maschinenbau said:Just over 100 miles and only a few issues. Main problem is it's just too fast and fun! Can't stop spinning the front tires.
What a Terrible problem to have. 
Indy - Guy said:maschinenbau said:Just over 100 miles and only a few issues. Main problem is it's just too fast and fun! Can't stop spinning the front tires.
What a Terrible problem to have.
Turns out...it is a terrible problem! The front mount just ripped apart while peeling out of the Publix.
https://youtu.be/eq9TpUHWmIY?si=PExox-XUmP8mRlGQ
I have another to swap in but obviously a stronger solution is needed here.
Finally got around to fixing that broken engine mount. I also fabbed a torque arm to hopefully keep this from happening again. There is a lower rear and lower front mount. The engine wants to pivot about the rear mount and pull the front mount apart. The upper torque arm should make it stronger. Both engines had one, I just got lazy and started doing wheel-hoppy peel outs without finishing the swap. Oops.
Is that rebar?
Either way, you're my hero.
Yes that's a rebar engine mount :)
Autocross was awesome! Leave it in 2nd and you can light up the tires anywhere on course, which was hard to resist. It is also obvious this chassis has all 350k miles on the clock. Imagine "parts flying in loose formation"..I should do the control arm bushings, maybe add more front camber too. But I had fun, the car was reliable and quick, even with its all season tires, and made it there and back through downtown Atlanta traffic without any issues. Over 500 miles on the swap now.
We had a four door sibling of your car.
In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :
Nice! Any setup tips?
The car was pretty much dead stock save for the wheels and tires. The first thing I would do would be to upsize the rear sway bar a bunch to help get rid of the massive understeer, then shocks and springs. I also have heard that these motors tend to go dry in the corners, so if we would have continued autocrossing it, I would have thrown an Accusump on it, but I'm not at all certain that would be the best approach.
With the Challenge approaching next week, and therefore a 700 mile road trip, I addressed an issue that's been bothering me. The steering has always felt loose, which is noticeable especially on the highway and while accelerating hard it tries to steer all over the place.
Through a series of tactful yoinking of the front wheels, I had narrowed it down to inner tie rods. But once I pulled the boots off, it was actually the rack moving around within its housing. And quite a bit... probably 1/8" of radial play. This was disappointing because I bought tie rods, not a whole new rack. But I found out you can adjust the tightness of the rack by squeezing your hand and a pair of large thin pliers between the firewall and sway bar to loosen a jam nut, then use a flat head to chisel this tubular thingy an 1/8 rotation or so inward.
The slop is pretty much eliminated and it drives better than ever now! Inspires much more confidence on the highway to keep its own lane. Looking forward to the Challenge.
Also I averaged 22 mpg over the past 250 miles of hot doggin around town.
90s japanese interior perfection
GRM $2000 Challenge Recap
The 2GR-swapped Camry coupe survived its first real road trip and the $2000 Challenge! Hit 1000 miles on the swap on the way down to Florida with about 1500 miles on it now after coming home. I convoyed down with Robbie in his Fiat and my first-timer buddy in his LS-swapped G-body (over-budget class). I averaged 28 mpg throughout the trip and never had any reliability problems. Just wish it had A/C!
Without a trailer or space or desire to buy real autocross tires, I just did the whole event on the same all-seasons I daily drive on. This definitely held me back in autocross, where I finished mid-pack with a best time of 46.6. For reference, Jonathan's super prepped Altima chumpcar on 200TW ran a 42. Makes me wonder how I'd do with some better tires and setup! In fact, I might have been the fastest car of the weekend on all-seaons.
Drags is where this car shined, relative to the other narrow-tire budget cars. Best time of the night was 14.2 @ 101 MPH! I'm very pleased with that. Again on true all-season street tires, with tons of wheel hop. I was nervous about the 4-cylinder axles and transmission, but it all held up.
Amazingly a 14.2s quarter is good enough for a 3rd place in the narrow-tire budget class!
Concours I almost took the "don't judge me" 12 points, but instead I went for it. I guess my story was good so I eeked out a slightly better concours score of 14.6. Not bad for a boring old Camry!
The drive home was much nicer since it was a cloudy, cool evening, so I could keep the windows up. It just loves to cruise at 80+. Now I have to decide how much nicer I want it to be vs how competitive I want it to be next year.
This was 100% my favorite car at Challenge this year. I was staring right at the engine bay and didn't even realize it was a swap until someone mentioned. Such a sleeper, I love it
This car is cool! I wish "just" engine swapped cars that worked got more concours points than cars that are trailered and only comfortable to drive for 10 minutes.
This car was amazing to watch. The work you did to integrate everything was awesome. And a stout drag time to boot! That's a great car.
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