Thinking about replacing my rad at some point.
Is the radiator the same for air con and none air con models?
Twin fans on the aircon, but I believe the rad is the same.
I'd agree with that. s:) :) s:)
If you dont have the twin fans, might be worth considering popping a pair on.
Quote from: "dick2ski"If you dont have the twin fans, might be worth considering popping a pair on.
I think it would be more useful to check that your radiator isn't about to turn in to metal papier machee and spring leaks in numerous directions caused by stem to stern corrosion if it is more than five years old as that is what happened to mine after only 7 years and 50,000 miles of use.
My personal recommendation would be to replace it with one of the aluminium radiators intended for racing that don't rust and also provide much superior cooling. Whoever is the supplier of the stock MR2 Roadster radiator provided Toyota with a particularly substandard component. Much can the same can be said of the supplier of the car's clutch components along with the quite chronically underspecced battery capacity in relation to the high level of power drain by the alarm system when the car is not in use.
I paid £50 ish on eBay, brilliant quality and quick delivery!
Quote from: "iPap"I paid £50 ish on eBay, brilliant quality and quick delivery!
For what kind of radiator? OEM spec or an upgraded sports type affair?
I paid about £60 for mine from an Ebay supplier with 100% feedback and when it turned up it was exactly the same item as the original Toyota fitted unit. I would have gone for the upgraded racing one at about £130 had the supplier not temporarily shut up shop for a few days and so not responded to their emails and unfortunately I needed to get the rad in a hurry as the other one was shot so and the car already in the garage. Also the sports model supplier had slighly crappy Ebay Feedback which put me off.
As it happens I then pranged the front of the car only a few months later in the Shetland Islands on a hidden curb when pulling up to park and although the bumper/spoiler broke in the thin part in the middle at the bottom and the radiator was partly bent it didn't break as it was new. If it had been the five year old one in the same accident I am sure it would have been a different story and my trip to the Northern Isles would have ended there and then.
Quote from: "Capvermell"My personal recommendation would be to replace it with one of the aluminium radiators intended for racing that don't rust and also provide much superior cooling. Whoever is the supplier of the stock MR2 Roadster radiator provided Toyota with a particularly substandard component.
The stock item
is aluminium and has all of the heat transfer characteristrics of an ....erm.... aluminium radiator. Therefore it doesn't rust. I certainly wouldn't regard it as substandard for cooling, but the trade-off is that aluminium at the front of a car receives a shed-load of abuse over the years. That holds true irrespective of the price of the aluminium replacement. Arguably a lighter and thinner-walled unit would be more efficient - surface area to volume ratio and flow rate and all that.
Nate, I believe the carcass of the fan housing is equipped with the mount points to take a second fan, and the additional fan that you see on airconned '2s is identical to the main unit.
Quote from: "Capvermell"Quote from: "iPap"I paid £50 ish on eBay, brilliant quality and quick delivery!
For what kind of radiator? OEM spec or an upgraded sports type affair?
I paid about £60 for mine from an Ebay supplier with 100% feedback and when it turned up it was exactly the same item as the original Toyota fitted unit. I would have gone for the upgraded racing one at about £130 had the supplier not temporarily shut up shop for a few days and so not responded to their emails and unfortunately I needed to get the rad in a hurry as the other one was shot so and the car already in the garage. Also the sports model supplier had slighly crappy Ebay Feedback which put me off.
As it happens I then pranged the front of the car only a few months later in the Shetland Islands on a hidden curb when pulling up to park and although the bumper/spoiler broke in the thin part in the middle at the bottom and the radiator was partly bent it didn't break as it was new. If it had been the five year old one in the same accident I am sure it would have been a different story and my trip to the Northern Isles would have ended there and then.
Standard replacement.
I would have spent £350 on a new one had I not have lost my job at NoTW last August! I spent ££££££ on the car in the first half of the year but having been unemployed six months and not earned a bean in that time, I thought it was more important just to get a replacement. (ps, I have not claimed unemployment either)
Capvermell,
I get the impression you've had a bit of a bad time with your motor and you don't like it much from your posts
Don't get me wrong my rad has seen better days but its been on the car for the life of the car ungaraged and open to the elements. For a 11 year old car I would consider that its done alright.
Maybe I've been relatively lucky but in over 4 years of ownership I've had to replace 2 O2 sensors and a seized nearside calliper. Oh and sort a few rattly heatshields.
Its just flown through another MOT today with never an issuse... Yet s;) ;) s;)
I noticed uve previously compared the 2 to and MGF but from knowing people that have owned them they are wriddled with issues and are commonly known to have major issues with the head gasket.
Thanks for the advise. Ill bear it in mind.
