My MR2 turbo upgrade project

[Joyride]

Wah, Green, can wait to see your car man!

 

[Green06]

Hi,....back again in my project, completed today in lowering my MR2 the proper way...........
Installed the RCA on the front arms. Highly recommended for all who lowered their cars. This RCA helps to correct back the arms' geometry to reduce oversteer of the car. Without the RCA and the car lowered, the front wheel will tend to go to positive camber when taking a sharp corner and this is dangerous. See attached photo.....

 

[Green06]

Next, tackle the toe in problem when lowering the MR2. MR2 has a unique setup with the steering rack installed in front of the front wheel where else all other cars ( Evo, RX, STI, Protons, and others daily vehicles ) have their steering rack installed behind the front wheel. ( I believe the designer did it with a purpose ie. to make it oversteer.) When the car is lowered, both left & right side steering rack end points upwards. During a sharp corner. The wheel moves upward further thus causing the steering link to moves up and this pulls in the wheel and indirectly causing excessive toe in. This makes the car oversteer more and it is dangerous, ( I have experienced this B4 I write this as I have been doing some practical research on it.) Extremely dangerous in corners and you can't go fast, the tails keep wanna swing out. The solution is to install a pair of this aftermarket link end.
See attached photo #1.......This helps to bring down the link to almost parallel to the road or neutral position. So during a sharp corners, the link will not pull in too much that causes excessive toe in.

The #2 & 3 photo shows the arm with the RCA and the steering link end ( without the aftermarket link end ) pointing upward.....while the lower arms stay at neutral or parallel to the ground.

The #4 & 5 photo shows the the aftermarket link end installed and notice the it is parallel / neutral to the ground.

 

[Green06]

ALERT!!!!!! :bandit: When installing the RCA on the front wheel, be extra careful on the steering rack end as it does not have enough thread into the the link end. I found out it had 3 to 4 threads that is threaded in. Another set of problem arise. This is dangerous with 3 to 4 threads attached. A hard bump might reap off these threads and you are on your own without steering control.
Next comes another project to source for a longer end rack.
I found it, Toyota AE92 is 1 inch longer than MR2. But a different set of problem here again. The thread to the steering rack on the MR2 ori is M12 x 1.25 thread where else AE92 is a M14 x 1.5 thread. Again to find a M12 x 1.25 end rack is rather impossible as most cars uses M14 x 1.5 thread, unless to order from Wing Hin but it is just too short for this project. So have to carry out some modification to the steering rack ie. drill and retapped to M14 x 1.5 thread. The other plus point is you can use any Toyota parts which is readily available in the market as M12 is rather rare.
Photo #1 shows the AE92 end rack ( 555 brand made in Japan ).
Photo # 2 shows the difference in length........the top one is the AE92 ( 555 brand ) the 2 bottoms are the ori ones which is 1 inch shorter.

 

[Green06]

System could not accomodate photos earlier, must be a hickup or somthing else.....Here are the photos............
Photo #1 shows......AE92 end rack ( 555 Brand Made in Japan )
Photo #2 shows the difference in length.
Photo #3 & 4 shows the difference in the thread size.
Photo #5 shows the extra 1 inch length on the new rack end.

Unfortunately could not attach photos # 3, 4 & 5 as it keeps telling me the connection failed.
Will post tomorrow . I have also done my rear arms will post more photos later....stay tuned....:wavey:

 

[Green06]

A6ttached are the photos that were not able to be posted last night.......
Photo # 3, 4 & 5..........finally.....

