For Sale My Woodsport 3VZ-Fe 3 litre V6 Conversion. F904 CKN

It’s time for me to part with my pride & joy .I have a joint venture with a local member & friend Mike Savory. We have bought an ex supercharger with the 3VZ-Fe, which by all accounts is knackered, so I am selling to upgrade to a possible racer!!!. More on that to come.

I am asking sensible offers around £4,250 for her. Much much more has been spent on her & I have a compressive file of invoices & receipts to support this.

I will be at J.A.E. Next weekend.

I have the facility to offer any prospective buyer the opportunity of viewing her on a ramp, to examine the underside & suspension mounts etc. This will be at Kingsway Service Station, 155 Doddington Road, Wellingborough, NN8 2LY. 01933 405388. The proprietor is Curtis Greer, who has done work on her in the three years that I have owned her.He is willing to answer any questions regarding her condition, which buyers may wish to ask. Further to this. All bodywork repairs have been done by Paul at Brackmills Body Repair Centre at Unit 3 Monarch Courtyard, 11 Salthouse Road, Brackmills, Northampton. NN4 7BD 01604 217783.Paul is also happy to answer any questions regarding the condition of the body & what repairs he has done.

There are some small faults. It`s a T Bar & therefore it leaks in heavy rain. However,I have changed the T Bar glass & that has helped & I have some seals from another T Bar that did not leak. I also have a cover that fits over the cockpit & is held on by elastic straps under both bumpers & fits around the mirrors. Another is the that there is some rot behind the rear nearside mud flap. I discovered this recently, whilst preparing for a show & have patched it up with Ally foil & filler. The front nearside rod that attaches the wing to the spoiler is missing & there is some rust in there. The interior light does not work & never has.

I bought F904 CKN , as a rolling chassis (Blown head gasket on 4ag-e) on 8th May 2007. The mileage when collected from Woodsport on 22nd December 2007 was 91,506. Current mileage is 102,601miles so only 11,095miles in 3 years or 3,698miles / year, since Paul Woods, carried out the following conversions.

A standard 3 Litre V6 3VZ-FE engine from the Toyota Camry. This 24-valve quad cam engine has a power output rated at 203.5 BHP and 185lbs/ft of torque. These figures were determined on a rolling road in March 2009. (report available)

The gearbox is from a Toyota MR2 MK2.
The exhaust system is a Magnex full Cat back box in stainless steel to suit a Toyota MR2 MK2.
A set of Goodrich stainless steel braided brake hoses.
A pair of ST 165, 2-piston front brake callipers from the Toyota Celica.
A set of Koni adjustable shock absorbers.
A set of Koni lowering springs.
All suspension bushes replaced with poly bushes.
15-inch OZ racing alloys.
Sparco Evo 2 Seats & 4point adjustable seat harnesses. Standard inertia reel 3-point safety belt has been retained for daily use.
MOMO Steering wheel

Since then, the following items have been added
Whiteline Heavy Duty Rear Anti Roll Bar, with adjustable Drop links
A Clifford C650 Thatcham category 1 alarm & immobiliser.
Cooling ducts to front brakes through the spoiler.
A set of 195/50 VR Toyo TR1 Tyres (19th March 2010)

The car has a MoT till Dec 18th 2010. I will have a new MoT, at my expense for the right buyer. It is Taxed till 31st may 2011.

I have driven this car at every Castle Combe track day since 2007. Following is an article that Peter Scatchard (Club Public Relations Officer, Upper Thames Branch LAO & Castle Combe track day organiser, which has appeared in our club magazine & in the MR2 Only Magazine
It has also been a subject of an article in the MR2 Only Magazine’s last issue.

Beauty and the Beast

About the time I was getting my 1987 T-Bar re-engined by Paul Woods, I was getting my ear bent by Richard Brett about Woodsport generally. My experiences were very satisfactory (as recounted a couple of years ago via the pages of this self-same magazine), and partly as a result of this, Richard entrusted his white T Bar to the same guy.

But no weedy AW11 engine transplant like mine for the brave Mr B – oh, no, let’s go for a V6 Camry lump, shall we? And while we’re at it, let’s make it the 3 ltr rather than the puny 2.5, okay?

Net result is 203.5bhp, with some 169 at the rear wheels, and 185 ft/lb of torque – with my basically standard mill producing maybe 130 horse at the crank, thanks to a Janspeed zorst and K&N filter, perhaps 110 at the driven wheels, that’s gotta be a very noticeable difference!

I’d heard the beast sing, indeed I’d had a two miles drive up to the M4 junction and back early in its history, and sure enough it’s different all right. But it can’t ALL be good news can it?

Noises-off from John, my partner-in-crime with our track-car, have been muttering about more power, but I’ve firmly resisted the siren-calls; “Hey, John, we’re not racing, we don’t have to BEAT anyone, we’re just having as much fun as we can within the car’s limits. More power will mean faster accidents, and almost certainly spoil the balance of the car, which is its secret-weapon, so let’s just stick with what we’ve got, huh?” I’m fearful of too-much power trying the get the car to swap ends too readily, the extra weight up the back creating massive oversteer thanks to the pendulum effect, and problems of reliably laying down a lot more power in such a small car.

Fast-forward to Castle Combe in April 2009 – Richard has track-day’ed his wagon before, but seems he wants someone else to try and break it! Well, he claims he wants to see how she goes in the hands of someone who know Combe reasonably well, and has had some race-experience, and seems I fit the bill. Oh well, if I MUST!!!

With Richard having to trog a lot more miles (and even more klicks!!) to get to CC than me, I have time for four sessions in the AW11 engined standard(ish) car.

