Displacement Replacement - Part 1

I’ve been busy with the “Final Form MR2” now for awhile. On top of an entirely new engine platform, I’m also upgrading or replacing a lot of smaller details. Hopefully all these small additions add up to a safer, more comfortable, and faster MR2.

If you go back a few posts, we had just yanked the old 3SGTE out of the car and were starting to prep the 2gr for install.

Your basic 2grfe in an MR2 will get you somewhere around 275-290 whp with the common bolt ons. Headers, y-pipe and exhaust, cold air intake, and the Frankenstein Motorworks ECU reflash with higher rev limit (typically 7200rpm) to achieve those numbers. All the while, the 2gr is rumored to be 100 pounds lighter than a dressed 3sgte. (your results may vary pending how dressed each motor is)

While I believe I was at 300-310whp with the 3sgte, the 2gr MR2s I’ve driven feel faster according to my butt dyno. A lot of that has to do with the much more useable powerband. The 2gr will hit 200ft/lbs almost from idle, where most 3sgte need 3000-4000 rpm. I will miss those turbo noises, but the driving experience of the 2gr is just more fun.

You know I will be installing all the bolt ons I can get my hands on. Along with that, I’m doing something a little more special. No, not a supercharger… and definitely not a turbo, I’ve had enough with forced induction for awhile. I’m trying out the Monkey Wrench Racing camshaft regrinds. MWR claims a solid 25whp gain with their stage one cams. I’m excited to see how that will feel (and sound!).

Check them out here: https://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/product/mwr-cam-set-4-2gr-fe-v6-stage-1/

MWR highly recommends revving the 2gr to the moon with their cams. I’ve decided to oblige them somewhat, and set my rev limiter to 7700rpm. To go above 7200, most shops recommend upgrading valve springs, so we’ll be doing that too. Head stuff, what fun!

Starting the engine tear down. Being very unfamiliar with the 2gr at first, I was very cautious and labeled/bagged every bolt. I also took lots of pictures. Upon reassembly I realized this is a Toyota, and the engineers did a good job making sure things can only be re-assembled the correct way. By the way, engine looks pretty clean eh?

I’m simplifying the 2gr where I can. The throttle body coolant lines are going bye bye. I capped and welded the return line shut here, and when Wilhelm Raceworks welded up my coolant neck, he also blocked the supply line.

Turns out, to remove the timing components, you have to remove the oil pan. So I flipped the engine on the stand.

Good, great…. I didn’t like that brand new garage floor anyways.

Sump removed. Still very shiny down under!

There you go, a blury picture of access to the timing chain! Honestly it’s a pretty simple engine on the timing side. Water pump is driven off the serp belt.

One bank torn down! I tried to be smart and left the other bank untouched so I had a reference for re-assembly. I also used the online Sienna service manual which walks you through tear down and assembly in typical Toyota fashion. Mostly, it’s a very good guide, but some steps are very unnecessary.

MMMMMM Swedish.

Wow. Such spring. Very stiff.

I had never gone this deep into an engine before. I was intimidated. But, the internet is very helpful place. Youtube has actual Toyota service videos on spring replacements on the 2gr. To keep from having to pull the heads on the motor, I ran compressed air into the cylinder through the spark plug hole to keep the valves closed. Then using this very handy magnetic spring tool (Thanks Ian!) you can pop off the retainers and keepers for each spring without scattering them into the depths of your garage.

Replace the spring and carefully reset the keeper and retainers with some pressure. TAKE YOUR TIME. Do one spring at a time so you don’t lose parts. The parts are VERY tiny. If you lost one of the keepers… it’s probably a dumb part to wait a week to show up. MWR also supplies some tiny shims that go into one end of the rocker arms to work with their cams. Install those when re-assembling.

One bank springs swapped! I dabbed each one with a paint pen so I didn’t get confused during the process. The new springs also have a white stripe on them so you know you put the right ones in. Time to install the cams! That was where I ran into a small problem. One of the MWR cams didn’t fit my OEM exhaust cam gear. After a bit of a panic and ton of research, it turns out the RX350/Sienna cams have SLIGHTLY different machining on the exhaust cam gears. I rang MWR and they solved the problem immediately by shipping me a new set of cams that fit correctly. Within a week I was back in business. They even did so without charging me, and included a return label to send back both the original MWR cams, and my OEM cams as a core for free. Thanks MWR! If you order cams from them make sure you let them know what car your engine came from to avoid this issue.

Assemble the cams in the cam cradle before installing on the head. It is much easier this way so you can time the cams correctly and not fight the valve springs when tightening the bolts to spec. Also, use assembly lube (or some oil at the very least) on the cam journals when putting this together!

