Late Intro to My New Car (Mk1.5 Turbo) - Picture Heavy!

New clutch time!

All stuff disconnected from the top side of the engine, gearbox oil drained, drive shafts and hubs removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/1JPG-20.jpg

Some gearbox bolts a pig to get to from the top (under all that pipework!):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/2JPG-21.jpg

Gearbox dropped:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/3JPG-17.jpg

Old cover plate:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/4JPG-12.jpg

New clutch and cover plate on. Notice the patent pending clutch alignment tool! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/5JPG-10.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../04/6JPG-4.jpg

The actual clutch plate wasn't that worn but there was play in the release bearing and the cover plate flaps were quite 'flat', which is what was probably causing the slip.

I also changed a CV boot that needed doing and replaced a ball joint that was looking a bit tired.

It took longer than I'd planned to do it but it was a good learning exercise and I saved some good pennies by doing it myself, with a little help from friends!

New chargecooler pump fitment:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/1JPG-21.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...04/2JPG-22.jpg

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The old pump had died and so needed replacing. Thankfully I have a water temperature gauge for the charge cooler so knew the moment it had failed! I used this as an opportunity to mount the new pump properly as the old pump had just been held in place by the pipes it was feeding. This is how it was when I bought the car and had just been 'one of those jobs' that you never seem to get round to doing.

I'm glad it's done properly now though!

The pump was an auxiliary pump from a Vauxhall Frontera!

It was very easy to bleed as you could move the pump around before bolting it to the gearbox. I used the mounting holes that are used to mount the Celica ST205 chargecooler pump so it's nice and out of the way of road debris etc. I just made up a bracket out of some dexion I had laying around.

Before the summer I'll replace all the clear hose for proper radiator hose as it's wall thickness isn't the best! Saying that, it's never come close to overheating in the 2 1/2 years I've had it, but I'd rather be able to fit the proper hose and then forget about it! :)

Nice work.

I really want a ride in this car!! ;)

Brave man rolling the arches on a mk1 too. I need mine doing... 8s + coilovers don't leave much gap.

Cheers FossMan! I'm close to the point now where I can start thinking about any body modifications that I want to do before a respray. I'll be staying black as although it's a pig to keep clean, when it is clean it looks fantastic! I'd love some dishy wheels but my front brakes mean I'm very limited for choice, doh!

I'll be at JAE, Donington, Tatton etc. If the opportunity arises you're more than welcome to pop out with me for a quick blast.

Yeh, I still can't believe the tyre situation. Some 225 wide tyres must actually be 235 or 245! Let me know if you're feeling brave yourself and want to borrow the roller!

Cheers,
Tom

Right, it's been a while since I've updated this thread so thought I'd give you all a story! I've been doing odd jobs on it over the past few months and will post these up later, but for now I will tell you the story of my overheating, 3 cylinder running and head gasket change! :)

This all started about 2 months ago when I was just arriving into Beverley after having travelled from Sheffield and was making my usual progress on the country roads on the way into Beverley. I noticed the coolant temperature had shot up (I check it regularly without thinking about it anyway), so pulled up straight away. I popped the engine lid and there wasn't any steam but I could hear it pouring out from somewhere. I quickly remembered that my expansion tank was in the boot, so popped the boot lid and was greeted with a boot full of steam! Not great when your ECU is in there... anyway. I left the engine lid and boot lid up for 10-15 minutes to allow it to start cooling down. I then walked to a local motor factors to buy a new thermostat as I thought I may as well change it if I'm going to flush the coolant system out anyway. When I got back to my car I knocked on the door of a nearby house and they kindly gave me a watering can of water, which I used to top up my system and then get the car home the mile or so back to my mums house. This was all on a Tuesday afternoon and I had already booked the week off work with the plan to get loads of odd jobs around the house done.

So Wednesday morning came and I removed what I thought was the thermostat housing, only to find that it was just a water junction. I then checked on the Internet and found the proper location of the thermostat housing and proceeded to remove the thermostat. Then I found out that the one the motor factors had given me was way too small. So, I walked down to the motor factors and went through their parts system manually specifying a 1992 MR2 turbo. They didn't have the thermostat required in stock so I ordered one to arrive on the Thursday. I walked back home and set about wiping down the boot area and removed the expansion tank also. I scoured my garage and luckily found an expansion tank from another car that would just sit in the only gap left in my engine bay. I then went out again to buy some brackets to make a mount for it. I'd organised for Kris and Alison to visit Beverley to matt black my car (a great idea at Tatton!), but it was slightly windy when they arrived and due to the now higher priorities of my car we decided to just spend an afternoon going around the great pubs of Beverley.

