The engine should be cool for this procedure, or you are likely to get burned.

First, you need to remove the ECU fuse or the positive battery terminal clamp. This allows the ECU to “reset” itself.

Seen here

What you’ll need to clean the MAF:MAF cleaner (the magazine article says choke & carb cleaner is OK too, but I just bought the dedicated stuff), Phillips head screwdriver

So, pop the hood and let’s see where this puppy lives.

Oh! There he is! (blue arrow)

Let’s get a little closer. Now he’s boxed in.

OK, now we know where he is. Let’s get started.

There’s a tab on the top of the MAF sensor wire harness. Push the tab down and pull the harness away from the MAF

There are 2 Phillips head screws to be removed, as indicated by the blue arrows. They’re little, so don’t lose them when you remove them!

Loosen the screws:

Remove the screws and put them somewhere safe.

Now the MAF will lift out:

You’re ready to clean it.

Here’s what you’re aiming for–the platinum wires in there. They can be damaged, so don’t put the spray nozzle directly in contact with them.

Spray the cleaner into the MAF to spray the platinum wires.

There is a little rubber O ring (blue arrow). The SpyderMagazine article mentions you might want to remove it on the chance the cleaner might make it brittle. I didn’t see the spray getting much on there, but you can also spray it with the MAF at an angle so the spray doesn’t get near the O ring.

Put the MAF back in the way it came out (there’s only one way it will fit), and tighten the screws.

Reconnect the MAF sensor wire harness by pushing it back into place.

…and VOILA! You’re done. Go have a beer, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Or better yet, take the Spyder for a drive, THEN have that pat and beer.

When you clean the MAF, you should “reset” the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to put it through a “re-learning” process. You should do this when you clean the air filter, MAF, get new O2 sensors, spark plugs, injectors, a CAI, or exhaust and/or cat back system. Anything that affects the motor.

What you’ll need:

A Spyder! (year and color vary)

The engine should be cool when you perform this procedure, or you are likely to get burned.

–and a 10 mm wrench if you’re going to remove the negative battery terminal clamp.

You have 2 options: 1) remove the ECU fuse for 20+ minutes (preferred); or 2) remove the negative battery terminal for 20+ minutes. Although less time might be required for reset, it seems that 20+ minutes is the common method. For best results, remove the terminal or ECU fuse before you clean the MAF (or do whatever you’re doing to the car that necessitates the reset).

OPTION 1 (PREFERRED): Removing the ECU fuse. This method has less “collateral damage”–it will not lead to the loss of your radio presets or clock setting.

Where is it? It’s in the fuse box on the forward driver’s side portion of the engine bay, next to the battery.

There’s a small ‘catch’ on the front (frunk side) of the fuse box cover–push it in with your finger and lift up on that end of the cover. The cover will lift off. The rear catches are like hinges, so you pivot the cover and it will disengage from that side.

When you lift the cover off, it will be ‘upside down’–turn it 180 degrees so the diagram on the inside of the cover matches up with the fuses.

Examining the fuse diagram on the fuse box inside cover, you’ll see the ECU fuse as the 2nd one from the bottom on the left side (in the third slot–the lowest slot is empty in a stock Spyder). In this photo, the ECU fuse is outlined in blue boxes on the cover diagram and the fuse box itself. In the rear right corner of the box, there is a pair of plastic fuse pullers (they look like plastic tweezers) designed to safely remove the fuses (yellow arrow).

Remove the fuse pullers, squeeze the top together to separate the forks, and lower the forks over the fuse. Relax your grip on the top, and let the fuse pullers grasp the fuse. They will click into place.

Pull up gently on the fuse pullers (but don’t squeeze the top together, or they will let go of the fuse) to remove the ECU fuse.

Here is a view of the fuse box from the driver’s side of the car, with the ECU fuse removed.

Put it in a safe place.

Leave the fuse out for at least 20 minutes for the “reset” procedure.

To reinsert the fuse, use the fuse pullers to gently reinsert it into its proper receptacle. NOTE: the numbers on the top of the fuse will be upside down to you when inserted correctly (look at all of the fuses–the numbers face opposite your direction). Make sure you put it back in the same direction you removed it. It will click into place.

Release the fuse pullers’ grip on the fuse by pinching the top together and pulling upward. Put the fuse pullers back in their place.

Replace the cover by turning it back around (so the diagram is now upside down to you), hook the two catches on the rear end on the ‘hinges,’ and push down on the front of the cover until it clicks into place.

OPTION 2: Removing the NEGATIVE battery terminal clamp.

**NOTE: this will result in the loss of your radio presets and clock setting.

The battery is on the driver’s side of the engine bay. Here’s a hint–the positive battery terminal is the one with the red cover with the big PLUS sign on it.

Using a 10mm wrench, loosen (but do not remove) the nut on the negative terminal clamp.

When the clamp is sufficiently loose, grasp both sides of the clamp. Wiggle it back and forth and pull up gently, and it will come off the terminal.

To protect the terminal clamp while you work on other things (like the MAF sensor cleaning), you can wrap it in a cloth.

Leave the terminal disconnected for 20 minutes. To reconnect, simply place the terminal clamp back over the battery terminal and gently push it downward until it is firmly seated on the terminal. Using the 10 mm wrench, tighten the nut so the terminal clamp is firmly secured. If you have an SMT, you may hear the accumulator pump start up when you reconnect the terminal–it can be startling, so just be prepared.

So, now that THAT’S done, let’s move on to the nitty gritty. You can clean the MAF while the ECU fuse or battery terminal clamp is disconnected, to make the most efficient use of your time. See the separate page for cleaning the MAF.

Also if you’re unsure what the issue with your fan is check out my idiots guide to diagnosing a bad cooling fan.

Tools required:
1) 10mm wrench.
2) 8mm wrench/socket.
3) Medium sized Phillips screwdriver.

Optional:
1) Flat headed screwdriver

Now onto the install. Once you remove the frunk plastics you will be greeted with this site.

You’ll need to take off the two bolts (10mm) which have a red arrow going to them and remove the two bars they are holding. Then you will need to remove the two bolts that hold the fan assembly in. These are circled in green above and I have a close up picture with a red arrow pointing at one below.

^^This is why you need a 10mm wrench and not just a socket.
Next pull the wire out from all of the clips holding it in place. Two examples of these are circled in green below. Once that’s done push down on the black connector with a red arrow going to it so it pops off of it’s holder.

Now you can disconnect the plugs on the drivers side motor (pink arrow above) and the black plug that has a red arrow going to it. Below is a picture attempting to show where to push on the connector so you can pull it off. If you’ve ever worked with the other electrical connectors on this car these are no different. Basically you have to wrestle with it a little bit but eventually the thing will pop off. Just keep trying.

Now pull up on the whole fan assembly which will fully remove it (more on why that is in a bit). Once you can move the whole assembly around freely you can get the last connector shown in the picture below. Just put your fingernail or flat headed screw driver where mine is and pull that tab out and it should release quite easily.

Now you can also examine what it was that held in the fan assembly up until now. I have a picture of one of the connectors that slips in a slot on the assembly. This is useful information as you will need to make sure you get the slots lined up so the bottom is secured when you put the assembly back in at the end.

Next remove the nut holding on the fan blades (circled in red below) with a 8mm wrench/socket.

Once the blades are removed you can get to the three screws which are holding the motor in place (circled in red below).

The motor just slips right out at this point and it’s just a matter of doing the reverse of this whole process.

I also have a video to show how much extra resistance my old motor had compared to the one that still worked.

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/dar…es6-24-0830.flv

As for difficulty, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being cleaning your MAF) this is a 1.5 I would say. A very easy task which looks hard but probably would only take 15 minutes to half an hour.

Feel free to ask any questions or make comments!

• T3/T4 50trim Turbocharger (nocash kit)
• Supra Twin Turbo 540cc/min fuel injectors
• Apexi S-AFC
• Aeromotive adjustable fuel pressure regulator
• Two stage water injection
• Greddy Intercooler
• K&N FIPK Intake
• Apexi AVC-R boost controller
• Ross forged pistons

Session 1

Fuel Pressure – 43psi

AFC Values:

Boost: 1.10kg/cm^2 (15.6psi)

Peak HP:185.6 @ 6460

Peak Torque: 197.3 @ 4807

Wideband datalog

Notes

Running very rich as expected

Session 2 – repeat of session 1.

Peak HP: 179.1@6476

Peak Torque: 186.8@4680

Session 3 – Same run except increased boost to 1.20kg/cm^2 (17.0psi)

Peak HP:229.7@6116

Peak Torque: 206,1@5501

Notes

Still running rich – AFR went from 9.35 to 9.79 near peak power.

Comparing Session 1 and Session 3 – 17.0psi in red.

Peak power increased 43HP from 1.4psi of additional boost. Strange kink at 5000RPM on the higher boost run.

Session 4 – Same as session 3 except fuel pressure lowered one turn.

Peak HP: 245.1@6097

Peak Torque: 211.8@5620

Notes – AFR increased from 9.75 to 10.25 around peak power. Peak HP increased 15.6HP.

Comparing session 3 and 4 (session 4 in red):

Session 5,6 – Same as above except increased boost to 1.30kg/cm^2 (18.5psi)

Around peak power, AFR leaned from 10.25 to 10.45. Judging from the AFR, one would think that you would want to go more lean. This would have been my intention, but out on the road, I looked at the wrong part of the graph! So, I increased fuel pressure a half turn for the next run, which (naturally) made less horsepower.

Session 7 - Increased fuel pressure 1/2 turn.

Peak HP: 251.4

Peak Torque: 224.9

Notes – wideband certainly shows slightly more rich. Power dropped 6HP from 257, to 251.

Session 8 - increased boost to 1.35kg/cm^2 (19.2psi).

Peak HP: 266.0

Peak Torque: 234.1

AFR was about the same.

Notes -Increasing boost from18.5psi to 19.2psi increased peak HP by 15. Comparing runs 7 to 8 (19.2psi in red):

Session 9 – AFC Adjustments

Comaring runs 8 to 9 (run 9 in red):

Notes – Power dropped about 8HP. Not sure why – AFR was about the same.

Session 10 – More AFC adjustments going to put in more fuel (put some timing back in).

During this run the ECU detected detonation. This is based on the fact that the TVIS LED changed state whenever the throttle was in any other position besides closed. That is as soon as you touch the throttle the LED changed. After about 1 minute of driving the ECU returned to normal operation and also permitted full boost (TVSV LED). I do not know why there would be any detonation from a less agressive AFC setting. As you can see, the AFR was also rich.

Since the ECU returned to normal operation so quickly, I continuted tuning.

Session 11 – Same as above except changed 5500RPM to -4.

Notes – Power has returned. This run is very similar to run 8.

Session 12 – After a couple tries at other AFC settings, I ended up with this. This is after several other tries.

Comparing first graph (15.6psi) to last (19.2psi) – 3.6more psi of boost:

I drove the car with the above settings, and all seemed well – no detonation, and the engine seemed to be running very well. My only guess as to the detected detonation during session 10, is because of too much timing. I believe that the stock ECU is somewhat agressive with timing, and that is why such rich AFRs are required. Thsi is where an aftermarket engine management system would really help.

• Apex-i S-AFC (Super Air Fuel Controller).
• LoveHorsepower Fuel Pressure Regulator Kit (Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Regulator).
• Innovate Motorsports LC-1 Wideband Lambda Cable (Wideband Oxygen Sensor Kit).
• LoveHorsepower Stage Two Water Injection.
• 550cc/min Fuel Injectors from the twin turbo Toyota Supra.
• GTech meter – Pro Competition Version.
• TVIS (Toyota Variable Induction System) and TVSV (Toyota Vacuum Switching Valve) LEDs.

After the above components were installed, the tuning process could begin! First the S-AFC high throttle map was zeroed. The low throttle map was set to -7% at most RPM points. The Low throttle point was set to 30%, and the High throttle point was set to 50%. Our turning setup consisted of the GTech meter to datalog RPM, horsepower, and torque. A laptop was connected to the LC-1 kit to datalog air fuel ratios. We set out with a goal of 11.5 for the air fuel ratio when under full load/full boost. The fuel pressure regulator (FPR) was set to a base fuel pressure of 30psi with the engine off (no vacuum). All of our tests were done with water injection turned on using a two stage setup. The first stage (3 gallon per hour nozzle) coming on at ~9psi of boost and the second (5 gallon per hour nozzle) at ~14psi. Distilled water was injected.

All of our tuning runs were done in 2nd gear by zeroing the GTech meter, and starting off in 1st gear from a stop. We would accelerate normally up to about 3000RPM, then shift to 2nd gear and apply full throttle until ~7200RPM. The first run was done at 15psi of boost, and resulted in a very rich mixture, and poor performance. In fact, the engine was running so rich that below about 5500RPM the engine felt like it was bogging down. It was not happy at all!

Once we have the datalog from the LC-1 and the GTech meter, we could graph both of them on a computer. Then using a graphics program, the resulting graphs were resized to have a similar scale. Here is the result of the first run:

The top graph is the air fuel ratio (AFR) from the LC-1. The bottom graph is the HP and torque vs RPM from the GTech meter. As can be seen, power down low is very poor, and the fuel mixture is well below 10.0 during the engine run. Way too rich! You can also see how the power really nose-dives around 3000RPM where too much fuel starts to come in. The power graph is also very jagged, and indeed, it felt that way.

We then lowered the fuel pressure down to about 25psi, and performed another run. The engine was still running very rich, and was still bogging at lower RPM points, but not as badly. The decision was made to increase boost pressure to about 17psi. This resulted in still poor performance down low in the RPM range, but more pull up top, and with an AFR above 10.0 up top. While doing the tuning in 2nd gear, it’s a good idea to do some runs in 3rd to achieve a higher load on the engine at lower RPM points. This allows the turbo to spool up to full boost while the RPMs are still low (~3500RPM – 4000RPM). Detonation is more likely to occur under high loads and low RPMs rather than high loads and high RPMs. This is one of the reasons why F1 engines spin so fast – there simply isn’t enough time for detonation to occur at those engine speeds. When doing one of these tests, the ECU detected detonation. This was noticed by the behavior of the TVIS LED. When the ECU detects detonation, it will activate the TVIS under any throttle position other than closed. It is possible that the ECU detected what I’ll call false detonation. Sometimes by running so rich the ECU will think it has detected detonation. I’m not sure why this occurs, but it apparently does indeed happen. I also cannot say for certain if this is what happened at this point in time.

I then started new, and increased the fuel pressure to about 32psi. I then began to do more tuning runs again, this time only concentrating on the upper RPM ranges and using boost to get the AFR to come up. At about 18psi of boost (guessing from poor notes!), this is the resulting AFR:

As can be seen above time 14.0 seconds, (about 5000RPM) the AFR starts to come up. This is where the engine really starts to pull very well, even though it is still rich and not even reaching 11.0 AFR. More 3rd gear runs were done, and again detonation was detected by the Toyota ECU as indicated by the LEDs. Dang!

Since the engine experienced detonation, and were still running very rich, we restarted our tuning effort with a different strategy. I decided to increase the base fuel pressure to 38psi and work from there. Now I know what you’re thinking – you were already rich, and now you want to add more fuel? Are you crazy? Well – bare with me.

Certainly after upping the fuel pressure to 38psi, things were rich everywhere. I kept increasing boost slowly until I reached 22.6psi. At this point the upper RPM range (above 5500RPM) started to get close to 11.5AFR. It also really pulled hard up top here. Since the lower RPM ranges were still too rich, and taking fuel out with the FPR would have resulted in too lean a mixture up top, my only option left was to remove fuel with the AFC. One other important note, is that I noticed that the injector duty cycle was going to 100% above 5000RPM, pretty much regardless how much boost I ran (above 15psi). Since the ECU behaves this way, really, the only way to tune the top end is by adjusting fuel pressure. If you use the AFC to tune the top end, I would be very worried about too much timing being added in. So – off to tuning the lower RPM ranges with the AFC by taking out fuel/load. I was very cautious in doing this, and only took out 1-3% change per run, and checked to make sure there was no detonation, and that the AFRs were still good (and rich). I still wanted those ranges to be rich since by telling the ECU there is less load with the AFC, it will advance the ignition timing. After numerous runs, I came up with this:

As you can see, in the upper RPM ranges where the AFR comes up to about 11.4 it really starts to pull great. In the lower RPM ranges, it’s still very rich (probably could be made more lean with the AFC to help low end torque out). That said, at least it’s not in the low 9s anymore! Here are the AFC settings for the low and high map at this point:

This is a big improvement over our initial 15psi run with the AFC zeroed out – a gain of 81.6HP and 55.8ft-lb of torque with 7.6psi more boost pressure. How’s the T04E-50 trim turbocharger doing? At 22psi the turbocharger is operating is a good range on the compressor map. With a pressure ratio of 2.49, the turbo is pushing approximately 40.0lb/min at 7200RPM. At 4500RPM, it is pushing 25.0lb/min. Plotting these on the T04E-50 trim compressor map:

So, at 7200RPM the turbocharger is in a nice 75% island and cruising along somewhere between 105,620RPM and 118,700RPM. Now that’s some serious revs, and it sounds sweet too! Looks like we could run more boost – more tuning to come.

Things to remember:
Cap off coolent hoses
Protect fuel lines from contaminants and dont loose the banjo bolts and crush washers.
DONT CUT your wire harness, if your using a stock ECU you will be grafting the old MR2 harness into your V6 harness.

Keep the stock starter relay, you may remove the fan control and the stock ECU

The following is exactly the same for 3s or 5s swaps.

When your engine arrives check it over for sludge. Keep in mind some of the V6′es have been in grandmas car and may not have seen much attention.

This motor is a 5VZ but the swap is nearly identical to all other swaps. Notice the complete lack of motor mount on the front of the engine.

This is the 3S flywheel sitting on the 5VZ crank. I suggest replacing the 5VZ flywheel with a 1MZ wheel rather than modifying the 3s wheel.

The 3S-GTE pully fits right onto the 5VZ crank, the 5S pully should too. Remember to RE-mark the 4cly crank pully, the timing marks are in a different location than on the v6

You can not use the 5VZ spacer plate because the starter is on the opposite side. You will need to “modify” the 3S or 5S plate.

1MZ flywheel with MR2 TURBO pressure plate and disk

Here you can see an issue with the axel from the turbo transmission and the 5VZ block. There is no mount location for the axel holder. You will need to make an adapter that will bolt into the motor mount location.

Yes you CAN drop the motor and transaxel in from the top, by yourself I would say even the 4.0 v6 should fit through the top.

Here you can see a prototype adapter for the turbo axel. This should give you a good idea of how everything could bolt up without needing to machine the axel .

This is the coolant outlet on the 5VZ. Since its from a truck it faces the wrong way and needs to be cut and reshaped. I used an angle grinder, torch and bigass hammer. EDIT: the plastic 3VZ-FE coolant outlet bolts up and requires no moddification

 Here is the Cummings turbo coolant F pipe that works perfectly as a coolant fill pipe and heater core hose.

Sorry these are blurry but it serves as a warning to everyone planning a swap. You should get your ECU, harness and, engine from the same year. Toyota was nice enough to move some pins around between 96 and 98 so I had to MAKE my own ECU connector with DB25 computer pins and hot glue. Can you say “GHETTO” I think I can

You can swap all the mount plates from your 5s ECU or 3s to the OBDII ecu and it will mount in the stock location. I have an intercooler pipe running through there so I mounted it on the trunk floor.

Good luck.

Jim

[AndrewMcG]

I thought I would add a couple picks to this thread since I have yet to see any real good pictures of Jim’s motor mount actually mounted on the engine. I had a hard time picturing it until I had one in my hand so I hope this helps somebody.

1992-1996: 1MZ-FE
Compatible, but not recommended.
Early 90’s 3vz is proven to work also*

Source Cars:
Avalon
Solara
Lexus ES300
Camry

What to Buy / Get with Engine:
“remember to get a 97+ manual motor w/ ecu or you will have drama”

– Engine Long Block -dugh
– Transmission (97+ recommended, not required for Turbo owners)
– AC Compressor
–Alternator*
– AC Lines to compressor (cut)
– Alternator
– Engine Mounts
– Intake Tube w/ top of Airbox (ensure sensors are there)
– ECU
– ECU Harness (uncut)
– Dash Plugs that go to ECU
– Tachometer from 97+ 1MZ-FE Car (only if you started with a NA tach
– Fuel Rails (94-95 1MZ-FE with return system)*optional
– 94+ V6 Intermediate Shaft (with 6 bolts on CV joint) *must be modified
Credits -derek2000GT

Weight / Space Issues: Quick Read
There aren’t really any weight issues when using a 1MZ-FE engine, in fact the stock engine is about 30lbs. lighter than a 3S-GTE. So don’t worry about upsetting your balance.

Throwing a Supercharger/Turbo system on will add a few more pounds though, but it is definitely not an overbearing monster. (Credits: derek2000GT)

There is also the issue of space, which is another thing not to be worried about. The 1MZ-FE fits easily into the engine bay, and actually increases the space available on the passenger side for whatever performance part you’d like to stuff there. (Credits: Turbo Magazine, January 2003)

Engine Mounts: General
Someone should definitely post some blueprints here.

“In total there are 5 possible mounts–3 for the tranny and 2 for the engine (anterior and posterior). The passenger side 3S-GTE/5S-FE engine mount must be abandoned if you anticipate putting a supercharger on (and who doesn’t).” -chall

I have built two motor mounts that use the pass side mount. Complete fabrication of all mounts is not necessary but recommended if you want a mount to absorb any engine noise.

Fuel Return: Adapting Properly
The MR2 comes stock with a fuel return system, which must be addressed by either installing the pump from the source car into the gas tank, tapping the fuel rail to accomodate the return line, or obtaining a fuel rail from a 3VZ-FE which is a direct fit.

3VZ-FE Option
“This is old news to Camry guys but a 3VZ-FE return fuel rail system will bolt right on to 1MZ-FE. this set up gives you the regulator, lines etc.. just bolt on. you can probably get one from junk /core motor at a yard for cheap. …if you have a turbo and still have fuel line it will bolt right up. otherwise (non-Turbo owners) you will have to have new hose crimped on. The rails from a 94-96 1MZ-FE will have full return style system and your MR2 return line plugs right in.

…if you are a little unsure about tapping stock 1MZ-FE rail i would highly reccommend the 3VZ-FE rail install…save time and will be 100% OEM.” -derek2000GT

Tapping the Rail Option
“The fuel rails are fine if you do not want a return system, but you will have to have a fuel pump with a FPR or an in tank FPR like a Camry, as the 3S-GTE has an FPR on the fuel rail in the return system. I have an adjustable FPR (AEM) on one of my fuel rails for when I go to larger injectors. I bored out the end of the stock rails, threaded them on the outside, and connected them with NPT fittings to the MR2 system.” -chall

I have used the earlier fuel rails and also welded -6 lines with an adjustable regulator for my two cars.

Tachometer: Get it Working
“You will need to buy a tach from a 97+ 1MZ-FE equipped car. (AVALON, CAMRY, SOLARA, SEINNA, ES300) The tachs are the same on all models and will bolt right into cluster w/ no mods at all.” -derek2000GT

“It is almost scary how plug and play most Toyota parts are, at least in this swap. The tach looks virtually identical to the stock MR2 tach (the mechanical part that attaches to the back of the face). …we found that the tach slips right in and, thud, no tach adaptor needed.” -chall

“You will need the tach overlay for an NA MKII MR2. It has a 180 deg sweep with a 6300 redline. As oppesed to a 180 deg sweep 7000 redline/ 7250 revlimit Turbo gauge. Without it your tach will be completely inaccurate. It fits and has the same font/ look as other MR2 gauges.” -Luke

I have also used a 1k ohm resistor and diode hooked to two of the negative sides of the coils and used the stock tach. If I’ve not updated the link, I will shortly.

BUT:
“The block-transmission bolt patterns on the 5S-FE, 3S-GTE, and the 1MZ-FE are the same. Any transmission that works with one engine should work with any of them.” -chall
(This includes manual transmissions)

Some Info About VVT-I
VVT-I Engines availble only in automatic, until 2003. (Manual Tranny bolts on though)
Wiring / ECU issues will need to be addressed, due to automatic transmission errors
TRD is developing piggyback VVT-I ECU, available 2003

A piggyback VVT-I controller is neccessary to properly run. (Wolf EMS: http://www.wolfems.com.au) -derek2000GT

Driveshafts: Adaption and Conversion
“The V6 intermediate shaft (A) bolt right to MR2 CV joint on passenger side. ….Use a V6 intermediate shaft that has 6 bolts on CV joint which is same a MR2 so you can bolt to outer MR2 axle” -derek2000GT

The 93+ Turbo drivers side driveshafts should fit properly, without any adjustments.

*EDIT*

Please see the FAQ on this, you will have to machine a new C-clip for the driveshaft to work. No one has successfully found a shaft that will correctly fit the V6 mount and MR2 tranny. Someone please update me once you find the correct part. (I want specific model and year info along with a quick photo if possible)

Radiator hoses I used
(1)71704 Hose to connect to the factory pipe in the engine bay, left side.
(2) 80413 Heater hoses 90 degree bend on the end.

These hoses work real well. I had to cut them to fit,but have the correct bends and are reasonably priced.

The right side hose will be a little harder, but consists of cutting the pipe under the car, rotating the bend roughly 90 degrees, and routing the hose up the firewall just on the outside of the Belt. I will post pics of this when I’m finished later this week.

Exhaust manifolds will need to be modified, see SCC’s how to install a V6 for the most simple solution.

**Pete94t**

IF you don’t want cruise, you can re-route the main line under the car to the driver’s side and it’s the perfect length to the throttle body, with no junction boxes the pedal feel is better.

**Edit**

This works well, I have this done on my Yellow 91.

**Chall**
Technically speaking, the solara/camry transmission is the E351, not the E153, and I think this denotes the difference in drive gear ratios and final drive. Also, the synchros are much better than in the ‘91-’93 turbo transmission. If you have the turbo transmission it will work, but you run out of first gear more quickly. Also, you can make the diode change that Brad discovered but you are going to have to use an electronic speedo with the solara tranny and so you might as well pick up a guage cluster and use both the speedo and the tach for your swap. this lets you get rid of the speedo cable, which removes one of the major hassles of taking the MR2 guage cluster out. Of course, you will need the linkage from an MR2 transmission and also need to drill a hole to use this linkage on the solara tranny–easy to do.

The half shafts are turbo on the driver’s side, and solara on the passenger side only because there is a 1/8″ or 3mm*** difference in the carrier bearing position. Turbo shafts will fit nicely in the solara transmission. I had the bearing ring machined so that I could use the turbo passenger side shaft. It is impossible to combine the two shafts to make one as the type of CV joint on the solara shaft is enclosed and the diameter of the shaft in the CV joint is smaller.

Personally, I think that the passenger side mount for the engine should be abandoned altogether because you cannont add the supercharger and you will definitely want to add the supercharger. Front and rear engine mounts are not hard to fabricate and I have autocad diagrams of one design, but not the only design by any means.

–I have lowered my compression ratio by using 8.5:1 JE pistons and Eagle 22R rods but the rods take machining to thin them for the 1MZ (by .135 per side) and they are about .012 different in their C-C. But you can get them on Ebay and they are an initial $350 investment plus whatever it costs in your area to machine them. When and if you order pistons, let them know so that you can get pistons with the piston pin positon correct.

–I would use the 1MZ alternator. What Luke and I did was to attach the wires to the alternator using simple electrical connections and pouring epoxy around the connections so that now we have an alternator that has the long wires attached.

Claire

*** Edit by Brad, Original was 1cm

**Chall**
If I am understanding correctly, you are asking whether the turbo transmission without LSD uses the same axles as the LSD E153 and the Solara 351. I put a Toyota MR2 LSD into a Camry 5 speed (year 2000) and it uses the MR2 axles that I had machined to move the carrier bearing retainer groove. Of course, the differential defines which axles are used in these transaxles, so using an MR2 LSD (which fits exactly) guarantees that the turbo axles will work.

I don’t have succesful experience with mixing axles. I tried it but perhaps I used a too new axle to try to change the intermediate shaft, as the newer axles from the Solara/Camry are entirely different from the ‘90/’95 US MR2 axles. It cost me $50 to have the turbo axle machined, and I thing that was kind of a rip-off.

Here is what I think about the swap:

–Not much needs to be done to the 1MZ-FE itself unless you are going to more than 4 PSI of boost. Derek has found that the return fuel system from other engines works well, or you can simply drill and tap both ends of the fuel rail and make a U-shape out of it to make a return system.

–You can use the stock Solara/Camry ECU, auto or manual, with the wiring diagrams that Luke worked out.

–I would abandon the passenger mount and make front and rear engine mounts for the 1MZ-FE so that you can supercharge later.

–I would abandon the turbo/NA water system after the main pipes beneath the gas tank, and connect more directly with a couple of pipe bends.

–I would get rid of the brake booster line across the firewall.

–I would move the oil filter with a remote kit.

–I would have the passenger axle machined.

–If you want A/C, have the MR2 lines tig welded to the 1MZ-FE lines. There may be much better solutions; I don’t know.

–You can direct connect the cruise control to the throttle and the throttle body very simply, but you have to move the throttle cable to the drivers’ side.

–I prefer the ratios of the Camry/Solara transmission E351 over those of the MR2 E153.

Overall, this is a simple process and should not take long if you prepare for it.

**SBCelicaGT**

1MZFE engine debuted in 1992. in 1997 it was updated with among other small changes, a returnless fuel system. later on it had VVTi as an option. all 3 generations of engine are aluminum. the 92-96 return fuel rails will bolt to the gen2 engines. or you can make your own returnless fuel system and it doesnt require any drilling or tapping.

axles: all the solara/avalon/sienna/ etc. axles I have seen arent rebuildable. I.E. they dont have the bolts in the middle to attach the inner and outer sections.

the mr2 turbo inner axles work just fine with the Solara tranny. the only mod you need to do is to slot the carrier bearing mount ever so slightly as it will be off by a few millimeters. For the celicas, you can then bolt outer alltrac axles to the inner turbo axles. for you mr2 guys, you can just use the whole turbo axles.

ecu: auto tranny ecu will work but you will have ECU codes till you find a way to fool the ECU into thinking there is an A/T in your engine bay by way of wiring resistors to the ends of the solonoid plug. Easy fix.

Eagle rods for the 22R will work. You will need to do the following:

Put the back of the car on stands. You will absolutely need a trolley jack later in the procedure, so don’t even dream about trying this with only the emergency jack. At some points, when you’re hauling and shoving at things down there, you’ll be very glad the vehicle is secure.

Remove the rear and center shields (aka: diapers). Note which fasteners are screws and which ones are poppets, as they are just as much fun to refit as they are to remove.

Here’s the rear mount. Easy to get to, easy to remove. Before you unbolt it from the frame, pad your trolley jack saddle and place it beneath the bell housing. You don’t want to lift the motor, you just want to fully take its weight off the mounts.

And here’s the front mount. You’ll have just barely enough room to get to it. Keep your tools at arm’s reach. Unlike the rear mount, with its four bracket bolts, the front mount only has three. That’s the good news. The bad news is that only the lower center is easy to get to. The others require patience and good tools. I’ve circled all three. The one you can’t see is the one that will test you.

I recommend doing the mounts one at a time. You could do them both at once, but if you slip out of alignment, you’ll need friends to help horse the motor back into position. So first I removed the rear mount, and cleaned it thoroughly. That’s the editor way.

Here’s the rear inserts snapping into place. I lubricated the inner part with WD-40, to aid in fitment and hopefully give myself a bit of relief as the mounts resettle. WD-40 will disipate eventually, so I thought this a wise move.

Have your assistant (no photos, I was under the car!) give the jack small inputs until the center holes line up, then shoot the center bolt home. Torque the bracket bolts to 38 ft/lbs, torque the center bolt to 66 ft/lbs.

Here’s the troublesome bolt on the front mount. It actually goes in the other way, but I thought you’d like to see the position. Reinstall the mount, double-check your work, and wipe down and clean and lubricate all the parts you have access to down here. This is a great opportunity since the shields are off and you’re down here anyway. As always, I was pleased to note the general cleanliness and good operating condition of my Spyder.

Driving impressions: No vibration on startup. A good sign. I began to experence some faint vibration or buzzing when launching out of first, and in engaging second gear on rolling starts. It could be worse, but I’m pretty well braced up already with Corky’s and Che’s. A rear STB would probably help. Once into third and beyond there are no vibration effects. In first and second, there’s now no lag on throttle – the accelerator pedal instantly pushes the car forward. Nothing extreme here, but a general sense of things being tightened up and more solid-state, more fly-by-wire. I suspect my 0-60 time is slightly improved. I may add more comments later after the mounts break in fully, a period I expect to take between four to eight weeks, depending on much I get to run the car.

PITA factor: Minimal, maybe two brewskies. Aligning the front mount bracket bolts took a long time, as it was difficult to force the polyurethane blocks through the bracket. I used a screwdriver through the center bolt track to horse the mount up and down, side to side, until the bolts finally seated.

Remove everything in the way of the valvecover.

To get the degree wheel on the crank, raise the car, remove the rear wheel, and then you have to remove the pulley bolt. See the pulley bolt tool article for some methods to do this. I’ve had good luck with a breaker bar, and blipping the starter recently. Try that at your own risk though.

Loosely install the degree wheel using washers to keep the center of the wheel from being pulled into the crank pulley by the pulley bolt (that will make more sense once you actually do this part). Install the pointer by securing it to a bolt on the block.

Remove the sparkplugs, and keep towels or rags in the holes to keep debris out. Twice I’ve seen stuff fall in there, and it’s really not fun fishing things out of the cylinders.

Remove the passenger side motor mount. Remove the cam gear cover with a short 10mm socket.

 

Time to find true “top dead center” of the number 1 piston. There are two ways that I know to do this, I will briefly outline both.
The first is to use a piston stop. Rotate crank to get the #1 piston to the top. The #1 piston is the one closest to the passenger side of the car. You can put a full pencil in the cylinder (no used short ones or it will fall in) to get an idea when it’s near the top. To turn the crank you can either put the car in gear, and turn the rear wheel, or you can tighten down the pulley bolt and turn that. The problem with tightening down the pulley bolt is that one of the next steps is to reset the wheel to true top dead center, and if it’s completely tightened down now, that’s really not going to be possible. Once you raise the piston to the top, rotate the crank counter clockwise 15 degrees. Put the piston stop in the #1 sparkplug hole. Turn the crank clockwise until the piston touches the stop. Write down the number on the degree wheel. Rotate the crank counter clockwise until it touches the stop on the other side, and write down that number. Remove the piston stop, and rotate the crank until the pointer is exactly between the two numbers, then turn the degree wheel so that it reads 0 at the pointer. Lock the crank pulley bolt down so that this number won’t change (use the brakes to do this with the car in gear). Check your work one more time

 

The second method is to use the dial indicator. Attatch a 6 inch long piece of metal to the bottom of the indicator (a coathanger will do, but make sure it doesn’t have a sharp point). Raise the piston up to the top using a pencil to find out when it’s at the top. Attatch the indicator arm to the head, and put the indicator into the spark plug hole. Rotate the crank clockwise and watch the indicator, when the number stops moving and goes the other way, you’ve just passed top dead center. Find the exact spot where the indicator changes, that’s known as true top dead center. Turn the degree wheel so that it matches up to 0 with the pointer, and lock the pulley bolt down (use the brakes to do this with the car in gear). Check your work one more time.

Here’s a pic of the dial indicator setup on the exhaust cam.

At this point, when the degree wheel reads 0, if you look from above down at the crank pulley, the pulley mark should read close to 0 on the timing cover indicator. Many people have reported that it reads from 3 to 5 on this indicator, and that’s normal. In this picture, mine was at 4, but the angle here makes it appear to be closer to 7 or so.

Position the dial indicator over one of the #1 intake or exhaust shims/buckets (depending on which cam you are degreeing). It’s best to use a longer rod so you can get a straighter shot at the shim/bucket.

Locate the lobe centerline relative to TDC by rotating the crank clockwise. When the cam lobe pushes the shim/bucket down as far as it will go, the numbers on the indicator will stop the direction they were travelling in, and start going the opposite way. When you find this spot, set the numbers on the gauge to 0 by rotating the face of the gauge. Check this a few times to be certain you’ve found maximum lift.

