Kirkosaurus Motor Mount Installation Video – Full Resolution – 52MB windows media format. Right click and save as to view.

Some pictures from the video, are presented here, but please see the video instead for the how to.
Here is the front motor mount on the MR2 Turbo. Remove the 17mm through bolt, and the four 14mm bolts.

The front motor mount removed:

Motor Mount inserts installed.

Front motor mount with new inserts installed.

Rear motor mount.

Needed to use a universal joint and a couple of extensions to remove the 17mm through bolt as the stock exhaust was in the way.

Three lower 14mm bolts hold the rear motor mount in place.

Rear motor mount removed.

Inserts installed into the rear motor mount.

Rear motor mount with inserts now installed.

Kirkosaurus Motor Mount Installation Video – Full Resolution – 52MB windows media format. Right click and save as to view.

Joe under the influence of BOOST!

THE reason that you have to remove all traces of R-12 in a system is because the introduction of R-134 turns the R-12 traces to glue. This is in fact, a good thing, as hoses now become sealed up, instead of leaking even more like was previously believed.

It is a myth that all of the O-rings need to be replaced. Also, the oil is the one of the biggest issues, so:

1. Do NOT EVER get a new “R-134″ compressor just because you had an R-12 compressor. It’s the same compressor as an R12 compressor, but it has a different oil charge from the factory. It’s a simple job to flush the compressor with alcohol.

2. The same applies to the condensor and all of the other parts, except the receiver/dryer – all of the system can be flushed with alcohol (denatured). It is NOT necessary to replace major parts of the system because you want to convert it. (The residual alcohol boils out when you pull a vacuum on the system – it has a high vapor pressure.)

3. Put in the required amount of Ester oil, usually about 6 oz. This is synthetic, and is THE perfect replacement for the old crappy mineral oil (R-12) and PAG (R-134).

4. Replace the Receiver/Dryer. It’s cheap, and it affects performance.

5. If you put in R-134, fill with a charge equivalent to 80% of the R-12 charge, which is 28-32 oz. for ’91-’93 MR2′s.

6. Your vacuum pump may not pull to 30 Inches of Mercury (not PSI). Any reasonable vacuum below 20 in. Hg. will do fine. The real trick here is to boil out any residual moisture. The greater the vacuum, the more effective the procedure.

7. Connect both manifold hoses when you get started. There’s less chance of getting air into the system if you pull a vacuum through the whole system, all hoses included. (Open both manifold valves.)

8. A properly charged and functional MR2 A/C system will in fact cool pretty well with R-134. I have proof of this with a few MK2′s.

9. If you really want a fluorescent dye added, get one that’s Ester oil based, as it will work in almost any system.

10. Ditch the crappy R-134!!! It’s molecules are smaller (so we are told) than R-12 molecules, so it leaks out faster. (This is one reason for the O-ring story – the newer O-rings are supposed to seal “better”. Maybe…)

ES-12a, manufactured by EnviroSafe in Pekin, IL, is THE stuff to get. It is:

1. Non-ozone depleting
2. Non-toxic (well, not severely brain damaging like R-134)
3. Flammable (but not like propane is)
4. It’s only a mail order product for most of us
5. You use less than R-12 or R-134
6. It’s a petroleum product, so it’s molecules are larger than R-12 and R-134 molecules, so it has less chance to leak.
7. It is compatible with almost every A/C oil out there – no need to change oil.
8. For 12 bucks, you can add a can of ProSeal to fix most small leaks.

8. COLD. No, I mean COLD. I HIGHLY recommend the Industrial ES-12a, as it gets colder than the regular version. MR2′s will cycle off about 42 degrees F (measured at the center duct). My Lexus SC300 goes down to 31 degrees. The colder it gets, the more efficient it is, and the less it needs to work to get your car cold. My MR2 has will pull the duct temp up to 50 degrees below the inlet temp. R-12 and R-134 will not ever do that.

I’ve put this stuff in so many cars, I’ve gone through two cases of cans and a 30 Lb. tank.

AND, don’t forget to check your heater water valve to make sure it’s closing all the way. (The heater core lines should be cold to the touch.)

