SECTION 10 - ENGINE INSTALLATION PT3

Step 1

Attaching the Clutch & Brake master cylinders

FINAL UPDATE ON THE CLUTCH: Well it is in basically. As you know I got the mastercylinders in quite a while ago. The main delay has been that I had to put in the torsion bar above. I also had to do the routing of the heater hose into the engine bay. As part of this process I devised a bracket that takes the connection between the flexible brake hose from the gearbox to the bulkhead (image 5). The rest is pretty straightforward in that the flexible line joins the line on the actual engine to the starlet clutch slave cylinder.

Update 8 August 2005: Having finally got the engine in for the final time. I can start on the brake and clutch mastercylinders etc. I have this pretty much sorted as I have the rear breakline already installed and I got the other ones (front ones & clutch) made up by ACT Brakes in Phillip for a total cost of $50. Bloody good job too. The thing about the dual circuit is that it is metric (M10 I think). So you have to have a clutch line that is metric on one end and imperial on the other. Anyway this should take me a couple of hours to sort so I should have some decent pics pretty soon.

Update 7 June 2005: Finally attached or should I say sat the master cylinders in the engine bay. I had a bit of a scare. The one you see sitting on the right comes as a pidgeon pair and are from what I hear the standard replacement for the old Lockheed all metal master cylinders. Anyway the two mastercylinders mirror each other. Well I put the first one in and it was hitting on the intake plenum and the new dual circuit m/c. I managed to find the other m/c and voila it all fits (this is mainly because being mirror images of each other if you put them in the same spot the tank on the back either point to the left or to the right (if you get the one pointing to the right the tank still remains at the back but on the right and away from both the plenum and the dual circuit m/c.

During the weekend (unless I don't come good tonight and take another day off work, which is unlikely). I will bend the rear brake pipe into position and connect it, aswell as connecting the brake pedals to the actual master cylinders!! Then it is just a case of sorting out the front brake lines but I have so much pipe with connections I am sure I can whip something up...

There is the ever-present issue when installing the starlet engine that the brake and clutch master cylinders foul the air intake plenum, depending on which type you have. As I have the later design with the tank behind the cylinder this was not as much of an issue.

You can also pretty much link the Mini master cylinder with the slave cylinder of starlet clutch. If this was a problem I might think about trussing up the whole starlet clutch system but this seems like more work than it is worth. You may want to go see a brake line specialist and get a custom-made clutch line. This should cost you all of $20 and means you don't have to worry about the junction that is currently in place between the line out of the clutch master cylinder and the slave.

One issue to consider is that the Starlet had flexible length between the junction mount on the engine and the steel line. This I assume is to allow for movement on the engine. As the constant rocking backward and forward will eventually fatigue your line and snap no pedal pressure and hydraulic fluid all over the engine bay!

The only consideration for the line from the clutch master cylinder the slave cylinder on the Starlet engine is that I that the threads for the junction screws will be metric for the starlet and imperial for the Mini, which means you have to make up a line that has imperial at one end and metric at the other. Not that hard really.

In the process of removing and installing the subframe I managed to butcher the rear brake line which means I have to create a new one but that is not a big issue either. The only problem is that while I could have done it myself but I would have had to find the tube bending tools (costing upto $150.00) and also the tools for making the correct double flange on the end of the tube. I bought a tube bender and the got ACT Brakes to make up the actual lines. Pretty cheap and they do a professional job.

Here is a site that describes how to do it. It seems the tools shouldn't cost that much but I think it is a case of finding them (editor note: he's is full of it, tools for doing double flares cost close to $150)...Once again I'll keep you posted when I get to this point. Also I have to actually source the tubing, this could be easier said than done, but obviously the professionals must get it from somewhere. If it all ends up being too hard I will probably just get them made up...

