The Rebirth

[BigMike]

Oct 1, 2014 (continued):

Lastly, I pulled my old JDM pulley off my SC14 (it is 5mm smaller than it's USDM counterpart) and machined it down on our lathe. Then when I realized I couldn't get a nice belt groove cut with the tools we have, I had our CNC shop do the finishing work to it. Here is the result.

It's interesting because everyone says the USDM pulley is 125mm. This is wrong. Here I am measuring it. Sure, the total outer diameter is 125mm, but this is not where the belt rides. I haven't measured the depth to the belt grove ribs, but if it is 2.5mm, then the USDM pulley is really 120mm OD and the JDM is possibly 115mm OD. This was sad news because I've built a spreadsheet of pulley and RPM ratios as based on the incorrect 125mm OD. So now my theoretical boost gains are going to be a bit less than I was hoping for.

Nevertheless we were able to get the JDM pulley turned down to about 110mm without going into the wall surrounding the magnet .... aka it's possible we could have gone another mm or two, but only going down to the 109.80mm ensures that no strength was lost in the process. My original rough measurements showed we could do 106mm but it wasn't to be. What I REALLY would like to do is find the part number that this Japanese guy has blocked out on his page here, which I believe is a stock Toyota 106mm pulley without any modification and compatible with the AE92/AE101 4A-GZE magnet parts.

In the end the size difference from 125mm OD to 109.8mm belt groove OD is massive. I'm hoping boost will go from my current stock ~9.5 to 12 PSI.

Lastly, I got my C60 speed hybrid bolted back up to my engine!

Regards,
BigMike

[BigMike]

Oct 5, 2014: Replaced two CV Boots

I'm glad I pulled the engine instead of simply installing a new HG and here is another reason why. When I bought these axles used from the wrecking yard back on page 15, reply 213, I installed them as-is and after about 6 months both axles began throwing axle grease all over the place. So I finally got some new boots and got this taken care of.

The boots were pretty expensive, $14 each my cost. Remanufactured axle shafts go for $45 each my cost. So should I pay $30 for new boots + time to install, or another $15 for nicer, cleaner, freshly rebuilt shafts? I took the easy + expensive road and sought to buy the reman shafts and it turns out they are discontinued. Fortunately however, I only had 2 bad boots, both on the transaxle end of each shaft. So the finally price was just under $30 and I am okay with that. Finally no more grease everywhere.

The seal dust shields are both a bit beaten up from living in the wrecking yard but I decided to leave em alone. They seem okay enough for me

[BigMike]

Oct 6, 2014: Replaced stock rear suspension bushings

Ohhhh man this is something I've wanted to do for YEARS and only now am getting around to it. I've owned this 1987 MR2 since Jan 31, 1999, and with all the autocrossing and mountain road driving I've done over the years I've never replaced the stock bushings that now have 297k miles on them. So as you can imagine with almost 15 years of anticipation, this was a real special treat.

Not a whole lot to say. I bought them from Tows R Us: http://twosrus.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_62&products_id=71 I got the entire kit minus the steering rack and sway bar bushings which I've replaced in the past. I don't remember the price, but I think it was around $80 to do everything else, both front & back. For now I am only replacing the rear bushings. It was an extremely simple job. It took me about 20 mins to do the first side and then about 5 mins to do the other. Once you figure out what you need to do it is so easy it's stupid.

Good bye old stock Toyota bushings of nearly 300,000 miles! Thank you for all that you've done for my car and all the places you've taken me to

[BigMike]

Oct 7, 2014: Few remaining things...

The machine shop over-clamped my S/C pulley during machining and damaged the bearing, so I had to both pick up a new bearing and hone out the pulley to relieve pressure on the bearing. It sucked but it's okay, gonna have more boost and a larger smile

Got new o-rings installed in my leaky distributor and decided to get a new cap & rotor at the same time. My old parts were okay but I figured why not.

Lastly, I addressed my leaking shift shaft seal. This is a C56 FWD transaxle center section that Bill helped me convert to RWD for use in a MR2, but we didn't get the straightest hole drilled and as you can see from the first pic, the seal wasn't concentric with the shift shaft. So I cut up some bits of aluminum from a soda can to offset a new seal and then gooped it up again. Now when you apply sideways pressure on the shaft the seal retains its contact which I'm hoping will entirely resolve this uber annoying leak all down the side of my transaxle (that sprayed everything else down from it and generally made a huge mess under there).

Finally, the engine getting a few more nights rest before D-Day!!

[BigMike]

Oct 8, 2014: Strengthened front engine mount, installed wide band O2 sensor

I've already had the rear bolt of my front engine mount pull out back in the early 2000s and I've always been leery of it breaking again, so I had one of our fabricators slap on some scrap metal we had to get it much more reliable.

And I drilled a hole in my TRD downpipe and got the bung welded in for my new Innovate Motorsports 3844 MTX-L wide band kit. Yes I'm finally stepping up and building things like I should have been doing all these years!!

[BigMike]

Oct 10, 2014: Installed modified JDM SC pulley and got the engine in!

