My 3.5L V6 MR2 Project
Discussion
Hi, I've not been much of a poster, but thought I would show you what I'm upto with my current car.
I've always been a fan of MR2's and have owned Mk1 and 2's for nearly 10 years now.
I had a Mk2 turbo which I upgraded with GT4 chargecooler, the usual breathing mods and blitz boost controller. Was a real flier but I found the engine lacked any sort of character. I then got involved with a site www.twobrutal.co.uk . Basically a bunch of nutters putting big engines in little cars.
I decided to remove the turbo engine and had a V6 installed from a UK Camry. Engine was smooth, strong and had a lovely note to it. Also made driving a much more relaxing experience with not half the chasing of gears. It just never quite had the outright poke and overtaking ability of the turbo.
A new engine conversion became available early last year. It's a 3.5 VVTi V6 Toyota unit (same as powers the Lotus Evora) There has now been a number of dyno runs for this conversion, and removing the restrictive intake and exhaust system returns approx 325Hp. Not bad from the original 270-275.
So I had an engine imported from the States (very rare to find a 2GR-FE engine in the UK) Along with a fitting kit. this enables the engine to be mounted on the original car mounting brackets. The E153 turbo gearbox also bolts on with a little bit of trimming here and there.
So this arrived a few months back, along with some tubular manifolds, CNC machined mount adaptors and an adapted coolant manifold:
Apparently got less than 5K miles on it, which i can easily believe looking at the condition of it.
And it will be going into this:
So far after having sorted out the garage so I could work in it. I have pulled out all the loom for the MR2 shell, and removed the V6's loom. These have been boxed up and sent to a company in the States to be spliced together so it works as a plug and play harness (so the theory goes)
Quite a lot of wires:
Fitted the manifolds along with new gaskets, changed over the coolant manifold so it clears the optional oil cooler and fitted the a Fidanza lightweight flywheel.
Removed the reliable but rather gutless 3S-GE 4 pot engine:
And today I am mostly removing a fuel tank to fit a high flow Walbro fuel pump
Aim is to have it running within a month
Thanks for looking I shall try update it as I go along.
I've always been a fan of MR2's and have owned Mk1 and 2's for nearly 10 years now.
I had a Mk2 turbo which I upgraded with GT4 chargecooler, the usual breathing mods and blitz boost controller. Was a real flier but I found the engine lacked any sort of character. I then got involved with a site www.twobrutal.co.uk . Basically a bunch of nutters putting big engines in little cars.
I decided to remove the turbo engine and had a V6 installed from a UK Camry. Engine was smooth, strong and had a lovely note to it. Also made driving a much more relaxing experience with not half the chasing of gears. It just never quite had the outright poke and overtaking ability of the turbo.
A new engine conversion became available early last year. It's a 3.5 VVTi V6 Toyota unit (same as powers the Lotus Evora) There has now been a number of dyno runs for this conversion, and removing the restrictive intake and exhaust system returns approx 325Hp. Not bad from the original 270-275.
So I had an engine imported from the States (very rare to find a 2GR-FE engine in the UK) Along with a fitting kit. this enables the engine to be mounted on the original car mounting brackets. The E153 turbo gearbox also bolts on with a little bit of trimming here and there.
So this arrived a few months back, along with some tubular manifolds, CNC machined mount adaptors and an adapted coolant manifold:
Apparently got less than 5K miles on it, which i can easily believe looking at the condition of it.
And it will be going into this:
So far after having sorted out the garage so I could work in it. I have pulled out all the loom for the MR2 shell, and removed the V6's loom. These have been boxed up and sent to a company in the States to be spliced together so it works as a plug and play harness (so the theory goes)
Quite a lot of wires:
Fitted the manifolds along with new gaskets, changed over the coolant manifold so it clears the optional oil cooler and fitted the a Fidanza lightweight flywheel.
Removed the reliable but rather gutless 3S-GE 4 pot engine:
And today I am mostly removing a fuel tank to fit a high flow Walbro fuel pump
Aim is to have it running within a month
Thanks for looking I shall try update it as I go along.
Gah - you beat me to it Lee
As on TB, this looks stunning. If it's half as clean as your work environment it will be one of the best and a nice showcase for this conversion.
What exhaust are you thinking of going with? Mine is 2.5in all the way (inc. HKS box) so I'm not expecting the same outputs that pete's achieved with the Berk - I just hope it is ASBO-proof whilst still making a nice noise, as there's power to spare
See you on the 8th May maybe?
Cheers matey. All being well should make it for 8th May
I've looked at loads of OEM options for exhausts especially from other manufacturers but none really offer what I'm looking for. I'm considering biting (the costly) bullet of a full custom stainless system. Would be true duel with dual inlets into a single big backbox with an outlet either side. That way I can keep a bit of control regarding noise
At moment I'm concentrating on getting the engine in and running. Once that's sorted I can concentrate on the running gear. I have 996 911 calipers with adapted brackets to go on, then sort out the rear brakes. Then it's suspension overhaul. Then finally respray as the body is looking every single one of its 13 years.
Not sure my wallet is ever going to recover
I've looked at loads of OEM options for exhausts especially from other manufacturers but none really offer what I'm looking for. I'm considering biting (the costly) bullet of a full custom stainless system. Would be true duel with dual inlets into a single big backbox with an outlet either side. That way I can keep a bit of control regarding noise
At moment I'm concentrating on getting the engine in and running. Once that's sorted I can concentrate on the running gear. I have 996 911 calipers with adapted brackets to go on, then sort out the rear brakes. Then it's suspension overhaul. Then finally respray as the body is looking every single one of its 13 years.