Quote from: "nathanMR2"Don't get me wrong my rad has seen better days but its been on the car for the life of the car ungaraged and open to the elements. For a 11 year old car I would consider that its done alright.
The radiator cracked when I was driving on an unsurfaced road but I didn't hit anything. It was just such a rough surface that then heavily jarred the suspension that it was the straw that broke the camel's back. But when I was shown the radiator's condition in the garage after they had taken the bumper off you just seemed to be able to push your finger in to it anywhere. I have never had a radiator fail on any other car even though I ran some to quite elderly ages.
QuoteMaybe I've been relatively lucky but in over 4 years of ownership I've had to replace 2 O2 sensors and a seized nearside calliper. Oh and sort a few rattly heatshields.
Well I object to the oxygen sensors failing at all in a car with the supposed reliability repuration of a Toyota (no oxygen sensor has failed yet in 100,000 miles and 12 years on my mother's V70 Volvo estate and nor has any other part apart from expected consumables like oil, brake pads and tyres needed replacing) and I certainly object to the top two on the MR2 effectively only lasting as long as a pair of front tyres on the car. But worse than them failing is the absolute price gouging by Toyota to fix their own substandard part and/or overheating sensor location design. £150 for the sensor and then £100 on top for labour (they lie to justify this by claiming that the sensors easily cross thread when removed and so on when actually removing them and replacing them is a breeze as long as you have the right socket for the job) is quite excessive for what is little more than a variation on a spark plug. You will note that other parts that used to fail after only three years on cars long ago like the exhaust system actually seem to be good for the life of the car. So why should a poxy oxygen sensor with no moving parts that merely gets a little hot need replacing as though it is a consumable due to poor design (I understand the same problem also exists on the RAV4)
QuoteIts just flown through another MOT today with never an issuse... Yet s;) ;) s;)
I take it that you don't have it MOT'ed at a Mr T emporium then as they failed me three years in a row on the most dubious of bases. Since I stopped using them and starting using the Sussex based Just MOTs chain (who do not do repair work on cars but only MOT them) it has flown through the last three (or at least only had a number of advisories rather than advisories bogusly turned in to fails as Mr T favours doing) even though it is now getting quite long in the tooth.
QuoteI noticed uve previously compared the 2 to and MGF but from knowing people that have owned them they are wriddled with issues and are commonly known to have major issues with the head gasket.
Yes I had a failed head gasket at only five years old and a broken gear linkage and the whole suspension system was seemingly completely finished at only 60,000 miles (although the car had been driven daily down 12 miles of particularly tortous southern Surrey country lane in each direction for the previous four years which may not have helped with the crappy hydrogas suspension system that permanently chewed up the inside edges of the front tyres no matter how much the car was computer tracked). But it was far more sensibly designed for carrying luggage (the MR2 just wastes space at the back of the car for no good reason other than probably crash resistance or some such) and it had a much better quality soft top leaving aside not having a glass heated window. So that moves me to my last MR2 Roadster complaint where it has become a leaky sieve since it was six years old and even though the scuttles have been cleared and the rear luggage lockers stay water free I keep getting water in the driver and passenger footwalls. There seems to be a load of flanges and seals in the roof that just perish in the first five years so that your formerly nice quite soft top now has the wind whistling through it and the rain running through it once the car is half way through its expected life.
The MR2 Roadster does drive quite well and is fairly cheap to insure but I'm really at an age where if I'm going to go on driving soft tops I would like to be driving a Boxster or even an S2000 that have some slightly more serious performance oomph than the MR2. I am probably a little bored of it after nine years but can't really justify a Boxster in my current situation where running costs (including insurtance that would immediately double) would be a lot higher.
I expect you are only in your late 20s or early 30s whereas I expect I in my late 40s am beginning to turn in to something of a grumpy old man!
Quote from: "Capvermell".......... But it was far more sensibly designed for carrying luggage (the MR2 just wastes space at the back of the car for no good reason other than probably crash resistance or some such)
There is a very good reason for the lack of luggage space in the MR2... it was called weight distribution, Toyota felt that putting in a boot, as in the MK2 MR2 would unblance the car and hinder the handling, so much so that they deliberatley put luggage space behind the seats, this was to keep it small to prevent us from putting too much weight in and ruining the driving experience.
The MGF may well have been better designed to carry luggage, but why have a two seater sports car to carry luggage, the '2 was designed for handling and.... errr... handling.
As for the roof.... I'll disagree, I've had personal experience of a good few MGF's over the years that have leaked from the day they left the factory... it was even documented by good old JC on Top Gear.
As my beast is coming up to 9 years old now and due a service, is this something I should be overly worried about?