Last on the list was to get my good ol' trusty JDM pulley back onto a native SC12 unit.  Almost fourteen years ago I modified this pulley to fit to a SC14 -- where it has lived ever since -- but I haven't decided if I should slap in my SC14 yet so for now I'm keeping with the SC12. Fortunately the modifications required to fit on the SC14 did not render it incompatible with the SC12 See this page for more info on when I did this.

Here are the parts I extracted from my SC14. I made these adapters when I was 20 yrs old! Whew has it really been that long ago...

Finally my 109.8mm pulley installed! If you scroll back up you'll see I left the front fascia on the pulley hoping to be able to run the stock 4-bolt dust cover. But because the pulley was machined down so much, the wall thickness would be too thin and I was worried about it flying off so I cut about 80% of it down leaving just a slight lip to keep dirt out. Looking at the very small stock Toyota version, it doesn't have a dust cover either and neither does my A/C clutch. So I figure this should be okay...

Also you might notice I've also grabbed the S/C tensioner pulley from my Stage 2 & 2.5 engine (it's merely a timing belt tensioner). This isn't needed "at the moment" but I have plans to run my old aluminum 165mm crank pulley so I figured I'd slap this on ahead of time. I am planning on turning my 165mm crank pulley down to 155 so it can clear the stock timing pointer/indicator as to still be smoggable. Of course my intake & TRD header are smog illegal, which I plan on changing every 2 yrs to pass smog, but the current thought is to not have to also be messing around with the crank pulley on/off/on/off... and to just fit one that doesn't interfere with stock parts.

[BigMike]

Oct 10, 2014: (continued)

Engine going back in!

Some new things I've never done before (and I've R&R'd a good number of MR2 engines since 1999) are I detached the side vent temp sensor and bracket, alternator, and S/C clutch pulley harness and moved them away from the sides of the engine. It made it a LOT easier to install the engine without having to worry about the smaller things getting snagged.

Additional items I should have removed are the distributor cap & rotor (but leave dissy in since timing was already set) and the TRD header which is a one-piece under-the-engine unit as apposed to the stock manifold which is a removable two piece design. It was a pain in the butt trying to position the engine on pieces of wood to clear the legs of the cherry picker that had to run under the engine ... while being required to not contact or apply weight to the header. But I've had a hard time installing the TRD header in the car in the past -- that dumb EGR pipe not aligning -- but this was a simple task so long as you loosen the EGR at the intake manifold. I probably never did this when I was a wee lad

[BigMike]

Oct 10, 2014: (continued)

One thing I've ALWAYS disliked are the stock oil cooler lines. They are a pain in the butt for the following reasons: 1) They have large heat and debris shields that greatly limit their flexibility, and 2) any oil leakage and/or dirt is collected and becomes a huge mess, my hands are always covered on dark, dark grime from these dumb lines. So I FINALLY got rid of them and did a nice job routing new standard oil cooler lines carefully positioning them up and away from danger with plenty of flexibility for engine movement.

The fourth picture shows how tucked up the lower line is. I mounted it to the A/C bracket using the double hose + zip tie technique I use on my Rock Crawler. A second mount was done at the oil cooler itself (visible in the 2nd pic). I think it turned out really nice but I don't like these crappy, standard hose clamps and plan to replace them with heavier duty parts soon.

Finally, as I was installing my MK2 5S-FE axles, my passenger's side wasn't going in. It turns out that the red caps I inserted to keep water out during the trans cleaning pushed the spring off the seal. I must have spent a solid 30 mins trying to fish and finagle it before giving up the pulling out the seal. I know it's not good to R&R a seal like this but I had no choice. Pulled the seal out as gingerly as possible, put the spring back in place, and pushed the seal back in. I suspect it will start leaking. Time will tell.

Final shot of where the exhaust is at. So far everything is going well!

[BigMike]

Oct 10, 2014: Few small things

Just a few small things... Noticed that my Intercooler thread-all has been rubbing into my intake pipe, so I insulated it with a rubber hose, and the wires at me ECU were a mess so I spent some time cleaning it up.

Also when I removed the engine there were a few circuits I've added over the last 4 yrs that didn't have any plugs / were non-detachable, so I inserted a few factory Toyota 1-wire plugs in a few spots to make it more user-friendly.

[BigMike]

Oct 12, 2014: Built Exhaust and Drove my Baby Home!

Today was a good day.

Got everything up top done and fired up the engine with the open header and after getting the timing dialed in MAN she sounds GREAT! Nice and smooth idle, snappy throttle response, ohhh man oh man how much I've missed being without this car these past two months!

With the engine running, it was time to build the exhaust. I was originally only going to trace it out and then have our fabricator finish it, but it came out so nice on my own I just decided to do the welding and get it all done!! I'm not the best welder by any stretch of the imagination but enjoy the pride & reward that comes from doing it yourself so here we go:

I ordered these parts from the same place I got my intake pipes from, http://siliconeintakes.com. Stainless steel standard wall thickness 2.5" exhaust from the TRD header back. The TRD Header only has a 2.125" ID and I'm jumping up to a 2.5" ID, so my original plan was to run 2.25" pipe through a gutted cat and then into a 2.5" U-bend. But after messing around with the gutted cat for a while it just wasn't worth the effort and I decided to go 2.5" straight-away. Why such large pipe and opened up exhaust ports? Keep reading...

