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Is this new or have I just not noticed it? Of course it doesn't help us, but maybe it's a step closer.
http://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=79&products_id=2043
My friend just ordered one of those. It def won't help us, but I'll let yall know if its indeed a crappy product. :biggrin-new: We actually drop the motor in his lotus today but the driver side lotus sub engine mount bracket bolts wont release. Lotus normal engineering.. its kind of a joke and I see why now.

I'm waiting on all the misc bolts I ordered from Honda. I'll try my attempt hopefully next weekend and post results. This wrist pain wont go away so not sure If I should be wrenching on cars. :biggrin-new: Gonna mod the stock TSX header for now and try out that Dynomax VT variable valve muffler. I'm crudely hoping longer tube header raises torque.

My tuner recommends 32-34" intake pipe but I really just want to stick the filter by the vent with an enclosed box (maybe 15-20"). What do you guys think would be best?

Anyone else doing there's soon?
 
They will have a complete swap available sometime this summer according to them.
Yeah, I knew they were aiming for this summer for the spyder wiring setup, I'm just saying that with the lotus wiring harness out of the way and it being a 2zz hopefully the spyder setup will be done soon!!
 
Discussion starter · #445 ·
Yeah, I knew they were aiming for this summer for the spyder wiring setup, I'm just saying that with the lotus wiring harness out of the way and it being a 2zz hopefully the spyder setup will be done soon!!
While sharing the same engine family, the lotus and the toyota companies do things differently.

Toyota uses bean net work for the temp gauge and some idiot lights. Ac is also passed tgrough it.

Lotus uses standard CAN bus and is a lot easier to interface with the kpro ecu.
KPRO even has the option built right into the software to change to Lotus for multiplex.
 
I'm in LA area and started collecting parts for the swap. I'll be making a for sale thread soon. Decided I'd rather go for a small boost in power and save my money. I have a fully built motor (not assembled), civic Si trans modified with rsx linkage and a whole bunch of other goodies. If you're interested I'm not too far.


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I'm in LA area and started collecting parts for the swap. I'll be making a for sale thread soon. Decided I'd rather go for a small boost in power and save my money. I have a fully built motor (not assembled), civic Si trans modified with rsx linkage and a whole bunch of other goodies. If you're interested I'm not too far.


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Very interested. Pm sent.
 
Just found out who makes the driveshafts for innovative. They are rated from the manufacturer for 500hp

http://www.insaneshafts.com/500-hp-3/toyota/mr2-spyder/is-203-is-204.html

The stamps on my axles are these part numbers.




Also, I know of one very unsatisfied customer of the driveshaftshop axles. Less than 250 miles and it broke.

Just thought I would share
Awesome. I knew it was one of the other few Honda driveshaft shops. I'll report back if I have any problems with my DSS ones.

Also that Lotus swap harness is basically a race harness with relays and wires labeled. Not plug and play at all, ouch.
 
Well, when you drive your car to South Haven Michigan from Chicago and the faulty axle leaves the car stranded there....there isnt much that can be done. DSS wants me to snap pics, measure shit, send it back, wait for them to analyze, snap pics of the mounts, make sure the intermediate shaft and hubs are proper and etc. Warrantying out for faulty axles is proving to be a pain in the ass so far.

I had axle jizz all over the place within 5 miles and the inner bearing race/cage in the female end of the axle that goes onto the intermediate shaft is what ended up failing from what looks like improper length. I'm suprised I made it as far as I did knowing now that the the only thing holding the axle together inside that housing was the small circlip.

FML


Anyhow....i thought i'd share some swap info from what I learned within the 4 days of doing this swap.

#1. The 06+ Si lower thermostat housing works well for the lower radiator hose. As far as hose part # goes, i randomly picked up a Dayco from Autozone and it worked. All it needs to have is a slight "S" shape to it and it'll do to trick. I'll post that hose part number as soon as i get back to my car....which is 2 states away at the track.

