Plow's SW20 Turbo

Re:First time MR2 owner (B24)

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 21:43:56 GMT

Congrats on making the move to the SC 2GRFE. Looks like a great set up. Car looks really quick of the corner.

Re:First time MR2 owner (MR PLOW)

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 17:47:00 GMT

Some more recent pics

Re:First time MR2 owner (MR PLOW)

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 17:43:03 GMT

So it’s been a long time between updates, so I’ll make it a good one! After seemingly years of endless turbo-life dramas I finally bit the bullet and committed to a 2GR-FZE swap. That’s the TRD Aurion supercharged 3.5l v6, with the 1320 supercharger. I really wanted to get some “reliable racing” into my future, and I’d been very impressed with Eric’s car at the Wakefield Challenge. The torque and the noise were both very impressive, and I did feel like I wanted more than the NA 2GR had to offer (without a lot of work).

Not being any use with tools, Charlie Bianco in Melbourne coordinated everything including purchase of the 90k-odd km motor, on-sell of all the useful 3S-GTE bits, and so on. Under Charlie’s direction Nathan Appel has been hands on with much of the spanner work, Curt Ford did the exhaust fabrication work, and CMS Performance did the water-meth injection control and ECU hack/tune.

One of the things I really wanted to measure was the impact of the water-meth injection. It made a lot of sense in theory (charge cooling effect = air density & more power, anti-detonation effect = more timing and more power) but I couldn’t find much evidence for it or before/after results (at least with the factory ECU).

As a result of the ECU hack & tuning work plus water/meth, the car has been reliably putting out a good 215 rwkw without any heat soak or timing, vs around 195 (from memory) before.

Aside from the swap and water injection, Charlie has given me a longer final drive ratio and I’m happy with the result on both the highway and the track. Sump is baffled for track reliability.

Time to race, and places to do so with Wakefield closed lately :-( have seen me doing less driving lately, but something I’m keen to change this year.
Overall, the car is great to drive and sounds awesome. Has plenty of grunt and pickup. There are a few clips on youtube for you to enjoy:
1^st track day https://youtu.be/hQcX5N_X2NQ
Exhaust sound & 2^nd gear pull https://youtu.be/Vr6RS36B_3A
Am hoping I can get myself organised to come along to some MR2 / Toymods events this year.

Re:First time MR2 owner (varunkumar2023)

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:45:53 GMT

cool pic

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (Admin)

Sat, 19 Nov 2016 09:03:24 GMT

Awesome! Great results!

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Sat, 19 Nov 2016 08:34:45 GMT

Just a few updates. Had another trackday at SMSP (GP circuit) in September, knocked the PB down to 1;55.31.
November: New windscreen, wheel bearings, rotors machined and project mu 800 pads up front.
Took the car down to Wakefield last week, had a great day with nice weather, only 30 cars max, so got in a whopping 84 laps and smashed my PB from 1:13.45 down to 1:11.05!
Might have had better still in me for the late, cooler session except the intercooler cracked a weld open so had to call it for the day. Apart from that the car has been really solid and well balanced, no psycho rear end antics like the early days.

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (B24)

Sat, 28 May 2016 18:27:17 GMT

MR PLOW
Hey Steve, I'll know more on the first point on the 9th of June :-) but I think it will tend to plateau at some margin above ambient, approx 15 degrees above. Not sure if intake temps of 30 or 45 degrees make much difference?

Tyres I've been going out 27-28 psi and coming in 32 hot, they seem pretty hot and sticky to me but you know I don't push as hard as some ;-)

I think the lower the temp the better for insurance and performance. I think the 3SGTE cannot manage the higher temps as well as other engines due to design but don't quote me on that one.
As for tyres, push till they turn to mush!!

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Sat, 28 May 2016 14:23:25 GMT

Hey Steve, I'll know more on the first point on the 9th of June :-) but I think it will tend to plateau at some margin above ambient, approx 15 degrees above. Not sure if intake temps of 30 or 45 degrees make much difference?

Tyres I've been going out 27-28 psi and coming in 32 hot, they seem pretty hot and sticky to me but you know I don't push as hard as some ;-)

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (B24)

Sat, 28 May 2016 13:06:23 GMT

Its great to see you are getting such a solid run with the car. As its coming into Winter (winter is coming..) is it making a difference with the intercooling as its water to air?
Have you been checking tyre pressures (at the track) for the Nittos?

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Thu, 26 May 2016 20:52:54 GMT

I've put a concise summary of the car on page 1 for anyone who's watching - it's been a long road over the last nearly 4 years of MR2 ownership!

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Sun, 08 May 2016 16:12:46 GMT

Attached log shows how the intercooler performed. Ambient air temp was about 23, max air intake was just shy of 40, on close to 1.5bar of boost (this is 21-22 psi, the MBC was too high, I only really want 1.3bar/19psi). Anyhow, very pleased with how everything held together, and a side scoop might help lower this even further. I think the car is almost worthy of a respray and fitment of the big GT wing!

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Sun, 08 May 2016 15:55:06 GMT

Picked up the car on Thursday, now fitted with AW11 adjustable castor rods to give some clearance in the wheel well - so nice to be able to put some decent lock on! Also the water pump for the W2A intercooler had failed, so Paul has fitted a new (used) pump along with some clear tube to get a visual on the flow. It looks like a science experiment in the engine bay, but everything is working a treat. Tracked the car at SMSP (GP circuit, my 2nd time) on Friday, and knocked my PB from 2:02 down to 1:58.17 in session 1. I'm not sure if I did better later, my phone GPS was playing up so I didn't get lap times. Plenty of improvement to be had if I showed some balls at turn 1 (also 3, 4,5 and 7 I'd say!)

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (MR PLOW)

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 21:45:04 GMT

Quick update: ran a solid PB late on the Tuesday of MTC, 1:13.45 (previously 1:14.60) and on only 14 psi boost. Very happy with the Nittos and overall balance of the car. Can't wait to try the planned 19psi with some more practice.

Big thank-you to Paul Brell and Geoff Fear who were they looking after everyone (and gave me some special attention as a regular) - they seriously know what they're doing with track cars generally and MR2s specifically. Just google Boss Tuning in Sydney.

I think my overboosting (hence bypassing the boost control and resorting to wastegate pressure) was due to a hose leak to the boost gauge. ECU logs showed it hitting about 26psi at various points so I guess the engine is solid. Will look to get that sorted in the next few weeks and hopefully hit the track more regularly in 2016. Some decent heat tape around the intercooler core might be on the cards also.

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (Admin)

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 16:44:19 GMT

Less compost = quicker lap times!

Re: Plow's SW20 Turbo (Highlander)

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 16:17:07 GMT

MR PLOW
Making room in the front wheel arches, found some compost...

Be careful. If Wakefield can identify that as soil and material collected there in 2015, you may be slugged with an additional charge.