After my sessions concentrating on instruction to my son Neil, it’s now my time to play – and in Richard’s vastly more powerful tool. 203.5 bhp against a top-end 130 horse from mine is no less than Plus 56% - should be interesting!!

Fortunately, the showers have stopped, and the track is now all but bone-dry as we trundle out on a sighting and tyre-warming lap. Hummm, pick-up is distinctly and not at-all surprisingly more rapid, which could be interesting exiting the bends! Not sure about the extra weight, it’s not really noticeable at sensible speeds, so let’s see what happens as we up the pace a bit, now I’ve started to get a feel for her and the rubber is warmer.

Exiting Camp and into the second lap, we’re now onto the fastest section of the circuit, so let’s let her rip! Errr, yes, quick she is!! And after the fastest part of the track, we’ve the dodgiest corner to cope with, the infamous Quarry Bend – trick here is to straight-line the approach from the far right-hand (inside of the clockwise track) to the initially unsighted turn-in point on the rumble-strip on the left of the track. It’s really hard braking, with a momentary lift as the car goes light over the hump that creates the un-sighing of the apex, before hard back on for another 30 yards braking still heading straight for the banking, deep into the bend before off the brakes fully to commence the right-turn to an apex point well around from where first-sight would suggest, a sort of hockey-stick bend in fact. It’s now on the power hard to drift across the track to line up for the next right-hander, the entry into the Esses chicane. I’m a little cautious of unleashing full power – remember, 202.5 is 130 + 56%!!!! The turn into the Esses is nice and neutral, no great evidence of significant extra weight in the back, then it’s a few yards diagonally through the corner, before the left-hand exit, all handled fine and dandy. Old Paddock is another right with a tightening, fast approach, flat in third, modulating the throttle gently to gain maximum traction without powering off onto the grass on the exit, back over to the right for the left-hander at Hammerdown, and the low gearing forces me to grab fourth, where in the AW11 I can JUST manage it to the braking point for the sharp right, Tower – well, perhaps it’s also the faster exit I’m achieving that requires another cog being grabbed? I’ve not time to look at the speedo, but it’s mighty quick for sure! The exit from Tower sees me giving it full wellie as my confidence has built up that the V6 is not actually going to bite that badly, then it’s hard on the brakes again very, very soon for the second chicane, Bobbies.

Now Bobbies is a much shorter Right / Left flick that the Esses, no steadying few yards of straight-lining, and here I can feel the extra weight for the first time, as the back end starts to fishtail out to the right on the swap to left-lock, but it’s very catchable, and I’ll know for next time to be a bit gentler on the wheel. Back hard on the gas, and the car flies round the slight right-hander that’s Westway, then the short straight up to Camp once more, and we’re flying – I’m grabbing fourth again where the AW11 can just get away with third, back hard on the brakes for the comparatively short turn-in to Camp, then we’re hard on the gas in third crabbing across the circuit to the left, into fourth as we line up for the little right swerve that’s Folly, and what’s this, I need FIFTH? I NEVER need fifth in the AW11, but hey, I’m never doing 120+ at the approach to Quarry (fastest in my car is about 116 at the approach to St Mary’s at Goodwood, close to the rev-limiter but still only fourth).

Come lap three, and I now have significant confidence in Richard’s Beast – this is no nervy, highly strung, temperamental mount – the power is beautifully even, no sudden steps to catch out the limits of grip, just more throttle = more power in a very predictable, even manner. More than the predictability, though, is the way the power actually forces the machine onto the track – far from losing grip, the application of more power actually enhances grip. I’ve heard Porsche owners raving on about this in 911s, and here it is in our wee machines. Pour on the power, the back simply squats down with more weight being applied right where it’s needed, over the driving wheels, but not so much that the front wheels are hoiked off the ground (as can happen in Porsches!!) so there’s still plenty of feel to the steering – result, a nice controllable drift can be set up, with the steering influenceable by both throttle and wheel – nice!!!

Back to Bobbies, I’m now aware of the extra weight up the back, so apply less but of necessity just as sudden left lock after flinging on right lock to enter the complex. Yup, that’s fine, just a matter of getting used to the feel of the car, not a problem or a fault at all. And all the way round, I’m exploiting the exit-grip the extra torque and power confers to rocket out of the bends considerably faster than in the AW11.

So, yes I liked the V6 Camry engined MR2 Mk1 a lot!! In almost every way, the car is significantly better than a standard 4-pot car, and now has the capability of even more giant-killing – our challenger was the 4.5 ltr TVR that snapped at our heels most of the session, threatening an overtake just before Quarry, before we disappeared through the rest of the circuit, for the speed advantage of the big-engined car to then claw back up to us from the exit of Camp, through the ultra-fast sweep of Folly to the braking zone for Quarry.

And as a road-car? Well, it is certainly a sweet, smooth engine, with a lovely exhaust note, much nicer than the blare of the 4-pots through a zingy Stainless zorst system; there’s plenty of torque on hand, and no trace of that over-low first and second / big jump to third feeling of the AW11 box (this is from a MK2) – the whole gearing is lower, in fact, and there are stories of people running into the rev-limiter in top!! The boot space come down a little, but it’s still reasonably usable (get a space-saver spare)

Peter Scatchard.

This car has been shown on our club stand at The Classic Car Show at the NEC in 2008 & 2009 & was a good crowd puller. I have also attended various other shows & track days, around the country.


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is it still for sale ?

Think so Kev, But he is talking of breaking it, after only a week or so for sale :o

At the weekend Richard was talking about putting it on pistonheads or ebay.

His number should be in the magazine, he doesn't always check his emails lol.

This is an amazing car he took me out in it and I was blown away, wish I had the pennies lol.

Hope that helps.