The Rebirth

[BigMike]

And lastly, here is the final intercooler mount. So the intercooler has 3 out of 4 mounting points used, and it's quite rigid. I don't think there will be any problem getting this past the referee.

This is just some simple metric threaded rod that I welded to the frame down below. It provides height adjustment for the intercooler.

I also spent some time trouble shooting my fuel gauge. I tore the inst. cluster apart again and replaced the fuel gauge with the one from my red car, and no dice. So it must be the sending unit in the tank. I'll have to get that fixed soon.

I also hooked up the Supercharger boost indicator lamp but for some reason it is not working. I need to look at the wiring diagram again to see what the difference is between this ECU and the AE92 ECU; Toyota changed something.

BigMike

[Sirdeuce]

Want me to bring the sending unit from this spare tank I have? Is there space to mount a fan under that intercooler?

[BigMike]

Bill,

That's okay, I need to save the fuel pump from the donor car anyway, so I gotta drop its tank regardless.

What are you doing this Sunday? I need to get rid of my donor car. I was thinking that instead of trailing it up to your house and all around the world, would you be interested in coming down to the shop on Sunday and you can take whatever your heart so desires from the car?

I was thinking I could invite Kevin to come over as well to get any needed parts for the LeMons car.

As for getting air to the IC, yes, there is plenty of room for a fan there. My original idea was to duct a nice under-car air scoop direct to the IC but the heaters hoses, shift linkage, clutch lines, fuel filter, and charcoal canister are right in the way and I think this will be difficult.

For the hood, I've decided to use my 1987 NA hood. It is steel which means I can easily modify it: cut, weld, etcetera. Also, it will bolt right to the body; the SC hood latch is in the wrong spot so I'd have to relocate my hood latch to accommodate.

I understand what Toyota was thinking by forcing the engine bay air through the IC via the 1 vent in the fiberglass SC hood, but it gets so damn hot in there I don't like the idea. I know I can ceramic coat the exhaust and such, but the engine will always be producing waste heat energy.

So right now I am thinking about leaving the small vent on the passengers side of my NA hood to vent hot air, and then cut out a square the same size as the IC and put some sort of louvering or something above the IC. I'll attach a fan to the bottom of the IC to help at lower speeds, and I'm thinking that since I have TWO side intake vents on the car (remember I have one installed on the drivers side), maybe my engine compartment temps could be kept low?

[Sirdeuce]

You could put a divider to isolate the IC from the engine heat. Oh yeah, you have the vent on the driver side. Use that vent as an exhaust.  I have some material you might be interested in for the divider.

[BigMike]

You could put a divider to isolate the IC from the engine heat.

Hmmm a divider is a really great idea!

Oh yeah, you have the vent on the driver side. Use that vent as an exhaust.  I have some material you might be interested in for the divider.

It's gonna remain as an intake

June 4th Update

Today I got my A/C system charged and it works!! I dropped the car off at Marlin & Tony's Automotive and they said that after they converted it to R134a and charged it, it didn't work for about 5 or 10 mins, so they just let it idle and blow and then suddenly it began getting cold. They told me that the expansion valve was most likely stuck and then it freed itself. SWEET. So now the car has AIR CONDITIONING!!! The A/C in this car has not worked since 1999!!!!! 11 years ago! DANG!

And I was feeling so great about the car, everything was going great, got the battery and IC mounted, and it seemed to be 100% ready for the referee this Monday.

And then the car began loosing power. I first noticed it last night driving home from Denny's. The car didn't want to rev over about 4,000 RPM. It sometimes would and sometimes wouldn't. It was a complete loss of power, felt like the rev limiter, but at 3,750 RPM less.

So I figured it had to be the fuel filter, who knows how old it was and there was probably some gunk in the tank. And when I removed the lower line from the fuel filter, a TON of orange nasty dirty and crap came hauling out of the filter. So with the line removed, I hot wired the fuel pump (EXTREMELY easy to do with a MK1 MR2) and there was hardly any flow at all. It was just sort of dribbling out of the fuel line.

So now it looks like the pump is junk, and I know there is junk in the tank, and also the fuel sender isn't working, so I just decided to swap tanks.

1st pic - Here is the donor car back on the rack.

2nd pic - the SC tank removed

[BigMike]

Next I threw my car up on the rack and yanked the tank

Check out the sweet nest Bevin's family of squirrels built atop my gas tank. There was an insignia that they scratched with their little cute nails that they made four liters of babies there. Ahhhh I thought that was so nice, thanks for all the critters Bevin :)

[BigMike]

I R&R'd the gas tank in like 30 mins, I was like Speedy Gonzales in there, it was a sa-weet job, easy to do.

Then I decided to pull out the sending unit to see why it stopped working,

and,

ummmmmm


hmmmmmmmm


it seems that just a lil bit of moisture got in there, what do you guys think? It should still be working, right?

[BigMike]

HOLY CRAP the ENTIRE tank is lined with RUST, it is HORRIBLE. And I've already put about 100 miles on the engine, GOOD THING FOR FUEL FILTERS!! DANG!

