Alex's Red Rev5 NA Fast Road/Track

[HughesR1]

Its about time I made a build thread on here. After much deliberation of which car to get as a cheap fun road and track toy it seems I had ended up back in an MR2! I bought her with some quite "distasteful" mods, but here is how she currently stands.







The Current Spec is:
rev5 NA 3SGE
TOMS C3 Evo 16x7 & 16x8 Staggered Wheels
Spax PSX Adjustable Dampers & Springs
EBC Greenstuff Pads
EBC Drilled & Grooved Discs
Mongoose Backbox with Decat
EGR Blanked off

After having 4 previous MR2's, followed by various other stuff; Impreza WRX, Nissan 200sx, 330ci, Accord R... I was struggling to find anything worthy of replacing my Integra Type R DC2 which I run alongside a 986 Boxster. For me, the cheap purchase price along with cheap parts and reliability just makes the MR2 a no brainer. The NA Lacks alot of performance in almost every area when compared to my DC2 but it just feels a lot better build, and I never feel like its doing to chuck a valve straight through the bonnet!

It was a bit of a state when I purchased it (No offence previous owner), but it seemed well cared for and I know with a few small changes it would be an ideal toy. It already had the Spax Suspension and EBC brakes which have both done very few miles so it seemed like a good starting point.




I only had it home 5 minutes before I began ripping off the vinyl and started work with the trusty machine polisher. Followed by ripping out any glitsy bits inside. I'm much more a fan of the OEM look inside.



Sadly removing the last bit of vinyl from the bonnet I managed to rip off some paint, but a trip to Telford and £20 later I had a new red bonnet to fit. I also managed to get some Rev5 wheels from a friendly bloke in Willenhall (MR2Bitz I think?). Not bad for a days work!


This is how I intended to keep the car, but the lack of tyre choice available for OEM rear tyre sizes and the temptation of the TOMS 16" wheels ended up swaying me

[HughesR1]

The car also had some crazy custom exhaust from the manifold back. I'm not a fan of loud large exhausts and was also worried it would cause me some trouble with track noise limits. I picked up a Mongoose backbox but upon fitting it found that none of the flanges were in OEM positions




I couldn't be ar$ed with modifiying the exhaust so I ended up ripping out the full system, fitting the mongoose backbox with a new decat pipe and OEM rev5 front pipe. Much happier with the noise now and looks now! Also ended up making a few quid in the process which is nice

[aussieGT]

Nice work! God knows why PO thought the black wrap bonnet was tre cool.

[2barGee]

Nice motor i love a red MR2!!!

I don't think the EBC green stuff will last long on track mind, might be worth getting some more track related pads at the ready

[HughesR1]

Nice motor i love a red MR2!!!

I don't think the EBC green stuff will last long on track mind, might be worth getting some more track related pads at the ready

Cheers. And don't worry they're being replaced with Yellowstuff this week

[metallica fish]

Love the gold wheels

[HughesR1]

Realised I haven't updated this at all since I first started it ha! October last year I managed to do a trackday at Donington which is a circuit I've done many times but never in an MR2. I was genuinely surprised how well it did for a relatively stock low powered car on Toyo T1R tyres.

I'd fitted a set of Chris Wilson fast road pads the week before which where absolutely awesome on track, however in the last session they faded and sent me into the gravel trap at the end of starkeys straight (Luckily managed to slow the car down to about 30-40mph by time I'd reached the gravel so no damage done). Looked at the pads when I got back to the pits and it seemed the fronts were worn all the way down to the backing plates


Video > www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRsYLYuY268&t=9s




The next weekend I managed to get the car up and inspect the calipers. It seemed the rears had both seized on, which was leaving most of the braking effort to the front calipers hence the pads wearing so quickly on track. Managed to sort some recently refurbed calipers off Ashley on here (top bloke ) so soon got them fitted along with new slider kits and some Yellowstuff pads.



That was pretty much it for most of winter as I was getting married in April so toys had to take a back seat for a little while

[HughesR1]

Spent a few nights in the garage this April polishing the crap out of the '2 getting it ready for my wedding, cleans up good for a 19 year old car!