Step 2

Installation of Wiring Loom

Well here is the part I know I haven't been looking forward to. On this process you should take the engine bay and cabin wiring looms as two separate issues. Firstly, get the engine wiring loom hooked up. As you have seen previously I have tagged all the major plugs, which should help tremendously with matching things up. Then work your way into the cabin side. Don't forget about the grounding wire for the starlet engine and also the battery cable. More info on this as I get to it.

Update 12 November 2005: I connected the first few plugs today, what a milestone. My advice is to start with the injector plugs which represent a rail that sits above the injectors themselves. You can't miss it really. Anyway I placed this back in its original position and as I had hoped alot of the plugs were easy to connect back together. Having said that though the numbers do help. Anyway as you can see in images 4-6 the initial installation has begun. I may have to make custom vacuum pipes as the ones that bolt above the timing belt cover are now fouled by the location of the alternator. I have also started a step by step below oultining how I installed the loom and any problems I had with it. In image 6 you can see the new throttle position sensor ($132), as you can see there wasn't much left of the original.

Update 1 September 2005: Well as the car is away I finally finished off removing the loom from the car. Essentially it is a case of feeding the loom back through the holes in the firewall from the cabin side back into the engine bay. This is a time consuming exercise and a little finicky. But perseverance pays and you will eventually get it out. See the photos to get the idea. Also you will have to unplug things to get some of the plugs through the hole. If you do once you have the plug through the hole reattach them because I can guarantee you will forget which goes with which. As you can see in the photos it is a mass of wires...

Below is the step by step guide which will be updated regularly as I go through the process...

Matt's (in other words amateur) Step by Step Guide to Installing the Wiring Loom:

1. Find the terminal clamp for the positive terminal of the battery. This should have a cover with a "positive" sign on it. There should be two wires running from it, one is the power wire direct to the starter motor and the other is line through the fuse block to the ignition and eventually forms the starting circuit. Given that theoretically your battery is in the back you will need to create a new wire running from the positive terminal to the fuse block to complete the ignition circuit.
   
   This will necessitate you lengthen the wire for this section and also possibly some handy work as, if you have done the same as me you will have a large cable running from the battery to the engine bay. Obviously this needs to be connected to the starter motor most of all but obviously you need the cable for the ignition circuit to run off this power cable before the terminal of the starter motor (at least that is what I am told getting a straight answer ont his is proving difficult. Anyway here is a general schematic of toyota ignition systems.
   
   
   
2. Isolate the alternator cables this is actually two cables coming together to one spade connector. These also run from the engine bay fuse block. With your alternator now located on the other side of the engine these wires will need to be lengthened. There should also be two plugs that come of this lead. The bigger one is obviously the lead and plug to the alternator from the ignition circuit etc.
   
   The two diagrams below should offer some help as to making out what is what. Ultimately unfortunately I could spend hours explaining how it all works but I have better things to do and also without a wiring diagram it is pretty difficult. If anyone of you in the 30 countries now viewing this site can get their hands on a 4E-FTE full wiring diagram (Not the ECU one!) give me a yell. Even a standard EFI Starlet full wiring diagram would come in handy!
   
   
   
3. Having found these two the rest should be a case of working your way around the engine. The best bet is to lay the loom out with the sub loom for the dash area poked through to the interior of the cabin
   
   
   
4. This should leave you with essentially two othe sub looms. First provides the plugs for such things as the fuel rail (injectors), and the distributor. The other should be a long loom with a few plugs coming off it. This provides the wiring for the front lights and also winds its way all the way around the engine bay to end up back in the cabin as the plug on the end is one of the ECU plugs! Plug the fuel rail and injectors in as this gives you a good orientation to match the plugs in this area. Also don't forget that on the left hand side of the plenum there is an earth.
   
   
   
5. As my friend Brad indicated there are no two plugs the same so you can't plug two different wires together. So just work you way around the engine and plugs things together. Once you have a few done you find it easier and easier to plug the whole thing together as the possibilities become more and more limited. But numbering them earlier does make it quicker and easier. Also one point of note try and isolate the plugs for the headlights before removing the loom I think I have them but it will save you a lot of time later trying to work them out.
   
