Project MRX350

[pk_090]

Dare i ask what comes after Mk1's?

[PW@Woodsport]

My 944 is going to get some loving after this is done, full resto, Audi V8, LSD, respray, interior retrim, the works, I love my 944!

[stenky]

i have always loved 944s but then i have discovered Supra MKIII and my love wasn't the same anymore

[PW@Woodsport]

Wiring now about 80% completed, left to do....

AFR relay
extend AFR sensors wiring/fit
Oil pressure wiring
Coolant temp wiring
Engine earth strap
Alternator wiring
Battery install and wiring
Tacho board modifying/calibration for V6 signal

Should be starting up by the weekend.

[PW@Woodsport]

Wiring 95% done, so i turned attention to driveshafts, you may or may not know MK2 NA shafts fit Mk1 hubs, and i'm using a Mk2 NA (S54) gearbox, now on lesser V6 swaps into a Mk1 it's a plug and play job with Mk2 NA driveshafts, but due to the location of my engine when i tried to fit the long right side shaft it was about 10mm too long, or rather my engine/gearbox is located 10mm too far to the right.

This is never a problem with the E153/shaft route and i have the engine in that particular spot for good reason, so because i'd used my E153 Mk1 2gr jig on this build i hit a problem.

Excuse the crude diagram, but this is the Mk1/Mk2 setup as normal...



Except on my car i cannot fit the right shaft, it's just too long.

So the solution was to make a hybrid shaft with bits borrowed from other Toyotas, the shaft layout on my car now looks like this....



That is a Celica St202 supported shaft and a left side Mk2 NA shaft with the inner spider swapped over, this gives me a supported shaft setup but crucially 20mm shorter than a long Mk2 NA shaft.

The Green bit is an axle bearing carrier bracket that i have had to make, from scratch, but is now fitted and all works very well, sorry no pics i will get some though.

So it has worked out to be a bonus, i now have an equal length driveshaft arrangement which is something only found on a Mk2 Turbo setup, except with the NA drivetrain, got to love Toyota parts bin compatability!

[MartG]

Clever

[Rosssco]

My 944 is going to get some loving after this is done, full resto, Audi V8, LSD, respray, interior retrim, the works, I love my 944!

Image Replaced With URL For Quote http://url.photobucket.com/albums/v624/ ... 34a0a5.jpg

Good to hear you'll still be messing with Audi V8's Paul.. Has no one plumped for a mk2 with Audi V8 and OB1 gearbox yet? Thought that might have taken off, but I guess it's still a fair amount of fab work compared to even a mk1.6...

Ross

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks chaps, pretty happy with the solution, i could have had the long shaft cut down, but the supported method is far more elegant and is how Toyota probably would have done it.

Ross the problem with the V8 swaps is labour cost, huge amount of fabrication makes it a £10k plus deal, lots of Ferrari/Lambo replica people contact me about having it done but when they hear the costs involved they just go V6 instead.

[synXero]

Thanks chaps, pretty happy with the solution, i could have had the long shaft cut down, but the supported method is far more elegant and is how Toyota probably would have done it.

Ross the problem with the V8 swaps is labour cost, huge amount of fabrication makes it a £10k plus deal, lots of Ferrari/Lambo replica people contact me about having it done but when they hear the costs involved they just go V6 instead.

I suspect it'll always be the same, until/unless the cars rise in value sufficiently that making that kind of investment in one is actually interesting.

Can you imagine a V8 conversion being done without suspension relocation as per the ongoing Canadian V8 build, and with the retention of the boot...?

[PW@Woodsport]

Absolutely, i didn't relocate my suspension on my Mk1 V8 which has considerably less engine bay than a Mk2. Using the newer OB1 gearbox it is entirely possible to mount a V8 North/South in a Mk2 engine bay with very little intrusion at the front.

There is just no need to start hacking suspension mounts and strut tops.

[synXero]

North south

No one has one completed and shown off online yet, have they?

[PW@Woodsport]

Mine was mechanically completed, a fully working driving V8 Mr2.

[PW@Woodsport]

She's alive

Big thanks to Apple for their terrible Iphone mic that makes all engines sound like a bag of bolts, as usual they are very quiet in person but it has a habit of amplifying injectors and top end.

I jury rigged a battery up, filled the engine with good quality fully synth, filled the gearbox with Royal Purple and turned the key....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuEmKfYe ... e=youtu.be

That is going to be fantastic under load, i've done that many now i can just tell.

Finishing off work includes mounting the ECU, making a battery tray up front, power cabling and rear boot wall access panel.

Apologies for the dusty engine bay.

[matt-mr2]

Great work sir

[MartG]

Well done Paul

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks chaps

[synXero]

It sounds very raspy! I imagined a 2GR to be deeper and bellowy. Wish I could hear it in real life as I think recordings are always useless. My own exhaust sounds entirely different on iPhone... Pain.

[PW@Woodsport]

Yep it's much deeper and growly in person, the iPhone just doesn't capture the bass and picks up a lot of tinny rasp that simply isn't there.

Might invest in a proper camera, phone cams are crap.

[PW@Woodsport]

You may or may not remember the digital dash project i have been working on for this car, it replaces the four analogue gauges with digital readouts, for no other reason than i wanted actual figures for temp, charging and oil pressure readings and it looks cool.

I fitted the sensors to the engine last week but only just got around to fitting the gauge.

The fuel reading is a percentage and was a nightmare, i have had to modify the sender unit to make this work.

Once again the Iphone has let me down, it shows the digital displays as blurry and very bright, they are in fact pin sharp and much more subtle.





Short video with engine running, tacho still to modify....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1chfLZZBW4

[kherseth]

It looks like the 80`s that dashboard, and in a good way. Personally I`d have made separate digital readouts and keep the analog in the dash. Should have been easy to make a quick connect so that you got the digital when needed(yep, electronics guy me is).

A matter of taste I guess

I still cant wait to see that thing howling around the arctic circle raceway