Dans MR2 Turbo: SOLD AND GONE. On to the next project.

[DPancoast]

When I had my red MR2, I was pretty happy with it. I built it from the ground up. No details were left untouched, even if it was just replacing something with a stock part. With the winter of 2009 coming to an end in a few months. It was time to start thinking about autocross! With that, I bought some new bushings and suspension goodies, and kept doing my thing. Then one night in January, just after the new year I was rear ended!

When that happened my heart was broken. All of the shops were telling me that it was going to be in excess of $1600 to fix the car.... 80% of the cars value. Things with the police weren't going my way either. It was my word against the person that hit mes word, and there was nothing I could do about it. Finally some justice was served. After it was all said and done, I got a check for one of the complete estimates, filed and received my tax return, dumped a little bit of money on top, and started looking for a car.

I first spotted this car on Ebay. When I saw it, I had to know more. After some research, I found the car on the MR2 Owners Club site. I then got in touch with the owner who lived in NJ. He has been a member on the forums for over 6 years and everyone knows his car. After about a week of negotiations, we agreed on a price and I picked her up.

I don't have any MAJOR plans for the car. I will be getting a baseline set of numbers at the end of February and we'll go from there. Realistically I'd like to do bigger injectors, and a ROM tune. But the dreamy set of plans are something like a GT3071 and some big power. But that won't come until WAY later. For now I'll drive the car as is and learn it. It's plenty fast and ready for autocross.

As far as the name of the car is concerned. A lot of people call my car the blue bomb, so that's kinda stuck with it.

I bought the car on February 7th of 2009, on February 17th, it threw and exhaust valve. Only 10 days later. However, with the help of friends and some patience the rebuild was complete at the end of June.

My immediate plans for the car consist of breaking in the new motor, upgrading to slotted rotors and Hawk Pads, and then getting out to Auto X. I have never been auto crossing before so it should be a lot of fun because the previous owner set the car up almost perfectly to do so. I will need to upgrade tires, as the previous owner only put 225s on the 8.5" wide rim in the rear, when it can easily handle a 245 without rolling the fenders. The fronts I will tackle later but I will most likely run the 225s from the rear so that they don't go to waste. As far as power is concerned, I currently should be at about 225whp on stock boost. Once break in is complete I will turn the boost up to 12lbs, 14lbs, and then get a tune for 16lbs. With the CT-20b turbo I should be sitting at a healthy 265-275whp and it will be quite reliable on stock fuel with a tune and a ton of fun. With that said, I should be at a 13 second pass on the track. It will most likely be slower since I haven't been to the track before, but once I get used to it and can get a good launch I will be dipping into the mid to high 12s. This car won't see much more than once a month at the drag strip. My main focus is to flex where this car shines and that is with handling. It should be a great time and I can't wait to get out and meet some new people.

Well thats my story....Enjoy!

[DPancoast]

Engine:

- Steel wheel CT-20B
- Garrett AWIC with tank/pump/heat exchanger. Core is from a GMC Cyclone.
- ARP Head Studs
- Cometic Stock width metal head gasket
- 93+ LSD Upgrade w/ hybrid axles.
- Fidanza Light Weight Flywheel
- ACT Modified street disk clutch kit w/ heavy duty pressure plate
- BG Synco Shift Synthetic transmission fluid
- Apex-I Power 3" Intake Adapter
- Berk Technology 3" open downpipe w/ Wideband port
- Custom Apex-I N-1 exhaust with Magnaflow canister
- TwosRus MBC @ 15 PSI
- EMS Powered engine lid fan shroud w/ 2 11" SPAL push fans

(Feb 09):



(Jun 10):



(Oct 10):


Suspension and Brakes:

- Tokico Illumina adjustable struts
- H&R RED springs
- Poly Urethane bushings (lower control arms, trailing arms, swaybar)
- Toyota crash bolts(front)
- 93+ MR2 brake upgrade in the front (dual piston calipers and larger rotors)
- SS brake lines
- Front and rear JIC magic strut bars
- TwosRus Swaybar endlinks

