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QUOTE (RavenAegis45 @ Aug 19, 2010 - 10:08 PM)

>Ummm hate to burst your bubble but from the look of that Intake Manifold, thats the so called Grey top BEAMS 3S-GE, which is more similar to the Red Top but i believe it has a different exhaust manifold and is detuned slightly? but it definitely doesn't look like a true Black Top

its ok my bubble remains intact

, its a blacktop alright, look at where the altenator would normally be, thats a water way from the head to the radiator, that part is different to the other beams, as is the oil drain at the other side of the head its in a slightly different position, and also no waterways at the gearbox side of the engine , the intake manifold is from a red top i've just painted it black.
Its basically a blacktop engine, redtop intake manifold/throttlebody, redtop oil pickup and baffle plate, and redtop sump. The timing belt tensioner has been swapped with a redtop tensioner aswell.

This was me mocking up the setup for the altenator as its tucked down the back of the block now, same position as the mr2, it can still be changed once the engine is in position it just takes a little longer. Excuse the mess it was an old barn i was working in and very hard to keep clean!

that was when the engine first went in, quite clearly a blacktop from these pictures, i had to swap the brake master cylinder for a gen 6 ss3 (actually the old one my old ss3!) in order for it to clear the vvti gear.

One of the things that makes this possible without creating a custom mount on the timing belt side is the gen 5 has a different engine mount there to the gen6, which would clash with the exhaust vvti gear, also i removed power steering and abs so i was able to route the water lines at that side of the engine bay.
Bonzai, i dont think there is that many, the only other blacktop st182 i know of is in germany, i know of a few mr2's though, but maybe there has been more since i last looked. Its not a lot of point in doing this over the redtop, but the blacktop has a lighter valvetrain intended to rev higher, and it makes a bit more power at higher revs, perfect for my track car, also blacktop engines are cheaper over here in the uk, so cost wise its not been any different to convert the blacktop with some redtop parts, as it would be to buying in a redtop. Aftermarket ecu was always part of the plan aswell. The blacktop should yeild a little extra power and revs and hopefully be worth the extra work.
At the moment the engine is in and running, but it needs the fueling sorted, also the blacktop throttlebody being drive by wire is a pain, and isnt working right, not sure if it needs to talk to the vsc/trc ecu that would normally be in an altezza, i've given up on it for justnow, and will be using an adaptronic ecu and binning the altezza ecu, will be using the redtop throttle body.
Havent done anything of late Rusty, its been in storage for a couple months now at a freinds lockup, and probably will be for a couple more, i'm currently looking for a new place, i've got my new wiring loom to be doing meantime. But damn i need this thing on the road

I got to drive it onto the back of a trailer though