Project AW11 (56k should start on page 2)

all is copy/paste from another forum, so ignore all references to dates. (today, next week, etc)

here's my new car. shes a beauty isn't she? stay tuned.

MK1 MR2 N/A with a 4AGE motor. 135,000 miles. has some rust and paint is faded. but overall id say a good buy. ill be picking the car up this weekend or next.

(pics from ebay, dont mind the horrible quality)






got the car.

i tried some wetsanding on the DR side headlight. looks like the car just needs a good wetsand and clear coat. the rust in the rear will be fixed with either A) flares or B) wide body.

stay tuned







well after some work, paint is starting to shape up.

not too much of an exciting update, but the car is deffinately looking better. hood still needs a good buffing and wax.



in the foreground you can see the panel that isnt sanded or anything. behind it you can see the improved shinier panel. o0o0o0o0o shiny



tomorrow i will be hitting the trim, mirrors and wipers with satin black.

dont get too excited, im just test fitting some things (note backwards wheel we grabbed it off his right side)




it will fit better when i slam it (neg camber)

ive placed some orders on parts and have a bunch of little stuff comming.

- italian calfskin shift boot -

i got the black stiched one



- Shifter Base Bushings -

This kit replaces the squishy rubber bushings that support the shifter base. The bushings are CNC precision turned from 6061-T6 bar stock, de-burred, then Alodine coated to give them a nice corrosion resistant gold finish.





- shift cable bushings -

This shifter bushing kit will help to tighten the feel of your shifter by eliminating the stock rubber bushing in the shift cable. After a few years, the stock rubber and metal sleeved bushing will wear and deteriorate, making the shifter feel less precise and slowing down your shifting times! These CNC machined solid brass bushings give you back your shifter feel, and really connect you to the transmission.





- c-pillar trim -

Replacement trim for the three black plastic parts around the rear window





- gauge cluster -

speedo didnt work, so i had no idea how fast i am going





- 93+ MR2 Turbo Brake MC -

MK1 and 91-92 master cylinders are 7/8" while the 93+ BMC is 15/16." i will have to bend the brake lines to fit, but other than that its a direct bolt up


mk1 on left, mk2 kouki bmc on the right



well next packages arrived.

heres how they fit. with a little persuasion, they should mold up nicely. i could only tape it to a certain extent. they do bend more to fit the arch.

(sorry for the crappy looking pictures. i have no photoshop to make them pretty)


gets rid of just about all the rust on the drivers (left) side


not quite on the passenger's (right) side



im thinking ill probably switch the rears because i think i had them mixed up. still need a tiny bit of body work to make it look nice. nothing as big as i needed before though

next exterior mod is a rear valance (besides wheels of course)

i also picked up a new hood, engine cover, and truck lid (pictured) that look much better then the old stuff




wheels are on the way. and coilovers are next.

oh, and i want opinions on this. my 1/4 panels look like this. they are chipping and faded. basically they look like junk. should i satin black my car? i painted some trim and my mirrors satin black and i think it would look good keeping the flares riveted on and leaving the flares gloss. all business type look. opinions?



i managed to find a pair of Kosei K1 Racing in 15x8 +12. unfortuneatly after i just bought my tires today, i need something still wider and a lower offset. but these will do for now until i get a whole set. the tires are 205/50-15. before you question that i couldve put 225's on it, i like my streached tires. so :p

heres pics





some spare Rays lugs i had sitting around


the flares still need some trimming and other shit. so w/e. good enough for now

T-top seal install!

Tools:

putty knife
rachet
10mm deep well
17mm
philips screwdriver
flathead screw driver (optional)
needle nose pliers (optional, but recommended)


Supplies:

new t-top seals (kbox.ca)
new off center t-top guides (kbox.ca)
waterproof sealant (auto parts store)


heres the sealant i used.


and showing the new guides vs the oem ones


ok, step one. take off the t-tops and put them out of the way. i chose behind the seats, where i normally put them.




next step. take off the guide garnish pieces. theres a total of 4 of these, 2 per t-top and 2 screws each, amking a total of 8 screws




from here, remove the inside trim "U"




now, remove the a-pillar plastic interior trim. the passenger side requires the "oh shit handle" to be removes. this can be done by sliding the rubber end sleeves over the handle and removing the two screws.




i found some rust




next, loosen the bolts that are circled. there are also 2 on the inside of each t-top that you can see from the top. the circled ones are underneath. the fronts can be seen easily after the a-pillar trim is removed (snaps out) and the rear requires the 1/4 window trim to be removed. sorry i dont have pics of the window trim removal. its pretty easy to see where the screws are




next, since the seal isnt bolted in, you need to remove the small plastic clip things seen here



and here (pic from install)




next, peal back the old trim





and its off! next, unscrew the rails (3 screws each)



rust on passenger front rail this needed extra attention (sand, primer, paint)




now we install!

