1993 MR2 Turbo project car.

Started by BryanH, August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM

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BryanH



Okay, so it's a beautiful, straight car with 25k miles on a brand new Toyota engine, turbocharger, transmission (with LSD), axles, ABS conversion, etc!  But it's still a project, because the chassis has 160k and really minor crap takes me forever to fix.  In a way it's ironic that this well-maintained car has had so many little annoying issues while my beater NA has been abused much of its life and yet is almost completely trouble free.

First, a bit of history of the car's issues and triumphs in my ownership.  This was written a couple years ago.  Skip to the next post if you want to get to the current stuff!

--

Hi.  I have issues.

Although I've had this car for more than a year now, it's been mostly a garage queen.  I had plans for 2007 to be a development year for the Turbo, but it had other machinations.  Notably two sets of clunking front struts and a pierced fuel tank (who knows why it was drilled into and subsequently JB-Welded). 

Luckily, disaster was averted as the pilot light from the water heater (just a couple feet from the car) did not ignite the fuel vapors trapped in the garage as the puddle formed that night. The fuel tank was an easy (if expensive) fix, once I worked up the courage/stupidity to drive the car to the shop at work with a slowly dripping tank.  A local premium junkyard had a couple MR2s in stock and a used tank was quickly picked up.

Right away after buying the car I noticed if often got stuck in nanny boost mode (6psi), which is painfully slow.  Fears of endless diagnosing danced in my head.  Even though the plug wires were only 6 years old, 3SGTE experts recommended a full ignition tuneup.  I figured I'd start with the easy stuff.


With a new cap, rotor, and plugs as well, the problem was solved.  Apparently all the serious 3SGTE racers perform this appeasement offering to the gods of boost annually.  Yikes.

When I bought it something felt off in the suspension, too.  A bit wandery, and it darted under braking.  While inspecting it in anticipation of an autocross I discovered the front camber was actively changing over bumps.  With the help of a tech at work we narrowed it down to the strut inserts having play between the shaft and body.  Quite rare for Konis.  So, new Koni Sports were ordered and installed.  Those lasted about a thousand miles before they started doing the same thing.  Not wanting to deal with this a third time, I am now in the process of having another pair of front strut housings altered to fit Koni 8611s (double adjustable race dampers).  They should be done in the next few weeks.

That brings us into '08.   I'm finally on the way to making a winner out of this car.  I recently picked up a used Addco front sway bar as the existing Suspension Techniques bar, with its heavily milled center section, has provided insufficient front roll stiffness heretofore.  The Addco bar, combined with the additional adjustments in the new struts should eliminate the sloppy handling and make it more stable like the teal MR2 (which uses a full-strength ST bar).

I've also just recently put together a new catback exhaust. The old one had a big leak at the flange downstream of the last cat, and looked awful to boot.  Summit delivered a 2.5" mandrel bend and a Gibson tip (yeah, I want it to be pretty, too ;)).  A local mom-n-pop (well, just pop really) welded a flange to one end and a mounting tab on the other.  Grand total parts and labor about $100.  Half of that was the tip. :o


[Click for larger.] 

The missing side trim piece below the bumper will be remedied soon, too. 

It's a slip-on tip so I can adjust its length to some degree, and the height of the exhaust as well due to the mounting solution used.  As of now it needs to be lowered and lengthened a bit (just enough to stop it from spitting soot-water on the bumper).

It's kinda loud. :D  Even with a turbo and two cats acting as mufflers.  During this dyno run it set off a car alarm.  A first for me... such a hooligan I've become...

Of course after fitting the new exhaust I've removed the trailer hitch to save weight.  However I'll be keeping it since none are produced anymore and I may need a small trailer in the future.

So how did it do on the dyno?



These Dynapack dynos supposedly read low, certainly compared to the standard DynoJet.  My car compared well with other stock(ish) 3SGTEs on hand at the MR2 Dyno Day in San Jose.  The engine is rated by Toyota at 200hp and 200ft-lbs.  Rough guess I'm making 195hp at the flywheel and 210 ft-lbs.