   
   
6. Well finished the wheel retaining system so I could put the battery in. Finished doing the earth lead for the battery. And will create the connection for the positive end tomorrow.
   
       
   
   
   
7. So I have had to cut and lenghten the following:
   1. The alternator cables
   2. The cable to the starter motor (from the battery, as the battery was originally located in the engine bay on the Starlet)
      
   3. The headlight and taillight wires
   4. Thermatic Fan
      
8. The loom inside the cabin is alot more straight forward in that everything just clips together and if anything you have too much loom so basically I just folded each part of the loom upon itself a few times and then cable tied them togther to get a neating arrangement. The only real tricky bit was mounting the cabin fuse box. It is an awkward shap and does not mount easily anywhere. So this is the arrangement I came up with. Should hold it pretty steady. And yes I know I will have to remove the dash to check the fuses but thats how it goes.
   
   
   
   Here is where my mate cut through the wires with the angle grinder (long story). So I connected those back up and as you can see here is the plugs that connect to the instrument binnacle. Then below and pretty much in the same place on the loom is the ignition switch and the lead to the indicator binnacle on the steering column. The good thing about connecting up the instruments is that you can:
   
   1. See if the instruments work
   2. Use it as a diagnostic tool on the engine etc
      
      
      
   So anyway connect up the ECU and mount it, then place tied up loom in place and then connect instruments and ignition indicator binnacle. This is where the fun begins in this area. You will need a circuit testing light for this area. Because with the power on you are going to start checking wires for power to connect up the rear lights etc. Below is a picture of the end of the loom where they sawed through it while preparing the halfcut (thanks guys). Now most of these should be stuff for things like indicators, but I am hoping one of them is the power supply for the in-tank fuel pump as I am going to use this as the power supply for my external pump. Anyway I will update as I progess. But with progress to this point you are probably 70% of the way through your loom process. Also one of the leads will be the fuel tank level sender so make sure you hook this up too.
   
9. I almost forgot, you then have to hook up the windscreen wiper motor. This is a real pain but has to be done obviously. Anyway below is a pic of the plug that originall connected to the Starlet wiper motor. The easiest way to get around this is to cut the plug off making sure that you keep the pairs of wires separated and then attach spade clips to them and then simply push these onto the prongs on the Mini motor. This has the added advantage of being able to pull them off if you put the pairs on backwards (otherwise you have fast/slow instead of slow/fast). Also if like me you broke the earth strap for the wiper motor make sure you put it back.
   
   
   
10. Hooking up the rear loom is a case of turn the ignition to on (not start, at least not yet) and the probing the bunch of wires with earth light to check which ones are live. Then you have to grab the indicator binnacle and successively turn all the switches on and off to see which wire turn off and on. A tedious process but when you get one working it can be a rewarding experience!
    
       
    
11. The final phase is to attach the instrument binnacle, key barrel, and finally the dash to the car. Now the dash has already been dealt with so I will concentrate on the steering colum. Now the original Starlet column comes with a bracket which is welded to the column. I grinded this off with the idea of grafting it to the Mini column. But this proved more difficult as the Mini column is just a little bit greater in diameter so as you can see in the first frame below I made up my own bracket. Simply create one based on the Starlet item and weld in the correct spot on the column.
    
    The correct spot? Well basically put the indicator binnacle on the column with the bracket already screwed to it. Then move it along the column. Then put on the steering wheel boss and steering wheel. Slide it back up so that it is close but not touching the boss to allow room for the binnacle cover. Also make sure there is enough room for the bracket for the key barrel bracket. mark on the steering column at the back of the bracket where it meets the column and then weld in place with a few spot welds.
    
