Last year i bought a mint condition and totally stock Mk1b Tbar, drove it around the UK all summer and had a blast, rediscovered my love for the Mk1 in all its glory.
The problem being for me though is that we build such extreme Mr2s day to day, and obviously get to drive them, that getting back into my stock Mk1 left me feeling a bit meh... i can't help myself, as much as i love standard Mk1s for me my cars have to have an edge about them, tuned the way i like them, with loads of effortless torque, an engine note to die for and subtle bodystyling very much in the JDM theme. For me such a car is perfection.I know some will not agree with using such a mint example as the basis for a project but i've done the rusty resto route many times and it's a major drag, this time around i wanted a solid base, no welding to do, just concentrate on the good stuff.
So here is the car before work, everything on it is brand new, yes brand new from front to rear, every part bought from Toyota right down to the brake pad clips.
Mad for using such a good car to start cutting up? Or sensible? Time will tell.
At this point the car had nothing more than a set of JDM rear lights and a SC lid with some Lenso D1R wheels, but i wanted to go more extreme on the styling, not a full kit as such, i love the Mk1 OEM look, so the idea is just to give it some steroids to keep within the original styling look.
This is achieved by fattening the arches, done using our universal arch molds, grafted into the bodywork and blended, so that they look part of the original car rather than bonded or riveted on.
Now to fill these arches i'm going with my alltime favourite period wheels, Borbet A's, these wheels have a serious dish but not a lot of offset, so it's not like they hang outside of the cars original bodywork by miles, in fact the fronts only need a 3/4" extension to the arch.Work started by cutting off my original arch lip and slicing the slope, then bending the tabs to suit the new arch and bonding that on, a lot of time taken to get the arch profile just right.
All of this work is merely in the fabrication stage, the final blending and finishing work comes later. As with all bodywork projects they look rough in the pre sanded stage, the trick at this point is just to get the basic shape right.
Years ago i built a similar themed Mk1
(which i believe Mr Brett now owns) with flared rear arches, the trick is to modify the sideskirts so they wrap around the wider arch, giving the impression that it all came from the factory that way....
On the front arch this theme is continued making the sideskirt wrap around the wider arch, here it is in its rough fabrication stage with temporary screws etc.
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This will get the rubber trim replaced when it's finished to complete the look.
On the rear, the same work is done to the arch.
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The yellow lines are where i will be fibreglassing and profiling the arch to meet the bodywork, Mk1's have a steeper angle on the rear arch than the front, if i make the angle the same all round the car it won't look right, so the same angle as factory will be kept, it's small attention to detail like that that pulls off the final look.
Again the sideskirt is modified to wrap around the new arch.
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On the front of the car i'm using a Buddy club replica, we make these in two piece form like the OEM Mk1b lip is, it is just a fatter and more aggressively styled version of the stock Mk1 lip.
On the car it fits around the standard wings, but because i have widened my arches it now needs to flow into the new arch, this has been done by flaring the lip where it meets the arch, again just rough fabrication stage.
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This gives the front a stock looking but
"pumped" styling.
That is pretty much the styling taken care of, from now on it's just hours of sanding and profiling before painting, but the look i'm after is there.
The engine i have planned for this car is pretty much the reason for the project name, MRX300 is taken from MR2 and RX300, i'm using the 3.0ltr VVti all alloy V6 from the Lexus Rx300, i drive one of these as a daily driver and the engines are sublime.
We just finished installing one of these into a customers Mk3 roadster, and it was an awesome weapon...
Without hesitation i wanted the same unit in my Mk1, not much weight increase, silly amounts of torque but refined at the same time, so for the past few weeks i've been building this.
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225bhp and 224lbs.ft of torque, all of which comes on tap by 2500rpm and pulls right to the redline with a hefty kick up the backside when the VVti comes in, glorious.
Mated to this is a Mk2 Mr2 gearbox with a Mk3 Mr2 Torsen LSD unit fitted to it and Avensis Diesel 5th gear set taking the gearing from 0.82:1 to 0.73:1 for motorway cruising and i suppose a better top speed
(if that's your bag)Driveshafts are a combo of Mk2 NA and a Celica supported shaft arrangement, more on that later.
Suspension wise i'm ditching my brand new Toyota shocks/Apex springs and i've gone for these.
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£1200 worth of quality suspension capable of ride height, bump and rebound adjustment.To top these off i've gone for Technotoy tunings camber adjustable top mounts.
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I need to look at some brake upgrades too, possibly some St185 twinpots or radial mount Brembos.
Interior wise i've gone for Recaro fishnets from a Fiat Strada Abarth, they look amazing.
The plan is to also add my power steering system that i also have on the V8 Mk1, it just works so well.
So that is the project up to now, further updates as they happen.
