Mk2 2gr supercharged

[HighwayStar]

That's looking great, loving the rev1 lights outboard and the diffuser blends beautifully.

I think you're right on the plate location but would love to see images of both options… I kept mine between the lights for a yr or so then switched back.

R

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks!

I have a decision to make on the sideskirt/engine bay vent area, wether or not to remove or keep the centre spar on the vent.

I am favouring removing it as it looks cleaner and works better with the door "flute".

Some examples with and without the spar below, opinions please?

[raptor95GTS]

defo liking the flush look with the rear lights (much improved over std imho) and the rev1/2 units look well matched

[aussieGT]

From those examples I say definately with the centre spar, it just looks a bit too 'kit car' or the dreaded veilside without it.

[C35Rob]

From those examples I say definately with the centre spar, it just looks a bit too 'kit car' or the dreaded veilside without it.

agreed, definitely with, strangely, since every other skirt/kit combo looks much better without

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks for the feedback chaps, opinions seem totally split 50/50 with everyone i've asked about the centre spar.... i'm still thinking better without it, i need a sideskirt referendum!!!!

[HighwayStar]

NOOOOO! This is Britain you'll just end up with a 50/50 draw.

I'm for keeping them too…. it's tempting to want change but in this case you're adding lots of details (with roof spoilers etc) then taking one detail away...

If the car came as standard without the spar but there was an aftermarket panel with the spar we'd all be queing up to buy it….. It just looks as if it belongs to the car more.

Just my opinion.

[craig]

Coming on great Paul. You leaving the Rev 2 lights on or just using them for jigging up and putting the Rev 3s back on?

Looks great with the Rev 2 lights on.

[PW@Woodsport]

It does look good with the Rev1/2 lights, but i am using them just for mock up, there will be a set of JDM Rev3 lights going on i think, but as with everything on this car i will probably change my mind ten times!

[markstevieandmads]

I'm not normally a fan of the earlier rear lights but they tend to suit this kit very well and look better imo.
I'd also go no centre in the side skirts. Seems to work better with the kit.

[HighwayStar]

Personally I think there's absolutely no doubt that aesthetically the rev1/2 lights work better.... miles and miles better in fact. Just compare your mock up from the last page to the those images you've just posted with rev3 units.

Others of course may disagree but that's only because they're wrong!

[craig]

Personally I think there's absolutely no doubt that aesthetically the rev1/2 lights work better.... miles and miles better in fact. Just compare your mock up from the last page to the those images you've just posted with rev3 units.

Others of course may disagree but that's only because they're wrong!

Rob, I do love your dedication to flying the rev 1 flag!!

oh, and leave the center bar in the side vents. Loads better

[HighwayStar]

Great minds think alike Craig!

Starting with a clear paper to design with mean Mr T got it all pretty much spot on at the beginning…. save for the brakes. Oh those rev1 brakes! As for looks though…. rev1 spoiler and lights every time.

[PW@Woodsport]

Thankyou for the feedback chaps

Today the panel gaps and levels got sorted around the front end, it's a personal bugbear of mine when i see a car with horrible gaps between panels or panels that overlap etc, for me the whole secret to getting a car to look factory fitted is to spend a lot of time on the gaps and levels. After several painstaking hours of adjusting, filling, and in some spots cutting the gap true i now have this....



The gaps around the lights and bonnet edges are now perfect to within 1mm, normally when i see someones effort at a TRD kit the gaps are all over the place.

Another area i needed to address, was the headlight covers, their profile and level to the wings/bumper were awful. If i may explain, normal Mk2 wings are rounded and start to curve away at the bonnet edge almost immediately, this curve actually starts in the edge of the headlight cover. Now when you fit a TRD kit which has a flatter top edge to it the headlight covers no longer flow into the wing, instead they dive down behind it.

There are a few possible explanations....

1. I have a terrible kit and the OEM TRD panels normally sit below the headlight level.
2. There is an actual difference in TRD headlight covers that nobody has picked up on before and they redesigned them to have the correct contour.
3. It's a problem on OEM TRD cars too which is just not noticed or addressed.