       
    
12. The rest really is pretty straight forward and if you get lost buy a decent book and the basics of automotive electrics Plus there is shedloads of info on such things as the basics of using a multimeter and a test circuit light. It will usually have a good section on how to join wires and solder them and also selecting the right wires. If your stingy there is a great site by a guy name Phil Bradshaw who really knows his stuff and the site is very informative.
    
    So go to it. If you really get stuck give me a yell, I got stuck on a few of the wires too...
    

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Step 3

Creating the new dash

The clubman dash was pretty crap when I got it and I have always wanted a wooden one so I will be attempting to make my own. It should also be noted that this is pretty much a necessity as obviously with the new dials and stuff you can't use the current item.

Here are the steps that I took to create the dash:

1. Measure the dimensions - I found that basically it is almost exactly 1200mm wide by 200mm high at its highest point and 155mm high at the ends. Make sure you make some measurements as mine may be out a little and every MIni is different. Also cut bigger than your measured dimensions and then sand and shave/plane the edges down to get a perfect fit.
2. Determine locations for anchoring points - This is important as you need to have them in positions where you can get a spanner or you hand to but obviously not where you want to put guages or the instrument panel
3. Create the anchoring system - The first Mini I had was one with a wooden dash but you could see the screws where the guy had mounted it. I decided to do something different and I believe this is pretty much the same way the wooden dashes were held in place in the later Rover Minis. The basic premise as you can see in images 2 & 3 is to make a plate that compresses two bolts in place. Then you create a plate that goes from the top and bottom rails of the dash. Then by doing up the bolts it pulls the dash into place and holds it firmly there. Pretty simple but effective.
   
   One other point I may have to cut the top lip of the dash aperture as the instrument panel doesn't quite allow it to fit in. Just a note of warning these never fit perfectly when you are transposing instrumentation.
   
   
4. Installing Instrument Panel - This is a tricky one as the instrument panel is about 6" or 15.5cm which is pretty much the height of the dash at it's narrowest point at the ends. But as you can see in image 4 once you remove most of the plastic it is actually quite slim so you then have to build a box system to house it and move it a bit further back and have it sit at an angle. The process to get it in is to trace around the dial body to get a reasonable approximation of the hole necessary. Cut this out and you should have a hole similar to the one in the second image below.
   
   The next trick is to slice the front off the plastic fascia that sits in front of the dials. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of this but you basically slice the leading edge off just in front of the little alcoves where the warning signal lights start. See the image directly below right for more details
   
       
   
   Once that's done you need to cut a crescent of wood to fill the gap between between the top of the guage pod and the dash. This will also allow you to screw the instrument panel to the wood as show above right.
   
   
   
   Once in you should have something approximating the above. Which looks pretty rough now but will come up a bit better once the perspex panel is installed.
   
   
   
   Here is the dash loosely in place. It is a tight fit with the instrument panel in place but with a bit of elbow grease and also with the retention system it sits pretty neatly.
   
5. Well having hooked up with the three plugs, all the dials that are connected seem to work. Unfortunately I don't have enough petrol in the tanks to run her so I will have to see if things like the tacho work tomorrow. I turned on the headlights and the display lights up. Basically if you haven't damanged the rear of the instrument binnacle then these should work for you.
   
   picture of plugs in back of instrument panel

Update 21 February 2005

The gauges are in! Well finally finished off the gauges and all the wiring is tucked away. Also she ended up squeezing in flush even though it looked like it never would! So there you go the finished product. I will go back and update this area with a few more pics such as the perspex cove etc. But in the meantime enjoy the pics and let me know what you think. Overall given it was a rushed job I was pretty impressed.

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Step 4

Installation of indicator binnacle to Mini Steering Column
And connection of instrument panel

This is a relatively straight forward procedure. There are essentially three components to the installation: the ignition lock, indicator binnacle and the cover.