And now the lights... what trouble I've had with the lights!  Early on I lost a headlight and a turn signal bulb.  Clear bulbs behind clear lenses are goofy anyway – amber bulbs promptly went in their place.  Later on one of the headlight retractors went postal and would slam the light up and down 3-10 times whenever I'd turn the lights off.  Very entertaining, but not so good for the motor or linkage methinks.  I cleaned the plug that goes into the headlight retractor relay, and no more winking MR2.  We're not done with the lights yet... recently a rock ate one of the foglights for breakfast.  I bent over for a new Toyota light assembly but am stuck at removing the old fog light.  Whoever invented the Philips screw should be beaten.  One is stripped and rusted in place (strange for a CA car).  It's recessed so far back in such a tight space, an extractor won't fit.  This one's a puzzler.  Once I get it out, two products are on the agenda.  OneTwo.

That's all.  Only a few imperfections. :lol:  Who would've thunk a pristine-looking car with so many brand new parts (engine, tranny, turbo, etc) could be so much trouble!  I hope it's worth it.

Future plans, after the suspension proves its mettle, are an acceptable stereo system and possible replacement of the front end body parts (dependant on funds and finding out if the EPA still allows paint of this quality to be shot in CA).

Oh yeah, and I should probably do something about the ABS unit's fluid leak.

--
Later on in 2008...
--
Last week was spent prepping the car for the El Toro ProSolo.  Installed that Addco front sway bar. Upside down at first. I rock. :)  During this time I discovered a slightly loose endlink, which must have been what was clunking all this time.  In order to be completely legal for Stock class I had to install that bumper trim piece, as well as the center console storage bin between the seats (which gets in the way of my camera mount). 

With the new sway bar, I thought I'd try a different rear alignment.  Ended up with:

--Front--
Camber: -3.1 / -2.9
Caster: -2.7 / -2.7 (not adjustable)
Toe: -1/16" / -1/16"

--Rear--
Camber: -1.4 / -1.6
Toe: 0 / 0

The gearbox also received four new quarts of Redline MT90 since it needed some smoothing out. 

It performed OK, but not great, and now I have a reference point to improve upon. Soon as I can afford to I'm going to order a set of fat new Hoosier A6 tires (225/275) and see if I can stuff them on the car.  If that works, I will surely pick up cornering speed, and a bit of acceleration too due to the short diameter of the 275s.  Remains to be seen whether squeezing a 275/35/15 onto a 15x7" wheel will actually be any better than a 225/45/15. Depends on how much the contact patch gets deformed.

During the event a vacuum hose popped off some vacuum diaphragm (idle control it appears), it doesn't fit very tight so I'll have to work with that. PCV hose also needs to be replaced since it let a bit of muck on the valve cover.

I've just realized I don't think I've ever inspected the air filter on this car...

--
A month later...
--



Hi again. I'm fast now.

As noted in The Paddock, Tubby Turbo just chalked up its first national-level win in my ownership.  :)  Progress has been slow but I'm now starting to see the car improve. It's taken a big step since El Toro last month.  [I wish I had it working this well at that event... I would have killed. :D]

The double adjustable Konis made it on the car after an 8 hour struggle (I so suck at mechanic work). 




On the softest settings they're a bit firmer and harsher over most bumps, but still very livable, and I think it's actually smoother on the nicer freeways.  However, the big bad clunk is still there. :x  So it's not the struts, and it isn't the endlinks.  *scratches head*

Along with the new front struts I had the front 225/45/15 Hoosiers mounted on 15x6 wheels and 275/35/15s put on 15x7s.  Goofy looking, yet somehow cool. :) 



There was plenty of space inside the fenders for the 275s.  In fact I am going to look for a higher offset rear wheel (I can run + or - 6.35mm offset compared to the stock wheel in my class) to tuck the rear tires in a bit more.  Right now I've essentially made my car an inch and a half wider at the rear, which isn't good for snaking between cones. 

The front tires are a bit of a squeeze under the nose.  There's very little room.  I had to take out 0.8 degrees negative camber on each side to keep the 225s from rubbing the strut body.  And if I have too little camber, as is happening now with my slipping camber bolts, the outside of the tire can hit the fender lip. 




