I rang up a modified car specialist for a word about the rather perky vehicle and my own shaky situation (points for no insurance a couple of years ago, outstanding accident claim), and they said they'd cover me/it. They couldn't tell me how much it'll cost until I can get back to them with a BHP figure though...
Oh, and the other thing to consider about such a highly tuned car is that it will probably not be that reliable - plus if it does go the AA man is going to take one look under the bonnet and call for a flatbed.
My God, that started life as an MR 2 ?!?!!?!? Jeez..... And are you spying on me ? as I got gezumped on a celica with full kit last night, and here you are, supposadly my friend posting " dirty " pictures again...:0 Hope the insurance works out for you....
Oh does it have the " in flight fueling socket fitted " from that spec it sounds like it's gonna need it :)
No, I don't know what half of that means. I'm pretty sure it's impressive though.
If you want to know I think I can explain all of them and why they're done.
In most cases those mods will have a negative impact on reliability and day to day drive. You'll find the car is astonishingly slow on public roads and the hardened and lowered suspension will dislocate your spine every time you hit a seam in the concrete...
Having said that in the right conditions (drag strip) the car will excel. Not sure about spending 20k on a 5k car to achieve the performance of a 15k TVR, though...
gt28rs turbo A much bigger and higher spec turbo. Although this means it compresses much more air (and hence the detonation in the engine is much more severe, see below) a bigger and heavier turbo takes much longer to spin up. This means that every time you let the engine revs drop the turbo spins down and doesn't respond quickly when you then put your foot down. On a track this isn't a problem because you're hammering the car all the time. On the road it will make the car unresponsive and slow off the line.
Extremeboost Downpipe (de-cat) This is the pipe that connects the manifold (exhaust outlet) of the engine to the exhaust system. To change the turbo the exhaust system would have to have changed as the turbo is spun by the exhaust gases exiting the engine.
greddy intercooler As the turbo compresses the air the air heats up. Hot air is less dense than cold air so better performance is achieved by cooling it down. The intercooler is a radiator that sits between the turbo and the air intake of the engine which allows cold air to pass over the radiator and cool the compressed air inside it.
TB-Developments Custom Throttle Body Intake The throttle body was probably changed to accept the intercooler output. The standard throttle body is probably quite narrow and limits the amount of air that can pass.
540cc Injectors The injectors are the little gizmos which squirt the fuel into the piston in each 'suck' cycle. As the turbo is now pumping a lot more air into the system than was originally intended the standard injectors (and fuel pump below) wouldn't have been able to supply enough fuel to keep the engine running at the right mixture.
Walbro Fuel Pump As above.
Spec Stage 3 6-Puck Clutch This is obviously a higher spec clutch to deal with the extra power. Racing clutches engage much more sharply than road clutches and can be a pain in the left leg to use on the road. On the track the clutch is largely a digital thing and you just need to disconnect and reconnect the engine. Parking isn't something you need to do on the track :)
HKS Super Mega Flow Induction Kit This kit replaces the standard air intake with a larger bore pipe, high flow air filter etc to give the turbo enough air flow to compress it all before feeding it to the intercooler and then the throttle body.
HKS Iridium Spark Plugs High temperature, longer lasting, better spark. Changing the spark plugs in this manner will undoubtedly completely screw the timing. Hopefully the engine has been remapped since the spark plug change.
Magnecor Leads These are the electrical high voltage leads which connect the spark generator to the spark plugs. Good quality leads can make a little difference but usually the changes are just for aesthetics.
Apexi Super Lightweight Racing Exhaust System Don't get me started on exhaust systems. Too late ;) Boy racers seem to think that a large bore pipe means more gas will flow meaning that the engine has an easier time and hence produces more power. Unfortunately it's not that simple and manufacturers spend a lot of time and money tuning a factory exhaust system to match the characteristics of the engine. There are two prime factors which are screwed by someone tinkering with an exhaust.