1. Remove items from Starlet steering column - This mainly means getting the angle grinder out and grinding of two things. The bracket that holds the ignition in place which has non removable rivets and will have to be sheared off to remove the ignition lock. The other is the indicator binnacle this is held onto a bracket welded to the steering column. Simply undo the three screws
2. Create new bracket for ignition - You will notice with the ignition that there is a spring loaded pin that extends from within the bracket. This is the steering lock. You unfortunately not have this if you attach it to the existing Mini steering column. Simply create a U shaped bracket that matches up with the screw holes on the ignition bracket. Then simply clamp to the steering column as shown in image 1.
3. Attaching indicator binnacle - How unlikely is this? The hole for the indicator binnacle is a pretty neat fit onto the Mini steering column. So remove steering wheel and boss and slide the indicator binnacle down. Now it is time to do some measuring and create a bracket for the binnacle to attach to. You could try grinding the original off but I am having a hard time getting it off. Anyway use it as a template and create a new bracket then simple assess how far down the steering colum you have to go and weld in place. Before doing so slide the cover over to ensure that everything will fit together before doing the final spot welds.
4. Attaching the cover - Now simply slide the cover over the indicator binnacle and ignition and screw back together. Pretty simple really. If you are far enough along on the wiring you can simply attach the plugs to the back of the binnacle before screwing the cover together. If you ain't that far advanced you can leave off until you get to that point.

Step 5

Attach Speedo Cable.

Given that you now have easy access to most parts of the engine it might be a good time to think about connecting the speedo cable. This is a especially before you install the wiring loom as this will all but obscure the engine side connection for the speedo cable.

So grab the end with the screw on collar. This is the end that goes on the engine. Also depending on how you have arranged the cables for your gearchange you may need to cut down this collar it may impede on the cables. Either way you will probably have to put it in from underneath (no mean feat). First find the bladed tip of the cable and get that into the slot then screw the collar down.The instrument binnacle side is pretty straightforward and simple slide in and clicks in place. There is a pretty suitable hole to the left of the mastercylinders for routing the speedo cable into the cabin.

Additional Step

Creation of a new front cross brace

With the installation of the radiator in its new location this resulted in the need to butcher the front crossbrace (I'm sure there is another term for it). Anyway by doing this it got so flimsy that it wasn't worth using. Especially as I as going to create a mount to securely fasten one side of the radiator. So I bought myself some 10mm RHS (rectangular hollow section) steel tubing to make a new crossbrace.

Anyway here are some more pics from 28 December to give you an idea of what I am trying to achieve...

Step 6

Installation of front mount intercooler (FMIC) & Radiator and Airfilter.

Steps for reinstalling the top mount intercooler and radiator

1. Air Pipe - This is the pipe with the 16 Valve sign on it. It can be a bit tricky to get back on the end of the turbo but give it a go as it will eventually go back on. It is also held in place by a circle clamp. Which needs to be done up fairly tight.
   
       
   
2. Air Filter - Well originally I wanted to go a K&N like everyone else. And I actually purchased one for $111. Which is quite a sum for an airfilter even if it does last 1.6M miles! Anyway ends up it had a 3 inch inlet and the starlet air pipe is 2.5 so no good. Then I went into autopro to see if they had one and the guy said he didn't have K&N's but he did have Redline. So for 49.95 I picked up the one you see in the picture. Is also a little shorter so fits in the gap quite well.
   
       
   
3. Turbo Pipe - This is the one coming out of the turbo in the image above (image 1 on the left give a view without the pipe). This simply bolts on to the two studs with nuts. You will also have to connect the interal flow blow off valve plus two other hoses one from the cam cover and the other from the series of three small hoses on the left hand side.
   
4. Intercooler - This is pretty straightforward. Get the bracket that attached to the front of the engine block and curves up over the cam cover. This is the front bolting area for the intercooler and then there is a bracket on top of the intake plenum which also has bolting points.
   
   Note: Before bolting in the intercooler it is a good idea to attach the connecting silicon hoses to the turbo pipe and intake plenum first with the band clamps loosened off, with the bands to the intercooler also loosened off. Then lower the intercooler and attach the silicon hoses to both the intecooler and the plenum/turbo pipe. Otherwise you will find trying to get the hoses on with everything bolted in place basically impossible.
   
