Autocross Trailer / Tire Trailer

Race tires, while legal to drive on the roads, will wear out quickly due to the soft compound.  So, when going to an event, it’s best to bring your race wheels and tires with you and change them at the track.  This isn’t so easy with the MR2 Spyder.  There is not much space.  Although, I have seen people store 3 tires in the passenger seat area and 1 in the frunk.  But where is the room for your helmet and tools, etc?  The solution?  Tire Trailer!  I bought a 4 foot trailer from harbor freight with the 13″ wheels (Bigger wheels on the trailer is better.  Imagine how fast those tiny 8″ wheels are spinning when you’re going down the highway.) to go along with my Twos-r-Us detachable trailer hitch.

The trailer hitch uses threaded rods and connects to the rear tow hook locations on op...

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Updates are coming

I am in the process of restoring all old historical posts and plan on adding some new ones revolving around the new engine progress to get a bit of a mix of both.  Since the MR2 is no longer my daily driver, the mod progress has slowed quite a bit and I’m making sure I take time to do things right and think them completely through before acting on the impulse.  That might not sound as fun as winging it, but it’s the best option.

 

Be on the lookout for a post that will sort of bring the progress up to the current state.  I don’t have a ton of pics for everything, but there should be enough to go with all the info for it to be entertaining.

 

Thanks for reading.

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Finally Inter-Cooled!!!

A few of you may know how long I’ve been planning and waiting for all of the pieces to come in to finally add an Air-to-Water Intercooler to my setup. Well, that wait is FINALLY over! It was a combined effort to acquire all of the components. I got most of the system from Web 3.0 a little over a year ago. It was essentially the inter-cooler kit (minus the actual inter-cooler) for his super charger setup. Then came the inter-cooler itself. I got that from KingSpyder. It’s a PWR barrel cooler with piping that happened to match up perfectly to my Power Enterprise Turbo setup. And I bought a few odds and ends at the hardware and auto part’s stores as well as onlin to complete the whole package. That included things like hose clamps and bendy things and an HKS SSQV BOV.

Most of the waiting was ...

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Infinity Reference 6020cs

I had some mounting issues initially, but eventually, I was able to install my new speakers.
For the install, I needed the following:

  • 10mm socket and ratchet
  • Needle nose pliers
  • 1 small flat blade screwdriver
  • 1 medium sized flat blade screwdriver
  • 1 regular sized philips screwdriver (the one I used was magnetic and it helped a little).
  • 1 Dremel with cutoff wheel (Yes, you read that right).
  • Some speaker wire. Not much, but enough to run from the stock speaker wire location to the crossover and some wire to run from the crossover to the tweeter.
  • 3M double sided tape (I had a roll of the stuff in the garage).
  • 4 medium-large zip-ties
  • 4 small zip-ties
  • wire strippers/cutters
  • crimper tool
  • 4 female blade connector ends
  • some shrink tubing
  • hair dryer (Or heat gun)
  • 4 crimpable wire nut things.
  • 4 small...
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2008 Florida Spring Fling Pics

Here’s some pics that I took yesterday at the meet. We ended up with a total of 6 MR2 Spyders in the show and Optimus Prime was there also, but not in the lot. So I guess you could say we had 7.

The day started out pretty slow with people showing up. gromit659 and I were the first to arrive. Followed by another owner from Melbourne. He said that he’s not on this forum though (Only uses MySpace).



Me (LordTakuban) = White
gromit659 = silver
Melbourne dude = black-ish with custom paint

Then russle and Spyderpez showed up (In that order). It was the first time I’d seen spyderpez with an actual spyder and not a subaru.   And I actually met Russle before he even bought his spyder at a Dyno Day event for an SR20 forum...

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4:3 Wallpaper images

I decided to make a nice wallpaper image for my computer at work and what better subject than …. my car.

Anyway, here’s an 800×600 version to see what it looks like.

WP-200701b_800x600[1]

Now if you’d like to use this as your wallpaper, here is a 1600×1200 version that’s also a jpg:
1600×1200 jpg -> WP-200701b_1600x1200.jpg

I would recommend this .bmp version which is higher quality than the .jpg version. it’s in a .zip file so just download it and extract it.
1600×1200 bmp in zip file -> WP-200701b_1600x1200.zip

I realize that it’s my car and you may not necessarily want my car on your desktop. But for those who have a TRD stage 1 and a JDM nose badge, it will look like yours.  You may even be able to apply a filter to change the color.

Also, if others have wallpaper images that they’ve made or found, it may...

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Video on Oval at Homestead Miami Speedway

Well, I finally got around to converting my MiniDV footage to something more download friendly. I drove about an hour down and an hour back for these 3 minutes of footage. It’s not too impressive, but I’m on the track at least.

Check it out.
Homestead_2006.wmv

You may want to do a save-as.

I also apologize for the camera work. My friend (Who may be looking for a MR2 Spyder soon) is a dunce when it comes to camcorders. Also, there is some swearing on the video. So for those offended by the F-word, keep the sound down.

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Autopower Rollbar – Impressions

Well, I installed the Autopower Rollbar today shortly before ptmon came over and we traded decklids (He purchased my spoiler). After all the garage work was done I went for a little drive. I was amazed at how solid the car feels now. I didn’t think it would be that noticeable. I forgot to weigh the bar to see how much weight I added. If I had to guess, I’d say maybe 15-20 lbs.

I did lose 6lbs off the rear after “removing the spoiler”. I’ll gain another 4.6 lbs once I install the real TRD one. Not sure when I’ll get around to that though.

But anyway, i don’t want to thread drift too much…

Here are some comments on the install:

  • I followed the instructions on spydermagazine for the most part.
    Take off the door sil plastics in addition to the other 3 pieces. it will make it easier...
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Finally found a use for the stock antenna

It was raining yesterday and our patio has these drain holes that always seem to get stopped up. They’re just holes that go down into the ground. Nothing fancy. But when they aren’t draining properly, I get some standing water that just makes that section of the patio look like crap.

So my wife asked if I had anything long and skinny. After several manhood jokes later and several eye rolls from the wife, I said “I have the perfect thing for this!”. And I went out to the garage to search for that monstrosity that is the Stock Antenna. I handed it to her and she said “Are you sure you don’t need this?”. I said “That is NEVER going back on the car.”

So she used it on the drain hole and it worked fantastic! If anyone has a similar issue and still has the stock antenna, it works great for this...

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