MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy]

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 12 Jun 2014 20:21:43 GMT

So while the engine bits where being shipped and sent off to the machine shop I got the brilliant idea of painting my suspension components to freshen them up. I don't have a lot of practice minus the 8 or so years of spraying furniture and then cleaning and priming metal bits and pieces on a regular basis. So here is the process that people can follow if they wish.

I sprayed de-greaser and used a nylon and brass brush with some elbow grease to get all the gunk off.

I then high pressure sprayed it.

I chose to use the rust converter because after I finished cleaning it it had spots of rust.

I then used brake cleaner to get the left over residue from the de-greaser. And then gave it a good wipe over with wax and grease remover.

spray thin coats with 10 or so minutes between each coat. The more coats you do the more you can lay it on. The trick is to get it sticky the first thin coat. Makes the other coats stick to it, so to speak.

I sprayed each side 3 times taking care to cover everything. A trick I learnt from my furniture making days is to stand one side and spray everything you can see, then move to the left or right and do the same until all 4 sides are done. Your less likely to miss anything this way.

3 coats of red and I let it sit for an hour or so before turning it over to continue painting.

I get late because I was taking my time, but the result looks awesome. I think the color is a little dull compared to the cars paint, but we will see if it needs a tone brighter or not.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Sun, 18 May 2014 16:08:12 GMT

The head went off to the machine shop along with the block, crank and rods to get a once over. I'm determined that nothing dodgy is going back into the car this time.

The head is now back and it got an acid dip with a pressure test and check over. It came back in perfect condition. The block got acid dipped also.

As it stands right now.
Head is back home.
Block is acid dipped and waiting on pistons to arrive for the boring.
The crank has been crack tested and balanced.
The flywheel has been acid cleaned and surfaced.

I ordered a clutch from an auto store turns out it was for an NA sw20, so I had to pick it up from the machine shop and get a refund. I have ordered an exeedy singly hyper clutch kit with a brass button clutch. I pick that up Monday.
I have ordered the pistons, top and bottom gasket and seal sets along with Moshimoto radiator hoses. It was surprising that no one in Oz had any forged pistons in stock. Check out www.realstreetperformance.com They have a great selection of aftermarket parts for cheap. I also ordered the bearings from the same shop. Again none is Australia. If i did order, it would take at least 2 months waiting, I thought forget it, so i went to real street instead.
Once the clutch is picked up the pressure plate will go back to the machining shop for the final balancing.

I have a new water pump, spark plugs and thermostat at home waiting for the block to come back. And will be ordering a new oil pump next week.

Once the pistons arrive it shouldn't be long before it back together!

I still need to get the cv's re-greased, and the wheel bearings done. But mechanically that's about it. If I have some funds left over I will be investing in a new better radiator.

That's it for now.

Dan.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Sun, 18 May 2014 15:41:46 GMT

I finally got some money together, time to rebuild, again. :)

Thanks to Pete for coming around and giving me a hand taking the engine out of the car! Legend!

This is how she looks now. I took the engine apart and the damage was obvious. Bearing 2 on the connecting rod had given way and spun.

Here is my 'workshop' It's a little small but it works.

What we have here is the forged block that was in the car on the right and the doner block to the left.

If you look carefull the spun bearing in the second from the left. Those forged pistons are completely ruined. They had pieces missing from the top.

The doner block was in fantastic condition. You could clearly see the cross hatching on the bores from factory.

Modified Gen 2 Sump, if you look closely the left hand side has been modified to fit the ARP studs.

Crank from the doner block in awesome condition.

Workshop manual, was a blessing. Made my life that much easier.

Doner block all stripped ready for the shop

This is my old gearbox completely rebuilt. Turns out the clutch shat itself, one of the springs had pupped out and consequencly little bits of metal bounced around the bell housing. The gear box had brand new running gear, oil pump and Heavy duty bearings. It also has Camry running gear. My final drive went from 4.2 to 3.6. I should have a much better top speed and cruising speed now. I think 5th gear should rev at 1.5k, not bad?

Bloody cat walking over the car, I don't even own one :/

wrapped up ready for the machine shop.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Sun, 18 May 2014 15:38:26 GMT

Time for some more!

After the pain job got done (early 2012) it was off to the mechanics to fix the over heating issue. It was decided that taking off the head was the best idea.
It's a shame that my phone at the time had all the pictures and it was unfortunately stolen. But the number 3 cylinder was filling with water due to the almost impossibly small 'gap' in the head gasket. I can only assume that it was a manufacturing defect rather than lack of care taken from the engine builder. While the head went off to get machined up, again, I ordered some hks 264 cams and they where put in.

The bore had surface rust and scores, so a light finger hone was done. I wish I had listened to my gut and got the bottom end looked at but I just didn't have the funds for that so it was a gamble. It took about a year for this to happen because I was like, just take your time and omfg the amount of time spent just waiting for parts. The head gasket got lost in transit and showed up 6 weeks late. The injector seals, none in the whole of Australia. That took a long time to finally get some. The head came back all shinny and sporting the new cams. It was put on the car and about to be torqued when it was discovered that the cams where put on wrong. The installer put the exhaust on the intake and vice versa. So that went back to the head shop to get fixed.

