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Our MR2 is totalled... Insurance company gave the word...


Mikelly

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Yup, I've got one unhappy 16 year old on my hands. We got the word yesterday that it is totalled, and I knew it was, but he didn't want to believe...

 

Poor kid is STILL getting parts in that he had ordered for it to ad insult to injury!

 

So here is what we are going to do... I have a 1990 Honda Civic hatch that has a new motor and trans in it, and has been lowered, and has some nice 15 inch wheels on it... Only thing the car need is paint and some TLC in the interior...

 

 

I'm gonna give it to him as his driver, and let him decide if he wants to keep it and fix it up (The makings of a ricer here) or sell it in a few months and buy something else... This will cut back on the insurance, and will still give him something to get back and forth to school and work in...

 

comments??

 

Mike 8)

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Mike,

 

At least he will have a transpo and you will save a little ins. money..

What year MR2 was it?... My little bro had one that got totaled in the front and he found a junkyard car that was totaled in the back... a little SAWSALL action and he and my dad frankenstiened the two good halves together... Funny part was that the body panels fit better after the surgery... Yes, they did add some structural reinforcements front to back... It was pretty neat the way he got the two halves to line up.. He removed a doors and made a steel frame that bolted in place just like the closed doors would fit.... There was a little more too it but you get the picture.....

 

Myron

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I hear you... My little brothers was older but he was really in love with that car and he refused to let it go.. He drove it for a while after that but eventually sold it....

You could always do the B16/turbo swap, I am sure he would love to do it and he would learn alot in the process... Keep him BUSY and OUT of trouble.....

 

Myron

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Oh trust me, If this kid was my real son, and not my step son, things would be a little bit different... I'll leave it at that...

 

Don't get me wrong, I treat him as if he were my own, but there is an unspoken thing between he and my wife that "If things are bad enough for him" that he'll go to his fathers. He doesn't use this with her, and he only threw it up at me once about three years ago, but found that doesn't work with me, as I started putting stuff in a duffle bag and leading him to the car... He had wet eyes that night...

 

No, he would ride the bus for the rest of the school year if it were my call.

Mike 8)

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I hear you... I grew up in a "step" parent situation... Its not easy either way... I cant tell you how many "your not my mother" arguments I saw.. I was real young so it didnt bother me much, but boy did my older sisters not like having a stepmother... I am sure whatever you do will be in his and your families best interest. He wont think so now, but when he gets older he will... Dad gave me a beater when I was 15 and told me that If I wanted a nice car that I had to build it up myself.... Dad helped of course but I had to earn that help....

 

Myron

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He'll like the Civic. I love mine. It has kept me out of trouble so many times. Easy to control, rear end won't step out on you (unless you've set it up that way :twisted: ), and the damn thing is so slow that I barely could hit 90MPH going down a hill.

 

I can't comment on how a close to stock B16 operates in the car, but I can say that one with a turbo is a blast. Once I get running right, I'm going to go chase a few Vettes.

 

If you're looking for a few interior peices to clean it up, you may want to look into some Si seats. They were actually made by Recaro, so as long as the foam is still good the seats will offer good support. 94-01 Acura Integra center console should also fit without any problems.

 

The Civic's stock brakes are horrible, at least IMHO they are, so you may want to check out http://www.fastbrakes.com My dad and I discussed how weak they were and the added safety of a much needed upgrade. We went with the 11" rotor upgrade which used the bigger EX calipers and it was awesome, but make sure you get the bigger master cylinder. Now I have the Wilwood 4 piston fronts, and I'm sure when I them operating properly it will be that much better. Brian is a great guy and will answer questions whether you buy things or not. He's kinda like the Ross of the Honda world.

 

You could always have MTV "Pimp Yo' Ride." :roll:

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Just reading about a totaled MR2 makes me want to wet my eyes. I absolutely love those cars with that body style. what other can do 0-60 in 5 flat stock from that year!?!? Japan sure does know how to make them.

How you can gro from an MR2 to a Civic boggles my mind however, what about selling the civic pickn' up and old 240sx for him if he likes imports. Good rear wheel drive cars, slow in stock fashion but have potential if you have money. Just a thought...