With these fairly major changes in setup, I was hoping to get a bit of seat time at a local event before the SFR Divisional last weekend.  However, I forgot to pack my front wheel spacers and couldn't run.  So going into the big Divisional event I had no clue how my car would behave.  I took the advice of my strut guy for a starting point on the double adjustables, made a wild guess on tire pressures, and went for it.  On cold tires right away the car was handling better than it ever had. :up:  Finally, it could transition with poise, and didn't threaten to swap ends under trail-braking.  Grip was excellent.

The MR2's performance and new tire setup seem to be making some waves in the autox community.  I believe I am the first to try putting the 275s in the back on a stock-class MR2.  For once I got off my butt and actually accomplished something nobody thought could be done. :)

The 275s launch extremely well, too.  I'm really looking forward to the next ProSolo.  Might I see my first sub-2-second 60ft time?  Fingers crossed.

Somehow the bigger tires still fit fine inside the car. :)



Some great action shots by Russ:


Notice in the first picture how the 275s seem to flatten out when under load, with the sidewall straight down instead of bulging out. 

First priority now is to fix the slipping front camber.  The old bolts are stuck in there (somehow) and need to come out to make way for fresh bolts.  That should fix the problem, as my NA MR2 uses the same camber setup and hasn't had any issues.

I still need an okay stereo in this thing.  Done right it'll net a few lbs in weight savings too (there's an amp under the seat I don't need).

--
A few months later...
--


Oops. I did it again.

Time for an update.  Last weekend the MR2 Turbo won Round 3 of the California Divisional Autocross Series with its continuing development showing steady progress.

I pretty much didn't touch the car since the first round of the series back in April.  Hot weather doesn't make me want to spend any time in the garage.  Leading up to Round 3, however, some things needed to be done.  In an effort to eliminate the front suspension clunks I decided to replace both upper strut mounts. Turns out both of them were in sad shape, so this was a good idea.  It still didn't fix my clunking though.  My latest theory is the undersized front sway bar bushings are allowing the bar to impact the chassis over slight bumps, causing the clunk that I can feel through the wheel and pedals.  Not sure where I could have custom bushings made though. 

This was a good opportunity to replace the old camber bolts with new ones.  When it all went back together I was able to get -2.5 to -2.7 degrees negative camber which is pretty good.  Until it slipped.  First run on the new bolts and the passenger side camber slipped.  It was almost funny holding the steering wheel sideways going down the straights. :) 

The next morning at the event a real mechanic offered to help sort it out and we spent some time discovering the source of the problem. It wasn't the bolts backing out or loosening up, it was the knuckle slipping between the strut brackets.  The knuckle had some rust on it, we cleaned that off and put little indentations into the inside faces of the strut housing brackets to give the knuckle something to grab onto (in Stock class you can modify the strut but not the knuckle).  Lo and behold, the camber held throughout the rest of the day and I came from behind to snatch the class win from 2005-2007 BS National Champion Jason Isley. :cool:

At this point I'm entertaining the idea of buying a trailer for the car. After my experience last year wearing out the wheel bearings on my NA MR2 driving it all over the western states I don't want to repeat that on the Turbo MR2 before Nationals. I think it's got a good shot at the championship in BS, especially if it rains.  I have a side yard large enough to store a trailer, so no extra cost there, and my parents have a truck I can use. 

Tire wear on the 225/275 combo is pretty even so far.  But rapid.  I think it's more a function of the weight of the car than anything else.

--
Mid-2009:
--

Even though I rarely drive it, I still like this car a lot. The feel and travel of all three pedals is perfect. Spoils me for other cars, it does. I've also become addicted to turbo noises over my shoulder.

About the only thing I've done with the car lately is some work on the front air dam. You might notice from the photos in this thread it's sagging a bit and has a bit of a V shape. It's supposed to be straight. There are two metal supports that run lengthwise behind the air dam -- one above the attachment point and one in the middle. Took them out, they were bent up pretty good. I straightened them (they're quite flexible) and went to work putting them back in. Which was a giant pain in the rear. The bottom of the bumper cover and the air dam had the saggy shape in their structural memory, making it difficult to force them straight to get the metal supports back in without re-bending those supports...

