'88 MR2 NA, building it up for the "One Lap" in 2018

Hey there folks, long time reader, long time part time lurker, finally crawling out of my hole.

I've been building this one up for a few months now on an MR2 specific forum, but wanted to bring it over here as well since GRM is such a big part of the One Lap. Now that my AW11 has had a few dings, some of which I missed when I bought it on a rainy day (yeah yeah, I know, I know), I'm not worried about keeping it so original anymore. A new hood, fender, and at least two resprays that I know of kinda knock down any collector value. So I figure it's time to start knocking off a few bucket list items before I get too far into my 40's.

So why not take it on the "One Lap of America"? Only problem is that neither the car nor myself are ready for it. I also know how long projects can take, so I'm planning on running it in 2018. Current status is that I have the whole front end out for a suspension refresh and upgrade. Then I'll start taking it out autocrossing and possibly a few track days this upcoming warm season. I just started re-assembly about a week ago, still waiting on my coilovers to arrive. A buddy of mind also needs to finish blasting a few parts, before I can wrap up the front end and move on to the rear.

Figured I'd have some fun with it too, and start doing a 'build series' over on YouTube, plus a page for the project on my website. Hopefully I don't embarrass myself too much along the way.

MR2 Project Website

This should be fun.

The MR2 is one of the cars that makes me wish I was 6" shorter and 100 pounds lighter.

Very cool, will be watching. Are you keeping the drivetrain stock?

The One Lap is on my bucket list with my boys, good thing they're 12 and 10 so I have time to finish my car!

Looks like a clean start. As much as I like the supercharged 4age for street cars, if I was building a car for One Lap, I'd keep it N/A. I know people do the v6 swaps into the sw20, do they fit into these as well?

I'm not sure you can fit the V6 in there (plus I'm not sure I'd want one in there for track use), but people do fit 3SGTEs in there.

For One Lap I'd be tempted to keep it simple and stay away from engine swaps.

The AW11 has a surprising amount of storage space, but you may want to consider a trailer hitch and a small enclosed trailer. It was really nice to have some folding chairs for sleeping trackside, and maybe a pedal bike for pre-running unfamiliar tracks. Extra clothes and tools are also a good thing to have.

I'll be watching this build closely since I have an '89 AW11 NA (also parked next to a Corvette, but mine's a "94 C4). Great video, keep up the great work! I'm planning on updating the suspension on mine this winter and spring (currently running Eibach Pro springs, Tokico shocks, Suspension Techniques rear bar, 15 x 7 wheels. Will be particularly interested in your coilovers and brake mods.

Yep, I am going to be looking into a small trailer for sure. Partly for the cargo space, partly so I don't have to load and unload so much crap ever day during the run. Strangely enough it came with a trailer hitch when I bought it. Thankfully I kept the thing.

I will be keeping the 4AGE. If time and budget permit it will at least be getting a rebuild, with a good chance of a turbo. As fun as the car is, well, you can tell by the videos that I'm used to having a few more than 120hp. At the same time, I'm going to do a reliability build as opposed to purely for power, so it won't be too extreme of a motor.

Toyman01 wrote: This should be fun. The MR2 is one of the cars that makes me wish I was 6" shorter and 100 pounds lighter.

I am 220 lbs and 6'4" and carry my height in my torso and I daily drove my AW11 for ~5 years without a problem, i did have to slouch down pretty good when i had my helmet on with the t tops still on but was still managable.

Cant wait to watch the rest of this build, i miss my AW11 more then any car i've owned

The biggest advantage of a trailer is keeping things dry at the track (and pack/unpack times). If you don't have a trailer you need to be one of the first 10-20 guys at the track for the day so you can find someplace to stash your stuff. If I did it again I'd also bring a bike. You can bike 4-5 laps in the time you can walk one, and getting eyes on the track is a big advantage. Build for reliability, comfort, and good braking. Have fun, One Lap is a worthy goal.

On my 2nd MK1 MR2, this time a supercharged. Yes, they also squeeze the V6 into these but from what I've heard they are quite squirrely once they do.

Put a trailer hitch on my first one I rallycrossed, but I hated the Harbor Freight trailer, it bounced and juumped over every little bump in the road! I was pretty good at Tetris for rallycross before that.

bit of headwork, careful machining, a set of appropriate pistons, and you can easily have a very reliable 200hp 4AGE with a pretty usable/broad powerband.

I also have to ask, how do you get a license plate with just the letter "H" on it?

