T400X Track Car Project underway...

[MattPerformance]

As many of you may know Jason (Muffdan) and I are both without our respective turbo'd MR2s due to them having met (on separate occasions) with obstacles stronger than the cars!  But many of the original parts from Jason's old car have been recovered and have found their way into a new chassis which, once complete, will be a rather entertaining road legal/ registered track car.

The new build is well under way but it's going to be a fairly long journey trying to fit it in around paying jobs and keeping you lot happy  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Here's a breakdown of the spec so far:

MWR built engine (steel and titanium aplenty)
GT30 turbo custom installation with chargecooler
Custom central thru-diffuser lightweight exhaust
Large capacity Moroso sump
Front mount oil cooler
Syvecs S6 ECU incorporating loads of safety features and traction control!
Helix Autosport race clutch with 6-puck ceramic plate
Jubu Racing uprated gear set
TRD quickshift and rose-jointed bushes

Custom GAZ coilovers (track spec)
TRD front ARB
No rear ARB
Megan racing track arms
Misc. additional bracing
Structural roll hoop (Custom Cages)
Manualised steering rack
SP12 wheels 8x17F, 9x17R (Federal FZ201 235/40 17 front, 255/40 17 rear [dry] OR Toyo R1-R 215/44 17 front, 245/40 17 rear [wet] )
Full aluminium sheet flat floor with Lotus style rear diffuser (to do)
Removamble front spliter (to do)
Lightweight battery relocated to front

JDL side skirts and rear bumper
Spec R3 front bumper
Finished in satin black with lime green highlights
TRD style spoiler (when in road trim)
Carbon rear wing (when in track trim)
FL rear lights

TVR AP 4-pot front calipers, 330mm Fully floating 2-piece discs
Lotus AP 2-pot rear calipers 288mm 1-piece discs (temporary)
CL Braking RC8 brake pads
Brake ducting

Interior-wise, it has Corbeau race seats (with harnesses), a Momo suede wheel and a lot of Defi gauges.  Soft top being removed, hard top (removable for roofless driving).

The T400X project name (apart from being a bit of fun) is an indication of our intent to make it a 400bhp Track car, with a not-so-secret "Xtra" burst of power on tap at the flick of a button.

As is customary, I'll try to get some photos together of the more interesting parts of the build and put them up here.

[Mike_V]

Whoa! Interesting, like it  :-) :-) :-) ))

[Mike_V]

Would love that engine and gearbox!!!

[s12vea]

Interesting build - Get some pictures up matt! Be interesting to watch the project develop

[uktotty]

Anything to make it lighter?
Wheels, carbon etc?

[nathanMR2]

This is going to be some beast with you 2 at the helm. Look forward to seeing the developments!

[PaullyP2010]

Looking forward to watching this develop  s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

Paul

[chris3boro]

400 bhp? Crikey! Watching with interest!....

[Anonymous]

The mutts nuts of builds. Must say im interested to here more on the flat floor plan and you still need to look at making that braking system into a kit lol.

[steve b]

Thought handbrake had to be mechanical to get through an MoT, hydraulics not road legal I thought hence many modern sports cars with 2 pot or more rear brakes often have a separate caliber for the handbrake.

[MattPerformance]

Thought handbrake had to be mechanical to get through an MoT, hydraulics not road legal I thought hence many modern sports cars with 2 pot or more rear brakes often have a separate caliber for the handbrake.

I'm not 100% on the regs but I'm sure a legit MOT is achievable with a hydraulic park brake (how would they know how it operates?!). There's probably a bit of a void in the vehicle homologation standards and the MOT standards anyway!
The main thing for us is to be able to have a hand brake for hill starts etc. it's a track car first and foremost but we want it to be practical on the road (ask any TVR owner and you'll find that parking your car with 1st gear engaged is an easy belt and braces routine to get into  s:wink: :wink: s:wink: )

[Jubal]

I feel a forum track day coming on. How long will the build take do you think?

[MattPerformance]

I feel a forum track day coming on. How long will the build take do you think?

