[Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

V6? V8? TDI? Discussion and technical advice for engine transplants inc. 5SFE & 5SGTE builds. Not for N/A to Turbo, or Rev1/2 to 3+ conversions.
Project and build threads welcome.

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lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Thanks all. I've heard it might be brake related from a few places now. Thats a bummer as I thought I'd sorted all that wiring and wouldn't know where to start with it. Anyway, I'll VAGCom it and see for sure.

Thanks for the supportive messages, I'm ignoring the smoke for now, the engine is so accessible I'll sort that when everything else is done.

I'm fairly confident its something not to catastophic as the car with this engine in work just fine less than a year ago. I think its cam/pump timing related (I changed the belt), so hopefully properly timing it up might cure it.
gnzyza
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Location: Gloucester

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by gnzyza »

Agreed smoking is likely pump timing related, you will need that on vagcom to get it adjusted right....keep going :thumleft:
mister two
Posts: 211
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Location: Glasgow

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by mister two »

Not been on here long and when I saw "tdi" in the engine swap forum description I didn't think anyone would actually go diesel lol

Fair play for doing so in your case and awesome workmanship
2mad
Posts: 5983
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Location: uk

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

Probably the biggest project on imoc at this time .. hope he does it :thumleft:
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Thanks for your kind comments folks :)



I've made a bit of progress recently, I had a good day on it today.

The air box is in with a new filter:
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And connected up via the MAF sensor. That's the Toyota air box and VAG MAF sensor.
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And this morning I got round to joining the VAG gear linkage cables with the MR2 gear linkage cables.
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It's all covered and sealed now too. I few teething problems with plastic melting as I welded :) but nothing too difficult to sort. Its by no means perfect, the Toyota gear stick was designed for only three rows of gears (with reverse being behind 5th), and now it has 4 rows (with revers being to the left of 1st gear). The travel of the cables is perfect, it's just takes a little practice to get the one you want (reverse, 1st, 3rd or 5th). I'll be fitting a quiet buzzer to warn when you've selected reverse. I'm pretty happy with it. I think it would be a dis-proportionate amount of work to make it a really slick gear change.

This meant I could drive the car around the driveway for the first time. It was running for about 3 hours, so I was able to test it a bit. Even so it only reached around 78 deg C. B***dy efficient diesels, I wasn't able to see if the cooling fan worked.

Here's a vid :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9Hp4XzfU8

I have found quite a few problems already though :(

There a clutch travel problem, well a lack of clutch travel. I thought I was getting away with it, push the pedal to the bottom and push it into reverse and there was no noise. But after a while it began to drag a little and grind into reverse gear. I'll try bleeding it again, but I might have to look into an alternative diameter master (Toyota) or slave (VW). I hope there is something that will fit.

Next, when I really loaded up the alternator, lights, fan, heated rear window, I think the belt area began to smoke, I'm not certain as there was a breeze, but I need to look into this a little further.

Mice have eaten part of the boot seal so I'll need to get another.

And there is a clunk when moving off in a different direction (forwards to reverse or vice versa), I think the third engine mount need looking at. As I was leaving I noticed that the exhaust flexi joint coming from the turbo elbow did not look "relaxed" as it did when I first made and fitted it, it seemed to be at a funny angle (not haha funny either!) So I think I might need to re-make or add too the third engine mount.

These fairly major issues put a bit of a downer on things this afternoon, having thought it was pretty much ready for MOT in the morning.

Oh well.

More to come
2mad
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Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

It moves under its on steam already .. well done mate .. very impressive :D
synXero
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Joined: Fri May 28, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: London, Edinburgh, or the Highlands!

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by synXero »

I just think it's incredible you've made it work O.O well done mate! Keep on plugging away at it.
griffo20022
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue May 05, 2015 12:07 am
Location: Wolverhampton, UK

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by griffo20022 »

I'd have never imagined an MR2 diesel let alone a VAG engined MR2 diesels! That's some real out the box thinking well done for getting it to work and I look forward to seeing it progress! :thumleft:
2mad
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Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

lozzzzzz your awesome bud ... finish this project :thumleft:
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Thanks Folks :) :) :) :)


I've had a couple of evenings on the car this week, and although a lot of it was spent looking and thinking, I feel I've made some good progress towards solving the issues found when driving around.

