MGCustoms 3rd Gen Motor Swap Options

[lagos]

1231174180 $25.42 plus 8.50 shipping

[presure2]

I will in fact be running a devilsown kit.

good stuff man.
looking good so far, keep it up!

[DEATH]

diagnosing and fixing harness issues later down the road totally blows.
the last pics of a harness i saw from him looked 100% OEM.

there are always hiccups in any project, its the nature of the beast.

TRUTH!!!!!
This was my nightmare for the first 2 years of owning a swapped car. 90% of the issues I had to deal with were related to a terrible wiring harness extension job. However, you are in good hands with Tweak - he knows his $hit man
Good luck with you swap bro and welcome to the 3S swapped club!

This post has been edited by DEATH: Aug 27, 2010 - 9:07 AM

[MGCustoms325]

diagnosing and fixing harness issues later down the road totally blows.
the last pics of a harness i saw from him looked 100% OEM.

there are always hiccups in any project, its the nature of the beast.

TRUTH!!!!!
This was my nightmare for the first 2 years of owning a swapped car. 90% of the issues I had to deal with were related to a terrible wiring harness extension job. However, you are in good hands with Tweak - he knows his $hit man
Good luck with you swap bro and welcome to the 3S swapped club!

Thanks Man. Yeah I can't wait to start driving that bad boy daily. It will sure beat driving my n/a mr2 without a/c lol

[MGCustoms325]

Alright. As the days pass I keep getting closer and closer. I am now at the point where I need to decide what clutch I want to go with and ultimately buy it. What do the swap veterans recommend for power goals in the 350 to 400 whp range. I have read alot of horror stories about SPEC and am kind of leaning towards ACT but will listen to others opinions and experiences. BTW I already have and will be running a Fidanza flywheel. Thanks!

[freddy121389]

you may want to look at the mr2 website for help at building your engine as well

[Punch]

@ MGCustoms325 i got a friend (kiko eng) down here he bulit a 3rd gen 610hp.... in a mr-2 ... if u like i can set somthing up so we can all talk.... he kno his stuff...

This post has been edited by Punch: Sep 6, 2010 - 3:37 PM

[MGCustoms325]

@ MGCustoms325 i got a friend (kiko eng) down here he bulid a 3rd gen 610hp.... in a mr-2 ... if u like i can set so we can all talk.... he kno his stuff...

Thanks Punch. I already have a mechanic who is doing all the work. I'm just gonna keep it stock with methanol injection. I am just looking for suggestions on what clutch to run at this point.

[DEATH]

Alright. As the days pass I keep getting closer and closer. I am now at the point where I need to decide what clutch I want to go with and ultimately buy it. What do the swap veterans recommend for power goals in the 350 to 400 whp range. I have read alot of horror stories about SPEC and am kind of leaning towards ACT but will listen to others opinions and experiences. BTW I already have and will be running a Fidanza flywheel. Thanks!

ACT is the ONLY name to trust - anything else and your just doing it halfa$$

[MGCustoms325]

Alright. As the days pass I keep getting closer and closer. I am now at the point where I need to decide what clutch I want to go with and ultimately buy it. What do the swap veterans recommend for power goals in the 350 to 400 whp range. I have read alot of horror stories about SPEC and am kind of leaning towards ACT but will listen to others opinions and experiences. BTW I already have and will be running a Fidanza flywheel. Thanks!

ACT is the ONLY name to trust - anything else and your just doing it halfa$$

Thanks for the reply man. Are you currently running one? Which one did you go with? I am debating whether to go with the Tm1-hdmm or the Tm1-hdg6. As I stated previously this car will be my daily driver.

