Working on MR2's sucks, All finished! Options

[95CelicaST]

Let me preface this entire thread with this:

I love my MR2. It's a total blast to drive, iconic image with a cult following, and on the off-chance that it isn't raining in the pacific north west it is nice to cruise with the tops off.


However, working on anything in the engine bay is a nightmare.

A couple weeks ago I was coming home from work and I noticed a strange sound coming from the engine bay. It was RPM dependent, but went away after ~ 3000 RPM's. It sounded similar to a wheel rubbing on a fender liner, but I wasn't moving. I got out and checked for smoke or leaks and found nothing, so I babied it home (roughly a mile from work). I pulled it into my garage and shut it off.... and immediately found the problem. I had coolant pouring out from the plastic timing belt cover. The noise I was hearing was the bearing in the water pump failing... and then fail completely.


So I ordered up a new water pump, timing belt, accessory belts, pulleys, valve cover and spark plug tube gaskets, etc. as well as new cap, rotor, wires, plugs and a new clutch kit.

This is where the problem is - there is about an inch between the timing cover and the frame. It's virtually impossible to get in there and replace everything. So after researching it seems the popular - and easier method of doing this work is to drop the motor, so I enlisted the help of a friend from school who also owns a MR2 and we tore into it this weekend. The BGB says the motor will come out the top of the car, but I say nay. After scratching our heads we tossed the BGB and dropped the cross member and lowered the motor to the ground, lifted the body up, and slid the motor out on a creeper.


So this week I will be stripping the motor down and cleaning everything up. I've got to drop the flywheel off for resurfacing and drop my injectors off at Witch Hunter to be cleaned and flowcharted. With any luck I'll get it all reinstalled on Friday.

I just moved and don't have internet yet, so I'm tethered to my cellphone.... which is not an effective way to upload photos. Here are a couple pictures. Hopefully I have internet by the end of the week and can post more pictures.

MR2 with my scoob







And in it's prime...



This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 20, 2010 - 10:24 PM

[nics]

I hope you fix it soon!

i like your last pic, where was it shot?

[95CelicaST]

It was a local Toyota Owner's Club cruise to eastern Washington. We were going over the mountain pass. It was on I-90, Keechelus Lake is in the background... It was very very cold. I regretted having the tops off. You can even see that my face is wind chapped in that picture.

[nics]

it looks cool without the top. im digging it!

[Random_Stranger]

You seriously had to drop the motor for all that? Crap... Is yours lowered? Because that's a high lift to do it like that. I was wondering if I would be able to drop mine in my green one without having to take it into our shop, just because they don't want any of our cars there over night. Well glad you were able to get all that stuff and got it out no problem.

[95CelicaST]

Yeah I'm lowered on sportlines. We layed the motor on it's back on the creeper to make it as low as possible, but yeah you have to lift it pretty high. The engine lift we were using is a huge marine class lift, so we had the clearance to run the motor mount bolts back through the frame and hook on there to lift, otherwise the bumper would need to come off to get a good lift point.

Took us about 10 hours to get it out, but we had to make a few trips to town and then scrap the BGB's idea of coming out the top. I'm sure it can be done faster with the help of air tools.

[epocsirhc]

That is exactly why I don't own an mr2. My first car was a Porsche 914 which is also midengine and a pain in the ass to do any real motor work on. You want to adjust the valves in in there isn't a chance in hell your knuckles won't all be bleeding. Have fun finishing it all up and enjoying her for many more miles though!

[95CelicaST]

The only plus side to it is being able to take care of everything all at once. And doing the work yourself is quite daunting, but knowing it is done right and knowing every inch of the motor can give you peace of mind. And with me being anal retentive about dirt this has allowed me the time to clean the bay and engine while replacing old vacuum lines and sanding/refinishing the valve cover and whatever else I get my hands on.


To summarize, I now understand why everyone chalks this work up to a good learning process. If you don't know something, you will when you're done.

[presure2]

its all about the learning curve. once you get used to working in that bay it gets a bit easier.
just a bit.
working on a '2 does kinda suck, but hey, at least its worth it!!
good job!

[Bitter]

while its out, do everything else you want to do....like oh replace that CT26?

[mk7celica]

I think he has a n/a so not ct26 not positive correct me if I am wrong

I will be doing the same this weekend. Changing timing belt,turbo,all seals,water pump ectt. I figure do it all know while its out so I dont have to do it later.

[95CelicaST]

Sorry bitter, she's n/a.