Exterior Cosmetics:

- Car is painted 350Z Daytona Blue
- All shaved side moldings
- Shine Auto Spec A front lip
- 94+ tail lights
- JDM front clear corners
- NorcalMR2 Pegasus Angel Eye kit w/ WHITE LED and 6000k HID kit.
- Kosei K-1 Wheels:
-- 16x8.5 w/ 225/50/16 Hankook Ventus R-S2s
-- 16x7.5 w/ 205/50/16 Hankook Ventus R-S2s







Interior and ICE:

- Recaro SRD seats on Wedge Engineering brackets and Sparco Sliders
- NRG 320mm steering wheel with Sparco hub
- Alpine CDA-9882 Headunit w/ IPOD Cable
- Memphis Audio over sized 10" single voice coil sub in an EMS Power Sealed Box
- Jensen Power 400 Amp
- Full Monster Wiring
- WHITE LED gauge cluster upgrade
- Authentic Toyota MR2 OEM floor mats
- TRD Short shift kit w/ GReddy counter weighted knob (powder coated "HKS Purple" by JNZ Finishing)
- Two's R Us Brass shifter cable bushings (made by Speed Source)
- Auto meter gauges - Boost/Oil Pressure
- Blitz Turbo Timer
- Apexi SAFC ver 1
- Zeitronix ZT-2 Wideband AFR System (logs A/F)

After:












*Thanks to David Lu for this photo!*

Car Weight:

3020 w/ driver and full tank of gas

[DPancoast]

I love pictures of my car. Can't get enough of them. In this post I'll put my current top 10 and who they are by. In the meantime, here is an updated list of links to my photobuckets that show different shoots I have taken part in:

2-15-2009 - Pictures courtesy of Justin Mondschein @ TwentyPSI.com
8-1-2009 Also featuring Schepis' twin turbo 300zx - Pictures courtesy of my girlfriend Michelle and I
8-1-2009 - Pictures courtesy of my girlfriend Michelle and I
10-10-2009 - Also featuring Meeshells new Mazda 3s Sport - Pictures courtesy of Michelle and I

These were taken by me with Michelle's new car:







These were taken by Justin:

[DPancoast]

The day it blew up... last strong breath on the dyno

What it sounded like before the motor got pulled..

What it sounds like now 8-18-2009

Yep. So I had the car for 2 weeks. Ran strong as ****. Beat it up pretty good, but why not? It's a strong motor. Or so I thought. After talking with some people we conclude that I can run 15 or 16lbs of boost. I had been told when I bought the car that it was set to 15 pounds and that held true that night. Afterwords, it had dropped to stock boost at 12lbs. With that said, I turned it back up to 15 and drove it for 2 days straight. Ran great.

So it comes... dyno day. I setup my appointment at R/T Tuning and everything was great. I woke up that morning drove to work, car was running great, everything was fine. When I get out of work, I head over to R/T. We get setup and everything is awesome. Pat gets in, does some testing to make sure the straps are tight and that the computer is working. Still good to go. He does a pull, and the computer doesn't pick up anything.... ok no big deal... the car is still idling fine, sounded great. It had puffed out a little bit of black smoke, but with the 3SGTE, it happens. After 12lbs it dumps a little fuel to compensate. Nothing out of the ordinary with a turbo car on a stock ECU. Pull number 2 happens, car sounds great, looks fine. Again puffs out some black smoke. A little more than last time, but nothing to be alarmed about. As we are chuckling about the car, my ear tunes in. The car is missing pretty bad. We shut it off, and look around.

At this point, I'd like to throw a HUGE thanks to Pat and Vince at R/T. They hooked up the smoke machine and sold me a set of new plugs for a good price and went out of their way to do what they could.

