my 3rd gen 3sgte powered MRS

[02bluerolla]

THIS WAS MY OLD SET UP, IT ONLY LASTED ME 3 MONTHS DUE TO A OVERHEATING PROBLEM I COULDNT FIX.


Aug 26, 2011
I wanted to share my project with yall , it all started when I wanted a bit more power and decided to do a 2zz swap. I purchased a 2zz of craigslist and the swap kit of monkeywrench.com. After gathering all the parts and installeda new oil pump and water pump I decided to install the engine. The engine ran fine for days until it started knocking, the bearings were gone. I didnt know what to do, I could have just put back the 1zz and sell the remainig parts but I found a good deal on another 2zz on a local junk yard. Long story short that engine didn't last more then a week and the junk yard would only give me credit so I let my bro have the credit and just to pay me. At this point I was about to put the 1zz back, but my bro decide to give me the gen 3 3sgte hee had purchased from a silver a celica. We had the crazy idea to swap the 3sgte in the mrs.

stock


Wheels and coilovers


Taking down the 2zz





Our helper






Getting the 3sgte ready






3sgte is in!







Well some details about the swap. Iam using a 3rd generation wrc 3sgte with 268cams, ats cam gears, brand new toyota headgasket and arp headstuds. Everything else in the block is stock. I have a gt3071r turbo kit and also using a celica gt transmission . I tried to use every part I had available , the gt transmission works with the mrs axles . The only problem is that the shifting mechanism is facing the wrong way , a NA mk2 mr2 transmission will fix that since the mechanism is facing towards the cabin. But I don't want to buy another transmission so iam just going to transfer the mrs shifting mechanism to the gt. Is not plug and play but nothing a little welding can't fix. I know the e153 is a WAY BETTER but it is expensive, I would have to get custom axles , shifter cables a new clutch and a transmission. Hopefully the gt transmission can handle the abuse for a few months.I had to get custom mounts and cut the cross member a little bit. what am most excited about is that the ac is going to work! My previous celica didn't have ac and it was terrible . Now a small update


Some final testing fitting with the cross member on.


Wiring ready to put in


iam thinking of putting the stock wheels back


Or konig wideopen 15x8

[cdwood2010]

Hi mate!

Welcome to TB!

Epic thread for a first post I have to say! Those pics are great!

Chris.

[02bluerolla]

Well its been awhile since I updated this thread, we have been real busy fixing the bugs and taking care of small details. On the video I posted the car wouldn't turn on because the fuel pump was wired wrong but we fixed it and here it is running. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNZIfYTsh4I...be_gdata_player
The car wouldn't idle because most of the vacuums weren't connected.
Now to the pictures

I decided to clean the engine bay a bit

After a few minutes


We also had to fix and filled some of the cutting and welding we did to fit the engine, mainly were the intake manifold seats.
It got late but we needed to finish it before we put the motor back in.













The engine almost ready to go back in


Ready!



Looks stock there's no swap here !




I also got my wheels last week! Konig wideopen.

Wheel

Test fitment




Here is the 2nd time we start her up with no vacuum leaks, but at the end my phone runs out battery :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2aoG90hRAo...be_gdata_player

Right now we are almost done, we are just waiting for the front and back mounts. Hopefully the car will be done this week.


UPDATE!!

Well a late update lol. The car has been running for the past 2 weeks. When we first started up the car it would idle fine but it wouldn"t rev pass 3000 rpm. We checked everything that could possibly go wrong. Everything was good! The car sat there for few weeks until we decided to rechecked everything again. We found out that we had the wrong ecu! I think i had a gen 2 ecu idk, but i ordered a gen 3 wrc ecu and it started and rev like it should.
Next up Was the shifter cables . I had try many different cables from various toyotas and none of them work, they were either to long or to short.
so i had to get custom ones.

for 30$ each not bad


I also had to use a 91 mr2 shifter assembly. I later clean it up and painted it.





Once i was done, the car shifted fine, not like i would like to but it shifted. The shifter lost is sporty feel, idk it felt too smooth. I cant really explain it but i didnt like it. But i had to deal with it since it was the only solution i could come up with. Next came the wheels,i just had gotten some new rubber too.




