bolt with some gasket goo on it.
I also fitted a new breather port on the cam cover that got the new oil filler (as the oil cap covered the previous one) And fitted my new catch can.

Also my gauges and other JDM AF fruit. Which I worried may have looked a bit "douche baggy" but have started to grow on me.

And the rear tow hooks are actually very practical as I run a strop with D shackles between them and use my gantry and block and tackle to raise the back end of the car (for engine and transmission drops)
Maybe they will even get used on the track one day for their intended purpose!?
Also heat wrapped the exhaust and replaced the leaky exhaust flange gaskets. And spent hours removing the seized and snapped stud!! grrrr

So fruit wise I still have a gurney flap to fit.
I have a camber kit from MRP to fit.
Will still tear apart the cooling system when I am happy to have the car off the road for a week or so.
Tach adjuster needs to go in.
I'll be building a new Ali intake pipe (black of course) and binning that flexible hose piece of junk. Im also considering wiring a switch to the radiator thermostat. When the switch is off the fans will run constantly. When on they will cycle on the thermostat as per normal. I have just found after a decent thrash the fans cycle on/off quite quickly. And perhaps just leaving them on when the cars getting a hard time will have some benefit?
Oh, and I still don't have reverse lights. The boring jobs always get pushed to the side! Haha

[85AW20v]

Leaving the fans on won't make any difference once you're over whatever speed the fans will push the air through at - I don' know what it is but might only be 20km/hr. You're better off to turn them on at the end of your thrash and keep the air going through the radiator when going slow. Turning them on at speed might even restrict air flow through the radiator as the fans are then restricted to their design speed, whereas not switched on, they car spin at whatever speed they want to with the faster air passing through them..

[Mr-Paulio]

Leaving the fans on won't make any difference once you're over whatever speed the fans will push the air through at - I don' know what it is but might only be 20km/hr. You're better off to turn them on at the end of your thrash and keep the air going through the radiator when going slow. Turning them on at speed might even restrict air flow through the radiator as the fans are then restricted to their design speed, whereas not switched on, they car spin at whatever speed they want to with the faster air passing through them..

This is true, I had thought about that. But figured it might be worth a go. And at least like you say I can switch them on constantly after a thrash. Where as now they are on/off on/off quite rapidly at idle after a Hoon.

[Benckj]

Looking very nice, you do good work. Having a V6 in an AW must be a real head rush.

[Speedhog]

With the Overheating / bubbling, I just had a random thought.
When coolant pipes where attached, did the hot side of the motor, end up on the hot side of the radiator?