Josh's Rev 3 Turbo

[Ryan S]

That's good to hear. Mine is currently terrible. Had wheel wobble under braking for ages. Split new discs (supra discs), Refurbed 200sx calipers and new pads. Wobble still there so has to be something else.

Looking forward to your updates!

[JAAASH]

That's good to hear. Mine is currently terrible. Had wheel wobble under braking for ages. Split new discs (supra discs), Refurbed 200sx calipers and new pads. Wobble still there so has to be something else.

Looking forward to your updates!

Thanks man. Good luck sorting yours

[JAAASH]

Couple of little odd jobs sorted next.

Borrowed the old man's lift


Exhaust heat shield was looking tired and given that most of my time recently was spent underneath the car, it was bugging me.

Quick refresh and my OCD levels had calmed






Subframe will get similar treatment at some point in life.


Next up was a replacement air-con rad as mine was in bits and I wanted working air-con for the Le Mans trip.

Old a/c rad removed, revealing my nice new Mishimoto rad.


New a/c rad sprayed with the Mishimoto logo, because I'm a dork



Ice cold mountain passes, here we come!

[JAAASH]

Next up on my list was to re-visit the suspension.

Current setup is Bilstein B6 shocks (Yellow Billies), HKS lowering springs, Prothane polybush's all round and TRD anti-roll bars.

Whilst I was happy with it, there was room for improvement, so before shelling out for a full geo setup I decided to purchase a few extras.


Camber bolts all round


Roll centre adaptors to adjust the suspension arm geometry back to somewhere near stock.


Hardrace tension rods to allow caster adjustment up front.



With that lot fitted I booked myself into Center Gravity, well known wheel alignment, geometry and chassis tuning specialists dealing mainly with Porsche owners but will obviously cater for all types of enthusiast.

Just trying to blend in


Ready to go...


But, as is usually my luck. My rear shocks were found to be too soft when tested on one of their machines so we called it a day and ordered a brand new set on next day delivery.


Back home in the garage, ready for more spannering.



Corner weighting knowledge is something I'm very much lacking but whilst I was going away to fit the new shocks, Chris (the owner) asked me if I could make some 1mm shims to sit under the rear right spring.
With the engine in the mr2 being positioned to the right side of the engine bay, that rear right corner is heaviest so we positioned 3 shims on that side to try to shift the weight over. That's about as technical as I can get and this was almost 4 years ago now so my memory is a little hazy

6x1mm shims made up using an old baking tray


3x1mm shims test fitted using the old shocks


All bolted up and back down to Center Gravity for round 2


Final measurements




Drive home felt fantastic. Car was totally transformed. Held the road really nicely and felt very controlled and predictable

[JAAASH]

Next up on the Le Mans 2016 prep list was stickers!

Came up with a plan. Ordered what I could online and spoke to a local decal guy for the rest.

Spent an entire weekend installing all of this lot.








Took her to a local show and the MR2 25th Anniversary meet the following couple of weekends.
Turned out pretty sweet in my opinion

[JAAASH]

- LE MANS 2016 -

Pic heavy update.

Absolutely unreal experience. Loved every second of it!


Waiting to board the ferry. 24 hour trip down to Santander



Boarded and essential liquids in hand



My co-pilot, Matty



Multiple shots of the journey through Spain, the Pyrenees and up through France



























Arrived at Le Mans!




Some bits from around the circuit. I failed to get any of the camp site. I think the excitement was too much to think about having the camera out at every moment.
















Being a tourist



Ventured out into the town to sample a few (potentially too many) locals beverages






The Race!






Videos - Oh the noise!

https://i.imgur.com/wIiOfI0.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/oy4QN5b.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/O934L80.mp4


Long drive home




Highly recommended trip.

Meandering up and down through the Pyrenees mountains was an experience I'll never forget. Definitely something I will be doing again at some point in life

[Equium Duo]

How was the MR2 as a GT car?

One fo the aims for mine to go for a fast GT car for cruising.

[JAAASH]

How was the MR2 as a GT car?

One fo the aims for mine to go for a fast GT car for cruising.

That's a very subjective question.

For me, I absolutely love it. My passenger also enjoyed the ride - even managed to nap However, I have had people in it for much shorter journey's and they've complained about how harsh the ride is, how uncomfortable the bucket seats are, how much vibration they feel, how loud the exhaust is, blah blah blah.

It's far from a standard feeling mr2; it's lowered and using firmer dampers than oem, poly-bushed suspension all round, multiple strut braces, thicker arb's, fairly aggressive (for a road car) alignment setup, poly-bushed engine mounts and and engine to chassis brace. All making for quite a raw drive.