#2. Manifold fitment and clearance - First thing you'll need to do is drill out the hole for the cable in your throttle body a little larger if you are planning on making your own throttle cable bracket. For clearance all i did was massage the firewall with this sweet hammer from my toolbox and i pretty much made the shapes in the firewall from an outie to an innie. It was fairly easy seeing as the sheetmetal is very thin. I am able to fit a PRB manifold with tons of room, an RBB manifold with a little room to spare ( But enough clearance for me to install the RBB while the engine was bolted into the car), and the RBC would almost fit...but you definitely have to cut an access panel to comfortably make that happen.

#3. I used an old Hybrid-Racing harness that was designated for a 96-98 civic and just cut the plugs off thus making it into a "Universal race harness". After wiring it all up the RPM's and Speedo work (i'm using an k20a2 case and vss) on the cluster. The Multiplexer stuff doesn't work but i'm sure we will get it working once I piggy back the OEM ecu into the car.

#4. I used Innovative mounts. They fit like a dream. I was impressed because most of their steel mounts fit like crap.

#5. I am going to jump on board with Insane Shafts. I have a second K series spyder in the works and we will use the DSS axles in that one if and whenever our issue gets resolved.

#6. For AC/PS delete I just used an idler pulley from an 06+Civic si and used Napa belt # 060523

#7. I used a simple push on fitting from Russell that worked on the stock fuel feed line which made it a -6 AN to the Innovative Fuel rail. I kept it returnless. So far I am able to support 196whp and 166wtq on a dynojet with 80% max on duty cycle(stock RSX-S injectors - 310cc) with the returnless setup. This is a super cheap and easy way to go about it if you are going to be making light power.

#8. I used a PLM header which was the hytech replica swap ver.1 header. I used the optional 4-1 collector and regardless of collector I had to hack up the crossmember for clearance. I feel like if I had the 3/4 of an inch lower K20 I might've cleared it a lot easier. I chopped off the pipe right after the collector and just used 2 90 degree bends and mated it to an old PFE/Borla muffler. To my surprise its super quiet, maybe because its a 2.25 incher. I'll be fabbing up the 3 inch setup sometime next month.

#9. I used the matching Innovative shifter mechanism and it works fairly well. The movement into the next row of gears seems very close and takes a little getting used to. I plan on researching a solution to better solidify the shift feel. It's not bad by any means but it doesn't feel as buttery smooth as an OEM RSX shifter box combo.


All in all it was similar to doing a K swap into an older Civic with the exception of tighter clearances, lack of swap info and some small wiring obstacles. My next attempt at track testing will be August 4th at Gingerman Raceway where my car is currently stored. If all is successful from there I plan on hitting the dragstrip that following weekend. Once my baseline numbers are set it's going back into the shop for small development. I'll try to keep you guys posted with my findings and results.


Image


See ya guys at the track soon!
Mikey
 
Damn wish i woulda known you were there i was there for ahour an hour. I have have a truck and trailer so i never get stuck like that. I sleep in my trailer. Im in chicago. I can get u the parts if you want. I actually measured my axles and used my measurements. When one member set them next to the original dds axles he said they were slightly longer. I triple measurement mine and had another person measure them.
Well, when you drive your car to South Haven Michigan from Chicago and the faulty axle leaves the car stranded there....there isnt much that can be done. DSS wants me to snap pics, measure shit, send it back, wait for them to analyze, snap pics of the mounts, make sure the intermediate shaft and hubs are proper and etc. Warrantying out for faulty axles is proving to be a pain in the ass so far.

I had axle jizz all over the place within 5 miles and the inner bearing race/cage in the female end of the axle that goes onto the intermediate shaft is what ended up failing from what looks like improper length. I'm suprised I made it as far as I did knowing now that the the only thing holding the axle together inside that housing was the small circlip.

FML


Anyhow....i thought i'd share some swap info from what I learned within the 4 days of doing this swap.

#1. The 06+ Si lower thermostat housing works well for the lower radiator hose. As far as hose part # goes, i randomly picked up a Dayco from Autozone and it worked. All it needs to have is a slight "S" shape to it and it'll do to trick. I'll post that hose part number as soon as i get back to my car....which is 2 states away at the track.