I think I've found a clutch master from a Toyota 4Runner/Hilux is the same and the MR2 cylinder but larger diameter. This should solve the clutch travel issue without a minimum of fuss (fingers crossed). The MR2 cylinder is 5/8 and this would be 3/4, a 20% increase in diameter, but more importantly a 40% ish increase in piston area! That's quite a lot! Watch this space.

The exhaust is off again (only a 5 bolt job :) ) and I'm hoping that the flexi will bend back into shape. The damage to the flexi was caused by the third engine mount failure when giving it some stick in 1st gear. The torque at the wheels (and therefore the torque needed to hold the engine in place) is massive in first gear. As a ball park figure (I've not looked it up for this gearbox) first is generally 3:1 and final drive is around that too, so you can multiply engine torque by 9!!! when in first gear, and that's the torque that the engine mount has to withstand to stop the engine spinning int he engine bay.

Anyway... I've straightened the broken engine mount, used much thicker steel for the mounting points to the engine, and added more steel to the structure:
Going form this:
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To this:
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But this is just the first part of the plan. I'm going to use some the position of the original mount, underneath the gearbox and make another section to join up with the bit pictured above. Strength in triangles.

More to come
Ben
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Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by Ben »

lozzzzzz wrote:
Here's a vid :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9Hp4XzfU8


Awesome work on getting it running, but the dog is the best bit about that video :D
2001 BMW M5 (Bahnstormer) | 2004 RX8 231 (the Racecat) | 2001 Volvo V70 (Swedish eBay barge)

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2mad
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Location: uk

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

Seriously out side the box thinking on this thread .. love it :thumleft:
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Thanks for the encouragement :)
2mad
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Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

Hows it going bud .. love to know :thumleft:
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Making Bio this weekend was a right faff, it took ages! But when that was all done, I did a little more on the MR2.

I finally got round to timing the engine properly following the cam belt change. This was only to get the cam timing right, I've still got to get the injection pump timing done with VAG-com.
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Then popped everything back together, put the cross brace in, and the edge covers.
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Then finally the engine cover.
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Then it was ready for a wash. At this point I realised how late it was and packed up :(

Before the MOT I've still got to get a couple of slow punctures fixed, and the injection timing right, then give it a good clean and polish.

There is a bigger set of wheels and tires to go on to get the gearing correct for the speedo and bring the revs down a touch, but I thought it worth giving it a try first.

Close now :) :) :) :)

More to come
pistol pete
Posts: 7068
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:47 pm

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by pistol pete »

awesome.. but it will be interesting on the road..
keep the updates coming
2mad
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Location: uk

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

What a great project .. hats off to ya mate :clap:
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Thanks folks
lozzzzzz
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:29 pm
Location: Herefordshire / Worcestershire

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by lozzzzzz »

Its amazing how long I've been telling people that "it's ready for MOT", yet I've spent another day working on it :)

I borrow VAG-Com from a friend of mine and timed the injection pump this morning. Got it well within the limits, but on the advanced side (good for Bio).
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Checked on the error codes and had a good go at trying to stop the heater light from flashing (to no avail :( ). The EGR and throttle valve fault I'm not bothered about, they're not causing the heater light to flash. The ABS fault is inevitable as the ABS is still in the Seat Toledo (and doesn't work on wireless) but the brake implausibility thing is very annoying. I don't think I'll be able to fix it really so I'll get the black tape out and cover it up :)

I also activated the cruise control :) and am looking forward to trying that.
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Found that the flexi joint in the exhaust is leaking oil, this is annoying firstly because I thought I'd got away with it, but it looks like I'll have to buy another one, but more to the point what the hell is oil doing in the exhaust!!!!! I guess the turbo might be tired, or perhaps this is normal??? (it has been idling for about 4 hours) After the injection timing didn't cure the smoke I tried ragging the hell out of it up and down the drive to get it nice and hot and it did stop smoking :) :) :) I'll have to see about the turbo when its on the road (watch for smoke and oil consumption).
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I vacuum'd, cleaned and polished the paintwork with G10 finishing compound and normal car polish for hours to get rid of these very annoying stains, they did not want to shift!
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The polishing is by no means finished, but here is a teaser :)
Image

More to come
2mad
Posts: 5983
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Location: uk

Re: [Mk2] [NA] MR2 TDI

Post by 2mad »

Bio-diesel power .. hope the turbos not goosed , shouldnt have oil on the downpipe :( .. crackin update as usual though :thumleft:
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