Track car project - including diary of a track n00b

Vix said:
Its helmet hair!!! Why do you think I kept mine on! :D
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Nah, it's just scruffy unkempt hair due to spending virtually all of my spare time in the last couple of months under a car. Has been cut now though.

Kitchster/matt - any details on that Cadwell trackday? It's not too far out of our way, might try and join you if time/funds allow.
 
Just a heads up for you guys if you want to reduce the weight even further on the MR2, There will likely be Fibre Glass and Carbon Fibre panels being announced for the UK market in April :)
 
Was hoping they'd go to someone who would use them to make parts available rather than keeping them for themselves. Just need to hope I can afford some bits now.
 
kaiowas said:
Was hoping they'd go to someone who would use them to make parts available rather than keeping them for themselves. Just need to hope I can afford some bits now.
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I think it only took him a few minutes to buy them when the auction was put up:p Bargin price really too:)

I think they will put them at sale for a price like they try to do on Twobrutal, Which is to pay for the cost of the Product and thats about it, sometimes with just a little extra for there effort.

Paul woods has just released his Fiberglass Wheel Aches aswell:)
 
Here you go, Niks now got a website up.

http://www.zombiewings.com/

Keep an eye on it for when he updates it, Hes after recommendations for parts over at Twobrutal now.

Hes doing stock parts First and then doing custom ones with some vents and what not after that:)

Hope it helps you 2 out:)
 
Sorry, webspace is down due to exceeding bandwidth limits atm. I think the files were too big. Will hopefully get it sorted this evening.

Or you could just get your own copy of MR2 only and read it properly ;)
 
kaiowas said:
Sorry, webspace is down due to exceeding bandwidth limits atm. I think the files were too big. Will hopefully get it sorted this evening.

Or you could just get your own copy of MR2 only and read it properly ;)
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Tis not sold down here me thinks:(
 
It's not really sold in shops anywhere. They send it out worldwide though so you should be able to get a subscription sorted.
 
kaiowas said:
It's not really sold in shops anywhere. They send it out worldwide though so you should be able to get a subscription sorted.
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Yeah, i knew it was only really shopping only online.

They did ask the MR2 forum down here but there wasnt really much interest.

Ill have to find out what it costs to get it sent here for only a single subscription:)
 
Just over a week to go until the next event. Originally I had plans to get plenty more done on the car during the 6 weeks between the first 2 events. Unfortunately Vix's car has spent most of that time in the bodyshop resulting in her using my car and me being dependent on the track car for work making me reluctant to start any big jobs.

Vix's car is now back on the road though so I can try and get a couple of bits done before the next round. Today I removed the passenger seat again then had a go at the valve clearances. Most of our mk1s have had a rattly top end at some point and I usually just ignore it but with this one being abused on track I decided I'd better try and do something about it, then once I've done it once I'll have more confidence doing the same job on any of the others.

Didn't take any pictures but the job involves:

Remove cam covers
Set cylinder 1 to TDC
Use feeler gauges to measure clearances on half of the valves.
Spin the crank 360 degrees and measure the other half.

The valve clearances on a 4A-GE are set by having shims of varying thickness on the tops of the buckets. Adjusting is a case of determining the thickness of shim required and then swapping in the correct thickness shim. You should use a proper tool to depress the valve to help you get the shims out, not having access to this tool I took the alternative option of undoing all of the cam caps which allows the camshaft to lift just enough to get the shims out without having to completely remove the cams and have to mess with cambelt/timing etc. Also as I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of spares I pilfered all of the shims from a spare cylinder head to give me a good selection to choose from when setting the clearances.

Managed to set all but one of the valves to within spec (some of them started way out) only one I couldn't was right at the pulley end of the exhaust cam where I couldn't get the camshaft to move enough to get the shim out. As the clearance on this valve was too low rather than too high I didn't really worry about it too much. I'll try and remember to sort it if/when I do a cambelt change.

Engine started fine and sounded more or less ok. For some reason this car gets noisier once things have warmed up whereas they're normally noisy from cold so I will need to go for a bit of a drive sometime to see if I've quietened the head down but given how far out of spec some of the clearances were I'd be very surprised if I haven't made some difference. Only slight concern is that whilst I had the car running on the drive there seemed to be the occasional misfire at idle. Will have to keep an eye on that, see if it gets better/worse. The well around plug #3 was full of oil so I'm hoping it was just a bit of oil that got on the plug / inside the cylinder when I took it out and it'll cure itself after a run.

Not going to try anything else too adventurous this close to an event, sometime in the next week I just need to give the car a wash so I can apply the vinyl backing for our nice new magnetic numbers and if the weather looks like holding up I'll be able to refit the R888s. This may also result in going for a test drive as this car is so much fun on those tyres.
 
Have just read this thread with great interest as I have been considering buying a MK1 MR2 to use as a track toy (and secretly I've always wanted one :D).

I've read up on the common problems like your 5th gear woe and rusting wheel arches etc, are there any other major mechanical things to keep an eye on and I hope with decent servicing it will be a good reliable fun little car!

Think I'll have to go on some car limits days first though as the only MR car I've driven is an Exige at silverstone so far but I hope by taking it easy I'll learn to drive it reasonably well, but at least you won't be the only novice on here anymore (although not as bad as me :p)

The car I'm looking at is a G reg so a mk1b and has been pretty much used as a track car itself, it has some drilled rear discs, a funny rear end of a plain sheet of aluminium with lights almost like a 60s Ford Cortina and what looks like 3 air intake pipes on the front bumper (may not be though), I don't know much more info than that but I hope to get some pictures soon and if it all checks out I will be joining the mk1 mr2 fold this week perhaps!

Sorry to derail your thread and any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated :)

Rob

p.s. Good luck at your next event!
 
spaz said:
Have just read this thread with great interest as I have been considering buying a MK1 MR2 to use as a track toy (and secretly I've always wanted one :D).

I've read up on the common problems like your 5th gear woe and rusting wheel arches etc, are there any other major mechanical things to keep an eye on and I hope with decent servicing it will be a good reliable fun little car!

Think I'll have to go on some car limits days first though as the only MR car I've driven is an Exige at silverstone so far but I hope by taking it easy I'll learn to drive it reasonably well, but at least you won't be the only novice on here anymore (although not as bad as me :p)

The car I'm looking at is a G reg so a mk1b and has been pretty much used as a track car itself, it has some drilled rear discs, a funny rear end of a plain sheet of aluminium with lights almost like a 60s Ford Cortina and what looks like 3 air intake pipes on the front bumper (may not be though), I don't know much more info than that but I hope to get some pictures soon and if it all checks out I will be joining the mk1 mr2 fold this week perhaps!

Sorry to derail your thread and any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated :)

Rob

p.s. Good luck at your next event!
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How much are you looking at spending?

I dont think i would be confident buying someone elses track car TBH.
 
My dad knows the guy very well and knows he has looked after it, my dad is very fussy so if he thinks it's alright it must be good! :D

I don't think he's after much for it, a few hundred pounds my dad reckons.
 
quick question that relates to track cars etc, will stripping out the interior affect a cars ability to pass an mot? sounds a pretty silly question but just want to be sure.
 
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