My MR2 Project (Turbo swap)

[4agzeSE]

Looks good and good job. Engine enamel will work just fine. Specially if it has ceramic in it. I did my entire corolla motor with rattle can and a year later, it is still holding up very nicely.
Lordco sells Plastikote brand of paint.
Napa sells Duplicolor.

To ensure the paint you apply on your engine parts never fall off, after degreasing and washing and brake cleaning etc, do a final wipe down with Acetone.

[vindicator]

You really like that acetone don't ya Matt? lol

Sarah, mad props for tackling a huge project. Keep up the good work!

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Thanks . I'm hoping it all finishes as smoothly as it has gone so far.

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my camera refused to be recognized by my computer for some reason. Anywho, got some new pictures nothing too exceptional. Jordan (_mr2_) came by to help me out a couple of days and we made progress. He sort of took over the job for a little while, somehow, I'm not even sure how... with some crazy sort of determination to get that turbo out himself to say he could do it.

So here are the pictures of the adventure....

First day, got most of the nuts for the manifold off except for one real tough one which broke the stud:


Most of them off:


Jordan also managed to fix my gauges...oops forgot a plug. Told you I was no good with electrical..:


Drained oil and got ready to remove oil filter housing:


After a lot of cursing and impatience, finally got it off:


He didn't want to get his hands dirty...too late:


Fail...didn't drain the coolant first.....my bad. I was following a guide someone wrote for me and being something of a noob to this, they didn't write that I had needed to do that so I didn't even think of it. Oh well...bucket under the car and add to the gunky mess on the engine:


Got ready to pull that downpipe/catalytic off...


We were both under the car yelling about how it hurt because it was heavy and we were getting scratched by metal, and my fingers hurt from pulling the other exhaust pipe out of the way, Jordan joked it sounded like we were birthing a baby from the car, well it turns out it actually looked something like a baby when it came out!:


So that leaves the turbo, it's loose and almost ready to come out but we are having trouble finding the last bolts...decided to call it a day at this point:


So we are on our way to grab some grub when we smell a lovely burning belt smell and a harsh squealing noise. Jordan calmly informs me that his alternator belt *was* a bit too big when they put it on.....so we end up with no belt pretty shortly after that. Luckily he had another belt that was also too big but we managed to fit it on and get home:



Remnants of the old belt:




That's all for this time folks! Hopefully that turbo comes soon...

[bbarnumboy]

u had a bit of a dirty mess on that engine. brak cleaner for the win

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Today's progress:

Found out the turbo was shipped on the 16th, so should be here in a week. It BETTER be because I'm finally at the stage where I need it!

Purchased some clearcoat which obviously wasn't clear coat as per what the chick at the store said, because it stripped the paint instead. It also turned what it didn't strip into plasticky looking stuff. I luckily only tested it on my heat shield which I didn't care much about.

Lifted the car and undid bolts from turbo stay, and finally got exhaust manifold off:




This was the only bolt left holding it on! Required me to drive to my dad's house to pick up a 27mm socket for it, but hey, that's life:


And here's the turbo itself:


The turbine:


So much space all of a sudden!:


Would you guys recommend replacing these exhaust manifold gaskets?:



That's all for today folks! I was going to do the timing belt which I also bought, but decided not to right now because although it is coming due to be done, and it would be smart to do while the engine is apart, it's a lot more work that I have less and less time for right now. I am going to budget doing it later in the summer or perhaps during the winter when I park it. I still have to replace some hoses in there, plugs and other things, get my dash back together and whatnot, and I don't want to not have my 2 for any more events this summer. It's got 90000kms on it but I think it's still good to go for a little longer.

Now the waiting game begins!! I am still looking for other parts that I would like/need in my post under MKII Shop, especially some of the braces under the car. If you have these PLEASE let me know, mine are rusted and need replacement. Otherwise I will just try and find them myself but I'd rather help out somebody here on the forum.

