My Blue 2002 MR2 - Meeerrk's Track car build (LOCKED)

[Anonymous]

It's difficult to pick up the sound I might try the go pro in the case to try and dampen the road noise a little

[phaeton]

Nothing there Mark that I can see, but you know what would go good with your car is a 6 speed MR2 LSD gearbox with 1-5 fitted from a Celica  s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

sorry I was doing it from my phone and missed a couple of characters from the video string. fixed it now!

[Jrichards20]

Sounds lovely!! You will have to take me out for a drive in it tomorrow!

[Anonymous]

As said the camera doesn't pick up the transition into lift very well I will try some different go pro cases. It sounds good yes  s:D s:D

[andyroo104]

That sounds very nice Mark and very addictive. :-) :-) :-)

[jonty]

looks like fun, I'm contemplating how long I need to give it for the new main and BE bearings to bed in before I start giving it welly... I guess I should give 500 miles like a normal rebuilt, but it is tempting to just sack this off, do an oil change at 100 miles and then give it some stick...

Must. Remain. Calm.

[Anonymous]

looks like fun, I'm contemplating how long I need to give it for the new main and BE bearings to bed in before I start giving it welly... I guess I should give 500 miles like a normal rebuilt, but it is tempting to just sack this off, do an oil change at 100 miles and then give it some stick...

Must. Remain. Calm.

I've had to be very disciplined with mine, it's worth it for piece of mind. I didn't take mine into lift until I had done 600 miles and swapped the oil for fully syth. It's now done around 1000 in total and that video of 2nd, 3rd, 4th is the longest I've had it in lift by a long way.

[jonty]

Mine is a rather tired 107k engine (only 50k on the chassis) as I wanted to do a complete forged build, but have had to compromise and rebuild stock, so I think I am best off trying to stay calm and do the same as you...

[Anonymous]

Sounds lovely!! You will have to take me out for a drive in it tomorrow!

ok, swap for yours   s:) s:)

[Paul1087]

Sounds good mate, I would be careful putting up videos like that on YT though. Only takes the dailymail brigade to find something like that on a slow news day and next thing you know you have plod knocking on the door.

[Jrichards20]

Depends if im coming in the elise or the Mr2  s:) s:)   s:) s:)   s:) s:)   s:) s:)   s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Mine is a rather tired 107k engine (only 50k on the chassis) as I wanted to do a complete forged build, but have had to compromise and rebuild stock, so I think I am best off trying to stay calm and do the same as you...

It's a sensible thing to do. What oil did you put in it?

[Anonymous]

Sounds good mate, I would be careful putting up videos like that on YT though. Only takes the dailymail brigade to find something like that on a slow news day and next thing you know you have plod knocking on the door.

Oh.... Point taken ill sort it out. I've got another clip on a private bit of land at work so I'll use that. Cheers  s:) s:)

[jonty]

It's a sensible thing to do. What oil did you put in it?

I didn't use a special running in oil, I just used a 5W-40 fully synth, and I ended up putting some Fuchs through it instead of the cheaper Gulf stuff I had intended to use due to a bout of absentmindedness whilst trying to do the conversion in the evening after a day at work and not enough sleep...

*EDIT* why is it auto correcting "a_bout" to "a about"?!

[Anonymous]

With Fuchs in it I bet it won't be bedding in at all! Super slippy stuff.

There is a lot of debate on what to do, run it in gently or give it stick. I had to be very careful with mine so if there were any problems I could go back to the engine builder knowing I've done everything I should.

[jonty]

Yeah in your position I think you're doing exactly the right thing.

For me it's just a new set of shells, nothing more... not really sure if I need to / should be doing anything different... I work for Nissan and we run 18,000 miles 1st service intervals on lots of our engines, so they don't get any special treatment, and as far as I'm aware the initial run in tests are only to be sure everything is in the right place, stuff doesn't fall off, and that performance is within the bounds... I think they get about 15 mins on the dyno each, so it's not as if they have been pre-broken in before going in the cars...

[Anonymous]

Get out an enjoy it then  s:D s:D

[MrStev3]

Looked good in youtube buddy
Now I'm reporting The video as its offensive and dangerous to baby hedgehogs lol  s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:

[tubbytommy]

Epic thread,enjoyed reading it.
Next job for my Mr2 is a 2zz now I've sorted most of its issues.
Would you mind answering a few questions as Im going to attempt the job myself.
Obviously I need the engine but what else do I require from the donor Car?
Also is the gearbox a direct fit too?
I know about the dipstick tube and new manifold is required but does the rest of the exhaust fit?
I assume it does looking at your pictures.
Once again epic thread and maybe we will meet on a track day soon.

[JoeCool]

Epic thread,enjoyed reading it.
Next job for my Mr2 is a 2zz now I've sorted most of its issues.
Would you mind answering a few questions as I'm going to attempt the job myself.
Obviously I need the engine but what else do I require from the donor Car?
Also is the gearbox a direct fit too?
I know about the dipstick tube and new manifold is required but does the rest of the exhaust fit?
I assume it does looking at your pictures.
Once again epic thread and maybe we will meet on a track day soon.

