Diary of the build up of SW11

[Driftin_AW]

Well, I have always liked writing about what I've done for some reason, and so I am going to seek gratification by constantly posting my progress onto here. From what I can see it will be twobrutal's first live mk1.5 build. I must be so special. On a side note, anyone know who the youngest person to build a mk1.5 is? I know Carl C doesn't look all that old, think he may have me beat...
anyway, the diary:

Day 1
Wednesday 6th April

Got home from uni, a bit stuffed after the ride home, but I took the first step on my list of things to do. Started removing fuel tank. Worked on it for about an hour before it got too dark. Had to drain about 20L of petrol out of the tank which wasn?t fun. Somehow it seems every time I have to remove a fuel tank it just happens that it?s half-full! Tank is nearly out, looks like a couple of the pipes running to that evaporation chamber that runs up the firewall may still be connected, but couldn?t see anything as it was too dark. Oh well, atleast the first step has been made. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the pump swapped for the Mk3 Supra 7MGTE pump, and the tank back in.
Today I also had a chat to guy at uni that teaches us welding, he said I can come along to his advanced classes and practice for free whenever I want, what an excellent chap! Practice makes perfect and since I don't have any form of welder I don't get a whole lot of practice.

[Driftin_AW]

Day 2
Friday 8th April

Worked until 9:30 (14hr day! Knackered!) last night so no time to do anything when I got home. I had planned to finish taking the fuel tank out, but I need to get the engine out so I can sell it, the clutch, and the box to raise some funds! Not easy working only part time.
However, first big job out of the way today, pulled out the old 4agze. Took about 2 hours to get it out, into the garage and box+engine separated. There wasn?t much to do because I hadn?t finished putting it all back together since the last removal.
Unfortunately like Wednesday I didn?t start until late in the evening, it got dark quite quickly which made it tricky towards the end. Also my wicked engine trolley (24mm sheet of MDF with plastic castors on it) currently has a 1JZ on it, so I had to drag the engine out.
I had the front on jack stands and the driveway is on a slope. Bad idea, was very unstable and actually fell slightly. Fortunately we had foreseen the need for extra support and put some old wheels under the front so it didn?t fall far or do any damage. Next time I will make sure to just leave the front on it?s wheels. Also today I was lucky to be assisted by my girlfriend Heather and our flatmate Dan, which made life a lot easier.
Tomorrow someone should be coming to take away the GZE and all the parts I had gathered for the turbo swap, Also plan to swap some cars around in the driveway and get the AW11 into the garage for the rest of the swap. Will probably make up another trolley with some stronger castors (those plastic ones don?t move much once they have an engine and box on them), and with any luck I might even be picking up the sw20 donor car. If I have the engine out of the sw20 by the end of the weekend I will be very pleased. That will give me all of next week after uni/work to prepare the AW11 and the 3SGTE, with the goal to dive into the guts of the swap the following weekend, which coincidentally is the beginning of my 2 week break from university.

[Driftin_AW]

also I thought it would be interesting to keep a running total of how much money I spend on this. My goal is to actually make money out of this swap, by selling the left over parts from the sw20 and the old aw11 bits. May sound ridiculous, and I guess once I'm done we can look back in reflection and so how it went, but from what I've worked out so far it should just leave me with a few $$ in the pocket. I wont count certification csosts (approx. $350) as I would have to pay if I used either the 3SGTE or the 4AGTE, and same story with other unrelated repairs.

Anyway, cost so far:
+$200 - deposit on SW20 donor
-$350 - sold custom made tubular turbo exhaust manifold for 4AGZE

= -$150

[nik]

aarrghh words, lots of 'em...ive had a beer you know..words hurt the back of my eyes...
seriously though mate..this is a great idea.. :idea:
keep it coming..

[Paul Woods]

yes! absolutely superb,a live build! may i suggest we keep this thread clean and free from cluttered posts like people asking for the thread to be kept clutter free for example :lol:

What i mean is if someone else is reading malcolms diary last thing they want is to have to read crap posts like this one instead of the actual build!!! im as clear as mud! anyway i wont post again malcolm in the interests of keeping the thread pure,just know we are reading with baited breath!

[Driftin_AW]

encouragement on an internet forum! This is unheard of! Anyway, just got home from work and I have all afternoon to do some work. Think I will start moving cars and cleaning the garage. Will post up progress tonight (or maybe tomorrow actually, going out tonight)

[Driftin_AW]

Day 3
Saturday 9th April

Was hoping to make reasonable progress today but didn?t quite get everything done I had wanted to. What I did manage to do was to finish removing the fuel tank and swap the fuel pump for the 7MGTE one. Interestingly there is no size difference between the two, in fact the ONLY external difference was the different colours, 4AGZE one is bare metal, whereas the 7MGTE one is a dark greenish grey. They do have different part numbers, however. I also had a good clean up of the area around and inside the garage. I had planned to move all the cars around and put the AW11 into the garage, but we can?t find the key for the TA22 so we can?t move anything! Grr! Hopefully we will find it soon so I wont have to take any drastic measures. Aim for tomorrow is the get the AW into the garage and start work on removing the driver?s side engine mount and tidying things up, bashing firewalls etc. Will also try to get the fuel tank back in.