It's all down to personal preference really. Probably not suited for cruising with the direction I've taken, but not once have I ever been uncomfortable in mine - Too busy enjoying the drive

[ashley]

You still got this piece of crap?! Thought you'd moved onto newer things.

Good stuff!!

[JAAASH]

You still got this piece of crap?! Thought you'd moved onto newer things.

Good stuff!!

Indeed, for my sins.
I could never get rid. I get giddy every time I drive it

Haven't really touched it since the back end of 2018 due to purchasing my first house, but there's a fair few updates still left to document here before that point.

How's yours? Haven't seen any updates on your fb/website for a good while now.

[ashley]

Mines safely tucked up in the garage still, got some new parts on the shelves awaiting some time...but been more focused on our daughter recently.

Thinking of making the drive out to LeMans next year for the hypercar racing (assuming it still happens)...

[JAAASH]

Mines safely tucked up in the garage still, got some new parts on the shelves awaiting some time...but been more focused on our daughter recently.

Thinking of making the drive out to LeMans next year for the hypercar racing (assuming it still happens)...

I'd love to. Unfortunately, the majority of my funds and time are being put into the house so I doubt I'll be doing anything car/holiday related for a while

[JAAASH]

I enjoyed the car as it was for another year before really tinkering with it again.

During the Le Mans trip it became apparent that my intercooler was at it limits and the water/meth system was playing up so the ECU stepped in and cut power on a few of the uphill blasts.

So fast forward to around July 2017. I'd slowly started collecting parts for the next round of upgrades.
I'd decided I didn't want to have to rely on the w/m anymore and having seen Ashley's chargecooler setup work so well (as well as him badgering me to go down that route), I decided I was going to ditch my intercooler for a chargecooler.

I purchased one from ebay, but almost immediately returned it. It weighed an absolute ton and in my opinion just didn't look like a quality bit of kit.




I started looking around for better options and some of the prices were eye-watering

Eventually, I stumbled across a bare core from Garrett - good for 750bhp which was plenty for my circa 400bhp goals and cost about a third of the price of the 'ready-to-go' ones. Little bit of research time later and I decided to buy it and that I'd fabricate my own end tanks around it

Garrett core measuring 11.7x3.8x3.8"



I set about designing what I wanted to achieve and drew it up in cad (totally not necessary but there we go )

Air in/out tanks


Water in/out tanks



Purchased a sheet of 3mm aluminium, based on a recommendation from my welder, though if I were ever to do something like this again I'd go with 2mm thickness. It would still be plenty strong enough, lighter and a whole lot easier to cut and form.

Marked out and ready to cut



Progress





Clamped up in a mini sheet metal bender I nabbed on ebay


3mm alu exceeded the strength of the handles


Makeshift handles using an adjustable spanner and some mole grips worked a treat


Starting to take shape. 2.5" inlet, 3" outlet


All completed and ready to weld


Back from my welder. Couldn't be happier

[ashley]

Proper job- I forgot how nice a job you did on that: lovely!

[JAAASH]

Proper job- I forgot how nice a job you did on that: lovely!

Thanks mate - Very much appreciated

[JAAASH]

With the recent forum revival from our imoc gurus, I feel it's about time I made an effort to get this thread up to date Or at least make a start!


This all took place around December 2017 to March 2018 so my memory of it all is a little hazy.
Whilst switching to a chargecooled set-up I decided to do a wire tuck at the same time, along with various other changes. Safe to say, the car wasn't going to be moving anywhere for a good while.

I started by acquiring some shiny new parts:

Racer X side feed inlet manifold


RMR throttle body


Racer X lightweight alternator bracket


PTP turbo blanket


AVT 23" x 8" Alloy Chargecooler Twin Pass Radiator


401 FC Rule Livewell Pump


+ associated 3/4" fittings and hoses for the chargecooler install.

[JAAASH]

Rad mocked into place, brackets made and final mounted


Pump mounted


Inlet manifold mounted and chargecooler mocked into place

[JAAASH]

Wiring loom was removed at this point


As part of the wire tuck I moved the fuse box into the boot, along with the fuel pressure regulator, fuel pressure gauge, map sensor and a/c idle up valve.

Started by making brackets to mount everything;

Fuesbox bracket





fpr, etc bracket

[Magic Beans]

Josh! Good to see you still have the MR2. Always been a handsome car so it's good to see it's still being invested it

[JAAASH]

Josh! Good to see you still have the MR2. Always been a handsome car so it's good to see it's still being invested it

Cheers Phil. These updates are about 3 years overdue

The car has been tucked away in the garage since a house purchase - 100 year old house that needed A LOT of work! Double garage and plenty of parking though Hoping to get a chance to tinker with it again next summer