MR2 TDI Build Thread!

[lozzzzzz]

Another small update. The rough running is sorted, and I've been working on the tank.

Got it off the car:


Cut off the toyota float, and fixed the swing arm in place, then attached the TDI tank sender to get the right signal to the dials.


Then had to put it back in in a different orientation so it could still move up and down freely:


Then pulled the impella out of the fuel pump so its now effectively a pipe:


And re-assembled it:


I've got a new cam belt, water pump, oil filter, fuel filter and oil to change, then the MFA/cruise switches to wire in then the loom can finally start going into the car.



In a break from MR2 stuff….
The Scimitar ran out of tax yesterday. As a little treat, I took it up to Rhayada for a late night blast. It was a lot of fun, not another car for miles :) :) :)

Hope you like the photos. (fireworks was taken on bonfire night)








And for the grand finale (this shot took a long time and included an 11 min exposure):

[cdwood2010]

Nice work all round.

:)

[lozzzzzz]

Thanks :)

[Elmer Fudd]

Just joined the forum just for this thread, tho I'm sure I will lurk around a bit, I'm doing the same swap, I. Very much in the beginning stages, but I have both cars 91 mr2 (white aswell) and a 99 jetta tdi, so so happy to hear the tdi is smaller then the Toyota motor, that was my biggest worrie looking down at it from above it looks smaller... Anyway just wanted to introduce myself. Feel free to bounce ideas at me... Btw I'm a certified vw technician, if you need any help on that end, but you look like you have your stuff together. Happy to find someone else doing this swap.

[Grenade]

That is a great job. A TDI MR2 is as interesting as V6. So cool. Thanks for sharing!

[cdwood2010]

Hi Elmer, welcome to Twobrutal.

Get yourself a bud thread started.

:)

C.

[snowtigger]

Where's that wascle e wabbit Oooh is it wabbit season or tdi into Toyota hunting, nice to see another dirty diesel lover on here, black smoke racing lol.

[lozzzzzz]

Hello again. I've made quite a bit of progress recently but haven't really had time to post about it. Well here is a bit of an update.

I've changed the cambelt, idlers and water pump (but was disappointed to find they were in really good condition so could have saved a load of money)


I've cut of the bits I don't need leaving just the tensioned and alternator:



Next was to sort out the horrendous throttle and EGR situation. The crank case gas recirculation means that oil makes it into the inlet and the EGR means that soot gets in there too, the combination means an epic building up of black crud (you can see it in the photo below). The already small inlet pipe had 8mm of caked on crap so that was cleaned out. The EGR was welded up (using bird poo, check out that weld) and the throttle and EGR valve was binned. In fact I went further than that and cut the elbow of the manifold completely. (The throttle is only used when the engine is switched off, it creates an inlet manifold vacuum, just like in a petrol car. Less gas in the cylinders means less compression and the engine spins gently to a stop, rather than the abrupt shaking you can get with older diesels. I can live with that for more power.)


Imagine the restriction this was giving:


This is after cutting:


I then cleaned and ported the manifold a little and used the rubber hose straight onto the manifold:


All done:




I've found a 760mm belt to drive just the alternator:


Yesterday I started messing about with the intercooler to see if I could get it to fit against the MR2s side duct. The plan being to use a micro switch under the throttle to switch on the fan and pull air through the intercooler on full throttle.



Its still not perfect really, I'll keep pondering this one.

I tested to see if the throttle pedal feel was ok if I just connected up the MR2 pedal to the TDI variable resistor.


It was great, good pressure needed to push it (it just supports the weight of your foot) and a decent amount of travel (a little less than previously but still plenty for accurate control). So I welded a more permanent version into the under bonnet space.


And the last thing I got done yesterday was to attach the clutch pedal switch on to the MR2 clutch pedal (as I plan to have cruise control).


Sorry for the crap images, I was using my phone again. I'll take a better camera next time.

More to come

[cdwood2010]

Awesome work. It's amazing what you can sling in the trade for more power if you start sacrificing a few other creature comforts. Modern cars have made us soft.

Are you using the VW cruise, or just finding one to fit? I have a Lexus LS400 cruise actuator sat here if you were going down that route.



Incidentally the MR2 cruise control (fitted to US cars) is a very interesting setup. The speed sensor reports back to the cruise controller in the dash, which relays data back to the speedo, which governs the speed. Something like that anyway. I'm not sure how transplantable it is.

c.

[lozzzzzz]

CDWood,

That's very kind of you, thanks. I'm using the VAG stuff though. Apparently its quite easy to retro-fit. The TDI does not have a throttle cable to the pump, its all done electronically, so to fit cruise control doesn't require any extra hardware (except the switch). You just connect up the switch to the ECU, plug in VAGCOM and switch the software on and away you go!

Thanks again though