British Columbia MR2 Owners Group

Here are a few pics of the process.

Installed the clutch pedal and clutch master cylinder and the clutch line to the rear (not easy) as well as a smaller brake pedal (Mar 19, 2007)(need new pedal rubber):


Car raised to lower original engine and auto transaxle (Feb 21, 2008):


Original engine and auto on bench:


Complete engine with overhauled head and all new seals in bottom:


Manual transmission mated to the engine and coolant part installed:


Engine and transaxle under car ready to lift:



Engine and transaxle installed and all hoses and cable connected:


It ran for the first time today (Jan 2, 2009)


(That's coolant that overflowed when I topped it up that's underneath)

I am looking for the back up light connector as well as the clutch switch connetor so I can hook those up -- right now the clutch start switch is circumvented.

be careful my bmw doesnt have a clutch switch since most german automobiles do not. sometimes i forget its in gear. and have some close calls.

great looking swap. that engine is super clean. good work

bbarnumboy wrote:be careful my bmw doesnt have a clutch switch since most german automobiles do not. sometimes i forget its in gear. and have some close calls.

I do want to install the clutch switch -- for now I make sure my right foot is firmly on the brake whenever I start it.

I have no clutch safety switch on my auto->manual Civic either. Although, my Jetta and Prelude didn't have them either. I've just gotten into the habit of putting one foot on the clutch and one on the brake anyways.

Nice work on the project and I'm glad to hear that you got her fired up today. It's a great feeling to hear it catch and run on it's own after the engine has been out.

It also looks like you have an '86 power door panel on the drivers side only, what's up with that?

yeah i usually just push the clutch anyways out of normal habit when starting like a normal north american car.

immorality wrote:It also looks like you have an '86 power door panel on the drivers side only, what's up with that?

I have two blue '87 door panels which I need to install; the driver side door is from an 89 and has an 86 panel -- confusing; the right side is original 87 manual windows

Great work Jake and thanks for sharing. Maybe we shall see her at the coffee meet....It's been long enough.

Thanks for all the positive comments -- it's been fun, although it took some time (that's what adding onto your house at the same time does)

I have a bunch of cosmetics I need to do -- like put all the stuff back in the frunk, find a shift boot and wire etc, and put stuff together again in the trunk. I also haven't decided if I want to change the instrument cluster (I have one out of a manual) -- I need to decide that before I put the interior back together. You can see the OEM SC muffler in the last picture -- the flange on the cat converter was barely large enough to cover the flange on the larger exhaust pipe, and I'm afraid the gasket might not last long this way. I plan to see about welding a larger flange on the cat or getting a cat with a larger flange.
I do hope to have it on the road in March (maybe sooner if we get some good weather)

Congrats and good work.

If you've gone this far you might as well swap the cluster so that it matches as well

Cameron wrote:Congrats and good work.

If you've gone this far you might as well swap the cluster so that it matches as well

Ya Jake, I say you should change it too. You have come this far. Changing that would be breeze through the park.

+1 especially since u said it is all apart anyways.

The instrument cluster has been swapped

The old auto cluster about to be removed:

No instrument cluster:

The replacement manual cluster installed:


Now i need to know what to do with the ECT switch just below the wiper switch (bottom right) - is this spot blank on a manual?

Yes that spot is blank on a manual car. You can hook up fog lights maybe?

There's a blank that fits into that spot. Although, it would be cool to use that button for something like fog lights perhaps?

+1 fogs