Will they look at it during its service or is it something I'd have to request them to look at???
Or am I being a spanner and its bleedin obvious if its knackered or not? We all have our special skillsets... mechanics, cars, engineering, cars, driving, and cars are not mine...
Heya Caper - I must say mate you made me chuckle re: your comment on luggage/storage space s:) :) s:) Theres tons of it in the MR2!!! Seriously, never had an issue, never been gone more than a week mind but am so confident in the space I've even thrown these beauts in;
(http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a456/ganglyjim/boom.jpg)
The frunk is like mary poppins handbag if you bag all ya crap up nice n tightly in a million and one different bags!!!! No dramas as the FOSTERS boys say!!!
Quote from: "VVT-i"There is a very good reason for the lack of luggage space in the MR2... it was called weight distribution, Toyota felt that putting in a boot, as in the MK2 MR2 would unblance the car and hinder the handling, so much so that they deliberatley put luggage space behind the seats, this was to keep it small to prevent us from putting too much weight in and ruining the driving experience.
Well bugger me. No wonder the car keeps spinning out on me!
That will more than likely to be your lead boots Jim.... after all listening to loud music makes the loud pedal go down further lol.
But yes.. seriously, the MR2 Roadster was designed to be as damn close to a 50/50 weight distribution as possible, I maybe getting the wrong car with this advert, but didn't toyota feature two 2's with one balanced on the others windscreen surround?.. or was that Porche or Audi or some other cheapo imitation?
Quote from: "VVT-i"The MGF may well have been better designed to carry luggage, but why have a two seater sports car to carry luggage, the '2 was designed for handling and.... errr... handling.
As for the roof.... I'll disagree, I've had personal experience of a good few MGF's over the years that have leaked from the day they left the factory... it was even documented by good old JC on Top Gear.
I really liked the MGF until I wrapped it around a tree. But, in terms of handling, no comparison to the roadster. You did get more boot space but at the expense of a really heavy looking rear end. The old-fashioned pram type hood was really difficult, even on late models, to put down; you had to put your hand underneath and fiddle with one of the supports to do it. The hood on the roadster was a very big plus point. I'm back in the pram on the Z3.
9 year old car, 97000miles and no leaks ... softop design is A-Ok imho.
Radiator is extremely exposed and I agree the finning does deteriorate, but again mine reached 90000miles before showing any signs of leakage, and the car gets abuse from me and North Yorkshire's crappy roads.
O2 sensors now reputedly have a 60-70K mile lifespan, some go sooner, some go later ... they're consumables really.
The MGF has a different arrangement for luggage, but it handles like sh-t ... I'd rather have the handling thanks!
Can we stick to the topic of the thread please, or is there a troll abroad?
Quote from: "Wabbitkilla"but again mine reached 90000miles before showing any signs of leakage, and the car gets abuse from me and North Yorkshire's crappy roads.
Is the weather so cold in Yorkshire that you may be only take the top down on 2 days a year s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
But seriously the life of the soft top will clearly depend on how often it is used as a hood opened and closed 100 times a year is clearly going to start experiencing leaks and other issues a lot sooner than a soft only opened say 10 times a year.
I also seem to have issues with various straps and poppers that have come off since the hood started jamming and sticking when trying to raise it and I don't seem to very good in the art of plastic and metal origami that the hood seems to be based on in terms of how it is put together.
I must try the place in Chessington to see what deal I could get out of them for a new one at the moment as they must surely be desperate for business at this time of the year. Even so I'm not entirely convince that would fix all my issues as I think various rubber seals that the hood sits against have also perished and may need replacing.
Quote from: "nathanMR2"Don't get me wrong my rad has seen better days but its been on the car for the life of the car ungaraged and open to the elements. For a 11 year old car I would consider that its done alright.
Maybe I've been relatively lucky but in over 4 years of ownership I've had to replace 2 O2 sensors and a seized nearside calliper. Oh and sort a few rattly heatshields.
My stock rad lasted 11 years too, 4 years of those was with me, ungaraged, I only replaced it last year because it was leaking ~0.5 litres of coolant (so not a massive leak) out every couple of weeks and I got a rad from a fellow member for £20. If I'm honest the rad itself looked in the same condition as the new one I was using (a few small dents here and there). I know people have had issues with other rads so the stock one is good enough for me, even with the turbo I don't notice it being in any way 'substandard'.
Has anyone tried one of those supposed high flow ones from ebay?
Quote from: "nathanMR2"Has anyone tried one of those supposed high flow ones from ebay?