Thursday morning came and I went straight down to the motor factors once they'd called me to let me know the part was in, but as soon as I arrived the bloke on the counter said "nah mate, this one's too big"... great, I was thinking. So, they ordered yet another one in, off a celica gt4 this time for the afternoon. I went to the pub for a couple of hours as by now I was sick of walking to and from the motor factors. Went back and they yet again hadn't got the right one. We then decided to go for a thermostat that they did have in stock that was from a camry or a lexus that was the correct diameter but not as long; I just wanted to get the car up and running again! I got home and decided to make a fresh start Friday morning.

Friday morning came and I installed the thermostat, flushed the coolant through and got the car up to temperature. Everything was going well until I noticed some steam coming from the joint of the water elbow that I'd first dismantled originally! I let the car cool down and then unbolted the housing... no o-ring or gasket... that's strange. Okay, a quick check on the internet and I have the part number, so order one from Toyota Sheffield.

I then get the train back from Beverley to Sheffield and spend the week walking to work. Come the weekend I get the train back to Beverley with o-ring in hand. I take a look at the water housing and I can't see how this o-ring is going to be held in place. I decide it'll be best to clean up the two mating surfaces. As I'm sanding away I notice most of the bottom surface is turning silver as you'd expect, apart from a black ring that's steadily appearing! This turned out to be the o-ring, which must have been the original as it was flush with the surface and can't have been giving much of a seal at all. I pick out the old o-ring and install the new one; happy days! Re-do the coolant bleeding procedure, checking for any leaks, none.. great! :)

So I take it out for a test drive and it's all running great. I then pull up at a petrol station and stick a tenner's worth of fuel in. Minutes after leaving the petrol station it loses all it's power. Temperature gauge and all other signs seem okay but it had no torque or power at all and sounded like a bag of nails. I pull up down a side street and after a bit of checking discover that it's running on three cylinders. So, I take the car home and check ht leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm, spark plugs, ignition coil, ignitor etc. All fine... hmm... aha, perhaps it's the ECU that's fried due to the steam! So, on to IMOC I go and buy one from a member. Off to Sheffield I go for another week of walking to work before again heading back to Beverley at the weekend on the train.

I fit the new ECU, reconnect the battery and turn the key... still three cylinders! Argh!

What else could it be? Faulty injector I think now. I check that there is voltage getting to each of the injectors, yes! I check that there is continuity from each injector back to the ECU, yes! It MUST be the injector on cylinder 4. So, I limp the car to Sheffield on 3 cylinders taking it steadily as I was planning on removing the fuel rail and having the injectors cleaned and tested. On the Monday or Tuesday night I remove the injectors and get a lift from someone to take them to the cleaning place. They come back the next day but haven't been cleaned because their machine wouldn't do side feed injectors. Although, they had tested them and said they were fine for resistance and the solenoids were all operating. Hmm.. the mystery deepens!

Then I come across a few posts on IMOC having the same issue and it was being causing by a faulty injector resistor pack. So a quick phone call to Pete Gidden at SBits and I'm round there like a shot with my tools. About 30 minutes later and a few swear words I've swapped over the injector resistor pack. Turn the key... BOOM, all four cylinders, yes!!!

However, I've not had chance to see if the original overheating issue is resolved. So, I test it carefully over the next few weeks and find it's pushing coolant out into the expansion tank. I end up changing the thermostat for an official Toyota one, which makes no difference. Try bleeding it a million times, which makes no difference. Okay, okay, it's the head gasket. So I start planning on all the parts I need and order them all from TCB Parts (Toyota didn't have any stock in Europe!), ready to start work two Mondays ago. I had a week off so thought it'd be no problem getting it done!

On to some pictures :)

Work started on Monday 27th August and I made good progress:

Parts removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../09/1JPG-1.jpg

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Inlet manifold, exhaust manifold and turbo removed along with cambelt and a shed load of other things!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../09/4JPG-1.jpg

Cam cover off.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../09/5JPG-1.jpg

That was the end of Monday. It's very tight working on the 3sgte engine in a mk1 and as well as being systematic I ran in to some tricky bolts and clips along with shearing some exhaust manifold head studs. It was also drizzling all day, which didn't help! I decided to go back Tuesday morning to finish it off:

Head off.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../09/6JPG-1.jpg

Carbon deposits on cylinder #4 from running on 3 cylinders.

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Cylinder #3 for comparison.

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Manky gasket residue.

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Cruddy looking gasket. There were no visible cracks in the ring walls of the gasket but it looked pretty buggered.

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Valves.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/13JPG-1.jpg

#4 cylinder.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/14JPG-1.jpg

#3 cylinder.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/15JPG-1.jpg

End plate, cam pulleys and cambelt tensioner removed. Now ready to take to get engine shop to surface grind the head!

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So, that's Tuesday afternoon that I took the head to the engine shop. I also took the exhaust manifold as one of the heat shield bolts had sheared, so I needed that drilling and tapping. For the head, I was wanting it surface ground along with removing 2 sheared studs and again, drilling and tapping if necessary. They said it'd be back Thursday morning, which turned into Thursday lunchtime. However, they only had one Toyota spec stud, ie. fine thread. So I had to order some through Pete at SBits.

Seeing as it was my holiday and was hosting a party with my girlfriend that night, we decided to actually have a rest for a couple of hours rather than treck across to her parents' house in Sheffield. On the Tuesday or Wednesday I ordered some extra gaskets such as they turbo to exhaust manifold gasket, throttlebody gasket and the hose from hell. The hose from hell is an infamous part amongst mk2 turbo owners that is nie on impossible to change without the turbo and exhaust manifold coming off, so I thought I'd change it while I was there. Mine was looking a bit worse for wear anyway.

Friday came and it was lunchtime again by the time the parts had come in at Toyota and we'd got over to the car. It was raining on and off again and was heavier than Monday. However, I managed to get the block face and pistons cleaned up along with fitting the hose from hell. A bugger to fit and align as it has a sheath around it, which makes moving it about tricky. Here's some pics of Friday 31st's progress:

Where did my engine go? :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/17JPG-1.jpg

Shiny new gaskets.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/18JPG-1.jpg

Block face cleaned up.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/19JPG-1.jpg

Pistons cleaned up as well.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/20JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/21JPG-1.jpg

Shiny head back from the engine shop. They removed and replaced the valve shims and buckets as I'd forgotten/didn't realise that you had to remove them.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/22JPG-1.jpg

You can't really make it out but the finish was a perfect mirror finish!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/23JPG-1.jpg

Saturday morning we drove to Bristol for the weekend, returning on Sunday afternoon.

I had a very busy week at work with meetings Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It was JAE at the weekend and so I booked Wednesday off work to finish off the job. I'd got to Pete's yet again to pick up some odd final bolts and nuts and was ready. Here's the work from last Wednesday:

More parts to go on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/24JPG-1.jpg

Shiny rev3 metal head gasket; this one won't go!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/25JPG-1.jpg

Head on and bolted down.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/26JPG-1.jpg

Cams installed.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/27JPG-1.jpg

End plate on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/28JPG-1.jpg

Cam timing marks.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/29JPG-1.jpg

Inlet manifold installed (along with loads of vacuum pipes and electronics underneath.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/30JPG-1.jpg

Fuel rail, injectors and throttle body installed along with more pipes.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/31JPG-1.jpg

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That was all I could do on Wednesday as the Toyota head gasket set that I'd bought didn't include a gasket for the oil drain/feed from/to turbo, argh! A quick phone call to Pete and he put an order in with Toyota. My plan was to finish it off and test drive it on Thursday night and then get to JAE on the Friday night.

Well... that was the plan. Toyota didn't deliver the part to Pete and so I had to call off going to JAE! :( However, this at least meant I could take my time on Saturday and make sure it was all put back together perfectly. The gasket arrived on Friday and so I made a final trip up to see Pete. One other odd thing I noticed was that my intake cam didn't have a dowel installed for the cam to go on. I did manage to get the cam timing perfect without it but thought if I've gone this far I may as well make the effort to finish it off properly.

So Saturday came and my first hour was used to strip back the throttle body and attached metal brackets/supports, remove the cam cover, cam belt, cam belt tensioner and cam gear just to install a bloody dowel, lol. With that done and put back together I carried on with the job.

Turbo installed loosely so that the exhaust manifold can be wiggled on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/34JPG-1.jpg

Exhaust manifold and turbo all on with new gaskets.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/35JPG-1.jpg

HT leads, turbo heat shield, downpipe and o2 sensor installed.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/36JPG-1.jpg

Soldered on new alternator loom plug as old one was fubared.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/37JPG-1.jpg

Cut off unused brackets from chargecooler, painted it and lagged it with aluminium tape. (I've now received and brand new Celca GT4 sticker plate to finish off the chargecooler)

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Alternator bracket, oil filter, alternator and belt installed and tensioned.

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Chargecooler in!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/41JPG-1.jpg

Pretty much done!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...09/42JPG-1.jpg

I then fitted the exhaust and one of the bloody hanger brackets broke off so couldn't test drive it as it's just held on on that side with a tie wrap for the time being. I've had a mk2 exhaust ready to be fabricated to fit my car for a while, so that will hopefully be getting done this Saturday. It needs to be done by the MOT expiry a week on Friday anyway!

