Long over-due build thread!!
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Long over-due build thread!!
We'll first off let me introduce myself, I'm Rick and I'm the mechanic and engine builder at Sitech racing. I first got my rev 1 mr2 turbo about 2 and a half years ago. I bought it off two friends who I helped build their 450 bhp mr2 track car for only £800. Here it is when I bought it
It was a non-runner and due to the state the engine bay was in (unfortunately I didn't take any pics) was going to be expensive to repair, hence the price. But after a new roter arm and dizzy cap it fired first time, result
So having had a little drive and enjoying it very much, I decided to turn my attention to the engine bay. Every inch of the engine was covered in rusty old coolant stained which had come from "coolant" which I suspect was just water corroding the metal pipes on the underside of the car then spraying out at some point. So I decided to remove the engine and carry out a clean and a few upgrades in the process...
REBUILD 1
So from standard I removed the engine and stripped it sending the block to my machine shop for cleaning, decking, re-honing, acl race bearings, skimmed head, re-ground crank and polished crank and cams. I rebuilt the engine myself with new water and oil pumps and rebuilt the head lapping in all valves to gain as good a starting point as possible.
I then removed the fuel tank and replaced the standard fuel pump with a Walbro 255. Then replaced the corroded metal coolant pipes above the tank with Dunlop 40mm hard wall pipe. Refitted the tank then replaced all hand brake cables and reconditioned all calipers with seal kits as needed. I fitted a phoenix power inter cooler and painted the heat shields, hard pipes and turbo cover and had the inlet manifold and standard cross brace powder coated and bought and fitted front and rear cusco strut braces. Also polished the rocker cover.
I then purchased a fidanza flywheel and excedy fast road clutch and fitted them along with the gearbox, the shocks were all corroded so I found a set of cusco racing coil-overs I imported from Japan and fitted them. And bought a blitz nur spec r.
It turns out the ecu I had on the car when I bought it was a mines ecu so I fitted an apexi avcr and upped the boost to 1 bar and had it dynoed at 266 fhp, not bad for a few mods
Still not enough though so six month later...
REBUILD 2
I decided my tatty old seats were no good so purchased some better condition ones and some gauges and the like for the interior to try and tidy it up
I also removed the air on this time around fitted new front fogs as they were broken and fitted a link g3ecu, my own custom air intake, ct20b turbo instead of the ct26 and a bored out rev 1 rail with 550cc rev 3 injectors, raised the boost to 1.1 bar which had me sitting at 288 I think at the fly
I also bought these rays wheels I liked from my friends track car when I found a set for sale
So after another few months and looking for more power lol...
Rebuild 3
This time I fitted a garret gt2861rs turbo and 850cc injectors and manual boost controller removing the avcr as I found it unreliable at holding steady boost, A few tweeks on the dyno and I made 334 fhp, I also fitted a cusco oil catch can as the engine was beginning to breathe quite heavily under the increased boost.
So this is where I currently am, having done nothing to the external look of my car except wheels which I have now taken off for painting the car looks like this
And here are the painted wheels which came back last week
And I've now purchased heat mat for the engine bay while the engine is out, carbon fibre phoenix power engine lid, border front bumper, vented wings, spoiler and the car is getting vinyl wrapped. I also have the new EMS EM70 ecu to fit and a wire tuck to do, side exit exhaust, hks cams and time permitting a bigger experimental turbo to fit with screamer pipe so I'll update as I get on with REBUILD 4
It was a non-runner and due to the state the engine bay was in (unfortunately I didn't take any pics) was going to be expensive to repair, hence the price. But after a new roter arm and dizzy cap it fired first time, result
So having had a little drive and enjoying it very much, I decided to turn my attention to the engine bay. Every inch of the engine was covered in rusty old coolant stained which had come from "coolant" which I suspect was just water corroding the metal pipes on the underside of the car then spraying out at some point. So I decided to remove the engine and carry out a clean and a few upgrades in the process...
REBUILD 1
So from standard I removed the engine and stripped it sending the block to my machine shop for cleaning, decking, re-honing, acl race bearings, skimmed head, re-ground crank and polished crank and cams. I rebuilt the engine myself with new water and oil pumps and rebuilt the head lapping in all valves to gain as good a starting point as possible.