install is reverse of removal (like everything else in this world)

so, apply your sealant to you cleaned rails. yes, clean off the old gunk.



that should do. screw them down.

next, apply more sealant to the tops of them and all around the top area and going down where the new seal covers. put the center screws in on the new top and screw them down. screw the other two by the door down as well. and fasten the little back pins at the end of the new seals.





now, take your putty knife and work the seals into the rails to keep them secured to the rails, and suck in your sealant you put in the rails aswell.

i also applied extra sealant after that right above the rear view mirror area on top next to the seals. this was a problem area for me and i want to make sure NO water gets in or trapped under anything. so dab that in real well.

install the inner "U" trim





next, put the new guides in. they snap right in. i put them to be low and in. you'll understand when you go to install them what i mean. this created a nice snug fit. MUCH better than before.

install all your interior trim and put the guide garnishes back on.


heres an oem vs new trim





then, install your t-tops to apply pressure to the the sealant so it sticks when it dries.





boo blown HG. :thumbdn:

probably going to pick up a small port head and put my large port cams in it for some cheap power gains.







the wait is over. i still have to adjust them, but they need to settle first.

teaser!


out of the box and ready to install


makes it look fancy. i have no idea what this means, but im sure it's in there to make them look legit.


final product



yes i went with D2, but i must say, i am impressed with the initial quality. very light weight (aluminum?) and they came with new adjustable pillow ball front sway bar links.

so this will do for now. i plan to take it a half inch or lower in the front though. so w/e. i have a HG and shit to fix. im not concerned about the height now. plus ill end up getting corner weighted and aligned. so suck it up.

oh, and rear wheels will go on soon. dont worry about the weak ass rear



the result of taking a shitty pic (thats what i get for not grabbing a tripod...) and attempting to make it look better. :ko: snapped it on my way out the door around 6:15p. but atleast you can see how it looks in daylight. as i said, it needs to go lower and i need more wheels




getting there.

pics. shes all up and running. small leak from a water neck, but that will be done tomorrow morning

o-rings i replaced (bottom right is a new one) they were leaking pretty bad for cylinder 2. so i replaced them all


money shot


another money shot :p


some pics from after i washed her today. deffinately brought back that shine she has been longing for. 4hrs of washing, waxing, more waxing, and cleaning windows. never got around to the interior. might do that a little tomorrow. we'll see. used some turtle wax 'scratch and swirl remover' to cut the color back a bit (one stage OEM paint) and then waxed it. both with an orbital buffer i got at sears earlier this year for $25 looks great. i cant stop looking at the mr2







(last 2 have unaltered color, first was messed with a bit)


i decided my car wasnt low enough, so i lowered it a bit more today and adjusted my front (and only) sway bar. i now rub (flares) and scrape (lip). life is good once again :classic:

new heart - JDM 4AGZE with ~60k miles on it - the block is so clean! this motor isnt rusting away like the other motor i picked up and the one in my car.




and a preveiw of what's to come


also got a free cusco shift knob from a friend



it fits well


these'll be here in time for christmas hopefully

intercooler, piping, and shroud



distributor, dust boot + wires (will be going through a rebuild before going on the motor)



and today i just bought (2) 24"x10ft rolls of this for my hood



my good friend stopped by today and brought me gifts. they are police flasher units. so my headlights, reverse lights, and tails will all flash just like police cars. should look pretty cool for track use. something no one around here has on their drift cars also

pic (post-it note on the backside telling me what wire goes to what. looks super simple to hook up.



gze stuff (IC, dizzy, etc)
new head unit
red sparkle vinyl for my hood
ratcheting wrenches





vinyl going on monday or tuesday.

the hood should be done over the weekend. i brought it inside so it can warm up for when i apply the vinyl. i'll probably do it in the shower


fixed her yesterday and today, and now shes all clean.



coolant froze a little, but by the looks of everything, nothing was harmed. added some more antifreeze. thats what i get for running mostly water... scared the shit out of me hoping i didnt crack my block or lift the head off the motor since water expands when cold. (stupid exception to the rule of physics)

i thank the ARP head studs for preventing that.


sneak peek.

it's nowhere near perfect, but its a good 10 footer i still have to fix some air bubbles and patch up that one exposed piece of black (it just wasnt working last night, so i cut it out.




here ya go. not the best picture by any means, but at least you can see what it looks like on the car. the red is darker than the paint, but i knew that going in. i actually really like how it turned out overall. all the things i werent happy with when i applied it seemed to mostly disappear once on the car.

of course, i still need to see it during daylight though




new water pump (blue rtv gasket, as i wwas told they seal better than paper gaskets)



