So I spent a lot of time on the engine this weekend, hoping to get it possibly running by tonight. I really should have learned by now that that isn't possible with MR2's! Stuff always goes wrong...
I started out with Saturday, I cleaned the axles, finished cleaning the transmission, and cleaned out the engine bay. I prepared several parts for painting, including the valve cover, hotpipe, coldpipe, and a few other bits. I decided to put the car up on the hoist and service all four brakes since they were rusted and looking like absolute garbage. I hadn't serviced the rear before and didn't realize that the piston is a threaded type and that the pads are a bit more of a PITA than most... so it took a bit longer than I thought and that service swallowed up the last part of the day.
Sunday I painted and had a technician friend make a block off plate for the oil level sender, since it was broken and no longer necessary. I don't need the dummy light to tell me when my oil is low anyhow.
Today was the big day. Brought in all painted parts and made a list, and got to it first thing in the morning. The block off plate went on, had to silicone it inside where there used to be an o-ring and silicone the outside as well. I was trying to put the exhaust manifold on but the studs were spinning as I torqued the nuts so we had to helicoil several of them. Kept putting the manifold back on to find another one would spin so had to keep taking it on and off... time was wasted there. Then a lot of time was spent just sorting through boxes looking for parts, and finding bolts and nuts for things. The intake manifolds stays had to go on, and the throttle body, routed and plugged in several coolant lines and vacuum hoses, and connectors.
Noted that the wiring going in to several connectors was hard and broken so it will have to be repaired at some point soon as well. If anybody has a harness for a 3S that's in good shape let me know! Now is the time to put it in
Then we put the turbo on. We did the nuts up on the manifold loosely and then tried to find the oil hardline but it's gone missing from all the parts boxes. If anybody has one of these, also... I need it. Had to take the egr apart and redo the ferrel inside that had come loose. This required heating the big nut on the egr pipe with a torch as it was quite rusted in place. Put the distributor o-ring in, distributor cap, and wires on once the valve cover was in place. We also had to replace one head stud that was not in very good shape.
The last thing today was when we were tightening the turbo up to the manifold, I guess it was quite warped and as we torqued them together, we heard a loud CRACK and there was a split in the iron casting of the flange on the turbo. So off to the welding shop it went, and hopefully they can fix it up nicely. It's an ATS CT27 so it's not easily or cheaply replaceable. We have to plane the surfaces as well, something that really should have been done beforehand but wasn't. Lesson learned here: don't skip anything when doing a rebuild that you think isn't necessary or you can do later... you'll waste more time fixing your mistakes and it's not easier.
So all in all, the engine is MOSTLY together. Once the manifold and turbo are taken care of, and I find a hardline, fix the harness, and track down a few more coolant hoses it'll basically be done. There are new axle seals for the tranny, and a new clutch and bearing for it as well so that can be bolted up once its done. After that, it's just a matter of dropping her in!
Pics:
Progress about halfway through the day:
Progress right before the turbo cracked:
