Project #26 MR2MAN

[2mAn]

I love the Elise, but every Lotus I’ve driven has felt fragile.
I love Porsche’s but hate the tax... the ///M tax was bad enough
I love my MR2 because I’ve been able to do 99% of the work myself

Also, with a little kiddo on the way I think I finally need to keep a car for a while and actually develop it into something. I miss the track too and this car will be great on the track.

[mike.bmw]

Nice photos! Great grouping of cars.

[rzerob]

Congratulation on the upcoming bundle of joy.

[2mAn]

Congratulation on the upcoming bundle of joy.

Thanks! People are questioning my choice in dad-mobile but they don’t understand that the alternative was another E30 lol


When I got my car aligned it was brought to my attention that the lower bars were damaged so I had an impulse moment to buy all of the rear lower bars from Mitchs Auto Parts. All 3 Megan Racing bars.











I was pretty worried I was going to screw up the alignment so I carefully measured everything to the same length.



Here’s the bent bar in question. Both sides were bent the same way. (Insert female driver joke here)





...and all done...





I did a good enough job. Not perfect, but will work until I get back to have the alignment perfected again. The car certainly feels better and I’m quite excited to get the wheels and tires done. Hopefully that comes sooner than later.

[2mAn]

In other news, I went to the Malibu C&C again this weekend. Jay Leno is always showing up with something awesome and this weekend was the penultimate car IMO... a McLaren F1. Truly amazing piece of engineering. It was surrounded the whole time, so I was lucky to even get this pic with nobody in front of me










After that, my buddy and I went on a canyon run up to Latigo Canyon. and then back across Topanga Canyon. We didnt find a nice vista point to stop at and my camera didnt get the run, sadly but we did take a quick stop at the Topanga Canyon vista point to get some decent pics.




I need to get a new driverside fender quite badly... ugh


























I now have a full set of Celica seats and though the two dont match 100% perfectly I will try my hand at swapping over the matching fabric from the subpar driver seat to the better driver seat I have so I can have a matching set of Celica seats that are both in good condition.

[PieterVN]

Wow, that McLaren left me speechless

[Northern]

ugh that F1

[varg]

Here’s the bent bar in question. Both sides were bent the same way. (Insert female driver joke here)

Jackstands? Both bars bent upward in the same way and it looks like there's a contact mark right where the inside of the bend is.

[2mAn]

Jackstands? Both bars bent upward in the same way and it looks like there's a contact mark right where the inside of the bend is.

Yea its either jack or jackstands, but both were bent...

[2mAn]

Got an early start today and again tried to get to Newcombs ranch but once again the path was closed fairly early. Still had a good time driving the car though.








And now one of the two pieces that I’ve been wanting to install since I basically bought the car. Bought the duckbill from MR2 Ben (I think that was his name). It took too long to arrive, and took too long to buy the correct the paint. And once painted it took too long to install but the work was worth it.

[amcp]

Looking good. Hows it compare to the old m52 e30?

[2mAn]

Well, that car weighed 2350 so it was heavier but made substantially more power and torque than this 1.8L Yamaha motor. Specs out of the way, this car still feels much more like a lightweight sports car where the E30 felt like a very fast “sedan” ... my biggest regret with it was when I started to make it a track car and took away its streetable strengths.

This car as it currently sits is a bit like a bi-polar car. It’s relatively calm and fun under 6000 rpms, a lot like what people love about a Miata, but then from 6000-8000 Rpms it changes characteristics and shows true punch. I have yet to make any mods to the motor or exhaust to make it faster, I think 210-215bhp with a lower Lift engagement (~5-5500rpms) could really liven this up. Pretty impressive from a NA 1756cc motor... but then there’s this kind of stuff out there that ruins me.

https://youtu.be/60tmVeunPX8

[Northern]

yeah I'd love to see a K swap

[rzerob]

yeah I'd love to see a K swap

I think his wife would kill him considering there is a little one on the way.

[McGyver]

I never would have thought about getting into one of those mr2's, but man yours looks like a lot of fun for a relatively easy/quick build!