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A journey of my 2GR project - SW20 reborn

8K views 52 replies 13 participants last post by  Aqmar 
#1 · (Edited)
I thought of creating a post to keep me motivated on my project for 2GR.
In my country, nobody has done the 2GR swap into their MR2. Therefore, my only reference was through reading from the forum and Marc youtube channel.

I read so many comments on the reliability of the 2GR motor, so I dare myself to take up the challenge. I have done a lot of planning. The project has already begun, and it is still ongoing. I planned to have it run with Link Xtreme G4x with Link Lambda sensor and PMU16 from ECUMasters.
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I plan to replace most of the relay and fuses with the PMU16 from ECUMaster. After all, our wiring is already past 25 years old. I also find that power management to be more efficient and simpler to manage via its software. I am still in the learning process on the PMU16, but I guess I am kind of getting the hang of it. Thanks to the HPacademy, I got a steep learning curve. I can share my pinout PMU16 management if anyone here finds it interesting.

I still have not reached the wiring stage yet. I plan to have the battery located just behind the passenger seat as I don't really see myself utilizing that compartment for the OEM Subwoofer. I plan to have the LINK ECU and the PMU16 located near that compartment. The idea of having the battery located is to have it nearer to the alternator. I also plan to have the Kill Switch situated near the battery. It will be an easy reach for me to the Killswitch with that location. However, I am also contemplating on this idea as to whether I should proceed to just leave the battery at its original place or have it located in the proposed compartment. Of course, a lead-acid battery is a BIG NO having the battery located in the cabin. I would have to then resort to at least an AGM battery instead.
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The dashboard was taken out to have better access for a wiring job to make life easier. I have also gotten myself ready for a digital dash to connect it via CANBus to my ECU.
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As you can see, my dashboard is all taken out. I guess, with the PMU16 on its way, the wiring will be much more straightforward to begin with.
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I could see that I am going through a massive job. It is as good as rebuilding a car. However, I can only do as much planning as I can at my level. Therefore I'm pretty selective of whom I send my car to. Most of the execution is the effort of those who are good at what they are doing. I am fortunate to have them advise me on the planning and execution. SPV Automotive will do the mechanical part and the wiring part; RNR Autosport is the one who will take the job.



I believe this project will take time to complete. However, I hope I can keep my motivation up to a point to see my car complete.
 
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#3 ·
I am more inclined towards AGM battery. However, that will be pretty much decided once I get the car wiring all ready.

There are some pros and cons to having the battery behind the passenger seats.

As of now, to get the 2GR motor into the car. Being a right-hand drive car, I have bought the DBW pedal from Paul Woods. We are lucky to have him in the MR2 world.
 
#9 ·
Ive been building my car for the last 7yrs, pretty much since the day I bought it. All things take time, and I get distracted with painting my Tahoe, engine swapping my Corvette, building my Ranger, working on the house, tracking the bikes, building mountain bikes, sleeping in, hating winter- you name it

Life has a funny way of slowing you down. Just pick a target and get a little done every day. The only one in a hurry is you, and you determine how much of a hurry that really is. An hr here and there adds up to a lot of work performed in just a week

Focus. Execute.

I think you can do this!

Edit: Re: Dash- did you 3D print, or otherwise mold the dash insert, or is that a part you found for sale somewhere? I need to do something similar for a BTI dash in my car
 
#12 ·
I've been building my car for the last 7yrs, pretty much since the day I bought it. All things take time, and I get distracted with painting my Tahoe, engine swapping my Corvette, building my Ranger, working on the house, tracking the bikes, building mountain bikes, sleeping in, hating winter- you name it

Life has a funny way of slowing you down. Just pick a target and get a little done every day. The only one in a hurry is you, and you determine how much of a hurry that really is. An hr here and there adds up to a lot of work performed in just a week

Focus. Execute.

I think you can do this!

Edit: Re: Dash- did you 3D print, or otherwise mold the dash insert, or is that a part you found for sale somewhere? I need to do something similar for a BTI dash in my car
Thanks for the motivation.

As for the dash, there is various online seller nowadays selling it. You can try to get it at Mako Sports.
 