[Oteck]

I know that green manifold anywhere, that 5sfe i saw at mission lol

[bbarnumboy]

good work. that turbo looks tired lol. is there alot of shaft play on it? you going to be getting the core from ats or is it too wasted to use as a core.

[4agzeSE]

Good work Sarah. Please use new exhaust manifold gaskets. They are not reusable parts. You don't want it leaking on you. It's really hard to get to if you know what I mean.

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Now that I've got the CT27 on its way, I'm replacing the spark plugs to Denso from NGK, the KO Racing 2.5" downpipe, fuel filter, and going to start using synthetic oil, I know my car is going to run and act a little differently. I'm really excited...but I'm wondering what I can expect? Can anybody give me a ballpark idea of what kind of power I should expect from these minor upgrades/repairs? I know it's a very difficult thing to say especially since there could be other things wrong in my engine itself, or at least small thing affecting power, but IF my car were pretty much perfect otherwise, what could I expect?

[bbarnumboy]

i can't remember if we told you this before but be careful with the switch to synthetic from conventional oils. synthetics are great and wonderful but they are extremely detergent in the way of cleanin power. and can cause oil leaks if you happen to have old not so good oil seals. this is not always the case.

i started using it on my bmw and it leaked from every spot possible. that was mobil 1 then i switched to castrol syntec and i don't know if it is better at protection but cleaning is incredible because after about 300 miles on castrol syntec the car leaked oil like no ones business. i would come out to a big ol puddle of oil.

what it does is can remove chunks of dirt and deposits built up on the seal areas, that may be holding the seal together.

i totally recommend synthetic all the way. but hopefully you do not have any oil leaking issues after the change. dont mean to rain on the parade. i'm not sure on power increases that you'll make but they will be significant that is for sure. it all depens too, on how high you are planning to boost

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Yes I do remember that...but I'm trying it anyway, because I know it's also better for a turbocharger.

I don't plan to boost higher than stock. I won't be getting a boost controller or anything like that until down the road. Not sure the rest of the engine could handle more so I'll leave it as is.

[bbarnumboy]

you will not be skyrocketting with more power then if you are leaving it at stock. but it is deffinately going to pull alot harder, at the stock boost levels than it ever has before. because you just increased turbo velocity and efficiency by alot. your going to like it

[PearlWhiteMR2]

If you don't see me around the forums anymore...it's because I've gone MAD with waiting so long for my turbo!!

Hoping it comes soon...

[PearlWhiteMR2]

Got a whole bunch more stuff done yesterday. Pretty much everything I can do now. I need the turbo to finish it.

I will have pictures later, but here's what we did:

- replaced distributor cap and rotor with OEM parts, put in distributor O-ring (it didn't have one!!!!111 WTFBBQ)
- replaced NGK spark plugs with Denso spark plugs
- cleaned spark plug leads
- replaced gaskets in oil plate on the block, cleaned it up
- replaced gaskets in oil cooler
- attempted to get broken stud out of head...failed. Need advice. Vise grips aren't working, apparently we can't drill it because it's too long? Someone told us this...I don't really know a thing about this so any advice would be appreciated .
- replaced a large coolant hose right under the intercooler
- replaced hose from hell and hose from hell on earth (which I thought was the harder of the two haha Konrad did it once I cut my hand open too many times, he was almost upside down in the engine compartment lol)
- scraped some of the gunk off of the block
- scratched heads and phoned up postal service to find out where the **** my turbo is...they don't know so they said ask the seller to open an investigation (seller has yet to get back to me...getting extremely annoyed...if I miss BC2009........)

So that's that. I still have some hoses/gaskets and things to do but they are all related to the turbo so I am stuck until that stupid thing gets here. I will probably just do some hardcore engine cleaning (what I can anyway, it's hard with all of these open little holes and hoses and exhaust pipes everywhere!) and cross my fingers that the turbo is not lost but just being held a little too long at customs and it will be released soon!