6G Celicas Forums

You should take the engine and trans out of the 300 and put it into the Plymouth. I think it gets to a point where you just have too many vehicles unless you're a multi-millionaire and have a huge indoor facility to store them all. That said I'd be the next Jay Leno if I could, just without all the denim.

So I think I've seen every video on the MR2 Spyder on YouTube and have read enough on them to make my eyes cross. Based on that secondhand information I really like it, would just have to see and drive one in person to see how it compares to the Miata for myself. General consensus seems to be the MR2 is more capable but it takes more skill to extract that capability without it biting you, whereas the Miata anyone of moderate skill can push it to the limits without a problem. I'll be the first to admit I won't be able to get everything out of the MR2 at first, but I think it could prove to be a good learning experience and better myself as a driver. The Firebird taught me things and improved me, so it'd be nice to continue that. Plus I like the uniqueness of it, being mid-engine and an err of exclusivity since you never see them and it's not yet another Miata. Also if I ever want more power a 2ZZ-GE swap is straight forward enough, and the small aftermarket isn't a big deal since Cusco makes what I would want to get for it anyway. I guess it's come down to it or a NB2, maybe a NA8, Miata. Which I'm going to try and wait a little longer to see if things improve with my legs first, but I'm not going to hold my breath since my left leg is still numb.

Yeah it gets to a point of when you have too many cars, but that's only if you don't enjoy them. Each one has its purpose. Once I figure out what I really want then I'll downsize to 2 or 3. But until, gotta have a car for each day of the week

The mr2 Spyder you will enjoy, the clutch isn't anything crazy which we know is concern for you.

Yeah for us mere mortals I can see having a few different vehicles if they're different enough from each other and have their own purpose, a fun car, a family car, a hauling vehicle, etc...

I don't foresee its clutch being any heavier than the Miata, which is good since it seems like the only clutches that don't bother my leg are the featherweights. Clutch on the Firebird isn't that bad, but it's just enough to cause a problem.

And being a hydraulic clutch you should be able to play with master cylinder size to change how hard it is to push, smaller bore will get a lighter pedal with longer effort or larger bore heavier pedal with shorter effort. Also you can experiment with pedal ratios to adjust the effort and distance too.

Clutch on the Firebird is hydraulic, but the way it is I'm not sure how you'd go about changing things around. That and the only aftermarket master out there is over $300 and has a lot of mixed reviews, that and it's bigger bore and they even straight up say it's stiffer... Maybe could have a custom master made, but again how much would that be or where would you even look for that to be done. Here's the master for the Firebird:

From what I can find the stock master cylinder is .750" bore with 1.1" of stroke.

I swear GM builds cars like Playskool builds toys, all plastic. It looks like you can't alter the rod position on the pedal arm at all

2000 MR2 has a 5/8ths master and a 13/16th slave. Looks like EVERY Toyota from that time period uses the same bore sizes for both.

The loop of the piston rod goes around this stud on the pedal:

So no adjustment to be had... I looked to see if the V6 car had a smaller bore master, and nope.

Bleh...

On the plus side cleaned the Miata's headlights, will need more extensive restoring later, and put in new low beam and fog bulbs. It has new NGK plugs and wires/boots. Plugs in it were so badly worn surprised it ran as well as it did, that and it looked like the original wires/boots. Also tightened the throttle cable, new PCV valve and grommet, and replaced the clutch and brake fluid. He yanked the muffler off to see how it'd sound with it running straight off the factory resonator, actually doesn't sound half bad and not too loud so he'll be welding in straight pipe in place of the muffler. Last thing was adjusted the tire pressure, they were way over inflated at 38 psi and dropped it down to 30 so that should help it ride even better.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/20...essages_to.html

That's brilliant.

https://imgur.com/a/uqwR4

Subaru's paint is finished. It looks pretty good if I say so myself.

Indeed, now you have to whip out the touch up paint for the bumper.

Bumper will be replaced with a 2.5rs bumper so it'll look better. Also need to respaint my wheels.

That's right, forgot you had found that 2.5RS bumper for it. Could repaint the wheels to match the lower colour of the car, would look good.

Nope it's a subie so gotta keep the gold After that, rear discs, upgraded sways leftover from my brothers wrx, upgraded shifter bushings and wrx front brakes and it'll be done.

Hmmm, just have to paint the bottom half of the car gold too then. Actually that'd probably look really good, dark green and gold seem to go together for some reason.

Started the Mazda today to see which port on the trans is the out and which is the in for fluid, got the trans cooler hoses plumbed up and the fluid thermostat installed and hose clamps on and tight, need to re-install the dipstick tube though, the grommet is wonky. I need to put some shields and stuff together under the car so I can get it off the rack and reassemble the little top side stuff and drive it. Hoping to test drive on Wednesday and align it on Friday and take it home for the weekend to drive around and make sure it's OK.

Ready to drive tomorrow!

Wooo! Ready to drive with cooler transmission!

Yea, going to get it out of the shop tomorrow morning when we're pulling cars out so I can go drive it around on my lunch hour and re-check the trans fluid. I need to heat cycle the paint on the flex pipe and that stuff stinks so that's an outside activity, and burn off whatever piston soak stuff there's left but I think most of that's burned off but I'm sure the first time I go WOT it'll blow some smoke out. I think the cheap rear mount I bought is for **** though, I'll end up getting an OEM mount at some point, it seems to pull the trans out of position somewhat and tweak the other mounts, or I need to adjust the position of the trans end mount, that can be done on the ground though and off the rack. There's a procedure to "home" the mounts positions to fix some shift shock issues but also probably helps with vibrations in gear. Worry about it once it's driving.