 

[Green06]

Rear Arm modification...........installed 10mm thk RCA plate and added 3mm washer as it was not thick enough for my setup. The principles is the same as for the front Arms. When lowering the car the geometry is out and this cause the lower arms to point upward. When negotiating a sharp corner, the car tend to roll and the wheel tend to move upward and this causes the arm to move upward which pulls in the wheel. Causing a positive camber. In the photo there is also the toe in link end being modified. In an unmodified situation this link will also point upward. So in sharp corner the toe link tends to pull in the wheel too causing a toe out of the wheel. So by modifying the toe link and get it to point downward will cause the wheel to toe in in sharp corners. I have personally conducted this setup to test and it is really scary and unable to drive fast in corners as the cars tends to snap out its tail. So with the modification the car can take corners safely with the car lowered.
Photo # 1 shows the installed RCA
Photo # 2 & 3 show both the left & right side arms and toe link
Photo #4 shows the modification done on the toe link end

 

[Green06]

problem with this forum, photos keep missing................no Good !

Next project ...fabricating 245 TB mounting flanges and fuel rail bar for Bosch top feed injectors.
Follow on would be welding the 245 TB mounting flange to a modified Intake manifold. There will be some work to be done on the Intake manifold as it has a 225 TB mounting flange on.

In store project will be modifying 2 TRUST intercoolers, combining it to make one big unit.

Stay tune...............

 

[iexit]

Very hardcore man..nice keep up the good work.

 

[Joyride]

Next, tackle the toe in problem when lowering the MR2. MR2 has a unique setup with the steering rack installed in front of the front wheel where else all other cars ( Evo, RX, STI, Protons, and others daily vehicles ) have their steering rack installed behind the front wheel. ( I believe the designer did it with a purpose ie. to make it oversteer.) When the car is lowered, both left & right side steering rack end points upwards. During a sharp corner. The wheel moves upward further thus causing the steering link to moves up and this pulls in the wheel and indirectly causing excessive toe in. This makes the car oversteer more and it is dangerous, ( I have experienced this B4 I write this as I have been doing some practical research on it.) Extremely dangerous in corners and you can't go fast, the tails keep wanna swing out. The solution is to install a pair of this aftermarket link end.
See attached photo #1.......This helps to bring down the link to almost parallel to the road or neutral position. So during a sharp corners, the link will not pull in too much that causes excessive toe in.

The #2 & 3 photo shows the arm with the RCA and the steering link end ( without the aftermarket link end ) pointing upward.....while the lower arms stay at neutral or parallel to the ground.

The #4 & 5 photo shows the the aftermarket link end installed and notice the it is parallel / neutral to the ground.

This is the set up i am looking for. Bro, might to tell where you bought the aftermarket front rack end link?

As for the rear toe bar, do u weld a new bracket to the adjustable rod? or just patch a steel plate to it?

Very nice update on your upgrade. thanks for sharing.

 

[Green06]

I got my end link from RHD Japan. ( rhdjapan.com ). If you are going to install them, get a pair of RCA too. ( Ask Alvin {TOMs}, he might have it ).The RCA makes your lower arm pointing downward or parallel to the ground if you lowered to an extend. At any time NEVER allow the lower arm to point upward as it makes your camber positive. DO NOT forget to replace the steering end rack to a longer one because the ori one is just too short - not enough of thread into the link end - DANGEROUS!
As for the rear toe link,a new piece was fabricated and welded to the threaded link end.
Hope you will enjoy a new found experience on yr MR2 handling..............

 

[Joyride]

Yeah. I installed the RCA. It really give much better handling. I also duplicated few set too. hehe... Please contact me if anyone interested.

 

[graham_flag]

radical and super cool.
wow

 

[Green06]

Joyride, did you check your steering end rack? How many threads was into the end link? Need to watch out. You probably having 3 to 4 threads screwed in only and thats is not enough!!

---------- Post added at 10:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 PM ----------

Joyride, since you added RCA to your front, did you have it for your rear? Consider have it installed. I wud suggest 13 mm thk. If you fabricate them, I might want a pair. Tq.

 

[Green06]

Back again with some updates after some weeks of silence, actually getting stuff fabricated etc.
Attached are the photos #1 of the 245 TB mounting plates.
Photo# 2 is the fuel bar drilled for Bosch injectors.