Just out of curiosity, why didn't you go with the factory (turbo) E153 5 speed box? Would of bolted straight in using 3 of the 4 factory mounts and obviously bolted straight up to the hubs/driveshafts and shifter cables.
They are bulletproof but heavy I think compared to a Honda box.

Mrskylighter
Just out of curiosity, why didn't you go with the factory (turbo) E153 5 speed box? Would of bolted straight in using 3 of the 4 factory mounts and obviously bolted straight up to the hubs/driveshafts and shifter cables.
They are bulletproof but heavy I think compared to a Honda box.

We have thought of it but we have so much more aftermarket support and alot more ratios to play with for the Honda K-series gearbox. 

Would the turbo gearbox just straight fit into this chassis? Does it reuse the same shifter linkage?

You can reuse the shift cables, but your better off with the turbo shift linkages. Your better off with the honda box for drag racing, e153 boxes are strong, but a bit slow on the shift, with a really old school synchro design. Also you will be saving at least 10kg by using the honda box over the turbo mr2 gearbox, so that plus the k20 over the 3s puts you 50kg up.

Your not going to run a sidewinder styled manifold then im guessing?

You going to run it on a haltech or hondata?

Very interesting.   Yes turbo box slides straight in with 3 of the mounts bolting right up. Will need turbo shift cables too.  Just slightly different length.
Hard to tell in your photos but it appears as though your axle is approx. 40 - 50 mm. too low which will cause grief as the CV joint WILL foul the cross member.
Fully agree about choice of ratios.   Turbo boxes are 4.285 final drive.  Significant gap between 2nd and 3rd.

To run the Honda K-series box, ill be changing to the MR2 spyder shifter linkage and shifter box. Im on the hunt for one, so if anyone has one or know someone, please let me know
 
Additional Innovative shifter kit adaptor is also require to run the MR2 spyder shifter cables to the Honda K-series gearbox. 
We havent looked further at the shaft lengths or angles yet. I reckon it will work out fine. Will report back when i have it back on the hoist 

We will be making a custom turbo manifold. We might do a top mount set-up. Will discuss options with the fabricator in the next 2 weeks
 
We will be using the KTUNER ECU. Similar functions to the Hondata. Being a distributor for both, KTUNER has come on board for this project with their newly release end user 2 ECU. For anyone interested, jump onto KTUNER website

Awesome! I was sooo close to going in this direction for my car. If the 2GR half cut hadn't have popped up this would have been my build. K24 NA for a circuit car would be a killer.
 
Honda gear ratios are definitely better. 8500 rpm won't play well with the E153 long gearing. Will be interesting to see how the Honda box holds up with big torque/hp in a mid engine layout. Using a standard box or are you rebuilding with stronger gears?
 

Adrian
 
Honda gear ratios are definitely better. 8500 rpm won't play well with the E153 long gearing. Will be interesting to see how the Honda box holds up with big torque/hp in a mid engine layout. Using a standard box or are you rebuilding with stronger gears?
 

There is heaps of variety with the K-series gearbox. We have over 5 sets of different gear ratio sets to muck around with to get the desired gear ratio for any type of engine combination and application

N/A wise, the K-series box are strong enough to hold 200kw or so. We even run them in our Rotrex powered K24 set-ups holding 500hp at the wheels.

Given the purpose of this car, we had used helical aftermarket 1st and 2nd gear for longer ratio and OEM 3rd,4th and 5th from another honda varient to get the desired MPH

Build Update 15.2.2016

Progress on the project has been slow with other work priorities. I had some time to over the last few days to work on the shifter and driveshaft solution

Shifter
Alot of the guys in the US have been using the Toyota MR-S shifter box and cables with the innovative shift linkage adaptor. I found it quite hard to locate these MR-S shifter box and cables and we had a few issue with invetory delay with innovative, so one of my customer who is also building a mid rear engine set-up, suggested the mini copper shifter box.
 
Surely enough, he lend me his Mini cooper Shifter box and ive measure up the length needed for custom shifter cables to be made. I left this job to Conwire in Milperra and should have this back this week
 
Driveshaft
In terms of driveshaft, Driveshaft shop makes there level 5.9 range but its priced at $1899US. It will be a little over $3000 AUD to get it over here which is a quite substantial to the build cost. For the present time, i decided to measure the driveshaft length i need by using the Honda inner and Toyota MR2 outer

 
Our new corner weight machine arrived earlier in the week. I put the MR2 on the scale with the K-swap and it came in at 1035kg. This is without axle, exhaust system and fluids. In N/A form, i expect it to be sub 1100kg in street trim.



Being the Australian Distributor of GAB suspension, we will be fitting the GAB SS range to this project MR2 as well


I should have both the shifter and drive shaft solution in 2 weeks.


 

Hey Benny.
Interested as to how this is progressing .  Would love to see more photos.  Have you run up against any particular problems in the installation ?   Was a topmount turbo the best solution ?   Very impressed by the minimal initial weight figures.  I guess they will sneak up a bit as all the little bits go in.   Cheers.

Progress has been slow, well i havent touched the car for 3months. Workshop is very busy with customers car so this project has taken a back seat for the time being
 
However, since i posted last time, i just settle for Driveshaft shop Level 5.9 axle kit. Thats all fitted to the car now and should be good for 1000hp 
 
I got a few things to mount before it go to our trusted fabricator for top mount manifold, dump and cooler pipes. I plan on getting this project on the road in 2 months for some 1/2mile action and Nulon Round 4 (Cootamundra Airport) 

Ive also got my fibreglass bonnet, engine cover and rear boot to be fitted as well. That should balance out with the extra weight from the turbo set-up. I can confidently say it will be under 1100kgs (without driver) all said and done. 

The goal will be high 9's pass on this OEM motor before i build a new forged motor for it. Our customers project "RHONDA" recently went [link=mailto:10.7@132mph]10.7@132mph[/link] on 330kw on a K20A turbo. Quite impressive on street drag radials