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Choice of uprights...MR2?
GRRR - 9/3/09 at 03:13 PM

Just been daydreaming, why don't people use MR2s as donor cars for mid engined kits whether just for the uprights, or much more of it? they're cheap strong and plentiful. Good engines too, LSD option, rear drive gearbox linkage already sorted.

Mr Whippy - 9/3/09 at 03:25 PM

or just keep it as an MR2 their quite good cars

speedyxjs - 9/3/09 at 04:26 PM

There are alot of kits to transform an MR2 into other cars like Lambo's, Ferrari's etc

James - 9/3/09 at 05:23 PM

quote:
Originally posted by GRRR
Just been daydreaming, why don't people use MR2s as donor cars .


They do.

Fair few peeps on here have.

That mid-engine Locost based uni-student car in last months PPC was MR2 based IIRC.

Cheers,
James

russbost - 9/3/09 at 06:38 PM

Furore F1 is MR2 Mk1 based, single donor. only thing from elsewhere is the rack & lower column - keeps costs down.

Think you'll find the answer to your original question is that people (including manufacturers) are like sheep, they follow the herd, instead of saying BAA BAA they say FORD FORD

GRRR - 9/3/09 at 08:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by russbost
Think you'll find the answer to your original question is that people (including manufacturers) are like sheep, they follow the herd, instead of saying BAA BAA they say FORD FORD


I wondered if that might be the case. I have a rev 2 MR2 which I love but also can't help thinking it'd make a good donor and not just for naff body conversions! I missed that issue of PPC, sounds interesting.

TheGecko - 9/3/09 at 10:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by GRRR
Just been daydreaming, why don't people use MR2s as donor cars for mid engined kits whether just for the uprights, or much more of it? they're cheap strong and plentiful. Good engines too, LSD option, rear drive gearbox linkage already sorted.


There's nothing special about MR2 uprights, front or rear. Series 1 (AW11) - the rear uprights are the same as Corolla AE80; Series 2 (SW20) - they're Camry/Celica; Series 3 (ZZW30) - I believe they're Celica as well. The fronts are just FWD uprights with a retaining bolt through the middle to replace the driveshaft and hold the bearings together.

Gearboxes are the same as Corolla/Camry/Celica in each series, just with the linkage brought to the front side of the box rather than the rear.

MR2's are wonderful examples of Toyota's pragmatic approach to making cars. They reuse loads of parts from the common vehicles to make something "exotic". This of course is nothing new - the X1/9 is just Fiat 128 running gear in the back of a sexy body.

Anyway, there's nothing inherently "mid-engined" about MR2 components and so there's little advantage to be had in chopping one up as a donor in preference to, say, a Corolla.

Dominic

pocket rocket - 10/3/09 at 12:15 AM

the Tiki kit car that i think is due out soon has mk2 mr2 as a single donor...

http://www.tiki-cars.co.uk/

i must say i was thinking of taking out my zetec se engine in the winter and putting a 3sgte engine in for next summer and use tiki uprights to save time makinh my own