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Prepared Car Support Group II

21K views 175 replies 15 participants last post by  David Hawkins 
#1 · (Edited)
The "sticky" thread appears to be closed? OK, so I guess I am continuing here.

The last weekend before the Dixie Tour was supposed to be an easy one. Install the battery and run the last of the wiring, mount seat and steering wheel, do final checkout and check the alignment. A leisurely weekend's work.

Well, that was the plan. Then things starting going wrong. Once the new battery was installed and wires connected, weird things started happening. Like the fuel pump running with the master switch off. The ECU powering up with the master switch off. Huh? How could this be?

Thus saturday afternoon I began the trouble shooting. None of the electrics made any sense. I worked for a couple of hours with the ohm meter and finally gave up and started ripping the wiring harness apart. Since most of the harness had been out for the interior repaint, I assumed I must have pinched it somewhere thus shorting between circuits.

With the harness completely disassembled and finding no faults, I looked elsewhere and eventually found a bad relay. The fuel pump relay was internally shorted. WTF??? Never seen a relay fail like that before.

So Sunday morning I bought a new relay and started putting the harness back together. Finally, with everything back as it should be, I found the "little" battery won't hold a charge? WTF??? So now I have to scramble and get a new battery ordered and shipped in by Wednesday so I can leave early Thursday for Cecil.

The (not quite) finished passenger side. Note additional ballast brick and the offending battery fitted but various ground wires unattached.



The redone cockpit.



Revised dash, if you want to call it that. The tach sure looks lonely.



-Steve
 
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#77 ·
Keeping the track as narrow as practical is important. I like the very deep wheels as it makes varying track easy.

Struts can work reasonably well, so I am sticking with struts for now. I have other plans in the works for the car. Stay tuned.
 
#78 ·
More progress today. I finished fabbing the basic splitter and valance. Forming and fabbing the valance I had always thought would be the toughest part of the job.

I had considered a number of different materials for the valance but ultimately decided on the DiBond as it is easy to work and form. I think the DiBond will work out very well and am glad I decided to use it. With this step done, its all pretty simple from here.

The basic splitter and valance:





Set in place:







Next is to fab the mounts and cut and duct the air inlet to the radiator.

The mounts will use quick release pins for quick and easy removal.
 
#80 · (Edited)
Have now gone as far as I can without the splitter mounts. They should be in this week. I got the air intake cut and the floor of the duct in place. I ran out of pop rivets and damned it nobody locally has 1/8 x 1/4 aluminum pop rivets.

Splitter with air intake cut and lower duct panel in place. The duct is also made of DiBond.



In place awaiting mounts. The lip under the bumper will be trimmed to allow adequate airflow to the radiator.



Since I am still waiting for mounts and because the half of my new hood pins are in (for some reason Amazon shipped the other half of my order for Florida) I mounted and adjusted the new hood pins.

Decklid pinned in place with the new Sparco captive pins. Its amazing how light the decklid is.



Next I have to mount the rear spoiler and the decklid is ready for paint.
 
#85 ·
Bilstein Group A fronts for the MK2 Jetta.

What I know, since I am waiting for them to arrive from my dad:

Extended Length is ~17"
The mounts are the right width for the rear MK1a knuckle, just under for the fronts. bolt spacing is around 2.5".
pn ve3-4406-m0. I will have more info and pictures when I get them.
 
#88 ·
Bilsteins are pretty sweet. They are very consistent compared to most other shocks/struts. And are easy to rebuild/revalve.

I am kinda stuck awaiting parts right now. I did a bunch of miscellaneous little projects over the weekend. I ran air lines in the shop so I wouldn't have to drag an air hose all the way across the shop from the air compressor. Makes using air tools much more convenient. I worked out mounting details on the splitter and spoiler, now if the parts would just get here. I pulled the new hood pins out of the rear and installed them in the front so I could mark, drill and prep the front hood. Still awaiting the second set of pins. :(

The new body work is basically ready for paint. So prepping and spraying in coming soon. My least favorite thing.

I also fabbed and installed the side pieces that take up the gap between the engine cover and the sails. I cut these from DiBond as well.



With the engine cover/deck lid in place:

 
#90 ·
Ok, I'm at a stopping point, waiting on some parts, but the major work is now done. Awesome news! they slide right over the knuckles, and it is just a matter of enlarging the top holes slightly to make the struts bolt up. And for the part I am waiting for: the struts are designed for 2.25" springs. Everything I currently have is 2.5". Techno Toy Tuning upper hats fit perfectly, and I don't want to have to purchase everything again, so I ordered some Koni spring perch adapters to fit my 2.5" springs. I would like to switch to longer springs, but as of now my ride height will be really close to what it was running my 6" setup.

now for pictures!

This is a comparison with the rear strut:


Front:


It is just a matter of making this hole line up all the way around:


Axle clearance at full compression (no springs):
 
#94 ·
I was under my car, and I saw a set of mounting holes that I couldn't figure out what was originally mounted in that spot. Ten minutes later i realized that they were the sway bar attachment points. Is that a bad thing?
 
#97 ·
I coulda sworn I hear you say "BALLAST mounting point."

Here's your "plan":
buy 1 lead pipe of sufficient diameter;
thread and cap the ends;
partially fill with lead bird-shot to achieve a desired minimum weight;
enjoy moveable ballast*!



*legality remains questionable; dubious at best.
 
#98 ·
What do I mount there to remove 100lbs though??? :p


Can someone tell my why there are 3 different spring standards within .25" of each other??? I should have just measured the spring perches instead of going off of all of the conflicting and missing info. These shocks use 60mm springs. Had to order another set of adapters <_<.
 
#99 ·
HA! Yeah, that kinda sucks. Formula car coilover shocks have always been 2.25" ID. Then they started making coilover kits for struts and the 2.25" springs were just too small to fit over the struts so they upped them to 2.5". In Europe, the coil over springs were always 60mm (IIRC).
 
#100 · (Edited)
finally!




Now I can finish up all the rest of my projects, get it aligned and weighed, and I'm almost ready for the season to start.



doing a bit of weight reduction, intercooler relocation, and possibly some fiberglass work. Fender flares are on the way too.
 
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