I really like the wheels but like a moron i didn't research how wide i could go in the front and rear so i ended up with the front wheel poking out a bit too much....

i been thinking of buying or trading my front ones for some 15x7 enkie rpf1, but i really havent put the time and effort to do it.
Well bad luck struck and as soon as i put the car down on its 4 wheels and started it , the transmission got stuck in a gear. It turns out that i was to excited to drive the car that i forgot to put oil in the transmission :facepalm: The next day i found a transmission for 100$ in a local forum! I picked that SOB fast and started working on the mr2. After that the car has not gave me any problems. The car feels good ! Here are some recent pics after i cleaned her up. I have not pushed the car since the motor been sitting there for awhile plus i have new tires and clutch. My future mods would be putting my heat ex changer in the front instead of the back, get custom ac lines , and maybe get a power fc and a upgraded fuel system.

[quotecelicatrd93]very very nice great job guys, would be nice if you can give more detail on the swap like what mounts? axles and most hard part of the swap that would be great and yessss a video :lol: so how does it drive? what kind of numbers are you putting down the the gt30 turbo?

thanks

Well the engine is a 3rd gen 3sgte wrc from a celica st205. The engine has 268 cams, ATS cam gears, Gt3071r turbo kit, stock ecu , stock injectors, new water pump, new oil pump, new thermostat, and every single gasket was change to a new one. I left the short block alone, since iam not really shooting for high horsepower.... yet lol. For the transmission i wanted to keep it simple, i knew that E153 would required custom cv joints (axles?, idk the right term someone please correct me ) and also a different clutch kit. So i decide on the NA mr2 transmission (s54), i know its weaker but its a straight bolt on. Plus iam sure the E153 setup would of cost more then $1000, when the s54 transmission cost $100 And i can use the MRS stock cv joint (axle?). At first i was using a 95 celica gt transmission but the problem was that when i installed the shifter cables the car would shift backwards. For example when i wanted to put it in first it would go in to reverse. I tought the problem was the transmission since it came out of a fwd car, so i bought s54 from a mr2 but it was still the same. The problem was in the front, the stock mrs shifter assembly was making it shift backward. To fix it i bought a 92 mr2 shifter assembly and put spacer so it sits higher. Now the transmission didnt fit inside the engine bay so you just have to cut the crossmember a little bit and just make some space on the driver side of the engine bay to clear the transmission. The Front transmission mount is from the mrs but the transmission bracket is from a 95 celica gt rear transmission bracket. It does not line up perfect but we cut it and modified to fit perfect. The front transmission mount is from the mrs , but the transmission bracket is from a 91 NA mr2 front transmssion bracket. The bracket also had to be modified to fit, you just have to cut it a little bit so it clears the crossmember. The driver transmission mount and the passenger motor mount are fully custom. As far as power idk, i haven taken it to get dyno. I have seen similar setups make 300-320 at the wheels but on a mk2. I am planning to contact ATS real soon to see if they can dyno and tuned my car.

[/quote]

[quote name='02bluerolla' date='Feb 18, 2012 - 12:28 PM' post='951999']
New parts arrived last week so i decide to install them and since iam working on it i decided to relocate my heat exchanger .


ha the original one looks really thin compare to the new one




The fans bolted on perfectly.











And I also got my vanity plates! :D

[/quote]

[02bluerolla]

Well that was the last update i had until i notice that the car was overheating. I Drove the car to work and back home, but that usually took 5 -10 mins. It started to overheat on longer trips. :( I tried everything, changed the thermoststat twice, Bought the mr2 coolant sensor housing, bleed the coolant system over and over, i even ran it without a thermostat and nothing changed. The temperature would always stay steady around 190-200 and then slowly rise up to 220-230. The car was harder to start each day so i just stop driving it. I always suspected that i had connected the heater hoses wrong but i never was sure until recently saw a thread here.
http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/posting...e&f=7&p=356378

Next job to look at is the water pipes. First I had to work out what pipe goes where. Note that the MK3 does not have a heater return line in the engine bay (it joins the main return line in the front of the car)

What i think i did wrong was connect the blue hose in the engine bay to the yellow hose on the engine. I also block off the blue hose thats on the engine :( . What do yall think , could that cause the car to overheat?

