I'm done.

[JekylandHyde]

It's been a very long and winding path, but I am finally done.














... done modifying Hyde that is.



I realized back in May that the only thing I really, truly wanted more out of Hyde is larger rims and tires ... and that would require coilovers as there is no way to get bigger tire up front with the stock suspension.

It's my only gripe with building an MR2 to the level that I have. You just can't get really big tires on the car. The RX7 that runs the hills with us has a 285/18 stuffed up front!

Unfortunately, SpyderVenom (Rob) on MR2OC.com contacted me a few weeks ago and told me that he was going to be parting out his insane SM2 turbo MR2. I talked to several times in the past about his set up as he is the only person I knew running the tire configuration that I wanted to stuff under Hyde. Obviously he knew I would be interested.

Last night I made the trip to Philly to pick up everything (what a load!) and tonight I started hitting Hyde with a hammer (literally) to get the front tires to fit under the car

This is what I picked up from Rob:
Tein HT coilovers - independently adj. compression (x16) and rebound (x16)
Tein Springs (224 lb F and 500 lb R)
Tein Camber Plates
One set of rims & tires:
17x8” front w/245 Kumho V710
17x9” rear w/275 Kumho V710
Second set of rims & tires:
17x8” front w/245 Kumho V700 Victoracers
17x9” rear w/275 Kumho V700 Victoracers
There was another full set of the V700s that Rob beat on for 2 seasons.
He also threw in his 2 front fenders that he "radiused" in order to fit the front tires.

David Hawkins & I are doing the complete install Thursday night.
Over the winter I will pop the fenders off, have them radiused another 1/4" or so, have them finished and painted black ... Hyde is getting more and more black every year. We should be out autocrossing this new set this Sunday.

I truly loved the way I had my suspension set up, except for autocrossing,
and I hope it does not take me too long to get comfortable with this set up.
I am really. really excited about finally getting huge tires all around. The down side is these weigh considerably more. I haven't actually weighed them yet, but the rims are bigger and the tires are much bigger, so there is plenty of weight being added ... such is life.

I really want to give a huge thanks to Rob & SpiralMoons (Cin) for making this possible. Rob, it killed me to see your car apart last night , but I'm sure your next project will be a great one. Good luck with everything.

Some photos ...

The Tein system:


The 2 sets of rims & 3 sets of tires: (the standing tire is one of Hyde's old rears)


The 'new fronts' (245/17 w/V710) vs the 'old fronts' (Kosei K1 15X7 w/a 225/45/15 Kumho V700:


The wheels & tires as they were on Rob's car:

[clem]

good for u dude i wish getting parts for my piece of shit was that easy

[NESW20]

that should give you a pretty good amount of stick. what are you going to do with your old wheels?

-Mike

[JekylandHyde]

Clem, it's not as easy at it seems.
I bust my butt over here.

NESW20, the 'old' wheels are sold already.

[clem]

hey jeff almost everything that u guys want for your cars are rite in america it so different here !performance parts are so expensive to order here then on top of things we have a 57% charge on what ever automobile parts that we purchase and just about anything is avaliable to u guys the toyota dealers dont have shit for the 7 mr2s what r down here

[CompanyFlow]

I think he means getting parts in terms of availability rather than the money in his pocket.

[JekylandHyde]

ah, gotcha ... I took your comment the wrong way, clem. sorry.
Your solution is simple though. Move here

Besides, you get all the beautiful water and women.

[clem]

your rite about the water and the women! if you want me to send you a few girls i can trust me you will love them! will u be dragg racing with the wider tires in the front or will u just use them for hill climbs?

[JekylandHyde]

I still have the custom light-weight drag wheels from Chico Race Wroks:
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...005_nhra_1.jpg

[MR2Jedi]

I now you'll post pics of the project when complete...so are you excited? what exactly do you think the gains will be? any cons ?

[JekylandHyde]

I'm extremely excited ... this was the last thing I wanted to do with Hyde.

Gains? Lots more traction, lots more cornering g's.
Losses? Much heavier tires, heavey steering, have to cut a lot of stuff to get the front tires on

We installed 90% of everything to night. I should have photos on Satruday and be autocrossing this set up on Sunday.

[MR2Jedi]

Geez! Thats fast..you guys must have really put some serious time into Hyde...Good luck with the new set up. I'll be watching for post results.....

[QuadCamSix]

Jeff, you are going to love the grip and predictability from those new wheels and tires. I ran with those same wheels 17"x 9" up front and 17"x10" out back with Supra 712's on my first V6 car. That wheel has a good deal more rotational mass. I felt a very noticeable difference in acceleration. Its worth the tradeoff and a good choice IMO.

What offset are the fronts? I know there were a a few different options for those perticular wheels. I think I was running the 35mm offset and the scrub radius was not the best, steering was a little numb and the responce was not as fast as the narrow wheels I had been running. Grip was awsome though.

[celeritas]

...im happy for ya man ..good deal ...it feels good to be done im sure...