Got some work done today. Replaced the oil pump seal, new pulley, tensioner and spring, thermostat, timing belt, cap, rotor and wires. The water pump was all sorts of messed up. The pulley was bent and when the pump came off you could see where the wheel inside had bored away a little bit of the inner housing. I took a few pictures that I'll post up shortly. Valve cover is off and ready to be cleaned.

Also got my speed source brass shift cable bushings installed on the car.

I took off the exhaust manifold to find the #4 cylinder had a massive leak caused by a warpage in the manifold. I will be sanding it down flat and reinstalling (with a new gasket of course).

I think that's everything from today.

pics:

inner water pump housing. the lighter color is where it has been bored away by the old wheel.


Exhaust manifold warpage.



and where I left it for today.


This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 15, 2010 - 1:56 AM

[njccmd2002]

toss it away, put 3sgte. and moar fun

[95CelicaST]

If I wanted to drive a fast car and get horrible gas mileage I would drive my wrx.

The mr2 is destined to be n/a forever, but that doesn't necessary bind it to only 4 cylinders....

A 3vz or 5vz swap will happen later on, but for right now this 5s only has 100k miles on it.


Perhaps when the time comes the 2grfe swap will be more documented.... drool..... 265whp and stock Toyota reliability.

[presure2]

If I wanted to drive a fast car and get horrible gas mileage I would drive my wrx.

The mr2 is destined to be n/a forever, but that doesn't necessary bind it to only 4 cylinders....

A 3vz or 5vz swap will happen later on, but for right now this 5s only has 100k miles on it.


Perhaps when the time comes the 2grfe swap will be more documented.... drool..... 265whp and stock Toyota reliability.

yea, and ~280whp with an intake and exhaust...YUM!

[95CelicaST]

Then it'll finally sound like a real sports car.

I was behind a NSX on Friday, and their v6 sounds so good!

[nics]

If I wanted to drive a fast car and get horrible gas mileage I would drive my wrx.

The mr2 is destined to be n/a forever, but that doesn't necessary bind it to only 4 cylinders....

A 3vz or 5vz swap will happen later on, but for right now this 5s only has 100k miles on it.


Perhaps when the time comes the 2grfe swap will be more documented.... drool..... 265whp and stock Toyota reliability.

how bad is the gas mileage in the wrx?

2grfe is nice. EPA est 22-30 mpg

[95CelicaST]

Wrx gas mileage depends on your ability to keep your foot out of it, but boost is addictive. I'm averaging 270 to the tank in the wrx. The tank is roughly 14 gallons, so right around 19mpg.

[Bitter]

depending how much aluminum was removed, replace that pump housing.

[95CelicaST]

It was a very very small amount. It wasn't even noticeable to the touch.

[95CelicaST]

Update from yesterday:

I spent over 3 hours prepping the valve cover for paint. 20 years of caked on grime does not like coming off. I sprayed the cover with a high temp silver (three coats). It was looking chrome-like, which I didn't like. I then sprayed on three coats of high temp clear and it took the chrome look away and now it look great. The firewall heat shields did not like the clear too much, so I am going to strip them and redo them.

That's about all I did yesterday. Today I am going to try and level the exhaust manifold and get the valve cover and heatshields reinstalled. I'll try and post a few pictures this evening.

Tomorrow I'll pick the flywheel up as well as new exhaust manifold heatshield bolts. They were so rusted I couldn't get a 12mm on them, so I pounded on a 7/16 socket and used a cheater bar to get them out. Needless to say I will coat the new ones in anti-sieze before installing. Not much will happen after that, as I am going to the Cage the Elephant concert in Seattle. Friday is the day it'll all go back in.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 16, 2010 - 11:20 AM

[samir0189]

Update from yesterday:

I spent over 3 hours prepping the valve cover for paint. 20 years of caked on grime does not like coming off. I sprayed the cover with a high temp silver (three coats). It was looking chrome-like, which I didn't like. I then sprayed on three coats of high temp clear and it took the chrome look away and now it look great. The firewall heat shields did not like the clear too much, so I am going to strip them and redo them.

That's about all I did yesterday. Today I am going to try and level the exhaust manifold and get the valve cover and heatshields reinstalled. I'll try and post a few pictures this evening.

Tomorrow I'll pick the flywheel up as well as new exhaust manifold heatshield bolts. They were so rusted I couldn't get a 12mm on them, so I pounded on a 7/16 socket and used a cheater bar to get them out. Needless to say I will coat the new ones in anti-sieze before installing. Not much will happen after that, as I am going to the Cage the Elephant concert in Seattle. Friday is the day it'll all go back in.

i can relate to that. gasoline seems to remove the crud from 20 years of baked and caked on dirt.