Turn the crank clockwise until it reaches 0.050″ before maximum lift. Write down the number the pointer shows on the degree wheel. Note : Ignore the numbers on the gauge in these pictures, this is just to show the process in action.

Continue rotating to 0.050″ past maximum lift. Write down the number the pointer shows on the degree wheel.

Add both numbers together, and divide by 2. This is the lobe center of the cam.

To make small adjustments, loosen the cam gear adjustment bolts, and rotate the center, then lock them down. Then check the lobe center again. Keep adjusting until you have them degreed to the number you are trying to reach.

Note: To make a large adjustment, you can pull the belt off of the cam. To do this, you have to pull and reset the tensioner, reinstall the tensioner, put tension on the belt by putting a 14mm socket and wrench on the tensioner pulley, and pull it up with a bungee cord to simulate the tension the tensioner would be putting on it if the pin was pulled, turn the cam, and then reinstall the belt, pull the tensioner pin. If you allow too much slack, or don’t put enough tension on the belt, it can slip a tooth at the crank end or worse.

Note the whiteout marks on the gears and belt to keep track of which tooth you started from. Also note the socket and wrench keeping tension on the tensioner pulley.

Slipping the belt back on.

Bungee cord setup. Make sure it’s tight, we shortened this one by putting a knot in it.

 

Closeup of the wrench on the tensioner pulley.

When you’re done, check valve clearance. If it’s out of spec, it’s a good idea to fix it before startup.

The problem with these cats, is that in order to endure the very high temperatures in the manifold, they have to made of a ceramic material. This ceramic might be good with high temperatures, but is incredibly brittle and doesnt like vibration. The particles that do break free are also very-very hard, so if they manage to get into the cylinders they aren’t going to be to friendly to the insides of yor engine…

I’ve been regularly inspecting my own precats for a while now, and they’ve always been in good condition, However after a recent check revealed that they were starting to deteriorate, I decided it was time they came out beofe they took my engine with them. The first signs of deterioration were noted at around 30,000 miles, 2000 miles after my previous inspection. 200 miles later, the situation had deteriorated even further. These cats go bad very-very quickly…

Heres how I removed the cats…

Note: Clearly, neither I nor MR2-ROC can condone you ripping lumps of emmisions control equipment out of your car. Its safe to say the the warranty on my manifold at least and probably my main cat as well have now been well and truly voided, so the same will go for you. Basically, if you decide to go down this route as I have, you’re on your own… On the plus side, if its not in there, it cant break.

Toolkit required

Trolley Jack
Axle Stands
10mm spanner
10mm socket on 6″ extesnion
12mm spanner
12mm socket and various extensions
14mm socket
Hammer
Vice
Long flat bladed screwdriver
High pressure water or air supply
Large vocabulary of swear words

In order to remove the precats, you first have to remove the exhaust manifold from the car, Care should be taken to apply penetrating oil to the various nuts and bolts some time before undoing them

1/ Jack up the rear of the car and place on axle stands.
2/ Remove the splash guard from under the rear bumper
3/ Remove 3 bolts from the forward splash guard to let it hang down.
4/ Remove the 3 14mm nuts that secure the main cat pipe to the manifold

In the engine bay;

5/ Using a 22mm O2 sensor socket, remove the 2 O2 sensors from the manifold.
6/ Remove the 4 bolts securing the manifold upper heat shield
7/ Remove the 2 bolts that secure the lower part of the manifold to the engine block. These are ‘behind’ the manifold and not readily visible. ! of them is 12mm, the other 14mm.
8/ Remove the 5 nuts securing the manifold to the cylinder head.

The manifold can now be lifted out of the top of the engine bay.

Decatting the precats…

Actually getting the precats out is pretty simple, here’s what mine looked like from above and below before I started, you can see some of the degradation thats taken place in the first photo:

And here are the surgeons tools:

Removal is simply a case of attacking the precat matrix with hammer and screwdriver until its broken up into lumps small enough to be able to get them out through the lower exhaust port. The ceramic material gives up very easily, it only takes 1 or 2 taps on the screwdriver to do this…

After digging around for a while you will also expose the glass fibre that surrounds and supports the cat matrix, this has to come out too.

Once out you’ll have a big pile of very useless, but rather expensive catalytic material left over. I beleive some places do recycle this stuff to reclaim the precious metal content, so if your now feeling guilty about your effect on the environment, this could be a way to ease your concience

Once its all out, you’ll be left with an empty manifiold like this;

You now need to clean it, as there is still an awful lot of potentially damaging dust and particles left inside. I would recommend high pressure water like a jet wash or an airline for this, as an chemical residue from solvent cleaners may have a damaging effect on the O2 sensors.

Once clean and dry, re-building is simple the reverse of the process used to take the manifold out in the first place.

Happily, I’ve not noticed any increase in noise level from removing these. Performance certainly isnt any worse, and in fact the car may have benefitted in the form of slightly increased torque, but I cant say for sure… What is certain though, is that the pre-cats are going to have a hard time damaging my engine from the workshop bin, and I’m a lot happier now that these ticking time bombs are not a problem…MOT tests wont be a problem, as I still have the main cat in place, which is more than capable of doing the work. I dont have a ULEV car anymore, but I do have one that with a bit of luck will last a bit longer.