Project MR2 - Introduction

I’ve always wanted to design and build my own car. For the uninitiated this is a crazy thing to want to do. It’ll require a lot of design and fabrication skills you don’t have unless you’re a design school graduate with a minor in metalwork. A lot of it will be painfully boring. It takes a special kind of idiot to want to design suspension mounting points when you could just buy a car with that stuff already thought out. It will also bankrupt you. Automotive history is littered with brilliant minds that went insane, broke, or both trying to build out the dream car in their head. The reality of the R&D and rework required to make a car not suck is just too much for all but the most exceptional individuals or people with nine figure pockets.


I’m crazy, but I’m not that crazy so I’ll settle for completely redesigning my recently acquired project car visually, aerodynamically, and mechanically.

When I started surfing craigslist looking for a new toy the list of potential projects cars was pretty long because I had only two requirements 1)rear wheel drive 2)reasonable after market support. I could get an RX-7 and throw in an LS1. An older Supra and turn up the boost. A 1st gen Miata and a turbo kit. A Porsche 914 and a WRX engine. I had totally forgotten about the car I would eventually buy till an ad jumped out at me:

-91 Toyota MR2, $2900, Issaquah

Oh.


Oh hell yeah!

In 2004 Sport Compact Car Magazine (may it rest in peace) published an article called "25 ways to live like a car guy". If you're a car geek you've probably seen it in one form or another. It has a lot of the standard stuff on there like "do your first track day" and "modify your car the night before a 200 mile drive" but there are a few on the list that capture the imagination. Quests like "See the sunset in L.A. and New York in three days" or "Drive to Chicago on Route 66" are easily recognizeable, but for most of us would require some serious planning and time off from work to be able to say we'd completed them.


After I finished the article I immediately began checking off what I'd already completed. I was suprised by how many I could legitimately say I had already finished. There were a few items in the original article that I never see myself doing (Spending an entire Nascar race on the infield? Are you serious!?) so shortly thereafter I made my own version of the list and added things like rebuilding an engine, welding your own exhaust, etc.

I've been checking off things ever since.

There was one particular item on the list that I kept intact that was important to me. I left it because it really summed up the Car Guy experience for me in relatively simple terms:

#11: Buy the first car you fell in love with

Now that is interesting. When you're a kid you watch cars go by on the freeway and think "that's cool". Since you're riding in your parents Minivan you're not exactly at a stage in your life where you can procure a vehicle. As you get older and (hopefully) your income goes up, now all of a sudden that cool car that drove by the Chrysler Town and Country of your youth is not only attainable, but is way less expensive.

I was completely oblivious to cars until I turned 15 in 1991. That year a car came out that I absolutely fell for: the Toyota MR2. I can’t believe I had forgotten about the MR2 when looking for a project car. I clicked on the add, called the owner, and a few days later crossed #11 of my personal list.









A little about the car: First off since I’m not planning on keeping the engine I was fine with getting the non-turbo version. The car is externally in great shape except for the drivers-side fender which will need to be replaced. It drives great. Even with barely 100HP it’s a riot to drive. The engine is strong. It looks to have been used lightly.

It has absolutely no options.

Power steering? Uh, no. Power windows? Nope. Power door locks? Nada. Upgraded speaker system? Nein. Stock as a box of rocks. This is all good by me as that crap just adds weight and the car is basically a blank canvas that I can start working on. This is going to be an epic adventure. Epic adventures need a theme. Here’s mine:

If the SW20 MR2 were made today, what would it look like and what would its niche be?

To answer this question, you first have to take a look at what’s out there on the market today with a similar configuration to the MR2. If someone says “small, light, mid-engine sports car” and the first thing that comes to your mind isn’t a Lotus Elise of some variety then you need your Car Guy card revoked. Any mid engine car currently in production has been compared to it, but the problem is the Elise is so good at what it’s built for that you almost know the outcome of the comparison before it even starts. Other cars may be more comfortable or have tons more power but nothing but high dollar exotics can compare to the cornering and smile factor of the Elise.

Since the comparison is inevitable no matter what I do, let’s start with the basics:



Ignoring engine output, which is the easiest thing by far to fix, if you look at the numbers above one item in particular should jump out at you. Curb Weight. The SW20 MR2 (or at least mine) weighs a solid six hundred pounds more than a Lotus Elise. Six. Hundred. In vehicle terms that’s the difference between a Yaris and a Camry. I could completely gut the MR2 and I still wouldn’t get close to stripping out 600lbs and I’d be left with a car that’s loud, uncomfortable, and utterly unstreetable. Yeah, that’s not happening. I actually like to drive my cars.

So what’s a better benchmark? Purely based on weight and configuration you need to start looking at GT cars. GT cars are heavier because they’re more comfortable and have greater features than their smaller and stripped down cousins. There wasn’t a good vehicle to compare what a current SW20 MR2 might be like until Lotus came out with this:



That lump of pure molten sex is the Lotus Evora. Let’s take a look at the same figures as above but for this vehicle:

Again, ignoring power output, that’s a hell of a lot closer. Sure, the Evora is a little bigger and a good bit heavier, but it’s still an order of magnitude closer to what I’m starting with than the Elise and it means I can build a car that’s actually comfortable and fun to drive on the street and still hit the benchmark.

So there you go.

I’m going to build out my MR2 to be a true GT car worthy of going head to head with a Lotus Evora at a fraction of the cost. Will I be able to pull it off? Maybe. Maybe not. Success of the project isn’t the important thing – it’s the adventure that matters.