1. As you can see, the shifter from the 89 SC MR2 I had was quite long.  As far as I know, all of the MK1 shifters are the same from 85 to 89.  The shift knob was also quite long and I was very annoyed with it after having a B & M in one of my MK2 MR2s for several years now.  I swapped in one of the B & M replica shifters without the drop-plate which worked out well.  The OEM shift knob would not work on the B & M replica, but it was rather phallic anyway, so I was quite happy to ditch it.
2. The OEM shifter from the 91 MR2 is only slightly shorter than the MK1 shifter and has a similarly phallic shift knob.  I recommend upgrading to a B & M or at least a 93 OEM version if possible.
3. The 93 OEM shifter is a good bit shorter and much nicer than the versions from the prior years.  The shifter is quite a bit shorter installed and the knob was revised on the 93-95 USDM models.
4. The TRD version is slightly shorter than the 93 OEM counterpart and the shift linkage has a slight adjustment making it mount higher.  The shifter works flawlessly and is well engineered as would be expected with the entire TRD product line.  The TRD short shifters were shipped with a drop-plate similar to the B & M and the knob with the TRD shifter is superb.
5. The B & M replica shifters (in some cases labeled as a Fidanza shifter) are quite short.  Although it visibly looks to be the same length as the authentic B & M, it is considerably shorter when installed for some reason and is almost too short to be usable if you use the drop plate.  It was so short that I was unable to shift to 2nd gear if the shift boot was still installed.  It is tolerable if you bypass installing the drop-plate and it did work quite well in the MK1 without the drop-plate.  Another option since these replica shifters are fairly inexpensive is simply using the drop-plate from the kit with your 93 version shifter.  All of the replica B & M shifters I’ve seen have been polished aluminum.
6. The B & M shifter kit is by far the best version available for the MR2 in my opinion.  It has the most complete kit and works the best out of all the models available in my experience.  The kit included the shifter, drop plate and mounting hardware, tube of grease, a billet extension, and detailed instructions.  The authentic version is easily identifiable by the anodized blue components and the brushed aluminum finish.  Old versions of the shifter included a nice, heavy shift knob, but those were phased out in the later kits available for the MR2.  B & M ended production for the MR2 short shift kit sometime around the 2005-6 time frame.  When it was available, it was approximately $170.  The B & M installation instructions can be found here.

Start off by removing some of the interior components inside the cabin to gain access to the fuel pump and fuel level electrical connectors.  These are located in front of the gear shifter.  The screws from the ash tray need to be removed.  The plastic piece around the center vents needs to be removed next.

Disconnect the two connectors – one is for the pump and the other is for fuel level.  Next to the connectors are two bolts that need to be removed.

Next up is to remove the heat shied from the engine compartment.  In these pictures, the turbocharger has been removed, but you can certainly still remove the tank without removing the turbo.  Some of the bolts are quite a stretch, but can be done OK.

Looks like this now:

Now you can remove the fuel lines leading to the tank.  I found it very difficult to remove the large pipe leading to the fuel filler (fuel inlet hose), but you don’t need to remove this one yet.  What you can do is just loosen the clamp, and then when you drop the tank, it is much easier to pull off then.  You need to remove the following lines:
1.  Fuel breather
2.  Fuel pump tube (metal)
3.  Fuel return
4.  Two evaporative bent hoses.

Hoses marked with red arrows.  Notice that the fuel inlet hose has been loosed, but not removed.

Close-up of metal fuel line and fitting:

I found it easier to just remove the entire ‘evaporative assembly’ as shown here.

All necessary fuel lines removed.

Jack the car up and set it on jack-stands or something that can support all four corners of the car.  You want to get the car high enough so that you have space to work under the car, and once the tank is dropped, enough space to remove it.  A typical set of jack-stands works fine.  Remove all those plastic under covers – just keep track of the order in which they go back on.  You can also refer to the white diagram above.

Next up is to remove the brake intermediate level and center floor cross member.  There are four bolts holding the intermediate lever in place – remove those first.

Now remove the two bolts holding the center cross member in place.

Remove the spring and then remove the cables from the brake intermediate lever – they just pop out.  You don’t have to remove the cables, you can leave then there, just when you remove the tank it will be a little in the way, but it’s not a problem.
At this point I would drain the fuel.  The drain can be opened with a typical socket extension (square).  Now you can start removing the four bolts that hold the A/C lines to the body of the car.  Don’t worry, you don’t need to disconnect any A/C or coolants lines, they just need to be unbolted so they can be moved out of the way so that the tank can drop down.

6 bolts hold the coolant lines to the body that need to be removed.

Next up is to remove the front bracket.  It is held in place with one bolt.  On the other side (from the bolt) is a swing bar – so just remove the single bolt and it will swing out of the way.  You can remove the entire bracket easily then.

Then remove the rear bracket held in place by two bolts.  Don’t worry the tank won’t fall on you, but just in case, do hold it up (oh and you did drain the fuel right?).

