My Blue 2002 MR2 - Meeerrk's Track car build (LOCKED)

[Anonymous]

Suspension updates...

I spent an hour or so at the weekend removing the rear ARB and the drop links, in preparation for fitting BC coilovers this weekend!   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

I knew the drop links wouldn't be easy to remove because when I fitted the springs back in April, I couldn't get them undone. So I went straight in with the hacksaw, they are surprisingly easy to get through.   s:scared: :scared: s:scared:  I then removed the shock from the car, and got the drop links off using a mole grip to stop it spinning; the allen key was completely rounded   s:| :| s:|  

I then "loosely" put the rear units back on the car so they will be quick to remove on Saturday. (15mins per side I believe). The fronts of course, are much simpler as there is no drop link to contend with.

The coilovers aren't the exact model I wanted, nor are they brand new, but I did need to have a bit of reality check with how much money I'm spending on this "cheap toy" so it's actually a perfect solution. Fitted together with the TTE ARBs (17mm rear, 22mm front with 3 way adjustment) I hope they will give me the improvements I'm hoping for!   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:  
Pics to follow at the weekend   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[MrStev3]

Sit down and add the money up :-p
Smiles per miles to the £ I call it.

I blame this project myself as mine was £1350 worth of mr2 to have fun at the track with a few simple mods like brakes and now thanks to your project and a few others I've gone way passed it. For the money spent I could of changed my Subaru to a machine if widow makers haha

Keep up the good work

[Anonymous]

Sit down and add the money up :-p
Smiles per miles to the £ I call it.

I blame this project myself as mine was £1350 worth of mr2 to have fun at the track with a few simple mods like brakes and now thanks to your project and a few others I've gone way passed it. For the money spent I could of changed my Subaru to a machine if widow makers haha

Keep up the good work

I track it in a spreadsheet....it's scary when I total the cost column  s:D s:D

[MrStev3]

I don't wanna track the cost but sometimes I can't help but add up the invoices lol

I bet you have spent a pretty penny on track days?

Llandow is £90 a throw and I've done 3 and most the ones
You have done are double that minimum and you have done a fair few  s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:

[Anonymous]

Long and busy day today, not helped as I'm suffering with man-flu!

Drove 2hrs to Colchester and removed some coilovers from a car, and replaced them with my shocks and springs (removed from my car yesterday).

I then drove 2 hours back home and fitted said coilovers to my mr2.

I still need to fit the TTE anti roll bars; I have new bushes but my brackets don't fit over them so I now need to order some new mounting brackets.

No pictures unfortunately, time was against me. Will take some pics when I fit the TTE bars  s:) s:)

Very happy now I have some BCs on my car though  s:) s:)

[1979scotte]

Think that's plenty for one day well done.
Sorry if my constant chatting slowed you down.
Hopefully a swift recovery from the dreaded man flu.

[Anonymous]

Not at all, we got everything done so it's all good  s:) s:)

[s12vea]

Everyones a winner!

[js1mr2]

Have you decided what camber etc you are going to have set once you take it to have alignment done with the coilovers fitted?

[Anonymous]

No I haven't. To be honest I haven't experimented much on this car or previous so I take it to someone I trust who advises and sets it all up.

Last time I went I told him I was getting the coilovers etc and he was quite excited about adding some front camber in. I'll also get some of those bolts fitted on the back to have more adjustment, with the arms i have fitted that should be enough!

[js1mr2]

That sounds sensible, I spent this afternoon fitting my Teins, going to find the ride height I like and then look for a place to have the alignment done. I went for the camskill camber bolts as I was ordering other stuff from them but I noticed Demon Tweeks did Eibach and Whiteline camber bolts for not much more if you are after some.

[Anonymous]

How did you get on with fitting the teins? Have you driven it to test the ride comfort yet?


I need to order some anti roll bar bush brackets from camskill so I will probably just make the most of their expensive shipping cost and get some rear camber bolts from them too.

Did you ever get the decat fixed and fitted?

[js1mr2]

Nope haven't fitted the decat pipe yet, planning on getting a replacement flexible join and magnaflow sports cat welded in after xmas

Fitting Teins was slow as I ended up having to remove the rear anti roll bar in order to cut the drop links off it. Once fitted I raised the ride height so its about a 30mm drop, unlike the BCs you can't adjust the ride height independently of spring rate and 30mm drop is what the springs are optimised for. If I wanted to drop it 45mm I think I could buy harder Tein springs but I'm pretty happy with 30mm drop as I use it everyday and need to get over speed bumps etc.