I was going to get one of them when mine broke three years ago but the seller didn't reply to my questions for three days and didn't have a phone number whereas the seller of the cheaper OEM spec replacement was able to be telephoned and was very helpful. Unfortunately as my car was already mobilised by the radiator failure I needed to get a new rad in a hurry.
To be fair the stock radiator seems to do an adequate job of cooling the car. I had far more issues on two Fiat X1/9s with the fan running almost permanently and the temperature rising above normal if the car was stuck in traffic for any length of time. That doesn't really happen on the MR2 Roadster.
Don't forget my car has the harder shorter TT or whatever they are springs and that combined with a lot of driving in London streets with humps some of which turn out to need to be tackled much more slowly than others probably shortened my radiator's life below the average.
I'm pretty sure UKtotty got one of those high flow Aluminium Rads and had load of trouble just filling it.
The OEM types on ebay seem to be good quality and they certainly seem to keep the car cool properly.
Quote from: "Wabbitkilla"I'm pretty sure UKtotty got one of those high flow Aluminium Rads and had load of trouble just filling it.
Yeah just avoid this one: l viewtopic.php?f=11&t=22656 (http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=22656) l
Can't see a reason not to get an OEM type really, keeps the woes to a minimum; the one Russ got in the end was VALEO and £117 from reading his other rad thread l viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24469 (http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24469) l .
My rad is missing all of the bottom third of the W shaped fins and it looks pretty hanging, the cars only done 44k and used to be garaged during winter s:( :( s:(
Has anyone got any experience on the japspeed radiators? Ive never heard of japspeed but never owned a jap car until now...
Are Japspeed a brand name or some cheepo Ebay tosh that should be avoided?
I generally never buy OEM parts and thought this would be a nice upgrade, although even boosted my car doesnt go above the half way mark on the temp (if thats normal)...
Here is the link, any help/suggestions would be much appreciated
Cheers
Lippy
Quote from: "VVT-i"... I maybe getting the wrong car with this advert, but didn't toyota feature two 2's with one balanced on the others windscreen surround?.. or was that Porche or Audi or some other cheapo imitation?
BMW 3 series (http://www.advertolog.com/bmw/adverts/balance-366055/)
That ad would be so easy to fix! Bit of lead and you could do any car.
Its from the age of fiddled ads too. Remember the ad with two cylinder heads side by side, one clean the other dirty, suggesting that one fuel or oil was better than the other?
If you looked closely it was two pics of THE SAME HEAD!
Quote from: "Lippy"Are Japspeed a brand name or some cheepo Ebay tosh that should be avoided?
The main radiator sellers on Ebay with the highest feedback are selling you the same OEM radiator as was originally fitted in the car at a fraction of the Toyota price. The one I got on Ebay was the same as the one removed from the car down to the very last fin.
The radiators weren't made by Toyota but some independent Japanese radiator manufacturer. This is why the OEM spare radiators are available fairly cheaply through EBay parts sellers.
Same principle as Mr T charging you £160 for the Oxygen sensors but OEM Denso sensors of the same spec being available at £60 through w www.sparkplugs.co.uk (http://www.sparkplugs.co.uk) w
You are making a big mistake to think everything sold on Ebay is dodgy. Good stuff sold on Ebay will be sold by sellers with either 100% or no worse than 99.9% feedback ratings (100% is best but if the firm has sold 20,000 items on Ebay the odd insane customer is bound to give them bad feedback no matter how good they are so 99.9% is usually ok). Don't buy from any with seller a feedback score like 99.2% as only some buyers are willing to give a negative feedback rating however poor the service so this is actually a very bad feedback score.
cheers for the info capvermell
I get what your saying and agree, what I really want to know is has anyone got one and was it direct fitment without adding blead nipples etc...?
Just for info janspeed is a good aftermarket parts supplier
Ebay item number 150561877372 from Cospares at £89 delivered looks like the OEM radiator to me from the picture. They also have 100% feedback on a large number of sales and offer a 2 year warranty on the product. It is also sold as a new and unused item.
Despite the lack of photo from the description I would suspect that Ebay item number 320727290038 at only £59.90 with free delivery is the OEM part too. 99.9% positive feedback on 4571 transactions is still an acceptable score in my opinion. It also comes with a 2 year warranty.
As long as the seller takes payment by PayPal if it isn't the proper radiator you just put the item in dispute with PayPal and they refund you after a few days or weeks. If the seller is active on Ebay they won't want to mess up their feedback score by refusing to take a return on a relatively low value item. It is also stated in the advert to be "OEM Quality"
I only paid £59 for my replacement radiator three years ago and it was identical to the radiator that is in the vehicle (except that it was new and unused) and clearly came from the same manufacturer.
