My Wife bought an MR2 Spyder

My wife bought her Dad's 2000 MR2 Spyder that he has had since ~2008 and that she learned to drive on. It hasn't seen many miles in a lot of years but has been well kept, despite being parked under trees in their driveway.

Hopefully we can give it a nice retirement with a proper parking spot in the garage.

First up a good wash:

Retirement in this case means about a 50/50 split of twisty roads and autocross/ track use...

"Ran when parked"

The MR2 was running fine as recently as a few months ago, but was missing and generally not running right when we first tried to bring it back to PA.

There was talk of it having a clogged cat, which is apparently a thing with these, so I fabricated a replacement downpipe to remove that from the equation:

The air box had also become house to a mouse for a bit, and the filter was fully clogged up.

I also pulled the injectors and sent those off for cleaning.

New filter, new MAF, new plugs, shiny downpipe and fresh injectors went on easy and she was fixed. Still not sure what the actual issue was but pretty stoked to get it fixed with the first round of stuff.

Downpipe fitment was perfect. Probably the bit of fabrication I'm most proud of recently. I managed to reuse both flanges from the stock piece so total cost was like $100 including new gaskets and hardware.

Looks great, keep up the good work

Is the MR2 Spyder as underrated as I imagine it is? I certainly don't see very many around.

At any rate, looks like a lot of fun and that retirement plan sounds like a lot of fun.

Colin Wood said:

Is the MR2 Spyder as underrated as I imagine it is? I certainly don't see very many around.

At any rate, looks like a lot of fun and that retirement plan sounds like a lot of fun.

The MR2S is very competitive in the E Street autocross class. This car won't be eligible due to removal of the catalytic converter, but I'd expect it to be capable in whatever class it fits. 

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

Now that it's at my house and running properly I might add an aftermarket cat back in, would that re-legalize it?

I should read the e-street regs.

EDIT: looks like the answer is probably a no. It's a shame the OE downpipe / converter is so expensive to replace!

I need to read more closely but it's possible E street would require a header with the pre-cats as well. The motor is a 1ZZ from a Corolla with a pre-catless header.

I am not sure about the aftermarket cat, but I think it would be okay. 

My unofficial summary of the street class rules is one sway bar can be changed or removed, any shock and bump stops (koni sport, aka "yellows" are a good off the shelf choice, National competitors will spend thousands on custom ones), wheel width must be stock but can be one inch shorter or taller. 200 treadwear minimum tires, no engine modifications other than a panel filter in the stock airbox, cat back exhaust is legal as long as you don't exceed the sound limit for the particular venue, stock brakes with any pad choice.

Must have stock interior/seats and retain the air bag steering wheel. Body panels must be stock. 
 

Local clubs are usually pretty lenient until you get competitive. 

Check the SCCA rules here

I ordered a set of 6ULs (15x7 front and 15x7.5 rear) from 949 and a set Yokohama Advan Flexa V701 300tw tires (195/50/15 front and 205/50/15 rear) for my Wife's birthday this weekend (hopefully she doesn't read this and spoil the surprise). Unfortunately these are 0.5" wider than the stock wheels.

Going to make a soft plan to take the stock wheels to get powdercoated and wrapped in some 200tw tires at some point...

Replacement catalytic converters must be OE if the vehicle has not exceeded the warranty period as mandated by the EPA. Converters must be of the same type and size and used in the same location as the original equipment converter(s). This does not allow for a high performance unit. If the vehicle has exceeded the warranty period, replacement catalytic converters must be OE-type as per Section 13.0.

Anyone have thoughts / clarification on what constitutes "same type and size" of catalytic converter?

I am still loving my MR2 spyder I put together back in 2017. It's been a blast. I can't help with racing questions as my wife and I use it solely as a fun commuter but I can probably help with mechanical questions as I did a drivetrain swap into it and did some mild modifications at that time. (6-speed swap.)

I am not an autocrosser but my reading of that rule is that if you're outside the emissions warranty then you are good to use a direct replacement cat that is equivalent to OE but not a performance model.

FedEx just dropped off my Wife's birthday present...

Shifter bushings today (both the shifter base and cable ends).

Turns out one of the cable ends bushings was actually pretty well wallered out so this was actually responsible maintenance and not just dumb race car parts...

I plopped the roll bar in, but it isn't quite happy at the passenger side main hoop mount .

 

 

It seems like the bottom pad wants to be at a slightly different angle, but any reason I shouldn't just give it a little trim to get this to drop all the way down?

Full mouse house between the fuel tank and the body of the car. Lots and lots of dried grass stuffed in there. Probably really safe...

Roll bar is in and mostly bolted in after a trim of the passenger side main hoop pad. There are 6 more holes to drill and one nut welded to the firewall that I need to zip off so that the backing plate sits flat. Access to the nut sucks and I can't get my electric angle grinder in, but maybe my old school pneumatic will work...

This car is in real good shape for being parked in an unpaved driveway for most of its life in NE PA where the road salt is pretty brutal... good job Father-in-law.