The smoke machine revealed no leaks anywhere. Ok good. Take the plugs out, and they are a little black but in tact. Cylinder 3 looks a little lean, but I learn later that it's normal for that to happen under a heavy load such as the dyno. We install new plugs, hook everything back up and start the car. Still missing and idling about 100rpms lower than normal. I settle up with R/T and drive the car home. At this point I'm breaking down pretty bad. I'm automatically worst case and thinking I just watched my car blow up on the dyno. Some of my friends calm me down and tell me to just wait until the next day and do some tests. The next day I borrowed a compression tester from Justin. Took it home, ran compression, everything was even and up to par for the mileage of the motor. Talk to some people (thanks for coming over Aaron) and we think it's an ignition coil. Weird, but possible considering that the oil I drained was nothing crazy looking, and the coolant was clean. So I order it to be picked up the next day. The next day, I go to work get the coil and head home. Swap it out and nothing changes.

At this point my friend Adam showed up. He's pretty good with cars and trouble shooting and Art (thanks again man, I really appreciate you coming down and taking your time and gas to help me) had also come down. So we decide to run compression again.

- Cylinder 1... < 145... a little low.
- Cylinder 2... 0... Yes ZERO
- Cylinder 3... < 145
- Cylinder 4... < 145

But that doesn't make sense. I just did a test days before and showed ok numbers. User error? VERY possible lol.... but anyway. So that's that. I talk with some people some more, and I decide on some options:

1 - Pull the motor and rebuild it. Bore .020 over with forged internals and call it a day.
2 - Pull the motor and swap in another low mileage JDM clip. Sell off the blown one for what it's worth, call it a day.
3 - Pull the motor, buy a new Toyota 3SGTE short block, swap over the goods, and sell off the old block as a core or a "build me" motor.
4 - Part the car out, make my money back and chill out for a while.
5 - Sell the car as-is, take a loss, and be done for a while.

At first the last 2 were very very dominant in my mind. I had lost hope and I couldn't deal with it anymore. Plus, I didn't think I had the money or the time to rebuild and didn't want to deal with re-swapping. But thanks to my friends (love all you guys for real) I got talked into taking a breath, and thinking straight. To make a long story short, I decided on option 3.

That brings us to today. After being on the phone with Rick @ Fred Beans Toyota for while, I purchased... well, a lot:

- Complete Toyota 3SGTE short block. Comes with crank, rods, and pistons/rings installed\
- Head rebuilt by Gregg and his crew @ Souderton Automotive and Industrial Machining with a new valve, and all new valve and cam seals.
- Engine overhaul gasket set
- Water pump
- Oil Pump
- Thermostat
- New HFH, and HFHOE (common MR2 oil cooler trouble hoses)
- Coolant temp sensors (EFI, CSI switch, and ECU temp sensors)
- Timing belt and tensioner + idler pulleys
- ARP Head Studs
- Cometic stock width gasket
- New Clutch slave/rubber line and clutch slave hard line
- New Axle Seals
- Stock clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing
- Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel
- New fuel filter
- New front engine mount (one on there was cracked)

+ a couple of misc things. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot lol.

But with all that I'm just over $2700 + whatever the machine work on the head will be. I'm towing the car after I'm done writing this to my friends work, as his boss gave us permission to use the facilities to pull my motor and work. It's a definite plus because he works at a dealership. So lifts, air tools, a parts washer, and whatever else we need. Plus the security to leave everything inside.

So that's that. Sucks but it will be worth it in the end because I'll have a brand new car pretty much. I'll be sending the head out to get refreshed, but nothing crazy.

In the end, I learned a lesson here. I should have dyno'd the car at 12lbs and seen where my a/f was or got a tune, and then turned up the boost. But unfortunately the boost bug bit me hard and I jumped the gun. Do I regret it? Mentally no.... but my wallet sure does haha. I shouldn't have turned it up and it was stupid of me, but what are you gonna do.

