Working on MR2's sucks, All finished! Options

[95CelicaST]

Update from yesterday:

I spent over 3 hours prepping the valve cover for paint. 20 years of caked on grime does not like coming off. I sprayed the cover with a high temp silver (three coats). It was looking chrome-like, which I didn't like. I then sprayed on three coats of high temp clear and it took the chrome look away and now it look great. The firewall heat shields did not like the clear too much, so I am going to strip them and redo them.

That's about all I did yesterday. Today I am going to try and level the exhaust manifold and get the valve cover and heatshields reinstalled. I'll try and post a few pictures this evening.

Tomorrow I'll pick the flywheel up as well as new exhaust manifold heatshield bolts. They were so rusted I couldn't get a 12mm on them, so I pounded on a 7/16 socket and used a cheater bar to get them out. Needless to say I will coat the new ones in anti-sieze before installing. Not much will happen after that, as I am going to the Cage the Elephant concert in Seattle. Friday is the day it'll all go back in.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 16, 2010 - 11:20 AM

[samir0189]

Update from yesterday:

I spent over 3 hours prepping the valve cover for paint. 20 years of caked on grime does not like coming off. I sprayed the cover with a high temp silver (three coats). It was looking chrome-like, which I didn't like. I then sprayed on three coats of high temp clear and it took the chrome look away and now it look great. The firewall heat shields did not like the clear too much, so I am going to strip them and redo them.

That's about all I did yesterday. Today I am going to try and level the exhaust manifold and get the valve cover and heatshields reinstalled. I'll try and post a few pictures this evening.

Tomorrow I'll pick the flywheel up as well as new exhaust manifold heatshield bolts. They were so rusted I couldn't get a 12mm on them, so I pounded on a 7/16 socket and used a cheater bar to get them out. Needless to say I will coat the new ones in anti-sieze before installing. Not much will happen after that, as I am going to the Cage the Elephant concert in Seattle. Friday is the day it'll all go back in.

i can relate to that. gasoline seems to remove the crud from 20 years of baked and caked on dirt.

[95CelicaST]

Yeah I scrapped the simple green and busted out the Carb cleaner. Ate right through most of it. Then I sanded a bit, and spend a while getting the crap out in the grooves on the valve cover.

BTW - sanding stones work wonders on valve covers.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 16, 2010 - 11:54 AM

[Johnnyny]

it may sux to work on but im sure it makes that up in the driving

[block]

yeah i hated working on my mr2 turbo when i had it. that's why i sold it lol. best part was driving it

[spolski07]

i love this thread because your updates aren't:

"i took my rim off today, more updates tomorrow!!!!!11!!11"

keep the full posts coming!

[95CelicaST]

Not much of an update today, as most stuff is pretty much done as we wind down the week and edge closer to reinstallation.

Got my flywheel back all nice and pretty. Set that aside for Friday morning when we put it all back together with the new clutch kit.

Valve cover paint cured so I got that reinstalled with a new gasket and spark plug tube gaskets. Gapped my new plugs and threw those in with some dielectric grease.

Exhaust manifold - I torched it and then chipped away residue of what looked like RTV. Someone's homebrew exhaust gasket? Once I got all of that crap off I lightly sanded and reinstalled with a new gasket. I made sure to put anti-seize on all of the bolts so that they come off easier next time. HOPEFULLY this will mean no more monster exhaust leak.

Here are a couple pictures. It was dark, and the light in my garage doesn't do well when it comes to photography lighting.




heatshield above is still curing around the edges, so it looks ugly in the picture above.

I also got the firewall heatshields repainted and reinstalled. Of course no pictures of that, because you'll see them later once I'm finished.


Next up for tomorrow - New bolts for the exhaust heatshield (It's only sitting on the manifold in the picture) with plenty of anti-seize. Then she's pretty much done until reinstallation.

[mak5603]

nice and clean. Good work getting all that done while the motor was out, real smart.

[njccmd2002]

like the valve cover, maybe someday the intake in a RED, that engine looks clean.

[95CelicaST]

Don't know if I would do a red intake. I have tons of paint left, so I might paint an intake silver to match.

Got some Allen head bolts for the heatshield from work - I suppose there is an upside to working in a machine shop.