5. Radiator - I went looking for a radiator that might fit in the position I have the four core Mini item in Image 5. I ended up with a Charade 1lt radiator that was about 1cm thick and I knew straightaway that the dimensions were no good but I thought I would give it a go, but as I thought about 1.5" too tall.
   
       
   
   
   
   So back to the item that was working perfectly well except for the fact that the top inlet now sat on the air intake pipe as you can see in image 4. Well I rang Phillip Radiator Services and asked them if they could cut that pipe and weld in 90degree bend at the other end.
   
   Without hesitating they said yes. Well basically that has pretty much solved all my problems as far as the radiator is concerned I just need to fabicate a connecting pipe between the hoses and I am away. I have also connected the thermo fan to the loom which means the fan will be controlled by the ecu! Anyway in the photos below you can now see the two hoses in place and all hooked up so there the radiator done. Not much left but the electrics now.
   
      
   
   Also I have bit the bullet I am going to fabricate a new grille and crossbrace. So more details as it get finished. Phillip radiator services can fabricate a radiator out of anything (copper, brass, aluminium), cost approximately $650.00. We'll see.

Final Update for the moment: I have decided to suspend work on the front mount intercooler until after the car is registered as I would prefer to have the car on the road and that way I can drop it off at places to get work done rather than have to get it towed over. Plus it will reduce the amount of time it will take to get her on the road...But don't worry I will be putting a front mout intercooler in, but probably not till the first half of 2006.

Update 11 October 2005:I had a guy around named simon to have a look at different possibilities for installing a FMIC. He was reasonably helpful but ultimately wasn't that convinced that I could really get a decent intercooler in the front. I have one last trick up my sleeve which is to talked to another guy named Simon (from memory, hope it ain't the same guy that could get nasty!) who indicated that I should fabricate the dimensions in foam and then present him with it and he can go from there. So as you can see in Image 10. There is the foam intercooler sitting snuggly in the enginbay. I have worked out a way to get it a bit thicker hopefully. So the basic dimensions for mine are going to be 400mm wide, 200mm high, and either 50 or 65mm deep. While it won't be the biggest intercooler by far I have worked out that total volume will be greater than the existing top mount and obviously being front mount has got to achieve greater gains. So wish me luck and watch this space.

Update 6 June 2005: Well I went out and attached the turbo again to get an idea of the kind of space I had to work with. The answer not as much as I thought (actually it just confirmed my worst fear). Anyway...

As you can see in Image 1 even having cut away part of the front panel there isn't enough room to drop the intercooler down through the gap and even then it would pretty much be resting on the turbo which wouldn't do much for reducing air temperature! Images 4 & 5 indicate the predicament I am in even when using the stock intercooler. The other problem is that the turbo outlet is in a very difficult spot for hooking up to a front mount intercooler. Still I knew this would be difficult.

As for the radiator, you can see that that should sit quite well in the position I initially intended. There maybe some problem with the bonnet closing but I am still investigating. But I think it will work. Now that the turbo is in I can send it off to get the exhaust done. I found out a mate has a trailer that can handle a Mini and I am free to borrow it so that makes the whole thing alot easier...

Update 7 June 2005: Well did a little bit more today. Feeling crook with the flu so shouldn't be in the shed anyway. But Image 8 & 9 should give you a better idea of where the intercooler is going to go. The dimensions I have determined are approximately 480W x 150H x 50D, these dimensions include the end tanks so it won't be the biggest intercooler ever made. I think I will have to get a custom made one as these dimension I am sure are pretty unusual. I am also going to think about manufacturing my own intercooler pipes.

Given the design of the subframe there are several issues that need to be considered then determining how you install the intercooler. Now one is to locate it where it was. This is by far the easiest and the cheapest. Any other location is going to be more difficult and if it necessitates the creation of a custom intercooler then big bucks will be forked out. Also an interesting thing I read today is about myths about radiators and intercoolers and construction of them from Aluminium.

