@@FrankensteinMotorworks What suspension setup are you using? Any additional chassis bracing besides the roll cage, and I noticed you have a TRD rear strut brace. Very informative channel! Subbed.
@@vltruan I'm running some obsolete Apexi WS coilovers that came with the car when i bought it with 1.9k front springs and 2.7k rear springs, whiteline sway bars and some DIY chassis reinforcements. the rear strut bar is the TRD one because the car came with it but I took the front strut bar that came with the car off, it really isn't needed on the Spyder. I then triangulated the lower reinforcements to the front crossmember and added a custom diagonal reinforcement to the front crossmember. Other than this, the cage is tied in to many locations which adds general chassis stiffness.
@@vltruan I absolutely hate polyurethane bushings. Plus, the spyder actually starts with factory spherical bearings in most positions already so the "upgrade" kits they have out there are actually downgrades.
I was just wondering the other day about the next video update Marc. This was great! I was nervous for you guys at times with the crazy closing speeds and variance of talent/grip levels out there. Love the path you're forging with MR2s!
Yeah, i did take a bit of a break but i will try to not be so long between videos. As for those closing speeds, this car has really good brakes so it's pretty hard to get into trouble with it.
The bone stock 2AR with my tuned ECU, header and intake makes about 25% more power than the stock turbo motor made so it would certainly move nicely. I do have the parts to make that swap easy to do. There's also a link in the description of the video for a discord server where we'd be happy to go over the pros and cons of the 2GR and 2AR. whichever way you go you'll be rewarded with a very reliable drivetrain that is a ton of fun to drive.
How tall are these dam things? I have been looking at a 1UZ or "something" for my NA miata, I mentioned looking for a rwd trans in a previous comment- would the rwd 5 speed from a 4 cyl taco work? They're cheaaapp. What about a 6 cyl manual? (6 speeds). Since those bolt to a GR I assume it's the same pattern?
A lot of people forget the weight part of the power to weight number. 240whp isn't a ton of power but when it pushes a 2000lb car it can be an absolute rocket.
Geez! Your driver is passing so many cars, with a quickness. 😜 Your hybrid cam swap trick got me wondering if it’d be a similar case with other Toyota hybrid engine relatives (1NZFXE/1NZFE and the 2ZRFXE/2ZRFE). A hopped up 2ZRFE would put some much needed pep in my 1st Gen Scion xB build. BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you think a Haltech elite 1500 could handle a Toyota electronically controlled transmission?(u340e/u341e) I think it only has 4 solenoids to control, plus the neutral safety switch inputs. Anyway, Mr2 is impressive! 🤣
I'm sure this trick would work on some other motors, i don't personally have experience with it so i can't guarantee it would work on the 2ZR but you can probably get some cheap parts from e-bay to test the theory before taking your car apart. As for the Haltech Elite ECUs, they do support automatic transmissions with up to 8 solenoids. the safety switches don't count towards those outputs. I have zero experience with the transmission control so i can't speak to how well it works but i would expect it to be pretty decent.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks I’m pretty confident that it will work. The 2zr has a nearly identical cam phazer issue that the 2AR has as well. Glad to hear about the trans. We will be doing business together in the future. I’ve recently started a new car channel and begun uploading Toyota/Scion content to document my car build(s).
I need to pop the valve cover off and make sure nothing looks abnormal in there but yeah, these have been given a hell of a beating and they seem to be doing just fine. I spent a ton of time at about 7600 RPM
It's kinda becoming a thing of people bitching about the yellow headlights on this thing. It'll probably stay that way until i need to use them in a 24hr race.
I really dont understand this field of cars at all... seems too organized for lemons but too much chaos and disarray for something like lucky dog. What am I watching here and are there any classifications or rules at all?!
I think a lot of people think of lemons the way it was when it started 15 years ago. lemons has really evolved and the top 'A' class cars are running similar times to spec miata these days and we are doing it with a 200threadwear limitation and much lower budget suspensions. You also have to keep in mind that this is multi class racing so the cars you see me pass with a 30mph+ closing speed are lower class cars. But we did get the fastest lap of the weekend by just about 2.5 seconds, a pretty large gap.