Back pressure is deliberately created in exhaust systems to increase the torque of the engine at lower revs. If you replace the exhaust with an open exhaust that doesn't have this back pressure the engine will generate less torque at lower revs and more torque at higher revs. This means you have to rev the nuts off the engine to get anything you can really use.
Widening the exhaust causes the exhaust gases to expand prematurely and cool down, making them denser and less free flowing. Attention could be paid to TVR here, who even on their 5 litre V8 engines only have two 1.5" bore exhausts coming out the back of the car. TVR know a thing or two about tuning exhausts ;)
Blitz Turbo Timer The turbo timer keeps the oil pump and engine fan running after you remove the ignition key. The oil in the turbo is often run at very high temperatures and if you stop the engine without letting this oil cool down it can boil on the turbo vanes and cause corrosion. You REALLY don't want corrosion in a piece of metal spinning at several hundred thousand rpm ... ;)
Turbo XS Boost Solenoids With Manual Switch Mounted On Dashboard. (High Boost 17psi-Low 10psi) This is just a switch to control the limit of the turbo. There will be safety valves attached the the turbo exhaust input (called waste gates) which let exhaust gases bypass the turbo (and hence let it slow down and reduce intake air pressure) when the intake air pressure rises too much. It's a safety system.
TRD Dials With Traction Control Traction control is an electronic system to back off the throttle when wheels start spinning. Some systems are awful, some are absolutely amazing. I have no idea if this one is any good.
Apexi Racing Supension Set-Up This is where, for me, the car turns from a slug into something undrivable. The tarmac on race tracks is incredibly flat, like an airstrip, and the suspension is there to keep the car level, not to soak up any bumps. On the road it's a different story with pot holes, drains, cats eyes and seams in the concrete. Hitting any of these items in a car with racing suspension is likely to hurt and cause intense tiredness when driving long distance. And then there's speed bumps...
Personally I wouldn't go for it unless you were looking for a track car. I like fun cars but they have to be serious road cars and not something that I'll hate to go to Tesco in...
Stuart, would you mind adding me on any IM you have handy? It seems like you would be a useful person to discuss this whole shiny-fast-thing thing with :) I have the usual five, they're all listed on my user profile here...
Of course what's funny is that even then, the bike would probably give it a good race off the line - it's only at top speed where the car will obviously win. And the car has had over 20 grand spent on it :)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 02:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 02:38 pm (UTC)gt28rs turbo
Extremeboost Downpipe (de-cat)
greddy intercooler
TB-Developments Custom Throttle Body Intake
540cc Injectors
Walbro Fuel Pump
Spec Stage 3 6-Puck Clutch
HKS Super Mega Flow Induction Kit
HKS Iridium Spark Plugs
Magnecor Leads
Apexi Super Lightweight Racing Exhaust System
Blitz Turbo Timer
Turbo XS Boost Solenoids With Manual Switch Mounted On Dashboard. (High Boost 17psi-Low 10psi)
TRD Dials With Traction Control
Apexi Racing Supension Set-Up
...so yeah, quite probably.
(No, I don't know what half of that means. I'm pretty sure it's impressive though.)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:28 pm (UTC)Anyway, if they look under the bonnet in that one they'll find the amplifier :) (MR2s are mid-engined)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 04:49 pm (UTC)And are you spying on me ? as I got gezumped on a celica with full kit last night, and here you are, supposadly my friend posting " dirty " pictures again...:0
Hope the insurance works out for you....
Oh does it have the " in flight fueling socket fitted " from that spec it sounds like it's gonna need it :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:29 pm (UTC)If you want to know I think I can explain all of them and why they're done.
In most cases those mods will have a negative impact on reliability and day to day drive. You'll find the car is astonishingly slow on public roads and the hardened and lowered suspension will dislocate your spine every time you hit a seam in the concrete...
