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[nachius]

Recently picked up a 1991 Blue XR2 w/ 108k on it.  Unfortunately bad radiator = blown head gasket.  I was planning on modding it anyways, but didn't plan to dig this deep into the engine this soon.  I have it torn down to shortblock and everything from the block forward removed.

Maintenance Work:
International Oil Pressure Sending Unit 58-4051-C2 to hopefully read oil pressure more accurately on the stock gauge
Purchased Timing Belt Kit - Timing Belt, Timing Seal, Cam Seal, Timing belt tensioner bearings and Water Pump
Purchased Apex Head Gasket Set
Purchased 180* Thermostat and gasket
Purchased A/C Delete length belt
Purchased O2 sensor to replace the front one w/ a broken wire at the sensor
Purchased Fuel Filter
Purchased Ignition Coil
Purchased PCV Valve
Purchased Flexible upper/lower radiator hoses to mate with aftermarket radiator
-Car Came with a Gplus 3 core aluminum radiator (~22x18x3) not installed to replace the bad one, but it will take some custom work to make it work since the bottom outlet is straight hence the flexible hoses, but I'll also have to adapt them to the right diameter sizing.
Plugs, Wires and distributor are new.

Heads are at a machine shop for cleaning, surfacing and valve job.

NEEDS TIRES will replace them before it's back on the road.

Weight Reduction:
All Under Hood A/C Components are gone will get to pulling the evaporator some time.
Removed all windshield washer components
Will "probably" pull the back seats
Will remove extra weight in the trunk (Spare, carpet, etc.)
Going to keep power steering
At some point will probably get lighter racing seats for the front
Possibly going to go with Konig Lightning Rims 14x6 at some point

Mods:
Purchased Maf sensor Adapter and cone filter
Purchased Knock off Type RS BOV
Purchased 6" Type RS flanged BOV piping
Purchased 2.5" FMIC and piping to custom fit the intercooler.  Slightly smaller than I would have liked, but it's definitely an upgrade and I shouldn't have to cut anything to run the piping.  ~ 28" end to end (around a 20" core), 6" tall and 3" thick?  Will get exact measurements when it gets here.
Purchased Manual Boost Controller
Purchased a few Oil Catch Cans
ECU Shipped to Matt for RocketChip Upgrade

Pending Research and Mods:
Want to upgrade the turbo while it's apart would like to go with the VJ11/Tbird hybrid, but parts are difficult to find
Going to build a 2.5" piping Intake, but not 100% sure on the configuration yet other than adapting the MAF to a cone filter
2.5"? Exhaust?  Custom unless someone points me towards something aftermarket

Current Work:
Started Porting the Wastegate tonight.  Goal is opening it to 23-24mm
Need to clean the block surface/deck for reinstalling the heads
-plan to tape off the cylinders and brake clean then scrape and lightly flat sand the deck checking it with straight edge and feeler gauge

Pictures and work updates to keep coming!

[greywolf27030]

WOW....you're going to town on that thing. Pretty impressive start. If you retain the IAC, putting in a 180* thermostat, it will keep it in cold idle/rich mode all the time. 2 1/4" exhaust will support a massive upgrade in power and be easier to run. The cone air filter will change you from a cold air intake to a hot air intake unless you do some mods there. You didn't mention a larger intercooler, it will do more to increase power than some of the mods you've listed. Good luck with it, I'm gonna be watching and jealous....lol

[nachius]

WOW....you're going to town on that thing. Pretty impressive start. If you retain the IAC, putting in a 180* thermostat, it will keep it in cold idle/rich mode all the time. 2 1/4" exhaust will support a massive upgrade in power and be easier to run. The cone air filter will change you from a cold air intake to a hot air intake unless you do some mods there. You didn't mention a larger intercooler, it will do more to increase power than some of the mods you've listed. Good luck with it, I'm gonna be watching and jealous....lol

Thanks:
Any idea how being in idle/rich mode will impact it with the RocketChip changing the fuel maps?  Thermostat is cheap I can always just order a stock one if that will cause it to be "too" rich.

2.25" custom exhaust it is then.  Will probably go 2.25" straight to a muffler with cat delete. I thought 2.5" might be overkill, but wasn't sure since I won't be running anything outlandish.

Front Mount Intercooler with 2.5" piping is up there in the list, it should be here this week.

As far as the intake I'm probably going to try to get it routed to the fender well or bumper or build a box so it isn't pulling hot air from the engine bay, but that's why that one is still in the "research" phase because I don't know where it's going to fit yet.

Finished up porting the wastegate a little bit ago it's right at 23mm and I didn't want to open it any further because it's right at the edge of the flapper when I push it to the side.