I then removed the fuel tank and replaced the standard fuel pump with a Walbro 255. Then replaced the corroded metal coolant pipes above the tank with Dunlop 40mm hard wall pipe. Refitted the tank then replaced all hand brake cables and reconditioned all calipers with seal kits as needed. I fitted a phoenix power inter cooler and painted the heat shields, hard pipes and turbo cover and had the inlet manifold and standard cross brace powder coated and bought and fitted front and rear cusco strut braces. Also polished the rocker cover.
I then purchased a fidanza flywheel and excedy fast road clutch and fitted them along with the gearbox, the shocks were all corroded so I found a set of cusco racing coil-overs I imported from Japan and fitted them. And bought a blitz nur spec r.
It turns out the ecu I had on the car when I bought it was a mines ecu so I fitted an apexi avcr and upped the boost to 1 bar and had it dynoed at 266 fhp, not bad for a few mods
Still not enough though so six month later...
REBUILD 2
I decided my tatty old seats were no good so purchased some better condition ones and some gauges and the like for the interior to try and tidy it up
I also removed the air on this time around fitted new front fogs as they were broken and fitted a link g3ecu, my own custom air intake, ct20b turbo instead of the ct26 and a bored out rev 1 rail with 550cc rev 3 injectors, raised the boost to 1.1 bar which had me sitting at 288 I think at the fly
I also bought these rays wheels I liked from my friends track car when I found a set for sale
So after another few months and looking for more power lol...
Rebuild 3
This time I fitted a garret gt2861rs turbo and 850cc injectors and manual boost controller removing the avcr as I found it unreliable at holding steady boost, A few tweeks on the dyno and I made 334 fhp, I also fitted a cusco oil catch can as the engine was beginning to breathe quite heavily under the increased boost.
So this is where I currently am, having done nothing to the external look of my car except wheels which I have now taken off for painting the car looks like this
And here are the painted wheels which came back last week
And I've now purchased heat mat for the engine bay while the engine is out, carbon fibre phoenix power engine lid, border front bumper, vented wings, spoiler and the car is getting vinyl wrapped. I also have the new EMS EM70 ecu to fit and a wire tuck to do, side exit exhaust, hks cams and time permitting a bigger experimental turbo to fit with screamer pipe so I'll update as I get on with REBUILD 4
Last edited by greasemonkey688 on Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 126
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Update
Got into work early today so took a few pics of the car stripped...
And the wings I need to make fit as mine were dented
And here is the holstet turbo I might fit, which used to be on a military tank
lol
Side exit exhaust to modify to fit
Pictures of my engine which looks rough after a winter in my garage as the roof has been leaking and was damp
Some heat proof mat to line the engine bay
A lot of work to be getting on with lol
And the wings I need to make fit as mine were dented
And here is the holstet turbo I might fit, which used to be on a military tank
lol
Side exit exhaust to modify to fit
Pictures of my engine which looks rough after a winter in my garage as the roof has been leaking and was damp
Some heat proof mat to line the engine bay
A lot of work to be getting on with lol
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- Location: Dunfermline
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- Posts: 126
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:02 am
- Location: Dunfermline
Update
Well today Josef from evolution customs started to vinyl wrap the car
I also stayed back after work to complete the bumper and wing fitting and mock fitted the new front indicators and toblerone replacement repeaters which took ages turns out fibre-glass isn't the best thing to fit lol
After a few hours grinding and stretching they fit quite well so wings and bumper have been removed again to be painted before getting wrapped
I also stayed back after work to complete the bumper and wing fitting and mock fitted the new front indicators and toblerone replacement repeaters which took ages turns out fibre-glass isn't the best thing to fit lol
After a few hours grinding and stretching they fit quite well so wings and bumper have been removed again to be painted before getting wrapped
Last edited by greasemonkey688 on Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 126
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:02 am
- Location: Dunfermline
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- Posts: 126
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:02 am
- Location: Dunfermline
Update
Well progress has been slow this week as we have loads of big power focus Rs builds in but I've managed to remove the old t-bar seals, door handles, mirrors, high level brake light surround and clean everything up
And the new tbar and tbar glass seals arrived today from mr2 Ben, aswell as the doors being wrapped
And the new tbar and tbar glass seals arrived today from mr2 Ben, aswell as the doors being wrapped
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Update
My polished rocker cover is looking pretty rough so I'm getting it painted while I fit the hks cams
Need to remove the baffles and clean off the silicone first though as it will be getting sand blasted
Now to remove the old cams
And fit the new ones
Here are the shim over bucket lifters, I had an idea to fit some shim less ones from a ford sigma engine as they are the same diameter and put the shims underneath them
Sigma shim less buckets
As you can see the coolant and oil pumps are still mint as only really done about 1500 miles since the last build lol
Return I also removed the wiring from the engine bay and started to strip the wiring from the fuse box to make up my own harness for the em70 ecu
Need to remove the baffles and clean off the silicone first though as it will be getting sand blasted
Now to remove the old cams
And fit the new ones
Here are the shim over bucket lifters, I had an idea to fit some shim less ones from a ford sigma engine as they are the same diameter and put the shims underneath them
Sigma shim less buckets
As you can see the coolant and oil pumps are still mint as only really done about 1500 miles since the last build lol
Return I also removed the wiring from the engine bay and started to strip the wiring from the fuse box to make up my own harness for the em70 ecu
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
Need to remove the baffles and clean off the silicone first though as it will be getting sand blasted
Please don't do that - there have been a lot of threads started about having the cam cover sand blasted and then ending in disaster as grains of the medium used to sandblast it get ingested by your motor. I am sure someone will be along to advise you on a different method of doing this but sandblasting = a No No.
