Just a quick post of MR2 Spyder Track Photos from this past weekend’s track event at MSR Cresson.
MR2 Spyder Track Photos from MSR Cresson
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Category Archives: Toyota MR2 Spyder
New Studs
Recalling a couple post back; my debacle with some eBay studs. I did what I should have done to begin with and went to Summit Racing to order some ARP studs, which arrived at the house in two days. They are sold for Lexus IS300’s, but have the same thread cut and shank size as the MR2, and are much longer than stock (and surely much stronger.)
I also picked up this handy stud installation tool. It’s a simple thrust bearing with a 60 degree cut to allow a lug nut to pull the stud and seat it into the hub flange. I’ve installed studs in the past just using washers, which bind up and will ruin the lug nuts. This new tool combined with the Snap-on impact driver made extremely quick work of installing the studs.
I also needed to replace the lug nuts, as the closed nose McGuard nuts would bottom out on the much longer studs. I wanted some longer nuts to make it a bit easier to thread on and off the studs, which are sunk down in the deep concave area of the wheels. Unfortunately most long, open-ended nuts are aluminum, which I just don’t feel comfortable using, especially when they are run on and off as often as I do. So I looked for some steel versions, only finding a few available, mostly on eBay. I picked up a set of 20 black nuts, which were simply painted black. The paint was down into the threads, so I used my Craftsman thread cleaning kit to run out all the paint. I used my small impact driver to make quick work of it. In the process I discovered two bad nuts, one wasn’t cut straight, causing a bad wobble. The other had bad threads. I suppose that’s what you get for Chinese products.
While I had the wheels off I took the time to mark all the alignment adjustment points with torque stripes. On a strut type car like the MR2, the camber adjustment is simply made by loosening the “crash bolts” that clamp down on the knuckles. Torque striping these points should help show if anything gets out of whack.
I also picked up a set of plastic hub centering rings. The wheels I’m running have a slightly oversized center bore. The wheels are centered and secured to the hub using conical lug nuts, not purely the hub like some OEM wheels which use flanged nuts. A hub ring simply makes it easier to mount the wheels. My street wheels use aluminum hub rings, which do the job well, but fall off the wheel as soon as you dismount them. These plastic hub rings snap into place on the wheel and stay in place nicely.
Wheel Studs….
Been a while since I’ve posted, was out of town for work, so on and so forth.
In the meantime I’ve been trying to ready the MR2 Spyder for an Open Track Day (OTD) at TWS on 6DEC13. You may recall my last outing was a bit of a disaster given the car’s lack of an alignment. I was also tempting fate by running front OEM wheel studs which didn’t provide enough nut engagement to be considered safe. The new wheels I picked up have a thicker center section, which meant the front studs were too short. Fortunately the rear studs were already replaced with some H&R 50mm studs when I installed a set of 20mm spacers. Those spacers are not needed with the new 15x8ET36 wheels, which in turn necessitated using open ended lug nuts to allow the longer studs to protrude. This resulted in an all-day Autozone quest around Central Texas to acquire 16 open ended acorn nuts. That was just enough to get me to the track. In the photo below you can see just how dangerously short the studs were, not enough thread engagement to give me a warm and fuzzy.
So I hit the interwebs in search of longer studs for the MR2. Unlike every Honda out there (you know the type with ridiculous anodized aluminum nuts and far too long of studs) there isn’t much available for the low production MR2. ARP makes some, but they seemed too expensive (hindsight’s a bitch) and of course I knew H&R made some as well. Others have used Tundra (the older 7/8ths edition) studs, but they net very little length over stock. A quick cross-check revealed the proper H&R part number, so I started looking for sellers. Not too many shops peddle individual studs, especially German made ones for a Toyota/Lexus. I did fine some for, what I thought, was a fair price on eBay. So I ordered myself up a set, plus extras. They arrived quickly, but work got in the way. Tonight was the night to where I had the car inside and up on stands, ready to begin whacking out the old studs. The first one popped out easily enough, then I held it up to the new “H&R” stud and noticed quite a difference.
It doesn’t take an automotive genius to see the difference. These clearly weren’t the correct parts, not to mention they had a completely different coloring than the rear H&R studs I already have, which have the same shade of silverish gray as the OEM pictured above. A quick check with the slide caliper showed the difference was pretty substantial.
So here I am, four days away from another OTD, with a bag of useless studs. Back to the interwebs to ensure I didn’t mistakenly order the wrong parts (it’s happened, don’t ask.) Nope, exactly the right part numbers. I’m pretty damn sure these are counterfeit, Chinese knock-offs. So eBay dispute opened, hopefully the seller is easy to deal with, and the search continues. I go back to searching for the actual H&R studs, but I’m left with the original seller and one other equally reputable online store. Then I remember the ARP studs. Renown equally for both their high strength and high price, they are at least a known quantity and carried by very reputable retailers. I find that both Summit and JEGS carries them, in stock, with free shipping. Done deal, despite having to order them in quantities of five (for a four stud hub car.)
