Final Engine fitting, Fuel tank and starting the electrics

So although the engine has been in for a while, its never been in fully and in its final position. the 3S-GTE engine has 4 mounts. The two side ones taking the weight and the front and rear stopping engine rotation.

In the end 3 of the 4 mounts had to be adjusted due to differences between US and Jap version.

* Cam cover side (right mount) - Mount this first - no adjustment needed
* Gearbox (left mount) - The hole just needs opening up by about 10mm so its now more of a sausage shape. This was because when comparing photos from DDR of the mounts, the mount used this side was different.
* Subframe mount (Rear mount ) - On the Jap model (rev2) this had a captive nuts in the mount that's on the rear of the gearbox, this meant there was no adjustment. On the DDR one again this was an oval shape so gave adjustment back and forth, the captive nut was cut off to give this adjustment.
* Front mount - This mount was probably the worst in terms of adjustment, the others were explainable in terms of just a different mounts. But the front was already an oval allowing adjustment. In the end more adjustment had to be made leaving an L shape to the mount.

However after the above adjustments and torqued up the engine sits rock solid and in a good position in terms of fitting driveshafts etc...The fittings are tight but that is what you want as you don't want the engine moving around too much.

I have also fitted the fuel tank I designed to make use of the space but allow me room for other fixings, the tank is about 54litres, fuel pipes are secured to the bodywork no more then 300mm apart, the IVA actually stats it just needs to be secure but by doing the above everything should pass with out an issue. the actual fuel system is complete now, by using the mr2 fuel pump and sender and filter I was able to keep it very simple.

The air intake to the turbo has been fitted, I am waiting on the intercooler pipes to complete that area of the car, as I have an after market intercooler I have had to do some trial and error on fitting.

And Although I've been working on the wiring for quite a while I've started to work on the wiring in the car. Like everything I would like to get the engine fired up before getting too far as I don't want to be having to resolve issues again later on taking parts out.

The wiring to have the car run is quite simple thanks to the MR2 rear fuse / relay box.

This fuse box will require;
* power to relay from ignition
* return leads from alternator
*power for ECU /fuel pump/ coil when activated by the relay
* various Earths on gearbox / engine

Plus;
* direct wire from battery to the starter motor

these will come direct from battery (via fuse) and the ignition (for the relays).

I may find additional wires are required which I will update with, but the engine control system / starting / charging is all wired from the back fusebox so by keeping this I just need to get the power and Igntion and earths wired for this.

I have also installed an additional Fusebox which will be used for lights, tail lights, horn, wipers, dials etc...

Fuel tank and handbrake

I sent off the original mr2 fuel pump and sender as I originally said. The tank has now been completed to the size I requested with fitting brackets. This should also give enough room for any wire fixings.

I should be fitting this and completing the fuel system later this week.

The handbrake system was completed by moving the pivot point more towards the centre of the car so the compensator doesn't compensate quite so much. I've also made a slight change since the photos so the rod can rotate a little more.

The photo above shows welded L shape and lower down the compensator.

Further down the brake cables is a mounting point that feeds the cable to the compensator. As well as this the cables are supported in lose eyelets allowing movement with the suspension.

I'm now working on the final engine position and wiring position and fusebox.

Update on whats been going on

Not as big an update as normal as I've been away for work and also been busy in my personal life.

Firstly I've designed and ordered the custom fuel tank for the space. I wanted to keep it simple, so have stayed away from external fuel pumps and new AN fixings etc...

I have taken the original in tank MR2 fuel pump & hanger, as well as the sender and sent them off to a place called B.A fabrications.The tank is being made so I can use the original equipment and just hook the filter / pipes as before. I kept the design very basic (cube) and discussed with Ben that I would like to stop the fuel sloshing about too much even though it will have baffles in it. So the floor will be raised slightly for the fuel sender area meaning the fuel will naturally collect down by the pump and also if i run close to the margin there is a little extra there! As well as this the return pipe puts the fuel returned next to the pump so seems a good step.

