Topics

So let's see the specs on this bad mamojama

[Click here for map route]

Click here for map route

Foreword...
Last night I was actually a bit depressed from being home alone (wife is gone to Japan and it was the first time I came home before 8pm since starting the Rebirth of the car, I hate being idle like that, my mind is too active) so I decided to go out for a drive.

I was hesitant at first. The tires are not the best, I've not cut the hood for the intercooler yet, I haven't installed my front license plate yet, I don't have a spare tire in the car right now, yadda yadda..... I knew there would always be excuses so I just decided to screw it all and go out.

Man was I glad. Once I closed the door and placed both hands on the steering wheel, I got that sudden emotional feeling that I just wanted to attack something with the car. I love that feeling. I always get so serious when I set out for the hills by myself alone in the car like this. With all the Initial D I've been watching, I really wanted to do a night run up the foothills, so out I went. It was already past 10pm.
The last time I drove Watts Valley road in my MR2 I remember killing a rabbit. I was really sad that I couldn't avoid it. That must have been back in 2004 or so.
Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. By the time I remembered the camera, I was already on Academy Ave and didn't want to head back.

The Drive...
I headed out HWY180 to Academy Ave, turned left and then made a right at Ashlan Ave. There was a LOT of on-coming traffic initially but once I got into the foothills the traffic disappeared.

The first thing I noticed is that the road has fresh pavement on it. It's great but they have not painted the lines yet, and since I have not washed my windshield yet (or the car for that matter), and my right headlight is angled down for some reason (I didn't have any tools with me), visibility was VERY poor.

The corners had just begun when I saw some tail lights of a car a ways ahead of me. A couple corners later I realized I was closing in very fast on the car. When I got close enough to identify the car, the car started turning it on. I was glad at first, but then I realized it was a newer generation Toyota Prius. HAHAHAHA But actually the guy was doing quite well, I think he really knew the road. I could easily keep up with him, but on a couple corners I would have had no clue where the road was going without his guidance. Because of this, and the fact that I hadn't driven the road at night before, I decided to continue at his pace (which wasn't that bad really) so I eased the pressure up a bit. Eventually he pulled off and let me pass. He then immediately flashed me repeatedly and I was like "Whatever buddy, I wasn't even ass grabbing you so I don't know what your problem is" I guess he was really pressured by me and was really pushing it.

I made very quick work of loosing him and also made very quick work at discovering that I need to be freak'n careful out there. Before the grade increased, there were a couple uphilll-right-turn-downhill "hump" corners. The first one I took too quick for the sharpness of the corner. Remember visibility is poor and without the painted lines it's hard to predict the sharpness of the road in the dark. I came over that first hump and jammed the brakes right at the top while turning into the downhill corner. A serious No-No in a mid engine car. I didn't loose any traction, but I definitely felt the lateral G-force of the rear end. I thought "Ohh man I need to take it easy since I don't know this road, I could make a mistake really quick driving like this"

I ended up driving the remainder of the road in a more conservative manner. If I could see the corners well enough, then I would get after it. But if I couldn't tell where the road was going, I was man enough to totally slow down to 2nd or 3rd gear even if it turned out to be a high speed corner. There were numerous times when I said to myself, "I could be going so much quicker if I knew this road"

Here is the opening corner from Google Maps

[Click here for a map of the route]

Now that my car is running great, it's time to get out and start driving it!

The first trip I took was up Elwood Road. Click here for a map of the route

1st pic: Here I am heading down Belmont Ave

2nd pic: The crazy Nazzi farm at the far side of Hidden Valley at the bottom of the steep hill where all the fun begins.

3rd & 4th pic: Parked along side HWY180 in Squaw Valley. Notice the 20V PWR plate is still there. This is after "running out of time" at the referee on Monday. My moving permit was still valid so I had to put it to good use you know!

5th pic: Dropping down HWY180. This drive would be better to go up and then right back down, but I was very low on gas so I had to bail out.

Hey Bevin, here is some motivation for you:

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2265590

This guy is swapping a S2000 into a 1967 Honda S800




Dude, you think your MGB is small, look at this S800 compared to a, WHAT, that is a CRX??

