3SGTE sprint & Track mk1 build

[Neil_turbo]

I have owned this mk1 for around 3 1/2 years now, and 1 year ago, following 2 seasons sprinting, i decided to build it into something a little more serious!

i have been meaning to do a project thread for years on this, but finally got time to type it up... its a bit of a long read but should hopefully be interesting for anyone else building a track car!

I have left out most of the brake pad changes and servicing stuff, or else i will never get this finished! but here is a brief history up until the big plans started!

2008
Here is how the car looked when i bought it early 2008. It had a good solid chasis and a very neat 20v engine conversion :





It was always planned to be a track car so get straight on with the prep, rebuilding the calipers etc



(For reference, total weight removed was c. 8kg)



I also fitted a rerfurbed suspension rack, rebuilt the suspension with KYB inserts and Fensport springs, and fully polybushed the car, braided lines, yellow stuff pads.. etc..



2009
After a few track days in 2008 i decided to enter the TSS in 2009. This saw some lightweight wheels fitted (a couple of sets - Enkie RP01 and Wedsport RS5) and a few more mods, harnesses on the standard seats, extra air filter inlet, K&N filter (located in the boot for cooler air), steering rack polybushes





Despite the suspension mods, obviously roll bars were needed.... so a set of whitelines were bought after this picture!



Starting to look a bit more like a sprint car....



2010
Having done quite a few track days and sprints, i was really missing an LSD! I was also not happy with the gear ratios of the C56 box against the 20v engine, the power band did not match. I priced up a 6 speed conversion with LSD, and started looking at mods for the Silvertop (the most tuneable of the 20v') but the prices were high, so money was spent in other areas with the 3SGTE in mind for another time.

2010 saw the fitting of the rollcage, fibreglass bucket seats and the hugest of bonnet vents! The seats were welded to the floor to allow for the seat to be low enough to clear the rollcage and allow me to wear a helmet!







The bonnet vent was cut as deep into the boot as possible, and should help prevent front end lift at high speeds...







Battery was relocated to the front to allow for better weight distribution with the huge engine going in the back. I had found when sprinting i got better turn in with the spare wheel in the frunk!

[Neil_turbo]

The engine swap

Following a fair bit of searching for the right engine (i wanted a rev3 but they were going for silly money, i found this...

<picture of mk2>

It was highly modified and a bargain price as it had a cracked block. It meant i could sell a lot of the mods and effectively get the engine for free and some money towards the rebuild! The engine had over £10k of reciepts with it including..

86.5mm Omega Forged Pistons
Eagle Conrods
ARP Main Studs
High Flow Oil Cooler Bypass
Lightweight crankshaft, blanced and knife edged
3S Main, thrust and big end bearings
HKS Metal headgasket
ARP Head studs
Ferrea 1mm Oversize valves
Cat Highlift cams
Cat adjustable pulleys
HKS valve springs and retainers
Shimless bucket conversion
Kevlar Cambelt
850CC injectors
Turbo technics hybrid ct26 rated to 1.6 bar
Manifold matched to inlet, gas flowed etc
Innovative Wideband O2 sensor
Link G3 ecu with boost and launch control
Fensport triple plate clutch
Lightweight flywheel
ARP fly studs

So the swap started, first job remove and sell the 20v...



Then the engine was dropped from the mk2, a pump truck is the perfect tool for this, as when installing you can just pump the engine up into place!



It was then shipped to Merlin in york for a rebuild. Compression ratio was upped to 9.5, a couple of months later after the courier losing my new block i got it back, all shiny!



Then engine mounts were rebuilt for the 3SGTE





and fuel pump was replaced with a walbro 255lph. I replaced the heater pipes with rubber as they were really corroded, and did not want to be removing the tank again!

Cooling wise i planned a boot mount intercooler, and to reduce lag i did not want an extra load of piping, so sourced an alu manifold from the states and got at it with my grinder, cutting it twice so i could get the right angle.



back from the tig welders..



Hours were then speant port matching it to the head



Huge Skyline intercooler was purchased along with some spal fans...



Fuel Pressure Regulator and braided lines...



Fancy new Berk downpipe installed with wideband O2 data



Chasis brace was made to reinforce where cuts had been made through to the boot.