4AGZE as it sits



stupid $27 petcock (that i believe i stripped the threads when i installed)



better shot of my new head unit, that i found went on sale at best buy this week for $145, so we got some money back! orig. $205! money will be used wisely



Buddha




i bought some wheeeeEEEEEEeeeelsssss!

yes!




hotness

oh, heres a pic from today. it was 48 degrees earlier and raining, tonight its supposed to be like -7 with snow and ice. stupid weather....



started to polish these up. got about half way done with one. the lettering will be black and it will all have a clear coat over it.



and new toy. lost the old prop rod at the track



no tripod, so dont bitch on quality.

aaaawwwwww yeahhhh





i havent had time to mount the tires this this week. i should get around to getting them on next week

for now, my car is a plow.



and frozen solid.



i cleaned out the front air dam (it was a nice block of ice) and now my radiator gets some flow. its running much cooler

on another note, picked this up today from Rob at Touge Factory


and got some tires. thanks to Mark at One 6


they'll be mounted and balanced tomorrow.




i think i need to lower the rear a bit more...

and ignore that giant rust hole in my fender

how i had to remove the motor. (sorry for the shitty pics)





yesterday i cleaned up the engine bay and transmission. i'm currently waiting on the flywheel to be resurfaced. should be done today. from there, i can drop everything in (or you know, drop the car on the motor)

oh, and heres the 21 year old flywheel. it looks slightly used.



i always fear this thing falling on me. then it not quite killing me, but leaving me to suffer for 5 hours until someone discovers me. from then on, i can never function the same. (can you tell i think too much while under a car?)

anyway, pics from yesterday

it looks better in real life i swear (and that red isn so bright :ko: ) i gave up cleaning that trans. it's clean enough to know where a leak is coming from if i so happen to get one.





realized i still need to buy belts, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and an air filter.

ok, woke up about an hour or two late today. so i was only able to pick up some supplies before i had to go to school then leave for work soon.

first off, got some oil and the SC belt. i need to measure the ALT belt because i deleted the AC, or figure something out...

then i also picked up a cheapy intake cone filter. which will get rid of the stupid 'lets route the intake across the ingine bay, to the back of the car, and back around to the otherside' deal. (horrible restriction)

and here's the flywheel after resurfacing






motor is in.

put the motor set on dollies


lifting


keep on going...


undercarriage looks decent


slide motor under and lower the car


barely enough space to clear...


but the bottom has the least clearance


and all in


ok, class was canceled (more of, "go home if you have nothing to do") so after i eat ill try to finish her up.

oh, and the clutch feels nice

oh, and what it looked like before me working on it today. (completed pics later)


Aw! look at the baby oil filter.


ok, its only firing on 2/4. just ordered some parts for the distributor (cap, rotor, seal kit w/ a bearing)

recent shot of bay:



rebuilt distributor (found some oil inside) and i still have that problem.

i ohm'd the plug wires and they are ok. i also tried swapping plug wires just for shits and giggles, still only firing on 2/4.

next, i checked resistance in the injectors. they all come to about 3ohms (spec for gze is 2.9ohm). i also noticced a small fuel leak at the FPR where the return hose connects. i doubt this is THE problem, but i need to fix this anyway.

i'm not looking forward to tracing wires, but im afraid it may come down to that. i will however check the injector resistor as well as all my relays (to cover bases)
[SIZE="7"]yes!!!!!!!![/SIZE]

two injector wires that are supposed to splice together are not spliced with the one wire that comes from that splice and goes to the ecu.

FUCK YES.

soldering time

the red/blk splice coming from the injectors going to the ECU.


i started by checking to see if power went to the ECU at the pin, with the ignition 'on' with my multimeter. no power. BUT, the other 2 injectors were sending power.

so, i knew where to look. i riped apart my NA harness to see how far down to look (since the NA harness is apart anyway) and found it after taking abour 8" of loom off.

fuck yes. time to fix it

heres the connection that sucked.



and video of it idling



PS: anyone want to donate a video camera to me?



and thats it until today. still need to set timing, flush coolant better, and repair exhaust (leaks so bad). maybe i'll get around to installing a fuel filter as well.

Oh very nice i love this build....

just founf out my exhaust cam is off by one tooth.

and i cant find my 7 sideed socket to take off the rays lug nuts.

fuck

wow that's quite the project. looks like its comin along really good though. nice progress thread

found my 7 sided socket.

did timing, fucked it up again. so once again the exhaust is 1 tooth off. fuck it, im clearancing my 1/4 panels instead. then im going to adjust toe and drive it to school tonight to do an alignment.

tomorrow, im going to find someone to weld up a flex pipe for me as well as a hole in my muffler. shouldnt cost too much.

and i found a fuel leak at the injector. it sprays a mist when backing off throttle where the injector seals with the head.

more gaskets get replaced...