Anyway it's better now, but still a bit droopy.

http://www.ikonique.com/Pro_eltoro/slides/IMG_1338.html

In other news, I really need to find a better gear oil for this transmission. Redline MT90 isn't working so well for it. I've used that in my other MR2s with great results. Either my Turbo's transaxle is screwed up, or it needs a different viscosity.

BryanH

#1
Anyhoo.  Current stuff.

To make a long story longer, the alternator died during a weekend in Oregon in 2009.  Not wanting to spend a few days there waiting for the right part to come in and having nowhere to work on it, I found an alternator from a Camry that looked close enough.  It barely fit, the pulley was wrong, it was 10 amps short of what I needed, and the plug was different, requiring a wiring harness adapter to be made on-site.  Fortunately I was with a group of MR2 enthusiasts that weekend so the more mechanically minded guys there helped me out big time getting the alternator in the car.  Drove it all the way home with the ABS light on, no speedometer, and no IC fan.  Seemed like a random group of things to stop working.

Got it home, parked it in the garage, and it hasn't moved since.  The battery was fried (don't know how it made it all the way home just fine and then refused to start the next morning, or even take a charge).  Over time one of the rear tires went flat and now won't hold any air. 

Anyway I finally got a real Toyota alternator to put in.  So it's time to get this car back on the road. 

Bought a new battery. This small car takes a pretty big battery. But Toyota put it in the perfect spot to add weight. Too bad I couldn't get a deep cycle Optima battery or something (stock class rules) because there's a slow drain with this car.

Earthquake woke me up early this morning (surprised no news on it today). Went out to the garage to work on the car before it got too hot.

Took the completely flat street tire off the car and looked for a race tire with some air pressure still in it. Still don't have a tire pump that works. Found a Hoosier with 20psi which will work for rolling the car around. Will have to make a trip to a gas station with a bunch of tires in the car.

Also this one Hoosier has developed little cracks along the outer shoulder while in storage. It wasn't that way when I took it off the car last year. Wonder if the rubber will crumble or tear off if I race on it again.

So, some questions now.  I plan to try to start the car tomorrow.  Here's my current plan of attack.

1. Pour a bit of oil in the valve cover to get some lubrication at the top of the engine.
2. Remove EFI fuse.
3. Disconnect ignition somehow (what's the best way? will it arc if I pull the wire off the coil/ignitor?)
4. Crank it over for 5-10 seconds to build some oil pressure.
5. Return fuel and ignition to operating status
6. Start, run for a few minutes to warm up (with fingers crossed!)
7. Change oil and filter
8. Profit???

Anything I should do differently?


I plan to get the car started so I can drive it out of the garage to wash it thoroughly, then put it back in the garage to work on it while it's clean.  Don't want to scratch the paint leaning over the car while it's got a year's worth of dust on it.

Never done an alternator before.  Is there anything more to it other than disconnecting the battery, bolting up the new alternator, and tensioning the belt?  I don't have a way to measure that tension so I'll try finger-testing the current state of it and duplicating that with the new alternator.

BryanH

#2
The other issue I will need to deal with once it runs again is the exhaust.  The tab welded to the end of the exhaust broke off, and took a chunk of the pipe with it so there's a big hole there.  Will have to replace that pipe.  Also somehow the studs that hold the pre-cat to the downpipe have a shoulder that's too long, preventing the two pipes from joining together to form a seal.  At least that's what I've been told.  Not sure how this happened as it's all Toyota parts in there, or how to fix it.  If the nuts are capped and can't be screwed down all the way then maybe the solution is some washers, or open ended nuts.  I should know more tomorrow. I'm pretty sure removing the downpipe is required to access the alternator.

The car has always felt like it spooled up really slow and was sluggish off-boost.  I wonder if this is why.  It's hard to know for sure since I seem to be the only person left in the western states with a truly stock 3SGTE and don't have any other cars to compare with.

BigMike

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
and a pierced fuel tank (who knows why it was drilled into and subsequently JB-Welded).
NICE geeez what people will do to mask a problem

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Luckily, disaster was averted as the pilot light from the water heater (just a couple feet from the car) did not ignite the fuel vapors trapped in the garage as the puddle formed that night.
I had a similar experience in the garage of our old house. I can't remember if it was from a car or from the lawn mower, but when I got home on a hot summer day and opened the door, I got a huge wiff of gasoline fumes -- and our water heater pilot stays on all the time. I went from calm & relaxed to panic mode in 7.3 milliseconds.

