Project Igor- Europa Content

If there’s anything from the transmission end of an mr2 Spyder that can help, I have an extra bad 5-speed and would be happy to share pieces from it. 

dculberson said:

If there’s anything from the transmission end of an mr2 Spyder that can help, I have an extra bad 5-speed and would be happy to share pieces from it. 

Thanks, I think I'll be ok. Just got this shift linkage from a Boxster delivered today, which sgoush by right up. I also have an mr2 Spyder shifter for the control end.

Micro update.

Linkage fits like a charm. Cables are long, of course. We'll figure that out once I get the shifter situated.  Also might not have the real estate to run the exhaust under the crossmember next to the trans and shifter.

Got some garage time in today.  Spent some time staring at the shift linkage on the transmission and a couple of shifters.  I picked up a Boxster and MR2 Spyder shifter a couple of friends in the hopes that I'd be able to use them.

The shifter sits inside the backbone chassis, with only a small 3" x 5" oval hole to fit in.  Whatever shifter I come up with has to at least fit thru that hole in pieces, and can be assembled inside the tunnel.  

MRS on the left, Boxster on the right.  

The front - back motion is the same for both shifters, but the left to right is backwards on the MRS vs the Boxster.  When you shift to first gear, the left-right cable needs to be pushed rearward. 

In a vain attempt to make it fit, I started cutting off the excess bits from the Boxster unit, but still couldn't fit it thru the hole and I don't have a good means for a solid mount.  Before I go down the rabbit hole of making a new shifter, I want to see what other options exist.

I stumbled onto this today:

https://www.prevanders.net/europa/ng3.html

Looks like the early FWD Corolla shifter is compact and all steel.  Even though the left to right motion is backwards, I think I can either flip the whole shifter upside down and make a new link.  The hunt begins for a shifter.

I used a cut down AW11 shifter assembly but I inverted the side to side bell crank and welded on a stub under the "ball" to keep the shift cables inside the chassis (albeit a fabricated steel tube chassis).  Unfortunately, the only picture I took was from the top side:

Also, check this one out:  Europa Cable Shift

It's overly complex at both ends, but does fit the stock chassis.

Thanks Rod.  I keep referring back to your build to see how your elegant problem solving.  If the shifter was gray, it looks like it was meant to be there.

I found a manual Corolla a the pick-n-pull near by, going to head up there, hopefully Saturday or Monday.  Best case, I can modify the shifter as is to get the first gear left motion to push the cable rearwards.  Alternatively, I can set up a relay shaft mid way in the trans tunnel.  

They also have a couple manual Neons which have a similar mechanism, but likely pot metal that I can't weld if need be.  I'll probably pick one up because they're cheap.

<ramble>

The absolute, god awful, worst case is that I could make something from scratch.  I'll start designing it up tonight, but it'll probably be 20 hrs inept machining time to finish (if I go this route, I'll time how long it actually takes and laugh much faster I'd have to machine it to be able to do this for living, you know, for giggles).  Of course, the designing of it would be free since I'll have a couple of drinks in and it'll take a bit longer than it should.

Now, off to start designing up a scratch built shifter....Where's my beer?

</ramble>

Side note: Is photobucket allowing hotlinking again?

Saturday was a fruitful morning at the junkyard. Scored a Neon shifter and an Audi TT 225 intake manifold.

The intake manifold moves the throttle body to the rear as opposed to the middle of the side - this'll be better for intercooler routing and may facilitate removing the body with the drivetrain installed.

Shifter: I flipped the shifter upside down and backwards to get the linkages moving in the ride direction. Only modification to the shorter itself was to grind off a swaged pivot on the side to side bell crank to allow me to turn the pin around.  The only other thing I needed to do was build a spacer since the frame has a seam right thru the shifter.

Tomorrow: mount the shifter to the car, figure out some sort of cable bracket and if Boxster cables are too long.

That's a nice looking shift lever assembly, I now wish I had known about that one as I'm sure it's more common to find these days compared to the MR2 ones.