I'll try to get a slightly better angle in the future with the mirror not so much in the way but overall that tends to be a good angle to see what is going on.
Yes i did and they survived!!! The boots did have issues so they need to come apart for inspection no matter what. Hopefully they look good on the inside and i just need a different boot setup and it works well.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks The radial was ridiculous. You have a streak. This just plain works as far as I can tell from the video. I hope to see some proper competition with no rain or at least a co-pilot with a Sham-Wow.
Marc, thanks for the video! That set up is quite impressive. I am assuming you'r running the 153 transmission in this video. Are you still going to run the 150 tranny in the race in June? The 2ARFXE with the 350 Transmission would be a very fun, light weight, reliable combination to drive on the street. The reduced weight going from a 5SFE iron Block to either the 2ARFXE or the 2ARFE would be a major improvement! Thanks for the research and hard work!
Fred, I'm using an EB60 transmission. The E153 absolutely sucks for endurance racing because it builds up too much heat and then it has too much rotational inertia for the size of its synchros. I was never able to make it a single race on the E153 without destroying at least one synchro. The EB60 on the other hand goes years between maintenance in the car.
This motor can easily get to 210hp at the crank pretty easily without upgraded cams. You just need to let the motor breathe. I will also have some somewhat smaller more street duty type cams coming out very soon.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks it'd be nice to have some more pep, but I don't want to drive a race car everywhere. I was really joking when I said that, but a milder street cam would have me really considering pulling the trigger on one. But I'll try out some simpler stuff first and see if that does what I want; although if I get something else or it's not too obnoxious then I may just make this an oddly fast toy of mine.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks also I knew Toyota detuned these motors quite a bit but I didn't think significant hp gains were really feasible for a lowly hobbyist like me. Nice to see somebody take advantage of basically half a 5.0, glad they're not all destined for putt putting around town.
@@andycraig6905 yeah i don't think i'll ever get a solid answer from the few people that were in those design meetings but this motor really looks like it was designed for a lot more than what they used it for. Someone intended on a high power version of this thing when they designed it.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks just makes you wonder what like 10 psi would do for your n/a motor. If the aftermarket would support these more, I could see people putting them in project cars and making ridiculous power. Hopefully more people pick up on the potential of these big block fours lol
Hey! Very impressed with your work. Have you designed a stock ecu friendly camshaft yet for the 2AR? I always see so many guys posting looking for them
I have designed something i think may work but i need to actually test it out to confirm. I think those cams will be here in 2-3 more weeks for me to test them.
Glad to see you have been having a little fun . I only saw one car that had anything to compete with ,,,, the dark colored 944 . I also heard you have to feather the throttle due to wheel spin a couple times . That car is a rocket on rails .
There were a few cars out there, about a half dozen that were certainly hard to pass. They don't show up on video nearly as often because they are going a pretty similar pace.
@@takumiinthe86 240whp is the highest i've gotten in this chassis so far but some people have certainly put 300whp and even much higher in the MR2 Spyder
unfortunately i had to get a bit creative with the camera placement. I had forgotten to bring the normal camera bracketry that lets you see the gauge cluster properly. But you can see the top of the speedometer if you look carefully at the first few minutes of the video. Our top speed for the weekend according to the Garmin was 125mph
I'm running a wilwood setup that i really love and have refined over a few car builds. I'm running their forged dynalite calipers which is the lowest cost 4 piston calipers they make along with the cheapest rotors they make which are the ultralite 32 vane 11.75" rotors. I use this along with their BP-20 pad compound which are not their cheapest pads but they are pretty low, about $60 per axle. This combo makes for a very cheap to service combo that tends to run 5-6 races per set of brake pads. On top of this i made a home made vacuum regulator to make sure that the brake booster pressure was always the same so the brake response is the same no matter if you're in a set of twisties or just after a long straight where the engine pulls more vacuum. The result is a set of brakes that work amazingly well and give the driver confidence to go super deep into every single corner
I'm running an ACT lightweight one piece steel flywheel with a 6 puck sprung center ceramic clutch. I do offer a very street friendly ceramic clutch option: frankensteinmotorworks.squarespace.com/mr2-spyder-shop/eb60eb62-clutch-kit-organic-of-ceramic
The VVT-I system really helps here. it allows using much longer duration cams without the normal compromises that massive cams like this would take. And massive cams do sound really good :)
@@FrankensteinMotorworks I could tell! The passion that pours out of you when you're talking about your tech developments is easy to recognize. I'll stumble over myself the exact same way when I'm talking about something I am really excited for. You're designing and building COOL stuff and you've built a seriously sweet little track car. I'm definitely looking forward to running your go-fast bits in my toy. I still haven't found a reasonably priced 1AR local to me so I'll likely go 2AR to start with but either one is going to perform miles better than the largely stock 5S that's in there now!
@@FrankensteinMotorworks Good to know. Rods and pistons to suit? I would imagine they are different between the two; pistons at the very least. I know they're a different static CR.
@@rolldog82 the FE has 10.4:1 compression and the FXE has 12.5:1 compression. the FE has normal intake/exhaust cams, the FXE has a huge intake cam and a tiny exhaust cam.
Wow. It's amazing seeing just how quick this setup can be. Great work as always.
Yeah, it really hauls around the track. The engine is great and this is a really low budget suspension but a properly sorted low budget suspension.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks What suspension setup are you using? Any additional chassis bracing besides the roll cage, and I noticed you have a TRD rear strut brace. Very informative channel! Subbed.
@@vltruan I'm running some obsolete Apexi WS coilovers that came with the car when i bought it with 1.9k front springs and 2.7k rear springs, whiteline sway bars and some DIY chassis reinforcements. the rear strut bar is the TRD one because the car came with it but I took the front strut bar that came with the car off, it really isn't needed on the Spyder. I then triangulated the lower reinforcements to the front crossmember and added a custom diagonal reinforcement to the front crossmember. Other than this, the cage is tied in to many locations which adds general chassis stiffness.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks Thanks for the reply. You should make a video on suspension tuning. Have you upgraded any of the factory suspension bushings?
@@vltruan I absolutely hate polyurethane bushings. Plus, the spyder actually starts with factory spherical bearings in most positions already so the "upgrade" kits they have out there are actually downgrades.
Wow you're a talented driver and this car has the whole field on quickness and power, impressive!
I was just wondering the other day about the next video update Marc. This was great! I was nervous for you guys at times with the crazy closing speeds and variance of talent/grip levels out there. Love the path you're forging with MR2s!
Yeah, i did take a bit of a break but i will try to not be so long between videos.
As for those closing speeds, this car has really good brakes so it's pretty hard to get into trouble with it.
I really wanted to 2GR swap my N/A 91 MR2, but this 2AR-FE has me intrigued.
The bone stock 2AR with my tuned ECU, header and intake makes about 25% more power than the stock turbo motor made so it would certainly move nicely. I do have the parts to make that swap easy to do. There's also a link in the description of the video for a discord server where we'd be happy to go over the pros and cons of the 2GR and 2AR. whichever way you go you'll be rewarded with a very reliable drivetrain that is a ton of fun to drive.
Man you blew by those other guys like you're in the wrong class! lol. Awesome car
to be fair this is a mixed class race so i was in a different class than a lot of those cars.
How tall are these dam things? I have been looking at a 1UZ or "something" for my NA miata, I mentioned looking for a rwd trans in a previous comment- would the rwd 5 speed from a 4 cyl taco work? They're cheaaapp. What about a 6 cyl manual? (6 speeds). Since those bolt to a GR I assume it's the same pattern?
yeah let it sing! nothing can match the power to weight
A lot of people forget the weight part of the power to weight number. 240whp isn't a ton of power but when it pushes a 2000lb car it can be an absolute rocket.
