MK1.5 build

[328FTW]

Admittedly it is more like a mk1.25 to begin with but a hairdryer will be going in later. I will add pics as I take them and can be bothered uploading but at the moment it all looks good. If nobody had done this before I would feel more special but all the same this is going to be a hell of a lot of fun when it is done. To begin with it was a little scary wondering what could go wrong with fitment but as I go on I'm getting more confident. Anyway here are some build pics, I'll take some more glamorous shots when it is done. For those thinking about doing this, when I'm done I can probably answer a few questions about certain things and give some pointers.


The donor car



The donors donation



The st185 looks a little sad, looks a little like my racecar after a bad weekend



Ready for the engine



Putting it in. Ignore the shoddy pipe holding the bumper together, when I dig up a new rear frame and rubber packer it goes, long story short the tow truck driver was a rough f*** and kept damaging the bumper and rear end so I put that on so it pushing the rear end doesn't damage anything. He better show some more respect, I paid a whole $100 for this car




In place (or very close) ready for mounts to have their holes drilled. It looks like it was meant to be there.




Yes I do realize my racecar is probably one of the worst lookers in showoff but I don't care it is my POS and many a shinier car has been beaten badly by it and its rusty floor. Besides most people only catch a flying glimpse anyway. This is more of an engineering showoff for those interested in doing this swap.

[PearlJammzz]

Goodluck . Should be a fun little car when all is said and done! You have the mounts and everything done already?

[328FTW]

Thanks, yes the mounts were all precut before the engine in the celica was out using the template on twobrutal.com, they need some tweaking but they will be marked drilled then welded in the next couple of days. I used 6mm because that is what I had a lot of, some guy tried to tell me that was not enough, he was dead serious. 6mm is like tank armor. He was an idiot though.

The tricky part will be the shifter because it is a FWD box, I have seen a way to make it work without changing housings, I am going to experiment with it and if I can rig it that will be a useful trick for those doing conversions. It is going to be a lot of fun when finished.

[ebouwman]

Is that a 3sge or a 5sfe, doesn't look like the turbo.

For the most part it looks pretty sweet i have to say.

Did you cut up that rear firewall in the end? I can't really tell from the pics

[328FTW]

gen2 3sge. I will put a turbo in or on it whatever I can source but for now this is what is going in. After painting the engine it looks really good.

The firewall is cut, I may have got away without doing it but cutting it opens up a bit of room, there is a lot more clearance than I thought but I left a lot for a turbo manifold for later on so it is set well back.

[muffinman]

Originally Posted by 328FTW

The tricky part will be the shifter because it is a FWD box, I have seen a way to make it work without changing housings, I am going to experiment with it and if I can rig it that will be a useful trick for those doing conversions. It is going to be a lot of fun when finished.

Here's what you need :MKI MR2 Write-ups

[328FTW]

Thanks muffinman but I don't intend to swap shifters either, if it doesn't work out that is what I will do. I am going to extend the shift cables over the top of the gearbox. I have seen it done on a mkI on a corolla box. Now the mounts are welded to the body I can start hooking the motor up and try the idea on for size.

[328FTW]

I made the ghetto rig cable extension today. I might make a cover for it later but for now it is working so I'm happy. It took a couple of different attempts to make it work but it now works I can show how this bit of ghetto rig works.




The cables from the car clip into one end and the cables from the celica box into the other and are joined with a pin so they are connected between the frame ends. That on its own means the cable can pull but pushing just arches the cables up and they do nothing. So I welded a guide onto the bracket to hold the celica rods so that pushing now works as well. The gears all work and it means I can now use a FWD box without swapping shifters. This was easier than sourcing a RWD shifter and drilling the box. It is an cheap alternative to using a RWD box or shifter as stupid as it looks. I thought it was quite cool but it is not going to win a beauty prize and it is yet to prove if it can work all day long getting thrashed.





It also just so happens that the mounts are all done and so is the water system, I will have to start thinking about wiring the car soon so I can turn it over and test that it runs then I will be close to the finished product aside from some other little things like a proper exhaust and the fuel system

[ebouwman]

That is pretty fugly i have to say. But it's the car you race, so i guess it doesn't have to look good

[328FTW]

Yeah an aluminum box around it would make it look a whole lot better. I am trying to keep things at least a little tidy because a lot of people have already been checking it out in the garage and the first meeting in it I am going to be asked a million questions and it has to be up to standard for me to even drive onto the track.