I know alot of people in the jap tuning scene with anything from a 700bhp civic type R (yes that's right) to big power supras to mr2s and we all agree koyo are good value, jap speed are a well known brand as said but after seeing how they throw together there drift car I am sceptical as to the quality of their parts lol. I use 2 full size c-one radiators which are brilliant but not cheap at all to be honest. You could always just get your own re cored. A place near me does it for £40 and it's like new again.
Quote from: "dj2k21"You could always just get your own re cored. A place near me does it for £40 and it's like new again.
Hardly seems worth it when you can get a brand new one for £59 delivered, especially when I assume this means having no radiator in the car and being unable to drive it for several days while it is done.
i think this going a bit all over the place. the question you really need to ask yourself is what is it your after. big power like 300+ BHP then you want to look at a bigger aftermarket rad to aid the cooling. if your just running small figures then best to just buy a new stock rad like what has been shown as the stock is good for at least 250 BHP
Lippy previously said:-
QuoteI generally never buy OEM parts and thought this would be a nice upgrade, although even boosted my car doesnt go above the half way mark on the temp (if thats normal)...
I just found an ad for the supplier of the one I bought three years ago under Ebay item number 290661310330 for £54 +£6 delivery. This shows a clear picture of the rad unlike the other cheaper supplier and I can vouch that the one I bought from this firm runs fine three years after it was fitted.
The alloy racing one is about £138 delivered but the main question mark is how much work it will be to get it to fit as its almost certainly not a radiator specifcally for the MR2 Roadster but just one of roughly the right size and right cooling capacity.
The stock rad seems to be fine in terms of cooling. The only question mark is its durability but supposedly these alloy rads can also be subject to some kind of nasty corrosion phenomenon over several years. If you were talking the stock battery in the car then that really needs upgrading in as much as it doesn't stand up to the battery drain if the car isn't driven for just a couple of weeks. On the other hand Mr T does the standard battery at such an excellent price (£43 inc VAT with my 5% parts discount on an older car compared to about £75 at Halfords for a basic battery) that in the end I cheapskated and just got another standard one (one of the reasons the battery is so cheap at a Toyota dealer is that they then charge customers 25 minutes labour if you ask them to also fit it so it has to be cheap to make the fitted price seem bearable compared to Kwikfit etc). As this Toyota one is made in Spain and the last one was made in France and the one before it in Japan this one might even turn out to have a better spec than the previous two.
Janspeed I have heard of and I believe my old manifold was made by them but the company is jaPspeed, here is the link
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140583510790?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
I didnt want to buy an OEM standard radiator, I figures as mine is boosted and the temps might get higher when I get it mapped to 240bhp in the summer then it would be a good idea if im replacing mine to get a higher cooling efficiency one...
Anyone know of any big radiators anyone sells for our cars? someone must have done a boosted conversion of some thought and uprated the rad surely?...
Quote from: "Lippy"Janspeed I have heard of and I believe my old manifold was made by them but the company is jaPspeed, here is the link
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140583510790?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
I didnt want to buy an OEM standard radiator, I figures as mine is boosted and the temps might get higher when I get it mapped to 240bhp in the summer then it would be a good idea if I'm replacing mine to get a higher cooling efficiency one...
Anyone know of any big radiators anyone sells for our cars? someone must have done a boosted conversion of some thought and uprated the rad surely?...
turning the boost back up to where andy had it and the stock will be fine mate. lots of people have run more power than that and kept everything fine with a stock rad. if its fins are short and it starts leaking then best just get a new stock rad it be fine. and i dont know if i would trust japspeed seems like the made their name to confuse you to think it janspeed
The picture makes the Japspeed rad look identical in dimensions and fit to the standard unit. Only the materials used or internal core design seem to have changed. So at least it ought to fit your car.
But 99.3% is a very bad Ebay feedback score. I would personally avoid dealing with such a firm and definitely make sure to look at what people are saying in all the negative feedback scores they have received before I even thought about going ahead with buying it.
Quote from: "Capvermell"But 99.3% is a very bad Ebay feedback score. I would personally avoid dealing with such a firm and definitely make sure to look at what people are saying in all the negative feedback scores they have received before I even thought about going ahead with buying it.
I don't think you can really say that's a very bad score, you don't earn over 99% by being crap!
But as you say it's worth researching the reasons for the black marks and think for yourself if they were deserved ... of the two bad feedback in the last 12 months I can see their point. Of the mediocre feedbacks every problem was resolved, and some were down to slow delivery. Imho slow delivery is subjective, people seem to think they will receive everything the next day nowadays.
