The gearbox replacement happened in under 2 weeks, so I've been back on the road enjoying the car again.
 
My ABS light came on while driving for the first time ever, on the way to the MR2 meet last week. I checked the ABS fault codes and it said that my right-rear ABS speed sensor was open-circuit. I had a look and found that the wires were broken near the sensor, and had been repaired by someone in the past but I never noticed before so I don't know when that happened. Anyway, I got a replacement sensor from Josh at MR2 Wreckers Australia and after installing it the ABS light went away.
 
Also, for the last few years my immobiliser has been pissing me off big time, with it sometimes working perfectly and other times being very intermittent, ie. not always responding to the remote. I finally decided to order a replacement remote from Mongoose (I was reluctant because of the ridiculous price that they charge), just to confirm if the remote is the problem or if it's something wrong with the unit in the car or the wiring. Well, it seems that the new remote has completely solved the problem! I'm so happy to have that really annoying little problem solved after all this time.

In my spare time I've been working on an Android app just for fun, and I'm pretty chuffed with the progress I've made on it. It's a cut-down version of the Windows tuning software for the Adaptronic e1280s ECU.

For those of you who don't know, I was a development engineer at Adaptronic back when the e1280s was their top-of-the line ECU, and I spent a great deal of time working on it myself at the time, so I have all the background knowledge needed to implement some pretty tricky stuff in the app. I still have an e1280s ECU in my MR2 about 8 years later, because it does everything I could ever need and more, plus it holds a place in my heart due to my contribution in developing it.

The Android app that I've just made, allows my phone to communicate directly with my ECU via a USB cable.
I can see all of the real-time live data from the ECU, and I can make real-time changes to most of the settings in the ECU, including 2D and 3D maps, which have proper graphical rendering too.

I rarely have my laptop with me in the car, but I always have my phone, so it will be awesome to be able to check or modify things in the ECU by simply connecting my phone to it!

Maybe I'll get some photos and/or videos of the app later.

That's awesome. I've wanted a windows tablet in mine to connect to a haltech but this is far more convenient. Good work.

Can you not download the haltech software onto a windows phone? I use my tablet with my haltech but I do agree a phone would be much more convient on the go.

Windows phone runs Windows 10 Mobile operating system which cannot run x86 apps.

Ahh right so tablet is about as good as you can get aside from Robs hella-cool app?

Time for an update. Unfortunately it's not a good one!
 
While I was at the MR2 Wakefield Park Challenge last week, I was experiencing some strange problems that I couldn't figure out. Also, one of the times that I was accelerating up the back straight, I thought I heard the sound of the engine suddenly change slightly (around the peak torque point), but I thought I was imagining it. However, on the drive back to Sydney I became more convinced that the engine wasn't sounding quite right. It didn't sound horrible, just a bit more 'groany' than normal at mid-to-high revs.
 
Well, as it turns out, some of my main caps have failed/cracked. They're the stock cast items.
This is the first internal failure of the engine in the ~7 years since it was first rebuilt, so it's had a very good innings considering the abuse that I've put it through. The failure still suuuucks because I have less disposable income these days and it's going to be a very expensive fix. I knew it was only a matter of time haha.
 
The main caps may be very simple items, which are easily accessible with the sump removed, but the worst part of this situation is that the whole engine has to be removed and the block stripped down to properly line/align bore/hone the block and the replacement main caps.
 
So, to make the most of the labour required, I'm finally going to do a 5S-GTE conversion. I'll probably keep the same turbo and see how much the response improves with an extra 10% engine capacity. I need to track down a 5S block and crank ASAP to get the ball rolling. I could buy a brand new 5S crank from Toyota, but I'll only do that if I can't find a good used one.
 
Before anyone brings it up, no I'm not going to do a V6 swap or K24 swap. They're both fantastic options, but I've been very happy with the 3S-GTE and I'll be even happier with a 5S-GTE. Cost is also a major factor.

Damn man, condolences thats terrible news. Especially if income doesn't match the problem. Glad that you're looking up and already have a plan for this. Sad that this means it'll be off the road for some time. Also we can be so thankful that you've had this car with that power for the amount of time that it has been reliable. These things happen with large power I guess. At least you can recycle some of the parts like the turbo and engine management etc. Looking forward to the progress you make. 
 
Also 2GR swap :p 

Just some food for though, depending on the extent of the damage to your motor (usually main cap failure is catastrophic), have you considered just rebuilding with some pro gram billet main caps, and maybe a block girdle? Main caps arent any stronger in a 5s block. I believe someone used to make a decent block girdle for the 3s block too.

Building a 5sfe shortblock to handle your power, and the extra little headaches along the way (flywheel etc) will really start to add up.

Surely lochy would have a spare bomb proof short block kicking round you could buy off him....

Rob my stroker 3S used a block girdle made by a company called VMAX. I bought it from Twosrus for about $500 from memory but was a long time ago now.
 
I've heard that motor is still going strong after multiple owners giving it a hard time at 320rwKWs