Tom's MR2 Roadster 2ZZ-GE
Discussion
I've been meaning to get a thread up on my 'Su2zzy' (named by my daughter, spelled by me 
for about a year now. A lot of these posts may be out of chronological order, but I'd like it to be a record of whats been done all the same.
After owning several Mk1 NA MX5s and getting utterly fed up with rust and 26mpg, I decided to try an MR2 Roadster. I'd always been put off by the lack of practicality and feisty reputation, but I'm glad I decided to take the plunge.
So last January I bought the first facelift car I could find locally, a 2005 silver car with red cloth seats. It was huge fun, massively exceeded expectations in the handling department with cheeky slides on demand, and as you do I set about researching modifications on the various forums and Facebook groups. I quickly became aware of people swapping in the 190bhp '2ZZ-GE' engine from the Celica / Corolla T-Sport, which sounded 'interesting'.
Whilst researching, I found a 2ZZ converted car for sale just 25 miles away from me. I had to go see it and have a little drive to see what all the fuss was about, and well, just 3 months after buying my first MR2 Roadster, I had my 2nd.
Funnily enough I sold my standard car to the guy who missed out on the 2ZZ car!
The car had about 80k miles on the chassis, and 60k on the engine, with it having been converted on behalf of the owner by a respected forum member. Whilst lacking in paperwork, it drove great and the backstory tied up.
The car looked stock, with the only mods being:
Whilst the car was in very nice condition indeed, I knew straight away that I'd be changing the exhaust, and the suspension was way too harsh for my tastes, but I knew it would be a great base car go build on.
The exhaust is about the trickiest part of a 2ZZ swap as the standard 1ZZ manifold won't work, and the Celica 2ZZ manifold doesn't fit as the MR2 subframe is in the way. There are various aftermarket 'swap' manifolds available, but this one had been cut and welded, but it certainly wasn't pretty.
for about a year now. A lot of these posts may be out of chronological order, but I'd like it to be a record of whats been done all the same.After owning several Mk1 NA MX5s and getting utterly fed up with rust and 26mpg, I decided to try an MR2 Roadster. I'd always been put off by the lack of practicality and feisty reputation, but I'm glad I decided to take the plunge.
So last January I bought the first facelift car I could find locally, a 2005 silver car with red cloth seats. It was huge fun, massively exceeded expectations in the handling department with cheeky slides on demand, and as you do I set about researching modifications on the various forums and Facebook groups. I quickly became aware of people swapping in the 190bhp '2ZZ-GE' engine from the Celica / Corolla T-Sport, which sounded 'interesting'
. Whilst researching, I found a 2ZZ converted car for sale just 25 miles away from me. I had to go see it and have a little drive to see what all the fuss was about, and well, just 3 months after buying my first MR2 Roadster, I had my 2nd.
Funnily enough I sold my standard car to the guy who missed out on the 2ZZ car!
The car had about 80k miles on the chassis, and 60k on the engine, with it having been converted on behalf of the owner by a respected forum member. Whilst lacking in paperwork, it drove great and the backstory tied up.
The car looked stock, with the only mods being:
- Yellowspeed coilovers
- 2ZZ-GE engine
- Celica 6 speed box with MR2 LSD fitted
- Lightened flywheel (unknown spec)
- Baffled sump (unknown spec)
- Apexi PFC ECU with hand controller (very early 2000s!), set to 8500rpm rev limit and approx 197bhp
Whilst the car was in very nice condition indeed, I knew straight away that I'd be changing the exhaust, and the suspension was way too harsh for my tastes, but I knew it would be a great base car go build on.
The exhaust is about the trickiest part of a 2ZZ swap as the standard 1ZZ manifold won't work, and the Celica 2ZZ manifold doesn't fit as the MR2 subframe is in the way. There are various aftermarket 'swap' manifolds available, but this one had been cut and welded, but it certainly wasn't pretty.
Edited by PartOfTheProblem on Tuesday 29th January 14:30
Straight away I purchased an essential stainless steel keyring from Germany, as you do.
Quite high on the priority list was to bin the red cloth seats and fit some black leather seats. A great excuse to give the interior a really deep clean with a shampoo of the carpets etc. Also, part of the deal with the guy who bought my old one was that I'd make a 'mint' pair of red seats for him.