Saying all that you really have to be careful with these aluminium rads, they don't always put the bleed points in the right place and you'll never get them filled properly as Uktotty discovered.
i sware my posts keep deleting themselves and im writing things twice lol
I want to be running 240bhp+ eventually, there is loads of stuff to do first and finish off paying the rest of the car yet but hopefully not too long away...
Maybe il just get an OEM rad until such times as im closer to raising the boost and fitting other performance parts.
Cheers for the input all s:) :) s:)
Quote from: "Lippy"i sware my posts keep deleting themselves and I'm writing things twice lol
I want to be running 240bhp+ eventually, there is loads of stuff to do first and finish off paying the rest of the car yet but hopefully not too long away...
Maybe il just get an OEM rad until such times as I'm closer to raising the boost and fitting other performance parts.
Cheers for the input all s:) :) s:)
The only time you'll need a bigger rad is if you build the engine and start running big power (in which case you'll also need to uprate the gearbox, fit a bigger turbo and convert to a chargecooler set-up, not to mention the engine build!). The kit that's on there will make a little shy of 240bhp and the rad is more than capable of keeping things under control even on track days (my car took multiple poundings on track at 240bhp and never, ever had a problem with coolant temps).
Sweet cheers matt thats exactly what i wanted to hear! when you say gearbox upgrades do you mean swapping the box alltogether or having mine worked on? Whats involved in that past 240 bhp
Quote from: "Lippy"Sweet cheers matt thats exactly what i wanted to hear! when you say gearbox upgrades do you mean swapping the box alltogether or having mine worked on? Whats involved in that past 240 bhp
The easiest and cheapest gearbox upgrade is to go for a Jubu Racing 3rd and 4th gear set (they're actually Lotus ratios but they work fine) in your existing 'box. Probably worth renewing all the bearings at the same time. The clutch that you have won't be up to the job of 280+ftlb so you'd need to uprate it when you did the engine. The engine will need forged con rod, forged low comp pistons, ARP studs (top and bottom) and then you have the option of Darton liners (and oversize bores - 1.93l conversion?) plus the head will need some work: s/s valves, titanium collets and uprated springs plus cams (all of these engine bits come from MWR) and, ideally, a bit of porting work. Standalone ECU is essential and apart from the obvious pipe changes required for an uprated turbo (GT30...) you'll need to modify the exhaust/ cat pipe joint to remove the 2" restriction.
You need to be VERY committed to go down this path. Personally, I'd recommend getting Redline to get you back on the high output set-up and see how you feel about things then. The only parts of what you currently have that will be re-useable in a bigger turbo upgrade are the manifold and the induction pipe, so if you decided you wanted to go to 260-ish bhp you'd be better switching to something like a Hass kit, or a custom kit with all the associated upgrades if you wanted 300+bhp. The SP turbo kit that's on there would yield more towards a custom install if you took it off and sold it than it would save you by re-using bits of it.
If I remember correctly the stock box can take a max of 280. Also on a note the gear set wine.
Where on earth do you guys find insurers willing to cover all this in terms of these massive power upgrades?
Wouldn't it just be easier and cheaper in terms of both car upgrade costs and insurance costs to buy a 10 year old 3.2 Porsche Boxster?
More than likely. But what you'll find is a lot of people around here spend a lot of time working on their car and do the mods over a long period gradually.
With all the blood, sweat and tears that goes into our pride and joy its very easy to grow fairly attached to it given the money and time spent over the period of ownership. Thats why a lot of people spend more money on what they have.
Anyway wheres the fun in buying a car thats already perfect for you! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
I have the KoyoRad racing rad in my V6..... s:D :D s:D
It has a 53mm core, was really easy to fit...and DOES have a bleed valve (unlike some of the cheaper Ebay jobbies..! s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
Downside..?
Well, it cost the best part of £400, all in (when you add Parcelforce rip off fees, VAT, customs, etc!!!) s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
...and as it came from Canada, it took around 5 bloody weeks to get to my door...!!! s:evil: :evil: s:evil:
..but its a great rad: I'd recommend one for anyone with a turbo / SC setup.....in fact its almost TOO good...
Temps can be down in the 80's on a cold day, doing 70+ on the m'way....fans have only ever kicked in when I've been replacing coolant, etc, whilst stationary on the driveway.... s8) 8) s8)
Cheers Matt, I love having you to answer questions about where to go next! Your an absolute wealth of knowledge!
It wont be for a while that I seriously look into 240+ bhp, but its good to have an idea on what needs doing before I think im going down a certain route!
Having removed the frunk liner today and the bin im seriously tempted after I have rust proofed the entire engine bay to plumb in my Nitrous system and mount the botted in the bonnet area, it cost me the best part of £800 with all the optional extras and its just sitting in my garage and I love the kick in the teeth nos gives its so much more than any turbo/supercharged car that ive been in!