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
The fuel tank was an easy (if expensive) fix
Expensive? You know you have friends who could have helped ya out ;)

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
if often got stuck in nanny boost mode (6psi), which is painfully slow.  Fears of endless diagnosing danced in my head.  Even though the plug wires were only 6 years old, 3SGTE experts recommended a full ignition tuneup.  I figured I’d start with the easy stuff.
So this is an actual limp mode of the ECU then? Is the waste gate variable or does it have a secondary emergency waste gate for this reason? The waste gate is vacuum controlled, right?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
When I bought it something felt off in the suspension, too.  A bit wandery, and it darted under braking.
This is because no MK2 handles like the dream MK1!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
I recently picked up a used Addco front sway bar as the existing Suspension Techniques bar, with its heavily milled center section, has provided insufficient front roll stiffness heretofore.  The Addco bar, combined with the additional adjustments in the new struts should eliminate the sloppy handling and make it more stable like the teal MR2 (which uses a full-strength ST bar).
Did you ever consider swapping bars with the NA car?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Summit delivered a 2.5” mandrel bend and a Gibson tip (yeah, I want it to be pretty, too ;))
Could you post the Summit catalog link to the tip please :)

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
The missing side trim piece below the bumper will be remedied soon, too.
::)

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
So how did it do on the dyno?

Those areas where you lost & regained power is due to ignition trouble. Please explain the different colored lines. Is the engine for the most part 100% stock still?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
And now the lights… what trouble I’ve had with the lights!  Early on I lost a headlight and a turn signal bulb.  Clear bulbs behind clear lenses are goofy anyway – amber bulbs promptly went in their place.
At this point I would have just said the hell with it and sold the car

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Later on one of the headlight retractors went postal and would slam the light up and down 3-10 times whenever I’d turn the lights off.
HEADLIGHT WENT POSTAL!!!! LOL :lol:

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Whoever invented the Philips screw should be beaten.
HAHAHH man you are bringing out the funnah!!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
In order to be completely legal for Stock class I had to install ... the center console storage bin between the seats
GOOD GREIF!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
I'm going to order a set of fat new Hoosier A6 tires (225/275) and see if I can stuff them on the car....
Man that is a great tire combo you've got. It looks really great in that action shot

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
I've just realized I don't think I've ever inspected the air filter on this car...
Have you done this yet?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Last weekend the MR2 Turbo won Round 3 of the California Divisional Autocross Series with its continuing development showing steady progress.
That's awesome man! Who was driving? :P

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
Lo and behold, the camber held throughout the rest of the day and I came from behind to snatch the class win from 2005-2007 BS National Champion Jason Isley. :cool:
Congrats!! :D That is awesome!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
I've also become addicted to turbo noises over my shoulder.
Admit it, nothing beats the sound of a whining SUPERCHARGER!!!!!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
About the only thing I've done with the car lately is some work on the front air dam. You might notice from the photos in this thread it's sagging a bit and has a bit of a V shape. It's supposed to be straight....Anyway it's better now, but still a bit droopy.
Honestly just sell the car to me so you won't have to worry about it anymore!

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM
In other news, I really need to find a better gear oil for this transmission. Redline MT90 isn't working so well for it. I've used that in my other MR2s with great results. Either my Turbo's transaxle is screwed up, or it needs a different viscosity.
Hmmmmm interesting. What is the status with this?
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BigMike

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PMI think it's more a function of the weight of the car than anything else.
What does the car weigh?
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BigMike

#5
Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
Drove it all the way home with the ABS light on, no speedometer, and no IC fan.  Seemed like a random group of things to stop working.
Does the IC fan push or pull through it?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
Toyota put it in the perfect spot to add weight.
I know I saw it when I was over there, but I forgot. Is it in the front trunk area?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
there's a slow drain with this car.
It's not hard to trouble shoot which circuit is causing the drain, and once isolated, you can trouble shoot individual components until the drain disappears (using a multimeter).

