Alex's 2ZZ Swapped MR2 Roadster

[Alex Knight]

Some pictures from the day:

[Alex Knight]

MOT passed again for another year.

Failed first time round on emissions - CAT wasn't hot enough. Passed after a bit more temperature.

Couple of small advisories, but nothing serious.

[Alex Knight]

Hello all. Long time no update.

I've been wanting to upgrade the speakers for quite a while, but have never really had the time.
Thanks to COVID19, I've recently been blessed with the gift of additional time!

I didn't want to go for anything super fancy. Just something decent to replace the 18 year old factory speakers!
They should go nicely with my Pioneer SPH-DA120 headunit.

Doorcard and speaker removal is ludicrously easy. About 5 minutes for the whole lot.



I bought some speaker mounts and wiring adapters. The whole lot came to around £10 posted.





I went for some Alpine speakers. They were keenly priced (£30) and had decent specs.



Wiring is plug and play!



Speaker fitted in about 2 minutes.



Out of interest, I decided to weigh the old and new speakers. The new ones were indeed lighter. I've saved myself 328 grams!

[shnazzle]

But.... Weight...

Edit: sorry, thought this was Petrus' thread!

[Newbie57]

I am interested in doing this change. Were did you get the adapter and wiring? Do you have any part numbers?
Are the much better?

[Alex Knight]

Part numbers are in the picture!

I wouldn't say night and day difference, but they don't distort like the old ones do at higher volumes. Well worth the £40 IMHO.

[Alex Knight]

Successfully managed to change the primary lambda sensor today. I actually don't think it's been changed since the 2ZZ swap.

I had noticed my fuel economy had taken a significant dip on track (circa 100 miles from full to fuel starvation).
However I did measure the road fuel consumption on the way to the last trackday, and it averaged 38.9MPG on a gentle jaunt up the motorway, so not sure what's going on there. Hopefully the new lambda will cure the high fuel consumption on track?!

[Alex Knight]

I cause to go into work this week, so I thought I'd take advantage of the empty workshop and available ramps to give the MR2 another thorough cleaning.

This time I did the following:

• Cleaned
• Clay barred
• Waxed
• Wheels sealed
• Tyres shined
• Interior cleaned
• Seats shampooed

The clay barring took quite a while, and I was genuinely surprised how dirty the clay bar was, even directly after washing the car. I'd never used one before, and the results are super-satisfying:




IMG_2957 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2955 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2975 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2977 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2988 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2997 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2991 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2995 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

[shnazzle]

I cause to go into work this week, so I thought I'd take advantage of the empty workshop and available ramps to give the MR2 another thorough cleaning.

This time I did the following:

• Cleaned
• Clay barred
• Waxed
• Wheels sealed
• Tyres shined
• Interior cleaned
• Seats shampooed

The clay barring took quite a while, and I was genuinely surprised how dirty the clay bar was, even directly after washing the car. I'd never used one before, and the results are super-satisfying:




IMG_2957 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2955 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2975 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2977 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2988 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2997 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2991 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

IMG_2995 by Alex Knight, on Flickr

Looovely

[Bossworld]

Looks fantastic mate.

Reading a couple of posts up, I'm no audio expert but have you now got the stock tweeters and the middle 'tweeter' in your new two way speakers replicating the same frequency? 

From when I dismembered my stock tweeters, I believe the stock door woofers are wired in parallel to the tweeter wiring, and the tweeter has a wired in resistor acting as a crossover.  So I think your new door speakers will be receiving the full range as expected, but you've got the high frequencies coming out of two sources if that makes sense?

[Alex Knight]

Looks fantastic mate.

Reading a couple of posts up, I'm no audio expert but have you now got the stock tweeters and the middle 'tweeter' in your new two way speakers replicating the same frequency? 

From when I dismembered my stock tweeters, I believe the stock door woofers are wired in parallel to the tweeter wiring, and the tweeter has a wired in resistor acting as a crossover.  So I think your new door speakers will be receiving the full range as expected, but you've got the high frequencies coming out of two sources if that makes sense?