Is the inlet manifold alloy on the MR2's?
Is the fuel pipe 8mm same as most other cars? (thinking on getting s/s braided lines when I plumb in my fuel pressure gauge)
@ Capvermell : On most of the cars ive owned ive been with Adrian Flux as they are one of the only companies that will insure road going cars with Nitrous, you can fit almost any performance part without an increase in insurance price unless it raises the bhp. I fitted a carbon bonnet to my saxo which made it lighter and more appealing to steal and there was no increase in cost s:) :) s:)
Own a porshe... nah not for me thanks, id rather drive an MR2 that shouldnt be quick but surprises people! same as with my saxo it wasnt expected that it had a gas system installed in it and thats what made it fun half of the time!
@ Dyn-evo : Cheers for the heads up on the radiator, I expected to pay that if not more for a decent one anyway and thats why I was curious about the £149 one on Ebay :/
Having seen under the bonnet covers today I noticed that there is a filling tube up high above the radiator so in theory with a bit of patience you shouldnt need a bleed valve in the rad and mine doesnt seem to have one anyway, possably a facelift addition either that or I didnt see the valve in rad and im wrong s:) :) s:)
Quote from: "Lippy"Cheers Matt, I love having you to answer questions about where to go next! Your an absolute wealth of knowledge!
It wont be for a while that I seriously look into 240+ bhp, but its good to have an idea on what needs doing before I think I'm going down a certain route!
Having removed the frunk liner today and the bin I'm seriously tempted after I have rust proofed the entire engine bay to plumb in my Nitrous system and mount the botted in the bonnet area, it cost me the best part of £800 with all the optional extras and its just sitting in my garage and I love the kick in the teeth nos gives its so much more than any turbo/supercharged car that ive been in!
Is the inlet manifold alloy on the MR2's?
The inlet manifold is plastic. I know you are looking to get value for money out of your nitrous kit, but honestly, in your position, the most cost effective interim stage upgrade would be to get the 440cc injectors back in and have it mapped to the high output spec. The difference is very noticeable. In my N/A MR2 with a few choice mods, I used to be able to work hard and mostly keep up with cars running the 6psi setups, but the high output setup is in a different league. The closed loop map Richard at Redline did for my car is very smooth, none of that double hump as the boost comes in. I just get the feeling that adding nitrous to a turbo is asking for bother. For a start, you need to consider the con rods wont be happy much above 240lb/ft and also that adding nitrous can lead to huge boost creep, so even with the wastegate wide open, boost can get very out of hand. Going the high output turbo route, you get a very driveable car that should be reliable.
Chris
Quote from: "Capvermell"Where on earth do you guys find insurers willing to cover all this in terms of these massive power upgrades?
Wouldn't it just be easier and cheaper in terms of both car upgrade costs and insurance costs to buy a 10 year old 3.2 Porsche Boxster?
Hmm
3.2 Boxster S from around 2000 will not live with the boosted MR2 in raw acceleration terms. Its 300 extra Kgs sees to that. You can buy a late low miles MR2 and turbo it within a £10K budget. Anything with a Porsche badge on it that costs £10K will be considerably more of a money pit to run. Plus, the Boxster, good though it is, did not make me grin like the MR2 did.
Chris
Just had my New Rad delivered yesterday as per Capvermell recommendation however its arrived with some damage. I assume damage in transit
Ive messaged the company through ebay to confirm theres damage to the fins. They havent seen these photos yet but they suggest that bent fins are not a problem as you are likely to bend fins with fitting.
Whats peoples thoughts?
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0334.jpg)
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0333.jpg)
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0332.jpg)
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0331.jpg)
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0330.jpg)
(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0328.jpg)
You have an absolute right under the distance selling recommendations to reject goods within 7 days sent by mail order under the distance selling regulations. On top of that in this case the goods are faulty so you would be entitled to reject and return them for a refund (if that is your choice) rather than a replacement even if you had bought them from a high street radiator.
The only grey area is the cost of return carriage, which they may attempt to pass on to you although they might well give way on this if you suggest you believe that their inadequate protective packageing was responsible for the goods becoming defective and unfit for the purpose in this case.
I'm very sorry to hear you had this problem as the radiator I was sent seemed fine and has not given any trouble on the car. As radiators are so relatively fragile they clearly can get damaged very easily in transit it placed undeneath a lot of other heavy goods.
They have suggested i can return it.
Just makes me wonder if i send it back are they going to just bend them back into place and return it to me.
Postage wasnt mentioned yet.
