It's been a while

Life hasn't been busy but I just forgot to update this blog. Hah !
Throughout the last few months nothing spectacular happened really, although I had fun in the things I did, as usual. I think I'm gonna try (..) to update this blog a bit more often, maybe write about my visits to the Nürburgring..

I do have a nice update about my MR2. No it's not driving..yet. But things are coming along.. it did take much time haha.. but finally there's light at the end of the tunnel. The new-ish engine should arrive this month.. and then it's time for the conversion.

Being a HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) does make things more difficult in many ways and it's no different when it comes to cars. I had to make a decision.. which engine ? Well.. the obvious choice was the 3S-GTE (3rd. gen) but maybe that's a bit too obvious.. and I'm not a turbo person either. I like things being reliable, can't stand it when things let me down.. one of the core important things in my life is consistency. I guess my car (or hobby..whatever) is an extension of my personality, in many ways.
So my first choice was the 3VZ-FE, which is the Camry V6 engine. Bulletproof engine (except for the headgaskets which should ALWAYS be replaced during a conversion!) and a nice power delivery, lineair..nice sound. But the only person I knew at that time who could swap that engine into my car was Woodsport.. and they're in the UK. Getting my car in the UK would make things very expensive..and I wasn't too sure whether or not the costs were justified doing that.
So as time went by I got in contact with a fellow MR2 addict here in Holland ; Joshma. Joshma is a real wrench monkey hahaha.. he likes to actually do stuff with cars instead of talking about it. No words but action. He's done many many conversions before.. you name it he's done it. His specialty lies with the 3S-GTE, and after having discussed a few things I had made up my mind ; I was gonna have a 3rd gen. 3S-GTE !

Or not ? While I was really looking forward to driving my MR2 again, I also had doubts about the choice I had made. Browsing and reading through various forums I had gathered lots of information about the engine, it's strong parts and it's weak parts.. and somehow it just didn't feel right. I wouldn't say I find the 3S-GTE unreliable, but I'd say it's kinda risky to take it to a trackday and not expecting any problems or whatsoever. I mean, take the Nordschleife for example.. just 1 lap is 19.1 km (11.9 mi) . Hammering your car through the bends (33 left, 40 right) is a real torture to any car. Did you know that each driven kilometer on the Nordschleife consists of the same wear&tear on your car compared to 7 kilometers on public road ? Hmm that's a lot eh ? And as you might know, MR2's tend to get pretty hot back in the engine bay. On top of that, the 3S-GTE does get pretty hot too, especially the intake temperatures can be a problem. I know you can install a bigger/better intercooler, or maybe even a water-to-air intercooler.. and that might help.. but still, driving a few laps in the summer and having to queue up for your next lap isn't gonna help at all.

Soooo then we discussed again.. Joshma at this point was doing his first V6 swap for another customer.. and I was thinking about the 3VZ-FE again. Joshma wasn't too sure about that.. he knows I'm using the car for trackdays and stuff.. he was afraid the 3VZ might not have enough 'oompf' for my enthusiastic driving style.. haha. But I was optimistic.. the cilinderheads could use some modification which brings a bit more power.. looking at other modified 3VZ-FE's, the average power is about ~200-210bhp. Not too shabby, I think. Well ok, it's less compared to the 3S-GTE.. but those are just numbers. I'm more worried about reliability..
The nice thing about the 3VZ (or any V6 for that matter) however is of course the noise it produces..

So things were cool. Joshma would have to finish the other MR2 first and then after that, he would start on my MR2. But then.. while I was working late on a Friday afternoon, my phone rang. I pick up and it's Joshma on the other end. "I think I have something interesting for you" he said.. I asked what.. and he continued talking about this nice engine he could order for me.. a 2GR-FE ! He was being rather enthusiastic about it and of course me too, haha.. long story short : I'll be driving a MR2 with a mighty 3.5ltr V6 engine soon ! The 2GR-FE is a nice engine.. 3.5ltr V6 with VVTi, chaindriven.. and pretty light too ! The engine is ordered and on it's way to Holland as I'm typing this. I now have to search for a E153 gearbox (MR2 Turbo) because my current gearbox won't like all the torque produced by the 2GR-FE. Along with the gearbox I have to buy a aftermarket clutch. I already bought STACK gauges, oil temperature, oil pressure and watertemperature. I also have a Fidanza lightweight flywheel, Kirkosaurus enginemount insers, TRD rear strutbar.. etc. etc. more on the mods later !

Let's just wait for the engine first :)

A bit more about the MR2..

A bit more about the MR2..

Like I said in the first post.. the original engine died. So how come you might wonder ? Well I don't know to be honest.. when I bought the car, it ran fine (obviously) but it did however went through quite a bit of oil. If I remember correctly I've done about 3000km's (approx. 1875miles) with the engine and I had to refill oil a few times.. so I knew *something* was wrong. However it didn't smoke blue and nor did it smell or anything like that.. Then on one day it refused to start.. it cranked but that's it. Actually it cranked pretty fast, like when you're cranking without the sparkplugs.. which made me think the timingbelt was gone. So my local workshop came to pick up the car and the next day I got a call from them telling me the timing was in good shape.. but none of the 4 cylinders had any compression left. So that's strange.. I told them to leave it like that.. a diagnosis to see and find out the culprit would've been expensive and in my mind I had already decided I was going for a engine swap rather then fixing that old engine.. So then the car sat there for like 2 months but now it's here in my garage again.. so at least I can touch the car.. hahaha oh dear. Or wash it.. or just look and stare at it.. you know, like car freaks do.

Some pictures taken when I just got it..

1st post..

Well I had to, eventually.. so here goes.

The car.. it's a 1992 Toyota MR2. I bought it on Saturday, May 10th back in 2008. The car drove fine and I was happy.. I just bought my first real "sportscar". The car was fine.. until the engine died. I drove the car like.. 8 times or so. But I don't give up that easily. So this blog is about the updates on my MR2 and about all the fun stuff I do in my free time. But back to the car.. it's a nice car actually.. despite some small scratches and issues.. hey it's a old car. It's originally a German car being exported to the Netherlands.. the interior is leather, it has a T-top roof which means you can remove the roof panels.. and it has/had the 3S-GE engine..which will be replaced by.. I don't know ! Either a 3VZ-FE (3ltr V6) or a 3S-GTE (2ltr Turbo).
It's not going to be a fullblown trackcar.. nor is it my daily car. I'd like to have a bit more power, I'm going to upgrade the brakes and the suspension.. but I'm not gonna remove the interior..so it's going to be like a street/track car.. just to have some fun with.