Yep, great read. Thanks Joe.
I can't see any reason that rear gearbox mount won't be good. I believe it can be stiffened up very significantly without any problems. I'm not convinced the front one should be made too stiff though.
Keep us informed as to how it all goes.

Cheers Falcon, I'm looking forward to seeing if it holds too. Will be a learning experience to say the least.
 
Just dropped it off to the tuner then. A mad rush to replace the fuel filter as pressure was topping out as ~25psi and a quick adjustment of the new FPR and we're sitting pretty at around 50psi.
It explains why the first startup made it sound like a lump, and the enrichment tables were over the top at 60% fuel at idle... no fuel pressure will do that.
Ran terribly when loading and unloading from the trailer, but 60% fuel at 50psi will do that... Plugs are probably fouled to buggery too. 
 
ETA sometime between tomorrow and next week for the complete car. 
Still a heap of kinks to iron out yet, but keen to see how much power it lays down! I'll be happy with anything over the 200rwkw mark, but if I'm lucky, it might push 220.
 
Regardless of the result, I'm still calling it a win that it made it to the tuner in the first place.
This car hasn't seen a single mechanic in the time I've owned it, aside from the long-block assembly 2-odd years ago, and it's running and kind of driving purely through backyard mechanic work. It's been a hell of a learning curve!
 
Hopefully, the only thing left to do after this is tidy it up and properly drive it for the first time in about 2.5 years...

Because I jinxed myself, here's an update once again.
 
Went to the dyno, there were a couple of minor issues to get it running properly.
 
 Got a call today, the worst has been realised. it drops fuel pressure after 3k rpm.
Either the pump is on its way out, or the filter sock is clogged to hell.
Either way, tank needs to come out.
Picked up a Walbro 255 to replace the stock pump, will be redoing the wiring and upgrading the feed line to the filter to a new line which will tolerate e85 down the track (future proofing yo).
 
ECT's are also shooting up when idling, looks like there's a clog in the cooling system. after dropping the coolant, I can see why. Got pretty manky in there.
 
Anyone got a spare ally rad i could pilfer? may as well upgrade while we're there!
 
 
Engine has already been dropped out (making a fine art of removing 3S's these days), thinking of doing the oil and water pumps while its out, the oil pump was rebuilt, but thinking of going 5S pump instead.. Any suggestions for or against doing that? Water pump is in unknown condition, so might be best to do that too...
 
The other 3 engine mounts are in similar condition as the rear mount, so might as well sort them out too. See if i can make more mounts like the rear.
 
Either way, it's going to be a while longer before it's on the road. I've run out of funds, so my bank account needs to recover before the build can continue

SW20 has a common problem of bad electrical connection to the pump. The connection in the cabin under the centre console can be a big voltage drop which will affect the flow rate of the pump. I highly recommend that you fully rewire the pump circuit.

Yeah, that was also recommended by the tuner.

the engine loom is going to be redone while it’s getting sorted too. I’m happy that it works, but it looks like a dogs breakfast, so that’ll get sorted and I’ll actually record the function and location of every wire so it doesn’t get too confusing later if I need to diagnose something

You might need some of this?

I've used that stuff a few times. Works just as described. But quite expensive.

Consider looking at the modern Walbro 430 fuel pump which was designed with E85 in mind.

So the last 6 weeks has been pretty busy.
 
The engine came out, new oil and water pumps ordered and installed (went 5S oil pump, using stock 3S Pulley), and have done various other bits and pieces which I'll delve into a bit more detail below:
 

 
New location for the charge cooler water pump. This is using the original air-con expansion chamber mount and a custom bracket (read: 25mm box section + angle grinder). This is nice and out of the way and will keep all water carrying lines out of the frunk minus the stock coolant lines.
 
Routing the lines themselves is the next task, I'll work that out soon.
 
