Hi. I'm due to actually make a start on converting my 02 PFL MR2 to Audi 1.8t power this week.
Thought I'd start a build diary of the process.
First things first a couple of pics of her before I start the work. I've owned her around 18 months and done a couple of mods in that time. Shes got a Malian bumper exit back box with only one of the 2 outlets fitted, a 4 branch manifold and whiteline anti roll bars,front and rear.
PXL_20260313_130820937.jpgPXL_20260313_130800251.jpgPXL_20260313_130753148.MP.jpg
I've been busy in the garage refreshing a 1.8t engine from a 225 Audi TT, with a plan to fit it to the MR2 using one of the Zurawski conversion kits.
PXL_20260313_130846080.MP.jpgPXL_20260313_130836430.MP.jpg
Engine was completely stripped right down. New crank, thrust and main bearings fitted. Cylinders honed and new piston rings installed. A set of uprated conrods were fitted in case I want to go for more power in the future. The rods being a known weak point on these engines over a certain amount of torque. Cylinder head was fully stripped down, skimmed and then rebuilt with new valve stem oil seals and the original valves. The whole carnk assembly balanced. New single mass flywheel,clutch and slave cylinder. The turbo was fitted with a new CHRA with a uprated 360 bearing. The whole thing rebuilt using new gaskets and stretch bolt where required. New cam belt kit and water pump fitted.
First part of doing the conversion required me getting hold of a suitable engine. I opted for buying a whole car, rather than an engine from a breakers or the internet, for a couple of reasons. One was so I had everything from the Audi that I might need and the second reason was that I could get to drive the car and prove it was running ok before I started.
After a bit of searching I found a 225 roadster for sale for sale on ebay that wasn't too far away from where I live. After a little day trip to Great Yarmouth I drove the TT home and then used it for the next month.
PXL_20250912_071552498.jpgPXL_20250912_075811855.jpg
The next step of the plan was to remove the engine and gearbox which was done over the course of a weekend.
PXL_20250914_135111112.MP.jpgPXL_20250919_100557597.jpgPXL_20250920_114651514.jpg
Along with the engine and box I also removed all the wiring for the engine. The ecu has 2 plugs going to it. One of the plugs goes to the engine loom and is easily unplugged and all the connections to the engine left in place. The second plug goes to a couple of bits on the engine and to a bulk head plate which is just above the pedals inside the car. Undo this bulk head plate and there is a load of multi plugs under the plate. Undo all these plugs and you end up with both the wiring looms that go to the ecu. This wiring loom is required for the conversion. You also need to remove the entire throttle pedal assembly from inside the car, this is also required for the conversion.
This is the basic engine mount kit from Zurawski motorsport, comes with the engine mount plates and the parts needed to use the MR2 gear shifter with the Audi gearbox.
PXL_20251222_142703506.jpg
The conversion calls for the gearbox from a Quattro as one of the engine mounts uses the transfer box mounts.The transfer box is the big lump on the side of the diff housing and transmits power to the rear diff in a Quattro setup.
PXL_20250921_175152529.jpg
Remove the drive flange by undoing the allen bolt deep inside the centre of the drive flange, the transfer box is then unboltable from the gearbox.
PXL_20260111_130431052.jpg
The engine mount kit comes with a nice cnc'd peice of aluminium that bolts in place of the transfer box. This plate seals up the oil passages that let gearbox oil into the transfer box in the original set up. It also takes the drive flange oil seal and has threaded inserts on the rear of it to bolt the rear engine mount to. A different drive flange is required as the one that came with the Quattro setup will no longer work. A vw 02M409356A or 02M409356 will be needed instead. A new gearbox flange oil seal is also required 02M409189
PXL_20260111_132554170.MP.jpg
Mount bolted in place.
PXL_20260111_133126236.jpg
Threaded inserts that the engine mount will bolt to.
The engine mount on the cambelt end of the engine simply bolts in the place of the original mount.
PXL_20260313_193456492.jpg
The gearbox end engine mount isn't quite as straight forward. There is a lump in the Audi parts of the mount that needs chopping off. This is pretty straight forward to do using an angle grinder and a file to clean up the cut.
PXL_20260212_130132335.jpg
Lump removed to provide a nice flat surface for the other part of the mount to bolt to.
PXL_20260221_152000545.jpg
The Zurawski conversion mount bolted in place. All the engine mounts are works of art, made from stainless steel using clever interlocking cnc design and some very nice TIG work.
PXL_20260313_193519309.MP.jpg
All above my station, but I love this stuff.
I've had the VW 1.8T in a Golf IV, and a 1.9tdi 130 in the same, both happy smiley places to be.
I don't have the knowledge, skills or bollocks to do a conversion but admire those that do.
No idea how practical, but have always thought the the Alfa mito 1.4 cloverleaf (170) would be a great idea. (I also fully accept it might not) and or the 1750 (220) found in giulietta cloverleaf.