Now that I'd got that out the way it meant I could spend a bit more time in the garage. I've also booked onto a trackday at Blyton Park with the Lotus-on-track folk which is shared with the GT86 owners club so it should be interesting to see how the MR2 compares to Toyotas latest offering. My old man has also gone and bought a little track prepped Clio Cup 200 to tie him over since selling his Exige V6 so hopefully I can have a little play in that at Blyton too. Only mods I've done since the last trackday are HEL Braided brake lines and a front strut brace I managed to pick up for a few quid from a local so it will be interesting to see how the car copes at Blyton, looking forward to it!

[Ben]

Lovely looking car. I remember driving Pete's rev5 on track a few years back and being genuinely surprised at how good it was. Bet it's loads of fun

[Race Idiot]

Get some uprated antirollbars! Looks good

[craig]

Car looks fantastic!

[pistol pete]

With some work the rev5 makes for a great track car.. looks good in red mate

[L14HRE]

Looking good

I have also just bought a cheap red rev5 and planning to do the same as you, fast road and the occasional track day.

Just trying to find out if the damn thing has ever had its timing belt done!

[Magic Beans]

Looks stunning!

[HughesR1]

Managed to carry out a few more track orientated mods this week.

Although the MR2 has got fixed towing points on the front I thought I'd chuck a tow strap on just in case the worst should happen on track ha




Also managed to pick up a little automotive fire extinguisher for £8 so thought I'd be silly not to fit one. It came with a little mounting frame which I've just fixed to the box section that runs across the passenger floor. I was worried about passengers knocking it getting in and out but its actually miles away from their legs, and the seat can slide forward over it.



I wired in an oil temp sender a while ago but never got round to fitting the gauge itself as I wanted a tidy install. I'd bought a pillar pod off someone on here (Can't remember who) but wasn't too happy with the fitment. It followed the line of the roof perfectly but constantly rattled and drooped down so I decided to just take the plunge, drill a hole in it and screw it to the the A pillar. Tidied it up with a screw cap that came with some old reg plates and jobs a good'un!





Interior is slowly getting there now. I really need to find some plain door cards as previous owner fitted some black and red stitched leather ones which isn't really my thing. I'm also contemplating fitting some Corbeau Club Sport seats but want to just enjoy the car for a bit before throwing more money at it so that will probably be all for a while!

[HughesR1]

Luckily found some wheels not too far from me with pretty much brand new Yokohama A048 semi-slicks on, all for £180! Gave them a quick blast with satin black paint and threw them on last night.

I've also been running 5w40 Motul oil which has been fine but just for peace of mind I swapped it out for some Millers CFS Competition Nanodrive 10w40, the same or similar to what a lot of the race guys use. New NGK plugs and air filter were also dropped in so we should all be set for Blyton on saturday now.

[Odin_S]

Unless one is part synthetic and the other is synthetic, i don't see why you're changing you're oil brand

The 5w means in fact it would be more effective in colder weather than 10w. Once at optimum engine temp they are doing the same thing.

[HughesR1]

Unless one is part synthetic and the other is synthetic, i don't see why you're changing you're oil brand

The 5w means in fact it would be more effective in colder weather than 10w. Once at optimum engine temp they are doing the same thing.

More than likely the 5w40 Motul will be perfectly fine, I've actually ran it on track in the MR2 before. But as I wanted to change the oil anyway I thought I'd change to what I know the majority use. Not to mention its a triple ester based fully synth competition oil for £40 which isn't too bad!

I agree that you're right with the 5w40 and 10w40 being the same viscosity when hot, however I remember reading somewhere about trying to keep gap between the two viscosity grades low. Not entirely sure why but I think it was something to do with its ability to resist shear when at high temps for prolonged periods. I don't think it would be an issue in this instance, probably more to do with oils like 5w50 etc...

[ads]

cracking car. Really looks great in red and you obviously take good care of it. Amazing how much value these n/a 2s offer

[HughesR1]

cracking car. Really looks great in red and you obviously take good care of it. Amazing how much value these n/a 2s offer

Cheers, the N/A's really are great value for what they offer in terms of fun and reliability.