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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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Yeah they don't really have that many issues as such, rust is non existant basically. 

 

The engines are just diabolically shit and burn oil and fail quite regularly regarding piston rings. Apparently the facelifts had an oil feed hole revision on the pistons that prevented this oil burning. 

 

Yeah the precats can be an issue too as they get sucked up into the cylinder and cause scuffing. 

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12 hours ago, dann2707 said:

Yeah they don't really have that many issues as such, rust is non existant basically. 

 

The engines are just diabolically shit and burn oil and fail quite regularly regarding piston rings. Apparently the facelifts had an oil feed hole revision on the pistons that prevented this oil burning. 

 

Yeah the precats can be an issue too as they get sucked up into the cylinder and cause scuffing. 

I'm planning on getting as late a model as I can, at least 04 FL.

And I realise I've been unlucky with mine, but my Eunos had 3 oil burning 1.6's, I'm familiar with engine swapping now :lol:

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My roof? You wanna see the other side... I think I could fit my head in the hole.

I've put a lot of hours in tweaking it this last week and it now drives very well. Have quite a lot of scuttle shake though so wondering if @dann2707 will be kind enough to sell me a set of door bushings :D

If anyone is interested in a shit example of a rather good 18 year old Japanese car, then have a look here: https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=69843.0

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9 hours ago, Adam@TartyBikes said:

My roof? You wanna see the other side... I think I could fit my head in the hole.

I've put a lot of hours in tweaking it this last week and it now drives very well. Have quite a lot of scuttle shake though so wondering if @dann2707 will be kind enough to sell me a set of door bushings :D

If anyone is interested in a shit example of a rather good 18 year old Japanese car, then have a look here: https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=69843.0

And absolutely mate. Will message you, are you on fb now? 

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I just accidentally 600 quid on knobbly tyres for the campervan :)

It's three times the amount that is spend on budgets for the smax :(

They'll probably outlast the life of the van so that's not a bad thing :D

Edit: they arrived!

IMG_20200905_153228.jpg

Edit again: they fit!

IMG_20200907_170912.jpg

Edited by forteh
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  • 2 weeks later...

4C0F8B06-21C8-4D9E-A8CE-31A2B4129C3B.thumb.jpeg.e0e631295ee63d53f20912e4b99a798b.jpeg

I’ve finally managed to move myself to Canada and joined the 1.8t club whilst here with this 03 Audi A4. I know this is a common engine on here so wondering if anyone can share any wisdom on what I could check/mod/service to make sure it’s sweet. It appears to mechanically have been well looked after since the previous owners originally bought it in 07. 
 

More power is always nice but as maybe a sign of me ageing I’d be happy to dial it in so it’s reliable. It’s done a lot of miles by U.K. standards but by Canadian standards it’s barely broken in. I’d like to give it a good detailing as it’s not had much cleaning love with the rainforest of BC but it drives sweet and ‘gas’ is cheap here so it’s cheap to run.

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Drop the sump and check the oil pickup as those are known to clog and kill things. Breathers/vac hoses can be a bit of a nightmare for splitting, most people just rip out a load of the factory system and replace with a simple catch can setup. Otherwise mostly pretty normal stuff.

I haven't had a longitudinal 1.8t but mod options are a little more hard to come by (in that it's not so easy to pick up manifolds, turbos etc as a bolt on) but by the sounds of it you don't want too much from it, so a decent map (nothing peaky on torque, rods lottery above ~300ftlb, but harsh torque spikes are what kills things so can happen below), coupled with a free flowing intake/exhaust and a FMIC will probably get you where you want to be.

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Just look at Prawn - there are only 3 races this season in 750MC Roadsports, so things look a little disproportionate since things like safety gear are time-led rather than number-of-races, but the outlay even to do this year is pretty mad.

Full new certified safety gear, race licence, race entry, transport, accommodation for race weekends, spares, fresh tyres, brakes, fluids etc. That's not including building the car at all, which is a feat in itself.

Sure, you could do the bare minimum and rock up in a questionable heap with the mandatory bits in place and little else, but you want to get at least a baseline of functionality and reliability so to cheap out entirely would be false economy, and what's the point in going if you're not looking to be remotely competitive so you need to reach a certain point.

The step from track days to racing seems pretty small at first glance, but if we've learned nothing else this year it's that there's actually a f**king chasm between the two, even for pretty grass roots series.

I suppose hillclimbing/other time-judged series might be a little less severe, and are often touted as being a more accessible/affordable way into it, but even then it's not going to be cheap to do it right. @Rob Brodie can probably give a better insight into that than I can though.

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MSA sprinting / hillclimbing is a bit more accessible, depending on which car you run, but there is still a significant financial outlay to become compliant, and the scrutineers are often jumped up old men trying to prove a point. Track time is also minimal, perhaps 4 or 5 runs (one or two laps max) all day.

Javelin Track Days run a more relaxed sprint series, which allows more normal cars (all you need is some yellow tape on your earth lead, a helmet, and crack on), and you'll get more runs. I massively prefer this to MSA events

Overall sprinting is cheaper than racing, but worse value track time : £ ratio.

Racing is big money no matter what anyone tells you, especially if you want to be competitive. The front runners will either have years of experience or pretty much unlimited budgets, or both. 

In general though, having any car near the edge of grip is where the fun is, no matter what speed you're doing or how much you've spent. If you're 6" from another lunatic at the time, even better. It just gets even more expensive when something goes wrong, and that is multiplied the faster you are going.

The 24hr C1 race I did at Spa last year (I say did... the team managed to get disqualified before I'd done my stint... but at least I got a test day and quali in) was still one of the most memorable racing experiences I've had, and sharing (double driving) a bog standard totally f**ked MX5 with a mate at a sprint event was the most fun sprint.

Anyone thinking about racing or sprinting is welcome to give me a call at Tarty any time, I have all the t shirts and they all have warts!

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I accidentally another MR2. £650 though!!!

Full history, massive folder of receipts, all 4 tyres the same and nearly new, recent wheel refurbs, almost perfect roof, and even the aerial works...! So cheap I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to munterise Mr Poo and resign him to track duties.

20201001_181402.thumb.jpg.4eab6b142d11b3f28452e3cb5cd0d520.jpg

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Damn, that's a bargain!

I've been a member of a few MR2 groups since August and it looks like I'll be spending around £2.5k for an FL, ideally a Red Edition because that colour scheme is awesome. I've been given permission by the boss to get one once we have a house :D

Most likely stick a 2ZZ in as well, a little further down the road.

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4 hours ago, Adam@TartyBikes said:

I accidentally another MR2. £650 though!!!

Full history, massive folder of receipts, all 4 tyres the same and nearly new, recent wheel refurbs, almost perfect roof, and even the aerial works...! So cheap I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to munterise Mr Poo and resign him to track duties.

20201001_181402.thumb.jpg.4eab6b142d11b3f28452e3cb5cd0d520.jpg

#MunterTheWorld!

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:lol:

I bought a cheap car this week too (well, actually it was 8 days ago but I'm counting it anyway). It's the heaviest car I've ever owned, and is probably in the worst state too. Number plate is entirely appropriate. Going to stick the stroker in it, should be a bit of fun. Either the faux-wheel-drive will help with traction at ~500bhp+ or it'll be dead weight, in which case I'll rip it all out and go fwd with the benefit of the IRS.

IMG_2160.thumb.jpg.ce1e0113cf5945da2982d30473680d5b.jpg

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