I topped up all the fluids and after cranking it a few times with the EFI fuse removed to make sure there was a bit of oil all around the system, she fired up first time! Woo! :) I ran it up to temperature and there were no visible leaks, but there'll be more testing this weekend.

I got home at about 8:30pm on Saturday and had a relaxing evening, although I had to prepare my clothes and stuff ready for going on a training course in London this week. Fun, fun, fun!

So, the plan now for Saturday is to double check for leaks and check fluid levels before driving it down to the exhaust centre to get the mk2 exhaust fabricated on. Then I just need to fit a new rear drivers side brake caliper as the handbrake mechanism was sticking on (I disconnected it 6 or 7 weeks ago as it was dragging).

Apart from that I can't think of anything that should need doing, but it'll be nice to put some miles on it before the MOT to check for anything silly.

Well, I got a bit carried away there but I know a few of you guys have heard mixed bits of information so thought I'd try and give the full picture. I'm sure there's stuff I've missed out but I'm glad I persevered with it!

Roll on full boost! :)

Any questions, praise or sympathy, please feel free!

Over and out!

Cheers,
Tom

Great post tom. It shows that anyone can do it if they have the right tools and some patience! Well done mate

what took you so long tom :lol: , excellent write up mate and hats off to you for top job done :clap:. a major strip down not for the amateur do it your self person , you have skills mate well done and saved your self a fortune in the progress , happy days

gary

Test drive went well. Had such a grin on my face!

Unfortunately the exhaust centre weren't willing to give me a fixed price on modifying the mk2 exhaust to fit my car. However, I've booked it in for Thursday to have a complete system built from scratch :) Got to treat the old girl every now and then!

Will just fit the new brake calliper today then get it booked in for MOT tomorrow or Tuesday to find out if it needs anything other than the exhaust doing to pass. Hopefully it doesn't then I'll re test it on Friday once the exhaust is fitted and join you guys on the peaks run, woo woo!

Tom theres a place near me that will mod your exhaust for you. What make exhaust is it?

Hi Dave,
cheers for the tip. However, the exhaust place have quoted me £365 for a complete stainless steel system that is brand new, built to my spec and comes with a lifetime warranty. A good price I thought.

It might cost me at least a hundred quid plus petrol plus what I paid for the mk2 exhaust to get it modified, so for an extra hundred quid or so I can get a bespoke system :)

I'll be selling the mk2 exhaust now. It's a Mongoose mk2 turbo exhaust. Let me know if you're interested for your 1.5.

I'll post up pics of the new system once it's fitted.

Cheers,
Tom

PM me a price Tom if its the same as the one that was nicked from my garage by the pykeys i will be interested

Well I've got my car back and it's failed on a couple of things:

-New front brake pipes left and right - a little bit more than surface corrosion so having them replaced
-New front tyres (tread is fine in the centre but sides are worn out from cornering ) - putting new ones on
-Little bit of welding needed behind the rear corner triangle on the near side

Plus of course, exhaust and handbrake but they're both being taken care of by moi! I discovered that it was the brake cable that had seized, but the caliper could have done with changing anyway. New cable arrived this morning so I'll fit that tonight after work.

Not too bad overall considering it's my daily driver and get's used in all weathers.

Well, I had a rather interesting journey on Wednesday night!

Car was driving fine, when all of a sudden it felt like it was tram lining really badly, or perhaps a binding brake? I limped it onto a side road and found my rear nearside wheel was at a strange angle. Something obviously wasn't right... I managed to borrow a jack and wheel brace off someone in a house close by and took the wheel off, only for the hub nut along with a bit of CV joint spline fall out! A quick check around the rear of the hub confirmed the CV joint was indeed free and easy. Usual AA story ensued... they insisted on sending a man in a van first, even though I told them the rear wheel was hanging off! Anyway, he arrived and decided against towing it backwards on the back of his van due to the front spoiler. He then ordered a low loader, which turned up quite quickly. I had to stop him from putting his towing hook onto the bumper bar eye! He didn't believe me at first, but finally he listened to me and used the proper hook attached to the chassis underneath the front. Anyway, got it home fine.

Today I got the car jacked up and took the drive shaft out and as it was now quite clear that the wheel bearing was fubared too, I removed the hub as well; pics below!

Gearbox oil drained and hub and drive shaft removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../05/3JPG-1.jpg

Hmm, what's missing from this picture?

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Ah... this!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../05/6JPG-1.jpg

Pinball anyone?

