Along came a Spyder: Diving into SCCA E/Street

Then the next morning it was time to put it all back together. New LUK flywheel with ARP bolts (red Loctite on the threads, ARP assembly grease under the heads)

And a new LUK clutch and pressure plate, again with ARP bolts.

And then the rebuilt transmission from Moneky Wrench Racing with optional taller 5th gear, which I filled with Redline MT fluid.

Installation was pretty easy, and I had it done in about four hours. Got in, fired right up with no Check Engine Light or other lights and ran through the gears.

I also finished reinstalling the new seatbelts in the car. Both seatbelts had frayed webbing and the retractor on the passenger side was pretty recalcitrant, so I took them out before placing it in storage and had them rebuilt with new "Porsche GTS-style" webbing by MR2Heaven over the winter.

I also took off the 15x7 Advanti Storms with 4 year old Conti ECSs and reinstalled the OEM wheels with new Conti ECS 2.0s. But because I was there, I also test fit the new race wheels (15x6" 949Racing 6ULs front, 15x6.5" Konig Heliums rear, 205/50R15 RE71RSs all the way around) and the new race numbers. 

It still needs new struts, bumpstops and strut mounts, and a new top, but that won't happen before the next event. Just not enough time. The top's ugly but it doesn't leak, and the struts are old and the bumpstops falling apart, but the struts aren't blown at least. I'll take it on my trip next weekend to get the miles on the clutch, run it at the first autocross, and then work on it the weekend after.

Just for the record before this thread moves on from the wheel discussion, I sold a set of 15x6 SSR type C miata wheels to a friend to run on the front of his 03 Spyder. They didn't clear the calipers, had to return them.

So, I needed to put miles on the Spyder to break in the new clutch, and I was going to PA. So I might as well take the Spyder. Aaaand, since I'm going to be near Reading, PA with an MR2 Spyder, I might as well go up to the Reading Pagoda for some photos.

It's also on Duryea Drive, named after Charles Duryea, who was involved with a ton of Brass Era car companies, including the Duryea Power Company, which manufactured cars at the turn of the century in Reading, PA. And I believe there was, or is, a hillclimb up the crazy, squiggly road to get here. Neat.

So, how'd the Spyder do? Some bullet points:

• I don't love the seats. There's one exact seat adjustment that doesn't wreck my back. Granted, I'm tall, a bit overweight and work as a mechanic, so my back isn't in great shape.
• This thing gets great fuel mileage. Seriously, over 800-ish miles it average 37.7 miles per gallon. When stock, my 1.6L Miata got 27ish on a good day.
• It's a lethal weapon on back roads. Once I got 500 miles on the clutch, I cut loose on the back roads between Jim Thorpe and Pittston and this thing is fast. You can't get anywhere near the limits of the Conti ECS02s on public roads.
• Luggage space is a joke. Don't take this if you're going somewhere with two people, because your passenger seat is your luggage space, essentially. And I pack pretty light.
• The new transmission is quiet and shifts great, but, because 5th gear is the only gear that was changed, you have to mentally make a note to wind 4th out a little longer than the others to not lug it in 5th.

So, pretty great trip, the car did well and didn't give me any issues and it now has 1000 miles on the clutch and flywheel, which makes me think it's broken in enough to go racing this weekend. 

So, I had the first autocross over the weekend. With the new wheels, lugnuts and numbers:

I had also picked up a codriver, John C., who is a phenomenal driver, with a couple of local championships to his name, but who is predominantly an FWD driver. He actually owned an MR2 Spyder, but never autocrossed it. He has a 100+ mile one-way drive to our events and just couldn't fit all his gear and enough for a one-night stay in the car. He was very much "Oh, I'm not used to RWD, I'll probably be the slowest of the Spyder drivers." 

My first run was 71.631, which was respectable, but I picked up a cone immediately. There was a sharp one-eighty with a pin cone and the middle cone got murdered by pretty much every driver at some point in the day. My codriver cracked off an insane 67.682 but ticked 3 cones, while Mark M. in his Spyder had a 68.200 also with a cone, and my friend Lawrence had a 73.736, also with a cone. Mark B. in his E/Street NB1 had a DNF.

I again found the Spyder very easy to drive, and the RE71Rs have tons of grip. I took the OE pressure recomendations (26psi F/30psi rear) and bumped them up two psi and it seemed to work fairly well, although the fronts likely needed one or two more psi. My codriver's opinion was that it was also extremely easy to go very fast in, and he found it easy to adapt to because it tends towards mild understeer and very much reminds him of an FWD car. He was all worried about snap oversteer beforehand and I had to reassure him that that's not really a ZZW30 thing, that's more an SW20 thing, and the ZZW30 is very much a kitten to drive. Very gentle, pretty forgiving.

My second run was a clean 70.814, which put me in Raw 5th, PAX 4th, which I was happy with, and my codriver hoofed it to an insane 67.284, which gave him Top PAX. Mark M. had a 68.553 in his Spyder, but again had a cone, while Lawrence got a clean 73.377. Mark B. stayed on course and kept it clean with a 68.866.

My third run I chipped away at a 69.639, but I slid to 9th as some drivers cleaned it up or stayed on course. John blasted a 66.631 on his third run, holding down Top PAX, with over 1 second lead on second. Mark M was again faster than me on scratch time, with a 67.646, but still couldn't clean it up. Mark B. barely went faster with 68.685, while Lawrence hit another cone.

On lunch break, Lawrence and I walked the course with John and got some great insight on the course, and we were hoping to put it to use in the afternoon. Also, while a lot of our fast drivers tend to run their best on their second or third run, I tend to consistently chip away time all day, so I was hoping to claw my way back up, especially with a couple of drivers only 0.2 seconds ahead of me after PAX. But then the rain kicked in and settled in for the entire afternoon. My first instinct was to park the car, since the afternoon runs effectively wouldn't matter, but I decided I could use the practice with it in the rain. I will say that the RE71RSs are very grippy even in decently heavy rain and I ended up going as fast as a 72.585, which was actually faster than all the other E/S guys, including my codriver. If it had rained the entire, I probably would have finished pretty well, but only getting three dry runs hurt me and I ended up sliding to tenth after one driver, who had had dirty runs all morning in an Elantra N on 200tws, hopped in his codriver's Focus RS on some sort of Michelin tires and got a clean, and fairly fast, afternoon run.

Still, 10th overall and 95.76 points is pretty good for a first outing. And the car is clearly capable as it sits, because my codriver got the overall win in it. And also, I need to do a rain dance before every event this season.

So, John C. did express interest in co-driving the car with me for a season. He lives 150 miles from our closest venue and while he's purchased an NB2 to prepare for E/Street he did point out that it'd be a lot easier to drive his regular daily driver Chevy Volt down and hop in my Spyder with me. I understand that and I'm okay with him as a codriver; he's very fast but he doesn't really abuse cars and I've never seen him even put a car in the grass. Now I've only ever had codrivers for a single event, and usually I just have them pay for my entry fee. But I feel like if I had a codriver for an entire season, that's a different story. So, any of you have full season codrivers and what do you do for a deal? Right now I'm thinking that he cover my entry fees and chip in half of a set of fresh tires. 

In reply to NickD :

The chimney location at the Pagoda in Reading PA is very odd. 

enjoying your tales of Mr2 Spyder land.

The reading hill climb is one of the most prominent ones in the entire country.  

In reply to NickD :

If you're asking him to split tire costs.  Pay your own entry fee.  I've codriven for entire seasons with other people and we pay our own entry, split break down parts, split tires and other wear items.