Finished installing the shifter today!*

With that in place, I tried test fitting some shifter cables - of course, they're for a adult size car, so they're too long for Igor.  I tried to see if I can shorten them - but I'd rather not deal with a wonky shifter cable at a track event.  Off to the web to track down something that'll do.

I had some time left, so I cleaned up the rear cross brace.  I got a little carried away with the angle grinder last week  when I was trying to make clearance for the coilovers and trimmed too much.  Nothing a piece of scrap and a little time welding can't hide.

*Showed my wife the picture of the shifter installed, her first comment, "Where's the wooden shift knob?  You're not done, are you?"

Touche.  

More shifter progress today.  Made a bracket for the shifter cables in the main tunnel, modified the linkage and shifter to take the 1/4" rod ends, made a couple of adjustable sleeves (and now I own my first left hand tap! ).  And most importantly, rowed through the gears. .  I swear I didn't make vroom-vroom sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaDyf9i9P0s

I'm really happy with it.  The left-right movement needs a slight adjustment since the 5th gear engagement felt a little soft.  I love the sound!

Awesome!!

Very Nice!

Brake and clutch pedals are complete.

And when mated to the master cylinder plate.

Exhaust is tacked before I ran out of small stainless wire.  I'll add a v band connection at the muffler inlet.  The downpipe flange needs a lot of trimming which will happen after final welding, in the hopes the extra meat helps to keep the flange flat.

It's been hard to find garage time in the past month between overtime at work, refinishing a bedroom and welcoming a new member to the family.  I'm still hopeful to get the car running late his year, then final disassembly for paint and finishing next winter.  We'll see.  A running car is a big motivation boost.

Stole some time today to finish welding the exhaust, swap on the TT intake manifold and install the alternator to clean up the work bench.

It looks like it's sitting a little high because I just dropped it down on the ground.  I'm going weld a v band to the muffler exit so I can swap exhaust tips/turndowns easily at the track.

Next up: I think it's a time to start laying out the cooling system, then intercooler.  That should keep me busy while the little tike naps on paternity leave.

Lookin friggin good

Dragged a couple seats out for test fitting, in the hopes of seeing something that wouldn't require me to build a custom layback racing seat. In vain, of course..

First up, full containment Recaro. Skinny, 14" wide.  Not laid back enough, so it ends up sitting really high on the flat floor and the full containment supports made egress a sight to be seen.

Next, Ultrashield Spec Miata seat. 15" wide, and intended for the Caterham replica. It fit better and if I remove the low profile seat adjuster from it, it might work. Stock seats are 40 deg layback and this guy is only 20.

I'll keep my eyes open for a cheap minisprint seat since those appear to be pretty reclined.... This thing is a death trap..

In reply to Brotus7 :

I love the stock Europa seats - the width, the layback. They just felt comfortable. Of course for any real motorsports I don’t blame you for upgrading. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to Brotus7 :

I love the stock Europa seats - the width, the layback. They just felt comfortable. Of course for any real motorsports I don’t blame you for upgrading. 

The stock seats are surprisingly comfy.  With some bigger bolsters, ability to run a 5/6 pt harness, and mounting to some steel, they'd be perfect.  I picked up a ton of aluminium sheet to make new seats that fulfill those criteria, it's just that I'd like to reduce scope in the interest of actually finishing.

In reply to Brotus7 :

Glad to see more progress going on here, and congrats on the arrival of the little one!

Thanks guys. The little guy is a trip - groans more than an old man!

Had to do brakes on the Momwagen so Igor had to get rolled outside for some sun.  The ugly ducking is growing on me!  No real progress to speak of in the past few days. Scoping out radiators still.

Micro update: Picked a radiator and it fits.

Chose a radiator from a 16V Scirocco from FCP Euro (forum sponsor and great supplier) for the pricey sum of something like $55 shipped!

It appears to fit pretty well. I may have been able to go a little wider, but this should match the intercooler heat exchanger core really well too.  The picture is just a dummy check, the actual install will be canted forward a bit and exhaust out thru the bonnet.