1999 Revision 5 MR2
Discussion
ECG1000 said:
Never really given these much thought but yours had made me want one now. Some serious 90's cool going on.
It’s really satisfying to watch an old car being impeccably maintained and used properly. Well done!
P.S. jealous of you having car pals you can hang out with and tinker. My mates would still be scratching their heads looking for a left handed screw driver!
Thanks! There's a lot that needs to be done still but it's better than a lot of them out there, especially considering this has 177k miles on the chassis now.It’s really satisfying to watch an old car being impeccably maintained and used properly. Well done!
P.S. jealous of you having car pals you can hang out with and tinker. My mates would still be scratching their heads looking for a left handed screw driver!
Yeah, having like minded friends helps so much, whenever there's a big project on we all help where we can. Couple of them have moved onto 350Z's now! The option was there to teach myself to weld (one of the guys did this and repaired their own sills), but I just didn't have the time to learn to a standard that would be acceptable. Painting properly is another skill I don't have! Would be great to learn both though.
Between us, we've done pretty much everything mechanical short of a full engine rebuild. We helped another local owner out a couple years ago - hers had been at a garage for over a year with a head gasket failure. Garage obviously took on more than they really could handle, and it was left in their yard for a year with the head in boot after being skimmed. Owner had enough, we got it back on the road and MOT ready in a couple weekends.
TheJimi said:
I tried really hard to get you to sell me that :-D
Is it a keeper for you now? Might as well be after all this effort
It is for now, unless circumstances change significantly.Is it a keeper for you now? Might as well be after all this effort
It's hiding another little secret now too, as a few things came up at the right time... https://streamable.com/s2k1w - been meaning to do a proper little writeup on it but haven't got round to it yet!
where are we at... Well the astute among you when it comes to MR2's will notice a problem in the photo above. The front tensions rods are handed, and there's two RH ones in the photo above!! What a PITA.
I also managed to crossthread one of the ball joint thread holes. Typically it's a tap size I didn't have (M12*1.25) to hand, so that stopped progress on the read end, and without being able to secure the control arm to the ball joint I couldn't put it back on the wheels to do the front end either.
Fortunately a tap once it arrived salvaged the threads well enough that they held the required torque value. I've done ~150 miles since then, seems fine so I'm just going to get it back up in the air and put a torque wrench on it to be sure. Should be fine though!
Suspension all installed, MOT has now lapsed due to delays with parts / tools / getting another tension rod coated etc.
On the modification front, something I've been wanting to do for a while... Oil temperature, oil pressure, and AFR gauges:
Currently waiting for some adapters to fit the sensors. The 3S sump has several ports on it around the oil filter / pump that can be used for sensors, which is excellent, however they are 3/8BSP, vast majority of aftermarket sensors are 1/8NPT. 3/8BSP male to 1/8NPT female adapters are rather uncommon! Should have those soon though.
I also managed to crossthread one of the ball joint thread holes. Typically it's a tap size I didn't have (M12*1.25) to hand, so that stopped progress on the read end, and without being able to secure the control arm to the ball joint I couldn't put it back on the wheels to do the front end either.
Fortunately a tap once it arrived salvaged the threads well enough that they held the required torque value. I've done ~150 miles since then, seems fine so I'm just going to get it back up in the air and put a torque wrench on it to be sure. Should be fine though!
Suspension all installed, MOT has now lapsed due to delays with parts / tools / getting another tension rod coated etc.
On the modification front, something I've been wanting to do for a while... Oil temperature, oil pressure, and AFR gauges:
Currently waiting for some adapters to fit the sensors. The 3S sump has several ports on it around the oil filter / pump that can be used for sensors, which is excellent, however they are 3/8BSP, vast majority of aftermarket sensors are 1/8NPT. 3/8BSP male to 1/8NPT female adapters are rather uncommon! Should have those soon though.
Wow, with the readers rides feature (thanks PH!!) I should probably get round to doing the writeup on the engine conversion we did a little while ago....
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-japanesecars/t...
The short version - acquired a complete 3SGTE + E153 transmission and driveshafts, functional but in need of a thorough clean / major service / seal and gasket replacement:
Tidied up nicely:
And bolts right in:
As you can imagine there's a whole load of f
kery between engine acquisition and installation which I will get round to doing a proper post on... but there's the photos anyway!
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-japanesecars/t...
The short version - acquired a complete 3SGTE + E153 transmission and driveshafts, functional but in need of a thorough clean / major service / seal and gasket replacement:
Tidied up nicely:
And bolts right in:
As you can imagine there's a whole load of f
kery between engine acquisition and installation which I will get round to doing a proper post on... but there's the photos anyway!Striple said:
lovely car. what car did that engine live in originally, a quick wiki search says there are quite a few different hp levels?
Gen3 3SGTE as found in a late 93 to 99 MRê Turbo and ST205 Celica GT4's. The GT4 has a charge cooler instead of a side mount IC. Power in stock form is 245bhp at stock boost of 13psi. Stock ECU is happy up to around 17/18psi, fuel cut is 19psi. So with bolt ons / supporting mods like decat downpipe, exhaust, intake, upgraded IC or Celica chargecooler, boost controller you can comfortably hit around 300bhp.
To go any further it starts to get very expensive as the stock turbo won't be happy much higher than that, you're approaching maximum safe duty cycle on the injectors, the stock ECU is not mappable, and the stock pistons become a liability, so to go any further than that you really need to do everything at once which will cost several thousand.
