Project Overtime

It's mostly rambling, hell even I don't remember half of whats in this thread, lol... I have an ECU from an SW20 MR2, which is the same model that this engine came out of so ACIS control is in the bag . At this stage I intend to retain the stock ECU, maybe later down the track I'll upgrade.

I'm using the Gen 3 head (bigger cams, shim-under-bucket FTW etc), but no I don't believe the Gen 3 inlet will fit on a Gen 1 head: http://www.st162.net/forum/showthre...uy-or-not-to-buy&p=65530&viewfull=1#post65530

 

He probably does, but he's a service mechanic for Toyota not a specialty gearbox guru so it's probably outside his usual scope of work. And this damn thing is costing me enough already, lol...

 

$2k? Ouch.... How much of it are you replacing?

 

You were right Mr Stig, gearbox re-con is going to be uber-pricey Got a call from my gearbox guy today, will be well over $1000 just in Toyota parts, plus another $200+delivery for the munted side gear for the LSD...... Shit it's gonna be a nice gearbox by the time it's finished though......

I was hoping to get going again on the engine work soon, but unfortunately the cost of the gearbox exercise is going to put the whole build back another couple of months

 

Small update - I delivered my 3rd-gen engine block, cylinder head and crankshaft to the machinist today with a shopping list of work to do, I've ordered the pistons to suit, a set of ARP head studs and main bearing studs arrived in the mail earlier this week, as did the replacement side gear for the LSD (no word yet on when my gearbox will be ready though :banghead )... still much to do, but things are slowly coming together..

 

Kevin! How are you mate? Thought you'd dropped off the face of the earth for a while there.

Lol, I hope anyone following this is patient, its at least 12 months away from being finished...

 

I've got a couple of weeks off work so hoping to get some stuff done. I think the fuel pump on this thing is dead though, I started it a couple of weeks ago and it only ran for a few minutes then died and wouldn't re-start, and today I tried to get it going again and it will only run for a few seconds at a time. I did the bridging the terminals on the diagnostic port trick and couldn't hear any pump noises so I'm pretty sure it's farked. Luckily I have a Walbro to replace the stock pump, I was hoping not to have to put it in yet, but oh well... probably should do the fuel filter at the same time..

Not much else to report, the block and head are still at the machinist, they've been chemically cleaned but the pistons haven't arrived yet and machine shop can't proceed without them. Have also just ordered a new set of OEM valves which should be here in the next day or two, and am waiting for valve springs to come in from the US (which haven't actually been made yet, tech nerds should stay tuned ). Will chase up the gearbox guy this week as well.

Also bought a set of side skirts which some of you may recognise , and I'm going to swap my black interior in.

So all in all not much to say but watch this space for actual updates soon.

 

Started on my grey-to-black interior conversion today, got about three-quarters finished then ran out of light. Everybody loves pics, right? So:

Out with the old!



and in with the ..... slightly less old! lol...



After a good vacuum it came up pretty clean inside:



Having all the trims off and viewing things from jaunty angles, I discovered some more of the old red devil in the back of the car. I mean rust, not Julia Gillard! (that's some Aussie political humour right there for you overseas folks, lol...). The seams on the underside of the boot channel both have it. Wire wheel + rust converter = win. I'll figure out a more permanent fix later on.





One of the more interesting bits of flotsam found while pulling the car apart was this mysterious box hiding behind the ECU:



....which turned out to be a sealed lead acid battery. The wires weren't connected to anything so I have no idea what it was for, part of an old alarm system perhaps?



Also found this under the carpet on the passenger side - the coat hook for the the grab handle! I was strangely excited by this find, JDM as f**k or what?? lol...

 

Exciting new shiny things arrived this week:

Courtesy of Special Piston Services in Dandenong, Victoria:



(yeah yeah there are three more, I wasn't going to unpack them all just for a photo )

I had Real Street Perfomance in the US lined up to supply a set of CP slugs in the compression ratio that I wanted (since, of course, you can't buy off-the-shelf aftermarket pistons in 10.3:1 can you :banghead ) which were a bit cheaper, but I bailed on them at the last minute because I had to supply all the measurements to them and if I stuffed them up then I'd be left with a rather expensive set of paperweights that I couldn't return. So I paid a little extra for the piece of mind that comes with mailing a local company one of the factory pistons and saying "I want this in 0.5mm oversize"

Another recent arrival:



Nothing special about these, they're just aftermarket OEM-replacement valves. I've never heard of the brand (Dokuro) before, but they're Japanese-made, according to their website the company has been making valves since 1949, and I got them from Road & Track in Queensland who are possibly the best authority on 3S engines in Australia, so if that's what they recommend then they're good enough for me.

Out of interest I've been weighing all of the components I've bought and comparing them to the factory bits. So far the pistons are 50g lighter apiece, the conrods a whopping 170g apiece lighter, and the valves a not-inconsiderable 2g lighter each.

Just waiting now for my valve springs to come in (read: waiting for them to be manufactured) and I'll have all the pieces to the engine puzzle Stay tuned....

 

Lol, good question, I've been meaning to call the guy who's got it for a couple of weeks. I've got the new side gear for the diff, so I'll see of he's got the rest of the bits in. Last time I spoke to him he was still trying to find out what model of box it was so he could order the right parts.

 

Thanks Oompa, I've seen that page before but all I could determine from it was that mine definitely didn't come from an ST205. My initial assumption was that it came from an ST185 because the guy I bought it off said was a GT4 box and the 185 was the only GT4 that was officially imported here in any decent number and so the easiest to come by, but after a little more research I'm pretty sure I was wrong in guessing that because the starter on an ST185 sits on the opposite side of the bellhousing:

Here's mine:



...and here's a 185 box:



Everything I've read since says that the internals of the AWD box are different and FWD LSD's won't fit and therefore mine couldn't possibly have come from a GT4 of any description, so you're right on that one too So the guessing game continues, but like I said I'll call the guy again this week and see what he says...