[Purchased:]

A brief history of my 1987 MR2:

   
• Purchased: January 31st, 1999 for $350 with a blown 4A-GE engine. It was previously registered to a Palmdale, CA address.
• Fall of 1999: Converted to 165 HP JDM AE92-type Supercharged 4A-GZE
• Fall 2000: Rebuilt engine with larger SC14 Supercharger, amongst other things (16 PSI boost, est. 250 HP)
• Winter 2002: Rebuilt Intercooler-less with Water/Alcohol Injection, amongst other things (17.5-18 PSI boost, est. 280 HP)
• January 2003: AE92 4A-GZE Engine retired
• Spring 2004: 20-valve quad throttle body NA engine built & installed (briefly discussed below)
• October 2004: Entire car retired. I built and daily drove my Tacoma 4-cylinder 3RZ-FE powered 1981 4WD Hilux Rock Crawler from July 2004 until May 2010.
• Exiled for 6-years: Improperly/Carelessly stored/abandoned car for 6 years in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Outside, uncovered, in cold snowy winters and 100+ F direct summer heat.

Quick picture history of the different builds of my AE92 1.6-liter 4A-GZE, which I still have to this day, retired and resting in my garage. Click each image for a larger view:

"Stage 1" (more info): Circa late 1999 to mid 2000. Ranged from 165 HP (stock rating, 8-9 psi) to an estimated 225 HP at 13 psi.

Relocating top-mount AE92 intercooler to custom side vent

First version, larger crank pulley for more boost

Second version added cold side insulation, performance cams

Final version moved air filter to trunk where I added another vent

"Stage 2" (more info): Circa late 2000 to most of 2001. Pulled 16 PSI, estimated to be near 250 HP.

19% larger SC, 25% larger 2.5" piping, Supra TT IC, high flow NA intake manifold

Added intercooler fan & cold side insulation

After engine caught on fire. It's a long story

"Stage 2.5" (more info): Circa late 2002 to early 2003. Boost went up to almost 18 PSI without the intercooler, estimated to be near 280 HP.

Removed IC, built a two-stage water/alcohol injection system, custom boost control valve

Welcome to The Rebirth of my beloved 1987 MR2

Chassis Mileage Update: 313,047 miles (as of March 27, 2016)

Dyno'd April 1, 2016: 200 HP & 173 TQ at the wheels
Update: After dynoing I discovered my water injection was not working for the entire tuning session.
I am planning some additional upgrades and then will return to the dyno hopefully sometime this fall 2016.

If player won't load, click here to view on YouTube (1:57min)

Thread Navigation:

Page 1 (this page): Rescued car from exile, cleaned out car, found a Supercharged donor car, S/C conversion underway.
Page 2: Drove car home, replaced P/R wheel bearing, mounted compact CNC battery.
Page 3: Mounted IC, had to replace fuel sender, began cleaning ventilation ducting, replaced tail lenses.
Page 4: Took it to the State Referee & passed inspection, smogged & updated licensing.
Page 5: Talked about different camshaft options.
Page 6: Mounted IC fan, had to replace gas tank.
Page 7: Replaced fuel pump, repaired broken sway bar mount, fixed gas leak.
Page 8: Alternator woes
Page 9: Replaced alternator brushes, verified tachometer is off 10%.
Page 10: Reconnected SC lamp, installed intercooler foam.
Page 11: Video of SC lamp & pic of incorrect tachometer reading, Picked up 6 Speed Transaxle!!
Page 12: Videos of clutch slipping, removed old clutch, beginning 6-speed conversion
Page 13: Replaced driver's rear spindle
Page 14: Custom motor mount update, Start of 6-speed Conversion
Page 15: Installed new clutch, had to reinstall 5-speed, then finished & installed 6-speed, installed car alarm, some outdoor pics, repaired a second sway bar mount issue.
Page 16: More 5 vs 6 speed RPM differences, moved front lic plate, fixed speedo cable, Switched to 1985/6 Flat Nose bumper, gutted front bumper, started PANDA conversion, fixed sway bar mounts, DIY front Camber for -2.5 degrees, dynoed, 150.4 WHP, discussed power loss formulas
Page 17: Many nice pictures, flat tire, installed speaker system, trimmed and mounted front plate directly to bumper, finally plugged hole in trunk, new shifter boot, replaced front Tokico shocks, new Rota Grid wheels
Page 18: Interior LED light upgrades, replaced rear Tokico struts, Working on making a smaller SC pulley, Replaced rear plastic trim, Installed mud flaps, Re-installed driving lights, New air filter, Got locked out of my trunk, Got a new Catalytic Converter
Page 19: Cell phone mount, Started on new Intake Redesign project, Upgraded to shift bearings
Page 20: New Engine Mounts, More shift bearings, Welded Steering Column, New Windshield, Built Water Injection Adapter
Page 21: Finished New Custom Intake System: Idle Control Circuit, Air Bypass Valve Reconnected, Power Brake Booster Reconnected, PCV Line with Filter Reconnected, New oversized Brake Master Cylinder
Page 22: Simple video showing 10psi from the new intake alone, replaced plugged charcoal canister, working on a fuel vapor leak, reinstalled MSD Knock Alert, replaced broken phone mount, blew headgasket rebuilt top end, pics of new clutch kit
Page 23: Rear urethane bushings, Smaller S/C pulley, Built New Exhaust, Installed Exhaust Throttle Plate
Page 24: Mounted exhaust MAP sensor, installed front urethane bushings, New RE-11A tires, alignment, wired up Exhaust Throttle Servo
Page 25: Installed Propeller!, Discussed Program Revisions, Few outdoor pics, Car turned 300k, Suspension almost fell off, Smogged!
Page 26: Replaced Battery, Installed Wide Band O2 Gauge, Officially Began Preparing for my First Track Event, Began Water Injection Project, Lightened Front Hood, Changed Wheel Bearing, Fixed Axle Seal Leak, Redline MT-90, New Brake Pads & Fluid, Machined Rotors, New Clutch Slave Cyl
Page 27: New Wide Band O2 Sensor, Finished Water Injection!, Data Logging!, washed filter, mounted dash mat, mounted LCD panel & switches
Page 28: Changed to smaller H2O Injector, Changed oil, built heat shield, washed car, new stickers, first batch of methanol, replaced Iridium plugs
Page 29: Added exhaust resonator, fixed oil leak, removed hot water to throttle body, replaced all four rotors, overhauled distributor, upgraded water injector solenoid
Page 30: ST185 Front Brake Upgrade, WebCam grind 294s, Greddy e-Manage Blue engine management, teaser pics of Reverse Hood Scoop and Air Splitter, e-Manage Installation and operation



Well guys, the time has come. The time to get my pride and joy back on the road.

I know you guys already know the history of my car, so I won't bore the thread with too many details except to show what the car looked like before it was put down. This is back on May 15th, 2004. More pictures of the ITB setup can be found here.

I know I've posted track videos in other sections, but I figured I'd start a new thread for them in the proper forum.

This is one of my favorite videos, especially @ 4:53 when they roll out the NSX with my favorite driver Keiichi Tsuchiya

http://www.youtube.com/v/cOTMl9MlgF8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999

Hey Bevin, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/v/PCLlZsiYEps&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1

Check out this great picture gallery of MR2 parts:

http://www.pbase.com/aw11mr2/root&page=all

My classmate who is the lead builder/designer of our school's Formula SAE Car sent me this link:

The only rules for the Formula SAE car is that the engine can't exceed 610cc and it must have a throttle restrictor plate with a 20mm diameter. Most teams run a Honda 600RR motorcycle engine, but this team said "screw that" and built this IN HOUSE on a 5 axis CNC mill

http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/v30/v30pics.html

Here are some pictures from the above page:







restrictor plate. This had to really limited the power output sadly...
















WOW

Thought I would start a Video thread containing only Buttonwillow events. Enjoy :)


http://www.youtube.com/v/2UlJPzxPWQs&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6

I like this G-Force video overlay
http://www.youtube.com/v/u1w-_wyS9hw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6


http://www.youtube.com/v/Ti65jWIjZw0&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6

Ok, looks like I gotta get going right now. I'll post some more later

I wanted to start a thread to keep tabs on our budget-to-date.

Total expenses so far include [last updated 5/1/10]:
$200 Car
$75 Bushing set
-$75 sold seats

Budget Total: $200

[easily]

I was thinking.... A set of performance springs can't be more than $100 used.

I looked around and found this set of Intrax springs for $100-

Click here for Craigslist page: http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/1700058516.html


I understand they lower the MR2 quite a lot, but that is for a 2400 pound car. Maybe with our car weighing under 2000 pounds they will ride more like the Suspension Techniques springs?

