The Beast - Engine Photos

The Beast
Engine Photos with refrigerated Air/Water Intercooler

(03-05-03) The tuning in Atlanta went very well. Matt, The Hitman, is a master with the Haltech. Matt spent two hours working, prodding, tweaking, adjusting, smoothing and adding pure magic to the Beast. The end result is a super smooth, powerful engine with excellent low end and top end performance. The net result was a 19 psi pull at 340.5 rwhp. Thank you Matt for your excellent work. Also, thanks to Brian Hill in Atlanta for making the arrangements for Matt to be in Atlanta. http://www.mr2beast.com/images/dynoatl.jpg

(02-01-03) Currently, at 1750 miles, the engine is running very well. The boost has been turned back up to 21 psi. There was an initial bit of oil smoke from the engine due to the Total Seal rings not sealing. 20 pulls on the dyno at 17 psi broke the rings in and put a stop to the smoke. The A/F was set a little on the rich side. That will be leaned on Feb 7, 2003 when the famous "Hitman" from AU gets the chance to work his magic on the Haltech in Atlanta, GA . I will be switching back to Mobile One oil prior to the Atlanta trip.

(02-12-02) The engine is back in the car and running well with 300 miles on the clock. It's very smooth and seems to have near normal throttle response. It was suggested that the removal of the TVIS and the switch to lower compression pistons (8.3 to 1) would make a big change in bottom end performance. Boost is being limited to 5 psi during break-in and it's difficult to feel any real difference. The car will be driven to Atlanta to have the A/F ratio checked in several weeks. One other change is a switch to NPG+ coolant. The exhaust side water passages were opened up to 6mm by drilling all the way through to the main water chamber in the head. This should help cooling on the exhaust side. So far, temps are normal and the engine is running well.

(01-25-02) Update: During the process of the most recent engine rebuild it was discovered that the crankshaft has been rubbing on the block. We believe that this was due to excess clutch pressure causing the crank to "walk". The thrust washers were found in the oil pan during inspection. The clutch was removed and is being sent to RPS for evaluation. A stock clutch will be fitted to the car until the cause can be determined. I new short block was purchased, bored to 20 over to fit the 8.3 to one pistons and used in the assembly of the engine. HKS 264 cams are replacing the Webcams. Cam timing is now set to stock specs. Photos of the engine prior to installation can be seen below.

(10-6-01) There are several stages of engine development shown on this page. The photos that show the refrigerated air/water intercooler core on top of the engine is the latest design. At the present time (Oct, 01)
the intercooler project is taking a front row seat in my agenda. I have not taken many photos of the engine during this phase because the dominant IC core blocks much of the engine. The plan is to coat the IC core with ceramic coating soon to help block heat from the engine. This version of the engine which is managed by a Haltech E6k running 850cc injectors has been very dependable. It is one of the best street engines I have had in the car. It is smooth, powerful and has excellent drivability. It's currently running 17 psi of boost on a blend of Amoco 93 and 100 octane non leaded fuel. The three photos below were taken during September 2001. The data from the RAWIC temp testing can be found in the "What's New This Week" section (go to top of page one.) This testing is ongoing and plans are to install a front mounted heat exchanger later this month. We discovered that the heat exchangers in the top of the trunk lid were acting in reverse; picking up heat exiting from the new engine lid and adding it to the intercooler causing detonation at above 10 psi. After NOPI we quickly removed them and water temps went back to normal. That's one of the reasons I am a believer in the J&S Safeguard. It retards the offending cylinder when detonation starts. Each rebuild of my engine is between $5500 and $7500. The J&S is about $500. That's a no brainer, right?
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Engine on Jan. 25th 2002

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Engine Sept 2002 Fuel Pres Regulator TRD

J&S Safeguard Retard/AF Meter TurboXS BOV

Air Filter in Right Side Vent

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Engine Photos with Trunk Mounted Intercooler

Note: Many of you may be planning to build a trunk mounted intercooler for your cars. The photos below may assist you with the engine compartment planning. This intercooler has now been removed from the Beast and replaced with the newer RAWIC. See the "Trunk IC" section for more details.

The photos shown below with the trunk mounted intercooler were taken in January 2001. They show the turbo with stage 3 turbine, Turbo XS BOV, 12v blower attached to TOMS scoop (used to blow hot air from under the heat shield), Alcohol/Water injection pipe into throttle body, and TRD fuel regulator. Jim says, "I show the engine to a lot of MR2 owners, many of whom say, what kind of engine is that?" It really doesn't look much like the stock 3SGTE anymore. Seeing it in person is startling!
The car is now in Miami at Toyomoto having a Haltech engine management system, 850 cc injectors, Blitz rail, installed (Jan. 2001). Dyno tuning was completed on March 6th. Lance called to tell about the progress. The car was run at 10 psi during the Haltec set up and produced 250 rwhp. It was run again the next day at 15 psi and 290 rwhp. Lance said that he decided not to run it at 20 psi. I will take the car to Nashville, TN and run it for max power at a later date.

The Beast is back home! March, 17 2001 (Saturday) The Beast arrived by covered transport from Miami. I rode down to a local school parking lot where the transport truck unloaded the car. It was good to hear it run again. Once back home, my son and I took it out for the first test run on home territory. It runs very strong, without the occasional hesitation from detonation retard it experienced before. It is super smooth all the way to redline. It also has more power over a wider range of RPM. The wider torque curve makes the car extremely flexible and even more user friendly. We have had it on the road 5 or 6 times in different conditions and it never fails to deliver the goods. I like it!

SE2001 MR2 owners drive the Beast!
SE2001, the South Eastern MR2 meet, provided an opportunity for a number of different people to drive the Beast and comment on the recent addition of the Haltech and 850cc injectors. I asked specific people who have had previous experience with high performance cars to take the car for a short drive. I was most interested in their comments after returning. Nearly all of the drivers had something to say about the way the power is delivered. I had the boost turned down to 18 psi (normal is 21 psi) which was well over 300 RWHP. One driver said that the car was so smooth in acceleration that he was over 100 mph on a local road before he realized it. Another said the the power was fantastic but the way it developed surprised him. Most of the drivers were used to some lag followed by one big "hit" in other high performance MR2's. The Beast no longer has the "hit" associated with a narrow power curve but pulls hard from lower RPM all the way to the 7500 RPM ignition cut. Most of the drivers said that the tach lagged behind the engine and that they hit the limiter before they realized it. My thanks to all those who volunteered their time and provided feedback on the car.

Engine prior to Haltech with AIC	Right side of engine before Haltech
The jury is still out on the change to the RED cam cover. Isidro Castillo made me a great deal on one that he had powder coated for his own engine. Every time I open the engine lid it hits me right between the eyes. Actually, the more I see it, the better I like it.
Engine after Haltech Installed. Additional injectors are gone.	Right side of engine. IC pipes will be recoated at JetHot soon.

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