So after that was all done, I got some gas and went out for a drive. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it runs so nice. This car is a complete delight to drive. The power band is as smooth as glass and the engine doesn't care what gear it's in.

Also, I am really starting to get my feel for the car back in my blood. Since I've been driving it, I was still really nervous (it has been sitting for 6 yrs!). The wheel bearing noise didn't help the situation lol But I was thinking, man, is this really what I want to be daily driving? I seriously asked myself that a couple of times. Something didn't feel just at home yet. I was thinking about how rough and stripped down the car was and how I used to enjoy that so much. That complete lack of refinement. How in the world did I live with that and would I be able to enjoy the car again like I did before?

But after getting all these little bugs ironed out and now that the car is running so great I am really beginning to settle in and fall in love with her again. I am so happy I got this car running again, words cannot express the joy and pride I have for this car right now.

Also, the car feels so bloody quick (quick, not fast) I wonder how did I drive the car around at 16+ PSI boost with stupid water injection... and completely smog illegal? As it is already just at 8 PSI, I feel the car is completely unusable in the city. Anything I do with my right foot basically is a $300 speeding ticket.

So tomorrow I am going to take it out of the city to calm my nerves. Bill, I am thinking about running up to your place after church. Will you be home around 1-2 pm? I gotta be in Madera by 4pm so I can't stay too long, I just want to get out on the open road and just make sure the car is reliable, even in the hills. The tires I am using aren't that bad... the front-right is the worst but I think it's okay. I should get new tires next week and finally get them balanced!

So next week I could have a fully registered and licensed Supercharged MR2 with new & balanced tires. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

G'night
Mike

Check it out: My fuel gauge works!!

[BigMike]

You know, another thing is very strange about this car. Even with these crappy tires, when I make a corner and try to turn in sharper and sharper, I can't get the tires to squeal. Even this morning getting on the freeway at Fowler and HWY180, I was doing 45 or 50 in 3rd gear around a 180-degree on-ramp and I didn't get any complaints from the tires.

It's really weird, the more steering input I provide, the more the car responds by turning sharper and sharper.

Hahahaha LOL!!

I'm telling you what, the difference between the MR2's suspension and both the Infiniti and the Saturn's suspension, isn't even night and day, it is like, I don't know, it's unreal. The Saturn even has new tires and it squeeeeeels like crazy around that on-ramp at about 40 MPH and the Infiniti begins to push at 30-35 MPH.

Hopefully by now you guys can understand how far removed and dislocated I have become from a car like this. This has been looooooooooooooong over due for me and I am very grateful to Bevin for allowing me to store the car at his place so that I can enjoy it fully today.

Now it's time to attack some hills!

Mike

[BigMike]

June 6th Updates

I'll keep this short.

Today my goals were to clean out all the mouse poo from the climate system and replace the Diagnostics connector that somehow got ripped off from the engine harness from the previous owner.

1st pic: Here is the blower fan sitting next to a crap load of crap

2nd pic: I remember storing the car with the climate control set to the recirculate position. But since I got the car running, the system was stuck in that recirculate position for some reason. When I switched for outside air vent, nothing would happen, no sound, nothing. So when I tore everything apart, this is what I found. CRAZY MICE!

3rd pic: The air vent for the recirculate feature has a nice plastic grill to keep little critters out. Well, look what those greedy little guys did! Om nom nom nom nom nom nom

4th pic: The passengers side all toe up. I removed most of the ducting and washed it out with water. Surprisingly there wasn't much poo in there, but it was urine residue left in the pipes, most likely from some chicks the mice brought over to my car and they got drunk and hammered and had to pee like a race mice.

5th pic: The wires all repaired. I hit the switch and TA-DA! The vent now works :D

6th pic: Bill was nice enough to remove the rear brake light assemblies from the donor car which I quickly swapped onto mine. It's difficult to really tell from the picture, but my lenses were cracking and fading and the donor car's were in far greater condition.

[BigMike]

Then I tackled the last remaining item on the list before I can take the car in to the referee: The diagnostics connector.

1st pic: How it looked then

2nd pic: How it looks now. Jus' look at that professional job!

3rd pic: Lunch with Bill & Kevin was both a blast as well as delicious

[BigMike]

So now the car is 100% ready, I drove it out to Madera Rachos Sabbath afternoon & it cruises effortlessly, and the A/C blows super cold and smells completely fresh :-)

16 hours from now I will know if I pass or fail, stay tuned!

BigMike

[Blane525]

Holly crap batman thought you where going to have them test smog first! but then again it wont be ness. cause it runs so fine...  ;D need to concentrateon a doner car now! the more that i look at that fix it again tony sideways looks very interesting :-\  good luck hope that they all have the runs and let it slide!

[BigMike]

Yeah, I just ran out of time on the pre-smog idea.

Just get your MGB going!!! Even if you throw in some 150 HP engine just to get it running, it would be a blast! Slap the Mog-da engine in there!! WORD!

[Sirdeuce]

Don't even need a 150HP mill. A little 80 pony pepper grinder will do. just get it on the road. drive it now, mod it later.