Scruffy seat
A bit of swearing
And a lovely matched pair in my old car ready to go for its new owner.
The carpets really were pretty minging to be honest:
Contents of the Vax
:
Mandatory 50:50 shot
And after, it really came up lovely.
New seats clean and feed done in the living room of course
Mats came up great with a pressure wash, and I fitted some carpet closure panels to the side of the centre console to tidy things up a bit too.
Oh and I STILL, nearly a year on, need to fit black door cards!
Quite high on the priority list was to bin the red cloth seats and fit some black leather seats. A great excuse to give the interior a really deep clean with a shampoo of the carpets etc. Also, part of the deal with the guy who bought my old one was that I'd make a 'mint' pair of red seats for him.
Scruffy seat
A bit of swearing
And a lovely matched pair in my old car ready to go for its new owner.
The carpets really were pretty minging to be honest:
Contents of the Vax
:Mandatory 50:50 shot
And after, it really came up lovely.
New seats clean and feed done in the living room of course
Mats came up great with a pressure wash, and I fitted some carpet closure panels to the side of the centre console to tidy things up a bit too.
Oh and I STILL, nearly a year on, need to fit black door cards!
The front fog lights on these cars are very susceptible to damage and water ingress.
Genuine lights are eye-wateringly expensive, but for about £50 you can buy a set of aftermarket Toyota Prius fog lamps which seem to be identical, and certainly freshen up the face of the car.
Before:
After:
My good remaining light was fitted to my old car to freshen that one up to before sale .
One of the next jobs was to improve the gear shift. It's not bad as standard, but there's certainly room for improvement.
Brookes Racing Development supplied some Polyurethane bushes for the shifter cables:
https://www.facebook.com/Brooks.BRD/
Old vs new:
Fitted:
And I purchased a short shifter kit, which included metal bushings to stiffen up the shifter cage mountings and lift it slightly to bring it closer to the driver.
Standard cage bush:
Stainless bush:
Results - much improved shift!
Genuine lights are eye-wateringly expensive, but for about £50 you can buy a set of aftermarket Toyota Prius fog lamps which seem to be identical, and certainly freshen up the face of the car.
Before:
After:
My good remaining light was fitted to my old car to freshen that one up to before sale
.One of the next jobs was to improve the gear shift. It's not bad as standard, but there's certainly room for improvement.
Brookes Racing Development supplied some Polyurethane bushes for the shifter cables:
https://www.facebook.com/Brooks.BRD/
Old vs new:
Fitted:
And I purchased a short shifter kit, which included metal bushings to stiffen up the shifter cage mountings and lift it slightly to bring it closer to the driver.
Standard cage bush:
Stainless bush:
Results - much improved shift!
Edited by PartOfTheProblem on Tuesday 29th January 14:28
One of the next jobs was to 'upgrade' the exhaust. I sourced a 'swap' manifold and a lovely custom sports system with 200cel cat from a fellow forum member.
All fitted and driving great, for all of about 200 miles, before one of the manifold runners split. Cock.
A little patch up did the job for a little while until I could source a better solution.
So after lots of research, I decided to go for a Megillian Motorsport full exhaust system.
https://www.facebook.com/MegillianMotorsport/
They are made by the owner Steve Norris who happens to know a thing or two about touring cars, racing and tuning etc. I have to say its a lovely bit of kit. The manifold is a modified Celica manifold, but its fair to say he does a lovely job of modifying them.
I took the opportunity to spruce up the heat shield and bumper support bars with a lick of satin black while it was all in pieces.
Before:
After:
A small notch was made to the bumper, although Steve will make these to hang higher or lower to suit your preference.
Quite a subtle addition, which suits me perfectly.
It's gone a lovely 'light straw' colour from the heat which I love, although I may polish it, we'll see.
Lucky for me, one of the manifold threads stripped in the head, so I helicoiled it. Its the first helicoil I've done but it was a doddle and worked a treat!
I opted for a larger back box than he normally does, and it sounds pretty sporty still, but in no way is it ever too loud. It's really quite vocal in lift, bloody fantastic! It's perfect, so much so that I think this will now be his default option when ordering one. It feels a bit livelier too, it certainly won't have hurt bhp!
Crap exhausts can really strangle the 2ZZ, Steve does a great job with the stock manifold and even keeps the 4-2-1 arrangement. Well worth the money.
