Short term plans and work.

[2zzspyder]

beginning of the future full covering of the decklid.

then I pulled the rear bumper cover, removed the plastics still visible in this shot.


The crash bar is held in by 3 bolts on each side (the two center holes and the right hole.

I unbolted that and moved it so the top hole in the bumper support goes to the bottom bolt, this moved half the crash bumper down giving me a nice big opening for the exhaust project that should be completed next week. (Basically the space between the top of the license plate and the top of the gap is how much room was previously blocked by the bumper support.



I have 2 2.5" in/out resonators from Vibrant Performance as well as a spun metallic core catalytic converter that will be going in. One resonator will be in line with where the magnaflow is now, the other one will exit somewhat like this.




Also in the works, though further off, I have contacted luxurypart.com and am looking at getting 240z style bolt on fender flares made for the MR2. This is the rough idea so far

The plan is to add 30 mm of space in the rear and 25mm up front which would allow me to run something like the XXR 513 16x8 et 0 in the rear and the 15x7 et 15 front while still running big tires for racing. (these aren't my first choice in wheels but I love the spoke design and lip on them, so while I may not end up with the XXR ones, that style is up there and I think it fits the overall look i'm going for with the car while still letting me put some big rubber under the fender).

This weekend i'm picking up a VIS wing for better stability at time trials, and should be receiving a lot of stickers from ihatestickers.com

This should be an interesting few months

[JawDropper]

hmmm....trying to picture what you got planed but I dont think what im picturing is what your going for(at least I hope not). Cant wait to see pics of this. Will def be coming back to see the progress.

[Burn535i]

I'm not so sure if I am a big fan of that exhaust

[Kielan]

In for the progress. MR2's are great platforms and dope cars, looking forward to what you have in store for it.

[2zzspyder]

I admit the exhaust won't be the best looking, it's all about clearance and weight savings, each resonator weights in at 6lbs, the magnaflow is an easy 20 lbs on its own. With the current setup the lowest point on the car behind the wheels is the exhaust tip and the test pipe, i'm angling the downpipe to get the cat further from the ground. The tip/resonator through the bumper was a recent decision, I originally planned to run the one then a u-bend into the second resonator with a 45 bend to exit out behind the driver, however, I decided to save some weight and cut out 2-3 ft of unnecessary tubing (it won't look good but it should sound sick). And don't worry about how unfinished it looks right now, once I have the exhaust installed i'm painting the bumper support black and putting covering the whole area with a black mesh so it isn't just open.

The wheel flares are so I can run 225-245 wide front tires and 255-275 rear tires, ideally with a 8" wide front and 9" wide rear which is why I still haven't decided on a wheel, I need to get the fenders made so I have a better idea of what tires i'll be able to fit under it.

Basically the car is a race car, I use it for timetrials and the occasional auto-x (just not as much fun as timetrials for the money). So every mod is designed to make it perform better at timetrials, the wheel choice and bolt on fenders is from my love of old-school race cars, smaller 15-16" wheels with big tires barely being contained, most everything on the car is function over form and the decklid sticker bombing is to do something fun for the hell of it till I switch to a cf decklid

[Sparks Fails]

Nice looking cars, although I prefer the mid generation MR2's. Good luck.

[2zzspyder]

Well, I got my BFW installed this weekend, still not really a fan of the look but it's functional and my friend managed to get a good shot of it.


The rear is much more flush when i'm not running over -2.5 degrees of camber.

The exhaust and oil temp/pressure gauge should be getting installed this week or the end of next week. I think i'll be blacking out the exhaust with a ceramic coating once it's fabbed up since I don't really want the huge shiny resonator look.

The wheel flares will begin the production process in about a month, once they are complete and delivered i'll be hacking the quarter panels and part of the bumpers to install them. Looking to fit some 16x8 et 0 in the rear 16x7 or 15x7 et15 front with a 1/2" hub spacer (though I may decide to run an 8" et 0 up front as well) with some very meaty tires crammed on there.

The flares should be similar to these


Though I likely won't paint them initially, I like the purpose built look when they're left black and they'll probably be hitting cones so I don't want to worry about the finish (these let a miata run 295/30/18s)

I'm hoping to be able to run a 265 rear tire and a 245 up front, though looking at the grippy street tires (non R-comp since I can't use them at HPDE's and I wouldn't want to tear them up on the Mineral Wells surface) I'm thinking I may have to go to 17 inch wheels all the way around and run a 255/40/17 Front 275/40/17 Rear.

To those of you who don't know much about the MR-S, this is a ton of tire for the car, unlike the second gens whom I envy for their ability to fit wide tires. To give you an idea of how much wider this is going to be, We have to roll and pull our fenders to fit a 245 in the rear if we have any lowering.



and this is what a 15x6.5 ET30 looks like with just 205s in the rear and 195s up front.

So an extra 1.5" of wheel width and an additional 60-70 mm of tire with some 30mm flares and I shouldn't have to worry about grip again, plus it'll be unique. And I long to see the 3.5" lip on the rear wheels .

Probably going with the XXR 513 16x8 et0

since they have the width and offsets in the style I like

or the Rota RB 16x8 et4.


I don't really want to buy "fake wheels" but the RS Watanabe's don't come in these sizes. The wheel offset and width is what i'm after for clearance issues, and there's a strong possibility i'll be going to 17s (in which case either of these wheels will be out of the question) since I know how wide I want the tires to be and it's simply a matter of finding a wheel size and offset that will allow me to fit them on the MR2.

I will gladly accept wheel recommendations, and I may even need to go wider (8" Front, 9"Rear if 17s) In which case i'd choose a different wheel style all together as I think 16" is the limit where that style looks good. I want to keep wheel weight under 20lbs though.