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
Earthquake woke me up early this morning (surprised no news on it today).
You must have been taking crazy pills

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
1. Pour a bit of oil in the valve cover to get some lubrication at the top of the engine.
2. Remove EFI fuse.
3. Disconnect ignition somehow (what's the best way? will it arc if I pull the wire off the coil/ignitor?)
4. Crank it over for 5-10 seconds to build some oil pressure.
5. Return fuel and ignition to operating status
6. Start, run for a few minutes to warm up (with fingers crossed!)
7. Change oil and filter
8. Profit???[/b]
Step 2 takes care of both the ignition and the fuel. You're plan looks pretty solid to me. How long has it been since it was last moved more than a couple miles? Did you put any fuel preservative in the tank?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
I plan to get the car started so I can drive it out of the garage to wash it thoroughly
Definitely the highest priority LOL Once Bryan always Bryan :D Bill and I have a lot to learn from you and your clean cars man! Props for that! :)

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:48:37 PM
Never done an alternator before.  Is there anything more to it other than disconnecting the battery, bolting up the new alternator, and tensioning the belt?  I don't have a way to measure that tension so I'll try finger-testing the current state of it and duplicating that with the new alternator.
You've got it. Disconnect the negative terminal, R&R the alt., tension the belt until you can't twist the belt by your fingers more than a 1/4 twist. Check the tension in the longest section of belt (the greatest distance between pulleys). It may take a couple of experiences to get this right on the first shot, so what I'd recommend you try it tension the belt until it "feels good", and then fire it up. If the belt doesn't slip when you turn your head lights on, then it's good. You may find in rainy weather it may slip a bit, also the belt will initially stretch just a tad, so plan on double checking the belt tension after driving the car for a couple of days. Is the tension controlled by an adjustable pulley or by rotating the alternator? The later is harder to perform minute adjustments.

BigMike
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BigMike

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:54:52 PM
somehow the studs that hold the pre-cat to the downpipe have a shoulder that's too long, preventing the two pipes from joining together to form a seal.  At least that's what I've been told.  Not sure how this happened as it's all Toyota parts in there
So is there an exhaust leak? Are you continually replacing exhaust o-ring gaskets?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:54:52 PMthe solution is some washers
If the shoulders are too long, then that is what I would do.

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:54:52 PMI'm pretty sure removing the downpipe is required to access the alternator.
Did you have to do that in Oregon?

Quote from: BryanH on August 16, 2010, 02:54:52 PMThe car has always felt like it spooled up really slow and was sluggish off-boost.  I wonder if this is why.  It's hard to know for sure since I seem to be the only person left in the western states with a truly stock 3SGTE and don't have any other cars to compare with.
"Truely stock" <--- You have answered one of my previous questions above.

There has to be a lot of stock dyno graphs you can compare yours to, right? Your graph shows boost coming in at about 3,200 RPM. Do you have a boost gauge installed? Remember it could be caused by a whole slew of conditions: temperature of the engine, moisture in the air, quality of your fuel, back pressure in your exhaust, plugged cat, cracked turbo, cracked turbo manifold, low engine compression, burnt or sticking exhaust valves, misfire and other ignition issues, etcetera. This is the CT26 Turbo, yes? Is it a ball bearing Turbo? Twin Entry?

BigMike
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BryanH

Haha Mike you're funny (lookin'!). ;)

Gotta go to bed now, no time for a proper response.  I dunno how the alternator is tensioned.  I dunno how to use a multimeter thingymabob.  I dunno lots of things. :p

QuoteHow long has it been since it was last moved more than a couple miles? Did you put any fuel preservative in the tank?

The car hasn't moved an inch since May 2009.  I didn't put any fuel stabilizer in because I didn't think the car would sit for this long.  It has 1/3rd of a tank of fuel currently.

