Andy's Mk3 - 2GR V6

[ayresyboy]

I found myself in Orlando in December 2010.  With no group buys going on I took the opportunity to go to a breakers and I found a 36,000 mile 2GR-FE engine from a 2008 Avalon

Bought on 9th Dec 2010



Nothing goes to plan and I was expecting problems, but I didn't expect anything as heart breaking as this....

The engine arrived at Woodsport and appeared to be very badly damaged and in an unsaleable condition.

- Both front bank camshaft sensors broken
- One of the bellhousing bolt holes was snapped
- The front bank cam cover had a crack on the top of the casing
- The engine harness was badly chopped in several places
- Oil pressure switch broken

There were missing parts...

- Upper dipstick tube and dipstick
- Both Air fuel ratio sensors
- MAF sensor and plug
- Both Chassis to ECU plugs

Response from the Yard after my email saying that it was in an unsaleable condition...

"You looked at this engine & inspected it before you paid for it. All I did was put it on a pallet & you took care of shipping. All of the parts shown below are not warranted . If you look at the back of your invoice you will see what's warranted".

Quick run down of the problems with pics from Paul...

Both front bank camshaft sensors broken...





One of the bellhousing bolt holes snapped clean off the engine...



The front bank cam cover had a crack on top of the casing...



Engine harness badly chopped in several places....





Missing parts included upper dipstick tube and dipstick.  Oil pressure switch broken...



The good news was that Paul could salvage it. So a new shopping list was created:

- 2 x AFR sensors
- 1 x MAF sensor + pigtail
- Both front bank Cam sensors + pigtails
- Sienna pedal + pigtail
- Upper dipstick tube
- Upper dipstick tube o-ring
- Dipstick
- Axle Carrier bearing bracket
- ECU, carrier bracket and connector housings
- Both chassis to ECU plugs
- Fidanza flywheel
- ACT clutch
- 2GR mounting kit
- Headers
- Exhaust silencer
- LSD equipped Mk2 turbo gearbox and driveshafts, plus some modified rear hubs to take the thicker spline

I bought a rolling MR-S shell from GTSChris.  I went this route because it cost less and with the shell being imported, it was very clean underneath.



Work started with Paul Woods in Jan 2012



Alterations carried out to the engine bay, certain areas recessed and the drivers chassis engine mount fabricated...



The front subframe modified too, necessary for Marcs headers to clear...



Gearbox hanger mount made



The Mk2 mount dummy fitted on the drivers side...



The engine access hole cut and framework made for it that the removable hatch bolts to...



The large core aluminium rad fitted, essential for a 2gr or 1mz in a roadster, the stock radiator is pathetically thin...



Engine looks a lot nicer now compared to the previous pics!!



The engine bay prepped and primed....



Then given a quick basecoat of gunmetal grey.

The engine trial fitted...



This highlights any areas that need to be addressed and lets Paul make the torque mounts and modify the rear subframe.  All of the remaining fab work can now be done.



They really are a snug fit in a Mk3 bay...



Start made on the gearbox side of the rear torque mount...



Front torque mount fabricated, pre paint...



The rear one with temporary bolts...



A view from the rear, still a bit untidy...



Fabrication stage complete, engine removed and bay given final alterations before getting a clearcoat on the basecoat...



I've lost the first fire up videos.  It ran, but we had problems.

There was a code P2103 coming from the ECU, which means the drive by wire throttle body had a fault.

It couldn't be ignored because it goes into limp mode and restricts throttle to 2000rpm.

So another throttle body was required!

I bought a 2nd hand throttle body from ebay US.  It arrived at Woodsport and comparing the two throttle bodies revealed that my old one had a ding in the body like it had been dropped. You could also move the butterfly by hand, which is not something you can normally do.

