A new year and a new project!

[wpg81]

A common problem on this sw20 chassis is that the front sway bar tears out of the mountings/floor. This car has had a poor repair once in its life already. Some one had tried to electic weld it but all it did was blow holes and bird shit as the metal is so thin. So a friend told me to make up some plates and he would oxy weld it. Using this technique allows it to slowly heat and weld rather that short sharp heat. Just have to watch the heat transfer dose not burn the carpet. lol in was sending smoke signals but saved it.

[wpg81]

I will add a fue more photos of the front. The rear end is next to sort out but I have to get some other hubs as one had the ball joint bolts cross threaded and other side had a lot of hub movement.

[wpg81]

I picked up a set of rear hubs to replace the worn and damaged ones on the car. Instead if having the chance of future problems I decide that I would put new wheel bearings in now. This also allows me to clean and paint everything as separate parts. This turned out to be a bit of a pain as one hub decided to give the press a little curry.
With the hub all rebuilt all the trailing arms and toe links bushes were checked cleaned painted and reassembled. New ball joints, new break rotors, new break pads,new wheel studs and new sway bar adjustable end links were all fitted up. The cv drive shafts gave me a little issue as well. Dc2 cv are said to fit but the drivers side was slightly to large so I ended up with one from a hybrid civic. I don't think it will hold much power at all but will allow me to move the car until I can sort a better solution.

[wpg81]

Just as I was finishing up the rear suspension the parts for the remainder if the dash turned up! Perfect timing to move back to finishing of the dash.

[wpg81]

Dash cluster part two. As I said last up date I received the remainder of parts needed to complete the dash. I sourced some prosport gauges from prime drivin in the USA as I was getting some stuff from them anyway. They are a cheaper full digital type gauge with visual and audio alarm and a clean tinted look. I'm quite happy with this so far!
The pilot lights are from blue wire in SA and are also just a neat clean product at a good price. Fitting was not just a case of a quick drill and done. To avoid damage to the carbon I was told the best way was to reverse the drill and proceed slowly! I used an under sized hole saw bit and then due to the concaved face I had to hand sand it to size. This was a tedious task but I got the result I was wanting.

[wpg81]

I have begun to wire up and integrate the pilot lights to work off the factory wires and Honda/hondata wiring but as I write this I am in the airport on my way to Perth racing the ute again. After the race weekend I am staying in WA for a week. So stay tuned for part three wiring the dash.

[wpg81]

I thought I would share a fue pics of the super ute that I work on. Unfortunately it was a real tough weekend! The guys doing the pre race preparation missed some damage to the turbo from the accident from Adelaide. Credit to the guys as the repair was huge and very rushed just to make the train ride over and they did a great job but missed one little thing.

This should not have been a problem except the replacement turbo supplied was a lower spec and had some small demension deference's. We must use the supplied unit and must not modify it in anyway.This gave us no end of problems and just finishing one of three races was the best we could do.

We were later issued an apology and they confirmed the turbo was not up to the correct spec but it was all to late.

[wpg81]

Back into the dash in the mr2 and it's almost done. I spent the time to make shore the dash can be removed and all the wires can be disconnected, all 26 wires and the gps aerial. I am really happy with the results. I will let the pics tell the story.

[wpg81]

With all the trim pieces in place I am happy that it fits and functions like factory but clearly is a modified car. Hand brake, indercators and high beam all work exactly how it would if factory! Oil light, alternator light and engine light will work with the Honda harness. The cross bones is going to be set up on a high boost/kill mode switch. Third pic is the shift lights setting the brightness.

[wpg81]

Finally the bits I ordered from the states rolled up! A front mounted shifter bracket and clutch line,I got these parts from toyonda as he makes up these parts to suit the mr2 fitted with a k series engine. He has done many swaps himself and know his stuff. Toyonda and Hux racing are the two standouts, I went with toyonda as Hux stated that his shifter bracket will not work with stock cables but toyonda's do. This was a simple fitment, perfectly made and comes with all the hardware. Doesn't get much easier!
I also got a clutch line that adapts the Toyota hard line to the Honda clutch slave cyclinder again a great fit and quality product. Next was to bleed up the clutch. Oh shit there is something not right! The clutch master had a half empty feel and won't return. So I removed it and bench bled it but it was still bad. Next I disassembled the master and found a broken piston return Spring inside, after finding a spring the correct size I reassembled the master and bench bled it. Once the master was refitted and bleed the slave I had a great pedal feel and full clutch engagement and disengagement but one of the adapters was leaking. After a short fight I finally got there.

[wpg81]

Oh and this was in the box from the us! Every body say these look good and shift nice but that's crap! They are friggin awesome at both! The shift is short and very positive and the 2-3 is not a pull to the centre and then froward, it is more a forward only movement. Super stoked with this part!

[wpg81]

Back agin with some fun updates! I have had a bit going on in life of late but have squeezed in some love for the mr2 project aswell. With the gear box stuff complete I have moved on to the cooling system. I got a new alloy radiator eBay cheapie but it's quite good and under $150! It's twin core thick well made and has quality welds. As well I got a set of silicon hose kit to suit the mr2 with a Toyota engine and I was able to make it line up to the Honda engine. For those that want to know how, the front set up is as it would be for any mr2, just copy the old hose with the new hose. Then I cut the last of the underbody pipe on the drivers side and used a length of it for the passenger side. One hose needs a trim but fits perfect for the drivers side pipe to the Honda thermostat. Passenger side is the left over hoses and is a little tight but not a problem. The t bolt style hose clamp will help a lot with this.I hope the pic explain better than I can! While this was apart I also tested cleaned and painted the engine fans, painted the front reo bar and fan well. I have a fue photos so it's going to be a fue photo dumps.

[wpg81]

Although not seen, painting this area just cleans it up. I also have done the complete underneath of the body the same.

[wpg81]

Mr2's have two long pipes that run under the car that link the engine bay hoses to the front of the car for a traditional radiator location. The first pic is the drivers side pipe up to the Honda thermostat. Second pic is the passenger side. Third pic is one of the front hoses in place. The clamps are triton t bolt clamps, about $5 a clamp but worth the money!

[wpg81]

A helpful hint for any one wanting to increase there cooling efficiency. One of the biggest things I have noticed in working on race cars is the effort put in to sealing off the air flow to the radiator! That small little gap between the radiator and anything is unacceptable, some of you may have noticed the foam on the side of the radiator a fue pics ago. Air will go the easiest path with the least resistance so it needs to be forced into the radiator by blocking of the open paths. In pic one you can see how open the front top of the radiator is! The second pic is it now blocked off so the air is directed into the radiator. Third pic is the same blocking from the under side, you may note that I have used corflut sign as it is great for this and I had some sitting around.