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../05/5JPG-1.jpg

I'm very thankful this didn't happen on a motorway/dual carriage way or also while I'm away in Europe in the summer on a 2500 mile road trip!

Just ordered a new wheel bearing and had already ordered a pair of CV joints. I'm going to change the offside one just to be on the safe side!

In other news, some new shiny rotors and pads arrived! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../05/1JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../05/2JPG-1.jpg

I'll give an update once it's all back together! :)

Cheers,
Tom

Just had a wheelbearing replaced on mine, very glad I did now!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by benedwards64

Just had a wheelbearing replaced on mine, very glad I did now!

---

Yeh, Ben, too right!

I'm not sure which part caused the other to fail or whether it was just a combination of age, fatigue and having the 3SGTE in the back.

Anyway, I'm safe, the car is safe, and all the parts needed are en route! :)

Well, after being told that I should buy an ST185 CV joint, I went out and bought 2 (thought I'd do the other side too to be safe).

After trying several techniques to get the old out joint off, out came Gary the grinder! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/7JPG-1.jpg

When I went to build up the shaft, the ST185 joint was too small... hmm... interesting!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/8JPG-1.jpg

Annoyingly, I'd already packed the joint with grease, but thankfully EuroCarParts accepted both joints back with a full refund, even with me returning them outside of the 28 day returns policy; champion!

After a bit of searching over on twobrutal, I found someone that had had a similar issue. They said that you should buy an ST165 CV joint. I then found on another thread on twobrutal that Ollie had bought a CV joint from TCB Parts (part no. CTY45016E). However, this part is listed as fitting both ST185 and ST165 Celica's... hmm... the mystery continues. Anyway, I ordered one joint to see what it's like and bingo! It fits! :) (I ordered it from http://www.redlinecarparts.com/ at a very good price!).

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/9JPG-1.jpg

What I can only assume is that there must have been some crossover ST185's and then later revisions changed their CV joints. Unless certain motor factors have goofy parts directories. Anyway, I was a happy boy. I also changed the inner CV boot as this was split.

Once I'd confirmed that this was the correct part, I ordered another 2; one for the other shaft and the third as a spare.

Next, onto fitting it, which turned into a bit of a pig of a job.

A word of advice, do this from underneath the car so that you can get a good hold on the shaft to slide it in and then wiggle it to get the retaining ring compressed and in. If you don't do this, you'll struggle. Basically, I tried for 40 minutes doing it without being under the car and once under the car (with the lower wishbone removed), it took 30 seconds!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/12JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/13JPG-1.jpg

While I was under there and as the hub had been off too, I treated the old girl to some twos'r'us rear tie bars.

Bottom arm removed to help access for the CV joint install and also to loosen up the bolts ready for the geometry getting done:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/1JPG-1.jpg

So glad I went for a 3 piece exhaust when I got the custom one made up. It makes access a lot easier to manage:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/2JPG-1.jpg

New tie bar vs old. I set the new one the same length as the old one before fitting:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/3JPG-1.jpg

And fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/4JPG-1.jpg

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Tie bar end fitted to the hub:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/6JPG-1.jpg

The other part of the exhaust:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/7JPG-2.jpg

Filling the gearbox oil (the funnel I picked up at Tatton was perfect! :)) using 12mm ID, 15mm OD tubing. It took around 2.7 litres at first and then I jacked the front of the car up so that it was level. It took nearly half a litre more! Around 3.2 litres in the end:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/8JPG-2.jpg

Then I re-fitted the bottom arm and torqued everything up etc.

Cheers,
Tom

My turbo oil seals have been gone for quite a while now, but I've just been managing my driving style and keeping an eye on oil levels. However, with my European road trip quickly looming (I'll start another thread on this, but check out http://www.spa2013.co.uk for basic info), I decided it was time for a new turbo.

I got lucky on eBay about 8 months ago. I spotted a CT26 turbo that was listed as being a standard turbo taken off a Celica. However, on looking at the size of the compressor wheel, it was obvious this was a hybrid. I managed to win the auction for £112 including postage! If it's what I think it is (confirmation to follow) it's a stage 2 CT26 that should cost about £1k to buy off the shelf. I was taking a chance fitting it as the seals could be totally shot, but I was happy with the condition of it and there was very little shaft play, so I thought balls to it.

So, the car got packed with tools as I had reserved my girlfriend's parents' driveway for the weekend. I've been having to do most of my jobs on the roadside since I moved houses in Sheffield a year or so ago, but for bigger jobs I prefer to do them off the road for safety and convenience.