Be sure that you have all the lines disconnected, and the two electrical connectors up top (interior) disconnected.
To remove the tank, you’ll need to push the coolant and A/C lines out of the way up towards the front of the tank (front of car).  I had to hold one set of lines out of the way with one hand, and then pull the tank down with the other.  I found it easier to drop the front of the tank first.  Once that is on the ground, go and pull the back part of the tank down.  This will also pull out the fuel inlet hose, if you (like me) could not get it to disconnect earlier.

The tank removed:

Close-up of the fuel lines on the tank.

To remove the fuel pump, unbolt the 10mm bolt holding the fuel pump tube to the tank.  Then just unscrew the 5 Phillips screws as shown.

The pump then pulls out of the tank along with the lines – and yes – that is underwear.

To connect the new pump, in this case a Walbro pump, disconnect the stock pump and cut the wires to length.  Make sure that the positive wire is cut so that it is just long enough to reach.  You don’t want the wires flopping around inside the tank (and under gasoline!), with the chance that the positive might touch ground.  This also shows the stock pump next to the Walbro pump.

Here some insulation from speaker wire was used to wrap the connection after soldering (Thanks to my brother Friedl for help and idea!).  The insulation was then zip-tied around it.  The ground wire was also zip-tied in place so that it will not move around either.

Parts were all ordered from Summit Racing.

For the section between the fuel tank and stock fuel filter, I used 21.5 inches of -6 AN braided line.

1 EAR-300106 Fitting, Hose End, Straight, -6 AN, -6 AN Adapter, Aluminum, Red/Blue. This goes from the stock tank fitting to the braided line.

1 EAR-309106 Fitting, Hose End, 90 Degree, -6 AN, -6 AN Adapter, Aluminum, Red/Blue. This one connects to the other end of the braided line, and couples to the filter adapter.

1 EAR-991945 -6 AN hose end to 12 mm x 1.25 in., anodized blue. This goes into the bottom of the stock Toyota fuel filter, and connects to the 90 degree fitting.

Teflon tape.

Here’s the 90 degree fitting, and the adapter for the bottom of the fuel filter.

This is the stock -6 AN coupler from the fuel tank to the stock fuel filter. Undo this with a 17 mm wrench on the left side, and a 14mm on the right. Only turn the 14mm, and keep the 17mm steady so you don’t stress the stock hardline to the tank.

Undone.

Remove these 2 12mm bolts.

Now undo the bottom fuel filter banjo bolt. 17mm wrench. Careful not to scrape your knuckles. Not pictured, I removed the bottom frame brace for more room to work (2 14mm bolts).

Fuel dripping into bucket.

Removing the stock line.

There it is, the whole point of upgrading this line is to get rid of the rubber sections.

Teflon tape on the stock fitting for a leak free seal.

Tightened up. Don’t overtighten, you can hurt the fittings and create a big leak.

The fuel filter -6 AN adapter.

Teflon tape.

In place, and added teflon tape to the bottom side.

90 degree fitting tightened up.

Added some foam pipe insulation to protect the braided line from rubbing on anything.

I bent the large fuel pipe out a 1/2 inch or so, and loosened the 10mm nut a bit as well for some more room.

 

When I put the stock metal heat shield back on, I bent it out of the way as well. All done with this lower section.

SAFETY SECTION

Before you star working, disconnect the battery. Disconnect both terminals in case you somehow get a tool to touch both a terminal and a part of the car, nothing will spark. Be careful of fuel from this point on. Do not use, let, or cause anything to ignite the fuel or fumes. It is very dangerous to work with exposed gasoline, treat it with respect, I’m not responsible for anything that happens to you or to your car, or your garage and house!

Ok, raise the car up. I only gave myself 15 inches at the front of the car and about 18 at the rear. It was tough to move around under there and I’m not a big dude, so if you can, give yourself more area to work.
Here’s the interior parts that have to be removed.

Here’s the actual parts for the tank removal.

1

2 Shift knob, and surround removed. Once the armrest and storage box are removed, take the ashtray out, and underneath it are two screws which must be removed.

3 The 3 connectors that have to be unplugged before you can completely pull the dash out.

4 Better pic of the 3 connectors.

5 There is a black cap with 2 10mm bolts that hide the fuel pump sender and fuel pump wiring. Remove that, and undo both clips as shown.

6 Get underneath the car, and take a look at the underbody plastic. This is a pic from the rear facing to the front. Remove the pieces from the front to the back, then when you put them back on, go from the back to the front.

7 Looking further down…

8 The last one that has to be removed. The one under the radiator does not need to be removed.

9 Another pic of the first one to remove.

10 Now looking from the middle of the car to the rear. I have already undone some of the others towards the front.

11 These rear two are always a puzzle to put back on unless you memorize how they are positioned or have a picture.

12 Now undo the lower tank heat shield. 3 10mm nuts Notice I have the turbo removed. It will probably be tight with a stock turbo on the car, and you may have to work from above and below on some of them.

13 Remove the top tank heat shield. 3 10mm nuts

14 Ok, here are all of the tank connections that have to be separated.

15 Fuel filler hose is first. 10mm hose clamp

16 Lower hose one undone. Pinch type hose clamp

17 Return hose. 10mm hose clamp

18 Now remove this ventilation thingy here. 10mm nut

19 Once undone, you can reach the first hose towards the top. Pinch clamp

20 Once that one is removed, you can reach the lower two. Pinch clamps

21 Reference pic for how they go back on.

22 Vent thingy removed.

23 The vent thingy itself.

24 Here I’m below the car with one gloved hand holding onto two wrenches illustrating how to separate the main fuel pump line. Use one wrench in your left hand and another in your right. DO NOT MOVE THIS LINE AS IT IS BRACED WITH A BOLT TO THE TANK, AND WILL BEND POSSIBLY CAUSING A LEAK OR OBSTRUCTION IN THE LINE. Just go slow, and get a good grip before you turn the fitting. Your right hand will do all of the turning, and your left will hold the filter side of the fitting steady, and stop it from turning. Mine moved tough at first for a few threads, then easy for a few revolutions, and finally tough again just before it separates. Go slow, be careful on this step.

25 Here’s the fitting separated.

26 Now, be sure to break the seal on the main filler pipe all the way around. Mine came out by dropping the tank a little, not by me pushing it off (advice on this part came from Scott Perez, thanks!)

27 Remove the 4 bolts holding the parking brake intermediate lever.

28 Here it is undone. Drop it to the passenger side of the car. 4 bolts

29 In my hand is the Number 1 Center Floor Crossmember, remove this. 2 bolts

30 The following few pictures show some of the bolts for the Air Conditioning, and Coolant Lines. They are usually located right next to each other, and you have one of each on each side of the tank for a total of 4 lines with about 6 bolts 10mm bolts each holding them to the body of the car. Remove these.

31 More A/C and Coolant line bolts…

32 More A/C and Coolant line bolts…

33 This is the Number 2 Center Floor Crossmember removed to show you what it looks like.

34 Here it is on the car, remove it. The tank shouldn’t drop on it’s own, but to be safe, have someone nearby to support it, or use a jack like I did a few pictures down.

35 Here is the Fuel Tank Band. It has one bolt and a pin. Once you remove the bolt, you have to put the band down vertically, and push up on it to get the pin to come out with the band.

36 Here it is on the car.

37 Here’s how I supported the tank. Actually, this is a picture of the tank going back into the car, but you can do the same thing while lowering it.

38 Another support shot…

39 Before you go more than a few inches, check the lines at the rear of the tank and make sure they aren’t binding. Same thing when putting it back in.

40 FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST!

41 Get the tank into a good spot to work on, and have some rags or towels available to clean the fuel pump and keep new dirt off of it while you are working. Remove the 10mm fuel supply line bolt.

42 Undo the 5 screws securing the fuel pump door to the tank. Check the seal on the underside of the door, and replace if necessary.

43 Here’s the pump and line.

44 Here’s the pump.

45 Another shot of the pump.

46 Separate the pump from it’s bracket by pulling it free with just your hands. Magic!

47 There is no 47. It’s a secret to everybody!
48 Pop the clip holding the filter off, be careful not to lose it!

49 Here’s where we’re at.

50 Now undo the pinch clamp holding the hose to the pump, and then remove the 8mm and 7mm nuts holding the 12v and ground wires to the pump.

51 The old and the new. They are pretty much identical except for the MR2 pump is 13 years old.

52 Put it all back together with the new pump.

53 Drop it in, and screw it down.

54 Remember to tighten the fuel line to the tank.

55 Tape the fuel sender and fuel pump lines to their normal position so that the fuel pump line doesn’t slide out of reach while you are bolting it all back in to the car.

55.5 Installation is the reverse of removal. When the tank is supported back in the car, and all of the lines and wires are reconnected, check everything once, make sure you haven’t done something stupid, then continue to the next steps.
56 If putting a Supra or Walbro pump in, you probably should swap out the 15 amp EFI fuse for a 20 amp in the engine bay fuse block. You can try to run with the 15 amp fuse, but be sure to keep a 20 amp in the car in case it blows. Personally, I would just put a 20 amp in there now It won’t hurt the circuit.

57 You can now reconnect the battery.

58 Put a super special service tool (paperclip) into the diagnostic box near the pressure sensor. You want to connect +B and FP.