I only went for a short test drive but was very pleased, definitely more steering feel with the pillow ball topmounts and no noticeable increase in noise from them, the steering did feel a little lighter but imagine that will change when I have the alignment corrected and camber added. I set the compression & rebound to 8 out of 16 for both the front and rear as a starting point but will do some experimenting and research in to how much stiffer the back should be compared to the front to find a good balance. I was extremely impressed by how the car handled, the ride seemed as comfortable as the standard dampers with uprated springs and less jarring over uneven road surfaces as I imagine they react a lot faster to bumps. However there felt like a significant increase in body control and the increase in front end grip was particularly noticeable.

How are the BC's?

[Anonymous]

They sound really good, I'm glad your happy with them. Probably showing why they are so much more expensive than the BC coilovers, which are known (it would seem) to be very hard on the road.

The rear anti roll bar is always a pain. When I fitted my spings I had to do it with the anti roll bar still attached because the the drop links were shot. When I removed them for the BCs, I just cut through them. To remove the drop link from the strut I used mole grips on the ball to stop it spinning.

The ROC drop links I have with my rear BCs are lovely through, came apart no problem at all (from the car I got them from).

I agree, a 30mm drop is probably optimal for looks and usability. I've not gone much lower than the tein springs were either, probably about 40mm all over.

Unfortunately I haven't driven my car since fitting the BCs, I have TTE anti roll bars to fit, so I took the old ones off, and went to fit the TTEs with the coilovers, and although I have new Superpro bushes, I didn't realise I needed bigger brackets too, so at the moment I have anti roll bars just sitting half in position!

I expect the BCs to be very hard though, most people say they don't like them day to day.

Can't wait to see how it handles on track though  s:D s:D

[js1mr2]

I bet they'll be very impressive on track, for a trackday car the increased stiffness and adjustability of the BCs sound perfect, what sort or ratio of stiffness are you going to be running front to rear?

For what I want the Teins seem ideal, to me its not worth compromising the handling of the car for the 363 days of the year I only drive on the road just for the 2 days I do a trackday, I've been in enough cars with rock hard suspension to learn what equates to good handling on a smooth race track doesn't equate to good handling on twisty B roads!

I'll have to keep an eye out for the ROC drop links as don't fancy cutting another pair and will be really interested to hear how you get on with the TTE anti roll bars as they are next on my list. Have you got a rear strut brace? I've got a front strut brace and Matt's under car brace and wasn't going to bother with the rear after reading lots of comments about how the improvement was negligable but really glad I picked one up as I thought the improvement was pretty noticeable even with standard dampers.

[no1trancefan]

hi, jsut to clarify did you get a rear brace as ive got the front and about to order matt's but likewise heard the back was negligable i was thinking of getting the ultra racing one if i get one so matches the front

[Anonymous]

I've got the ultra racing front upper and matt's brace under car, but use the stock rear bracing at the moment

[no1trancefan]

i think it was around 145 for the ultra rear brace did try know a seller down if i ordered front and back together but wasnt having it

[tomaky]

have you fitted a FL front lower brace?

[Anonymous]

have you fitted a FL front lower brace?

Negative!

[tomaky]

Suggest you do so, massive improvement over pre fl front end response dramtically improves, at very little weight gain, have a poo before a track day  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Got one to sell or sommat?!  s:D s:D

[tomaky]

Nope just a strong believer in it, when i had my FL car i felt the front end was very responsive, then when i bought the pr FL i felt the front end was horribly vague i had no confidence, so i lowered it thathelped a little. I bought a set of SP 12's with 205-40-17 and 245-35-17 and i got the responsiveness back, taken them off for the winter and the vagueness returned, so now that im being paid more and getting into the track days i managed to get one £45, put it on and the car has returned to being point and go again, the strut braces i feel dont do massive amounts due to how close they are to the bulk heads, but the lower h brace makes a noticeable change.

[Anonymous]

That's interesting thanks. Where did you find yours?

[no1trancefan]

sorry to hijack how much difference does matt's brace make on facelift?