So the ebay one was fitted, key turned......nothing.     s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  

Two codes from the ebay TB are:
P2103 Throttle actuator current (high current)
P2111 throttle actuator control system - stuck open

We decided to get one of Paul's friends' 2gr into the workshop so we could cross over a known good TB and ensure the wiring is all OK.  It worked fine.  So both previous TB's were at fault.  Paul's wiring was good.

I sourced another new TB, this time tested as working before it was sent to me.

Getting excited about picking her up, I gave her some new boots.

Rota Grid wheels in Bronze with Toyo T1-R tyres.

Front wheels:    15 x 6.5J +40
Front tyres:    195/55/15
Rear wheels:   16 x 7J +40
Rear tyres:    225/45/16



I finally picked the car up from Paul on 2nd May 2012.  On the way to Warrington to pick up my hardtop from D!ck Sloan (MR2 Roadster breaker and all round helpful chap), I got a blow out on a brand new tyre! That's the M62 for you! Apparently loads of shards of metal on that stretch from the lorries.  I managed to get recovered to D!ck's.  

D!ck had plenty more than a hardtop.  Because my MR-S was a shell, it had no interior, literally seats dash and steering wheel only.  I spent all day at D!ck's and he helped me install the entire interior and I bought a nice lip kit (TRD stage 1) that was on his latest breaker.  He gave me a wheel and tyre to get home as well.  Can't thank him enough!

Stopped at a petrol station when I was on my way again and got a flat battery.  Had to get another call out to get a jump start.  RAC man put the voltmeter on it.  It was fubar'd. So new battery required!

Finally got home in the wee hours of the morning.













First jobs I carried out the following week were new battery and new tyres for the front.  I dropped down a profile to 195/50/15.

[ayresyboy]

Made some subtle improvements...

Keyhole covers:





Climate controls:







Door handle surround:





Bonnet gas struts:





I had to trim away some of the plastic cover so that it didn't interfere with the resting position of the struts.  I used my dremel to both cut and then smooth the edges.







Engine gas strut:





Tax disc holder:





Chrome dial surrounds:





Seat belt shoulder pad:



I developed a niggly problem where the acceleration wasn't smooth.  I had fault codes showing both banks running lean.   So adjusted the fuel pressure regulator.  

It was set to 60 psi...



Changed it to 53 psi as it should have been according to Mr Woods...



It ran a bit smoother but I still had a problem with accelerating.  It seemed to "stutter" at times.

Next I tried changing the MAF but that had no effect.  

So I gave up and took it to Kent Car Craft.  They were excellent.  They had a really good look at it.  They found that the inlet manifold had hairline cracks.  You could only see them up close.  I was sure we had found the problem.  KCC glued up the cracks as a temporary fix.  Smoke tested it and no leaks.  Went for a drive, stutter still there.

KCC did some more diagnostic tests and even spoke to Paul.  The throttle body seemed to be behaving weirdly. It wouldn't open straight, it flicked back a few times on it's way to open, which tied in with the driving experience I was getting.

It was a mystery, sometimes it stuttered, other times it was smooth.  I just lived with it.

Installed facelift inserts into the rear bumper.











Spent a very productive day at Patrick's (headcase).  Got the below work done:

- Whiteline ARB's on
- ROC Droplinks on
- BC Coilovers on
- Sideskirts on
- TTE replica bracing on
- Front bumper given a quick spray
- Spoiler given a spray ready to fit at a later date



















































I got stuck one night trying to wire in facelift rear lights.  Luckily Patrick went for a drive and stopped by to help.









Looks much better!

JDM wheel caps fitted all round



Test fitted my RexyPow centre console.  This bridges the the gap between the gearstick and the CD player. Something Toyota maybe ran out of plastic for?!?!?! Who knows!  However, you do lose the cigarette lighter, ash tray and pop out cup holders.  Easy workarounds and the new console has cup holders anyway.



Another thank you to Andyroo for donating a set of import number plate inserts.

[ayresyboy]

Wheel alignment at SVA.  No way to adjust caster.



