1985 MR2

After driving it for most of the year, the MR2 got tucked away when the roads got salty.  Now it's getting a little attention again:

The first thing I noted once it was up there was that my rust repair and painting seems to be keeping things nice and clean under there- and this year was pretty rainy so it saw plenty of moisture:

I pulled the struts- I'm going to replace the inserts with Konis since they have been feeling progressively harsher.  This car has a pretty neat setup with Ground Control coilovers and shortened front struts housings for more bump travel- it actually uses 4 rear inserts since they're shorter overall:

Took everything apart to confirm before ordering stuff- these Tokicos have led a hard life:

Such a great car! Hope it gets out to play come nice weather.

You said in the wheels post you used an abrasive wheel on the grinder.

Van you elaborate? Ive got set of wheels that are black that are screaming for a refinish....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

It was something like these "stripping wheels" on Amazon.  The Isuzu wheels were relatively easy since they're pretty flat, and I just did the tight spots by hand with a red scotch brite pad.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That's what I thought you meant, but thanks for the clarification! Appreciate it!

I've heard Tokico's are a little soft. Is that true?

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

I don't know that I'd necessarily say "soft" but sort of- they only have 5 adjustments, and it really seems like none of them are ever quite right.  For example, on the rear of this car (400lb/in springs), 4 was bouncy but 5 seemed too harsh.  With the Koni yellows I've had in the past, it feels like there's a much larger "sweet spot" where it's not bouncy and also not so stiff that every bump causes the wheels to leave the pavement.

Still waiting on strut inserts but my brake plumbing is done.  Early MR2s have WAY too much front bias, so between the proportioning valve I already had laying around and a $2 tee fitting off of a junkyard 90s Corolla, it was easy to do this:

Struts!

All four are getting trimmed down Audi TT front bumpstops, because they're cheap and the progressive foam type instead of the hard rubber it previously had:

Rears:

Fronts:

Installed:

Drove it:

Now that the shocks and brake bias are tweaked to my liking, it drives really, really nicely.  I may need to cut the bumpstops a bit more, but I'm going to see how it all feels after everything has a few miles of wear on it.

Story time!  Two of the four strut inserts were purchased on closeout- they were labeled as being correct for the application, but some quick measurements indicated that they were mislabled and wouldn't fit.  I called up Koni North America, they confirmed via a few photos that I had the wrong parts, and not only sent me a new pair for free, they told me the correct application and let me keep the mislabeled ones!  Koni customer service is awesome and I will continue to buy their stuff.

Good to hear!  Yeah, I'll reiterate how good Koni's customer service is.  I had an issue with some yellow inserts on my old Integra that they addressed under their warranty relatively quickly.  Two thumbs up.

Following your journey since I have an 86 in the garage.  Love the wheels.  What are they from?

edit - just saw the part where you said they came from an Impulse. Reading comprehension FTW.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

 on the rear of this car (400lb/in springs), 4 was bouncy but 5 seemed too harsh. 

Mind sharing what you're running up front?

How do you feel about ride and handling?

Also interested in the ride assessment.  I have a set of GC's with 300/400 rates just sitting in a box.  Mine has Eibach Pro-Kit springs on it now, but it's been a loooong time since I needed that level of comfort out the car.

I was considering disconnecting the swaybars and running the 400lb springs up front to try out the Hoelscher front-stiff setup for fun...

In reply to wheelsmithy :

250 up front- it rides quite nicely but tends to spin the inside rear tire exiting tight turns, think it would be better with slightly softer rear springs or stiffer front springs.  With the Konis it's surprisingly smooth over choppy stuff considering how stiff/low it is.

For anybody who wants cheap struts for a challenge MR2 or something, I'm going to list the Tokicos in the for sale section momentarily.

I might snag them then, though I do have a set of WAT Coilovers from Matrixgarage to put on mine.

Could you detail the brake bias mod a little more please? I'm always trying to find new ways to improve mine.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Sure- basically you remove the stock proportioning valve, put a tee to connect the front lines directly to the master cylinder, and install the adjustable proportioning valve to connect the rear line to the master cylinder. 

Most 80s/90s Toyotas have a tee fitting somewhere in the brake system that will work (all 3 connections are m10x1 iirc) so you can get that from a junkyard.  The rear line either needs to be reflared to match your adjustable proportioning valve of choice, or you need adapters- I believe Flyin' Miata offers a kit for the NA chassis that has the right adapters but I've never had my hands on it to confirm that.

If Girthquake passes on the strut (inserts, right?), I would be interested in the next place in line.

Long time, no posts- I drive this a lot but I don't work on it much.  It's a great car.

Recently the rearmost 2ft of the exhaust began really disintegrating, including a few pieces coming out of the muffler and some visible cracks:

So it was time to remove the awesome, but very loud, straight through muffler the car came with:

Cutting it off revealed this neat plate on top, I'll definitely keep this:

$50 on eBay netted me a pair of Ducati 1098 mufflers- not only are they light, they have tiny little catalytic converters in them so I can stop stinking up the world every time I drive.  Also, the Ducati engine makes just as much power as a 4age so I guesstimate that they should flow enough:

A bit of annoying welding that I'm not particularly proud of to make a 1-2 merge:

Some slight trimming of the rear louver thing under the bumper:

And there we have it:

Hilariously, the "2" section of the long 4-2-1 header ends right before the flange, so at this point the exhaust is only in a single pipe for about one foot.  Maybe it's technically an X-pipe now.

Since somebody will ask for audio:

I'm happy with it- it's a lot quieter than the race muffler at idle, still makes good noises at full throttle, and doesn't stink any more thanks to the cats.  Not bad for reclaimed sportbike parts and some scrap tubing.

Looks so cool.  Sounds so cool. 

very nice!

Ah, this is the MR2 you offered me?  Looks like a (metric) ton of fun, but I'm happy with the BRZ.

In reply to Jerry :

It was an option, but it sort of stopped being an option every time I drove it.  I like it a lot.

I am going have to get some motorcycle mufflers for my 2. It is so damn loud and without a cat my garage is always smelly (plus Captain Planet likes Cats). Not my favorite look but nothing a can of high temp paint can't sort out. 

In reply to singleslammer :

I do think some traditional, round canister mufflers might look better- but at $50 for the pair, with integrated cats, I couldn't pass these up!  Not sure how many other motorcycle mufflers have integrated cats, I would assume a decent number of newer bikes will have them.

They sound a lot better than I imagined. Nice work!