[DPancoast]

Lessons Learned:


1. Do ALL disassembling yourself. While I can't thank my friends enough sometimes, it's best to do some things yourself. Reason being is because no one will be as detailed when it comes to your own car as you. I had someone helping me disassemble the motor after it blew up hoping for a quick and speedy turn around. But a couple weeks and some disagreements later, I was bringing everything back to my house in a million pieces. Nothing was segregated, nothing was labeled, things were missing, things were dirty... the list goes on. I thought I needed to have everything done asap, but in reality, it would have gone faster if I would have done it myself because I would have labeled all parts and done it WAY differently. Take tons of pictures, write tons of notes, and just go slow and steady because we've all heard the say "slow and steady wins the race".

2. Don't be scared to ask for help. This is one of the biggest ones on my list. When I found out that I had to do the rebuild myself, I was terrified. While I had confidence in myself to do things right, I didn't have all the necessary resources to get the job done. As you guys know, I reached out to my friends, and family... even people on here that didn't know me, and they all came through in one way or another. Whether you need to borrow something, need someone that knows more than you about a certain process, or just need some people to lend some elbow grease, always ask for help. You'd be surprised at how many people there are out there that will lend a hand. I never would have thought in a million years that I would get an outreach like I got from you guys here at TIT. It truly showed me that there are people that care and you guys are in it for the same reason I am... the passion and rewarding feeling(s) of the car game.

3. Don't give up. Man, where to even start. Throughout this whole build I almost gave up dozens of times. There were many nights I sat in my room literally in tears because I thought I couldn't take it anymore. I almost sold the parts and the car NUMEROUS times. I almost quit all together and gave up. But with the support my friends and family, I pushed through it and when I actually started my car for the first time just yesterday in the wee hours, it was the most rewarding and uplifting feeling in the world. All of the work will ALWAYS be worth it. If I can do it, anyone can do it, I don't care what anyone says. You'll get mad, you'll get frustrated, you'll get sad... you'll get everything. Just find that support system and remember why you have the car in the first place... it'll always be a challenge.

4. Don't skimp on parts. I have to thank Art again and anyone else who helped steer me towards the right parts. Originally I wanted the car back on the road yesterday, and I wanted the quickest way out. I bounced from a new clip, to the "cheapest" machine shop possible. But luckily I still have some brains left and after talking with Art, I purchased an actual Toyota OEM short block. If you think about it, that's the most reliable and now I have something that will last me forever with 0 miles and 0 worry because it's made and assembled by Toyota! But really guys, everyone has an attachment to their cars and I'll be the first (but not last) to say that I wanted my car back up ASAP because I missed it, or that I miss driving my car but it all reality there's someone out there, friend or stranger that has been waiting longer or that is worse off than you. Just take your time, do the research and DON'T SKIMP ON PARTS!
--------------------------------------------------------

Pics:

Pulling the old motor:









Building the new short block:

















Getting the shell and installing the motor:

















Can't go without the funny pics:




















List Of Thanks:

First, my girlfriend Michelle (Meeshell). Even though you weren't around when my car originally went down, you have been there for me through all the emotional and mental rides I have been going on when things go wrong. You have given me the support that I need (along with everyone else too!) when I needed it most and I can't thank you enough for not pushing me away. If it would have been anyone else, they would have not put up with me. But you stuck by me and I'm really glad that I met you <3. You didn't let me give up and you gave me the words I needed to get it done.

My mom. She won't see this. But my mom in my time of need took the money out of her own pocket and paid for me to get my head rebuilt. She lives on her own and barely gets by sometimes. I didn't even ask, but she knew that I was heartbroken and depressed when my car took a dump and she reached out to the fullest. Thanks mom, I love you to death and I can't wait to let you drive my car like you wanted to when you first saw it! Thanks for being there and helping me through it all and not letting me give up.

My dad. Man, my dad was totally against letting me put my red car in our garage when I had it. But when this car took a dump, he offered right away to let me use the garage to build up my motor when it came time that I had to do it on my own at my house. He didn't put up a fight and he offered everything he could and let my friends of TST come to our house and trusted them just as much as I did to a great outcome. I love you to death dad and I really appreciate you sticking by me and not giving me **** for all of this.