I have gone for a screw in fuel breather, two way for air but wont let through fuel. I can then just plum a small pipe over to the edge of the car to meet IVA requirements again.

Going forward if I change the engine or want more power I can use the in tank pump as a pick up pump to a swirl pot and another external pump.

As well as this I have fitted the fuel pipes and fuel filter to the bodywork ready for the fuel tank, ill take photos of the simple setup when complete.

Although I had fitted the handbrake it needed to have a bracket welded and that has now been done and the handbrake tested and it does now work, whether the force is enough I just don't know at this stage. I also just need to secure the cable along the body work a bit better.

I also started on the electrics and working out the pinouts on the steering column. Electrics are my weakest point so when I get to that stage I want to be ready and will start with a couple of simple circuits. Horn...washer jet and wiper motor, just so I know I've got the idea!

The Rolling Chassis and Engine Fitting

With it being Xmas it appeared I had some extra time here and there, but being xmas its a busy time and the weather has been rain and wind! I had been working on a Car Dolly which gave me a lovely working height, but id decided once up to rolling chassis stage it needed to come off, the weight shouldn't of been an issue and the Dolly should take up to 800Kg but space meant really I couldn't be moving it about with the engine in etc...

So on boxing day I set about getting it off the Dolly, the Dolly had done its job great I pulled it out of the garage no issues at all. (these aren't the final wheels, just for moving.)

So now I had this car just under 2ft in the air, 4 axle stands (not tall enough) and 1 jack.... Well it was a challenge but with blocks of wood on the axle stands to raise it above the dolly and then bit by bit jacking and removing the blocks, the car slowly but surely begun to get towards the ground!

Now the car was on the ground it was time to get it back in the garage and get the engine in. This was another challenge as I don't have an engine crane (overrated obviously...or more the fact they are massive!) and the garage has a low roof anyway. so the way It was done was by having the engine on a low dolly (ones used for cars under their wheels) and then lowered the chassis to the floor over it. I then jacked the edge of the engine into position and put relevant bolts through it on each side to fit the engine.

The worst part about doing it this way is the rear suspension all needs to come off again effectively and even worse for me is because of a lack of space I needed to put all back on straight away and the wheels on and then wheel the car to where I wanted it. Jack it back up and remove the wheels. I had to do all this by myself so very time consuming as safety has to come first as I don't want to be crushed to death! but none the less the engine is now in.

There is an issues with the front and rear mounts in terms of position, but I think I know why and will post the reason and solution when I get the answerst. Just for anyone who might not be aware; the front and rear engine mounts do not take much weight of the engine but is in fact there to stop the engine twisting backwards and forwards when all that torque is released when you put your foot down.

I've now just started connecting coolant hoses, heater hoses, Hydraulic clutch. I've also tested the extended gear cables without the clutch yet working and I can select all gears so that's a good sign. As you can see below this is going to be like the front of the car again in terms of making brackets and solutions to meet the IVA standards, This area of the car when complete will be a busy area with pipes, fuel tank, fuel pump and wiring!

Whilst doing this, I will need to look into where I will mount fuel pipes etc... as I cant afford to have any fouling of pipes and hoses or the car will fail on this.

Rolling chassis

Managed to lower the car on to its wheels, I've taken a few pics but also did a quick walk round video.

Once the engine is in and up to wiring stage, I'll do a walk around video with an overview of the setup.

Last weeks Work..Hoses, Holes and Torquing

Well the work hasn't been as high as previous as unfortunately I was ill so had to take a few days of rest and what's worst is this was when I had two days off work as well when I should of got a lot done.

So the correct size heater hose finally showed up, not 22mm but 19mm. so that fitted well with some 90 degree bends in it to keep it neat, I will need to formulate one bracket to hold it as it goes up to the heater matrix...but to keep myself happy more then anything really!