#2. Manifold fitment and clearance - First thing you'll need to do is drill out the hole for the cable in your throttle body a little larger if you are planning on making your own throttle cable bracket. For clearance all i did was massage the firewall with this sweet hammer from my toolbox and i pretty much made the shapes in the firewall from an outie to an innie. It was fairly easy seeing as the sheetmetal is very thin. I am able to fit a PRB manifold with tons of room, an RBB manifold with a little room to spare ( But enough clearance for me to install the RBB while the engine was bolted into the car), and the RBC would almost fit...but you definitely have to cut an access panel to comfortably make that happen.

#3. I used an old Hybrid-Racing harness that was designated for a 96-98 civic and just cut the plugs off thus making it into a "Universal race harness". After wiring it all up the RPM's and Speedo work (i'm using an k20a2 case and vss) on the cluster. The Multiplexer stuff doesn't work but i'm sure we will get it working once I piggy back the OEM ecu into the car.

#4. I used Innovative mounts. They fit like a dream. I was impressed because most of their steel mounts fit like crap.

#5. I am going to jump on board with Insane Shafts. I have a second K series spyder in the works and we will use the DSS axles in that one if and whenever our issue gets resolved.

#6. For AC/PS delete I just used an idler pulley from an 06+Civic si and used Napa belt # 060523

#7. I used a simple push on fitting from Russell that worked on the stock fuel feed line which made it a -6 AN to the Innovative Fuel rail. I kept it returnless. So far I am able to support 196whp and 166wtq on a dynojet with 80% max on duty cycle(stock RSX-S injectors - 310cc) with the returnless setup. This is a super cheap and easy way to go about it if you are going to be making light power.

#8. I used a PLM header which was the hytech replica swap ver.1 header. I used the optional 4-1 collector and regardless of collector I had to hack up the crossmember for clearance. I feel like if I had the 3/4 of an inch lower K20 I might've cleared it a lot easier. I chopped off the pipe right after the collector and just used 2 90 degree bends and mated it to an old PFE/Borla muffler. To my surprise its super quiet, maybe because its a 2.25 incher. I'll be fabbing up the 3 inch setup sometime next month.

#9. I used the matching Innovative shifter mechanism and it works fairly well. The movement into the next row of gears seems very close and takes a little getting used to. I plan on researching a solution to better solidify the shift feel. It's not bad by any means but it doesn't feel as buttery smooth as an OEM RSX shifter box combo.


All in all it was similar to doing a K swap into an older Civic with the exception of tighter clearances, lack of swap info and some small wiring obstacles. My next attempt at track testing will be August 4th at Gingerman Raceway where my car is currently stored. If all is successful from there I plan on hitting the dragstrip that following weekend. Once my baseline numbers are set it's going back into the shop for small development. I'll try to keep you guys posted with my findings and results.


Image


See ya guys at the track soon!
Mikey
 
#9. I used the matching Innovative shifter mechanism and it works fairly well. The movement into the next row of gears seems very close and takes a little getting used to. I plan on researching a solution to better solidify the shift feel. It's not bad by any means but it doesn't feel as buttery smooth as an OEM RSX shifter box combo.
Matt's in the process of making his own shifter mechanism
 
#7. ... So far I am able to support 196whp and 166wtq on a dynojet with 80% max on duty cycle(stock RSX-S injectors - 310cc) with the returnless setup. This is a super cheap and easy way to go about it if you are going to be making light power.

#8. ... I feel like if I had the 3/4 of an inch lower K20 I might've cleared it a lot easier. I chopped off the pipe right after the collector and just used 2 90 degree bends and mated it to an old PFE/Borla muffler. To my surprise its super quiet, maybe because its a 2.25 incher. I'll be fabbing up the 3 inch setup sometime next month.

See ya guys at the track soon!
Mikey
First of all, thanks for all the great information! And 4 days huh, that makes my 1 month goal seem overkill, but we'll see. Not sure if you'll know or not, but will that belt part number work for a K20A2 with EP3(01-05 SI) idler pulley as I was instructed to get (BottledFed?)?

By the numbers, you have a K24? Do you have a dyno graph? If you post a 1/4 mile time please include as many details as you can (tires, pressures, car weight, etc); any predictions or 0-60 times? Thanks again!
 