[95CelicaST]

Yeah I scrapped the simple green and busted out the Carb cleaner. Ate right through most of it. Then I sanded a bit, and spend a while getting the crap out in the grooves on the valve cover.

BTW - sanding stones work wonders on valve covers.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 16, 2010 - 11:54 AM

[Johnnyny]

it may sux to work on but im sure it makes that up in the driving

[block]

yeah i hated working on my mr2 turbo when i had it. that's why i sold it lol. best part was driving it

[spolski07]

i love this thread because your updates aren't:

"i took my rim off today, more updates tomorrow!!!!!11!!11"

keep the full posts coming!

[95CelicaST]

Not much of an update today, as most stuff is pretty much done as we wind down the week and edge closer to reinstallation.

Got my flywheel back all nice and pretty. Set that aside for Friday morning when we put it all back together with the new clutch kit.

Valve cover paint cured so I got that reinstalled with a new gasket and spark plug tube gaskets. Gapped my new plugs and threw those in with some dielectric grease.

Exhaust manifold - I torched it and then chipped away residue of what looked like RTV. Someone's homebrew exhaust gasket? Once I got all of that crap off I lightly sanded and reinstalled with a new gasket. I made sure to put anti-seize on all of the bolts so that they come off easier next time. HOPEFULLY this will mean no more monster exhaust leak.

Here are a couple pictures. It was dark, and the light in my garage doesn't do well when it comes to photography lighting.




heatshield above is still curing around the edges, so it looks ugly in the picture above.

I also got the firewall heatshields repainted and reinstalled. Of course no pictures of that, because you'll see them later once I'm finished.


Next up for tomorrow - New bolts for the exhaust heatshield (It's only sitting on the manifold in the picture) with plenty of anti-seize. Then she's pretty much done until reinstallation.

[mak5603]

nice and clean. Good work getting all that done while the motor was out, real smart.

[njccmd2002]

like the valve cover, maybe someday the intake in a RED, that engine looks clean.

[95CelicaST]

Don't know if I would do a red intake. I have tons of paint left, so I might paint an intake silver to match.

Got some Allen head bolts for the heatshield from work - I suppose there is an upside to working in a machine shop.

I also need to put on the alternator belt. The old one was chewed up. The A/C belt goes on once its in the car, as the A/C pump is presently hanging on zipties in the engine bay. I thought about deleting it, because when its nice out I will take the tops off, not turn on air conditioning, but I am going to leave it on for right now.

No update for tonight. Going to see Cage the Elephant, but I'll be on it early tomorrow morning. There is a local Toyota cruise to the ocean that I would like to drive to on Saturday.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 17, 2010 - 4:52 PM

[Bitter]

if you take a straight edge to the manifold and run it on a table belt sander you can usually get them pretty true enough to seal.

[95CelicaST]

After sanding I checked it with a straight edge and it was something like a .10 variance, which is within the specs the BGB gives (+-.14 I think). It wasn't as bad as it initially looked after scraping off the crusty rtv residue.

[95CelicaST]

Update for today:

We started thinking about putting the motor in, but it wasn't going to happen until we got our hands on some orange drank, so we drove into town and got some Sunkist.

Had to go chasing a belt from the local auto parts stores. The alternator belt I got was too long, so we went and just got one about 7/8" shorter than what the computer said.

Got the transmission mounted up and the motor dropped in. Basically everything is done, short of the crossmember, exhaust, and axles. So we're back at it in the morning. Going to try and have it all done in the afternoon.


Pics:




And Mike likes his beer.

[Bitter]

thankfully your engine and car are clean and rust free...sometime next week I have to strip one down to the fuel tank to replace the pressure line because its almost rusted through. the brace on the bulkhead to the frame in the left rear corner of the engine bay (drivers side) is rusted through!

[95CelicaST]

ooookay. Today's update - worst. day. ever.


So we wake up around 10:00 (went to bed at 3am) and went outside to find that SURPRISE! The Pacific North West has decided to end the dry weather and start a downpour.

No worries. I'm a seasoned PNW Blue Tarp Camper. I did what I do best in these situations - cover what I'm doing with a mammoth sized tarp.



