To all the Tuning Gods - HELP

[Kezza_2Turbo]

Hey all,

I wish to ask a favour of all you tuning gods out there who have made masterpieces of your MR2's

I have just bought my second REV1 Tubby, which is completely standard (apart from wheels) and I want to start work on it!!

What I would like is if someone could give me a guideline as WHERE I SHOULD START!!! as there seems to be so much you can do.

I want to increase the performance, as well as improve the suspension.

Thanks in advance!!

K

[paul_h]

hold your horses fella,


first you need to set yourself a budget and decide what sort of power / performance level your looking at

you can spend anything from £50 on a boost upgrade to a fully built engine costing £*000's like a couple of us nutters on here.


figure out what you got to spend then give us all a shout


paul

[Kezza_2Turbo]

Sorry for that!!

Well I have about £1500 disposable income (spare) per month, and a very high priced girlfriend/social life so I would say Mid-Range tuning.

I dont want to go to extreme and get fensport to build me a race tuned engine or anything like that. In the long term I will go for a REV 3 swap anyway so its more interim stuff, like intercooler, turbo, injectors etc

Cheers
K

[Bry]

For a start get the suspension and brakes sorted,you could just upgrade to rev 2/3 spec (I have my old rev 4 antiroll bars and bushes you can have)or you could replace them with performance parts.IMHO putting decent suspension on a mk2 MR2 is the first thing you should do if you're planning on upping it's power level.Even if you dont up the power,having uprated suspension makes the car so much more fun to drive
Bry

[Kezza_2Turbo]

Hi there,

That seems like a good idea, I have literally just changed the front pads and discs which cost a small fortune so don't really want to change them again just yet as i really like how they are working at the moment, if I went for a brake change I would probably look at a big brake conversion with 4/6pots.

I will look into the antiroll bars and bushes though!!

[jonno]

With that kind of money to spare I would start as you mean to go on. Keep you spare cash for a couple of months and throw the engine at a decent rebuilder, get some forged pistons, cams, valve springs, headgasket, mild port and polish on the head and balance the crank. Get an uprated clutch and lightened flywheel fitted whilst you have the engine out - pick one that is just larger than you need - dont go mad!

Run the engine in on stock turbo etc, make sure everything is cushty before going any further.

Upgrade the suspension, coilovers if you must, i can recommend Koni/Eibach on rev1 struts with TRD anti roll bars (if you can get them!).

Upgrade the brakes, be careful since you will probably need new wheels here too, just big enough to go over your chosen brakes - never run 18's on an MR2 under any circumstances!. Try and increase the rear brakes as well, HiSpec do some cheap alternatives to Brembo and AP - AP are the daddies but they cost and they dont offer anything for the rear!.

Now go back to the engine, pick a turbo and intercooler/chargecooler package that will give you the power you want. The turbo is responsible for 90% of your power, pick one that is "just big enough" dont be tempted to go overboard!. Chargecoolers are better than Intercoolers but it really depends on your choice of turbo - upto ~380bhp an aftermarket IC/CC in the stock location will do the trick - much more than that and you need something bigger, maybe boot mount. Depending on your choice of turbo you may need to do some custom fabrication of air inlet, exhaust manifold and downpipe - Fensport have pushed the stock cast manifold over 500bhp and its pretty reliable - doesnt look as nice as a tubular manifold though

To manage your new turbo you will need a standalone ECU and some better fuelling. ECU's are available from everyman and his dog these days - forget them all and buy an Motec M400 (biased?!) - more than 300bhp on a rev1 and fuelling is an issue - you will need bigger injectors, fuel rail, fuel pump and a 3 bar map sensor from GM. Wallbro 255l/hr pumps are the way forward, pick injectors that are big enough to hit your power target at about 80% duty cycle - dont go mental with 1600cc injectors, it will be difficult to map and the idle will be terrible. 850's are a good size and will flow upto 500bhp.

Now the mapping stage, it takes ages and its a PITA - however long people tell you it will take trebble it and you will probably still be short!. No matter how many decent components you throw at your engine the final result is still in the hands of your engine mapper, use the best you can afford.

In reality all of that will take 18 months and I have almost certainly missed something important!. Its a scary ride as anybody who has done it will tell you, but its also very rewarding.

Of course you could just buy a unichip and boost module and some cheap coilovers from ebay

[Bry]

[quote="Kezza_2Turbo"]Sorry for that!!

Well I have about £1500 disposable income (spare) per month, and a very high priced girlfriend/social life so I would say Mid-Range tuning.

You could always save your £1500 every month for a year and go out and buy a car all ready modded

[ryan_s3]

Sounds like you want a basic tune to me.
1.)Exhaust and decat-mongoose is good(and cheap) or blitz nur
2)air filter(apexi)
3.)Boost controller(hks is good)
4.)unichip or e-manage or power fc(all these can raise stock boost levels in some form but some people like a seperate controller) Mapped by someone decent.
That should be pretty fast at this point,next mods improve cooling to maintain power and avoid detonation.
5.)uprated ic
6.)water injection
If you can afford steps 5 and 6 before step 4 these can be mapped in when tuned .
The standard clutch can cope if not previously abused(then replace) and make sure your ignition coponents are in good order
this should see 280ish on a rev 1 or 320ish on a rev 3.

[KiwiMR2]

In the long term I will go for a REV 3 swap anyway so its more interim stuff, like intercooler, turbo, injectors etc

Cheers
K

So save your $$!! get some new plugs, leads, & dizzy etc. Get an fcd & mbc, turn the boost up to 15 psi, hunt for some CHEAP lowering springs & throw them in. Then focus on the body & rims.....get it looking mint. I wouldn't waste ANY serious cash on doing up an engine that is just gonna be swapped out.

Cheers
KiwiMR2

[tony2311]

If you have 1500 spare it it only takes 4 months to buy a top condition rev 3, why put your money on a rev1 to rev 3 conversion
or sell your rev1 for £2500 and 2 months spare cash will buy you a good condition rev3 why brother messing with conversions and bigger brakes?

[Kezza_2Turbo]

Hey all

Thanks for all the great suggestions!!!

The main reasons I haven't gone straight for a Rev 3 is insurance!!!! being only 23 mines a killer!!

Adrian Flux do a specialist "modded" insurance service and its cheaper to mod a rev 1 and insure it than it is to have a standard rev 3 - go figure!!

Thanks muchly for all the feeback though - has been greatly appreciated!!

[JAP BOY]

how much will fensport cahrge for bulding an engiine