In terms of axle length here's what i've got for assumptions. When the intermediate shaft side is clipped into the intermediate shaft and the hub end is in the hub relaxed, it naturally sits waaay in there. As in there is not much to thread onto yet until you pull it a good amount out. Once you do so and start to tighten the axle nut down you can actually hear the inner bearing cage slap up against the cup clip and you can see the boot stretching. I'm guessing just about all the miles I have on this axle is with the bearing cage riding against the clip. Eventually its the clip that failed and got mangled while everything else showed no wear or scars.


I'm pretty sure the same belt/combo for the idler will work. I just compared one from an 02 EP3 and an 06 Si and they are near identical.
Image

Image


*Edit: Just compared part numbers and they are identical.

So my belt combo is the original TSX water pump housing, the Si thermostat housing, that dayco belt and the ep3/06 Si idler. My tension window is in a nice spot and it was inspected after a 3 hour drive assuming the belt might stretch its' first time out. Still good.


As far as the timeframe...its kind of cheating since I do Hondas for a living and had just threw a few hours at the car after work from this past Monday Through Thursday. I think the swap is intimidating but isn't as bad as some people are making it out to be.

Yes, the engine is a K24. It's a 04 TSX engine with 100k on it. The only service i did to it was a fresh Timing Chain Tensioner(06+ Si PRB ) and a 50 degree VTC intake cam gear. I do plan on documenting my findings and will share the results and as far as any tech I can assist with i'm more than happy to flow what I know. Chassis and engine development is a huge hobby of mine and this Spyder is absolutely something I want to develop into a serious competitor.

For drag use I'll be using my 4x100 combo but in the right direction this time.
Image


Otherwise I have reasonably good access to parts and have a dyno on site so I will be doing some manifold testing and development.

If you're bored at work you can breeze through some of the documentation I did with my last car.

http://www.tsxclub.com/forums/1st-gen-engine/78137-road-225whp-my-04-tsx.html

http://www.tsxclub.com/forums/autocross-road-racing/62158-anyone-here-track-their-tsxs-6.html

http://www.tsxclub.com/forums/autocross-road-racing/63451-anyone-here-drag-their-tsxs-results-inside.html
 
What's in store for this? Have there been other complaints of sloppiness or close gates? I'm wondering if simple shifter cable bushings and shifter box bushings would help me out. It almost seems like i'm dealing with more slop than anything else.
Yea, the gates are close with the innovative shifter mechanism... Takes some getting used to. I used to go into 5th instead of 3rd when driving kind of hard. Got used to it and have never had a problem since.

Cant remember off of the top of my head... but does the cable with the cantilever adapter control the left and right motion of the shift box? If so spacing out the gates would be EASY..but I dont think that it works that way.
 
Yea, the gates are close with the innovative shifter mechanism... Takes some getting used to. I used to go into 5th instead of 3rd when driving kind of hard. Got used to it and have never had a problem since.

Cant remember off of the top of my head... but does the cable with the cantilever adapter control the left and right motion of the shift box? If so spacing out the gates would be EASY..but I dont think that it works that way.
The adjustment just moves the shifter location to "center". The throw length is not at all adjustable. I noticed that the 2-3 shift is very tight and caught myself going to 5th plenty of times. On the track I don't see that as being an issue but I can imagine myself failing at it when drag racing.

I found the remaining chunk of radiator hose that I used for the lower. Again, this is just a random hose that I found at Autozone that looked like it would work just by seeing it. I just trimmed out the "S" section and it fit like a charm. This is using the 06+Si thermostat housing.

Image


I just got confirmation from Insane Shafts that my axles will be here Friday. I plan on going back to the track on Monday to fix the Mr2 and immediately track test it. If it doesn't survive, i'll leave it again and come back with a trailer. If it works, i'll be driving it back home. Wish me luck.
 
Maybe Mtec shifter springs can solve the shifter feel issue. I'd have to agree the shifter feels very loose on my car as well. Haven't driven it but I don't think it will get any better, just more use to it. I should have bought those damn springs when I had the shifter out.
 
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