Makes me want to put a louder pipe on mine. Lookin sharp as usual.
The exhaust note on this thing certainly isn't nearly as good as the V6 exhaust note but it does sound decent once you uncork it.
Like they are standing still.
I try to explain this when people want to do so much more work for a 2GR swap instead.
Geez! Your driver is passing so many cars, with a quickness. 😜
Your hybrid cam swap trick got me wondering if it’d be a similar case with other Toyota hybrid engine relatives (1NZFXE/1NZFE and the 2ZRFXE/2ZRFE).
A hopped up 2ZRFE would put some much needed pep in my 1st Gen Scion xB build.
BTW, I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you think a Haltech elite 1500 could handle a Toyota electronically controlled transmission?(u340e/u341e) I think it only has 4 solenoids to control, plus the neutral safety switch inputs.
Anyway, Mr2 is impressive! 🤣
I'm sure this trick would work on some other motors, i don't personally have experience with it so i can't guarantee it would work on the 2ZR but you can probably get some cheap parts from e-bay to test the theory before taking your car apart.
As for the Haltech Elite ECUs, they do support automatic transmissions with up to 8 solenoids. the safety switches don't count towards those outputs. I have zero experience with the transmission control so i can't speak to how well it works but i would expect it to be pretty decent.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks I’m pretty confident that it will work.
The 2zr has a nearly identical cam phazer issue that the 2AR has as well.
Glad to hear about the trans.
We will be doing business together in the future.
I’ve recently started a new car channel and begun uploading Toyota/Scion content to document my car build(s).
Its been a while mark, great to see you again. I guess its safe to say those cams have been properly tested
I need to pop the valve cover off and make sure nothing looks abnormal in there but yeah, these have been given a hell of a beating and they seem to be doing just fine. I spent a ton of time at about 7600 RPM
Could of atleast cleaned out the head lights before you ripped it on the track LOL. Great video. New subscriber. Been binge watching your videos .
It's kinda becoming a thing of people bitching about the yellow headlights on this thing. It'll probably stay that way until i need to use them in a 24hr race.
I really dont understand this field of cars at all... seems too organized for lemons but too much chaos and disarray for something like lucky dog. What am I watching here and are there any classifications or rules at all?!
I think a lot of people think of lemons the way it was when it started 15 years ago. lemons has really evolved and the top 'A' class cars are running similar times to spec miata these days and we are doing it with a 200threadwear limitation and much lower budget suspensions. You also have to keep in mind that this is multi class racing so the cars you see me pass with a 30mph+ closing speed are lower class cars. But we did get the fastest lap of the weekend by just about 2.5 seconds, a pretty large gap.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks 2.5 even after having to slow down due to other cars or did you get a solo lap
holy crap that things pulls on the front straight!
The 2AR is a hell of a motor. especially when paired with a lightweight car. It makes you smile every time you smash the accelerator.
sounds totally insane pulls like a gang of raped apes
Same camera angle I play GranTurismo, and I could almost feel myself wanting to lean into the corners, while in my recliner. 2AR screams nice.
I'll try to get a slightly better angle in the future with the mirror not so much in the way but overall that tends to be a good angle to see what is going on.
I like seeing the rearview mirror because it's important to see all of the traffic, not just what is ahead.
Absolutely rips.
yeah, it really puts a smile on your face when driving it :)
@@FrankensteinMotorworks It also puts a smile on the spectator's faces!
Did you run the 930 cv axels in this event
Yes i did and they survived!!! The boots did have issues so they need to come apart for inspection no matter what. Hopefully they look good on the inside and i just need a different boot setup and it works well.
That’s very impressive driving.
Thanks :) This is actually me and three other drivers so i can't take credit for all of it.
Wow, that thing is a rocket. Amazing driving.