Either way there was no chance i was leaving this detail unchecked, so both headlight covers have been reprofiled on their edges to flow into the wings and bumper properly.



OSR quarter blend almost finished, the guide coat rubs off almost uniformally each time now, just a few areas to stopper paste before the high build goes on. I have also decided to blend out the join between the skirt and quarter, but leave the joins between bumper and wings, it looks much cleaner this way and because i am blending out the door bump strips it doesn't leave a line going nowhere as it hits the door. The plan is to have this very clean bodied, no bump strips and as uncluttered as possible.



Blend out progress on the wing to skirt area, still needs a bit more work before i am happy, you can also see how much attention the NSF wing has needed where it meets the bonnet, i put that down to a poor kit molding.



NS is a lot further on than the OS....



I have rectified the slanted panel under the fuel filler cap area, that is now perfectly straight, the fuel cap itself still needs levelling and of course mm perfect gapping.

I have even filled the bonnet edge a little to get the levels perfect, all of this attention to detail at this stage should result in a car that is visually flawless.



I am keeping the spar in the sideskirt now, but still haven't made a decision on the rear spoiler, which is looking like either...

1. TRD
2. None
3. Rev1/2 spoiler modified into a widebody style
4. Ducktail

In unrelated mechanical news, i am now retro fitting the Evora ABS module and pump instead of the Mr2 ABS system, this along with the SAS and YAW modules from the Evora will not only give me full sport mode functionality, but as an added bonus i will instantly gain factory Lotus traction control, which controls slip via the brakes instead of cutting fuelling/spark etc.... this really is turning into an Evora in Mr2 clothes.

[2mad]

this really is turning into an Evora in Mr2 clothes.

Yeah man

[HighwayStar]

Looking good, it's coming along very nicely indeed.

Having just gone back and looked at the previous page and the images of the car from the rear and 3/4s I have another spoiler suggestion for your list. A bit left field maybe but I think just the smaller Toms spoiler would look good on that rump.

[HighwayStar]

Looking good, it's coming along very nicely indeed.

Having just gone back and looked at the previous page and the images of the car from the rear and 3/4s I have another spoiler suggestion for your list. A bit left field maybe but I think just the smaller Toms spoiler would look good on that rump.

[PW@Woodsport]

Thanks, I looked at the Toms following your suggestion but I don't think the curved blade works on this car, other than that it looks great.

I tried an Autopista which surprisingly works very well...



Also got my fuel flap door assembly perfected using a "push to release" catch, still needs cosmetic finishing inside but happy with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hmRnoDg74U

[2mad]

1 Vote for big gay wing

[PW@Woodsport]

So, a little time spent at the weekend taking the spoiler design a bit further, because the AP is going on a TRD it needs to mount a few inches further back on the bootlid, the bootlid extension makes mounting it in the stock location look silly with a massive overhang of boot behind the spoiler.... i can't have that.

So i detached the Rev1 lower mounting piece and mounted it back where it needed to go, then sketched out the new front edge where it meets the swage line on the boot, now i could have saved myself a ton of work and simply ignored the front edge not aligning with the boot swage, balls to that.



The area built up with its first skim of bridging filler.



Work also started on the new design for the Rev1 winglets, the stock ones didn't work very well with the AP wing, i didn't like the concave AP side part flowing into a convex Rev1 winglet, it needs to have the same contour. They are also too long and extend up the quarter panel too far, i want the winglets to look like part of the spoiler, not add ons.

This of course is totally bespoke stuff and takes time, so i took a Rev1 winglet (no idea what their real name is, but that's what i'm calling them) , cut it down to an approximate size, removed the convex outer skin, and splayed the front part out, so it's now wider at the front than it was before, much more in keeping with the beefed up TRD style.

Two metal brackets were screwed temporarily into the winglets with M6 bolts securing them into the quarter panel, i then mixed up a new base for the winglet that encaptured the mounting brackets for good. The outer face now needs a new profile and i'm still debating the final shape of the front edge (hence the pen lines)

Hopefully this new design is much more suitable and works better with the TRD......we shall see.