I also need to put on the alternator belt. The old one was chewed up. The A/C belt goes on once its in the car, as the A/C pump is presently hanging on zipties in the engine bay. I thought about deleting it, because when its nice out I will take the tops off, not turn on air conditioning, but I am going to leave it on for right now.

No update for tonight. Going to see Cage the Elephant, but I'll be on it early tomorrow morning. There is a local Toyota cruise to the ocean that I would like to drive to on Saturday.

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jun 17, 2010 - 4:52 PM

[Bitter]

if you take a straight edge to the manifold and run it on a table belt sander you can usually get them pretty true enough to seal.

[95CelicaST]

After sanding I checked it with a straight edge and it was something like a .10 variance, which is within the specs the BGB gives (+-.14 I think). It wasn't as bad as it initially looked after scraping off the crusty rtv residue.

[95CelicaST]

Update for today:

We started thinking about putting the motor in, but it wasn't going to happen until we got our hands on some orange drank, so we drove into town and got some Sunkist.

Had to go chasing a belt from the local auto parts stores. The alternator belt I got was too long, so we went and just got one about 7/8" shorter than what the computer said.

Got the transmission mounted up and the motor dropped in. Basically everything is done, short of the crossmember, exhaust, and axles. So we're back at it in the morning. Going to try and have it all done in the afternoon.


Pics:




And Mike likes his beer.

[Bitter]

thankfully your engine and car are clean and rust free...sometime next week I have to strip one down to the fuel tank to replace the pressure line because its almost rusted through. the brace on the bulkhead to the frame in the left rear corner of the engine bay (drivers side) is rusted through!

[95CelicaST]

ooookay. Today's update - worst. day. ever.


So we wake up around 10:00 (went to bed at 3am) and went outside to find that SURPRISE! The Pacific North West has decided to end the dry weather and start a downpour.

No worries. I'm a seasoned PNW Blue Tarp Camper. I did what I do best in these situations - cover what I'm doing with a mammoth sized tarp.



Started the day with installing the crossmember and rear motor mount. Easy as pie. Then came the exhaust.... and we realized we needed another exhaust gasket for the b-pipe to the muffler. I already had a belt I needed to take back because it was too big, so we load up into the WRX and head to town. We get back and continue working. Exhaust gets bolted up fine and while my friend was taking care of undercarriage misc things I went to clamp the heater hoses.... where I ran into another problem. We only had one hose clamp. We searched the garage and found nothing... soooooo back to town we go.. to get one clamp.


Get back, continue on. We popped the axles out of the hubs and re-greased the splines. Axles were installed, and then the knuckle was fitted up along with my Twos R Us solid rear endlinks. It was then that we ran into the problem that ended up stopping us for the night.
I threw a rotor on the rear passenger side and started lining up the caliper when I noticed some odd wear. One side of the outer pad was gone. When I popped the pads out I noticed that the piston was turned 90 degrees and the pad never sat down in the piston properly. So new pads were in order. The only problem is the auto parts stores in the area didn't have them. We ended up driving about 30 miles to a store that had them. We got those back and this is where I ran into another problem. Last night in my friend's attempt to check the gas pedal after attaching the throttle cable he hit the brakes, which blew the pistons out. Now I need a tool to reach down there and twist the piston back into place, which is where I ended up stopping because it was getting dark.

No real pictures, because nothing eventful happened. I'll be back on it in the morning.

[Bitter]

honestly if you have more than 90k miles I'd just consider replacing the rear calipers with reman ones. those integral parking brake mechanisms tend to get stiff and seizy after a while.

[nocashrider]

We popped the axles out of the hubs and re-greased the splines. Axles were installed, and then the knuckle was fitted up along with my Twos R Us solid rear endlinks. It was then that we ran into the problem that ended up stopping us for the night.

you make it sound like that was something easy...... it only took 2 hours.....

Now I need a tool to reach down there and twist the piston back into place, which is where I ended up stopping because it was getting dark.

i gave you a "tool" you just quit at half-time

[95CelicaST]

how did you get out of the kitchen?

[nocashrider]

how did you get out of the kitchen?

know how i know your gay?

your not outside screwing the pistons in before i show up

[95CelicaST]

Live update: the mr2 is on its wheels. I need to roll it from under my blue tarp tent and into the garage to do the oil, coolant, and transmission fluid, then we're off on a test drive!