I also treated it to a pretty special ECU!



Now as i had a fresh ECU and a fresh build engine, i couldnt check any of the engine before it went for mapping, i also needed to have a run in map put on the car, drive it for a while, then return it for its full map!

I installed the highbrid driveshafts, modified torque mounts and exhaust as a temporary measure whilst it was run in.

The car went to fensport where the wiring was finished and its run in map was completed, a lot of other jobs were completed whilst there that i had not been able to check for, e.g. fuel leaks. Quality work.



Once i got the car back i started on some tidying up, including a nice big spoiler and pleanty of space for it to breathe, this included moving the number plate to the bumper by moulding in part of a mk2 bumper i had spare from the donor car, so has MOT legal lights etc



Car was now looking like this :

[Neil_turbo]

As with the engine / ECU chicken and egg issue, the exhaust was another. If i had the car mapped properly and then changed the exhaust, it would need remapping. a cost i didnt need

So whilst running the engine in i booked the car in at JP exhausts and had the following built. Really is a work of art! an designed to be quiet enough for track. I also needed to duct to my intercooler, this is the reason i went for a twin silencer, ensuring quiet and keeping space for the vent.





Next to be beefed up to final spec was the torque mounts, as other people's experience showed the hybrid ones would rip from the chasis over 300hp. With this looking more like 400hp it was essential!









I also found ssome cracks on the runners for the manifold, so had some more tig welding done, allowing it to be braced, also added a dumpvalve to the system







I designed and built my intercooler duct



and to help reduce heat form this going to the intercooler, it was heat wrapped



Car was then taken back down to fensport for its final map! Result was fantastic, the way it pulls is phenominal. the cams really help ensure it pulls all the way through the rev range, and without having a huge turbo on, it spools early on in the rev range, so, i borrowed some wheels and took it on track!



Massive thanks must go to Tom, who has done all of the welding on this project (and lent me the wheels!), wouldnt have been possible without you mate

[Neil_turbo]

The car is insanely quick! I had 2 issues though, it was running too warm as the radiator was not functioining anything like it should, and the braking was difficult as the track rod ends and droplinks were shot. a simple resolution but ran out of time before the track day, with other essentials needing finishing.

So, a huge RX7 alu rad was ordered, brackets made and installed, and the dirty hoses were replaced with silicone..



I had to loose the bonnet latch so lockable aeocatches were installed





The final area to beef up was the driveshafts, this included installing rear axle flanges to match the mk2 driveshaft, allowing a complete shaft to be run.

rears were sourced from Canada :

and i had the fronts i had machined in stoke :



This meant a new set of wheels was needed...


The rears were wider than the arches, so i purchased and modified some flares



Shaped to fit the MR2 properly



However the inner arch still needed rasing



So i got my grinder and hammer out...





they were then welded up



Just the brakes were left to finish. I had these in the garage from my donor mk2 and decided they should be sufficient with decent pads, a set of carbotechs were ordered along with a set of mk2 discs.

to fit the rears the carriers were extended, before and after :



Fronts were fitted with an adapter i designed and got machined





Again calipers were rebuilt etc

This is how the car sounds, with a nice lumpy idle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBvfcdMS ... ture=feedu

and to date this is how it looks :

[IanParkhouse]

That's great!

Well done, it reads like it all took an afternoon but I can see you've put many hours work in to that.

[Charged]

Brilliant Neil, excellent write up and pictures.. It really is a work of art!

So.. is it done? We need to see some in car videos!

[PW@Woodsport]

Fantastic stuff Neil, the car is a credit to you.

[ashley]

Very very nice mate- some awesome modifications there, and sounds like you've done most of it yourself too

[Neil_turbo]

Cheers Guys, its certainly getting closer with the end in sight!

the jobs list currently stands at...

Loctite driveshaft bolts
Split pin O/S driveshaft
N/S boot aerocatch & add bolts to others
Fit mk2 master brake cylinder
12" SPAL onto front radiator (+ some form of control?)
Ducting for radiator
Install centre panel in dash and wire in
Wire boost and O2 gauge
Install Data logger
Fan switches
Radiator fixings (needs to be a little more solid)
speed sender
Install electric cut off
install fire extinguisher
Fasten Intercooler better
Alutight final runners
heat shield down pipe
Harnesses
Reverse light
extend rear lights loom
brake ducting
sidelights
oil pressure sender

Plus there a few bits that need some welding namely a replacement passenger sill.