-Ed

btw... I wouldn't mind having an Integra as well, nice Type R

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Well We have the civic, and I personally think he needs to drive something besides a sports car for a while... His mother was the catalyst behind the MR2, and talked me into it, against better judgement...

 

The MR2 is a fine car, but I'd never own one again... Two reasons...

 

Cost of parts is outragious because Toyota's name is on it.

 

Working on the motor and transaxle was an absolute bear unless you removed it from the car.

 

 

Mike 8)

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Guest Nic-Rebel450CA

I think the question is what would he be likely to do with the civic? If he tries to go crazy with it, I think he might get into more trouble. I can't say what I would do in the situation, as my first one isnt even born yet :D

 

I think the civic is definitely better than the MR2 as far as keeping out of trouble.

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Guest bastaad525
Just reading about a totaled MR2 makes me want to wet my eyes. I absolutely love those cars with that body style. what other can do 0-60 in 5 flat stock from that year!?!? Japan sure does know how to make them.

 

They are nowhere near that fast dude, not even the turbo ones.

 

 

Mikelly - I missed any post on when this first happened... what happened, did he crash it or someone hit him or what?

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He made a left turn on green into the path of an oncoming car. Car hit him in the right rear wheel and spin him backwards into a full sized Dodge van. Fortunately no one from any of the three3 vehicles was injured. Don't know about the Turbo models, but the non-turbo one we had would do 0-60 in about 8.8 seconds... I don't think a stock turbo MR2 would go much faster than 7.0 0-60. They are geared really low, and even that didn't help the car. The bone stock units make about 135 Crank Hp... Not much... And they weigh in at about 2750#. So it isn't the car you might think it is...

 

Mike 8)

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Guest ON3GO

0-60 in the mr2 turbos are 5.5 sec's.. very fast cars stock and modded.. well they launch like a awd car. my next sports car is a 91+ mr2 turbo.. i love them to death.

 

Mike i say the civic is a good idea, its nice of you to do that for him.

also Mike isnt this the one son that helps you all the time and is nicer to you then the other? if so keep that in mind hehe.

and man that sucks that he keeps getting parts for his car that is no more... i would be crying!!!

 

mike

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Guest bastaad525

I'm telling you guys they AINT that fast. Sorry but I am the kind of guy to split hairs on these kinda things. Car and Driver had them listed as doing either 6.3 or 6.5 0-60, for a stock MR2 turbo, and a 14.8 second 1/4 mile. They only had about 200hp and 200ft lbs at the crank stock, and weighed like 2700-2800lbs. An RSX comes very close to those numbers, and is only a little down on torque from the MR2, and that thing, with a short geared 6 speed tranny, is only good for 0-60 in about 7 seconds and 1/4 in like 15.1, so how the hell can an MR2 do it in 5.5?

 

My 240 has like 230hp at the flywheel and a hell of a lot more torque than an MR2 Turbo (estimated 250-270ft lbs at the crank vs. 200), depending on who's math you believe to derive it from dyno numbers, and weighs a hell of a lot less than an MR2 Turbo (just over 2300lbs), and MINE will do 0-60 in about five and a half, possibly a little faster.

 

No STOCK MR2 pulled 0-60 in anything less than 6 seconds.

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Guest ON3GO

i never go by magazines... car and driver once listed the new cobra would do 13.8 in the 1/4th... ive seen high 12's bone stock and some even better.

ive been WALKED hard by a mild modded MR2 turbo in my dads Z06.. from a stop and yes i can drive and launch the car. he had just bolt ons.. and that sucker hooked and shot off.

my boys mr2 does low 12's to high 11's and the car has not one part that is setup for drag racing. in florida there very big in the street racing scene and theres a white one in tampa that laughs at V8 guys with crazy amount of work done to them, im not doubting he has alot to but they are pretty quick stock and can be made damn fast at any aspect of racing.

 

mike

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Guest bastaad525

Okay, dont go by magazines then, simply go by the math. Yeah you mention modded ones... sure they're gonna be fast. 'Mildly modded" means what, exactly? If 'mildly modded' at all involves turning up the boost, then all bets are off... I turned up the boost a paltry 3psi on my 280zxt motor, BONE STOCK everything else, and got around 50-60hp more AT THE WHEELS. That was enough to drop about a second off of my 0-60 times. It makes a HUGE difference. With the simple addition of an I/C I could turn it up another few psi easily. How much boost over stock do even 'mildly modded' MR2's run? I bet it's more than 3 psi over stock....

 

But back to the main subject, just do the math. Enough people have been racing for long enough out there, that a really big knowledge base has formed, a rule, if you will, that you can measure a cars given performance by just knowing a few statistics. There are even calculators all over the web based on simple math, that are usually very accurate, within a few 10ths, just based on say, hp, torque, and weight. There are also far more detailed programs (like Cartest 2000) which give you the opportunity to put in every detail of a given car, right down to the number of cupholders it has (okay so I exaggerate a little :D ) and get a pretty close number of what the car would be capable of. Pure math and experience says that there's no way a 2800lb car, with 200hp and 200ft lbs at the flyweel, can do 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. Try every known way of estimating a cars acceleration performance from knowing a few stats, I guarantee you, none of them will put the MR2 as fast as you say it is.

 

Again, I can even use my own car for comparison. My car weighs roughly 2300lbs, and has 200hp and 234ft lbs AT THE WHEELS, which is about 230-240hp and 270-280ft lbs at the fly, assuming about 15% drivetrain loss. And yet, at BEST I could pull a mid 13 second 1/4 on street tires (unless I were Jersey :twisted: ). This is a fact. There are several guys here who have done that very same thing, with very similiar setups as mine, or ones that dynoed about the same. And most cars that will run a mid to high 13 sec 1/4, will also run 0-60 in about 5 and a half secs, as low as 5 secs flat. Again, this isn't speculation, this is FACT, based on many many other cars that have performed at that level and have known, proven numbers. Now, if I can barely run 0-60 in 5.5 secs, and a mid 13, how can the MR2, which weighs 500lbs MORE than my car, yet has 30-40 LESS hp and SEVENTY to EIGHTY ft lbs LESS torque, run as fast as my car? If it was all wheel drive like a Suby or something MAYBE, otherwise, I just dont see it being possible. So... forget the magazine quotes then... you can either say I dont know how to drive my car, that maybe my car is capable of being even faster, like a sub 5 second 0-60 time... but somehow I dont think that 230 flywheel hp is putting me in the same league as Z06 vettes and Vipers, even at 2300lbs, which last I checked, when stock, are good for 4.X second 0-60's (of course... there I go quoting magazines again, when we all know a Z06 vette can run 0-60 in the 3's :twisted: ). OR, you can take my word for what I KNOW my car is capable of, and just do the simple math to find that there's NO WAY a STOCK, 100% UNMODDED MR2 can run that fast. The numbers just don't add up. Further, it's not like no one has ever dragraced a stock MR2, fastest I ever heard one going was exactly what the magazines say it is, about a high 14. Sure, they CAN mess up and be way off sometimes (especially with REALLY fast cars where other factors such as traction, technique, and even the drivers nerve can all add up to big differences)but more often than not they are usually pretty close... again, within a couple tenths of a second... not enough to trim 6.5 down to 5.5 seconds though, that's for sure :) Most people that have taken stock cars down to the track find that they run just about as fast as the magazines said they would.

 

I'm tellin ya dude... I can split hairs on this all day long... I spend way too much time reading and talking and thinking and dreaming about fast cars... guess I kinda pride myself on knowing a lot about them, such as these kinds of stats. Always comes in handy if I get the chance to line up against someone at least I have a good base knowledge of what I'm up against...

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Guest ON3GO

well my friend in his 100% bone stock Mr2 turbo is going to the track this weekend. he has his g-tech and also a radar gun (his dad is a cop) and we will see what he can pull off. my friends bone stock mr2 turbo when he 1st got it ran mid 14's all day long. with a good clutch.. as in a stock good clutch im sure he could have done a "tad" better.. not much but still.

i never go by mags.. one main reason is with a Z06.. Motor Trend says the Z06 will do the 1/4th in 12.4... i have seen bone stock ones run 12.1's. 12.0's and so on. 100% stock. i no .4 isnt as big as a full second but still alot.

mr2's launch great and for a stock turbo it spools pretty good to get you going.. but we will see what he pulls off.

 

mike

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