[greywolf27030]

Yes, opening up the wastegate is a great mod. The downpipe is a 2 1/4" and it is very tight getting over the rear axle, even with that. That intercooler will help a lot. The Rocketchip only addresses the fuel map in upper pressure levels. The stock starts leaning out above 10 PSI. The AUS cars came with the cooler thermostat, so their computers account for it, also why the temp gauge seems to be hot on US versions.

[nachius]

Got the new water pump on, idler and tensioner pullies for the timing belt and test fitting the Intercooler today.

Will start grabbing pics tomorrow.  My heads should be ready to pick up this week as well.

Intercooler Test Mounting


23mm ported wastegate

[EShepherd]

This looks awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it

[greywolf27030]

I'll second that. You're bulking yourself a bear there.  Nice.

[nachius]

Busy weekend so haven't had much time in the garage so far, but picked up my heads Friday and just cleaned the piston tops, cylinder walls etc. with basic wd40 and green scotch bright pads.  Will grab some pics after while and post them.  Definitely "fun" project and time consuming.  Never mentioned, but my "goal" other than getting it back on the road is targeting 250HP+ and get it into 12s in the 1/4.  We'll go from there to see what else we can get out of it!

Head info: Decked .024" (So they definitely got really hot probably more than once), everything cleaned up and polished and valve job - $300ish dollars for the machine shop work!

Pistons/Cylinders Before:

Pistons/Cylinders After:

Heads Before:

Heads After:

[greywolf27030]

Nice

[EShepherd]

Damn, that looks pretty good. You go with any fancy bits in there, like pistons or cam gears or anything fun? I just cleaned mine up and put it back together with the factory bits, new gaskets, and lots of cleaning. I see you plan on doing a hybrid turbo on it; any other big plans?

[greywolf27030]

If either of you are in the FB group, I just shared a post from a guy in Australia that's selling a car with a professionally built engine that put out 350HP, he detuned it to a little over 200HP because it was so hairy. He shares what had been done to it to get it there and said it was very streetable.

[nachius]

If either of you are in the FB group, I just shared a post from a guy in Australia that's selling a car with a professionally built engine that put out 350HP, he detuned it to a little over 200HP because it was so hairy. He shares what had been done to it to get it there and said it was very streetable.

I saw that build with Dyno Sheets on the FB group.  Pretty impressive.

As far as my build unfortunately didn't have the time or money to look into pistons, cams or cam gears etc.
-Machine Shop - Heads are decked .024", valve job, polished the cams and cleaned everything up, but outside of picking up a minor amount of compression for the decked heads the internals will probably remain stock.  Maybe if I fall into some money in the future I'll see if I can push it up past 300HP like that pro build, but for now I'll be happy with a goal of mid 200s and 12s in the 1/4.

[EShepherd]

If either of you are in the FB group, I just shared a post from a guy in Australia that's selling a car with a professionally built engine that put out 350HP, he detuned it to a little over 200HP because it was so hairy. He shares what had been done to it to get it there and said it was very streetable.

I saw that build with Dyno Sheets on the FB group.  Pretty impressive.

As far as my build unfortunately didn't have the time or money to look into pistons, cams or cam gears etc.
-Machine Shop - Heads are decked .024", valve job, polished the cams and cleaned everything up, but outside of picking up a minor amount of compression for the decked heads the internals will probably remain stock.  Maybe if I fall into some money in the future I'll see if I can push it up past 300HP like that pro build, but for now I'll be happy with a goal of mid 200s and 12s in the 1/4.

The thing that stopped me from going wild with mine, is that from what I've heard, our transaxles don't appreciate much abuse. Especially when you are feeding them over 300 horses. It took me months to find, and over $600 to buy, my replacement tranny. I've no desire to need to do that on a regular basis. Plus, if you do the maths, a sub 2400 pound car with around 250 horsepower.....shit that's gotta be plenty.

[nachius]

Getting excited now - Tbird Turbo is here, VJ11 should arrive today.  Awaiting 1 box of misc. stuff from silicon intakes and that should be everything major needed to get it back together and running.  Daughter has Homecoming tomorrow and I go to NC for work next week, but would "like" to have it running by early October!

Only "fab" type things left are getting the mounting bungs welded to the aluminum radiator to mount it and cut a hole for the driver side intercooler piping.

[nachius]

Finally got the oil pan off to change the gasket, steps in another post, but possible to do from underneath.
Oil pickup/screen looks clean no metal and rods have little to no movement so bottom end seems solid
Also got the hole cut in the driver side for the intercooler piping to pass through

Have now received everything ordered except my RocketChiped ECU, but can start cleaning and putting everything back together very soon!