OST: Fancy meeting you here, was wondering if anybody from the MR2OC would find me. When the time comes, you'll be getting a head to build up for me. Finances are looking tighter than I'd hope, so it could be a while until I can actually start doing motor work. I need to keep my eyes on the build plan. Suspension first, then brakes, then power.

The "H" license plate? I live in a State with very few other people. But even I can't believe it was available. My Wife was even more shocked that she managed to get "A".

And a bike in the trailer? Holy crap is that a great, and obvious, idea. Not just more laps to preview the track, but also a chance to actually take it with momentum.

There's a few of us from mr2oc creeping around this place. If you need advice on turboing the stock I'm more then happy to any questions my last aw11 was turbo

I am still registered at MR2OC but from a long time ago.
'88 SC owned from '00-'04.

Cool build.

Here's another brain teaser of a question. What tire should I be looking at for this event? It's got to last through 3,000-4,000 road miles PLUS 8 to 10 speed events, and needs to be a DOT stamped street tire.

I'll be following this with interest. My long-term plan is to take the (4cyl) e30 rally car and do One Lap as well. So maybe if I do it in 2018 we can battle for the lowest horsepower car :)

hhaase wrote: Here's another brain teaser of a question. What tire should I be looking at for this event? It's got to last through 3,000-4,000 road miles PLUS 8 to 10 speed events, and needs to be a DOT stamped street tire.

I'd lean toward Star Specs. I have 4-5000 miles on mine in the e30 (similar weight, rwd, power to yours) as well as a few autocrosses and they're still at like 80% tread. We've done entire 18-hour Chumpcar races on one set, so assuming alignment is good and you don't flatspot them on the track, you should be able to get sufficient life out of them.

Any of the 200tw tires should work. I ran RE71R's on the Cadillac las year and I'm still driving around on them now. Cars that can run a square setup have an advantage as they can move tires around to even out wear.
For what it's worth, there was only one tire failure on the event and it was age/abuse related. If they had started with fresh tires they would have been fine. Also, driving to the event on the tires cleans the of any mold release and drastically improves their performance on the first skid pad test at Tire Rack as well as getting s couple of heat cycles in them which is good for longevity.

I put Bridgestone RE71Rs on my Challenge Q45 as the only tires.
When I arrived at The Challenge the tires had 2500 miles on them and that included one drag strip event and one autocross but the autox was as a 2 driver car so lets call that 2 autoxs.
The Q45 saw tons of autox runs at The Challenge and many drag passes.
The tires had about 4,500 miles on them when I pulled them off for the winter.
My estimation is that the tires are not even yet at their halfway point. I plan to remount them in the spring.

I have been very happy with them as highway tires too. They are still surprisingly good in the rain.

Good to know, as I was looking at the Dunlops on my short list. Have some of the 14" BFG Super-Sport A/S's on there now, and I've been happy with them for regular driving. But they're 460 treadwear and I've only been on the street, no performance driving.

-Hans

Seeing mention of the mr2oc brought back some memories. Back in 2004 I did all the fab work for ITA-MR2's (Norm) ITA MR2. He was a great guy and that was one of my favorite builds.

irish44j wrote:

hhaase wrote: Here's another brain teaser of a question. What tire should I be looking at for this event? It's got to last through 3,000-4,000 road miles PLUS 8 to 10 speed events, and needs to be a DOT stamped street tire.

I'd lean toward Star Specs. I have 4-5000 miles on mine in the e30 (similar weight, rwd, power to yours) as well as a few autocrosses and they're still at like 80% tread. We've done entire 18-hour Chumpcar races on one set, so assuming alignment is good and you don't flatspot them on the track, you should be able to get sufficient life out of them.

x2 on the ZII Star Specs. I have 9000 miles on mine, 9 autocrosses and a weekend of beating on them at the Tail Of The Dragon on my Miata and they still have tons of tread left. Plus they are amazing in the rain.

Stilllllll waiting on those coilovers. Hoping to have tracking info any day now.

While I'm waiting on them, figured I'd give a holler over here too, I'm on the lookout for a trashed AW11 gauge cluster. I don't care if anything in it works, I just need it for dimensional measurements and such for an Arduino powered set of replacement gauges on the temp/oil/voltage/fuel level. Going to try and make it drop-in into the existing gauge holes with OLED screens for the readouts.

I'd just rather do all the bench work on a spare cluster instead of rip the current functioning one out of the car.

-Hans