Mark (piku) and his Fiancee for letting me use their garage and come into their home without even knowing me at first! You guys are awesome and I can't thank you enough. Thank you so much for your help and hospitality!

Nick (Oakes) and Markus (phate1229). Man, I can't say enough. Nick, thank you (and your mom and whoever) SO SO SOOO much for lending me your Galant for the time that you did. And thank you to Markus for helping Nick bring and take back the car all the way to my house. When I needed it most, you guys were there to help and I owe you big time.

Chris (11secdsm). Thank you SO much for hooking me up and helping me move my shell with the truck and trailer! You have no idea how much that helped me out! I owe you big time.

Art (lagos). Thanks for coming all the way to my house and even stopping by the shop in conshy back then. Without your knowledge I really would have screwed stuff up and without your persuasion I would have went a totally different and wrong route. And without your help on the night it started, the car would still not be working! You are the man and you are a true friend forever.

Brian (Honduh). Thanks a ton for letting me use your hoist man. Without it I don't know what I would have done!

Jmond. My fathead homie. Although, you're def not the only one (this goes out to all of you really) Thank you SO much for talking me out of selling all my **** and giving me motivation to finish my car. You're one of my best friends and like a brother to me and without you I would have never bought my first MR2!

Sam (russian kid), Alex (CleanNeon), John (JSpecV03), Simon (Terrorcel), Ryan (Elliot18t). Yuri...You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for coming over to my house and to where ever the car was and helping me out/letting me borrow stuff. For a couple of you it was a haul, and I couldn't be more thankful that you were able to come over. Huge extra thanks to Sam, and Alex for really stepping up and getting their hands dirty on more than one occasion. It's awesome that you guys were willing to drive so far and go home so late and work on my car like it was your own!

Rick @ Fred Beans. Although he won't see this, I've known Rick for almost 5 years now and he REALLY stepped up and even though he knew little about MR2s specifically, he came through and got me all my parts when I needed them without asking any questions and picked up the phone everytime no matter how many times I called! If you local guys need parts I recommend Rick to the fullest. 215-348-0202 x. 1121

Vince and Pat @ R/T Tuning. I know that I was and have been pretty ****ty towards you guys since all this happened. But I want you to know that I in no way shape or form, have ANY hard feelings. You guys were doing your job and I was pretty ignorant when I came in to put my car on the dyno. Thanks again for helping me try to diagnose and hooking me up with the smoke machine and some cheap plugs at the time of the failure. You guys are seriously awesome and I will definatly be back to talk about an SAFC tune and stuff when my car is ready along with an alignment.

Nick and Anthony of Elite JDM. Nick let me come down and look at a GenII clip in the shop because I was confused and didn't know where a lot of stuff was supposed to be on my motor. Without hesitation he let me come into the shop and take all the pictures I needed! You guys are awesome and I recommend them to ANYONE that's looking to do a swap or needs JDM parts. They are the most honest and well put together business around and you can have full trust in them always!

Erik, Josh and Justin @ JnZ Tuning. I've known Erik for a while and even though I didn't buy anything through him, he was MORE than helpful with getting me prices and giving advice/his input on things when I needed it most. Thanks to Josh and Justin for lending me tools and even doing little stuff for free when I needed a sensor taken out here, or a seal replaced there. I will continue to talk you guys up forever. You guys finishing my build was a god send and I thank you so much.

Gregg and crew @ Souderton Automotive and Industrial Machining. What can I say about these guys. You guys saw the pictures of my head. They did AMAZING work FAST. I recommend them to anyone on TST!

I'm sure there are a TON more people that I need to thank. But for anyone that helped me or was involved in everything for the past 4 months, I want to express my most genorous thanks to you guys. Seriously from the bottom of my heart. Every one of you and then some didn't let me give up and I can't express how greatful I am for that because without you guys I would have given up and sold everything in a fit of frustration.