So, here is the car as it stood just after lunchtime today:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/1JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/2JPG-2.jpg

I jacked it up, removed the wheels for easier access underneath and went at it. Charge cooler off (as with practically any job on my engine), exhaust, heat shield and down pipe removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/3JPG-2.jpg

(the moisture on the manifold is penetrating/lubricating spray)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/5JPG-2.jpg

Manifold off. The alternator and bracket had to be removed to allow the manifold to come off, which added a bit of time onto the job, grr! :):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/6JPG-2.jpg

Turbo out after much jiggling. A distinct void at the back of my engine!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/7JPG-3.jpg

Old turbo vs new:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/8JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/9JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/10JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/12JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/11JPG-1.jpg

As you can see, it's not only an improvement in performance terms, but also condition! I'll probably sell the old turbo on as it would make a good refurbishment job due to it being a mild hybrid.

I removed the old gaskets and cleaned up the mating faces for the oil and water pipes on the new turbo as well as liberally applying copper grease to all stubs on the turbo and manifold before refitting:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/13JPG-2.jpg

Downpipe and exhaust centre section refitted along with water and oil pipes connected using new gaskets and mikalor clamps:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/14JPG-1.jpg

I'd always found it a bit silly that you could only get to one of the two bolts that hold on the lambda sensor, which meant if you wanted to change it you would have to remove charge cooler etc etc. just to get to one bolt. So out came Gary the grinder for a brief bit of fun:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/15JPG-1.jpg

Everything else refitted, checked and checked again. Just filling the oil and topping up the coolant:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/16JPG-1.jpg

Then after removing the EFI fuse so that I could prime the turbo with oil by cranking the engine ten or so times, it was time to refit the fuse and fire her up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRwDdnQMoFI

I didn't fit the exhaust as I've got more jobs planned for tomorrow, including fitting a new offside CV joint and tie bar. It sounds quite naughty I think you'll agree!

I checked underneath for leaks, but everything was bone dry, which is always nice!

Right, time for a BBQ and a beer! (Plus bubbly as it's my anniversary with the girlfriend - 15 months.)

As always, thoughts, questions etc. welcomed! :)

Cheers,
Tom

That's awesome tom

Just wish mine would start now

Looking forward to seeing this at silverstone :)

Looks good Tom, I bet you are glad it is back on the road.

Cheers guys!

Yes Tommy, very pleased to have had it back on the road again. However, yesterday didn't go quite as smoothly... :)

Firstly, I removed everything on the right hand side rear and it soon became clear that the wheel bearing on this side was fubared also!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZNRMxuMFdA

There was virtually no play until I took the hub nut off! I'll be checking the fronts too, but hopefully these'll be okay as they don't have as much load going through them.

So, off came the hub along with the bottom arm to loosen off the adjusting nuts. This proved tricky as the captive style nut that holds in one of the lower arm bushes was rounded and the metal hook that's meant to grip onto the bodywork was bent also. This meant a very careful operation with the grinder to remove the nut.

I then set about the CV joint on this side with Gary. I did it this way as I knew it worked and I also didn't fancy paying for another refill of gearbox oil by removing the drive shaft:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/1JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/2JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/3JPG-3.jpg

I decided to leave doing the front discs (and all the other jobs I have to complete in the next couple of weeks) for another day, so have today ordered a rear wheel bearing and a lower ball joint, as I thought I may as well change it while everything was off. I'm also just going to phone Toyota to get two new bolts and nuts with the captive hooks, as I don't fancy having to struggle with the other side in a few years time.

Just an additional word on the CV joints I'm using. I had bought some brand new Mk1 hub nuts and castellated caps to treat the old girl, but they didn't fit these joints as they were too small. This can only be a good thing as the new joints I'm putting on have a thicker spline. They come in a kit that includes a flanged nut and castellated cap, so nothing more to buy.

I'll remove the inner boot on this side and regrease the joint then fit the new outer joint when I go over one night this week.

Cheers,
Tom

Nuts and bolts ordered from Toyota... ouch! :o

oh you have been bisy.. some things never go to plan...
yeah toyota expensive but worth it..

Yeh, I'm hoping the parts turn up quickly as I'm taking the blue car off the road for the year at the weekend, so need the black one fully functional again! :)

I'll post pictures of my shiny Toyota nuts and bolts up when I pick them up on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Tom

Good work Tom. I hope to see this on a run someday.

wow :)

can't believe you've had so much go wrong. having said that i would've changed the lot when i'd got it - just for peace of mind more than anything - i did it with this mk1 - bushes, arb's, droplinks etc.........

hope that you're troubles are at an end so you actually enjoy driving it as opposed to fixing it :)

Cheers, I think, snoball. :)

To be fair to it, it's been my daily driver for nearly 2 years and did about 12k miles in the 2 years previous to that so it certainly gets used. I've had it for 4 years now so don't mind spending a bit on maintenance as well as upgrades. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on the wheel bearings every 6 months or so now though. The 3SGTE must contribute to wearing them out, but it could just be down to the age of them also.