The centre console tunnel will only have the aircon pipes inside it as well, there will be no room for wires to run directly in there other then maybe just the the one main Positive cable from the battery to the alternator. So the other wires will run down the side in the seating area, this wont cause an issue and the actual seating compartment has plenty of space. Really you don't want to run wires next to the positive cable anyway because of interference so this is probably a good solution, however I am looking into the best wiring solutions at the moment and whether that means moving the battery to the rear.

Following that I then had to fit the seats, this was a little tricky, because I'm using seat runners for adjustable seats, the fixing point should be through a point on the chassis cable of taking the load, not just the floor plan with spreader plates.This is further complicated by the design of the kitcar, some kitcars have a floor plan and then 2 rails across the floor plan so you can drill through these additional supports for installation, unfortunately for me the rails for support are underneath the floor. I couldn't drill from below up as I needed the seat to be close to the middle of the area and in line with the steering wheel which I couldn't see from below, so I put the chair in and used masking tape to hopefully line up where the support is under the floor. So I did both the back holes on the runner first and got them straight through in the middle of the support. the front two holes had to be where the seat runners holes were and luckily the runners I have match perfectly to the supports, all 8 holes perfectly in position!

To pass the IVA, the fitting will be;

* seat runner
* 4mm spacer
* 4mm 100x100mm load spreader plate
* Floor
* support rail
* Penny washer
* Nylon Nut

The good news is I don't need the chair fully back and being 6ft 1 will give people idea on space, so I may put a big netting on the back, however once through the test I will be looking for a reclining chair of some sort, being 6ft 1 I'm very close to the roof and a reclining seat will give me a little more room! The chair was removed again once fitted whilst I continue work on the car.

As well as this I finally found a handbrake lever I'm happy to use its from a Peugeot 206 and the mechanism sits through the floor nicely and where I've positioned it will join on to the original MR2 cables which is good! Also I fitted the throttle cable along the edge of the seating area so it will be covered by the centre console.

I then started torquing up all the suspension bolts again and marking them with tipex, 1 so I know they are torqued and 2 so I can see if they move. They have all had threadlocker applied as well.

Finally I realise I'm getting close to having to fit the engine at the rear, so I needed some wheels to take the car off the current high stand so I picked up some multispoke 19" wheels for £90!! including good tyres as these aren't the final wheels I didn't care about offset etc... So I came to put them on, the front was always going to be the worry with the bigger 4 pot calipers....About 2mm spare from caliper to spoke and 1mm to the shock! Fine for wheeling about but would be no good for actually driving!

Seat fitting test and completion of stage 1 of sound deadening

So as I was doing the sound deadening I decided I needed to find a position for the handbrake and also potentially the seat.

The handbrake - Well this will need to pass through the floor and on to the cables below from the callipers. I first tried a stilo handbrake but that wouldn't pass through the floor without modification, so I've ordered a Peugeot 206 as this looks like it will do the job.

Next was seat testing fit, with me being 6ft 1 and my girlfriend being 5ft ...something (short we will call it) the seat positioning was a slight worry so I found where id ideally like it and then got her to sit in it to see where she needed it. Safe to say seat runners will be required!

The positioning of the seat belt mounts appear to be fine for IVA from the checks with it currently 600mm from the floor plan for top mounts and a requirement of 400mm from the block plane which is placed in the seat as part of the test which means it should be fine. And also the side laps being behind the required point to the seat.

Once that was done I completed the sound deadening mating, which does make the cabin look more complete. I hope to receive the heater hose again tomorrow in 19mm after being sent 21mm which I will then install, following that I will start measuring up the required pipes for the aircon system (I will have to place an order for made pipes due to pressures involved) and hopefully receive the handbrake to fit as well. (you can see in the below photo the brackets made to hold the 4 pipes in the centre console tunnel)

I will be ordering the dials for the dash soon as this is from america and looking to get the chassis on to some wheels and rolling to fit the engine at that point.

I seem to be making quick progress but the hour total is now at between 90 - 100hrs work done since I received the chassis so a lot of time has been spent on it in the past 5 1/2 weeks so I'm probably just on schedule but throwing time I have at the build as the weather has been mild! Also its the final finishing touches that take the time!