Started the day with installing the crossmember and rear motor mount. Easy as pie. Then came the exhaust.... and we realized we needed another exhaust gasket for the b-pipe to the muffler. I already had a belt I needed to take back because it was too big, so we load up into the WRX and head to town. We get back and continue working. Exhaust gets bolted up fine and while my friend was taking care of undercarriage misc things I went to clamp the heater hoses.... where I ran into another problem. We only had one hose clamp. We searched the garage and found nothing... soooooo back to town we go.. to get one clamp.


Get back, continue on. We popped the axles out of the hubs and re-greased the splines. Axles were installed, and then the knuckle was fitted up along with my Twos R Us solid rear endlinks. It was then that we ran into the problem that ended up stopping us for the night.
I threw a rotor on the rear passenger side and started lining up the caliper when I noticed some odd wear. One side of the outer pad was gone. When I popped the pads out I noticed that the piston was turned 90 degrees and the pad never sat down in the piston properly. So new pads were in order. The only problem is the auto parts stores in the area didn't have them. We ended up driving about 30 miles to a store that had them. We got those back and this is where I ran into another problem. Last night in my friend's attempt to check the gas pedal after attaching the throttle cable he hit the brakes, which blew the pistons out. Now I need a tool to reach down there and twist the piston back into place, which is where I ended up stopping because it was getting dark.

No real pictures, because nothing eventful happened. I'll be back on it in the morning.

[Bitter]

honestly if you have more than 90k miles I'd just consider replacing the rear calipers with reman ones. those integral parking brake mechanisms tend to get stiff and seizy after a while.

[nocashrider]

We popped the axles out of the hubs and re-greased the splines. Axles were installed, and then the knuckle was fitted up along with my Twos R Us solid rear endlinks. It was then that we ran into the problem that ended up stopping us for the night.

you make it sound like that was something easy...... it only took 2 hours.....

Now I need a tool to reach down there and twist the piston back into place, which is where I ended up stopping because it was getting dark.

i gave you a "tool" you just quit at half-time

[95CelicaST]

how did you get out of the kitchen?

[nocashrider]

how did you get out of the kitchen?

know how i know your gay?

your not outside screwing the pistons in before i show up

[95CelicaST]

Live update: the mr2 is on its wheels. I need to roll it from under my blue tarp tent and into the garage to do the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid, then we're off on a test drive!

[95CelicaST]

All done! Please excuse the dirt all over the car





Transmission is filled, oil is topped off, and coolant has been bled. First turnover to prime the motor resulted in a puddle of gas on the floor from a fuel line that didn't get attached at the filter. I popped the line back on and tightened up both top and bottom bolts for the filter and tried again... and it wasn't starting. Started screwing around with the starter when I stopped and realized I never plugged in the starter relay in the trunk. Plugged that in and success! Starts up perfectly. Timing is dead on and zero leaks. So I went out on a shakedown run around the block (out in the middle of the country = BIG blocks) and it was incredible!

[Random_Stranger]

Ay! What rims are those?! I am really digging that top picture! Glad you got it all squared away! So all in all, would you say it was well enough taking the motor out for such a vehicle? Or was it a nightmare you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy?

Oh Hey! I found something I think you might like along with our other MR2 brothers. I also have found something for our Celica brothers too.


(Don't mean to threadjack, just thought it was worth mentioning)

MR2 People (Colors available for actual shirt: Light Gray, Charcoal, Black, Navy Blue and Font can be any color of choice!)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOTA-MR2-...=item414e0ede17

For my Celica people
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-TOYOTA-CELICA-CAR-...=item6fc26f482f

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Jun 20, 2010 - 11:01 PM

[95CelicaST]

Rims are SSR Integral A2. They're around 15lbs per wheel. Super lightweight.


It was actually pretty straightforward. I mean, people make this crap out to be a nightmare, and some aspects of it were. Mike (nocashrider) and I spent a good while working on axles - getting them out of the transmission, getting them out of the hubs, and then getting them back together, but overall if you have the tools to do it and a knowledgeable friend to help I think it is an invaluable learning experience... an experience that costs a lot of money. I don't even want to know how much I have spend thus far on this whole thing, but I would venture a guess in the $700-$800 range.

And pretty sure I am going to order one of those shirts tomorrow after I get paid.




MR2 is going in for an alignment tomorrow, and then everything should be squared away.

[Random_Stranger]

Yeah I just ordered mine. I also talked to them and they said they sale flags as well. Oh, and they have Polos too.

[zachattack15]

Good job on the work.

Here is what it looks like when I pull mr2 motors. Takes me less than 2 hours to get it down like this.