It'll certainly be getting driven in August! 2500 miles around Europe through France, Switzerland, Italy, back into Switzerland, France and Belgium ending up at the F1 at Spa and also popping across to the Nurburgring! :D

Cheers,
Tom

i didn't realise you'd had it that long - sorry. things do wrong - but reading this it just seems to be one thing after another so enjoy your trip cos you've definitely earnt it :)

loved reading this thread though - so much practical info that can be used by other members thankyou - i for one will be doing more at home than i currently do :)

I've had many smiles in between the jobs and I've done all of the big jobs that should see it good for many years to come now.

Cheers for the comments. I've taken a lot of useful information from Internet forums during my ownership of MR2's and am always thoughtful to include part numbers and hints and tips where possible. I'm pretty much self taught, so, so long as you have some common sense and a mechanical mind, there should be nothing stopping you! :)

I should have another update after tomorrow night; hoping to do front discs and a few other jobs also while I'm waiting for the bearing and ball joint to arrive.

Cheers,
Tom

Right, well Wednesday night was a mixed bag. I checked the front hubs and only the nearside front had some very slight play with a dry-ish sounding bearing, but I thought, I've changed everything else, so what's one more bearing, so whipped that hub off. I also split the bells from the rotors, but found that the bells were quite badly oxidised. Anyway, on with the pics!

Worn disc ready to be stripped:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/1JPG-4.jpg

New vs old (notice the change in design from a ring to tabbed design - this also meant that the tolerances for the lip of the bell were much tighter):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/2JPG-4.jpg

Oxidisation on the bell - this is meant to be a clean 90 degree lip! (This was the one that had been worked on first as well...)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/3JPG-4.jpg

Anodised, but in need of some love:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/4JPG-2.jpg

Bungee cords to the rescue:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/5JPG-3.jpg

After doing some reading up on how to shift the very stubborn oxidisation, I though I'd give the "boil in 1 part vinegar to two parts water for 30 minutes" method a shot! (Yes, I'll be using that stew pot at Silverstone next weekend! :D)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/6JPG-3.jpg

It did a great job (pic to follow), and only took about 10 mins with a gasket scraper after I'd rinsed the bells clean with water to neutralise them to get them ready for the new rotors. Speaking of which, some brake comparisons against standard Mk1b discs (These were off my blue Mk1; reason to follow! :)):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/7JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/8JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/9JPG-3.jpg

So, that was Wednesday and a bit of Friday night taken care of. More to follow...

So, as I mentioned, the nearside front hub had some play and a slightly dry sound bearing, so I bought a new bearing and left it with a local garage on Friday. They were mad busy on Friday, so I picked it up yesterday morning after receiving a call saying "we can't do it"... great, I thought. I'd also left them the rear right hand hub with a new bearing to do, which they did do as requested. So, off I went in the blue car to pick up the hubs. Well, it turns out that it wasn't through any sort of lack of tools or ability that the bearing couldn't be changed in the front left hub, but the fact that 16 tonnes of pressing power weren't enough to budge the old bearing!... hmm, I thought.

That's when the blue car came to mind... I was (and have since) taking it off the road this weekend, so took up the great idea of swapping the front left hub assembly from it onto my black car. It was mostly a joy to do as the blue car has done <70k miles, but I did run into a couple of issues. One being that the track rod end was so hard to get out that the nut that I was using to protect the thread from the hammering had gripped itself hard onto the thread. This meant some very very careful grinding to remove the nut and leave the thread intact as I had to drive the blue car home to Beverley today to lay it up until next year. The other element I'd discounted was the fact that standard Mk1's have dust shields for the front brakes... hmm, and I've had experience of those pesky torx headed bolts before. They nearly always round, but alas, a miracle, all 3 came out with ease! The dust shield was in great condition (see pics), and so it felt a slight shame to (sympathetically) grind it off, but besides from removing the stub axle from the hub, you can't get them off any other way.

Other jobs done on Saturday were the fitting of the new rear outer cv joint and hub assembly, all except for the new twos'r'us tie bar.

