mr2-digest Wednesday, December 24 1997 Volume 02 : Number 017 Re: MR2 MK1 window tinting Re: REWARD FOR FINDING ME AN MR2 Re: NFS MR2? MR2 re: leaf blower MR2 Turbo - Ticking/Exhaust Leak Fixed... MR2 Ron P's COOL SPOILER!!! MR2 Re:Ticking and Manifolds MR2 Re:Ticking and Manifolds MR2 MK1 Dropped a GTI like a rock MR2 MK1, yet another tire question MR2 MK1: TRD 272 cams, ITS ALIVE!!! MR2 re: Mk1 Oil choice MR2 Mk 1 fast idle Re: MR2 leafcharger reply MR2 Re: Adjustable Shock Settings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:08:51 EST From: Ltraviolnc Subject: Re: MR2 MK1 window tinting In a message dated 97-12-23 23:48:14 EST, SportRidr@aol.com writes: > << mr2-interest@mr2.com >> > I have an 86 mr2 with dark tint all-around, and the rear defrost does not > cause problems. > Yup, same here. Although honestly, I don't think I've ever needed to use the rear defrost in the eight years I've owned the car. Must be something to do with a vertical window. If you want to do the tint right, remove all the interior panels that border the windows you're going to do. For tint, I recommend "Secret Zone". Tinting can be a real bitch, and it's a good idea to have some help from someone who is good at it if you're not. Patience is the key. And one more thing, if you plan on going REAL dark (like I did), get used to the idea of VERY low side and back visibility and a total loss of side view mirrors at night. Parking is tough and backing up in dark places is better done with the windows open. It takes a while to get used to. Ron 87/\/\R2 Ltraviolnc@aol.com ICQ '98: 3087083 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:52:14 EST From: Ltraviolnc Subject: Re: REWARD FOR FINDING ME AN MR2 In a message dated 97-12-22 12:24:08 EST, rals@ptd.net writes: > What I want: > > A 93+ turbo with less than 60K miles located within 400 miles of > Philadelphia Pa. > HAS to have: PS,PB,PL,PW,CRUISE,3-1 stereo,T-tops > Only colors considered: Silver,Black,Yellow,White,Teal/Turquoise > > I will pay $100 to the person who locates the car that RESULTS in my > purchase. I don't buy the car...you don't get the reward! > > I WILL GIVE A $25 BONUS IF IT IS SILVER!!! > > Jeff F....I want my MR2 BACK!!! forgiveness asked for in advance.... Do I have the car for you! In my garage, which is within only 60 miles of Philly I have a teal 93 turbo that I could probably pursuade the owner to sell at a reasonable price. This car has all the options you want, plus: *custom boby modifications (you can hardly tell it's an MR2!) *custom shortened wheelbase on right side (for tight turns in auto-x) * special prototype fastback model (no trunk!) * roomiest interior in any MR2 (it's cavernous!) *Greddy turbo (for lotsa power!) *offset engine mounting (for improved weight bias) *pre crash tested! (by our best test pilot) The car needs some work for inspection and the front wheels seem to have been stolen, but is otherwise ready to go and available with the balance of factory warranty. Serious inquiries only. No joy riders. Financing subject to credit approval. Seatbelts should always be worn. Don't drink and drive. Tests performed by a professional driver on a closed course. Hey Jeff, I'll expect my $100.00 in cash when you come over on Friday, kay? I'm really gonna pay for this, are'nt I? 8-) Ron 87/\/\R2 Ltraviolnc@aol.com ICQ '98: 3087083 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 01:00:37 EST From: Ltraviolnc Subject: Re: NFS MR2? In a message dated 97-12-23 19:22:18 EST, TerrySaltzman@home.com writes: > i want to get the one with the pedals and all that stuff. I have a really good feeling that the fat dude in the red suit has the Thrustmaster NASCAR/F1 for me. I'll give you the driving impression on the 26th. > can trade in my "old" NFS2 for NFS2 Se + ~29.00. Ahh, but you'll keep the old one too. You'll just get a rebate for upgrading to "SE". Best of both worlds. You lose nothing. And gain a whole new menu of cheat codes and hidden cars. (My pioneered engined '57 Chevy screams!) Ron ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:00:00 -0800 From: Bill Cochran Subject: MR2 re: leaf blower Bill, I was looking forward to pulling out the old pocket protector and hip calculator on this one, but looks like you beat me to the punch. Are you an electrical engineer? I agree with Bill Miller's calc's regarding your grossly undersized inverter. Additionally, while you could get an inverter to handle a 1300 Watt load, it would draw about 100 Amps of current from your battery. Can you say dead battery? A gas blower appears to be the only reasonable approach, but... So while a gas blower may work, it represents a logistic problem with refueling and installation as well as an efficiency problem (overall MPG). Finally, I'm concerned that not only do the leaf blowers not offer enough PSI (it's one thing to move a lot of air, but quite another to move a lot of air under pressure) but they also will significantly lower the overall efficiency rate (MPG). But i have to admit, it does sound like a fun experiment, and I applaud those involved. Bill Just a big dam EE '91T '90 Taurus SHO faster than my '2, i think :< '84 GTI and still cookin' at 200k At 01:45 PM 12/23/97 -0500, Bill Miller wrote: > >3) i bought the best power inverter that frys offer. it is rated 300 >watts > continuous that can produce 115 volts AC. will this be sufficient to > > power the 12 amps leaf blower? > > >If your leaf blower really draws 12 amps, you are WAY under w/ your >inverter. General rule of them is volts x amps = watts. In your case, >that would be 115volts x 12amps = 1380watts. Based upon your figures, >the inverter you have is good for only ~2.6 amps. You really should >check this out before you try to use it. If you try and pull 1380 watts >through an inverter that's only rated for 300 watts, you will have a >serious fire situation on your hands and will probably burn out the >motor on the blower very quickly (or perpetually tripping the breaker on >the inverter). > >I admire your initiative and inventivness. Good luck and have a nice >holiday. > >Regards, > >Bill > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 22:25:02 -0800 From: Bill Cochran Subject: MR2 Turbo - Ticking/Exhaust Leak Fixed... Jeff, I fixed my exhaust leak on Sunday. Like your's, my car would leak while cold then seal once warm. Under close exam, I discovered the area of the leak (around the #4 cyc) between the manifold and the head. Of 4 repair estimates, the cheapest was $615 including manifold. To remove the manifold requires removal of the turbo and cat. With nothing to loose, I tore into the engine from the top. Having only removed the a couple of air tubes, the brace and the turbo heat shield, I could access 5 of the 7 manifold bolts. All were snug but the one near the #4 cyc, which turned freely and was stripped. Why Toyota used a fine thread stud in soft Alum is a mystery. I oversized the stud from 10mm to a 7/16ths 1.25" SAE hardened bolt and tapped the hole to 7/16ths. The tap fit right through the exhaust manifold, and the lock washer fit perfectly into the recess in the manifold. I'm out just $0.69 for a bolt and no exhaust leak. And I expect my bolt will hold at least as well as the remaining fine threaded studs. Just a thought for a cheap and reasonable fix. Bill Cochran '91T '90 SHO '84 GTI to be sold on Friday :( At 03:29 PM 12/23/97 -0500, you wrote: >Regarding the ticking noise many of us are apparently hearing... > >Terry Saltzman sez: >>>if it "ticks" then egr tube, broken exhaust studs, cracked >>>manifold, warped manifold, all depending on the year, make, model >>>(Y/M/M) of your mr2. > >My '93 Turbo has a nasty ticking noise on cold start and continues until >the car is warm. During that time, any load on the engine makes the >ticking sound like I've got a deisel under the hood. Once the car gets >warm, it seems to drive ok and have plenty of power. How does the >"depending on the year, make, model" apply to my MR2 (1993 Turbo - >JTSW22N2P0069884)? EGR or exhaust manifold? (Please be the EGR!!!!!) > >TIA, >Jeff >jeffrey.laughlin@transquest.com >laughlin@avana.net > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 02:30:58 -0500 From: "Ardell L. Simon" Subject: MR2 Ron P's COOL SPOILER!!! For everyone that is interested in the custom spoiler on Ron P's 87 MR2, it is from a Fiero GT. It looks pretty good on his car though considering ITS heritage. There are pics of his car at: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3363/bear.html Its the red 87 with tinted windows and bigger than stock spoiler. If anyone is curious about the install process of the Fiero Wing on an MKI you can ask Ron at: Ltraviolnc@aol.com p.s. DON'T FORGET TO ASK HIM ABOUT WHEN HIS 87 ALMOST CAUGHT FIRE AFTER THE INSTALL OF THE FIERO WING!!! p.s.s. paybacks are a bitch.... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:26:34 -0800 From: "Mark Moore" Subject: MR2 Re:Ticking and Manifolds My 85 NA has that same ticking sound at cold start. I was told that it was a cracked manifold. My question is, when I replace it, what should I replace it with? I heard someone saying to use an SC manifold. ( Or was that a reference to Intake not Exhaust?) I am thinking of having it done soon. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:26:34 -0800 From: "Mark Moore" Subject: MR2 Re:Ticking and Manifolds My 85 NA has that same ticking sound at cold start. I was told that it was a cracked manifold. My question is, when I replace it, what should I replace it with? I heard someone saying to use an SC manifold. ( Or was that a reference to Intake not Exhaust?) I am thinking of having it done soon. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:35:17 -0800 From: Duane Brown Subject: MR2 MK1 Dropped a GTI like a rock Hello all, Just thought I would share a short drag moment from tonight. GTI left behind more on every shift. Thank you Toyota, Duane PS The american muscle thread is cool, but the 4 door vette is out. IMAPALA SS... I think the ad was "Master Vador your car is ready" I think it might have been the same engineer who left Vette when he made the Buick GNX...great car, still a collectors item you can pick up for 11k, might be one of the only 10 year ols american cars worth that much... PSS These beat the MK1 in a drag hands down. Trust me..:-( One last thing, saw a rerun of Pikes Peak Hill climb, That Celica can fly...Event was sponsored by Chevy, to bad they dont have a four wheel driver racecar themselves. Maybe a future Vette on the rally circuit. - -- Duane Brown (OnOne@mindspring.com) Media Consultant/Photographer A Variety of Visual Marketing Solutions Portfolio, Clients, Animated Gifs & Java http://www.mindspring.com/~onone - --------------------------------------- Sacramento's Premier Auto Search http://www.sacbee.com/autofinder - --------------------------------------- Adventure Sports Online http://www.adventuresports.com - --------------------------------------- "What the judge says to do, we'll do. That's the way things work in this country." Bill Gates ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 00:47:01 -0800 From: Duane Brown Subject: MR2 MK1, yet another tire question Hello, was looking for some tires, well wondering around Sam's Club... Found a cheap tire that sounds good, will the mosters fit. BFG 235/60/14---$59.00 At another Sam's I had got 195/60/14. I want to get a fairly nice tire, these 195's have been good, they are 60's but at only $49.00 each it was a deal. Ive put 5k on them and the edges are holding very nice. Now I see they have the 215/60/14 and the 235/60/14 for both at the same price $59.00 Which will fit, is this a good deal, and would a 235/60/14 outperform a 195/50/14 in anyones opinion...??? One last thing, who the hell makes a car with 14's that will take this monster 235/60/14 anyway...???...This would be alot of rubber on a Celica GT, 4 wheel burners...yeee haaa. Duane - -- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 20:05:29 +1000 From: Robin San Subject: MR2 MK1: TRD 272 cams, ITS ALIVE!!! Hi guys Well after 4 days of just stuffing around the beast finally fired up, with a bit of enouragement. The problem seemed to be the ignition timing (and stupidity on my part and the need for new plugs) and in particular the alignment to one particular tooth. Anyway I had to advance the distributor gear by one tooth before I could even get the damn thing to fire up hesitantly. Thanks to all who replied to my earlier posts, you guys were all right, having suggested that the distributor was the problem, as usual your help was invaluable. Well now that its in, Ive had a few blasts around the block and it looks like its about 10% increase on midrange and top end, something still seems missing. Im running the cam timing at 105/107 and its got about 14 degrees igniton advance, I havent had a chance to experiment with the ignition timing much. What would be gained by changing the cam timing to 98/100? this is what TRD suggest for these 272 cams. I tried that but I couldnt get it going, possibly because of the distributor suff ups and fouled plugs. So I settled for 105:intake and 107:exhaust, its ok to run this cam timing isnt it? Im pretty sure I could get the 98/100 going. Also I have checked the new plugs after a 30 mins of driving and they seem a bit too clean, so I think the MAF mod to richen the mixture is called for, how many teeth advanced is suggested for these cams? Also what idle rpm should I be going for? it looks like 1000 is as low as it will happily go with out idleing really lumpy. Thanks to all who offered so much help over the last week or so and with the broken rocker cover I dint think I was going to make it. Im so glad that I got the thing running before christmas...thanks for all your help...thanks Santa for the cams too!!!! Ill update the list on any news on these cams, but so far it looks like a win win situation, there is no loss of bottom end and the midrange is just so much stronger. The lumpy idle is pretty cool too. Merry Chirstmas everyone!!! Robin San 89 MK1 NA TRD 272 CAMS!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 10:11:33 +0000 From: Ian_Rouse@csme.canon.co.uk Subject: MR2 re: Mk1 Oil choice Hi Simon, I use Mobil 1 0w-30w in my Mk 1 (1987, UK spec - 122bhp, 67k), and find that at present (cold mornings here, only around freezing) the low viscocity helps oil feed - too thick an oil in winter, the longer it'll take to pump through (circulate), and the more damage will be done by lack of lubrication. I noticed the difference immediately - on startup, the rough noise which used to last a few seconds was down to virtually nothing (I think it had a 15-50w in before - previous owner's oil). I've had no toruble, and from what the mobil 1 users say about it, it seems good investment. A friend of mine has a Mk2 NA (UK spec again, 3SGE), and has run mobil 1 5w30w, then 0w30w since getting it (last 60k miles). His engine sounds like new on startup, and he drives it hard, most of the time (read all the time!), lots on long runs to Newcastle from London (350 miles?). I would thorougly recommend it. I don't think its a case of runing better - just better protection. Don't forget, just because an oil is thinner does not mean it's protection is worse. Look at hihg temperature characteristics of the oil, and this becomes clear. Mobil 1 is thin when cold, it just doesn't thin out much more when it gets cold. I think there is a piece on this in MR2 FAQ (mr2.com). Worth a look. Good luck, Ian '87 NA UK spec 67k, needs wash '79 mini 1275GT, 61k, needs more than a wash Is it better to use thicker oil or thinner oil for the MKI. I am from Vancouver BC Canada and have an 86' MKI n/a using 10w30. Someone told me my car would runs better on thinner oil. Is that true, I always through thicker would give me a smoother engine. And someone also told me run thinner oil on a newer engine and thinner on older one...hummm...very confusing. And how about the temparture range? Thninner or thicker is better...or stick with 10w30. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 11:43:08 -0000 From: "Maitland, Neil" Subject: MR2 Mk 1 fast idle > Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 13:01:57 -0800 (PST) > From: myt@cypress.com (Micky Thutiyakul / Product Engineer) > Subject: Re: MR2/MKI: New owner questions > > Yes, but it shouldn't be staying at 2K for more than 30 seconds. Esp. > if it's being driven. > Even on a very cold day the engine should roar up to 2K~3k at start up > and > then immediately settle down to 1.5K rpms or lower until it warms up. > > > 2. The car has very high idle at startup (~ 2k - 3k rpm). It keeps > to this > > level for a long time (at least 2 minutes after I start driving in > > addition to warming it up for 30 seconds). I would be grateful for > any > > clues on fixing this, as all cars I have come across come down to > "warm" > > idle within 30 secs of *startup*. > > > Micky > '89 SC MR2 > I think the spec says fast idle should be 2400 RPM. When it's cold out, my MR2 stays idling over 2000 for a couple of minutes eventually dropping down to 800. Also, turning on some electrics (eg main lights, brake lights(!), rear demist, heater fan) pushes the idle higher as an extra bypass valve is opened by the engine management. Neil Neil Maitland neil.maitland@anitesystems.com 88 T-bar, blue, 115k F548 RGS, Southampton,UK ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 19:14:56 -0400 From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: MR2 leafcharger reply >hey steve, you mean that you want me to try running a gas powered blower all >while driving down the road? :-) Maybe im confused, but anyway, i have >allready started collecting parts for the electric leaf blower, ive got some >ideas that wont really use up much juice. I also have fabricated a custom >intake, using some sheet metal, plumbing, rubber, and air filter. Parts found >at home depot, pep boys, discount auto,ect... It makes a heck of a difference >in power, just the intake mods, havent finished the blower yet. Anyone >interested, let me know. C'mon, look at the amperage numbers. And the funny thing is, you're going through a 50% (or so) efficient d/c to a/c converter. First of all, if the blower *has* to be electric, find a DC one... Steve B. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 09:21:28 -0500 From: "Burns, James B." Subject: MR2 Re: Adjustable Shock Settings The general rule is that the softer end of the car gets the grip. So if you want less understeer soften the front and stiffen the rear. Remember, though, that shocks only affect transient response, such as initial turn-in or doing a slalom. To alter steady state handling (such as in a long sweeping corner), you must change other things like springs, swaybars, tire size and pressure. Also, alignment makes a big difference. My stock '94T understeered severely in slow turns. I decreased front toe-in to zero and rear toe-in to about 1/8" and it helped a lot. The decreased rear toe really helps you power out of turns without the front end plowing as much. Don't go all the way to zero rear toe, though, or you'll be spinning at every turn (at least that's what happened to me when I tried it). It's tough to make a car work well in both very fast and very slow corners. I've seen a lot of road race cars try to autox, and most of them understeer pretty badly. But a car set up purely for autox will often be too loose for comfort on a road race course and might also be twitchy under braking. My '91T, though, worked surprisingly well at both. On my '94T I used Konis front, Tokicos rear with the fronts pretty soft and the rears very stiff for autox. I just set them on the softest settings for normal street driving. My '91T has an opposite setup with front Tokicos set on 3 and stock rear shocks. I will install Konis at the rear sometime this winter. Brad Burns '91T hardtop, A-stock '93NA hardtop, SSB ------------------------------ End of mr2-digest V2 #17