All fitted and driving great, for all of about 200 miles, before one of the manifold runners split. Cock.
A little patch up did the job for a little while until I could source a better solution.
So after lots of research, I decided to go for a Megillian Motorsport full exhaust system.
https://www.facebook.com/MegillianMotorsport/
They are made by the owner Steve Norris who happens to know a thing or two about touring cars, racing and tuning etc. I have to say its a lovely bit of kit. The manifold is a modified Celica manifold, but its fair to say he does a lovely job of modifying them.
I took the opportunity to spruce up the heat shield and bumper support bars with a lick of satin black while it was all in pieces.
Before:
After:
A small notch was made to the bumper, although Steve will make these to hang higher or lower to suit your preference.
Quite a subtle addition, which suits me perfectly.
It's gone a lovely 'light straw' colour from the heat which I love, although I may polish it, we'll see.
Lucky for me, one of the manifold threads stripped in the head, so I helicoiled it. Its the first helicoil I've done but it was a doddle and worked a treat!
I opted for a larger back box than he normally does, and it sounds pretty sporty still, but in no way is it ever too loud. It's really quite vocal in lift, bloody fantastic! It's perfect, so much so that I think this will now be his default option when ordering one. It feels a bit livelier too, it certainly won't have hurt bhp!
Crap exhausts can really strangle the 2ZZ, Steve does a great job with the stock manifold and even keeps the 4-2-1 arrangement. Well worth the money.
Edited by PartOfTheProblem on Tuesday 29th January 14:42
The MR2 Roadster Owners Club holds a 'Ding Day' where there is very heavily discounted dent removal, detailing, headlight polishing etc available for members whilst enjoying general banter and a BBQ. I took advantage and had every ding removed from the car, 9 in total!
I also took advantage of a wash, polish and wax, and I think she looks just dandy.
I got quite tired of listening to the same CD over and over, so I fitted a nice Sony double DIN CD, bluetooth etc radio, which has custom colours so it can be tuned to match the dash perfectly, and I also fitted some nice aftermarket heater dials. I don't really do interior bling, but these feel really nice, and if you didn't know I reckon you'd think they were standard.
Before
After
The handsfree works surprisingly well even with the roof down, but the mic is just clipped onto the speedo binnacle at the moment, and I need to come up with a nice discreet solution, maybe something that can surface mount into the steering wheel shroud? I'm open to ideas so please let me know if you have any!
I also took advantage of a wash, polish and wax, and I think she looks just dandy.
I got quite tired of listening to the same CD over and over, so I fitted a nice Sony double DIN CD, bluetooth etc radio, which has custom colours so it can be tuned to match the dash perfectly, and I also fitted some nice aftermarket heater dials. I don't really do interior bling, but these feel really nice, and if you didn't know I reckon you'd think they were standard.
Before
After
The handsfree works surprisingly well even with the roof down, but the mic is just clipped onto the speedo binnacle at the moment, and I need to come up with a nice discreet solution, maybe something that can surface mount into the steering wheel shroud? I'm open to ideas so please let me know if you have any!
WHEELS!!
Anyone thats ever seen an MR2 Roadster will probably have noticed that the wheels corrode really badly and look awful.
This refurbished set came up for sale at a price I couldn't refuse, along with a set of nearly-new Toyo T1-Rs, so on they went
I opted for super-rare genuine Toyota JDM 'midship runabout' centre badges, but truth be told I'm not that keen and I think I'll fit some standard Toyota badges in the near future.
Anyone thats ever seen an MR2 Roadster will probably have noticed that the wheels corrode really badly and look awful.
This refurbished set came up for sale at a price I couldn't refuse, along with a set of nearly-new Toyo T1-Rs, so on they went
I opted for super-rare genuine Toyota JDM 'midship runabout' centre badges, but truth be told I'm not that keen and I think I'll fit some standard Toyota badges in the near future.
CousinDupree said:
Cool! What forum is good for keeping an eye on ads for these?
The best place is probably the UK MR2 2ZZ Projects group on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/143564079695220/Edited by PartOfTheProblem on Tuesday 29th January 14:42
One of the problems with the MR2 is that rainwater can collect in the spark plug wells. Luckily Lotus have a lovely little cover fitted in the 2ZZ Exige, and its very inexpensive. OK it's not a Lotus, but it serves a purpose 
One of the first jobs I did was to fit some new suspension. I found the Yellowspeeds impossibly firm for road driving, so I opted for a nice set of BC Racing coilovers with the softer spring options of 4kg front, 6kg rear.