I think we need a Track Day section on the boards too!  Last time I went to an MR2 forum track day I rolled my car into a ball though   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  
Reckon the build will take at least a couple more months.  I hope to have the car up and running in the next few weeks but getting the mapping redone and some of the details (e.g. finalising the dash and flat floor) is likely to take a while longer.

[vinp182]

I feel a forum track day coming on. How long will the build take do you think?

I think we need a Track Day section on the boards too!

+1 Be great to get couple of track days with other mr2's   s:D s:D

EDIT**

Looking forward to seeing this car   s8) s8)

[MisterK]

Looking forward to seeing this beast in the flesh.  Post up some photo's Matt of the build progress - it's always good to see these sort of things develop!
MarkK

[Goeman]

I feel a forum track day coming on. How long will the build take do you think?

I think we need a Track Day section on the boards too!

+1 Be great to get couple of track days with other mr2's   s:D s:D

Another +1. Trackday and track related preparation would be good.

[Anonymous]

Sounding like your plans are to make a complete weapon of mass distruction!   s8) s8)    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Only thing i will say is a 400hp MR2 will never be a comfortable drive like a mildly tuned version. Like all cars, the uprated parts take from the driving pleasure in and around towns, they are designed for track use and thus become a royal pain to be practically driven. Its the same old toss up between usable power and pointless power unless used on a track, which im sure this car is intended for primarily.   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:

[jonty]

I think we need a Track Day section on the boards too!

+1 Be great to get couple of track days with other mr2's   s:D s:D

Another +1. Trackday and track related preparation would be good.

agreed, I'd spend far more time on here (and money on the MR2) if there was a central place for trackday info and chatter for the MR2, also hopefully this will get more people on track, and in turn attract more attention from aftermarket parts manufacturers (like you Matt with the turbos and braces) if we get a bit of group purchasing power together... looking at what is available and at the prices for my 200sx is a dream, and getting even halfway there would be amazing..! Now that the purchase price is coming down and the owner-profile is changing maybe this will start to happen??


Back on topic- Matt this sounds like a suitably mad project, best of luck to you and Jason with it, I look forward to the first photos and progress updates appearing!

[steve b]

Trouble is the 1ZZFE is  sshit shit sshit  so the cars will never be popular with the buy cheap and run track day crowd.  Replacing engines as consumables is beyond most peoples time or budget.

[MattPerformance]

The 1zz (in its earlier guises at least) is flawed, but that's part of the reason why the cars are so cheap at the bottom end of the market. And £1000 for an engine is not a lot in the scheme of prepping and running a track car. Not sure what other mid-engined roadster you could buy as a track car with a freshly rebuilt engine for less than £3k.

Anyway, I'm off to get this exhaust finished...  s:) s:)

[steve b]

Mk1 or mk2 you could buy with 200000 miles on the clock for £500 and track all day everyday without worrying about the engine in normally aspirated guise.

All 1ZZ's except maybe the very last made are flawed 80,000 miles facelifted went pop within 10 minutes of its 2nd trackday in an identical manner to someone else's on here.  I'd forget putting one on track without at least a baffled sump.

Your build sounds very interesting will be keen to see pic of it develop.

[po10c]

This sounds great! Cant wait!!!
May someone feed you more alcohol than needed and work on the wrong car!!! Lol!

[charl1ey]

WTF!!! 400bph Roadster. This I can not wait to see develop. Sounds awesome. Just make sure when it's done you keep this one actually 'on' the track  s;) s;)  

Good luck guys!

Pictures, pictures pictures!!

[stupink]

Just bored waiting for a friend. Wondering what tracks you guys use? I've only driven Combe, but that's due to car being off-road during other events at Mallory and Silverstone etc.  But Combe is my fav anyway being the closest. At a mere 2.5hrs away Grr. Mines gonna be track car. And as above. Engines are disposable items in cheap track cars. So it being in need of a bit of work equals meh. The gearbox issue is more relevant. I had a rev1mk2 n/a and even that died in one outing at Combe. So they arnt great either lol.

[stupink]

@matt the jubu is just 3 and 4 isn't it? What will you do about second? Most UK tracks need this gear also. Keen to know as I will eventually break ny box and need to do something with it also.