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From: Adrienne Mora (ade@mr2.org.nz) Date: Wed, 21 Aug 96 11:21:00 NZS Subject: MR2 MKI Race Car - Progress report
Well, just in case anyone is interested, I thought I'd post how things are going with the race car so far. Here's the background. I found a mkI MR2 that had been in a fire .. .the fire had gone down to about 1/2 a foot above the floor pan. No structural damage except it needed a new roof skin (damaged when they removed it after the fire). The previous owner had bought a new one for it. (I'm the third owner, the first wanted to rally it .. but found he was not allowed to due to cabin size, the second owner just didn't have the time to build it).
Ok .. so .. one burnt rusty body shell with most suspension parts, an engine with a singed top. No interior, no glass, no boot lid or spoiler, every plastic/rubber parts melted etc etc. What I needed was a lot of parts to put it back together, so I bought a rolled '87 SC T-Top MR2 .. everything in working order.... just dented body. Perfect : ) And i get an SC engine and bigger SC brakes! : )
I've stripped the rolled car and the shell is now sitting outside under a tarpolin. I spose i'll hang on to it for a while in case i need some metal!! : )
In the mean time, the burnt shell (the race car shell) has been dipped to remove all the rust and paint. It went into a race car preparation place and had the following done: new roof skin put on, air vent stiched into other size (air vent removed from rolled car) .. so now it has an air vent on BOTH sides, 10 point roll cage, large hole cut in metal 'bulkhead' between radiator and front boot (will flow the air thru there and up thru hole in bonnet), chasis seam welded for strength, and some minor dings removed.
Now I'm in the process of cleaning the shell up bit by bit and putting on etch primer. Then it'll be primered and then painted. Since the fuel filler now has a air intake over it, the fuel tank will be modified to be filled from the front (maybe flush with the front bonnet with one of those quick fill systems for endurance racing). All windows except front will be perspex (back one has roll cage going thru it!!). A friend is building a pedal box with dual braking system, so I'll be able to adjust brake bias from the drivers seat. All bushes will be polyurethane, and if we can't find/make them.. we'll rose joint them. Brakes will be stock SC to start with .... but will later upgrade to something like 12" wilwood disks with four pot calipers. The engine will be relatively stock (minus emissions items that we can remove without ECU packing a sad .. and the A/C of course). Later I'll like to do it up heaps .. hot cams ... programable computer etc etc etc ... plenty of money needed for that! : ). It's got a 2.5 inch exhaust with two flow master exhausts on it ... it's loud. I'm planning to move the intercooler so that it sits behind the second air vent .. with the air filter directly behind that - nice cold air!! (can anyone think of any probs with making the intercooler lines longer?) The battery will be relocated to the front of the car. The fuse box will be moved too since it will now block the air vent. We're not sure what we're going to do with the computer yet.... there's plans to put holes in the wall between the engine bay and the boot for air flow similar to the front one (with it venting out holes in the back of the boot lid). The computer may have to have a box to put it in to keep it cool (no heat shelding between it and the exhaust) .. or maybe put in the passenger compartment.
The boot lid, spoiler and front air dam will have to be made out of fiberglass (myself) and the doors will be aluminimum (race preparation place). The spoiler will be basically the same .. but a bit wider and higher. The front air dam will go straight down from the bumper, and have one large hole in the middle for the radiator, and two small ones on the side for brake ducting.
Interior will be minimal. We'll use the dash, instrument cluster and the top piece that fits along the center console where the gear change is. No sound deadening material (all removed in fire, good for weight! : ), no carpet, no plastic panels .. no nothing! Just dash, seats, harnesses, extra gauges and a fire extingisher.
Phew ... you all asleep yet?
Well, any suggestions would be helpfull and appreciated!! : )
Ade '86 SC T-Top MR2 ... "M1STR 2" .... my daily driver '87 MR2 SC Race car - being built using a rolled SC T-Top for parts '9? Fraser - lotus 7 replica kit being built ade@mr2.org.nz New Zealand
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 96 15:27:00 NZS From: Adrienne Mora (ade@mr2.org.nz) Subject: Race car pics Scanned some pics in!! I converted them to JPG to make 'em smaller. They seem a bit dark .. but see what you think. I've written a little explaination beside each one.
This is the burnt out MR2, destined to be the race car, being dropped off at the dippers to have all it's rust removed. The car had been completely stripped by the first owner, and my garage has boxes of burnt and rusty looking parts.
Pic from front left of the rolled 1987 SC T-top car. The accident started with the front left of the bumper clipping a bank and flipping it. It smashed onto it's roof and then went back over onto it's wheels. The driver's only injury was a cut on his arm and the car was still drivable!!
View from the back of the rolled car.
The race car is back from the race preparation place. There are side intrusions beams across the doors and a parallel bar behind the seats for harness attachment (along with a diagonal one). The front strut towers are also tided in with the roll cage. I'll post better photos later when she's painted and looking better!!
View from the rear left of the race car. Note the bars going thru the back window to the strut tower. There are also ones lower down going to the chassis rail within the engine bay (they can be seen in the other picture). Note: Air intake on left hand side of car!! : )
Date: May 21, 1997 From: Adrienne Mora (ade@mr2.org.nz) Subject: Race Car Update
Hi all. : )
Here's an update on the race car : ) As you may have read in an earlier post (or on the www page) we bought a burnt out MKI MR2 shell and a rolled MR2 for parts and for the past [mumble] months we've been setting about turning the burnt shell into a race car that can be run in club events, hillclimbs, track events etc. The aim is to pop a supercharged engine into the car although that means we can't compete in SS2000 class (no blown motors allowed). The car has been classed as a 2.7 litre (1.7 correction factor on 1600cc engine capacity to account for forced induction) in sports and GT class so we'll be competing against porsches and muscle cars...... now .. that should be interesting!
Anyway, we had the rusty shell dipped, a roll cage added and some body modifications including a side air intake on the left hand side of the shell. From there, the next task was painting the bare shell.
Painting - WHAT A PAIN IN THE A$$!!! We brush painted most of the inside of the car white. We found a really great product (POR15) for puting on bare metal to STOP rust for the rest of time .... this stuff is great, but be warned ... it's PERMANANT!! (including brushes, clothes, fingers etc). Two weeks later my hands were their original colour again .... almost. : )
We borrowed a set of "jigs" to put the car on so that we could turn her upside down to paint the bottom. This worked well and we painted ... and painted .. and painted ... and painted. Once the underside was painted and while the car was on the jig, we also fitted suspension (TRD race springs, TRD bushes, KYB super special gymkarna shocks (adjustable)), fuel tank, brake lines and coolant lines.
In the last month or so we've really been working hard on the car. In May the momentous occasion arrived where we took the car off the jigs ... three guys lifted the front end (grunt grunt) while I lowered the rear with the help of a chain block.
Wow ... she looked interesting on the floor .. check out that ride height!!! : \ .... a 4 X 4 MR2???
We sanded her down and rolled her outside for painting. This was done in the backyard as it's cheaper to do it ourselves and the finish isn't THAT important ... it is a race car after all : ). We managed to prime and paint the body in one day... but had to wait for another warm sunny day to do all the panels, bumpers, etc etc.
Meanwhile, once the body was painted in went the wiring loom, dash, lights, tail lights, pedals, master cylinders etc. The engine & transmission are just about ready to go in too. We also have harnesses and seats ready to go in. We definately getting closer to the day that we'll have the race car running. We can't wait. : )
Adrienne Mora & Stephen White
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