I also:
Lovely BC Racing Coilovers (custom 4kg front, 6kg rear)
Before:
During - the YellowSpeeds cleaned up surprisingly well, and there was clearly some old underseal from a previous owner too.
Turrets are lovely and clean, but I undersealed them anyway.
After
Wheel arch liners cleaned and dressed:
The big weak link on these cars is the handbrake. The cables aren't cheap and are a bit of a pig to replace. The boot at the end splits, and due to the way the cables are routed water can sit in them and they rot and seize. I took the opportunity to fit an extra boot which I hope will give them a bit more life.
Let me know what you think!
One of the first jobs I did was to fit some new suspension. I found the Yellowspeeds impossibly firm for road driving, so I opted for a nice set of BC Racing coilovers with the softer spring options of 4kg front, 6kg rear.
I also:
- upgraded the brake lines to HEL braided jobbies,
- replaced the rear calipers with EBC refurbished items and gave them a nice coat of sparkly silver paint,
- fitted Yellow Stuff pads, Pagid disks
- fitted adjustable drop links to maximise the benefit of the new ride height;
- painted the brake backing plates
Lovely BC Racing Coilovers (custom 4kg front, 6kg rear)
Before:
During - the YellowSpeeds cleaned up surprisingly well, and there was clearly some old underseal from a previous owner too.
Turrets are lovely and clean, but I undersealed them anyway.
After
Wheel arch liners cleaned and dressed:
The big weak link on these cars is the handbrake. The cables aren't cheap and are a bit of a pig to replace. The boot at the end splits, and due to the way the cables are routed water can sit in them and they rot and seize. I took the opportunity to fit an extra boot which I hope will give them a bit more life.
Let me know what you think!
One thing I've just remembered is regarding the Apexi ECU. The emissions for MOT were off the scale. I spent many hours inspecting all the pipework and sensors and generally pulling my hair out, and the 2 people I took it to said it must be the tune.
I must have contact 20 tuners and nobody showed any interest whatsoever in tweaking my Apexi.
As my car is otherwise standard spec I purchased a Celica ECU. After a bit of research I found the Japanese Domestic market (JDM) ECU has a higher rev limit (8300) and lower lift engagement point (5800) so one was sourced and fitted. It doesn't feel any slower than the Apexi but I do miss the those last 200rpm!
And now emissions are exactly where they should be. Hurrah!
I must have contact 20 tuners and nobody showed any interest whatsoever in tweaking my Apexi.
As my car is otherwise standard spec I purchased a Celica ECU. After a bit of research I found the Japanese Domestic market (JDM) ECU has a higher rev limit (8300) and lower lift engagement point (5800) so one was sourced and fitted. It doesn't feel any slower than the Apexi but I do miss the those last 200rpm!
And now emissions are exactly where they should be. Hurrah!
Nice car.
I have the earlier equivalent : a mk1 (AW11) with a Trueno 20v engine & gearbox.
Oddly enough, I have the opposite issue to you re wheel caps. I have roadster wheels on the AW11 : the Toyota logo on the cap is completely wrong for the 80s shape of the car, and I'm looking to fit the "thunderbird" caps.
I have the earlier equivalent : a mk1 (AW11) with a Trueno 20v engine & gearbox.
Oddly enough, I have the opposite issue to you re wheel caps. I have roadster wheels on the AW11 : the Toyota logo on the cap is completely wrong for the 80s shape of the car, and I'm looking to fit the "thunderbird" caps.
Great thread and you one looks like a great road car .
Thanks care with the bleeding the radiator as its very to still have air in the system .
Regards
Thanks care with the bleeding the radiator as its very to still have air in the system .
Regards
PartOfTheProblem said:
Thanks for the kind comments everyone.
Just been out for a top down blast down the lanes, it puts such a big grin on my face
I have however noticed the radiator is more holes than fins, so I've just ordered a replacement, a job for next weekend I think!
Just been out for a top down blast down the lanes, it puts such a big grin on my face
I have however noticed the radiator is more holes than fins, so I've just ordered a replacement, a job for next weekend I think!
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