#11 ·
Having the 3SGTE engine out of the engine bay gave the opportunity to respray the engine bay. I chose to spray it with the same body colour. Oh yeah, the paint shop has sprayed the absorber head as well..grrr..early inspection seems it doesn't affect the adjustable soft/hard mechanism.

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Next up is the flywheel. The 3SGTE flywheel won't match it. Its a Fidanza Flywheel. This the early stage of installation
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#14 ·
Gosh I love seeing an empty engine bay and how much space there is in there before adding all the turbo bits.
Im envious of the situation, it'd be nice to 'start from scratch' and be able to route things as you wish, hide this and that/wire tuck it.
Please, keep the pics coming, love seeing this progress
 
#15 ·
Getting the engine into the engine bay has its challenge, but the job could be done with more minor complications thanks to Marc's mountings and some adaptors.
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The work has been done carefully by SPV Automotive. Even they learn a lot on this swap. There is a lot of discussion going on in this process of getting the engine going in.

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I find that the engine seems to have more room compared to my 3SGTE. Maybe my 3SGTE is packed with its water-methanol setup and intercooler. Or perhaps the 2GR is far from being complete. The picture below is a comparison between the 2GR and 3SGTE Gen5. Any comments on this?
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#18 ·
We did do some engine clean up but not as details. I plan to get it clean during the final stage when all the wiring and mechanical setup have been put in place. I feel that doing it now won't be as effective as this project may drag up to 6 months or so
 
#19 · (Edited)
The mechanical progress goes as planned. After getting the engine in,,,, it's time for the exhaust installation. It starts with the header. I am not using back the OEM Header. Below is the comparison of the OEM Header vs custom
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As for the exhaust piping, I am amazed at what @Alex W wrote about X-pipe Dual Exhaust. Therefore I wish to follow-suit the idea but with a bit of change on the exhaust outlet. Instead of a dual centre exit, I go for the OEM dual exit (left-right) look. I kind of like the way it looks. But this design got its bends and turns.



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This bend seems low, but it looks similar to how @Alex W did. This is the furthers up, and I can go. I don't plan to make my car as low as possible and make it similar to OEM look. I hope it doesn't scratch anything at this point of the bend.

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This is the X-Pipe design. Looks smooth and neat. As I mentioned above, this design will have the pipe exit left-right just like the OEM looks.
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As u can see, I don't use Borla exhaust as @Alex W did.
At this moment, the car still has not started yet. So I have no idea how the sound likes and what horsepower and torque it churns out.
This kind of work sure takes its time. Got to be really patient with it. I believe I will be undergoing minor touch-ups of this setup once the car is tuned. But, I let it be this way as I need all the appropriate positions for my wiring routing.

Ahhh, the Wiring will be the most challenging part. Most of the time spend on wiring planning.
 
#20 ·
Not much progress going on now. Just some wiring cleaning and checking the old connection. However, I have some change of plan on the dash. Therefore I am letting my digital dash cluster go with its meter cluster. If anyone is interested, just let pm me, we can negotiate a deal.
 
#22 ·
The progress of my project has been extremely slow. Stuck at the wiring jobs. Took out the wiring in early March and replan all the wiring; I am on the verge of giving up this project.
I have also decided not to relocate the battery as i initially planned. With the current mode of progress, I am not confident if I were to follow my initial plan of relocating the battery, my project would even see the light of day. So the Battery stays the way it was, the OEM placed at the front. The same goes to the ECU and the PMU; goes to the back at the boot place.

I also realise that the OEM wiring is not that bad. Some wires were cut off, and the ground wire was not properly secure. So I decide to reuse the wire but recondition it.

So the wiring project starts with getting out all the wires
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#26 ·
All the harness for ECU and PMU has gone into the car. The concept here is to try to simplify wherever possible. No more rear relay/fuse boxes. It has been replaced with PMU16.
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Suppose the Link Fury ECU is at the OEM area. We took out the ECU this time just to sort out some of the things. The PMU16 controls or supply 12v power to the Headlights (low beam and Hi beams), tail light, signal light, engine bay fan, both of the radiator fans, fuel pump, VVT solenoid, ethrottle motor, purge, AC compressor, AC solenoid, CAN Lambda, ACIS, CAN Keypad, Digital Dash and engine starter.

The Link ECU communicates with PMU16 via CANBus.

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No more OEM Relay/Fuse Box.

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The harness is now in place but still messy. The most important thing is to get the engine started
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#27 ·
This project although has taken a little off from what I originally plan but it still on going. PMU16 and Link xTreme G4x really do wonders in improving the efficiency and management of the overall car.

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Now let's look into the arrangement here. Earlier my plan is to have both radiator fans run by PMU16. I would want the radiator fan runs at various speed depending on the coolant temperature and eventually switch off at a moving car speed of more than 50km/h. All this runs via PWM. Thanks to various sources, including the Link ECU community, we were able to run the radiator fan at 3 speeds with PWM using PMU16 based on input from the Link ECU. However, i have received precautions that this kind of arrangement may increase the thermal load of the PMU16 and thus will result in shutoff. Then we decide to change the arrangement using the Link ECU via Solid State Relay. Now the radiator fans still run at various speeds until they shut off at a moving speed of more than 50km/h.

The same concept is also being used for the engine bay fan, but for the engine bay fan, I maintain using the PMU16. There will be 2 speeds based on the engine bay temperature, and will eventually shut off as the car speed goes more than 80km/h.
 
#28 ·
This project although has taken a little off from what I originally plan but it still on going. PMU16 and Link xTreme G4x really do wonders in improving the efficiency and management of the overall car.

View attachment 84138

Now let's look into the arrangement here. Earlier my plan is to have both radiator fans run by PMU16. I would want the radiator fan runs at various speed depending on the coolant temperature and eventually switch off at a moving car speed of more than 50km/h. All this runs via PWM. Thanks to various sources, including the Link ECU community, we were able to run the radiator fan at 3 speeds with PWM using PMU16 based on input from the Link ECU. However, i have received precautions that this kind of arrangement may increase the thermal load of the PMU16 and thus will result in shutoff. Then we decide to change the arrangement using the Link ECU via Solid State Relay. Now the radiator fans still run at various speeds until they shut off at a moving speed of more than 50km/h.

The same concept is also being used for the engine bay fan, but for the engine bay fan, I maintain using the PMU16. There will be 2 speeds based on the engine bay temperature, and will eventually shut off as the car speed goes more than 80km/h.
I’m day dreaming and drooling.
 
#29 ·
It has been a while since I last update my post here. My MR2 has its first kickstart. The engine runs smoothly! Not sure how I can attach my video here. But if someone can guide me, i would to upload the video in my thread here.

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As i mentioned earlier i have sold my dash. I got a good offer for this AIM MXG dash. With this dash, the wiring is much simpler as most of its data comes through CANBus.

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Initially, we realize there is a sudden power drop to the Link G4x ECU when the car starts. We realize the starter drained so much of the power that the ECU restart its connection. Hence we had a separate power supply cable for the starter and for the PMU16. We use this stub to connect the power from the batter to the PMU16. While the other cable connects from the battery to the starter.
 
#30 ·
Everything done now. After 1 year of project. At last i end up with 1 PMU16, Link G4x xTreme with 2 lambda sensor. Each bank has its own lambda sensor.
PMU16 manage most of the electrical parts, like headlights, tail/parking lights, signals indicator, AC Compressor, Engine Bay Fan, Radiator Fan and more. I have fully utilize all of the PMU16 output.

Cars runs good. Have run the dyno runs. I am satisfied with the power delivery. Achieve 360Nm of torque at dyno machine. I am confident it could go more. We haven't really tune the VVT exhaust. Maybe i will do that on my own based on my everyday drive logs
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#31 · (Edited)
Climate Control

Driving MR2 with a 2GR is a really different experience compared to 3SGTE. The car feels more modern, and the torque delivery is instantaneous.

Now I like to talk about how I manage the AC system. We found out that the 2GR uses a variable displacement AC Compressor type. which means it has its own solenoid to regulate the ON/OFF of the compressor. It is a smarter system compared to the conventional type like the one used in the 3SGTE, where you feel a sudden jerk because of the AC magnetic clutch's sudden release when it is ON or OFF. With this variable system, the AC will regulate how much to cool down the cabin temperature until it achieves its desired target temperature.

So to create this kind of logic, I have set up 2 inputs to the PMU16. 1 input is from the cabin temperature. This input utilizes a temperature sensor that gives a reading of the cabin temperature.

The 2nd input is the target cabin temperature input. This input is from the AC temperature panel control selector. The picture below is the AC Temperature selector.
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I found out that this temperature AC selector works like a variable resistor. It has three wires: ground, 5v and signal. All these wires/pins go to the PMU16.

From PMU16, I broadcast to the CANBus. The Link G4x then pick up the CAN messages, and then we can create the logic. From the logic, we can set the desired duty cycle for the AC solenoid to achieve the target temperature that we set at the AC temperature selector.

Let's say, for example, as per the picture above, we set the desired temperature of 22°C. Then the AC compressor Solenoid will work until it achieves the target temperature and slowly reduce its work when it has achieved the target temperature.
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The picture of my AIM Dash here shows that the Cabin temperature has achieved 22°C. Yes, I know I have a lot of other temperature inputs as well😆🤪. But with all this input that I have, I can create more logic operations for the car to run smoothly.

I have many more in mind. I will work out slowly from here.
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I still feel the engine bay is pretty messy with all the hoses going around and wires not properly tucked. Well, most importantly, the car runs well now. So we can work out slowly from here.
I am not sure how many are reading and following thread here, but I want to continuously post here so I myself can keep track of the progress that I have made.

One thing that I have a headache about now is the drone sounds. The x-pipe exhaust should have that distinctive sound, but the drone noise is a real headache.
 

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#32 · (Edited)
Exhaust Drone

After I started to drive my MR2 frequently, one of the issues was the drone sound. Man, this is a real headache, especially when u almost daily drive your car or travel for a long distance. The drone is prevalent, especially between 2000 to 4000rpm. With the E153 gearbox, that would be the spot where I spend most of the time cruising on the highway. I use my handphone to detect the decibel; the reading is around 90-100dB inside the cabin.

Now, just to be clear, I am not complaining about the x-pipe design, which I got the inspiration from @Alex W; the bass sound is nice. But the drone is just unbearable. So, the solution that I choose is to use a Helmholtz resonator to cancel out the frequency. Below is the Helmholtz resonator I'm talking about.
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You can see here there are two units of Helmholtz resonator that I use to cancel out the frequency coming from both pipes.

Apart from that, I take the extra initiative by wrapping both exhaust pipes. Here is the picture of the exhaust pipe that is wrapped up.
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Ya, I know; there is white heat wrap that I use. It was halfway, and the wrap that I bought could not cover everything. So we use whatever extra leftovers we have. I know this may or may not give much improvement to the drone issue. But I hope these efforts will make the sound more solid as I am using stainless steel pipes which is thinner than cast iron. I don't know how to describe it, but it has that sharp thin sound that came out after I finished accelerating.

I also realize my pipes lack of gasket. So we add gaskets to ensure no leaking between the joints.
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Another issue that I realize is the heat from the boot of our car. I have realized this since the day I bought the car, and it is more prevalent during my time using the 3SGTE engine. So one way I try to improvise is to add a heat shield like those in BMW or Merc, the silver shield like a plate/layer form. I install it above the under-panel plate between the exhaust muffler and the bottom of the car boot. Well, sometimes words are hard to explain, but I hope from these pictures u get what I meant.

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So after we done with these processes is time we fit everything back.
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The result? well, based on my crappy handphone reading, I managed to get an average reading of between 88-93dB during cruising. Yes, there is a significant improvement.

Still not very satisfied, I added in a layer of soundproofing between the cabin rear panel and the cabin body. But I forget to take a picture of it. It will be another work to open up the rear panel to snap the picture of those soundproofing, but I hope the readers here get what I meant.

Now the end result, I manage to achieve a reading of between 80-90dB. Well, as of now, I'm satisfied with the sound from inside the cabin.

That's all for now
 

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