Been Busy

[System~G]

The Story

Shortly after buying my MKI MR2 through an eBay seller, I noticed a few “oddities”, but left them until the car had been serviced – or to let servicing determine whether these issues were “life threatening” or not.

The service showed up signs of either piston ring failure, burnt valves, head gasket or any combination of all three.

I was now looking at having to drop the engine, strip it down completely and starting a full rebuild, which was going to cost a fortune and wasn’t worth it for this little car.

I posted my woes on MR2 forums and another member came back offering me the engine from his MKI for next to nothing. I researched straight engine swaps and found that changing the engine was going to be easier and cheaper than a re-build.

I scouted around for suitable places and all were quoting pretty much the same and eventually settled on MKII MR2 specialists Rogue Systems based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire as they would allow me to be physically involved. The car was booked in for work to begin on the 31st of May.

I found out (my fault for not reading emails properly) a few days before the actual swap that the clutch had been removed from the donor engine and sold. I managed to find another clutch and collect it within 24 hours thanks to Fellow IMOC member Chris (Limeymk1).

The late spec engine was in a pretty sorry state when I collected it and it looked like one or two bits would need to be used from my old engine. Not a problem as I knew all the bolt on bits from my original engine were fine. One concern was that the engine was washed two days before collecting it and I noticed water still gathered in spark plug holes when picking it up.

Day 1

Once the engine was dropped off at Rogue Systems, we had a proper look around it and found some corroded pipe work. Not a problem - have the same bits on my old engine. We also noticed the drive shafts on the gear box were knackered and decided to use the gear box and drive shafts from my old engine.

The engine before removing it:

9:30am - We began removing the original engine. Under-trays off, wiring loom and other cables unplugged, we then had to remove the rear lower suspension bits for access:

we then removed the front and back engine mounts, leaving the side mounts in place and had to make sure the engine support stand would balance the engine once out the bay.

We dropped the car down so the engine support would take the weight of the engine and unbolted the side mounts from above and lifted the car, leaving the engine on the stand. The engine was out by 11:45am.

We started stripping the bits off the donor engine for cleaning, polishing and spraying. We also started stripping the old engine of the bits we knew we were going to need.

We spotted a hole in one of the upper pipes leading from the water pump and replaced it with the identical item from the old engine.

On removing the cam covers from the donor engine, it became apparent the state of it and serious cleaning began. We opted to use the old cam covers, throttle bracket on the new engine as they were in better condition.

With the new clutch in place, we then fitted the old gearbox and drive shafts to the donor engine.

Whilst the wiring loom was being prepared for the new injectors and being fitted to the donor engine, I cleaned out the engine bay as best as one could. 20 years of grease and grime was not easy to shift.

With the paint dry on the cam covers, Throttle bracket, Cam belt cover, Plenum/throttle body assy, we fitted them to the donor engine. The differences in the plenum and throttle body became noticeable and we opted to use the old plenum/TB assy – so off it came from the old engine, cleaned up and sprayed. We left it overnight to dry.

Old plenum/throttle body:

New plenum/throttle body:

[System~G]

Day 2

Started again at 8:30am and finished fitting the plenum/TB to the engine. We also noticed a few sensors were different and had to swap them over in order to get the ECU working properly as it did before.

By 09:30 we were ready to align the engine for re-fitting.

By 11:00 the donor engine was in place with the mounts secured and we began reconnecting the cables to the engine and plugged the ECU in.

Now this is where the fun began.

Once we were happy that everything was connected, we started filling with coolant and bleeding the system.

The coolant pipe we replaced was leaking at the seal. This had to be removed in situe taking around an hour! We found the sealing “O” ring had split whilst re-fitting. A replacement ring was found from a MKII heater pipe – it fitted perfectly. The coolant pipe was re-attached to the water pump.

Coolant fill part 2 commences. We find another leak half way along the larger coolant pipe attached to the water pump. We battled again to get it removed and replaced it with the pipe from the old engine.

Coolant fill part 3 commences. The larger coolant pipe appears not to be sealing to the water pump and a custom gasket had to be made.

Coolant fill part 4 commences. Now with the two pipes attached to the water pump replaced, we were happy until we spotted another leak on the side of the block.

Pic of offending part from old engine:

It turns out to be a bolt missing. With the bolt replaced we filled with coolant a 5th time and…. All seems fine :D No leaks anywhere! By now it’s late afternoon and we’re behind schedule.

We fill the engine with oil and discover the sump is holed (corroded) in an area we had never seen a sump hole before (just below the seal at the rear of the sump). We decide to leave this for a while and press on as time was ticking on.

With all connected, levels OK we attempt to start the engine. It won’t start.

The engine seams partially seized! With the gearbox in 2nd, we turn the rear wheel and un-seize the engine and attempt to start again – no luck – the starter was just “clicking”. We eventually found a bad earth and got the engine to turn over with ignition.

A new sump was ordered. Mat at Rogue Systems decided it would be best to fill with new oil as the oil that came out the engine was in a right state with old oil deposits and water from when the engine was cleaned.

