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Has anyone actually done a MWR E153 kit installation with pics?

5K views 51 replies 10 participants last post by  Bitter 
#1 ·
Hi guys, I have a secondhand MWR E153 kit I'd like to install, but I don't have any instructions for it. Has anyone done one and taken any pics along the way, or know which bolt goes where and what the torque requirements are?

Also what sort of tranny oil does an E153 with an LSD need? This 'box seems to have some blue fluid in it...

Cheers.
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys - I emailed Monkeywrench and they were nice enough to email me the fitting instructions. :D

I had just figured out the shifter bracket anyway, but it's great to get the proper instructions :)

Only problem is that I just rounded off one of my 'reusable' ARP flywheel bolts :( Even my trusty Irwin bolt-removers don't want to know because of the 12-sided nature of the bolt head. Anyone got any suggestions?
 
#8 ·
Read the link I sent you. Are you 1zz? There is more work to be done on the 1zz for sure. Contact the member hughjonesk, he mentioned something about re-threading some bolt holes that I didn't have to do on my 2zz setup. I definetly would trial fit EVERYTHING out of the car. I got way too excited and bolted it up, and my starter still doesn't fit. I am not trying to scare you, I am not a mechanic by any means, and I got it done.
 
#9 ·
Sorry - my bad, missed the link you posted earlier, reading it now...

I am a 2ZZ and my engine is currently swinging on the end of a crane - I've trial bolted everything except the starter, better go try that too.

Just got to get this bloody rounded off bolt out- can't even stay C60'ed without a properly fitted flywheel!
 
#10 ·
2zz, cool, read mainly my stuff in the spyderchat thread. Shifter bracket and top 1/2 bolt needs to be modded, tab at bottom of block for the 10mm MWR socket bolt, one bolt hole on block opened up , one bolt hole on bottom of block (where the tab is ground off) had "flashing" I had to clean up, not hog out. One bolt hole on e153 trans hogged out, and one bolt hole on starter hogged out (15/32 bit). The starter interferes on the inside of the e153, I shaved some of the starter, but when the trans comes back out I am going to remove some material from the e153.
 
#13 ·
It was not cheap, but I didn't have the original owner's costs of importing it from the US to the UK, and having just spent the best part of £1000/$1600 getting towed home, replacing my shredded C60 and swapping in my LSD after getting it inspected and serviced by Quaife, it didn't seem too bad!

I'd say it was about half what a new one would have cost me...
 
#14 ·
wow, this is your third, fried C60, right? See that's what puts me off going F/I on this car...the added cost of needed to use the E153.

For the flywheel bolt, damn that's a tough one. If you've got a dremel, wear down the bolt into a 6-sided bolthead shape and unbolt it off....try some engineers blue on one of your sockets to get a nice template, then wear it down with a dremel disc and unbolt. I've been through something like this in the past and it wasn't fun, but this method helped.
 
#16 ·
wow, this is your third, fried C60, right? See that's what puts me off going F/I on this car...the added cost of needed to use the E153.
No - I've only killed one C60, but I've had this E153 kit for over a year, and only now found the time to try and fit it...

For the flywheel bolt, damn that's a tough one. If you've got a dremel, wear down the bolt into a 6-sided bolthead shape and unbolt it off....try some engineers blue on one of your sockets to get a nice template, then wear it down with a dremel disc and unbolt. I've been through something like this in the past and it wasn't fun, but this method helped.
Cheers - dremmling on flats didn't help - in the end I used the Dremmel to grind the whole head out - took me 3 hours and lots of swearing. I think I know why I was damaging the heads - the ARPs seem to be 1/2" - 12.7mm but I've been using a 13mm socket. All the fasteners on this car are metric, as were the original flywheel bolts!
 
#18 ·
OK, so now I have a couple of issues - I'm missing the starter bolts, the instructions say 7/16 x 2" but don't mention a TPI - does anyone know what it should be?

