CrewDawg15

A few months ago, Thomas LB808 Labanon bought a couple of Toyota 22RE engine kits from me.  He was happy with the purchase, and asked what other engines I cast.  I have a few completed scratchbuilt engines in my collection, and names them off.  He wanted one of my Toyota 2T-C engines, but unfortunately, my molds were old and tired.  He told me to hit him back up when I had some new molds made, and was ready to start casting.

Fast forward a few months, and I have my resin, and silicone, but after looking at my master, I saw a few details that I could improve on.  So instead of immersing the parts in silicone, I decided to rework a few things.  Then, after a few more days, I decided to finish what I started, and fab up the complete (...well, almost complete) Toyota "T" series engine line-up.  This time, I would work backwards and start off with Toyota's final street incarnation...the 3T-GTE turbo engine.  This engine powered the early 1980's Toyota Celica's to victory on the European ralley circuit, and was also the base for Toyota's TRD 4T-GTE engine that powered all of Toyota's group/formula cars in the early 1980's before being replaced by the 503E engine.

Here's a recap of the fab process of the 2/3T-C engine:




I started it all off by mastering three head blanks...one for each major version the the twin cam engines:



Next, I fabbed up two different valve cover blanks to represent what I need to make all of the engine versions:



Toyota used the same basic block for all of these engines, so I'll be using my original block master as the base, and making subtle changes to the cast copies for my new masters...why re-invent the wheel, f I have something that already works?

It's been a while since I've had a project on the table...of course packing everything up and moving to the other side of the world has played a role in that

As some of you guys that know me know that I'm not satisfied with a plain jane build.  I love converting curbside kits into almost full detailed models....especially Fujimi kits.  They are not the best on the market, but they make the subjects I like to build. By the time I get done with them, they are usually 20% Fujimi, and 80% Me...that's how I got the nickname FuJimmy.

A few months ago, I took my Fairlady roadster model to work to set up on my desk.  



A friend of mine was so impressed with the work that he asked me to replicate his own car...a Nissan 180SX.  He has a lot of plans for it and wants me to build it to look like it will be once he's all done with all the work.  I agreed, and ordered a Fujimi 180SX off of Amazon Japan (I do love being back over here )

I then got started on the engine...Nissan's very popular SR20DET.  I decided to make my own since I only have two choices when it comes to the scale versions:  Aoshima's top half SR20 from one of their Silva kits, or the Parts Box resin engine...IMO, both are horrible when it comes to accuracy and looks.  Plus, I needed another engine to add to my growing collection of scratch built Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Toyota engines  

Enough of my ramblings, and on to the progress so far:

Block:



Short block assembly:



...and how it fits so far in the car:




Still a lot more to do the short block assembly before I'm completely happy with it.  I'm just curently fabbing up the major components of the engine before adding in the final details.

Thanks for looking.

Jimmy