Please don't do that - there have been a lot of threads started about having the cam cover sand blasted and then ending in disaster as grains of the medium used to sandblast it get ingested by your motor. I am sure someone will be along to advise you on a different method of doing this but sandblasting = a No No.
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Grit
Cheers for the reply mate. I'm head mechanic at Sitech racing and I've seen the issue you speak of before, the reason it happens is people don't remove the baffle plates that I show removed and the sand blasting grit gets caught behind them, but as I have removed them there won't be any grit left behind, when I get the rocker cover back it will be properly cleaned before reassembly
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
how are you finding wrapping the 2? i like the colour you have picked!
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Re: Grit
greasemonkey688 wrote:Cheers for the reply mate. I'm head mechanic at Sitech racing and I've seen the issue you speak of before, the reason it happens is people don't remove the baffle plates that I show removed and the sand blasting grit gets caught behind them, but as I have removed them there won't be any grit left behind, when I get the rocker cover back it will be properly cleaned before reassembly
Thats a relief - I didn't want to read another thread about a ruined motor because of sandblasting.
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Wrapping
Hey mate, the wrapping hasn't been to bad to be honest Josef has been doing it for me when he is free and everything has been fairly easy so far, but quite a lot of stripping involved! The main issue is going to be the front bumper as it's going to be pretty hard to wrap as there are a lot of contours. It should be getting done next week so I'll have more pics then. I love this colour as we'll, can't wait to see it in the sun as it kinda shines with a cadburies purple lol. I'm going to do the roof between the t-bars and mirrors satin black as we'll I think
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Update
I had a spare few hours on Sunday so took some pics of the rear quarters that have been wrapped and the satin black roof
I also finished relocating the fuse box and relays from the engine compartment to the cubby box behind the passenger seat
Now that the far side of the engine bay is free of clutter I can start cleaning everything in there before heat wrapping the engine bay with aluminium heat mat, plenty room now at the passenger side for my boot mount boost pipe
I also finished relocating the fuse box and relays from the engine compartment to the cubby box behind the passenger seat
Now that the far side of the engine bay is free of clutter I can start cleaning everything in there before heat wrapping the engine bay with aluminium heat mat, plenty room now at the passenger side for my boot mount boost pipe
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
that wrap colour looks great! best idea doing the roof a diff colour as its prob a waste of wrap to do the whole rear section in one piece
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Roof
Cheers man, that's what I thought, plus with the roof being a t-bar most of it is either black seals or glass so keeping it satin should look better when the glasses are out. It was a bit of a try and see moment but I really like it now
Rick
Rick
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
Yeah their defo a car that suits the black roof!
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
Great project update. Keeping an eye on the outcome of this one.
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1994 GT-S T-Bar 397bhp with NOS *sold*
2016 Porsche Cayman 981GTS 347bhp Flat Six
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Rocker cover
My rocker cover came back today here's some pics of the process and the end result
Sanded
Primered
Coloured
Lacquered
The skirts have been wrapped
The vinyl was going to be over stretched in these black bits so we have cut it and are going to add in gold overlay in the final design to cover these sections
Wings wrapped
Sanded
Primered
Coloured
Lacquered
The skirts have been wrapped
The vinyl was going to be over stretched in these black bits so we have cut it and are going to add in gold overlay in the final design to cover these sections
Wings wrapped
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Re: Long over-due build thread!!
what do you think of the wrapping quality overall. I suspect i will get my kitcar wrapped for the first year and just wondered how you felt it looked?
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