:) that is some plans you got going on there :) :)
fair play for haveing a go 8)
good that your starting with build thread :)
keep posting on here how you get on 8) 8)
Great to see a 1.8t conversion thread going.
Im especially interested in the costs vs my boosted 2zz.
What is the toothed wheel on the pulley for ? i have actually watched most of their guides but i must have missed this...
I'll likely never follow suit but I'll be watching your thread with interest. More power to your elbow!
Thank you all for your positive input.
All the hard work has been done by Zurawski Motorsport. The parts are all available in separate chunks so you can either buy the parts for a particular part of the project or if you're resourceful you can come up with your own solutions. The costs of all parts are listed on their website. https://www.zurawskimotorsport.com I've personally opted to buy all the parts of the conversion. Engine mounts, driveshafts, exhaust, charge cooler, deimmobilized Audi ecu (with cheeky little stage 1 tune), crank trigger wheel, fuel line conversion, coolant system conversion and conversion wiring loom.
They have also produced a series of 7 videos on youtube with step by step instructions on how to carry out each step.
The toothed wheel is to run the original rev counter in the MR2 instrument cluster. The crank sensor from the 1zz engine is used with a bracket that is part of the conversion kit for this purpose.
PXL_20260207_171149447.jpg
Didn't get much done on the actual car today. I had to move everything to a friends garage so a lot of the day was spent loading and unloading all the parts and engine into the van and then into the new garage.
PXL_20260315_145021587.jpg PXL_20260315_145036383.jpg
I did manage to remove the rear lights and bumper before it got dark. The rear bumper bar is the one that came with the Malain exhaust. Due to the exhaust suffering from the 2 outlets not being level when fitted to the car I blanked one of the outlets off with a blanking plug fitted to the V band joint so it is totally reversible and can have the other tail pipe refitted. I went for having the outlet on the nearside because the exhaust requires the bumper trim cutting and the only available replacement on ebay at the time was the nearside one. Going to one outlet also quietened down the exhaust a little bit.
I'm hoping to get the old engine out tomorrow.
PXL_20260316_174550403.MP.jpg PXL_20260316_174554597.jpg
Good progress today. Old engine has been removed and engine bay fully degreased and cleaned up. Removing the old engine was pretty straight forward but had fun cutting the drive shafts with my grinder. When I cut them, as they were nearly all the way through, they grabbed the grinding disc due to there still being forces transmitted through the drive shaft from the suspension components. :o
PXL_20260317_134436215.jpg
PXL_20260317_153002954.MP.jpgPXL_20260317_153020544.MP.jpg PXL_20260317_152954897.jpg
I removed the crank, oil pressure and temp sensor from the 1zz as these will be required for the Audi engine. The crank sensor to read the toothed aux pulley to provide a signal for the rev counter, the oil pressure sensor for the oil light on the instrument cluster and the coolant sensor to send a signal for the temperature gauge. The conversion runs two coolant temperature sensors, the 1zz one for the temp gauge and the Audi one for the engine ecu.
Now the engine bay is clear the next step will be to modify the fuel system to provide a return fuel line to the petrol tank. With the engine out of the way it provides much better access to install this extra fuel line. Been a long day so that's a job for tomorrow.
Next job was to modify the fuel system. As standard the MR2 runs a 1 fuel pipe setup but the Audi engine requires an additional pipe adding for a fuel return to the fuel tank. Having the engine removed makes this job much easier. The fuel pump assembly requires removal for the fitment of the fuel return, access to this is under the plastic trim in the bottom of the drivers side cubby behind the seat.
There's a metal cover that is stuck down with a putty like material, it can simply be levered up to uncover the top of the fuel tank and access to the fuel pump assembly.
PXL_20260318_144808842.jpg
Once the wiring plug is disconnected and the retaining screws removed the fuel pump assembly can be taken out of the tank. The top of the fuel pump assembly is unclipped and has a hole drilled and tapped in the top to take a 1/8" threaded elbow.
PXL_20260318_140022550.jpg
Part of the conversion requires the removal of the toyota fuel pressure regulator and it being replaced with a blanking plug.
PXL_20260318_124643616.jpg
I also fitted a new upgraded Walbro GSS342-KL, as the original one was 24 years old and not designed for the Audi engines thirst, it seemed to be the sensible thing to do. The pump is slightly taller than the original one so the end cap of the fuel pump assembly needed trimming to make it fit.
PXL_20260318_113416480.jpg
Once modified the assembly was refitted to the fuel tank and a rubber fuel hose passed through the hole in the engine bay, which houses all the pipes and cables, through to the access panel to the fuel pump. This was then connected to the new fuel tank inlet that was just installed.
In the engine bay the original fuel supply pipe has a quick release connection, the connection was disconnected and the fuel pipe cut off to reveal a barbed tail. This tail is then pushed into another rubber fuel hose and fastened with a fuel pipe clip. This fuel hose and the hose from the return are then cable tied to the steel pipe, the fuel tank vent, attached to the bulk head. That's the fuel system modded ready for the new engine.
PXL_20260319_140841930.MP.jpg