Hi, long time lurker here.
Reluctantly starting a build thread because I know accountability is good for these sorts of things.
I bought a 91 toyota mr2 around new years from Miatame, who bought it from Woody years before hand.
its a non-turbo 5 speed that has been sitting around for a few years at least and doesnt run. Miatame had planned to do a 1MZ-FE V6 swap from a toyota camry. Against all better judgement, I bought his project with the intention of completing it. I dont have any other car projects going on so I wont really be splitting time with any other cars. I do have a time deadline. I intend to finish this car by august as my lease ends the end of august, and I dont wanna worry about where I will live and worry about dragging a dead car with me. I romanticized the idea of making this challenge budge friendly but thinking about it, the time crunch is more important to me and I would rather spend more to get it done sooner and cleaner then to take longer and challenge it. Sorry to disappoint anyone.
On to details of the project:
Apparently this was a very popular swap to do....13 years ago. Being a bit late to the party, a lot of information is scattered or lost. here are my plans.
I'm spending the month of January to try to get the car running as is. It sounds stupid as i know i'm going to rip the engine out but It helps me discover other problems with the car, like the gas tank and fuel pump.
Wiring: I know that i probably just need to splice and repin 25 wires to get the v6 harness to work, but im very tempted to just click the easy button and farm out the work to http://www.wiregapinc.com/ and have him make make my harness for me. that way i can work on other things while its getting done.
transmission: Miatame was so kind as to get me the engine and transmission out of a manual camry. He though it was a S51 transmission but I now believe it is a E153 transmission. its the same that came out of a MR2 turbo but has a longer final drive. I could use the stock S54 transmission and retain all the axles and hubs but the gearing is very short. something like 3800rpm @80mph vs 3150rpm @ 80mph for the camry transmission. The issue i have is the shifting mechanism is facing the trunk when i need it facing the front of the car. The risky, lazy thing to do would be to drill and modify the existing transmission casing to work in the mr2. the other risky, lazy option is to swap the casing with a mr2 housing. right now im trying to source the parts for the conversion and debating which way I wanna go.
The E153 transmission also requires turbo axles, hubs, and shifter cables, which add quite a bit of cost to the project. I really wanna those lower RPM's tho.
The engine needs a once over. New timing belt, water pump and head gaskets.
the car itself needs new brakes. I want to upgrade to the 93+ turbo brakes but that will require bigger wheels. I'll treat myself to all that after the engine is in.
It also has a bit of rocker panel rot which ill address if i do everything above.
Ill add pictures later. (edit) heres a pic of the car coming to its new home.
in its new home for the next few months. the black paint and poor lighting do a good job of hiding the imperfections.
After I got the car, I poked around to see why it might not run. I noticed the fuel lines were cut so I ordered replacements from toyota. When they came in, I spent more time they I want to admit to reattach them. I tried to drain the gas tank of any old gas. Thankfully toyota puts a drain plug on the bottom of the gas tank. Too bad its frozen and the metal is soft and rounded out. Oh well, deal with that later.
Once I did , I plugged in a good battery I had, added about half a gallon of fuel to tank and tried to start it. Nothing. I couldn't even hear the pump prime. I now assume I need to drop the tank and replace the pump. Later become now. The next day I start to drop the fuel tank. I smell gas throughout the garage but cant find the source. I check and realize that the tank drain plug is leaking slowly but i cant tighten it or loosen it. thanks toyota. A lot of rusted bolts and lines but eventually my brother and I remove the tank. We remove the pump and now is the time pictures would be really handy. the screen on the pump was destroyed and it looks like it had been in a septic tank rather then a gas tank. There was an inch of crud on the bottom of the tank. looked almost like what you would find in dirty gutters.
at this point , I spent a week mulling if I should order a used tank off ebay for $225, have my tank cleaned and repaired for $275, or go cheap and do it myself. In the end , I decided to just have my tank refinished and I hope that decision doesnt come back to bite me.
Right now now, Im just waiting to get the tank back, so I can install the new fuel pump and put the gas tank back in. In the meantime , I need to clean the fuel level sending unit as it also looks pretty beat. I wanna try to reuse it and save $130. I believe I can also replace it with the tank still in the car.