Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Dudeman)

Sat, 30 Jul 2016 18:56:15 GMT

Harry

The mighty Datto 120Y coupe. I fitted an L16 engine from a Stanza and 180B SSS dogleg 5spd, and a massive 6.8" BorgWarner diff from another Datto. Lowered alot and some old school 13x7 Hotwires. Mint stock interior right down to the pushbutton AM radio lol This one is just an old school cruiser that reminds me of 20yrs ago when I had modded Datto road cars and started doing track days... It's slow, but it makes me smile and it turns more heads than any other car I've got.

That's awesome, love it. Cool colour as well, only rivalled by the mustard/baby poo orangey/yellow they came out with.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Sat, 30 Jul 2016 18:51:43 GMT

Lakeside today. This thing is heaps of fun to drive!I now fit inside the cabin with the roof on if I take the seat cushion out and remove the trim panel from under the Targa Top - didn't want to bust it by hittin git on bumps. So now you can hear something other than wind noise on the videos. No data overlay though - the GPS thing is playing up.
Previous best was 64.2 on RSR/RS3 tyres, improved on that today with a 63.5 on the new RS-RR tyres. There's probably a little bit more left in it as I'm still very much getting used to MR handling...

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 21:29:53 GMT

After mentioning I swapped seats from the Soarer into the MR2, I realised I hadn't introduced my other cars here, so here goes....
This is the Soarer. 1JZ twin turbo. Only mods are BC coilovers, exhaust and FMIC, but they go pretty hard even with those basic mods. It was my daily for years and occasional track use, but seem to use the 4WD daily these days. These things are far better than people imagine on the track. It's got a PB of 59.8 at Lakeside :) Not bad for an automatic land barge hehe It also held a class record at Mt Cotton Hillclimb for year or so, beaten by a much more modern, powerful, compact and nimble 1 series BMW twin turbo 6cyl with all sorts of driver aids - boo :P
It will be getting a stock front bar and deeper lip soon to make it a little more subtle again. I was originally going to sell this one when I bought the MR2, but can't bring myself to let it go.

The mighty Datto 120Y coupe. I fitted an L16 engine from a Stanza and 180B SSS dogleg 5spd, and a massive 6.8" BorgWarner diff from another Datto. Lowered alot and some old school 13x7 Hotwires. Mint stock interior right down to the pushbutton AM radio lol This one is just an old school cruiser that reminds me of 20yrs ago when I had modded Datto road cars and started doing track days... It's slow, but it makes me smile and it turns more heads than any other car I've got.

The Delica (V6 petrol) for beach camping trips and some offroad lols. It's got a 2" lift and 31" tyres for another inch of lift. This is absolutely terrifying offroad after owning a much more capable GQ Patrol that got replaced a year ago when it started to get rusty around the roof. It goes great on the sand and that's 99% of the offroading I do these days. Mainly Fraser Island and Inskip Pt. But we're planning a Simpson Desert trip with a group of mates later this year.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Fri, 22 Jul 2016 17:21:56 GMT

Booked in for the Street Sprints at Lakeside next weekend :)

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:45:10 GMT

Thanks, yeah I much prefer this lip. Changed seat and wheel today. The Bride wasn't really low enough and the high sides made it very difficult to click the seatbelt in properly. So I swapped the SAAS seat out of my Soarer into this car. It's lower sides make clear the seat belt stalk and it feels a little lower to sit in.
The 330mm fake Nardi wheel was a bit in the way of the gauges and the grip was a little thin, so I forked out for a nice 350mm Momo - much better feel and clear veiw of the gauges. Looks better too I reckon. I painted the chrome boss kit black too while it was apart.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (5SGTE)

Sun, 17 Jul 2016 00:01:16 GMT

Oh good, imo it was singing out for this. Nicely done.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Sat, 16 Jul 2016 17:02:42 GMT

rainy afternoon, so I fitted the new front lip

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Tue, 05 Jul 2016 08:58:48 GMT

Rev1 swaybar mount problem strikes! After developing a good clunk in the front right a couple of weekends ago, I found a gaping hole torn in the chassis by the sway bar mount. Google then informed me it's a pretty common problem on the early SWs. It must have been like that for a while looking at the state of it and how dirty and rusty some of the edges were. Also by how many squeaks/groans have been eliminated now that it's fixed...

A mate who's a coach and motor body builder plated both sides up with some overkill 3mm sheet. Car feels alot more responsive to steering now, and just generally tighter - almost all it's rattles and squeaks are gone, just one from the targa roof now. Looking forward to another track day at Lakeside at the end of the month to try it out properly! :)

Didn't like the look of the commercially available reinforcement plates. They miss the point - the mount takes vertical loads from the swaybar, so ours wrap around the side of the chassis rail to support it in that direction, not just a flat plate with diagonal bracing which would help more with horizontal loads. The two bends in the commercially available plates would also promote flexing in that vertical direction unless the material was extremely thick.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (5SGTE)

Sun, 26 Jun 2016 10:50:48 GMT

Looks great with the new rims, and that steering wheel... Agree on the black details.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Sun, 26 Jun 2016 10:34:21 GMT

Buddy Clubs and RS-RRs on :) 17x8 215/40 and 17x9 235/40. Be interested to see how it handles now with less difference in tyre diameters and the same type of tyre front and rear. Slightly lower gearing might help a little on the track too.

I really want to paint the taillight panel and under the bumper black again.
Also fitted the 'race' seat, which despite being mounted as low as possible, doesn't seem to be any lower than the original seat. I'll have to remove the base cushions to fit in with the helmet on. Other changes inside since I bought it are the 330mm Nardi style wheel replacing the horrible brown D shaped autotechnica wheel, shift knob (had a 6spd knob on it) and the Engine Guardian temp gauge/alarm

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Tue, 07 Jun 2016 16:00:40 GMT

I'll definitely be down next year for the MR2TC - sounds like an awesome event in the planning! :)

I went to Lakeside yesterday with some friends in the MX5 club. They get a good turnout and similar performance cars. Ran a best of 1:04.25 which I'm pretty happy with on these tyres. The fixed back race seat didn't arrive last week, so I was left with the stock seat unfortunately. Car was a little understeery but nothing like as bad as it was on the slow gymkhana course the other weekend. It's a nice safe balance, but I'd like it a little more neutral personally. Temps were fine all day - but it was a cool windy day. And the stock brakes were 100% up to the job - no fade whatsoever :) Here's a quick vid of the best lap:

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (B24)

Sun, 29 May 2016 20:44:51 GMT

Nice catch through the sweeper!
Welcome and look forward to seeing you around the traps in the future.

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Sun, 29 May 2016 17:32:34 GMT

bit of fun at a Lotus Club gymkhana today:

Still seems to push a bit too much with 205 Federal RSR front and 225 Hankook RS3 rear, but I'll wait and see when I get it on a proper race track in about a week with the MX5 club sprints at Lakeside

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (Harry)

Mon, 23 May 2016 10:23:47 GMT

Thanks, yeah it was great fun. My current track car is a Toyota Soarer, so the MR2 feels very small, light and nimble by comparison! :) Best lap was a 1:13.4. Should be able to go a little faster on the matched tyres it has now. The gearing suffered a fair bit too with the 235/40R18 semis on the rear - way too tall!

Re: Harry's 3VZ-FE SW20 (rikkir)

Mon, 23 May 2016 09:41:29 GMT

Looks like you had fun. Welcome to the joys of MR2 ownership.
What sort of times did you manage at Wakefield?