I also had a delivery from Paul a couple of weeks ago in the headlight department, but that is one when its properly running!

I dont want to track it until its had some good road use so i can be sure everything is running right! Though should be 100% for next years sprint series.

Only issue is due to the turbo (CT26 singleport) it is in the same class as Adrians Fensport Celica and Jonny Milners GT4 that was the fastest at goodwood this year. Need to practice my driving!

[Neil_turbo]

Very very nice mate- some awesome modifications there, and sounds like you've done most of it yourself too

Just had a read of your thread, very impressive also, notie you have also gone the (bigger brother) Motec route

I got this gadget for mine... 10 position switch thingy (not properly mounted yet so only photo i have to hand...



I have got it mapped on boost so that i can turn it right down to actuator for when it gets wet and i chicken out!

see how it goes on the track and at sprints, but next year i may look at some in gear mapping limiting boost in first etc. Also the option of setting some of the switch positions for race fuel

[pk_090]

anti lagg?

[ashley]

I got this gadget for mine... 10 position switch thingy (not properly mounted yet so only photo i have to hand...

I have got it mapped on boost so that i can turn it right down to actuator for when it gets wet and i chicken out!

see how it goes on the track and at sprints, but next year i may look at some in gear mapping limiting boost in first etc. Also the option of setting some of the switch positions for race fuel

Yeh- very sensible buddy! I've got a variable resistor on the dash, like a volume control, so I can turn the boost up / down...

Who's mapping your car for you?

[mk1 dal]

hi neil , i see you have forgot a very important mod , namely the parachute to throw out the back to stop this missile , out standing work and i cant wait to see it again at tatton next year .

[Keri-WMS]

Impressive stuff, some pretty novel details there!

[Neil_turbo]

Cheers! looking forward to getting on to the "fun" mods again, at the moment everything seems to be essential to it working!

Parachute shouldnt be needed, XP8 pads at £350 should be more effective! looking forward to getting it out next year!

Car has been Mapped by Adrian @ Fensport. Very pleased with it aswell. The engine is not mapped anywhere near its potential though, as the block and head should be fine up to around 600, but a bigger turbo would be needed! It is currenlty running 1.5 bar, i am hoping to get it on the dyno when i am back to find out what its producing!

The only issue we had was the throttle body, the TPS was replaced with a bosch one for more accurate feed, and the fact that its 90mm (inherited with the intake manifold)! This size really isnt needed for a 2l engine and is like an on/off switch, slow driving on the road is a pain. Going forward i may look at reducing this to a 70/75mm one, but decent ones arent cheap (Cheap ebay ones apparently are big amrican v8 copies, and without running forced induction, have very weak pivot bars, shove high boost against these and prepare for your next rebuild fishing the bits out!)

I'm not an expert on engines (hence sending it to Merlin for the rebuild!) but the engine should be producing good power, not all down to the turbo like a lot of builds. I guess this could have been achieved with perhaps just internals and a bigger turbo, but running this with upped compression, all the headwork, cams etc, should develop more power for lower boost. This should help maintain driveability as running a smaller turbo, boost comes in earlier and more progressive! Anti-lag or Twin charging shouldn't be needed! Hopefully dyno plot will show a steady curve!

[SuperRedMR2]

Neil have you got the dimensions of your bonnet duct?

Is there noticable difference with it in there?

[Neil_turbo]

i'm away from the car so havent got the dimensions to hand sorry, but basically the width to the ridges in the bonnet and around 10 cm in fron of the washer nozzles!

A more detailed thread on this is here....

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... onnet+vent

Also you can see its pretty much as deep as you can go to the U shaped chassis bars!

[J-1]

What kind of intake temperatures are you seeing?

[brgbrm]

That was a great write-up, thanks very much Neil!

[Neil_turbo]

Cheers!

I havent got my data logger up and running yet, but with the fans runnning the intake pipe was cool enough after a 15 min session on track, no accurate data yet though sorry

I accidentally bought 24v fans off ebay so they are currrently running at half speed, reckon i will need to upgrade to correct voltage ones though