My 2000 Blue MR2 1ZZ-FE--->2ZZ-GE--->K20A2 fast road/track build

[manos3003]

Engine and gearbox back in the car.

Driveshafts and fluids remain, but that's easy.

Then MOT either the 16th or the 23rd, depending on when my mechanic is open for Saturday.

And then some celebratory skids...eerrr, I mean top down adventures   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[shnazzle]

About damn time..

[manos3003]

About damn time..

Wurd!

I've learnt a lot from this swap which I'll summarise in a separate post.

[manos3003]

Something very strange and mysterious mystery.

Car has been running fine for a while now and suddenly diff decided it will act as a 2-way permanently locked diff. I now have a proper drift car and all that   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Diff was swapped back to the open 2zz diff and I'll take the Torsen over to Steve to see if we can put our heads together and see what the problem may have been.

Oh and before you ask, YES I did pre-load it correctly. I may have been slow building it, but I did some things right  s:P s:P

[manos3003]

Two more issues to resolve, due to hastiness I guess.

Spat coolant all over a very central road in Coventry. So apologies to anyone driving by at the time  s:P s:P  Forgot to put a jubilee clip on one of the block plugs, all sorted now.

The other issue was that I kept losing the dash and auxiliaries. Decided to condition the battery and check for loose earths and cables. All cables look ok, just one loose earth which I tightened up. I guess if it happens again it's alternator, but kind of unlikely considering I bought it new and tested it works.

[manos3003]

Some recent pics, since you've not seen some in a while  s:D s:D

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[attachment=2:3r3xi9ah] ia2 20171112_132737 - Copy.jpg ia2 [/attachment:3r3xi9ah]

Also, some bad news..the silver shell I had bought for the K20 has been stolen from the garage it was stored, so I will swap the K20 in the blue when I'm finished. At that time, I'll put the 2zz swap for sale in here, I'd like to keep it in the club.

[manos3003]

Car has been running fine, we're almost at the 1000 mile mark.

New oil, spark plugs and oil filter already to go in  s:) s:)

Got to say, for a daily driver this is quite a bearable car.

[manos3003]

Right, as I'm off overseas with work for about a month, the car is getting some TLC at D1 customs starting this weekend.

Can't think of a better place to leave the car to be cared for while I'm gone. Some issues have been identified that need sorting, Steve will have a list.

If I'm back in time to give a hand, I'll certainly grab a spanner and dive in too  s:D s:D

[manos3003]

Right, busy day yesteday.

Dropped the car off to Steve at D1 for some well-deserved TLC. He has a long list to go through, the poor chap. If not finished by the time I'm back, I'll join in and get my hands dirty too  s:D s:D

I also stripped the K20 engine apart and off to the machine shop.

[attachment=0:kjjip4gp] ia0 20180127_152404 - Copy.jpg ia0 [/attachment:kjjip4gp]

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[attachment=2:kjjip4gp] ia2 20180127_152128 - Copy.jpg ia2 [/attachment:kjjip4gp]

Here's some pics from teardown, not many. I was seeing good signs of previous ownership the more I took apart, this engine has been maintained despite looking pretty dirty. The guys will also do a good clean up as well as the other jobs.

[manos3003]

Right, back from the first long test trip with work. Not much done since, other than buying things.

Engine-wise I have:

• new all Honda valvetrain (LMAs, valves, springs, retainers)
• new piston rings
• RBC inlet manifold
• new timing kit

While in the US, I also bought engine mounts and shifter adapter. Managed to save a few pennies on customs 

Once I get the engine back from the machine shop, I'll dress it back up and start worrying about gearbox 

I need to buy all gearbox-related stuff, including an M-Factory LSD, as my gearbox is from an EP3 type R, so no Honda torsen in there.

That's all folks, for now.

More to come on the next post

[manos3003]

Car is back with me after a long hiatus (well, it was being worked on by Steve). I'm glad to be back in something light, nimble and high pitched! 

As for the K20, things are now moving a little slower than expected, mainly down to me being available only on weekends and not all of them.

I'm sure I'll have it done by the end of the year, but I don't want to rush it, as I plan to live with it far longer than the 2ZZ.

[manos3003]

Sadly, this is the last update on this thread.

Salt got us in the end. I had treated various areas a while back to protect the chassis but in the end, terminal rust formed on rear left chassis leg.  (:< >

That, combined with gearbox failure twice, has driven me to abandon rescuing the blue even further. It's a sad ending to a long journey, but best to start fresh for something I want to keep with me for long.

At beginning of July, it will be stripped down fully and all goodies used over years will be recovered to use on the donor shell. The rebuild of the K20 is going on well and hopefully engine and gearbox will be fully assembled by end of July (it's all done on my spare time, so bear with me).

The 2zz engine will be sold, along with my LSD. I will advertise here first, as I'd like a member to have first dibs if possible.

If any mod/admin is reading this, please lock this thread. I have no further time or energy to continue documenting this build here, as it adds to one more thing I have to look after. It will instead be published on a  blog where me and my mate will fully document our projects and if I so wish, I'll re-open a thread later which will be a copy-paste of that content.

Thank you all for enduring this thread for so long. Any questions on a 2zz swap, I'll be happy to answer via PM.