MarJay said:
I had a Rev 5 Mk2 UK car T-Bar in black with the nice round spoke wheels and the 'combat' spoiler. Was an awesome car, and I'm still not 100% sure I've driven a car with as good handling finesse. It could have done with another 50bhp IMO, but nevertheless it worked for me when I had it, and was certainly the best looking car I've ever owned. I needed more space and so on so I sold it, and then later on (eight years) bought a Rev 3 and was very disappointed. Sometimes you should never revisit an old car. The Rev 3 was noisy, cramped and extremely uncomfortable. Maybe I was trying to make it work for an application to which it was not suited, as I was commuting two hours a day, or maybe the differences between the more refined leather equipped Rev 5 and the Rev 3 cloth interior. Or perhaps I was spoiled by my BMW 1 series.
I had bought the Rev 3 in order to cut costs because I had to move house, downsize etc due to splitting with my wife at the time. In the end I busted a gut to keep the beemer and sold the MR2 at a loss.
It's a shame, as it ruined an otherwise rosy memory of my Revision 5.
The leather interior was available through all years, as was the cloth, depending on trim level. Earlier (Rev1 and maybe Rev2?) cars in fact have better carpets and headlining! Black instead of grey, and much thicker. The later cars were changed most likely for cost cutting. I have some extra sound deadening in mine which does help, but of course compared to anything reasonably new like a 1 Series it's never going to hold up as a commuter. The differences between Rev3 and Rev5 are entirely cosmetic but of course being old cars there can be a big difference between one example and another!I had bought the Rev 3 in order to cut costs because I had to move house, downsize etc due to splitting with my wife at the time. In the end I busted a gut to keep the beemer and sold the MR2 at a loss.
It's a shame, as it ruined an otherwise rosy memory of my Revision 5.
Agent57 said:
I prefer the looks of the Rev 4. Imagine if a 3.2 V6 Alfa engine was fitted in the back. What a great recipe that would be.
Not a swap I have seen yet, but many Toyota V6's have been swapped - 3VZ, 1MZ, 3MZ, and more recently the 2GR-FE, as found in the Lotus Evora, though most that end up in an MR2 come from an RX350, Sienna, Camry, Rav4 or similar. Agent57 said:
Love the mark 2 MR2. Surely a future classic. It's just the right size compared to the obese 'sports' cars made nowadays.
And pop-up headlights!
I agree And pop-up headlights!
Bit tricky at junctions sometimes, if someone pulls up next to you while you're waiting to join the main road you can't see over their wing/bonnet!
The stock intercooler is pretty useless. It's just about adequate at stock boost, but not any more than that. There's a few side mount options which improve things massively:
You can see the difference in core size between stock and the Greddy (the cheap / unbranded IC's are all copies of the Greddy) here:
Still prone to heatsoak but a massive improvement over stock.
You can see the difference in core size between stock and the Greddy (the cheap / unbranded IC's are all copies of the Greddy) here:
Still prone to heatsoak but a massive improvement over stock.
danllama said:
Heat soak was exactly what made me ditch my first MR2 (NA) for a turbo. I just remember chugging up a hill one day in the summer and thinking, this won't cut it. I've rarely ever noticed heat soak in any of my turbos.
Still can't believe how closely matched our cars were on the M2 the other day!
Yes, can confirm they are both evenly matched at precisely 70mph Still can't believe how closely matched our cars were on the M2 the other day!
Geometry sorted today at a Lotus specialist of all places... They did a great job. Ideally need some camber bolts for the rear, will sort that another time. Rear camber is not problematic where it is at the moment anyway.
The chap who road tested it afterwards said he was very impressed by the car, quite the compliment when the rest of the garage was full of Elises and Evoras!
The chap who road tested it afterwards said he was very impressed by the car, quite the compliment when the rest of the garage was full of Elises and Evoras!
Went for a morning run with the MR2 guys on Sunday, was a great time as always!
Geometry feels good, perhaps a little on the safe side. Tyres are clearly the weak link now - Kumho KU31. Fine as a mid range tyre for daily duties which is what the car was primarily doing before (I didn't fancy buying 2-3 sets of AD08R's a year!) but now it really needs something with a bit more sticktivity on the tarmac. Bit of research needed, but I think 0 toe or even a little bit of toe out up front could work well.
Anyway, on Sunday we had 2x 3SGTE SW20's, 1x 2GRFE Supercharged SW20, 1x 1MZFE SW20, 1x 1MZFE Supercharged AW11, and 1x 4AGZE AW11.
The Supercharged V6 AW11 sounds absolutely ridiculous, the whine is just amazing. Need to get some videos of it.
Geometry feels good, perhaps a little on the safe side. Tyres are clearly the weak link now - Kumho KU31. Fine as a mid range tyre for daily duties which is what the car was primarily doing before (I didn't fancy buying 2-3 sets of AD08R's a year!) but now it really needs something with a bit more sticktivity on the tarmac. Bit of research needed, but I think 0 toe or even a little bit of toe out up front could work well.
Anyway, on Sunday we had 2x 3SGTE SW20's, 1x 2GRFE Supercharged SW20, 1x 1MZFE SW20, 1x 1MZFE Supercharged AW11, and 1x 4AGZE AW11.
The Supercharged V6 AW11 sounds absolutely ridiculous, the whine is just amazing. Need to get some videos of it.
danllama said:
I keep meaning to ask where the top photo was taken? The view is immense. Maybe we could do another run there some time. Good to see feedback on the Lotus place, mine isn't quite right still even after Elite in Rainham did the alignment. Was it over the top cost wise or not too bad?
here: https://goo.gl/maps/bRHCHoLEFppGeo was £110, but thorough job.
danllama said:
Oh and as for tyres, I can't sing high enough praise for the Avon ZZ5. Seems like a great balance between road and track. I had them on at Brands and they were very sticky! Nice and compliant on the road too, absords potholes beautifully.
They're still very much a road tyre, I'm more looking at AD08R or NS2R or similar. Those are also not available in my sizes!TheJimi said:
Word of the day 
Haha, it's a great word!Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff