Noob Queries

[JLW]

so 2 weeks into my MR2 ownership ( Rev 3 turbo )
A few questions have popped into my mind.

1st, does having the lights "popped up" cause any instability at high
Speeds ? For example the front end is light enough as it is, without
Having two flat panels hitting the air, possibly causing lift / drag.
Obviously only an issue at low light / night time.

2nd, what is the average fuel consumption of a turbo for average driving
And occasionally pinning it through the gears for overtakes etc, I'm currently looking at getting a max of 200 miles to a tank ! ( cars running Blitz spec Nur / Phoenix power SMIC & Honda S200 induction ) but not setup on a dyno for these, could it be over fuelling to compensate for the extra air flow ?

3rd, do the Turbo's really benefit or need to be run on higher octane petrol, of course this question answers itself in a way, as obviously it's better.
But do they really need it ?, at the moment the cars a weekend toy
But next year it will be my daily and the cost , considering my second questions predicament will be expensive.

Don't get me wrong I didn't buy this motor to be a penny pinching, eco fag. Just wanted to gauge other people's estimates

Cheers

Jordan.

[nathan.z]

so 2 weeks into my MR2 ownership ( Rev 3 turbo )
A few questions have popped into my mind.

1st, does having the lights "popped up" cause any instability at high
Speeds ? For example the front end is light enough as it is, without
Having two flat panels hitting the air, possibly causing lift / drag.
Obviously only an issue at low light / night time.

2nd, what is the average fuel consumption of a turbo for average driving
And occasionally pinning it through the gears for overtakes etc, I'm currently looking at getting a max of 200 miles to a tank ! ( cars running Blitz spec Nur / Phoenix power SMIC & Honda S200 induction ) but not setup on a dyno for these, could it be over fuelling to compensate for the extra air flow ?

3rd, do the Turbo's really benefit or need to be run on higher octane petrol, of course this question answers itself in a way, as obviously it's better.
But do they really need it ?, at the moment the cars a weekend toy
But next year it will be my daily and the cost , considering my second questions predicament will be expensive.

Don't get me wrong I didn't buy this motor to be a penny pinching, eco fag. Just wanted to gauge other people's estimates

Cheers

Jordan.

1) These cars are notorious for front end lightness at speed due to the lack of weight in the front and the short wheel base. You can try work around this using the speed flaps from a Rev5, ensuring the undertray is still intact and having some weight in the frunk.

2) I average between 250 - 300 miles on a full tank with the Turbo. Depends on how hard you drive it, worth looking at replacing the oxygen sensor in the exhaust manifold as a cheap fix to see if it helps with the possible over fueling. The car also runs rich on high boost to reduce knock, so if you've turned up the boost on the stock ECU it's worth looking into that.

3) These cars need to run on high octane fuel as that's what they're built to run on stock. The higher octane reduces knock levels and keeps your engine healthy. I would not recommend using a lower octane to save on cash.

[Hez]

200 miles to a tank with some spirited driving inbetween sounds about right, who buy's these cars and worries about mpg?, they run quite rich at high revs anyway so yes will use a lot of fuel.

The turbos are mapped for japanese fuel which is 100ron i think so you need to get as close to this as you can in the uk (vpower or tesco), in the short term using normal unleaded would be ok however you risk damage using it for any length of time.

[DB Mr2]

Hi Jordan, going to go straight to point 3 as it is very important you run your turbo on the highest octane rated fuel we have here in the UK.
Tesco momentum and shell nitro are both rated at 99ron.
Using lower rated octane fuel can lead to 'knock' which is very dangerous on the 3sgte and can cause engine failure. The mr2 turbo was designed in Japan where they have 98-100ron fuel.
Myself and two mates with an evo7 and r32 gtr both run tesco momentum not shell as it's cheaper
Point1 I feel it makes such a minimal difference but to me it may even increase stability? I don't know but at the cost of drag and mpg for sure.
Point2 is a can of worms that I'm not going to touch. It can depend on where you live, humidity and weather, driving style, motorway miles etc.... Just make sure your ignition components are good and engine in good bill of health.
Here is an extract about the Ron ratings and the mr2
[URL=http://s129.photobucket.com/user/lushle ... F.png.html]

[CalMac]

200 miles is about what I get with 300bhp

Doubt having the lights up would really make a noticeable difference, especially on the road

Yep, always high octane

[2mad]

Increasing the attitude by lowering the altitude worked for me .. i fitted coilovers on there lowest hardest setting and front end floatiness was very much reduced .. and the front of my car was 20kg lighter from mods.

Had 17" alloys with 215/40 front and 245/35 rear .. still tramlined from time to time on rubbish roads

[Nails]

Mpg seems a bit down. Mine from mixed driving is 250 -300 per tank

[JLW]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the responses, much valued.
In regards to point one, I think your right, at sustained high speed it would maybe cause more drag, but taking it up the bypass flat out on the way to the
Gym I don't think it will make a difference

I totally agree with using the best fuel in it, I've always ran my bikes
On the higher octane even if they necessarily didn't need it,
Just wondered if the myth with Jap performance cars was true, as
This is my first.

Now onto point 3, as I said the occasional blast and it looks like I'm seeing
Sub 200miles per tank !!!! surely this is not correct
I would expect anything between 200 and 250 tbh, but as it stands, I'm at 154 with 1/8th of a tank left at best. It's popping a lot on overrun, which I attribute to unburned fuel of course.

I think it's best I get it to abbey motorsport and on the dyno, but kinda wanted to wait until I bought a decat and EBC and get it set up all together, the boost level is stock at the moment, it's running the mods I mentioned above, but that's it.

[jimGTS]

you cant map the stock ecus, so im not sure what youll be expecting to find out on the dyno??

there is nothing to "setup", unless you go for an aftermarket ecu.

[DB Mr2]

Beware of thinking the burbles from the exhaust are attributed to your poor mpg.
You do have an aftermarket single exit exhaust fitted I'm not surprised it burbles.
There are other common mr2 problems such as sticky brake calipers that could also ruin mpg (IF yours is bad but you havntbhad it long?)

[JohnnyC]

The front isn't actually all that light, Toyota claimed weight distribution as 45% front, 55% rear.

Never noticed any frontend lightness when I had mine, although it was a rev5 with the wind flaps infront of the front wheels

[nathan.z]

Hi Guys,



Now onto point 3, as I said the occasional blast and it looks like I'm seeing
Sub 200miles per tank !!!! surely this is not correct
I would expect anything between 200 and 250 tbh, but as it stands, I'm at 154 with 1/8th of a tank left at best. It's popping a lot on overrun, which I attribute to unburned fuel of course.

Oxygen sensor in the manifold, replace it. Cheap n easy

[androo007]

Beware of abbey Motorsport..... There's a lot of bad taste flying around them at the moment. They recently screwed a mates 350z ecu too..... Despite club members warning him not to go there.

I get 29mpg from my rev 3 turbo, the daily is a 330ci which only gets 27

[JLW]

"Oxygen sensor in the manifold, replace it. Cheap n easy"

Cheers mate, yeah I'll give that a try and see if it improves
Performance mate. Think I may try and get hold of the Rev 5 air ductings
You guys have mentioned.

To be honest the suspension is setup incorrectly for the wheels it's running at the moment, and I have just ordered new ones, that should improve stability.

Beware of abbey Motorsport..... There's a lot of bad taste flying around them at the moment. They recently screwed a mates 350z ecu too..... Despite club members warning him not to go there.

I get 29mpg from my rev 3 turbo, the daily is a 330ci which only gets 27

Mate that's worrying, I went and met them as I personally like to build up a relationship with a Specalist mechanics, like I had with my GSXR and HM Racing, who were amazing and I continue to use them.
What have they mucked up and is it generally known to avoid them ?

[androo007]

Put the uprev ECU reflash on stock ecu now suddenly ecu shot. Unheard of on unmolested ECUs. Also been told if you go there they'll come back with a list of things to do that other garages would say is fine.

They generally have a good reputation - just customer awareness is never a bad thing....just be on the ball.

You're near pacific works, no? Great people, crap at getting invoices printed

[danjama]

Look at doing a full service if you can't see when they were done.

And as said the o2 sensor. And I'd also add coolant temp sensor to that list as it will also effect mpg.

[JLW]

Look at doing a full service if you can't see when they were done.

And as said the o2 sensor. And I'd also add coolant temp sensor to that list as it will also effect mpg.

cool i will do mate thanks,

I have 3 other questions that if anyone wants to entertain my stupidity, id
very much appreciate the responses ?

1. the Turbo being water-cooled, does this mean its not such an issue to turn the engine off straight away after driving ? , i know Turbo-Timers were predominantly used on older cars such as Escort Rs Turbo's , is this because of not having WC turbo's ? or is it best i allow the engine to cool on idle before turning off ?

2. the seatbelt on my car doesn't seem to retain very well, and can become loose whilst driving, which is very off putting, my car is the GT Spec and I'm not sure if the others have this, but it clearly has a motor that pulls the belt in once the door is opened, could this be faulty ? i have to twist the belt once put on to allow the belt to slide freely into the top retainer otherwise it goes loose ( as pic shows )

3. the gear linkage feels notchy and occasionally doesn't go from 5th to 4th that well, sometimes can also not go into other gears first time, can this be play in certain places ? are the MR2's susceptible for this, could a new unit help etc ?

thanks for your help guys.

[mr2magic]

cool i will do mate thanks,

I have 3 other questions that if anyone wants to entertain my stupidity, id
very much appreciate the responses ?

1. the Turbo being water-cooled, does this mean its not such an issue to turn the engine off straight away after driving ? , i know Turbo-Timers were predominantly used on older cars such as Escort Rs Turbo's , is this because of not having WC turbo's ? or is it best i allow the engine to cool on idle before turning off ?

2. the seatbelt on my car doesn't seem to retain very well, and can become loose whilst driving, which is very off putting, my car is the GT Spec and I'm not sure if the others have this, but it clearly has a motor that pulls the belt in once the door is opened, could this be faulty ? i have to twist the belt once put on to allow the belt to slide freely into the top retainer otherwise it goes loose ( as pic shows )

3. the gear linkage feels notchy and occasionally doesn't go from 5th to 4th that well, sometimes can also not go into other gears first time, can this be play in certain places ? are the MR2's susceptible for this, could a new unit help etc ?

thanks for your help guys.

1) In a nutshell....no. All turbos are prone to coking oil when shut down prematurely after hard driving. Do the hardware a favour and either let it run for a minute or two or drive the last couple of miles normally before shutting down.

2)There is no motor. If you look inside the door jamb you will see an L-shaped lever. This lever is directly attached to the seatbelt and activates the spring when the door is opened. I'm guessing the uk model is the same as the usdm in that the seat belt is always relatively loose (just a slight pull) while driving, to allow you the freedom of movement your average american expects

3)Check the linkage at the gearbox end. The round rubber inserts could be worn or missing leading to a notchy gearchange. If it still grinds or is notchy after checking/replacing, check the pedal travel (may not be disengaging the clutch properly). Last thing would be the synchros.

[JLW]

1) In a nutshell....no. All turbos are prone to coking oil when shut down prematurely after hard driving. Do the hardware a favour and either let it run for a minute or two or drive the last couple of miles normally before shutting down.

2)There is no motor. If you look inside the door jamb you will see an L-shaped lever. This lever is directly attached to the seatbelt and activates the spring when the door is opened. I'm guessing the uk model is the same as the usdm in that the seat belt is always relatively loose (just a slight pull) while driving, to allow you the freedom of movement your average american expects

3)Check the linkage at the gearbox end. The round rubber inserts could be worn or missing leading to a notchy gearchange. If it still grinds or is notchy after checking/replacing, check the pedal travel (may not be disengaging the clutch properly). Last thing would be the synchros.

ok thanks pal, ill make sure that i continue letting the car cool down as i have been doing. and yeah i noticed that lever yesterday and couldn't figure out what it was for. But now you have explained i can see its logic and use.
The problem is that the seatbelt can sometimes not retract back at all, so for example if you lean forward to check a junction, then lean back and you have half a foot of slack, maybe it could do with a new spring in the unit ?

and ill check the linkage as you mentioned first, then work my way through the list you provided.

Top Man

[mr2magic]

The problem is that the seatbelt can sometimes not retract back at all, so for example if you lean forward to check a junction, then lean back and you have half a foot of slack, maybe it could do with a new spring in the unit ?

I think you misunderstood how it works The spring is only fully activated when the door is opened. With the door shut there is almost no spring force. The yanks like to be able to move around when driving