BigMike

I'd advise draining that and adding some fresh fuel before you try to start it. Or you could add a lot of fresh fuel but it will run crappy for that entire tank full.
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R135
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

Sirdeuce

If the car has been in the garage, and the fuel evap is properly sealed, the problems of sitting for an extended period are really quite diminised from earlier times. The more volatile components don't have as much of a chance to bleed off to the atmosphere. Additives are mixed in to reduce the evaporation of the lighter solvents in the fuel. A year in the garage is nowhere as bad as a year in the sun. I've run my cars on gas that has sat for three years withb no problems, garaged and sealed, gas didn't even smell old.  There will be some deposits in the system from sitting, but throw in a bottle of GOOD fuel injection cleaner and fill with good gas. Shell and Chevron have a decent 'detergent' in their fuel mixes. I like the "Techron' for a cleaner. If you are still a little paranoid about sitting soo long thow in a bottle of Berrymans B12 chemtool. The Berrymans is mostly alcohol, methanol I believe, and will help pass the accumulated water and give more volitile compounds to aid in the combustion process. You can use the chemtool with the 'Techron', the mix won't do any harm. Total volumn between the two is a little over a pint, maybe a pint and a half. Not much in a full tank of gas. Final note, dump a pint of alcohol in the tank at least once a year to help with the removal of condesation removal. Mid winter would be a good time to do this as most fuels have ethanol added in the warmer months
"I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on wakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning."

Sirdeuce

For the transaxle, you might consider a turbine oil additive. I don't recall what I used, but it was an HP(high pressue) additive. Don't need much, maybe 8 to 10 ounces in an E series trans. I used this stuff in my Celica's transmission and differential. used a pint between the two. Won't affect the viscosity of you oil, but it does reduce friction and heat. Only failures I ever saw were due to my abusing the hell out of the machinery. Broke a gear selector shaft, and destroyed a diff(dumped the clutch at 7,000 rpm). I've also heard of folks using a molybdenum additive, just haven't tried myself.
"I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on wakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning."

BryanH

It's aliiiive! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8WYGVnKehY
Video of the startup (after initial procedure mentioned above) and a bit of idling.  Took a bit of time to sputter to life but then it seemed to run ok from my very untrained ear.  No big bad noises at least.  The ticking I hear is probably the injectors if I'm not mistaken - always loud on Toyotas.

Drove it down the driveway onto the lawn for washing.  Hey, no brakes!  Awesome!  The brakes on this car are my favorite ever - super firm pedal, really direct feel.  I really want that back.  Looks like I neglected to keep tabs on the fluid level and the slow ABS unit leak got away from me.




Brake fluid can matches my car.  :D

Anyone have time/knowledge/equipment to help me bleed the brakes this week?  I'm trying to get the car ready for an autocross on Sunday.  I have a little bit of the right brake fluid, not a ton, so unless you can mix ATE SuperBlue with regular BG DOT3 fluid maybe I can't... unless there's a local source for ATE stuff.  I've always ordered it from the internets.

I took a look at my malfunctioning headlight retractor relay.  Hmm, is this a sign of bad stuffs happening inside, or is the plastic decayed/cracked due to age?  I think it might be the former - the relay in my NA still looks like new.




As for replacing the alternator, is it sufficient to disconnect only the negative battery terminal or do I have to disconnect both?  The positive terminal is kindof a pain.  Further, if I disconnect only the negative terminal would that suffice to save the battery from whatever is slowly draining it while parked?  I went ahead and did that for now.





After cleaning up the car, the power steering went out while driving it back into the garage.  Ruh-roh.  This didn't happen during the drive down from Oregon on this wrong alternator.  Well I guess I wouldn't have been able to tell until I got to a stop, but I think I would have remembered that.  Hopefully it'll work with the right alternator.  Going to attempt it tomorrow morning.  Got too hot today again. 

Mike, you got it, the battery is in the frunk behind the spare.  Perfect spot for it. 


Yeah it's a cheap battery.  Cheaper ones are lighter. ;)

Lunch time.  More later!

BryanH

How much brake fluid does it take to thoroughly bleed an MR2 with ABS?  I have at least a quarter of a liter of ATE Super Blue.  No idea if that's enough.  I can't even find the info in the BGB.

Sirdeuce

Cheaper batteries are lighter.............  on the wallet! I have a retractor relay #85964-20012. Same shape, connector, pins, might work for you. Interested? I'll give it to Mike Tomorrow. Should be the same internally.
"I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on wakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning."

BryanH

I don't know, if the part # is different it has to be for a reason... I'll have to check the p/n on my NA car, because I know that relay works in the Turbo.