Anyway, more pics:

Blue car wheel arch (very clean!):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/2JPG-5.jpg

Dust shield:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/3JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/4JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/5JPG-4.jpg

New CV joint fitted, all greased and with new a new boot and clips:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/6JPG-4.jpg

New lower ball joint fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/7JPG-5.jpg

Funky nut and bolt from Toyota from the lower suspension arm to replace the one that had rounded off!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/1JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/8JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp.../07/9JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/10JPG-2.jpg

All tidied away just in the nick of time to enjoy my girlfriends' brothers birthday celebrations! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imp...07/11JPG-2.jpg

I'm very aware that my 1.5 will be doing 2.5k miles around Europe in just over 2 weeks time, but I reckon I only have another 3-4 hours work to get her on all fours. Then, it's a case of four wheel laser alignment, new tyres and some more jobs! :)

Cheers,
Tom

Jobs to do:

• Fix leaky boot (drip from inlet manifold into boot access panel)
• Fix leaky drivers side pillar (not very bad at all, possible just perished pipe connecting onto the sunroof drain hole)
• Change front brake discs (nearly done)
• Fit rear vent and box off air filter in the boot (got to take Gary to my baby!... scary!)
• Fit new rear tie bars (half done)
• Get geometry done
• Fit new front wheels (will be done with new tyres, so ten mins work)
• Re-fit passenger seat (five mins work)
• Sand and paint rear arches (just so she looks pretty in the holiday pictures)
• Paint front bumper (same as above)
• Fix rattling sunroof (a 'nice to have', seeing as we're doing 2.5k miles in 3 weeks)
• Fix nearside front wheel catching (just the arch liner slightly catching; hopefully a two min fix)
• Fit car stereo (the girlfriend has requested music, so I have bought a stereo, but have to find somewhere to fit it! - my stereo area is taken up with gauges)
• Fit temperature gauges (optional inlet temperature gauge - not really necessary for the trip; just a job I've had on my list for a while and have all the stuff for)
• Finish rebuilding rear right hand side
• Refit front left hand hub etc.
• Refit exhaust

Parts to order/buy:

• Ducting and clamps for air filter extension (not too painful on my wallet)
• Aluminium sheet for air box in the boot (not too painful on my wallet)
• 4 x tyres (Yokohama AD08 225/45/16 and 195/45/16 or 205/55/16) (very painful on my wallet)

This is the list as of tonight...! :D

Cheers,
Tom

Good work Tom
Like me being self taught picking bits up where I can
Nicely list of bits to do there
I need to make a list like hat but once it's running, I have another coil so fingers crossed


I do like the mk1 in black and I bet it's gonna be great fun

Reminde me is yours rev1 ? Charge cooler? Standard / modified?

Hi Pete,

Cheers for the comments.

Mine is currently the below engine spec:

• Rev 2 turbo engine
• Hybrid CT26 Turbo (possibly stage 2)
• Blitz electronic boost controller
• HKS FCD
• Apexi RSM (to remove the speed limiter)
• Celica ST205 Chargecooler
• Decatted
• Custom stainless exhaust
• LSD Gearbox
• Rev 3+ metal head gasket
• K&N air filter

Also, when I get chance, I have all the items to do the Rev3 conversion on it.

Yup, it's a great car to drive and hopefully after all this work, it'll be better than ever. I'm going to get some more work done on it tonight; fingers crossed the weather stays good and I get a good 3-4 hours on it after work.

Cheers,
Tom

I've been meaning to ask, have you wired up your chargecooler level sensor?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chief44

I've been meaning to ask, have you wired up your chargecooler level sensor?

---

Hi there,

Nope, I haven't. I have got a water temperature sensor on it though to check for pump failure. It's never lost any coolant in the time that I've had it.

Cheers,
Tom

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tommundy

Hi Pete,

Cheers for the comments.

Mine is currently the below engine spec:

• Rev 2 turbo engine
• Hybrid CT26 Turbo (possibly stage 2)
• Blitz electronic boost controller
• HKS FCD
• Apexi RSM (to remove the speed limiter)
• Celica ST205 Chargecooler
• Decatted
• Custom stainless exhaust
• LSD Gearbox
• Rev 3+ metal head gasket
• K&N air filter

Also, when I get chance, I have all the items to do the Rev3 conversion on it.

Yup, it's a great car to drive and hopefully after all this work, it'll be better than ever. I'm going to get some more work done on it tonight; fingers crossed the weather stays good and I get a good 3-4 hours on it after work.

Cheers,
Tom

---

thats a good list... i take it that it does go well.. i have only ever been in 1 1.5 and that was a long time ago now...
can't wait to try mine out..
ill have rev2 engine rev3 metal head gasket, de-cat, induction and exhaust,,, WMS front brakes

i will soon want boost controller and FCD

but first i wand rear ARB, Poly bushe, and maybe coilovers..