So now with the new sump and fresh oil and engine starting and running fine, I collect the car a very happy man :D

Final engine bay pics:

Thank You’s

A very big thank you to all at Rogue Systems especially Matt and Patrick. I would recommend them to any MKI, MKII or MKIII MR2 owner for servicing or engine swap work.

Contact details: http://www.revision6.com

A big thank you to John (aka Megatron) for the engine and other bits you threw in!

Thanks to Chris (aka Limeymk1) for the clutch, dizzy and other advice given

Also the following for advice:

Paul Woods

Lauren

Kev (Crazylegs)

And others on IMOC & MR2OC who I may have forgotten

http://twobrutal.co.uk

[Tegan]

Fantastic G it looks stunning!

Wish mine was that clean! :P

[Fidgits]

very good job there Garrick!

[GIDDLEPIN]

Good job.

A most enjoyable and informative read.

[Moffmo]

!Removed! good read there garrick!

And that engine is looking really nice... wait till the comments at JAE! ;)

"THATS A 20 year old engine????" :D

[KidKoala]

Good work! Whats the mileage on the new engine?

[ZeroBlade]

Good writeup there fella, helped me wile away time at work, much obliged

-Z

[JT]

looking very smart! im liking the cam covers :D

[System~G]

Thanks guys B)

Sorry it's such a long post - I'm sure it puts many to sleep

Moffmo, the actual engine (now blinging) in there was manufactured in 1988. so 16 years old not 20, but I see where you're coming from Still not bad looking for a 16 year old engine though ;)

[Gnome]

Cool write up dude.

How does it all go now?

Love the colours on the cam cover and such too - very nice ;)

[KidKoala]

Good work! Whats the mileage on the new engine?

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[Moffmo]

Thanks guys B)

Sorry it's such a long post - I'm sure it puts many to sleep

Moffmo, the actual engine (now blinging)  in there was manufactured in 1988. so 16 years old not 20, but I see where you're coming from Still not bad looking for a 16 year old engine though ;)

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a slight eggration there, but it is BLINGing for a 16 year old engine :D

[Blaze]

youve done a fab job! It looks good clean!

[System~G]

Cool write up dude.

How does it all go now?

Love the colours on the cam cover and such too - very nice ;)

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I'll say it goes OK for now... There are still a few teathing issues, so I am not giving it loads (not that I ever). I need to replace two sensors so far that I know of, but nothing critical.

Good work! Whats the mileage on the new engine?

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Sorry dude, missed your first post...

Mileage on the new engine is 90k

[raywong]

good job garrick... wish i had enough money to buy a good condition Mk1 MR2, shame that i'm quite dumb on the mechanical side, otherwise i'll do the same as u!!

Ray

[sera_beetle]

Very good job

i enjoyed the story :)

Tim

[jaxx]

looks class! must do mine and tegans engines

what sort of paint was used?

[System~G]

good job garrick... wish i had enough money to buy a good condition Mk1 MR2, shame that i'm quite dumb on the mechanical side,   otherwise i'll do the same as u!!

Ray

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Ray the MKI was far from good condition. In fact it's still far from being good. I wanted to make sure the mechanical side of things is 100% before tarting it up.

I knew nothing about engines or mechanics 4 years ago. I know only know a little and have a lot more to learn. A project like this is ideal to learn on. If you mess up, it's relatively cheap enough to source the bits to make right again.

looks class! must do mine and tegans engines

what sort of paint was used?

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The cam covers and cambelt cover was done with plasticoat available from Halfords. Temp rating is to either 110degC or 150degC which is sufficient for these parts.

The plenum/throttlebody assy and the manifold heatshield I think was done with Halfords high temp spray paint. Temp rating to something like 500degC.

It's relatively easy to do, just make sure the parts are complete scrubbed down and cleaned before spraying. Once the plenum/throttle body was cleaned (before spraying) it almost looked good enough not to be sprayed B)

[Caz SR]

A good read! It's very interesting learning about people's car experiences, especially when the work is quite major.

Loving the restoration!

[TheNissanMan]

G, nice write up matey, sounds like you had a fun couple of days :D

Good to hear the old girl is up and running as she should be :D

[System~G]

G, nice write up matey, sounds like you had a fun couple of days :D

Good to hear the old girl is up and running as she should be :D

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Fun is not the exact word I'd use for it mate It was fun until things started not to match up to spec... (e.g coolant leaks etc...)

Right now, it's definately all show and no go :( With two faulty sensors - especially the oil pressure sensor, I can't tell what the engine is doing. Also I am starting to think the donor engine has head gasket failure although compression test has not confirmed this. Will be doing a sniff test sometime to confirm.

Not too happy right now :( Can't afford to do much about anything either cos there's no budget left

[Rookey]

Garrick man, that looks awesome, gotta see it at the next gig :P lol

[DazH]

A job well done by the look of it Garrick, is that Paul Woods of R&P Woods, Heaton?

He's one of my customers at work

[Leeky]

Looking good dude