Thanks chap.

Ummm.... dunno! I know 3/5ths of bugger all about audio. I did wonder, but I tried them anyway and it sounds great, so I'm happy!

[Alex Knight]

Refitted the 12"x3" front plate today. I think it looks better, and it must help a little with cooling on track.

[Alex Knight]

Brake pads all round today.

EBC Bluestuff fitted to the front axle, and Yellowstuff on the rear.



Blueprint discs have lasted amazingly well. No lip at all, and only some light scoring. They look like they are good for at least another 5-10 track days.


Also had a few minutes to chuck it on the dyno. The result? 189BHP. Same as last time!

[Alex Knight]

This arrived from Toyota today, thought it'd be a nice touch. Only about a fiver as well!

[Alex Knight]

Also treated the car to some new OEM mats too:

[Alex Knight]

Engine mounts. Mine were original, and well past their best. I'd already replaced the drivers side mount with a new OEM mount, but there was still some noticeable movement, so I thought I'd replace the remaining three mounts with new OEM mounts also.

I ordered the mounts from Nengun in Japan, as it was much cheaper than ordering them from Toyota UK, even after factoring in import duty.

Here are the mounts as they turned up:



The old gearbox mount. This took the most amount of work to remove, as I had to remove the battery, air filter, battery bracket etc:



And the new mount fitted:



Subframe mount was next. This was the most worn mount by far. When I removed it, and put a pry bar to the rubber insert, you could almost pull it out of the mount:



New one fitted:



Lastly was the bulkhead mount. This was a piece of cake, and considerably the easiest to remove. It was also the least worn:



And the last new mount fitted:



The difference was great! The whole drivetrain felt noticeably tighter, changing gear most noticeably. Gear changes now feel smoother, slicker and tighter. Overall an extremely worthwhile job I would say.

[Roj]

Just read this from start to finish - awesome car and great write up!

Some good pointers regarding the 2ZZ swap, I'm immersing myself in the 2ZZ world and was looking at the MWR website and their comments on ECUs and immobilisers - good to know from your previous comments that swapping the pins and transponder is DIY-able. How did you do the reprogramming of the transponder and CL? I haven't searched for that yet, so apologies if it's common knowledge

[Alex Knight]

Hi there. Thanks for the kind words.

There's a guide here for key reprogramming:

https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=23563.0

[Roj]

Hi there. Thanks for the kind words.

There's a guide here for key reprogramming:

https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=23563.0

Awesome stuff, thanks!

[Alex Knight]

Thought it was about time I posted up a full spec list, as I've realised I've done really quite a lot to this car!

ENGINE & GEARBOX:

2ZZ-GE Conversion
MWR Patch Harness
Celica 190 ECU
MWR Dipstick Tube
Modified Celica 190 Manifold
Genuine TRD ZZW30 Exhaust
AEM intake relocated behind battery
Eliseparts Baffled Sump
Fidanza 3.59KG Flywheel
Exedy Clutch
ZZW30 FL longer 6th Gear
ZZW30 OEM LSD
OEM Oil Pump
OEM Water Pump
OEM Thermostat
Koyo OEM Radiator
MWR Underdrive Water Pump Pulley
OEM Timing Chain & Tensioner
Reset Valve Clearances
Powdercoated Rocker Cover
Bigfoot Gear Cage Bushes
Solid Gear Linkage Bushes
OEM Engine Mounts
NGK BKR7EIX-11 Plugs
Gulf Competition 15w-50 Engine Oil

SUSPENSION/FOOTWORK/BRAKES:

TEIN Superstreet Coilovers
TEIN EDFC Damping Controller
4-Point Underbrace
Refurbished & Powdercoated Subframe
Powdercoated & Polybushed Rear Suspension Arms
7.0J x 15 ET35 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 Wheels
195/50/R15 Yokohama AD08RS Front Tyres
205/50/R15 Yokohama AD08R Rear Tyres
Blueprint Brake Discs
EBC Bluestuff Front Pads
EBC Yellowstuff Rear Pads
Goodridge Braided Brakes Lines
Motul RBF 600 Brake Fluid
TCB Performance Steering UJ
Underside Stripped & Fully Undercoated