Thanks again TST. I love all you guys from the bottom of my heart.

My immediate plans for the car consist of breaking in the new motor, upgrading to slotted rotors and Hawk Pads, and then getting out to Auto X. I have never been auto crossing before so it should be a lot of fun because the previous owner set the car up almost perfectly to do so. I will need to upgrade tires, as the previous owner only put 225s on the 8.5" wide rim in the rear, when it can easily handle a 245 without rolling the fenders. The fronts I will tackle later but I will most likely run the 225s from the rear so that they don't go to waste. As far as power is concerned, I currently should be at about 225whp on stock boost. Once break in is complete I will turn the boost up to 12lbs, 14lbs, and then get a tune for 16lbs. With the CT-20b turbo I should be sitting at a healthy 265-275whp and it will be quite reliable on stock fuel with a tune and a ton of fun. With that said, I should be at a 13 second pass on the track. It will most likely be slower since I haven't been to the track before, but once I get used to it and can get a good launch I will be dipping into the mid to high 12s. This car won't see much more than once a month at the drag strip. My main focus is to flex where this car shines and that is with handling. It should be a great time and I can't wait to get out and meet some new people.

A NIGHTMARE REBUILD COMPLETE... THE FIRST STARTUP

[Renegade_]

Originally Posted by DPancoast

The car blew up. Story and plan here.

I don't see a story and plan.

Let's hear it!

[CleanNeon98]

More shots of Dan's beautiful duece.

[lownslow95]

Looks good, but one question. Why do you have two boost guages?

[CleanNeon98]

He actually has 3...one on the pillar, one on the column, and one in the cluster

[boostedfury]

in for blow up story

[Renegade_]

that smoke isn't telling us enough - my car looked like that on the dyno first pull untuned just dumping fuel. Turbo blow or what?

[SvicksTc]

Originally Posted by boostedfury

in for blow up story

Already Dan, damn you just got this car.....

What the hell happend? Was this on the Dyno?

[DPancoast]

Originally Posted by lownslow95

Looks good, but one question. Why do you have two boost guages?

Beats me...Came like that. With the way I sit, I can't read the gauge on the steering column. I plan to ditch it, put the EGT gauge there, and put a wide band in the EGT spot (up on the dash.

Story is up. You guys are really impatient aren't you.... sheesh

[jrl1018]

Ah man that's some sad news. But glad to see you're fixing it. I love this car, hopefully I'll see it sometime haha

[lagos]

Originally Posted by Renegade_

that smoke isn't telling us enough - my car looked like that on the dyno first pull untuned just dumping fuel. Turbo blow or what?

Cyl #2 blew.
The video doesn't pick it up (because its a high pitched sound), but during that run I could hear really bad pinging right before that smoke show.
After that the car idled like it was on 3cly.
After we did the compression test, I pulled out the plug wire on no2 while it was idleing and the idle didn't change one bit. Quite a funny thing to see, and confirms the comp test results.

Let me know when work begins, Dan. I wanna stop by the shop and see the carnage as well as your new short block. You are a very wise man for going that route!

[tcturbo91]

that sucks man. going new....... probably the smart thing to do. i'd go with a nice bored over monster, but probably not the smartest

gl with the build!

[DPancoast]

you will be the first to know Art. The car is now down at the shop and work will begin this week. All of my parts should be at the dealership in Doylestown by Monday afternoon! The only thing we'll have to wait for is the head work to be done which is only a couple of days. Other than that, things should go just wonderfully *knock on wood*

[krnxbrian]

good to hear you went with option 3.
hope everything works out for you.

[sobigsofly]

damn man already, well at least you will know whats in the engine now right. can't wait to see it done

[Got Insulin?]

Just a quick $.02, if you run a wideband o2, you don't need EGT. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to get your temps down, but keeping your AFRs in place. Don't waste the cash. Other than that, the car looks nice. It needs some help in the interior department ASAP, especially that guage situation and all that wiring. Good luck with it, bud. Any details on the engine plans?