[Denz]

Your my Hero
Drive it to uni this year and we shall meet up.
I will lol and then ask for a drive.

[328FTW]

^ Not road legal but I will bring my mkI down. That is much more purdy lol. I will be down soon and I happen to have some cheap red paint lying around that you can have. Not sure how close it will be but as long as you don't mind it's yours.

If this car does go really well I may build another and get a cert for it and use it as a road legal car and scrape off either my mkII or mkI as long as I can insure it, will have to look into it.

[Denz]

Originally Posted by 328FTW

^ Not road legal but I will bring my mkI down.

Im well aware :P just go fast enough so you dont get caught.

I will be down soon and I happen to have some cheap red paint lying around that you can have. Not sure how close it will be but as long as you don't mind it's yours.

Thats fine, I just wana practice spraying and it'll do fine as an undercoat.

Id love to see your purdy cars

[328FTW]

Alright a small update is about due here. The last set of pictures I posted are about where this car stands at the moment and not much has happened. The project was at full steam when my uncle died and inbetween sorting that out and my terminally ill grandmother plus moving flats this has been the last thing on my mind.

Some good has come of it though, after much searching I found a stand alone ecu right under my nose at a friends place that I am going to wire in (Link G3 ecu woot!). So I am going to wire it up and if I can find a turbo, injectors, map and pump for it and put them on as well. If I can't find all that I will just tune it as is and track it until I do. This weekend I will finally get my mkII back on the road and hopefully spend some time on this again.

Oh yeah Denz if you read this, the crazy stuff that has been happening is why I never got back to you and organised a meet, I'll get there though just gotta sort out some things first.

[Denz]

All good man, I have a proposition for you aswell.
Im busy complaining about uni to myself to have thought about it to much.
I await any more updates enthusiasticaly

[328FTW]

This was in my passenger seat today on the way to its new home. Gotta learn a bit about wiring it up and then I can pop a wideband O2 sensor in my exhaust and hopefully find a basemap and start the engine as it stands, that is the current plan unless I find a good deal on what I need to turbo it.



Was told it was a LEM G3 but it transformed into a Link plus G2 when I picked it up, nevermind I don't care either way it is still better than a standard ecu.

[Denz]

Weird question, but you havent just parted out a Red MR2 have you? lol
That drive way looks oddly familiar haha

[328FTW]

No I haven't parted out any of my 2s, there may be some pictures of my racecar sitting in the driveway floating around somewhere. Then again half the country knows my driveway from the cars I have helped out with and the tarmac outside the house has been torn up from the constant burnouts that testing racecars brings, there are about 5 racecars in our street including mine. The race gas fumes can be quite strong some mornings, if you don't like cars and noise in this street its too bad they take priority.

Tis a good driveway.

[328FTW]

Absolutely nothing to do with my mk1.5 build but all the same deserves a post if not a thread. My mkII mr2 is finally back on all fours, has been on jackstands for 3 months while I fixed things. I brought a set of wheels for it ($100 woot) and now my mum is going to drive it around until I fix her honda that snapped a cambelt and bent valves in 3 out of four cylinders Interference FTL

If she pays for the gas and the inspection I don't care as long as she doesn't crash it or park close to the door in the supermarkets (you get dents closer to the door from soccer mums with no respect) Hopefully it gets a warrant of fitness tomorrow after I fix the horn and indicator.







Before its epic reconstruction it was something like this (these pics are after I pulled off 10 fake plastic vents. It also had spun a bearing and needed a new motor, it was stuffed after the PO drove it home with the sump stoved into the pickup after a failed burnout that meant he crashed into/over the curb, I hate him for that but now its mine.







Cheap spoiler which he took off, black "carbon fibre" headlight and boot paint that was flaking and a dead motor plus a stolen stereo. Had 3 NOS stickers and 3 decals and about 5 TRD stickers it was rice as rice can be. It has come a long, long way from last year. Took way longer than expected because of things that kept happening dragging me away but I'm there now. I have way too many projects that I can't afford.

[Denz]

Wow, Purple haha, awesome.
Nice exhaust btw.
Oh yeah, turns out the guy that lives behind me has a workshop and a big compressor etc etc so in the first week of the holidays I should be respraying it black. Woot.