INTERIOR:

DC2 Honda Integra Type-R Recaro SR Seats
Genuine Recaro ZZW30 Seat Subframes
New OEM Mats
Pioneer SPH-DA120 Headunit
Alpine SXV-1725E Speakers
FL Radio Surround
Genuine GT86 Gearknob
Matching Stiched Gear Gaitor
Personal Neo Grinta 350mm Alcantara Steering Wheel
Momo Steering Wheel Boss

EXTERIOR:

OEM Hard Top
E-Z Lip Front Lip
OEM VVTi-190 Rear Badge

Phew! Think that's about it!

[Alex Knight]

It's been a long 10 months since my last trackday, but I finally managed to get up to Anglesey last Saturday for some (thankfully) dry track time.

Brakes were AMAZING! Super repeatable and very hard stops lap after lap. I could honestly smash the pedal as hard as I dared, and zero fade all day. EBC Bluestuff front and Yellowstuff rear.

Again (it's almost boring to say it) but the car was 100% reliable and faultless.

I'm still on AD08R rear and AD08RS front tyres, and I am absolutely confident that there is more understeer than before. I don't really ever recall waiting to get on the power whilst the car felt front limited at lower speeds (2nd and 3rd gears). This is a new sensation to me in this car. You could overcome it by being more aggressive on turn-in and letting the pendulum/weight transfer neutralise the understeer, but that's not really my style.

I'm potentially looking at going to a square 205/50/R15 all-round tyre setup to try and reduce this a little.

Medium to high speed corners were still lovely and neutral->oversteer though, which is how I like it.

[Alex Knight]

For the last few years, it's been a borderline struggle to get through the MOT emissions test.

I decided to replace the CAT with a new OEM one yesterday, and was quite surprised when peering into the old one to find absolutely nothing there! Completely gutted.

I'm amazed it's actually passed any MOTs at all, let alone all of them since I've owned the car. Suffice to say that I've no MOT concerns this year now!

[LeRich]

A great thread and a lovely car. I have a black PFL too, albeit one that's 99.9% standard - seeing your car on black wheels has cemented my intention to respray the wheels on my car the same.

[Alex Knight]

MOT passed for another year.

They did initially fail the car yesterday, as the small numberplate maaaaayyyy not be quite to the letter of the law, however I kept the old one, and re-fitted it for the re-test today.

Some work to do though.

O/S/R wheel bearing has a bit of play (surprisingly I think these are the original bearings!), so will replace all four at the same time. I believe that the fronts are bolt in/out, and the rears are press fit? Could someone please confirm?

Slight weep from an inner CV boot as well, so will replace all four again, most likely when the wheel bearings are done. Gives me a chance to change the gearbox oil too.

Tester mentioned that power steering pipes are starting to look a little crusty, so will replace those, along with new Ravenoil fluid.

So, some winter maintenance ahead, but that's literally all it needs. Amazing really, given how many times it's been on track. What a properly tough, well sorted little car this is

[puma2]

MOT passed for another year.

Some work to do though.

O/S/R wheel bearing has a bit of play (surprisingly I think these are the original bearings!), so will replace all four at the same time. I believe that the fronts are bolt in/out, and the rears are press fit? Could someone please confirm?

Slight weep from an inner CV boot as well, so will replace all four again, most likely when the wheel bearings are done. Gives me a chance to change the gearbox oil too.

Tester mentioned that power steering pipes are starting to look a little crusty, so will replace those, along with new Ravenoil fluid.

So, some winter maintenance ahead, but that's literally all it needs. Amazing really, given how many times it's been on track. What a properly tough, well sorted little car this is

with all the work and effort you have put into this i would be pleased with MOT.
small jobs that will now cover. great work.
i do like when you got the car inside the workshop so bright and good looking pictures there.
looks a clean place and worth a vist on that alone ha ha.

now what can i bring my 2 for you for....