As for the gutted cat... Why this? Well, I am SICK AND TIRED of having to replace Cats every 4 years just to pass smog. SCREW THEM. They keep making it harder and harder to smog these older cars WHEN will they just give us a break for once. The last time I smogged my car it cost around $200 for a new cat. So, I figured I would run an old, junk cat when I'm not at the smog shop so I can protect and preserve my $200 investment of a new cat. But then, of course, this TRD header is not smog legal so why am I even bothering as I'll be replacing it all for smog checks anyway. ARRRRRRRRG so aggravating. From all the "illegal" things I've done my fuel mileage is up 18.5% (32 MPG vs 27). So I am polluting LESS with my illegal parts. And then look at my 1981 Hilux. I had to jump through ENDLESS hurdles to replace a 35 year old carbureted engine with an OBD-II EFI engine that makes 62% better fuel mileage (21 MPG vs. 13) AND pay them a boat load of money for my effort to CLEAN the air??? The C.A.R.B. program can honestly suck my balls. If they REALLY cared about POLLUTION then they wouldn't need a visual inspection if it burns clean. For these reasons I am done with this crap.

Sorry, where was I

Got a 2.5" stainless straight pipe welded to a 2.5" stainless 2-bolt flange and began seeing where the U-bend will be located...

[BigMike]

Oct 12, 2014: Built Exhaust and Drove my Baby Home! (continued)

...and here is the secret weapon: Air impact-operated pipe expander! This tool is a real jewel and I could not have finished this job by myself without it.

So check out this muffler. I got this muffle from Amazon for $49, complete no-name brand: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007O0WPL6/

I have long desired to have the nice sound of a Nissan 350Z or VW VR6 Jetta but alas I don't have a V6.
I have long desired to have the nice sound of a Subaru Boxxer but alas I don't have an apposed 4cyl.

So by now you should understand why I got this muffler. I am looking for that nice, beautiful, subtle/gentle popping/reverb sound and I'm thinking this muffler should do the trick by reintroducing frequencies back into the same muffling chamber thereby canceling out matching tones.

On to some pics... Check out how nice that tool is. I was able to position the parts precisely where I wanted them, tac weld them in place, drop the exhaust, and then finish weld on the ground. I inserted cardboard around the muffler to dictate spacing. I didn't blow out a single weld as the expansion allowed for double-walled and tight fitting joints. I wish I had this tool when I built the exhaust for my truck!!

Also built the two hangers using some scrap round bar stock we had laying around. This was a good experience and I had a lot of fun!

[Sirdeuce]

I don't see a Cadillac converter.

[BigMike]

Oct 12, 2014: Built Exhaust and Drove my Baby Home! (continued)

Now for something really cool!!

This is my solution to A) too large of exhaust ports and B) too large exhaust system: Fully variable exhaust back pressure system!!

[BigMike]

I don't see a Cadillac converter.

Read my lil rant above. Just got tired of playing games with the state of California. Any MPG I can gain during my 14k mile annual usage goes a very long ways with today's gas prices. They need to understand that some car designs, like the MR2's stock intake tract, can be vastly improved against their regulations. I still have my entire stock exhaust (and intake) system and can install them with simple hand tools in my home driveway

Check out this video of the difference this exhaust valve makes:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZWGuzSxoIc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZWGuzSxoIc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

If your viewing this with any sort of speaker bass then you will notice the different right away.

The goal here is to have a car with great top end AND great bottom end, and the fact that the exhaust will be mostly closed during constant speed freeway cruising, I'm hoping it will be quieter than the stock exhaust and have great driveability.

I travel a combined 5 hrs every weekend in this car so having good performance and fuel mileage without an ear bleeding drone would be a great accomplishment!


EDIT: I finally uploaded the video to a new YouTube account!

[BigMike]

Oct 12, 2014: Built Exhaust and Drove my Baby Home! (concluded)

Lastly, I ran into a problem. Because the muffler has offset inputs and outputs I needed to make a double-bend to reach the exhaust tip, one down and also out the back, that I had not considered, and I only purchased a 90-degree single bend pipe. So I ended up lowering the exhaust system by putting spacers between the hanger mounts and the frame and then notched the body where the exhaust pipe exists. Look at the pictures and you'll see what I'm talking about. I didn't "really" want the exhaust to sit this low, as I'm not trying to attract attention here, but In the end I thought it turned out GREAT!

I didn't take (and still haven't taken) any pictures from the back with the car on the ground, so I'll try to do this sooner rather than later.

And that was it!! DROVE MY BABY HOME!! Beings it has a new clutch, amongst other things, I really babied it and had a smooth uneventful drive all the way home. MAN it felt great having my car back 

That's it for now, still have much more to come!