New Radiator.
2 core ally, ebay special, $190 including a couple of tiny termofans.
Once the car's running, I'll test out the temps and work out if it's worth making a shroud for it or not

Here it is mounted to the car.
despite being an "SW20 Radiator" it didn't quiiiiite bolt right up. The OEM mounting brackets up top had a bit of a gap, so a bit of cut up silicone joiner padded that out and it fits nicely.
The black squares are the mounting kit for the fans, and will be hidden by the charge cooling heat exchanger once I remount that.
 
 
The engine loom wiring left a lot to be desired. I've developed a process that seems to work for me though.
1. Come up with an idea
2. Make it happen
3. Once it works, make it look good.
 
I have applied this logic to the boot.
 
New fuse box incoming!

 
This wiring is as of today, I finished it about 20 mins before writing this post. The box is clearly far too large, but it's allowing for expansion should I need it down the track.
 
I also had the GENIUS idea of writing down what each wire does as I went this time, so I could actually tell you the function of each one without guessing!
 

ECU has finally been mounted to the firewall as well, to stop it flapping about. When I do the new loom, I'll run the MAP line with the wiring to keep it tidy as well, and ensure it's protected from the elements as well.
 
Lastly, the fuel tank came out. This is obviously necessary as per my previous post, the fuel pump had had it.
 
Turns out it looks like it was the original pump from 1992! Definitely needed to be replaced.
In went a Walbro 255lph e85 compatible pump.
It took an extra 2 weeks to get the tank in as I have also replaced every single soft line not easily accessible with the engine in the car with hose that'll handle ethanol as I REALLY don't want to drop the tank out again.
 
when the tank went back in, I noticed a coolant leak...

 
I'm hoping that these cracking and leaking doesn't become a tradition for my MR2's as it's the 2nd time I've had to do this on one of my cars.
$40 later at the nearest local radiator shop, they were both checked over, one small crack was found and repaired, and every single mount reinforced so I never have to pull them out again.
 

 
Lastly for this chapter, not a particularly exciting photo, but this is the feed line from the fuel tank to the fuel filter.
I spent AGES finding a fitting the same thread pitch as the OEM male line (M14X1.5 fyi), and ordered an adapter from that in female to a male -6AN fitting. Only to find that it didn't fit, and that the -6AN female fit perfectly.
This isn't a guaranteed seal, so stay tuned to watch me drop the heat shields to remove this line because it leaks or something...
 
More photos to come shortly
 
 
 

As previously mentioned, the engine came out as well.
 

 
Everything came off, I found myself in possession of a few new tools as part of the process, as usual...
 
Water pump was gross, and binned immediately.
Oil pump was in good condition, but leaking, so new one while it's out, may as well upgrade! It was rebuilt with the short block build, but leaked oil immediately, although I'm not 100% sure of that was the builder not tensioning it up or not. Doesn't matter. It went in the bin, too.
 
5S oil pump with 3S pulley went in.
On a side note, the 5S pump requires a small amount of modification to fit, in that the timing belt fouls on a small protrusion on the pumps surface. A die grinder will fix it, but if you don't have one, there's a few ways to remove it...
 
From memory, this will yield something like 15-20% more oil over factory. Which is very considerable!
Correct me of I'm wrong, though. I've made mistakes this like before
 

 
While everything was off, it was worth taking some time to make my engine actually look good!
 
Some masking off and wrinkle paint and this is the result.
 
Turned out pretty good!
 
 
Timing cover and intake manifold also got a few coats, to make it look the part

 

 
And here it is, back together again and ready to go in. Looking much nicer than it did before.
Hopefully it'll be functional too!
 

 
Lastly, here's the engine in the car. It went in yesterday and is hanging by 2 mounts for now.
There's plenty to do while it's in this state, so I won't be chucking the subframe and front mounts on yet.
 
Lets see how much progress we can get over Christmas. The new engine loom is going to become a priority soon, but with limited funds, it may just have to wait until the new year.
 
Either way, it's good to have the engine where it belongs and not taking up space in my tiny garage!