I got The Gulf out of the workshop and gave her a quick little wash last week




With the up and coming trip to Rogue Motorsport for reinstatement inspection, service, MOT, UK 6-speed gearbox change as well as a couple other bits I have been looking around at other bits and pieces to. The engine has always run an Manual boost controller and its been something I've wanted to change to an electronic controller. Looking around at what seems to be out there I am leaning towards AEM's Tru-Boost X control also because it will match my AEM Air Fuel Ratio gauge, do you have any recommendations?

The plan is to get the car back on the road and enjoy it for sometime but I am fully aware that I'm still running Apexi Power FC engine management and want to swap it out for something newer, I will need to look into getting the right setup with more options for modern day functionality but there could be some good potential for some great improvements and safety features for both engine and drivers aids.

Great progress as usual!

Everything seems to be going perfectly so lets hope that continues and we see lots of pictures of you out enjoying the car after all your hard work.

Last major job was to mount a radiator and water pump for the charge cooler. I purchased an AVS 12v water pump and a 24" x 7" twin pass radiator from chargecooler.co.uk. The radiator was to be mounted at the front of the car in front of the engine radiator. I used some 2"x1" aluminium rectangular box section and knocked up a couple of brackets to mount the radiator to the car. These had holes holesawn into them to aid air flow and were then given a coat of black stone chip before being bolted into place and having the radiator mounted to them.
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The water pump was mounted to a support bracket for the front trunk liner and wired to the live feed for the power steering pump via a 5amp inline fuse. This means the pump is on whenever the ignition is on.
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The header tank for the system was stuck to the top of the charge cooler using some tiger seal to keep to keep it in place.
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The pipework from front to back was tucked up above existing hoses under the car from the cooler and fed through to the front.
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With the chargecooler system filled up with coolant it was time to go for a test drive. The maiden voyage was just a quick lap of the village where I did the work on the car. It had been a long time since I had decided I was going to build a 1.8t 20v MR2, around 3 years, and now I was actually getting to drive it. Needless to say I came back from the initial drive grinning from ear to ear.
I had done most of the actual engine swap at a friends house about 45 mins drive from where I live so the next step was to get the car home. With a boot full of tools, jacks and general breakdown tools my friend followed me home. Fortunately none of it was needed as the car performed perfectly on the way home. I'm having to run the engine in after it's rebuild but I can already tell it's so much more powerful than the original engine and makes all the right noises from the turbo. First and reverse are very close to each other but I'm sure I'll get used to it and it pulls away in second gear with no issues if needed. It cruises at 70 at less rpm than it did with the original 5 speed Toyota set up and is much quieter at that speed than it was before with the Malian exhaust. It seems to have really good road manners at normal driving rpm and speed, it needs running in before I can explore its full capabilities. There's still a few little jobs to do, ie wire up the charge cooler AIT gauge, fit a boost gauge but it's mostly done and just needs running in and driving now.

Quote from: Superluminal on May 17, 2026, 16:59Car is up on axle stands whilst the wheels are away being refurbished and new tyres fitted, so I took the opportunity to wrap my zero exhaust manifold. So glad I removed it before wrapping, even though I had to remove the rear gearbox mount to get it clear. What a pig of a job.

I've wrapped one of those and it's not easy to do a tidy job all the way down.  Definitely better on the bench!!

Car is up on axle stands whilst the wheels are away being refurbished and new tyres fitted, so I took the opportunity to wrap my zero exhaust manifold. So glad I removed it before wrapping, even though I had to remove the rear gearbox mount to get it clear. What a pig of a job.

Not a great result today.
SO the sill bolt is rusted and probably just spinning in the socket (or the socket isn't getting purchase) but the bigger issue is that the centre crossbrace the previous owner installed means that the bolt on the bit in the middle of the car has nowhere to go. It looks like it was simply wedged in behind the bracing previously and, presumably, it has come out after they brace came off to fit new brake cables.
So today's bodge was to cable tie the end off the ground to at least stop the bloody noise its making!!

Quote from: kbpop123 on May  6, 2026, 09:25Hi to all,
Just noted this article bigging up the MK3.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/why-i-swapped-my-mx-5-toyota-mr2-%E2%80%93-and-wont-look-back

Rgds Kevin

No News there, nothing that we are not aware of!

I have mine off ready to refit.

There is a bracket bolted to the sill and then a bolt through the plastic cover into bracket, so you only need to undo the bolt into the sill.  The other three fixings are plastic clips.

This piece of underbody trim is causing the noise that I can hear from the NSR at speed and over speed bumps.
I think its part 77642-17030.
From diagrams, I think its held in by 2 bolts.
The medial part is hanging down so I assume the bolt has been lost or the part fatigued to the point of failure. The remaining bolt next to the sill is very rusted. It looks like I could have some fun trying to get it out.

Some sites report it to be steel but I'm sure the under the car is plastic

Quote from: Joesson on May 13, 2026, 15:49I believe you are correct, so rather than towing you would be towed!

Indeed, but I don't think I will be doing any track days to be honest unless it was just MR2s.

But I felt I should point out that you can still use towing eyes if needed.