Im not happy with it. Im replacing something that isnt actually broken so i am reluctant to fit something that isnt 100% but i dont know if im being petty
Quote from: "nathanMR2"I'm not happy with it. I'm replacing something that isnt actually broken so i am reluctant to fit something that isnt 100% but i dont know if I'm being petty
Not at all in my eyes Nath... especially if they're happy to have it returned.
Quote from: "nathanMR2"Just makes me wonder if i send it back are they going to just bend them back into place and return it to me.
You can't bend back that kind of damage. All they can do is sell it off cheaply as know Grade B stock or whatever.
The packaging my radiator was sent in has now come to mind since making my last post and even though I didn't actually fit it I did check it before I took it to the place that was fitting it and there was no damage at all.
If it was the place with the 100% or very close to Feedback I don't suppose they are going to make you pay the carriage when it was clearly damaged on arrival and radiators are items known to be items that can get damaged in transit. An item as large and heavy as a radiator is going to cost you £15 or something to send back with a courier but it will only cost them about £5 if they are a volume seller.
Nathan, if it were mine I'd be happy to fit it as that fin damage is of no real consequence. I assure you that the fins can be bent back straight without any consequence either (care is obviously needed) although they'll never be as cosmetically perfect as they were before the damage. Is it on a part of the rad that will be visible once it's in the car?
That said, it's not perfect and you paid for a perfect item. You could try to come to an arrangement with them to give you a discount, but you might risk them thinking that you're trying it on.
Quote from: "MattPerformance"You could try to come to an arrangement with them to give you a discount, but you might risk them thinking that you're trying it on.
If Matt is right that the radiator is still ok it clearly has to be worth around £15 to the supplier not to have to courier this one back and courier another new one out to him.
On the other hand unless they suggest this as a solution and he accepts it if he simply demands money back instead of returning it then he might be seen as "trying it on" as Matt suggests.
As it so happens the new rad I has was subject to a front end thump at about 10mph or so when it was 6 months old that split and pushed in the front spoiler and its supports when I hit the spoiler on a hidden kerb whilst pulling up in the Shetland Islands at about 10mph or so. As the car already had two other damaged panels elsewhere that would be two more claims and there was a £350 excess on each I had all the damaged reapaired at a very economical repairer out in the sticks not from Luton Airport who only charged £1650 for the whole lot (three insurance claims at once would have made me almost uninsurable for three to five years and cost me a lot extra in premiums and I would still have paid £1050 in excesses anyway). They concluded that although slightly bent as it was not yet corroded the rad was still sound for cooling and pulled it out. It all happened rather quickly in terms of a decision and if I had my time again I would really have replaced the rad for the sake of another £60 but 18,000 miles and three years on its still cooling the car perfectly ok.
Sent the photos and he's just called me.
He recons that the damage was most likely there before they sent it s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: Given that comment I said I want it replaced which he was more than happy to do.
He will send another one out for me tomorrow which will be checked before its sent and they will collect the old one.
Nice guy to speak to and was more than happy to make sure im happy. Just not sure if he's openness has done his company any favours. These things happen but ill be happier with a straight one... that's until I bend it myself when trying to fit but at least that will be own doing! s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
Quote from: "Lippy"i sware my posts keep deleting themselves and I'm writing things twice lol
I want to be running 240bhp+ eventually, there is loads of stuff to do first and finish off paying the rest of the car yet but hopefully not too long away...
Maybe il just get an OEM rad until such times as I'm closer to raising the boost and fitting other performance parts.
Cheers for the input all s:) :) s:)
Just buy the
KOYO, its the best Ally, high temp rad you can get, you want decent quality, pay a decent price.
m http://www.ebay.com/itm/KOYO-ALUMINUM-R ... 2a14a562a4 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/KOYO-ALUMINUM-RACING-RADIATOR-TOYOTA-MR2-SPYDER-00-05-R2358-/180735009444?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AMR2+Spyder&vxp=mtr&hash=item2a14a562a4) m
Quote from: "nathanMR2"He recons that the damage was most likely there before they sent it s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: Given that comment I said I want it replaced which he was more than happy to do.
Quote from: "nathanMR2"(http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af245/nathanpowell83/IMAG0333.jpg)
In this pic, are the nuts on the left taped to the inside of the box? Looks like they would line up with the damage if the card folds round like I think it does?
In any case - Get them to send a new, undamaged one and get them to pack it more carefully. (They pay for return postage on the bent one too!)
Quote from: "nathanMR2"They havent seen these photos yet but they suggest that bent fins are not a problem as you are likely to bend fins with fitting.
This is just BS - I fitted my new rad myself, it arrived in perfect shape and I took care not to do any damage, so there are no bent fins on mine. I wonder if they are hinting that you may have damaged the fins while fitting it?