Fresh cams installed!

Since we had the valve covers off anyways, now was the perfect time to tidy them up a bit. I’ll give you one guess to the color…

Wrinkle black it is! Durable, easy to clean, and hides grime well. Perfect for a guy who hates washing his cars.

Onto some of the exhaust. The go to for 2gr headers are the Frankenstein Motorworks ones (Shop here). They provide a lot more power than OEM, are well built, and last. They are pricey at $700 for a set, but there are very few options out there. These are endurance race proven, which is good enough for my car.

After receiving a few $300+ quotes with 2-3 week lead times for ceramic coating, I decided to try wrapping the headers to manage the heat. I’m sure I could get away with not doing anything, but why not give it a try? $25 in wrap later I think the results are ok. Yes I know the dangers of cracking the header, but these are pretty beefy construction. I will give this a year and see how it holds up.

Cams in, heads put back together.

Timed, ready for the cover, water pump, and oil pans.

Speaking of water, I also installed the Wilhelm modified coolant tree. Another good omen, Alex commented it was one fo the cleanest water necks he’s seen. You can purchase Alex’s great service here if you don’t know how to weld aluminum… like me.

Oil pans back on, with a lot of fresh FIPG.

Other side water neck installed, along with the valve covers.

I picked up the passenger side motor mount used through a friend. It was one of Frankenstein Motorworks first generation of motor mounts, a milled aluminum unit that was actually two pieces instead of the current one piece design. Unfortunately this wasn’t a bolt-n-go piece, and needed a little massaging with a grinder to clear the serpentine belt and pulley. Not a super big deal, but thought it was worth noting in the build thread.

EDIT: Marc at Frankenstein Motorworks has reached out to me and graciously offered me one of his very badass new motor mounts at a great price. He’s currently doing a presale on the new mounts at a VERY reasonable price ($300!), check out his site for the presale! (Click here) I took him up on his offer and will swap the mount once I recieve it with a little review for you guys. Thanks a ton Marc!

Since I had some heat reflective tape in the tool box, I thought a few parts of the engine could be addressed. The header runs within a few millimeters of the oil cooler, so let’s protect that a bit more. Also, the y-pipe runs fairly close to the oil pan, so why not give that a bit more protection.

Since I had a few fitment issues throughout the build… I decided to give the Wilhelm y-pipe a test fit at this stage. It fit perfectly. Very impressive! Check out Alex’s website to see his Y-pipe he sells.

Two steps forward, one step back. As you’ll see in the next blog post, I eliminated the heater core lines from the coolant tree. This meant I also needed to close off this line on the coolant piping in the V of the engine block. So, out it came again.

These lines are steel, so I can weld them up with my little mig machine. here it is, good to go. I then pressure tested to be sure no leaky leaks. After some silver paint it was good to go back in.

Now, it was time to get the engine off the stand and ready to mate the transmission! But first, the tranny needed a makeover.

Since I had the degreaser out… might as well also try to clean up my spare transmission. The black one is the original LSD e153 from my car, the grey one is my gen3 LSD e153. Both needed some scrubbing. The black one… needs a rebuild at 160k anyways.

After the bath, I gave the trans and starter a new lick of paint. The subframe also got cleaned up. I decided to remove the rear sway bar as well. I’ve been told with my spring rates it probably wasn’t doing anything anyways. A solid 8-12 pounds saved off the rear!

Since I’ve now joined the elite with a lift in my shop, I decided to try something different with this motor install. No more Harbor Freight engine hoist! It’s just not easy to use in the MR2, and can be pretty sketchy with a hair-trigger release on the hydraulic ram of the hoist. So, I built this cute little cart from uni-strut and added wheels from a furniture dolly.

Hey, it hasn’t fallen off! Time to actually prep the engine to fit the e153.

Prepping to helicoil one of the main e153 connections, and you can see where I had some fun with a grinder on the side. You also need to notch the other side for the slave cylinder and front motor mount.

When the transmission test fit well, we opened up the fancy Fidanza flywheel/ARP combo. The lightened flywheel is a must with the 2gr, makes the motor feel almost exotic with free revs.

On and torqued to spec.

I decided to re-use my Comp clutch. It still had plenty of life in it, and clutches don’t grow on trees. Once this one had broken in, it’s been a very nice unit.

Motor and trans ready for install. The little cart I made moved around the shop rather nicely.

Ready to lower the car onto the engine. BUT, before we can install there was a ton of chassis work to do!

Stay tuned because the next post will cover that in exhaustion (get it?), within a week, I promise!