Turn the Key to the on position (DO NOT START THE CAR). Listen for the sound of fuel rushing through the fuel rail. Get under the car and look for leaks anywhere. Double check. Triple check. Use your hands to feel for fuel on the main supply line. Quadruple check. If you don’t find any, you can continue buttoning things up. YOU DID IT!

Here’s a shot of the control box.

In the next two pictures, you can see the white alcohol bottle which contains the pump and level sensor. You can also see the alcohol line which leads to the nozzle. The line is about a foot and a half too long, any fitting store can shorten it, that’s on the list of things to do.

On January 23rd 2002, Pat took his car to Carb Connection (http://www.carbconnect.com) in Kirkland WA to do some baseline runs. For some reason, his air fuel ration didn’t even show up on the chart after 3,000 rpm. Hmmm… wonder why… maybe too much alcohol? Hmmm… At this point, he’s running stock fuel system, and only an AFC to control it. He subtracted 25% of fuel on Hi Throttle settings from 3,000 – 7,000 and just barely got the mixture to move up in the 5,600 – 6,900 RPM range. The session was over, so he’ll have to go back and tune to see the difference with and without alcohol. Pump speed on the SMC kit was set at 4, and it activates at .7 bar

The Turbo VSV is a dual stage boost controller. It has an on and off position.
Off indicating that the ECU finds one or more of these values to be false.
A: Engine is warm (coolant temp sensor shows good temps in the head)
B: Air temp outside is not too cold (AFM temp sensor shows above 32F)
C: There is positive manifold pressure (boost). (ECU compares the AFM reading with the RPM, it does not get it from the boost pressure sensor)
D: Most importantly, that the engine not knocking (knock sensor functioning, and not finding problems)

This means that you can hook a 12 volt light bulb or LED light in this 12 volt line, and visually see when the ECU has the Turbo VSV on, and off. This will show you that the ECU has not or has found problems with one or more of the statements listed above.
This modification is useful for those who have disconnected the Turbo VSV in that it will show you when the ECU has turned it off (ECU has found problems with the car). People who have disconnected the VSV (in order to run more boost with a Manual or Electronic Boost Controller) have lost this function of the ECU.
The main benefit of this modification is that it allows the user to see when the stock ECU is detecting knock.
This entire cost of this mod is $2.00 for the LED, and a few dollars for some 18-22 gauge wire. You’re probably gonna need a BGB with the electrical diagram, or you can possibly use the pinout here…. SW20 3SGTE PINOUT

Here are the parts needed. Some 18-22 gauge wire, and 1 or 2 12 volt lights or LEDs with resistors built in. The LEDs I bought cost $1.99 each at Radioshack. This is how to hook up the LED. (NOTE: You can use just regular 12v lights, in this case, either wire can go to positive or negative, they are not directed like LED lights are)  

Alway disconnect the car battery before working on any electrical project. For the TVSV, go to the ECU in the rear trunk, and locate plugs A and B that connect to the bottom of the computer. 

Next you want to find the plugs on the pinout, and locate the line or lines you want to tap into.  

Now, pop the rear trunk, pop off the Toyota plasti-rivits and pull down the cardboard backed carpet to get to the ECU. Find plugs A and B (match it up with the pinout diagram)

Make sure you have the correct pin positions before doing any splicing. The plugs may look mirrored depending on how you are looking at it (wire side or pin side), so make sure you have it facing the correct way. 

For the TVIS, find a 12v power source (the front kick panel has many such wires, cigarette is a good one), and splice in your TVIS LED positive wire to it. Now, locate plug B at the ECU, and splice your TVIS LED negative to it. Run this wire to wherever you are positioning your TVIS LED. For the TVSV, find Plug A and use the wire connected to pin 12 or 13 (doesn’t matter which), and splice your TVSV LED positive wire to it. Now locate plug B and splice your TVSV LED negative wire to it. Run this wire to wherever you are positioning your TVSV (knock) LED.

Once you have the wire (or wires) hooked to the ECU, feed the line through the rubber grommet into the engine bay (tape the wire to a coathanger, and push through). Then feed the line to the cabin by pulling up the carpet behind the drivers seat, poking a coathanger through the rubber grommet, and attatching the wire to the coat hanger with some more tape, then just pull through. Once down with that, run the wire down the door sill under the carpet there, or under the middle armrest past the shifter (don’t let it get caught in the shifter mechanism). We pulled the door sill plastic, and the plastic panel under the steering wheel to help feed the lines where we wanted them to go.  

Here’s how we temporarily mounted the lights. The green LED is lit, but you can hardly tell with the flash.