Couple of additions ... Leather seats:



...And new numberplate to go with TRD1's M22 TRD:





Removed my old soft top and installed my new black mohair one.



Drain plugs both sides were ok, but still gave them a clean




WD40'd some sliding parts


Good view of the V6 from the service hatch.  It really is crammed in there!  Found a Japanese cuddly toy as well!


But I got confused putting it all back together!  All the flappy bits and parts I couldn't work out what went where.






Managed to get it all back together



But I made a very expensive mistake



Ultra Racing front strut brace went in.  Bit of a tight fit.  Also fit my flat wiper blade on my single wiper conversion.  Was disappointed with the blade.  It never worked very well. Guess that's what you get for a fiver!







The front pipe was mild steel and wrapped in poor quality heat wrap.  So Patrick welded in my new 200 cel cat that I bought from eBay as well as completely re routed the front pipe with stainless steel and proper aluminium heat wrap.

It's a funny angle for the cat but it works and I have more ground clearance.  :-) :-) :-)







Finally bought a new manifold found on eBay (with no leaks) and Patrick sprayed it red...





Rexypow centre console sprayed black.  I peeled the carbon fibre effect off in the end as it is hard to get it to stay stuck down.





Silver handles painted black.



Style bar on





Sold the black mohair to Patrick for his wife's Roadster and bought myself a blue mohair one second hand from a chap on mr2roc who bought it brand new but couldn't use it as he crashed his 2.  It came as just the material so I had to rip apart my old vinyl from the frame to fit it.

Old one off...



Just frame left...



It was pretty straight forward slipping the new one over and fixing in, but I don't have any in depth details of it, sorry.

New soft top ready to go in...



On the frame ready n waiting...



Boom...







I love it.  Such a difference!

I also bought some 2nd hand 17 inch wheels with tyres.  Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 I think these are, finished in anthracite.  Bargain I must say, but Nankang NS2 tyres 205 all round so no stagger. I only bought them as I wanted to see what 17's looked like on this car.  I'm undecided if they are just a lil bit too big on the front.  

So this is how she sits now...







Few more bits of bodywork finished...

Rear Lip:









Spoiler:



















The finished rear, looks much better and more aggressive I think  :-) :-) :-)   So now I have the complete TRD Stage 1 bodykit.  This car definitely needs a kit to take it away from it's standard hairdresser looks.



New discs, pads and goodridge braided hoses all round.  And a tidy up with some black paint.











Some shots from Brands...

[ayresyboy]

Patrick sprayed my diffuser and vents.





C One side vents bonded in place.











Just need to make a drain hole and tidy up round the edges.

Had a bit of mesh left over so used it on the engine lid.



Fitment for rear diffuser was not perfect. Had to push it in place and screw it on. So its screwed and bonded now but needs to be tidied up at a later date.





Finally in Jan 2014 I changed the plugs and it cured my stuttering acceleration problem. Big thanks to Patrick for helping me diagnose all the problems.

My battery had been relocated to the frunk for the V6 to fit during the conversion. But I never liked the arrangement because the plastic where the spare wheel sat had to be cut with the battery sticking out the bottom.

You can see the tray here.



So out with the tray and in with the new battery and setup that won't interfere with my spare wheel space  s:) s:)











Had some fun sticking the storage boxes behind the seats back in. Had to fit around the v6 ecu and engine service hatch.













Onto my 4th set of wheels now. These are SP wheels, basically custom made team dynamic pro race 1.2. Finished in matte champagne.  Got a proper stagger now  s:) s:)  245/205







Here's a few from a Kent Car Club run













Didn't get on with the BC coilovers. Went back to standard with TTE branded eibach lowering springs. Didn't get photos.  Sorry.

Rears were quite tight and got buzzing so Patrick offered to do a spot of flaring.



Changed my standard wheel to a tiny momo. No more knee bashing.









Added a silver outline ring to the hazard button.