Also decided to replace my fuel line from the filter to the rail. using a -6AN with earl's fittings.

the soft line from the hardline to the filter will be replaced in the future. it requires a custom fitting that i dont have time for.

word. . good posts . .

its not like all those other late build threads. .
where the car is pretty much completed in 10 words. .
like . .this is my car stock. .

i bought this crap. .

done. .

I had no time to be bothered with reading words but its nice to hear it run. That and thoes pictures are sooo nice. I'm afraid my hard drive may get filled up.

One of the best built threads EVARRRRR!
Everyone should have such pretty pics and detailed walkthroughs,
and perfect grammar.

I didnt realize just HOW much you have done to the car since i dont really read shit on CFR anymore. Glad you put it on here.

Great job so far. I wanna drive this car!

roski wrote:

word. . good posts . .

its not like all those other late build threads. .
where the car is pretty much completed in 10 words. .
like . .this is my car stock. .

i bought this crap. .

done. .

heh, thanks. i still have a lot more i want/need to do to the car to get it where i want.

i really want to make underbody panels to smooth out the airflow. i mean, it's pretty flat as is, but it could afford to be flatter. it also would be nice to have once giant skid plate. maybe i'll get that done eventually.

i also just found out yesterday that my tie rod ends are the same as a 85 corolla gts/sr5. so i think i may beable to use some aftermarket ones to correct my bumpsteer. then i just need to find someone to make me some RCA's.

Nackers wrote:

I had no time to be bothered with reading words but its nice to hear it run. That and thoes pictures are sooo nice. I'm afraid my hard drive may get filled up.

thanks nackers. like i said earlier, it is still one tooth off on the exhaust cam. so it runs, i just dont have much power until up high. sucks. i need to fix that. makes me wish i had a ae86 with the timing stuff more accessable.

D*star wrote:

One of the best built threads EVARRRRR!
Everyone should have such pretty pics and detailed walkthroughs,
and perfect grammar.

I didnt realize just HOW much you have done to the car since i dont really read shit on CFR anymore. Glad you put it on here.

Great job so far. I wanna drive this car!

i wouldnt say "ever", my car is far from that pedestal. i just snap pics sometimes when i work on it. i think my t-top seal install was pretty throrough though

yeah, i ended up doing a lot of little things to the car. shifter bushings, seals, etc etc etc. i still need to get my hands on the ES master bushing kit and go to town one weekend. should really refresh the 21yo deteriorated bushings.

in the future i really want to pick up a 6 speed trans from a blacktop 20v. they run about $5-700 though im not sure about LSD options on them either. so i may be forced to stick with my trusty C52 trans so i can get a TRD 1.5way or cusco/kaaz/whatever.

roski wrote:

¡ʎzɐɹɔ oƃ ǝɯ ǝʞɐɯ sǝɹnʇɔıd ǝsǝɥʇ

haha i keep hitting 'stop' to stop them from loading... so annoying.

just wait until it is bumped to the next page.

this needs to go on the next page... so im going to bump it until then.

omg race car.

stupid fittings took me a while to figure out how they seal up. got it though. (i hope to god this hose doesnt fail considering it being my fuel)

Oh snap.
AN lines haha.
Cool.

the stock NA line didnt seal right with the SC fuel rail. so instead of trying to source a line, i just went this route.

i'll be replacing the rubber line to the filter at a later date (when i get the fitting i need, it's an odd angle)

I think I might wanna go with all AN shit for my PS setup.
Ill bug you for help if I do.
haha

alright. just figure out what the thread diameter and pitch is for where you need each hose to go to.

oh, and i figured out exactly what -6AN means. like, the where they get the 6 from. the number is always a number of 16ths. so my hose is 6/16ths, or 3/8ths ID.

also when researching them earlier in the week, i found out AN = Army/Navy - where they were engineered. no idea what the dash (-) is for

Quote :

alright. just figure out what the thread diameter and pitch is for where you need each hose to go to.

HENCE

Quote :

I think I might wanna go with all AN shit for my PS setup.
Ill bug you for help if I do.

alright, washed her today

Kevin... when you getting a new camera. I want that sooo bad!!!

idk, maybe fall around my birthday time. (sept. 23rd)

i need something thats even higher quality. im starting to notice small things that this camera isnt good with and i cant fit in PS easily (pixelated shadows depending on the lighting)

Fuck, that shit looks so goddam good.
Its incredible how that shit shines compared to the first pics.
Is it really that shiny in real life??
Car has come such a long way.

And I love how you keep wanting it LOWER and FLUSHER.
Cool shit.