Why the other cars are so slow 😅😅
Checks all the boxes. Great work. Love the more central placement of the wing, up high and in the clean air.
It is a bit of a ridiculous wing position but everything about this car is a bit ridiculous.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks The radial was ridiculous. You have a streak. This just plain works as far as I can tell from the video. I hope to see some proper competition with no rain or at least a co-pilot with a Sham-Wow.
Satisfying video! Your engine sound really healthy and you ate that track
Thank you, this was my first time at that track and damn it was a fun track!
Marc, thanks for the video! That set up is quite impressive. I am assuming you'r running the 153 transmission in this video. Are you still going to run the 150 tranny in the race in June? The 2ARFXE with the 350 Transmission would be a very fun, light weight, reliable combination to drive on the street. The reduced weight going from a 5SFE iron Block to either the 2ARFXE or the 2ARFE would be a major improvement! Thanks for the research and hard work!
Fred, I'm using an EB60 transmission. The E153 absolutely sucks for endurance racing because it builds up too much heat and then it has too much rotational inertia for the size of its synchros. I was never able to make it a single race on the E153 without destroying at least one synchro. The EB60 on the other hand goes years between maintenance in the car.
Felt bad for the little Fiero you zoomed past. Like a little brother trying to keep up with it's bigger brother.
yeah, this is multi class racing and i think the fiero was in a slower class. it sure seemed like it was
@@FrankensteinMotorworks that iron four was struggling.
Well Done!
Thanks :)
I hope my 2AR swapped Monza runs this good. Well done Sir!
There is no reason why it won't and if it gives you issues i'll be happy to help diagnose it.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks Thank you! Still gathering a few parts.
that is a nice race track
It really is, i have nothing but praise for that track.
What tyre spec r u using on this track ?
We are using Yokohama A052 tires in 205/50r16 for the front and 245/45r16 in the rear.
Great job! Any straight line tests? I've got a 2ar I'd love to cam.
haaa haaaa - completely unfair advantage! - love it!
This makes me wanna put your cam in my Camry. I know I wouldn't get 240 wheel but even ~210 at the crank would be nice.
This motor can easily get to 210hp at the crank pretty easily without upgraded cams. You just need to let the motor breathe. I will also have some somewhat smaller more street duty type cams coming out very soon.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks it'd be nice to have some more pep, but I don't want to drive a race car everywhere. I was really joking when I said that, but a milder street cam would have me really considering pulling the trigger on one. But I'll try out some simpler stuff first and see if that does what I want; although if I get something else or it's not too obnoxious then I may just make this an oddly fast toy of mine.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks also I knew Toyota detuned these motors quite a bit but I didn't think significant hp gains were really feasible for a lowly hobbyist like me. Nice to see somebody take advantage of basically half a 5.0, glad they're not all destined for putt putting around town.
@@andycraig6905 yeah i don't think i'll ever get a solid answer from the few people that were in those design meetings but this motor really looks like it was designed for a lot more than what they used it for. Someone intended on a high power version of this thing when they designed it.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks just makes you wonder what like 10 psi would do for your n/a motor. If the aftermarket would support these more, I could see people putting them in project cars and making ridiculous power. Hopefully more people pick up on the potential of these big block fours lol
I love the way this MR2 moves out!
Hey! Very impressed with your work. Have you designed a stock ecu friendly camshaft yet for the 2AR? I always see so many guys posting looking for them
I have designed something i think may work but i need to actually test it out to confirm. I think those cams will be here in 2-3 more weeks for me to test them.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks that’s fantastic news! Can’t wait to see how they play out!
Glad to see you have been having a little fun . I only saw one car that had anything to compete with ,,,, the dark colored 944 . I also heard you have to feather the throttle due to wheel spin a couple times . That car is a rocket on rails .
There were a few cars out there, about a half dozen that were certainly hard to pass. They don't show up on video nearly as often because they are going a pretty similar pace.