Having said that in the right conditions (drag strip) the car will excel. Not sure about spending 20k on a 5k car to achieve the performance of a 15k TVR, though...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:38 pm (UTC)He's asking 8 grand for it, btw. The full spec is here (http://www.cruise-lincs.net/mr2-turbo/spec.htm). Explain away :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 04:23 pm (UTC)A much bigger and higher spec turbo. Although this means it compresses much more air (and hence the detonation in the engine is much more severe, see below) a bigger and heavier turbo takes much longer to spin up. This means that every time you let the engine revs drop the turbo spins down and doesn't respond quickly when you then put your foot down. On a track this isn't a problem because you're hammering the car all the time. On the road it will make the car unresponsive and slow off the line.
This is the pipe that connects the manifold (exhaust outlet) of the engine to the exhaust system. To change the turbo the exhaust system would have to have changed as the turbo is spun by the exhaust gases exiting the engine.
As the turbo compresses the air the air heats up. Hot air is less dense than cold air so better performance is achieved by cooling it down. The intercooler is a radiator that sits between the turbo and the air intake of the engine which allows cold air to pass over the radiator and cool the compressed air inside it.
The throttle body was probably changed to accept the intercooler output. The standard throttle body is probably quite narrow and limits the amount of air that can pass.
The injectors are the little gizmos which squirt the fuel into the piston in each 'suck' cycle. As the turbo is now pumping a lot more air into the system than was originally intended the standard injectors (and fuel pump below) wouldn't have been able to supply enough fuel to keep the engine running at the right mixture.
As above.
This is obviously a higher spec clutch to deal with the extra power. Racing clutches engage much more sharply than road clutches and can be a pain in the left leg to use on the road. On the track the clutch is largely a digital thing and you just need to disconnect and reconnect the engine. Parking isn't something you need to do on the track :)
This kit replaces the standard air intake with a larger bore pipe, high flow air filter etc to give the turbo enough air flow to compress it all before feeding it to the intercooler and then the throttle body.
High temperature, longer lasting, better spark. Changing the spark plugs in this manner will undoubtedly completely screw the timing. Hopefully the engine has been remapped since the spark plug change.
These are the electrical high voltage leads which connect the spark generator to the spark plugs. Good quality leads can make a little difference but usually the changes are just for aesthetics.
to be continued...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 04:23 pm (UTC)Don't get me started on exhaust systems. Too late ;) Boy racers seem to think that a large bore pipe means more gas will flow meaning that the engine has an easier time and hence produces more power. Unfortunately it's not that simple and manufacturers spend a lot of time and money tuning a factory exhaust system to match the characteristics of the engine. There are two prime factors which are screwed by someone tinkering with an exhaust.
The turbo timer keeps the oil pump and engine fan running after you remove the ignition key. The oil in the turbo is often run at very high temperatures and if you stop the engine without letting this oil cool down it can boil on the turbo vanes and cause corrosion. You REALLY don't want corrosion in a piece of metal spinning at several hundred thousand rpm ... ;)
This is just a switch to control the limit of the turbo. There will be safety valves attached the the turbo exhaust input (called waste gates) which let exhaust gases bypass the turbo (and hence let it slow down and reduce intake air pressure) when the intake air pressure rises too much. It's a safety system.
Traction control is an electronic system to back off the throttle when wheels start spinning. Some systems are awful, some are absolutely amazing. I have no idea if this one is any good.
This is where, for me, the car turns from a slug into something undrivable. The tarmac on race tracks is incredibly flat, like an airstrip, and the suspension is there to keep the car level, not to soak up any bumps. On the road it's a different story with pot holes, drains, cats eyes and seams in the concrete. Hitting any of these items in a car with racing suspension is likely to hurt and cause intense tiredness when driving long distance. And then there's speed bumps...
Personally I wouldn't go for it unless you were looking for a track car. I like fun cars but they have to be serious road cars and not something that I'll hate to go to Tesco in...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 04:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:52 pm (UTC)Super Mega...! *Bounce*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 02:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-10 03:26 pm (UTC)For the record? I prefer the standard look...