Construction out of aluminium is really only for 2 reasons, weight (not really a consideration unless you are a racer) or wank factor (probably the real reason in a lot of cases). It is a fact that copper, brass and even lead have better heat transfer capacities than Aluminium so therefore if it is heat dissipation you want then Aluminium is towards the bottom of the elementary table. For a bit more information about non-use of Aluminium (specifically in radiators but the same applies to intercoolers) go to this online article. So you may be able to save some money on an intercooler or radiator (or both) made out of something apart from Aluminium.

Now another good question is why are Aluminium rads and IC's so expensive. Well the answer is simple, effort. Welding mild steel especially with a MIG welder is fairly straight forward as I have demonstrated. Now MIG welding Aluminium is pretty difficult or more difficult than steel. The best way to weld Aluminium is to TIG weld it. This is a form of arc & stick welding. Now TIG welding takes about 6 times as long to do a seam weld as a MIG will.

It is also translates into the realm of fully hand made. Just mentioning the words hand and made together equals alot of money. So there you go Aluminium Intercoolers are expensive because apart from the core they are hand made and they are difficult to weld which equals expensive. Now contrast this with Steel and you will see a dramatic drop in price but possibly an increase in heat transfer and ultimately efficiency, sounds good to me...

Now I will describe my preferred solution which as at 21 October 2004 is unproven and uncosted but may give you ideas for your project. I intend to mount a custom intercooler where the three holes in the bottom front apron are located.

This will utilise a reworking of the front extended bar setup of the subframe as a mounting point. I may have to slightly extend the front skirt forward in a hinge fashion So that the IC can drop straight down and away from the exhaust exit from the turbo.

Now here is another solution. That is to take the intercooler that came with the engine, and essentially do the same thing as that I proposed with the custom intercooler. Another possibility is to mount it on the left hand side of the grill. This will be possible due to the fact that you will be unlikely to be able to mount a radiator the reaches across the full front of the grill due to the location of the turbo.

Or you could located it underneath as per my preferred solution, the only trouble with this is that due to it size you may find that the cooling effects would be negligible when compared to the distance that the air has to travel after the intercooler to the air intake plenum and the routing of the hose over a large expanse of hot engine. The advantage would probably only be obtained from a larger intercooler. So next time I update this section I will have facts and figures and then engine will be in giving me a better idea of what space I have to work with. I will also have investigated radiators but this is a lot simpler than the intercooler issue.

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The Finished Product.

All jobs on the engine bay have been done...

Well as you can see the engine bay is complete. The only thing outstanding is the washer bottle but that will go inside the car. So that is pretty much that. As you can see I ditched my fabricated crossbrace/slampanel as it just ended up basically not working as I intended and produced too many problems to solve so I went back to the original. I am quite chuffed with the little bracket that holds the radiator in place.

The only real addition was the overflow tank which you can see in the lefthand top corner. I got that out of a mazda and it fits like a gem.

So there you go the car is practically ready to go. The only trouble being that I have had a problem with the MAP sensor and she ain't running properly. But should be fixed by the guys at Canberra Toyota tomorrow. Oh and get them to hook up the knock sensor again. But apart fromt that nothing more to do.

After it is registered I will no doubt give the thermatic fan another go. She runs cool but I am sure if I get stuck in heavy traffic she might start to get a bit annoyed. But at this stage the main aim is to get the thing past rego and on the road.

FINAL NOTE: While I have endevoured to give you as much information as I can, I am not a professional engineer, not even close. So anything you take from this website is at your own risk. Due to the increasingly litigous society in which we dwell I am will also be unable to develop or send out full specs for the subframe. For the same reason I won't be making subframes for people. The fact is as much as people like to say that they won't seek you out when things go wrong they will and usually with a lawyer in tow.