[hmmmmm]

Nice job sofar! Welcome to the club!

I agree on the wheels, old ones look better then the black wheels. (Konig looks even better but youre going to need that money for a new gearbox :) )

[snowtigger]

The turbo engine will lunch the na box and the mk3 box is as good as chocolate frogs when loads of power is put through it, the e153 has bigger shafts ooh er, you could always get some drive shafts made to fit.

There was one other mk3 years ago that was fitting a turbo into it but whent a bit quiet.

[myers]

The turbo engine will lunch the na box and the mk3 box is as good as chocolate frogs when loads of power is put through it, the e153 has bigger shafts ooh er, you could always get some drive shafts made to fit.

There was one other mk3 years ago that was fitting a turbo into it but whent a bit quiet.

There might have been another one completed by now tiggs, i did ask this guy about 2 1/2 year ago to book my mk3 in for a 3sgte swap, have not heard anything more from him for about a year but hey ho! ( not pointing any fingers like mr woods) lol

[Paul Woods]

And the best first post of the year award goes to.....

Great stuff, your heater hose setup will not cause overheating, if you removed the stat and it still overheats i'd suspect a HG issue, definitely have a pressure test done (apply 50psi to each cylinder and watch for bubbles at the filler point).

[02bluerolla]

Hi mate!

Welcome to TB!

Epic thread for a first post I have to say! Those pics are great!

Chris.

thanks.

Nice job sofar! Welcome to the club!

I agree on the wheels, old ones look better then the black wheels. (Konig looks even better but youre going to need that money for a new gearbox :) )

Thanks, i ended buying the konigs. Im thinking of buying new tires for my stock wheels and use does daily and leave the konigs for weekends and car meets. I am saving up for a E153 but i think the s54 would do fine in the mean time. at the time a e153 setup was out of my budget. With the s54 it only cost me 100$ and i got to keep my stock axle. But i will eventually get a e153.

The turbo engine will lunch the na box and the mk3 box is as good as chocolate frogs when loads of power is put through it, the e153 has bigger shafts ooh er, you could always get some drive shafts made to fit.

There was one other mk3 years ago that was fitting a turbo into it but whent a bit quiet.

I was looking at the e153 and they are quiet expensive 800-1000 with no axles, I will get one later on though .
was it a blue one? he posted the swap on http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=29016

And the best first post of the year award goes to.....

Great stuff, your heater hose setup will not cause overheating, if you removed the stat and it still overheats i'd suspect a HG issue, definitely have a pressure test done (apply 50psi to each cylinder and watch for bubbles at the filler point).

Well The funny thing is the engine setup had almost all gaskets replaced. I got all the parts from Toyota, the headgasket,water pump, oil pump , timing belt, tensioner, thermostat and all the gaskets that came with the kit. Since i couldnt make the the stock tempt gauge work with the 3sgte tempt sensor, i bought a aftermarket sensor and gauge. with the thermostat in,, the gauge would read 190 and it would slowly start rising up to 220+. Without the thermostat it would read lower but it would eventually rise up to 220 +. Well i had that problem for about 3-4 months , i wouldnt drive the car any more. I just let it sit while i tought how to fix it. Eventually the engnine became harder to start and it started to smoke , so i tought the engine was gone and was thinking to go back to my 1zz or get another 3rd gen . fast foward to this week and i got another 3rd gen. I finish installing it two days ago ( ill post pictures later) , but without the thermostat since a new one was going take 4-5 days to get here. And to my surprise the temp stay at 165 .... but after a few min it would rise to 198-205 . I quickly shut off the car. I checked the fan and only one was working, iam going to get a new this week and check if temp rise again. Iam going see if i can do pressure test done too , il report back and post the results in this thread.

[02bluerolla]

I thought i posted the last set of pictures of the swap being finish?
Ill posted them again with the current ones of the new engine later today