Also the two 12mm cap-screws that bolt into the block at the top bottom out about 3mm short of actually reaching the adaptor plate. The plate moves freely and the caps stick out by about 1.5mm. I have tried this on both my good and dead engine, and they both bottom out in the same way!

Did you guys just shorten the 12mm bolts?
 
#20 ·
Well after another year of procrastination I'm back on the case! I got in contact with MWR about a year ago and worked out what was missing from my kit - including the bracket that fixes the new axles to the block and MWR did me a package of bits for a price I was happy with. So many thanks to Matt et al!

I have managed to move house without getting the E153 installed yet, so fingers crossed I still have all the bits!
 
#21 ·
For better or worse, I decided to have a go at this without removing the engine...

Got the old box off with a bit of improvisation - it's amazing what uses you can find for a Black & Decker workmate if you need to!




Not sure that I'd recommend this but it worked and the box came off without incident. I have a cunning plan for getting the new and much heavier E153 box on ;)

It's a bit of a pain working between the legs of the engine crane - one day I'll weld myself up a gantry crane, wide enough to straddle the car, and short enough to fit under the garage door with one hoist for the engine and another for gearboxes ;)



I have not removed the central support bar before - I needed it to jack the car up and down! But, it really does make getting at the gearbox bolts much easier, and also makes it much more simple to get the box out.



This was the bit I was most worried about in the removal phase - the flywheel. But with the correct 1/2" socket for the APR bolts, rather than the 13mm one that rounds everything right off, and a couple of straps to hold the flywheel steady, it was simple enough to remove the Fidanza flywheel.
 
#22 ·
Because the e153 fits much different you're going to have to tilt the motor down a lot to fit the transmission to the motor. Also put the axle stubs in before you rotate the motor back to attach to the torque mount. If not you're going to have issues with the subframe.

When I put the transmission in place I use a jack and the engine support bar that holds the engine in place from the fenders
 
#30 ·
Hmm, so I go to bolt on the new flywheel, and it won't go on - there's some shiny bushing in the centre hole which stops it sliding on to the crank. No problem, I stick it in the press an pop that out, and now it slides onto the crank fine. Only issue now is that the bolt PCD is wrong and none of the holes line up!

I don't know what flywheel I have, but it doesn't seem to be the right one :(
 
#34 ·
The mystery is solved - turns out the 2ZZ that the kit came off was a 2L stroker using a 1ZZ crank! Should have done my homework better 2 years ago - the guy I bought it from generously offered to refund me for the correct flywheel, but really I couldn't say yes after all this time!

Anyway...

The correct flywheel - ordered from Monkeywrench Racing on Tuesday at 18:45 BST - arrived at my desk in the UK on Thursday at 10:00 BST - top notch service from MWR and UPS :D




It's a very nicely machined bit of kit too!



Looks better fitted though IMHO ;)



Clutch on...

If I had to pick one word to describe the E153 box it would be Feckingheavybastard! There's absolutely no way I could lift and wrestle it into place like a C60, so I decided to try using the lifting platform I bought to help me move house...



The diff housing is huge and really won't clear the chassis unless the gearbox is nearly vertical...



Yay for hydraulics!



After a lot of swearing and literally wrestling with the thing on the lifting platform, it's close, but no cigar :( The platform gets too close to the subframe to complete the lift and the box needs to be angled more for the shaft to go into the clutch. So I had a quick go at making a wooden cradle, and then stopped for the day and threw all my spannering clothes in a hot wash!



I suspect this may need some more fettling before it works - but that will probably have to wait until the weekend.
 
#35 ·
Well, I got it all together in the end. In hindsight, I probably should have just pulled the damn engine out and dropped it back in from the top.

I've got it running, but something isn't right - it's way too loud and slow as hell, so I'm guessing I may have an exhaust leak.

Has anyone else tried fitting an E153 with a PPE header? I have to wait for everything to cool down, but it looks to me like the header may be too large for the modified gearbox position in the bay :(
 
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