But anyway, I just wanted to point out that we could get a set of "real" performance springs and I'm sure we could fit this into our budget. Also, remember all we have to do is print out a paper to show proof of the purchase and I can easily modify the price to read whatever we want, $70 maybe, it just needs to be reasonable.

So what do you guys think? What if we find a set of used Suspension Techniques springs and add it to the budget for about $50 - $70? Do you guys think this would eat up too much of the budget? If aftermarket springs make the car handle "that" much better, then our cornering speeds would increase, tires may last longer, many benefits....I think the cost-to-benefit ratio is FAR better than just chopping stock springs.

Comments?

This is a long watch but well worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZBGaqLQBnUM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6


Running an oil cooler really makes a difference!

[Little Duece Poupé]

It's Official! Our team theme for the LeMons Arse-Freeze-Apalooza will be....


Little Duece Poupé

Here are some ideas for this AWESOME theme:

• Swril Poop Hats
  
• Stick pieces of corn and peanuts in various locations on the car
• Toilet Paper Streamers - Find some white cloth material that will hold up to two days of flying in the wind
  
• "We have a plumber and we know how to use him"
• "The plumber knows where it goes"
• Out house vent pipe exhaust
  
  
• "Occupied" latches mounted somewhere
  
  

"Joke" Bribes for the judges:

• A bunch of Baby Ruth bars
  
• Fudge Logs
  
• Cans of Corn
  
• Peanuts
  

Here is Bryan racing his Supercharged MR2 around Button Willow (short track) back in 2005

In-car footage from a track day in June 2005. Starts off with my best lap, followed by some comments from the peanut gallery, and a short run at the track in reverse direction.

Looks like your best lap was a 1:36.9

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-5573528557377909390&hl=en&fs=true%20style=width:680px;height:554px

CHUCK NORRIS RACING!! WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK???

We can have a bunch of Chuck Norris quotes wrote all over the car or something

• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
• Chuck Norris doesn't get frost bite. He bites frost.
• Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because Chuck Norris only recognizes the element of surprise.
• Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
• Chuck Norris gave Mona Lisa that smile.
• Water boils faster when Chuck Norris watches it.
• Geico saved 15% by switching to Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris ends every relationship with "Its not me, its you".
• Oxygen requires Chuck Norris to live.
• Chuck Norris does not leave messages. Chuck Norris leaves warnings.
• When you open a can of whoop-ass, Chuck Norris jumps out.
• When Chuck Norris exercises, the machine gets stronger.
• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
• The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down.
• Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas.
• Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.
• Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer
• Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.
• Chuck Norris can divide by zero
• Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch. HE decides what time it is.
• Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its decendants are known today as Giraffes.
• Chuck Norris played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
• Chuck Norris will never have a heart attack. His heart isn't nearly foolish enough to attack him.
• Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
• According to Einstein's theory of relativity, Chuck Norris can actually roundhouse kick you yesterday.
• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
• They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but there was a problem: It wouldn't take shit from anybody.
• Chuck Norris sleeps with a pillow under his gun.
• Chuck Norris CAN believe it's not butter.
• It takes Chuck Norris 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
• If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. Forever.
• If at first you don't succeed, you're not Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.
• Chuck Norris is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.
• Chuck Norris' first job was as a paperboy. There were no survivors.
• We live in an expanding universe. All of it is trying to get away from Chuck Norris.
• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
• Chuck Norris was once in a knife fight, and the knife lost.
• When Chuck Norris wants an egg, he cracks open a chicken.
• When Chuck Norris plays Monopoly, it affects the actual world economy.
• Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship
• Chuck Norris' hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.

[The Max Mosley Penalty]

I guess they go over all the penalties from tech inspection before the race begins maybe?
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ve1qZtmHd_M&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

The Max Mosley Penalty
http://www.youtube.com/v/L_t9ZfRckd4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Don't speed in the pits
http://www.youtube.com/v/btGOfuilzrU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

The Parade Penalty
Two teams had to walk behind a Judgemobile in the paddock to express their driving ability
http://www.youtube.com/v/2muS0Lb1nyk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Preach to the Converted Penalty

Driver must stand on the hood or roof of his car and read "Pinto with a Pedigree" and the following chapter "Rescuing a Red Farmer Rust Bucket" (pp 97-108) from Tom Cotter's book The Hemi in the Barn aloud to his team, gathered around the car.