Not sure my wallet is ever going to recover
Edited by Ug_lee on Friday 26th March 13:36
Cheers everyone
It should give the driveability I always enjoyed with the last V6 I had, but with a lot more shove than a stock turbo ever produced.
Makes sense to me to put a powerful/modern/efficient engine into a lighter/older car. The Mk2 despite people claiming it's heavy is still over 200KG lighter than an Evora, and freed of all the restrictions this will produce 50Hp more at the fly than the Evora too.
Should be fun
Not really much to report today. Pulled out the fuel tank and changed over the fuel pump to a higher flowing version, changed gearbox linkages as this car was originally a 2.0L n/a with the s54 gearbox. To cope with the power I'm fitting an E153 LSD gearbox off a Turbo version. The car isn't too far from ready to receive the engine to be honest.
Everything just needs a good degunking and sprucing up.
It should give the driveability I always enjoyed with the last V6 I had, but with a lot more shove than a stock turbo ever produced.
Makes sense to me to put a powerful/modern/efficient engine into a lighter/older car. The Mk2 despite people claiming it's heavy is still over 200KG lighter than an Evora, and freed of all the restrictions this will produce 50Hp more at the fly than the Evora too.
Should be fun
Not really much to report today. Pulled out the fuel tank and changed over the fuel pump to a higher flowing version, changed gearbox linkages as this car was originally a 2.0L n/a with the s54 gearbox. To cope with the power I'm fitting an E153 LSD gearbox off a Turbo version. The car isn't too far from ready to receive the engine to be honest.
Everything just needs a good degunking and sprucing up.
Edited by Ug_lee on Friday 26th March 23:02
Best of luck with the project mate, looks an interesting one. I've got a Silver Rev 5, which is pretty standard and whilst the performance is impressive, the turbo lag doesn't help with smooth fast driving. Shall be keeping an eye on your progress :-)
Reckon another way to get a similar outcome to your project would be to get a BEAMS engine and whack a supercharger on it - Anyone ever come accross that?!
Reckon another way to get a similar outcome to your project would be to get a BEAMS engine and whack a supercharger on it - Anyone ever come accross that?!
Great stuff Lee. I know what you mean about wallet recovery. It's too easy to get carried away with these things - my car was goign to be a 1MZ - now look
Suspension should be interesting, depending on budget. Have you settled on anything yet?
I see Ohlins have come out with a new fast road coilover kit (R/T range) - budget and fitments allowing I'd be very tempted by that or some Ledas. £2.8-£3k is steep but then look at what you could spend on a really high end build (£7-10k plus setup!) I've gone with konis as (a) there's no proper coilovers for the AW11 really (if there was, I'd find the money somehow); plus (b) at some stage I want to refurb all arms / links etc. (shot blast / pweder coat / weatherproof).
I haven't got the budget to get the seats I want, let a lone a respray just yet
OlberJ said:
You'd spend a fortune on getting a SC beams and the results? Well, nowhere near as good as these monsters.
What's the script with the suspension Mr Ug?
Have to admit a BEAMS would be okay supercharged to a point, but you'd probably be looking around the 250Hp range and easily cost the same as this conversion if not more. What's the script with the suspension Mr Ug?
With regards to suspension I'm thinking it best to polybush most of the bushes while it's out. The anti-roll bar bushes literally fell to pieces when I took them off, so if the rest are the same it would be prudent to replace.
Got some PI lowering springs that I came across donkeys years ago that I never fitted but see how they go with a set of Koni's once the shocks that are in wear out. They seem to be the insert that gets the most favourable reviews. If the springs are terrible a set of Eibachs will be the next step.
Got some brackets to fit Porsche 996 calipers to the front, have to be better than the original brakes. Not sure what to do with the rear to even things out. Maybe RX8 discs with the rear caliper spaced out the way?
Cheers
Haven't done a huge amount recently. Dropped the fuel tank to fit the Walbro high flow pump. the n/a one isn't upto the job
Also changed over the gearbox cables as one of them is a slightly different length for the s54 as I'll be using an LSD Turbo box. To avoid any problems i replaced both with good ones from a Turbo shell I broke for parts.
And cleaned up the engine bay as best as I could. I'm not really one for blinging engines as keeping an engine clean is a lost cause in my opinion, as long as it looks presentable I'm happy.
Car is pretty much ready for the engine install.
Waiting on the loom coming back and various other bits and when i get hold of a torque wrench fit the flywheel, clutch and gearbox.
There's some fettling to be done to the block including helicoiling one of the blank holes in the block for one of the gearbox bolts. And trimming off some edges so the gearbox sits flush to the block.That will be done just before it goes in.
Going to enjoy the Easter weekend with the family
Haven't done a huge amount recently. Dropped the fuel tank to fit the Walbro high flow pump. the n/a one isn't upto the job
Also changed over the gearbox cables as one of them is a slightly different length for the s54 as I'll be using an LSD Turbo box. To avoid any problems i replaced both with good ones from a Turbo shell I broke for parts.
And cleaned up the engine bay as best as I could. I'm not really one for blinging engines as keeping an engine clean is a lost cause in my opinion, as long as it looks presentable I'm happy.
Car is pretty much ready for the engine install.
Waiting on the loom coming back and various other bits and when i get hold of a torque wrench fit the flywheel, clutch and gearbox.
There's some fettling to be done to the block including helicoiling one of the blank holes in the block for one of the gearbox bolts. And trimming off some edges so the gearbox sits flush to the block.That will be done just before it goes in.
Going to enjoy the Easter weekend with the family
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