It went off to the dyno to get a tune and it was discovered that it was over heating again! The turbo was also over boosting. Once it got back to the shop it was obvious the radiator was blocked to high hell. I ordered a new radiator and in the mean time we worked to figure out what was going on with the turbo. Turns out the waste gate was hitting the dump pipe. It got fixed and was put back on the car. The radiator got delivered and the wrong was ordered, bloody hell! The guy took my old radiator and returned it with all flushed and rodded for nothing :). Put it all back together and off to the dyno again.

It was discovered that the EBC was holding 10psi to 5k and then 25psi to read line. This gave me a total of 250 Rwhp. However it had developed a knock. I got to enjoy the somewhat working car after years off the road to only get half way home. The knock got too bad and I pulled over to prevent any damage to the head.

I was prepared for the bottom end failing, it had been sitting around for years with water in the block. I accepted my fate. But it was the best 12km, I enjoyed every meter of it. The amount of looks I got driving home made it worth the while. I had people hanging out their cars at the lights just to have a good look. Sounded like a beast with a tux thanks to the new paint job.

Got it towed home and it sat for a while longer, for about a year.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (Flyboy)

Sun, 04 May 2014 13:59:55 GMT

Jesus,I feel buggered just reading this thread so far.....you must have the patience of Job.
I imagine it may have been cheaper(and easier) to raise the Titanic.
No body can ever accuse you of having a superficial understanding of MR2's,that's for sure.
Mad props and respect for all the work you have done and endured,thanks for posting.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (rikkir)

Thu, 01 May 2014 22:13:45 GMT

lonewolf_87
It's no fun to see it all at once, I like to tease :)

Dan.

I'm only just about to start on my SW20, so seeing other peoples builds provides lots of inspiration. Tease away lol.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 22:04:54 GMT

It's no fun to see it all at once, I like to tease :)

Dan.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (rikkir)

Thu, 01 May 2014 19:16:41 GMT

Keep the updates coming....

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 17:20:20 GMT

That's it for tonight folks. Hope your enjoying the progress.

Dan.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 17:16:44 GMT

While the car was all in pieces I had the perfect opportunity to install the stereo system. I ran each wire under the carpet and labeled each one correctly. I was never that 'professional' but after many years of installing came about many years of running cables. Might throw up a photo.

Once everything was installed the next major issue was to get the engine fixed and to fix the clutch that just wouldn't disengage.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 17:12:04 GMT

Looks like a true bewty ay?

It was relatively problem free. It took me a bit of effort to get the side mirrors off, I almost gave up and was going to be forced to have them painted while on the car. After some ingenuity I got the rounded screws out. Everything else was very easy. Oh yeah, there was just one thing. That boot lid was the death of me. It doesn't look like much but man it took me two afternoons to scrape off those burnt on to a crisp strips. I got a real, real good deal out of this. I helped do most of the dismantling of the car I saved myself a lot of money. The place was only a few blocks down so each set of photos the progress from day to day.

Once I got home I had to correctly align each panel, its fairly evident of that by the later pictures. but after some time I got it all right. The next issue was the exhaust now rubbed on the rear bar.
Some side moldings are missing and because I sold my original bar I no longer have the blot strip to correctly mount the front bar. I had to manually drill each hole and dislocate my elbow to reach each bolt/nut from under the car; a lot of fun :/.

I took the whole interior out and washed, scrubbed and armor-oiled each piece as it was put back. The sheer amount of sanding dust was unbelievable. That took me a few afternoons just by itself. I also chose to put back to the heater core because in my infinite wisdom, I threw it in the bin many years ago. It's in, just not fixed that well. It was a job for ron, but he just never showed up, ****.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 16:53:13 GMT

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 16:48:07 GMT

After saving some more $$$$ I continued on.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (lonewolf_87)

Thu, 01 May 2014 16:23:15 GMT

I still have the prize to the lucky gun who guesses the owner of the first car in the video. *Hint* it was well over 450hp ;)

Well, Here we are again, that time of the day.

I forgot to mention one other thing that I'm sure many people could learn from. If you think that when you press the bonnet down into the catch, the first one, and drive around for a test drive and your safe. Your not. I wish I still have my photos, But I was probably to embrassed to keep them. Yes I did what your probably thinking, I gave you enough hints. I most certainly pressed it down, but not all the way, thinking that it was ok. She will be right, right?. Drove about 30 meters down the road and BANG. I always wanted darker tint on the front windscreen but Not so that it wasn't see through, or smashed, into tiny tiny little pieces. What a mission to find a replacement bonnet and two hinges. I managed to find a blue bonnet, thanks Tristan, and some brackets, thanks pete. To actually get to them you have to take of each quarter panel.

I got the windscreen replaced and tried to sell it, as stated above. After 100 offers from Nigerians and 0 luck I chose to continue on with my project. This part will amaze you.

Re: MrtwoU Build. [Photo Heavy] (rikkir)

Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:47:49 GMT

MR2QIK
Nice build thread. Love reading these year long builds.

Same here :-)
My car is gonna be years in the making.