Well... Didn't get around to doing any work on the MR2... The Boss (Wife) demanded that I finish off some renovations that I have started a while back (a year or so ago), so I was busy preparing that last week-end. But next week-end, I will definitly be finishing the MR2 off, so that she is ready for the exhaust...
But in the mean time... A bit of history on my previous car... (By Popular request) I used to own a Toyota Supra 89 Turbo, while my wife was happy owning the current MR2. The Supra was fast, and had awsome acceleration, with quater miles of low 13 and high 12sec, but it just didn't handle... My wife and myself we used to occasionally race, and I would leave her in the dust... but sure enough, on the next corner, she was up behind me... :-)
When I was looking for a car, I was looking at all sorts, such as the Nissan GTR (Too Pricey), GTsT (Too common), RX7 (Too abused), MR2 SW20 (not enough and too pricey)... but none got my appeal. Then, one day when I got home, my wife pointed out this Toyota Supra, Australian delivered, 1 Lady Owner, Low Kms, and a good price (Affordable)... My initial thought was... Yep, probably full of dents and a rust bucket... but decided to check it out anyway... It was a fair drive away, about 1hr up in the hills, so we took my wife's MR2 for a spin up the hills.
We got to the place, and knocked on the door, and a guy answered, and indicated that the Supra wasn't here yet, as the lady was coming back from work... she was only a few minutes away, so we decided to wait. Sure enough, she showed up, and as it was driving up the hill... My mind was going... "That's it... that one is going to be mine" (The car... not the lady ;-) Of course, I had her checked out by Jan & Alex, 2 close friends of mine who I trusted... they gave me the OK, so I bought it.... :D This car was as stock as a rock... nothing modified, with exception to coolant.
So once bought and ownership took over, it didn't take long to start modification... Of course, the first thing that happened was suspension... King Springs and Tokico adjustable shocks
Then followed by a 3" exhaust all the way from Turbo Elbow back, with a new High flow 3" CAT. And then, of course, the rest...
Anyway... Some pics... Supra as she was...
The engine has been rebuild, and some modification performed to her was Inspected, cleaned up block, and O-ring, New Head, Shot Pinged Conrods, Lightened Pistons, Chrome Molly Piston Rings, Balance Crank, 1.8T Clamping clutch, High flow Turbo (T04 trim) and clipped exhaust wheel and Intercooler. Some pics below... At the time of rebuilding this engine, I didn't have much mechanical know how, although I did understand what was being performed. The engine rebuild was performed by Alex, with advise from Jan & Sean.
Once the engine was completed, I put the engine on the dyno, just out of curiosity, and it produced 292RWHP at 14PSI Boost, and 210RWHP at standard Boost of 8PSI... and that was still on my old intercooler setup. But as you all know, the old intercooler is not very good, as at about 5800RPMs, I could see boost dropping off quick, and it was like hitting a brick wall... No it was fuel cut... it was the intercooler, so I decided to install a new intercooler.
At this point in time, with the old intercooler, I thought it was pretty WILD... Then came the intercooler upgrade...
Of course, with the Intercooler upgrade... it went from WILD to SYCHO... it was just a chalk and cheese difference, and it was sooooo responsive after that. Boost was pretty much instant, on tap, and it lasted all the way to redline, of 6800rpms... full boost was available at pretty much 2500RPMs, and lasted all the way. This was a Spearco Intercooler, and are probably the best you could get... More info at
http://www.racetep.com/tneticatoaic.htm.
After that, I decided to leave the engine as is for a while, and focus on Stereo... Of course, most of my items were purchased overseas, as I couldnt' justify the price inflation here in Australia... Basically, the system consisted all of Alpine gear... Alphine Head unit, Amp, Front Split (1" tweeters & 6" Mids) and rear end Splits (1" Tweeters, 3" mids and 8" subs)... It sounded pretty awsome, and cost me about AUS$2500 all up. I got a quote from one of the shop, and they quoted the system about $4500, excluding installation cost.
At this point in time, things started getting a bit difficult, and the cost of maintaining and running the supra got a bit heavy... Also, the next set of modification would have been just to expensive so I decided to sell her, and buy a more sedate 4 door car for my wife, and take over the MR2 as my hobby car. The MR2 was cheaper to run, maintain and modify compared to the next stage of the supra.
To give you an idea... Supra used to consume 70Ltr of fuel over 400Kms, compared to 40Ltr for 550Kms in the MR2... To get a replacement engine for the Supra, I was looking at AUS$4500, compared to AUS$1200 for the MR2... To get a replacement gearbox for the Supra, I was looking at AUS$1500, compared to AUS$300 for the MR2... Please keep in mind that this was back in 1999/2000... I'm sure that you can get it way cheaper now. If I had the Supra now, I wouldn't have sold it, but alas, that is not the case. The Supra was not going to be a good daily driver...
Besides... the Supra was fast, but couldn't handle... the MR2 could handle, but wasn't fast... and in a state in which 110Km/hr is the max speed limit... the MR2 was a more sensible choice...
Hence, where I am tody... What better choice of having an MR2 with a BT engine... once she's finished of course... :D
The MR2 AW11 is a great car to own... It's cheap maintenance, and it's handling characteristics, begging you to push it harder and harder as you get close to it's limits. It's economical, and due to it's lightness, is easy on fuel, and on the tyres. But don't get me wrong... I do miss the Supra, due to it's cheer brute force in acceleration...
