Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Holy Moses it's been awhile since I updated!

well, what can I say other than it has been a fair few years since I updated this space. Whats happened, well a couple of car changes for start so lets start at the beginning or rather finish off where this was left before.

Many many miles have passed under the bridge and as many smiles during the motoring experience. Can't remember adding any more modifications to the car, it was where it needed to be and it was just maintenance that got carried out with occasion repair for rust or seized bolts / worn out parts.

Late 2018 the MR2 succumbed to the dreaded rot that blights our shores- rust. Rear arches were rotten all the way through from the inners to the point where you could look from the boot straight through the floor into the wheel well and see the tyre underneath. It was a shocking discovery and one that signalled the end of the ownership. 15 years, 172k miles (org turbo) 112k miles under my ownership and the end was nigh. No more money was going to be spent as the rust had one and nothing I could do was going to prevent it coming back, well a spaceframe chassis would have done it as most of the bodywork was good if faded but realistically not an option.

So onwards and upwards I moved to stripping the car  down and getting the bulky bits sold off. The engine and gearbox etc went to Germany for an engine swap but not before a power run to see the health of the engine. Now, bear in mind this engine was original turbo unit, ceramic turbocharger (exhaust side / intake side I can't remember which) and at 12psi it did 220hp at the hubs! Sadly it was heat soaking on the hi boost runs but still managed 232hp at the hubs. Not bad eh? Sounded good doing that lot too heh heh. So with those pictures and videos of the dyno run the engine was sold as a healthy working unit. It will live on chasing Porsches down the autobahns, I like to think so anyway.

So with that bombshell we shall move onwards to the next stage. The replacement, another 2 seater as it turned out and another Japanese model. In black, with a meaty V6. Stay tuned :)