http://www.youtube.com/v/byo1q0f4AVE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Studs and Spurs Penalty
http://www.youtube.com/v/MGyKYrwM2IY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

The Burning Man Penalty
http://www.youtube.com/v/UdvTltY0SKU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Three Legs Of Shame Penalty

Team captain, Chris "Blackflag" Ice gets his random punishment for spinning out on turn 2. Deb helps with some caution tape.

http://www.youtube.com/v/WKmeLOg_Ytk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Sausage and Moon Pie Penalty

Kyle has to eat a can of Vieanna sausages and a moon pie before he can continue the race.

This one sucks, Bevin, Kevin and I don't eat sausage!!
http://www.youtube.com/v/7uZ5PFr-SRk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Bribing gets a "Bribed" decal painted on the car. They sure looked over the engine & car real quick like. This is how we need our inspection to go
http://www.youtube.com/v/NoAb6qupm4M&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6


This one is pretty funny. The camera man is all over the place, maybe because he was trying to hide the camera, but the guys speech is hilarious hahaha
http://www.youtube.com/v/8ZPASH_vFbo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Cool time elapsed video of a tech inspection. Watch that table fill up with booooooze!!
http://www.youtube.com/v/Y--Kqmbgtpg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Check out these guys. I don't think they were required to do this, I think they put on this show just to give the judges a good time. There car doesn't have much of a theme though...
http://www.youtube.com/v/81-AH5uD1CA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Okay, these guys got penalized and had to do a Macho Man dance behind a Judgemobile car:
http://www.youtube.com/v/v_slPbqHx_I&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

If you hadn't noticed, we got a new member to the forum today :)

Welcome Brad! I have known Brad for at least 3 years. We took a couple classes together at state. Brad graduated last year and moved to Colorado to pursue his Masters Degree. :)

Brad was fortunate enough to have raced in the very first 24 Hours of LeMons events ever. Yeah, his team entered a 1980s Toyota Tercel and their team name was the "Pirate Ninja's with Lasers" ! hahaha that's awesome! They learned a lot from their first event and stepped up to a 22R-E powered Celica GT-S.

This evening I gave Brad a call and we spoke for quite a while. He has a lot of experience and can offer a lot of tips and advice to our team! He has been out of the LeMons scene for about a year but still had a lot of great stories to tell.

The #1 piece of advice he gave me is this: don't take this too serious. I hate this advice but we need to realize that anything can happen and if it does we need to go with the flow.

He told me of a time where in the middle of the race, they brought a car in from the field and ordered told the team that some lady who was a girlfriend or wife from some other team -- a complete stranger -- is going to drive for a leg (an hour or whatever). And get this, this lady had never driven a manual car before. So for a half hour or so the team went out to the parking lot and quickly taught the girl how to drive stick. She actually ended up doing quite well and when her time was up, a different team asked her to drive for them and she went back out for a second leg!

So basically it sounds like anything can happen and we need to be ready to go with the flow.

Brad said that their first time out they learned A LOT and got to see how other teams work and what their competition is like. When the entered the Celica, they were more serious than they were with the Tercel.

But he warns that anything can happen. One time some idiot in a Capri or something hit the side of their car and completely wasted an entire strut assembly. Yeah, the car had like 8 degrees negative camber and the tire was rubbing on the inner fender wall. It turned out that some near-by team in the pits had a spare strut assembly from a VW Rabbit, and after drilling a couple new holes it bolted right in!!

Anyway, I recommended Brad check out our forum in case we have some questions, we can ask an insider who has a great passion for racing :D

It was nice catching up with ya Brad, talk to ya soon-
BigMike

Jeff Kiesel EM KFR Turbo Sprite at El Toro 3/1/09. 1958 Bugeye Sprite built for solo2 E Modified class. The motor is a turbo charged 13brew rotary motor putting out 370 hp to the wheels. The car weighs 1810 pounds with driver. This car has won 7 national championships (2009,2008(EML also 2008),2007,2002,2001,1997) and 3 pro solo championships (2009,2008,2007). At this event it was Top PAX by over 1.3 sec out of over 240 entered. 74.4 sec run, also FTD even over the F125 shifter Karts.

http://www.youtube.com/v/nBVVssJwx2Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6