[Culpable04]

I have an ACT heavy duty pressure plate, F1 racing stage 3 sprung disc and chromology lightweight flywheel.

hmm, the pressure plate is something you would need to get used to for daily driving, I find myself cursing at myself everytime I get into traffic jams on the parkway ( ~ 2hrs ) other than than, once the clutch is broken in is very driveable. for unwatend reasons I had to remove my trans to replace my rear main seal, so I inspected the clutch disc since is a " cheap ebay brand " and it looked just like the day I installed it,

that whole setup including the flywheel cost me just under US$500.00 so it was a great buy, and just like me there are quite a few mermbers running this clutch on the forums and over Mr2oc with great reviews so far.

someone on the site has had their for over 2 years now.

[Punch]

@ MGCustoms325 love to see the set up & share so info .....pm me....

[presure2]

im currently running a competition clutch (stage 4) that we got thru drtweak.
pedal feel is compareable to the ACT HD pressure plate, which i had in the car before this one, its on the heavy side IMO, and with a 6 puck disk, its very grabby, and dont really liked to be slipped much.
overall, its very compareable to the 6 puck ACT setup, and its ~100$ cheaper than the ACT.
my cousin got a clutchmasters stage 4 unsprung, its not installed yet, but from what i've read, the pedal feel is supossed to be lighter than the ACT, with the same amount of holding power. (400+ftlbs)

[MGCustoms325]

Thanks for the reply Manny. I think I am going to end up running the ACT TM1-HDR6 kit. From what I have read and gathered from a few people that do mr2 builds, aside from the quicker engagement it is very streetable and will still be able to handle my power and will give me some room to grow on it. Will be going to the shop tomorrow night and getting some work done so I will update the thread with alot of pictures hopefully. I am still waiting on my caldina intake manifold and my berk downpipe in the mail. Stay tuned...

BTW, I found the clutch kit for $366.98...

This post has been edited by MGCustoms325: Sep 13, 2010 - 10:20 PM

[MGCustoms325]

Some more parts came in:

Caldina Intake Manifold With Ported TB


Radiator Supports


GT Throttle Cable


Power Steering Reservoir Hose

[MGCustoms325]

Made some progress on the motor.

We removed the timing belt.



Removed the water pump. You will notice that the original pump had plastic fins and the replacement has metal fins.





Area all smoothed to ensure a good seal for the water pump.



Here it is almost installed.



Here it is installed and my mechanic is reinstalling the ac bracket.



Then we cleaned the cam seals and installed the new ones.



Here they are installed. I am still unsure whether I want to get some GSC 268 cams and AEM cam gears or to just remain stock... We shall have to just wait and see...



And finally we removed the oil pump and the oil pan.





Nekked!



Thats all for now. Will update again next week when I get back over to the shop!

This post has been edited by MGCustoms325: Sep 16, 2010 - 4:33 AM

[MGCustoms325]

Well a few more parts came in today that were holding up progress. I got:

St205 Rear Motor Mount


Oil Pump


Hydraulic Tensioner & Pulleys


And these were just 2 other things I have that I hadn’t added before.

Fidanza Flywheel


Berk 3" DP With O2 Bung


I should be receiving my ACT TM1-HDR6 clutch kit and HKS SSQV3 on Wednesday. I will be going to the shop to get the recently received parts installed tomorrow night and will possibly be cleaning the block and tranny to either paint them or leave them ready for paint on Wednesday.

I also received my wiring harness from Tweak and it is definitely even better than I expected. The guy does some amazing work. I definitely recommend that anyone undertaking this swap send the harness out to him. You won't be disappointed!

[MGCustoms325]

Well I have been slacking on posting updates. I will be going back to the shop to do some more work on Tuesday but I figured I would post up a few more goodies I got in.

Autometer Speedometer


Autometer Wideband


ACT Clutch

[99celiGT]

Hey MG where are you getting all the work done, cause im doing this same swap in my GT when i get home and the only problem i have is finding a good shop that knows what they are doing when it comes to this

[MGCustoms325]

This project is still a work in progress. I have sent out a few parts to be ceramic coated and my valve cover to get powdercoated. I will be going to the shop later today to install the timing belt and a few misc. parts including my high output alternator. I will update the thread with new pictures of how the motor sits as I have painted the block and a few other things since I last posted on here.