I got a question. The clutch that you selling for the 2gr-fe can i use it with a. Scion tc 2006 Transmission
Yes, that transmission is an E350/E351 which is supported with that clutch.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks thanks for answer me. I really love your video really hopeful Im doing a 2004 corolla 2gr-fe swap
How much hp is this pushing thing moves
at this race the car was making 240whp
@@FrankensteinMotorworks wow incredible! What's the highest na numbers you've seen from this car a while back I heard rumors of over 300whp
@@takumiinthe86 240whp is the highest i've gotten in this chassis so far but some people have certainly put 300whp and even much higher in the MR2 Spyder
She goes hard dude! Sounds decent too.
How many times did you lap everyone??! 😅
Whenever we were on track there was only a few cars that we did not pass with ease.
Any Balance of Power issues with this series?
this is mixed class racing so some of the cars you see are in a slower class. the fast class, class 'A' which this car is in is a pretty fast class.
would’ve loved to see the speedometer through the straights in that thing i can’t wait to get my swap done
unfortunately i had to get a bit creative with the camera placement. I had forgotten to bring the normal camera bracketry that lets you see the gauge cluster properly. But you can see the top of the speedometer if you look carefully at the first few minutes of the video. Our top speed for the weekend according to the Garmin was 125mph
more details about your brake set up?
I'm running a wilwood setup that i really love and have refined over a few car builds. I'm running their forged dynalite calipers which is the lowest cost 4 piston calipers they make along with the cheapest rotors they make which are the ultralite 32 vane 11.75" rotors. I use this along with their BP-20 pad compound which are not their cheapest pads but they are pretty low, about $60 per axle. This combo makes for a very cheap to service combo that tends to run 5-6 races per set of brake pads. On top of this i made a home made vacuum regulator to make sure that the brake booster pressure was always the same so the brake response is the same no matter if you're in a set of twisties or just after a long straight where the engine pulls more vacuum. The result is a set of brakes that work amazingly well and give the driver confidence to go super deep into every single corner
How much power is she making?
The motor is making 240whp, There's a link in the video that goes over more detail of this build if you want.
What do you run for a clutch and flywheel?
I'm running an ACT lightweight one piece steel flywheel with a 6 puck sprung center ceramic clutch. I do offer a very street friendly ceramic clutch option: frankensteinmotorworks.squarespace.com/mr2-spyder-shop/eb60eb62-clutch-kit-organic-of-ceramic
damn the 2ar-fe sounds awesome!
The VVT-I system really helps here. it allows using much longer duration cams without the normal compromises that massive cams like this would take. And massive cams do sound really good :)
Holy smokes she pulls hard!
Thanks :) i love this car.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks I could tell! The passion that pours out of you when you're talking about your tech developments is easy to recognize. I'll stumble over myself the exact same way when I'm talking about something I am really excited for. You're designing and building COOL stuff and you've built a seriously sweet little track car.
I'm definitely looking forward to running your go-fast bits in my toy. I still haven't found a reasonably priced 1AR local to me so I'll likely go 2AR to start with but either one is going to perform miles better than the largely stock 5S that's in there now!
@@jeffman3 it's usually cheaper to just buy a 2AR and get the 1AR crankshaft from the dealer. they just did not make many 1ARs
@@FrankensteinMotorworks Good to know. Rods and pistons to suit? I would imagine they are different between the two; pistons at the very least. I know they're a different static CR.
@@jeffman3 The conrods are the same but the pistons are different. the Toyota pistons are about $60 each and an aftermarket set will run about $1000
Turbo or all motor?
All motor. in this video the car is making 240whp
@@FrankensteinMotorworks is their differences between 2ar-fe vs 2ar-fxe? Hp and compression?
@@rolldog82 the FE has 10.4:1 compression and the FXE has 12.5:1 compression. the FE has normal intake/exhaust cams, the FXE has a huge intake cam and a tiny exhaust cam.
@@FrankensteinMotorworks which is best for tuning?
@@FrankensteinMotorworks you to think this motor will fit and yaris?
V nice