1993 MR2 Turbo project car.

Started by BryanH, August 16, 2010, 02:42:16 PM

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Sirdeuce

Looks like the rear tires may have been changed for the event. Maybe wider than the typical street tires. Definately not as well maintained as when you had it Bryan. At least it gets to go home on occasion(auto-X).
"I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on wakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning."

BigMike

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R135
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     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BryanH

Small update whynot.

I've had Nerves of Teal since 2005 and it's been awesome. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a beater, but I don't mind much leaving it outside or parking it anywhere.  It's nice to have a carefree car like that.  And it has never given me any grief.

Last Saturday was the first time it failed me.

I had packed it up, ready to head to the bay area for the weekend, went to start it up and got nothing. Absolutely zero.  The battery was deader than a dead thing.  I got a jump from my dad and took off down the street. At the end of the street I put the clutch in to come to a stop and the engine quit.  What!  :willynilly: The battery was still dead of course and I didn't have enough momentum left to take up the clutch to get the engine going.  I pushed it to the curb, walked back home and got my dad's truck for another jump. I didn't trust the car at this point so I drove it back to the house and left it there.  Unpacked it, threw everything in the truck and went out to the mini storage facility to grab the Turbo.

Last year Kevin came over and found the battery drain on the Turbo - a trunk light that never went out. I unplugged the trunk light.  :ThereIFixedIt:  And put another new battery in, as the dead one wouldn't take a charge.  I think the last time I drove it was in December.  So back to last Saturday, I open the storage unit where Turbo hides and go to start it up.  Can you guess what happens next?  Nothing (you guessed right)!    :tantrum:   I was supposed to be at a friend's house by 6:00 and I was already an hour behind schedule now.  I got yet another jump start and let the Turbo run for a while with accessories off while I packed it.  In the end it was fine, it got me to the bay area and the battery held its charge through the weekend.  Good. 

Anyway to make a long story longer I'll be replacing the battery in the teal car and hoping that's the end of it.  The battery that's in there was put into service in 2003.  I suspect the engine quitting had something to do with the car having little/no electrical power and perhaps a combination of the stereo and me applying the brakes caused the ignition or something to drop out for a second.  Apparently these cars can run without the help of the ECU, by the way. 

Still love/hate the Turbo car.  It needs working A/C, the exhaust holes fixed, a better turbocharger (and maybe a better intercooler now that that's legal!) and some clunk-b-gone for the front suspension.  Also possibly a bearing went bad somewhere.  I can hear what sounds like rear end whine when I'm off throttle.  At some point I also want to find out why the shifter is so heavy and the transmission so finicky.  It was a new (not rebuilt!) Toyota transmission maybe 40 or 50k miles ago.  Possible synchro damage from a previous owner I guess, but all gears being a bit reluctant? I'm not so sure.  This shifting difficulty has always been there, since 2006 when I got the car. The gates are still well defined, but it feels more like churning a bucket of mud than hot butter.  The shifter is slow and heavy in its movements.  I've driven a number of MR2s and not felt another one this ponderous.  I think the last time I replaced the transmission fluid was in 2008, so it's been a few years but not many miles (probably 5k at most).  I used Redline (MT90?) which has been excellent in my other MR2s and in the case of the '87, improved shifting significantly.

There are a couple shift linkage bushings I can replace. With some effort.  I would think worn bushings would cause a more sloppy or loose feeling in the shifter than a heavy, slow feeling.

Oh and I took all the stickers off the Turbo car, so now it looks completely stock and boring. :)  Oh and the old Pioneer stereo I installed in like 2008 works perfectly with my iPod, using the standard USB cable.  :applaus: Finally had to ditch CDs now that I travel a lot.

I still want to put a CT20b in it but I think Nissan has found me a new expensive hobby...  :help:

BigMike

Quote from: BryanH on February 05, 2012, 06:24:38 PM
...but I found some pics of my old red '87 NA->SC.  These are from 2010...

Quick Q: What F-Stop did you use? I don't see it in the EXIF data and I wish my camera could go that high!! (I can only do 8.0 I think).
-/_/___/__________\___\_\-
|______________________|
|-------\___________/------|
```````````````````````       

R135
└┼┼┤
  246


     My 1987 Supercharged 4A-powered 6-speed MR2

BryanH

#49
Those pics were taken by Skaughtto from MR2OC.  He might have been using a 70-200 f/2.8 lens or maybe a 135mm f/2.0 or something.  They do look nice. :)

He's done some great work, including these shots of his AW11:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skaughtto/4804048812/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skaughtto/3537460473/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skaughtto/3716025832/in/set-72157622525266270/