At least I can take solace in my new badass garage toy, which happened to be a good eBay purchase:
MR2 Spyder Rollbar by Illicit Motorsports
Jason from Illicit Motorsports did a bang up job installing this 4-point rollbar, harness bar, battery mount, and Lotus seat mounts in the MR2. What’s more is he did it in short order, while he was preparing for nationals in Utah, so that I could make a track event. Unfortunately some hold-ups with the harness installation and a few other last minute items kept me from making it to the track with the MR2. He left the bars bare, which I coated with some rust preventive paint, followed by some POR-15 epoxy paint. It didn’t come out as smooth as I had hoped, so much for “self leveling” paint. The battery is larger than the original Deka I was running, this one easily cranks the engine every time. Moving it to behind the passenger seat also got it away from the heat coming off the headers and probably did a little bit to aid in the weight distribution. The bar was made after I visited his shop so measurements with my helmet on could be made. The main hoop is as tall as possible without interfering with the hardtop, while the braces are welded to thick plate on the tubular reinforcement that runs along the top of the firewall. The main hoop’s bases are welded to more plate just behind the fuel tank bulkhead. A little customizing of a OEM harness bar I picked up in a junkyard allowed me to keep the stock three-point belts, though I haven’t yet fabricated a mount for the female receptacle. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
First Track Experience with the MR2 Spyder
The MR2 Spyder has been a true story of struggle, having been in a state of constant modification, repair, or otherwise up on jack stands for no real reason. Just when I thought it was ready to go, things like coolant leaks would rear their ugly head. I set a goal to have the car ready for a 14 December track day at MSR Cresson, which seemed to be very achievable. But like most goals set for this car, I ended up discovering more issues along the way. For the past two weeks my work schedule had prevented me from accomplishing much, other than an hour or two a night wrenching in the garage. The coolant leak under the intake manifold required cutting a hole in the firewall to allow for access. I knew the car would require some shake-down runs on track to sort out any remaining bugs, as well as bedding in the new Carbotech race pads. The next available open track day (OTD) was at TWS on the 8th of November. I signed up, expecting to easily make it there to use the full 1pm to 5pm session. Unfortunately, some last minute issues meant I was working on the car the night before to patch up the hole in the firewall, as well as adding new wheels and tires. The new wheels, which are 15×8 with a 36mm offset, meant I no longer required the 15mm spacer I was running in the rear. This in turn meant my McGuard splined lug nuts would no longer fit over the extended studs. Not one single local store carried a set of open ended 12×1.5 lug nuts, so I ended up visiting every Autozone in the area to acquire 16 nuts that would work.
By the time I had finished all this, I was already eating into my OTD time on Friday. I knew I would require an alignment, as well as resetting the ride height after dropping the weight of the softop and moving the battery closer to center of the car. Unfortunately the local alignment shop I use was booked up, so I decided to press on without one. I trailered the MR2 to TWS, arriving at 3:30pm, barely in time to get on track. I quickly unloaded the car, checked the lug torques and tire pressures, then preceded on track. I immediately knew the alignment was going to be an issue. Just eye-balling the rear camber I could tell it wasn’t negative enough. The results were a very over-steer prone car. I spent a couple short sessions just trying to bed the brakes and not spin off, which was damn near unavoidable. Any flat or off camber turns resulted in the rear stepping out, near immediately on turn in. I babied it around as much as I could. Despite all the issues, this car is quick, running a 2:06, exactly the same as my best time in the M Coupe, a car I’m much more confident in. With a proper alignment and tires that are worn in, I think it’ll easily do a sub 2-minute. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity to get out there, which should be on 6 December, the next OTD.
And here are some videos of my first time out with the car. You can easily see how much I’m having to work the wheel just to keep it somewhat pointed straight. I still wasn’t comfortable pushing it in any of the corners. Additionally, the brakes were still coming in, so the car was a bit shifty in the braking zones. I also clearly need to learn how to properly shift this car. The shift gates are much tighter on this car than the BMWs, and the pedal arrangement differs as well. Compounding the issues is a general lack of torque compared to the S54 (which is no torque monster itself) which necessitates keeping the RPM up, which in turn means much more shifting.
This video is my second spin, similar issue. Coming off a relatively flat turn, rear grip was minimal at best with pretty much no negative camber.
The good news is I was finally able to get the car to the alignment shop, and is now set at -3 front and -2.5 rear. Hopefully this setup yields better handling. I suppose I’ll find out at the next OTD, hopefully it works and I can get a lot more laps in. I still have a few remaining items to take care of, namely installing extended studs on the front hub, adding a shift change light, and harness for the passenger seat. I’ll probably also add some additional spacers under the front of the driver’s seat to achieve a more reclined position, and possibly adjust the belt anchors for a more comfortable fit.