Swopped the dark interior light cover for a clear Mitsubishi one  s:) s:)



Thanks to Andy for donating these much flatter seals.



Before:


After:


Installed the bigfoot cage mounts.

Before... tiny flexible rubber


After... chunky metal


Then I sound deadened the interior. Seems pointless in a soft top but it will make a difference when the hard top is on. Adds about 6kg.







Got some component speakers wired to a 2 channel amp.







Had to gut original speakers to use the ring.

Got myself a new pedal. This is drive by wire and the electrics kept giving up with the old pedal. So far so good with the new. You can see the custom metal bracket made by Woodsport that the pedal bolts to.







Some more Kent Car Club run photos







Removed my sun visors and replaced with mr2roc blanking plates.

[jonty]

Man I love how much of a sleeper this is! Looking forward to seeing what else you have to put into the other reserved posts..

Ohh, and why the hell are there not any more comments? This is pant-wettingly cool!

[s12vea]

Just wait till you see the finished example.. Stunning roadster

[shnazzle]

Very very nice. Looking forward to the finished product, videos, lap times, dynos  s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

This thing must be mental! It's a lovely car though a real labour of love I imagine

[Jrichards20]

Lovely  s:) s:)

[ayresyboy]

This thing must be mental! It's a lovely car though a real labour of love I imagine

It's rapid. Project been going 5 years now and no sign of stopping the mods lol

[s12vea]

I will look forward to seeing and hearing this car at some point.

[cabbydave]

I think you should get Len to rip a set of moulds off the console I would buy one

[s12vea]

Me too!

[cabbydave]

We know lens quality so get it done

[ayresyboy]

We know lens quality so get it done

Lens quality is good but the original quality isn't so good. It's off the car at mo so I'll drop it to Patrick. I heard Len is mega busy so likely have to wait until next year.

[cabbydave]

You know it makes sense. I accidentally sent Patrick some money today so call that the first deposit paid.

[Swan_Connery]

An epic build mate. Keep at it. Will hopefully see it in the flesh someday.

[cyclehead]

It's great seeing all the detailed pictures!   Does your throttle pedal placement work for heel-toe driving?  I did a mod to my throttle pedal using a piece of aluminum tubing - that lets me roll my foot and blip the throttle while on the brakes.  I'll dig up a picture if you like.

[ayresyboy]

It's great seeing all the detailed pictures!   Does your throttle pedal placement work for heel-toe driving?  I did a mod to my throttle pedal using a piece of aluminum tubing - that lets me roll my foot and blip the throttle while on the brakes.  I'll dig up a picture if you like.

No heel and toe. The go fast pedal also sits too high. Would love to see a photo of yours.

[ayresyboy]

 m https://youtu.be/hwAj97fVjc8 m

[ayresyboy]

 m https://youtu.be/suZosgxSU6M m

[ayresyboy]

 m https://youtu.be/HhnClW3Bx-U m

[shnazzle]

Now how am I supposed to sleep after watching that?

[Ardent]

Somebody pass the the tissues please.

[cyclehead]

No heel and toe. The go fast pedal also sits too high. Would love to see a photo of yours.

I added a short piece of aluminum pipe.  Cut a "U" notch out of the pipe.  Crammed a little block of wood into the back of the plastic pedal webbing.  Screwed one screw to wedge the wood tight, and hold the pipe in place.  It has worked quite well for 20,000 miles.

It is positioned so it's even with the brake pedal, with the brake pedal pressed.
I also read somewhere (probably Paul Woods) that a Toyota Yaris pedal will plug right into the same connector.  It has a solid wire arm that can be bent where you want it.  I haven't investigated further.
*edit*  78110-0D020 looks like it might work!  The connector looks about right.
*edit*  Found the post! CDWoods credit on TwoBrutal.  He says it works fine. http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?20661-Project-GroundHog-Day-Black-2GR-FE-Mk2&p=307852&viewfull=1#post307852