I can help with some of this:

From the Donor car you need:

• 2ZZ Engine, inc Ancillaries.
• 6 Speed gearbox (direct fit).
• Engine Wiring Loom.
• Intake gubbins to hack together an intake.
• You may want the 2ZZ exhaust manifold to make something custom from.

Additional bits you need:

• 6 Speed Shifter Shaft (check the performance sub forum for a cheap supplier for this) and Reverse block out block that fits to the Shifter shaft input. 6 speed shifter cage (gearstick) if your car is a 5 speed.
• Manifold to fit 2zz engine to Original MR2 rxahust at the downpipe (And accept a bit of performance loss here) Or ele a custom exhaust form manifold back.
• 2zz Celica Manual ECU with matching coded key transponder. To get past the immobiliser and to make it run the clocks properly, corolla ECU's don't do this.
• Modified gearbox side mount to fit the slightly different mount, otherwise the 1zz mounts work.

there are other bits of course for a 'proper' job.

You end up building a slightly hybrid engine, the 2zz block with 1zz tensioner arm, 1zz fuel rail with 2zz injectors, and some kind of intake using 2zz MAF sensor.

You can also build a hybrid LSD - take the limited slip diff out of the MR2 gearbox, fit the Donor crown wheel to it, and you have an LSD in the celica/corolla FInal drive, neither of which came with them.

The wiring is easy too, the loom fits and requires moving about 5 pins on the plugs IIRC.

Do a good bit of googling and you'll find out all you need.

[Jrichards20]

After being in this today, mark has got a pretty perfect set up! The feeling of getting into liftis so much more powerful than I expected! Plus the wheels, smaller steering wheel and suspension make it bareable on the road, but with a wicked steering response and great grip! I'm aiming for a very similar set up, apart from the harness and seats in mine. So thanks for the inspiration  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Epic thread,enjoyed reading it.
Next job for my Mr2 is a 2zz now I've sorted most of its issues.
Would you mind answering a few questions as I'm going to attempt the job myself.
Obviously I need the engine but what else do I require from the donor Car?
Also is the gearbox a direct fit too?
I know about the dipstick tube and new manifold is required but does the rest of the exhaust fit?
I assume it does looking at your pictures.
Once again epic thread and maybe we will meet on a track day soon.

I can help with some of this:

From the Donor car you need:

• 2ZZ Engine, inc Ancillaries.
• 6 Speed gearbox (direct fit).
• Engine Wiring Loom.
• Intake gubbins to hack together an intake.
• You may want the 2ZZ exhaust manifold to make something custom from.

Additional bits you need:

• 6 Speed Shifter Shaft (check the performance sub forum for a cheap supplier for this) and Reverse block out block that fits to the Shifter shaft input. 6 speed shifter cage (gearstick) if your car is a 5 speed.
• Manifold to fit 2zz engine to Original MR2 rxahust at the downpipe (And accept a bit of performance loss here) Or ele a custom exhaust form manifold back.
• 2zz Celica Manual ECU with matching coded key transponder. To get past the immobiliser and to make it run the clocks properly, corolla ECU's don't do this.
• Modified gearbox side mount to fit the slightly different mount, otherwise the 1zz mounts work.

there are other bits of course for a 'proper' job.

You end up building a slightly hybrid engine, the 2zz block with 1zz tensioner arm, 1zz fuel rail with 2zz injectors, and some kind of intake using 2zz MAF sensor.

You can also build a hybrid LSD - take the limited slip diff out of the MR2 gearbox, fit the Donor crown wheel to it, and you have an LSD in the celica/corolla FInal drive, neither of which came with them.

The wiring is easy too, the loom fits and requires moving about 5 pins on the plugs IIRC.

Do a good bit of googling and you'll find out all you need.

What he said...basically!

To enhance it, I'd say lightened flywheel and also a baffled sump of some type as the 2zz is known to suffer oil starvation.

Also consider fitting the mr2 6th gear for longer journeys.

If you have a 6speed mr2 you won't need to buy a selector shaft or reverse block out as they can be used from your current gearbox.

These engines are funny about intakes so it's best to use a proper maf intake tube with the air vanes inside.

[Anonymous]

After being in this today, mark has got a pretty perfect set up! The feeling of getting into liftis so much more powerful than I expected! Plus the wheels, smaller steering wheel and suspension make it bareable on the road, but with a wicked steering response and great grip! I'm aiming for a very similar set up, apart from the harness and seats in mine. So thanks for the inspiration  s:) s:)

Thanks mate! It's certainly not the spec you are after but glad to help you with some decisions along the way  s:) s:)  hope you enjoyed the drive  s:D s:D

[jonty]

From the Donor car you need:

• Engine Wiring Loom.

.........
You end up building a slightly hybrid engine, the 2zz block with 1zz tensioner arm, 1zz fuel rail with 2zz injectors, and some kind of intake using 2zz MAF sensor.

Just for clarity, engine wiring loom from the donor car is only needed to provide the lift solenoid and pressure sensor wiring, you use the 1zz engine harness with these 3 wires added in.

Also with the ancillaries you use the 2zz tensioner arm (auto tensioner), but you carry across the PAS replacement pulley from 1zz since the roadster uses an electrohydraulic pump in the froot.