[Driftin_AW]

Day 4
Sunday 10th April

No turning back now! 2 things happened today to completely prevent me changing my mind and backing out on the creation of SW11. Firstly, at about 11am a young fellow came and took away the 4AGZE engine, loom, ecu etc and practically everything else needed to run it. He also took all the parts I had gathered for the turbo conversion. I believe it?s going to all go into an AE85? I forgot to ask but I presume it?s that, otherwise maybe an older rwd Corolla or something.
The other no-turning-back-event was that I removed the driver?s side engine mount (that?s the passenger side for all you crazy foreign LHD weirdos). Was relatively simple, at first I thought it was just spot welded but it?s also welded around the edges in a couple of spots, but that was no biggie. I used a spot weld cutter (if you didn?t know, a wicked little drill bit with a flat end for cutting spot welds, extremely useful!), a $15 angle grinder for the welds on the edges and tidying it up, a heat gun and scraper (actually a steel ruler) for removing the seam sealer, and an old Toyota factory flat head screwdriver (was discovered in the sound deadening tar in my old Corona when I dismantled it) for chiselling the mount off.
I also persuaded the front and rear firewalls to provide a bit more space in the tight areas where the turbo and intake manifold sit, with the assistance of a rubber mallet and a claw hammer. Although people have been known to get the 3SGTE in without any such alterations, I am quite specific about the position of the engine I?m aiming for, I would like to have as much room as possible to make it fit there, since I don?t really know how far forwards or backwards this is going to position it compared to other people?s swaps.
As you may recall, we couldn?t find the keys for Heather?s TA22 yesterday, well we remembered where they are. They are on the key ring with her company car?s key, at a panel beater as she was rear-ended last week. So we weren?t able to move the cars again, tomorrow she will go and get the key so we can shift the cars around. I wish someone would buy the Supra to free up some extra space!
Anyway, other goals for tomorrow are to go and talk to the local certifier to find out exactly what I?m going to have to do to keep it legal. There aren?t any emissions regulations in New Zealand yet, so it?s likely they will just want to see that the new mounts are constructed well, and that the suspension and brakes are up to the task. I?m pretty sure I will use the suspension that is on the car now, rather than using the SW20 set up in the rear like many people have. This is because the rear has KYB adjustable shock absorbers and Jamex lowered springs. The downside of this is that the current struts don?t have tabs for the rear anti-roll bar, so tabs will either have to be welded on, or clamps made to attach to the struts. I would however like to have adjustable platform suspension on SW11, so maybe I?ll look into getting the current struts converted, as such suspension modifications require certification, which would be cheaper to have done at the same time as the cert for the engine swap.
I will be putting some ST185 brakes on the front which should be sufficient to keep the certifier happy, as they are deemed good enough for a 1400+kg car with the same engine, so it should be fine on a sub 1100kg one! I would like to get some more grunt in the rear brakes too, but I might leave that until later as no plug & play option exists for them, as far as I know.
I also need to ask my mate Simon (of ESI fabrication) to get a CT26 downpipe flange cut for me, as I sure as f*ck wont be using the factor cat/downpipe.
As a final note, always use gloves when grinding! I was going to buy some leather gloves today but I left my wallet at home when I went to Mitre 10 (a hardware store) and didn?t have enough cash on me to get any! So now I have hundreds of tiny metal shavings in my hands and fingers, which is almost as bad as fibreglass.

Financial update.
Sold 4AGZE engine and parts -$800
Total cost so far -$950

[Driftin_AW]

Day 5
Monday 11th April

Did nothing on the car, but did make some progress in other areas. Went to the certifier and spoke to him about the swap. Looks like everything should be quite straightforward, he said using the original engine mounts shouldn?t be a problem if they fit, he also said that my planned brake upgrade (ST185 twin pots on the front) should be plenty, so I think things are looking promising. I also have been trying to get information of adjustable platform suspension. I would really love to be able to drop the MR2 way down so the wheels are tucked inside the guards, and then lift it up it the need arises, or to give clearance for drag radials on the odd occasion that I want to flex some SW11 muscle. I?m trying to find out whether I can use all four struts from the SW20, because then I can have them converted to adjustable platform, and sell the current set up (worth more than stock sw20 ones) to cover some of the cost.
I also finally got the keys for the TA22 and shifted the cars around. The AW11 is now sideways in my garage, which will be great once I start getting into the guts of the swap. At the moment I don?t have any particular aims for tomorrow, wont be home from uni until 4pm, then I have assignments to do and an indoor cricket game at night. If I have spare time I will put the fuel tank in, but that will probably have to wait until Wednesday. On Wednesday or Thursday I will be picking up the SW20, and that?s when the fun will really begin.

[Driftin_AW]

Day 6
Wednesday 13th April

Got the fuel tank back in today. Was definitely a lot easier than removal, and this time I didn?t get soaked in fuel! Still no SW20, the 1JZ-GTE is supposed to be going tonight which will give me the financial means to do a lot of the things I?ve been meaning to. I?ve also been contemplating using the 3SGTE and E150F (sans transfer case) to do the initial engine alignment. I don?t think it will be a very good idea though, the turbo setup is much larger than a ct26 and it wont give a true indication of how much space I have in the turbo area. Also I can only connect the passenger side driveshaft, so it won?t give a very good indication of relative shaft angles or positions.
Also had a bit of a look at the brakes today, it sure looks like the SC brake disks are the same size as the st185 ones I was planning to use, so I may in fact just put the ST185 twin pot calipers on and not worry about getting bigger disks. Maybe once I?m driving the thing, if I find that I?m out-driving the brakes then I will seriously begin looking for ST205 4 pots + big bad disks. It?s unlikely that I?ll need to though, this is going to be my (sort of) daily driver, and it?s likely I will only enter it in the occasional track day.
Anyway, hopefully I?ll be picking the SW20 up tomorrow?I really want to get cracking on this swap!