r/mr2

Usually I would just ask chatgpt or scour the internet to find this stuff but it’s proved rather useless.

Some context, I have (says in the title) and it is an automatic. I’ve only been driving for 2 years, and given the place that i live, all roads and traffic are so tiny, and congested, and a low speed limit, that I thought a manual would just be a pain, given that it’s also gonna be in a tiny little go kart of a car. But now after driving auto for 2 years, i’m starting to consider trying to get started on knowledge and technical skills to try and source parts and try and, essentially, turn my car from a auto to manual. I’ve seen it done on youtube professionally, I’ve seen it done in the cold streets of Russia with two men and a bottle of vodka, but I know that it won’t be as easy I will think it is.

Now I am asking for some thoughts, comments, criticism, call me stupid or whatever but I would rather be called that than not try and reach out at all.

If anyone has done something similiar, or, the exact same thing that I am enquiring about, please let me know your journey, if it was worth it, what struggles were had, and if it was a huge toll on the bank account.

All stemmed from me just looking at my car one day after driving up a (very not steep and exciting) mountain and thinking: “It’s a 40 year old toyota with a supercharger and two seats, why the fuck does it not have a manual?”

I have researched a bit and know a general overview of what is needed and what needs to be done, but reddit is just the hotspot of niche’ness

P.S, I have attempted manual only three times in my life, in a hilux, a honda civic, and a huge truck, in which the civic was the one i stalled the most on, and the one i actualy only stalled on. I got the hang of it relatively quickly, but I would prefer doing it in my own love and beauty.

Be brutally honest, tell me if it’s worth it or not, i’m actually quite keen on doing it, so losing faith isn’t the most of my worries, but i need some uncs who know what they’re talking about giving a view on this, and anyone really.

If you respond thank you for your help or criticism.

On going build hoping to be on the road in the summer time. Been building for a good few years now.

https://preview.redd.it/hve69p3kk22h1.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=333238a477869d8501105e9f5af2c6138409bcae

Long story short: I had to try to fix their rebuilt engine and ended up ruining it myself.

Long story long: At about 135,000 miles, my 2001 MR2's 1ZZ-FED was burning at least a quart of oil every thousand miles.

I spent about $5,000 on a rebuilt engine from monkeywrenchracing.com and a bunch of other stuff that seemed sensible to replace at the same time.

I got it installed and ran break-in oil and then replaced the oil. I took the first couple hundred miles easy. The engine was burning a lot of oil, but I was hoping it would go away after the rings wore in. A coworker suggested driving it with a bit more punishment to help things wear in. A couple hundred miles more and it was still burning more oil than my original engine. A bit of research and an email from monkey wrench racing pointed in the general direction of a bad valve stem seal. I contacted monkey wrench racing and they offered to have me send it back to fix it or they would send me new seals and a refund for the shop time to do the job. This is my daily driver and I couldn't keep borrowing my parents' vehicles, so I opted to try to replace the seals myself. It also seemed like less work than swapping engines again. After buying a specialized tool ($100ish) and a lot of fucking around, it was finally ready to test drive. It ran fine for about a mile before I heard a "clunk" and lost power. I got the car home and remembered: I forgot to tighten the exhaust cam sprocket bolt. It was barely finger tight. It came loose and the valves smashed into the cylinders. I took the head to a respected local engine machine shop and got their advice. When I dropped off the head I was told there was possibly a head gasket leak indicated by a cylinder basically being steam-cleaned by coolant while the other 3 were fairly dark. To get my commuter running again, I ended up finding a 2007 (post-oil burning issues) corolla 1ZZ-FE from a local salvage yard for $700. So far it has been running fine. Later I got a quote from the machine shop and decided not to have the head refurbished due to the cost and not knowing whether the pistons, connecting rods, etc. were any good. The disassembled engine now sits in my dad's shop storage until I figure out what to do with it. I'm definitely bummed, but it's not like I can completely blame MWR for me wrecking my engine. I thought it might be a good idea to share my experience so others researching options for their oil-burning MR2s have an idea of what they might be getting into.

Long story short: I want a Corolla engine tune in my 2001 MR2. Can I have my ecu flashed? Should I swap in a Corolla ecu? Other suggestions? I've never dabbled with ecus or engine tunes, so I appreciate any help.

Long story long: I installed a 2007 Corolla engine in my MR2. Now it seems like I have the power of the Corolla engine but the fuel efficiency of an MR2 engine. I enjoy hypermiling and would love to get closer to 40ish mpg with my car, but my last few tanks were about 33 mpg. 33 is... fine, but I want more. Surely a corolla engine in a smaller, lighter car can at least do better than 35 mpg, right? Potentially noteworthy: the Corolla engine is from a local salvage yard that claimed 192,000 miles were on the Corolla. It doesn't burn oil, thankfully, but I suppose a bit of wear and loss of compression (and therefore efficiency) is to be expected.

Hi!

my 03 mrs is about to hit 150k miles soon

ive replaced the flex pipes recently and havent really done much work on it.

1. should i start worrying about the precats at this stage?(my car’s build date is july 2003) id rather keep them if possible since i live in an emissions required state
2. clutch should be coming up soon, any recommendations on how to keep the stock feel?
3. any other maintenance i should aim for? no oil consumption yet but ive read that could happen anytime

thanks!