I wouldnt say its normal, but on both the mr2's ive had, Ive really had to pull the handbrake back as far as I could, I was leaning against my car the other day and i felt it move a bit and had to pull the hanbrake back further etc

If you pull up your handbrake when car is moving will it lock the rear wheels up? Mine wont, id say its just that the calipers are not as good as they should be. Will prob end up changing them for 2 reconditioned ones from camskill. Thats who i got the rear cables from.

All the wieght of the engine is over the rear end and the drive is to the rear wheels, thats your reason. An MR car will not lock the rear wheels via the hand brake unless the clutch is depressed and you have the handbrake adjusted up to the last or have the front suspension fully loaded and no weight on the rear axles.

If you are trying to lock the wheels when drivng the car I would suggest you get a hydraulic handbrake installed.

If the handbrake is stopping the car rolling on three click then it is perfectly normal, if not it needs to be adjusted.

lol, why would you want to lock the rear wheels up when moving anyway?

I agree with all the lads, perfectly normal. Its a parking brake, designed to hold the car in place on level ground or an incline, which is all it should do. Ray explained it well, too much weight and drive on the rear axle to lock it up while in motion. Wont even lock on loose gravel.

Cheers Lads, that sums it up so. My handbrake will stop the car from rolling alright so i guess its working perfect.Has anyone fitted an aftermarket intercooler yet? Japspeed.ie have one on their website for sale. I bought a 4-2-1 Stainless Steel Manifold from them for my last car and the quality of their stuff seems to be good. Im thinking about buying the intercooler for my mr2. Wonder will it make much, if any difference on power compared to the standard toyota one.

I have a greddy IC but it was in the car when I bought it.

Upgrading the IC does make a difference to power, because, with the extra cooling capacity, you can turn your boost up a little. However, you cant go too mad without upgrading other parts also, you dont want to ruin the engine.

Standard factory boost is 0.8bar. You could maybe go 0.9 or 1 bar quite comfortably. Some will say up to 1.2. Any more than that though, you would want forged internals, then you can confidently run up to 2 bar (INSANE power anyway)

I recently turned my boost up from 0.9 to 1.1 and the difference is nuts. The car feels like its on steroids but it still feels very smooth, steady and consistant right up through the revs.

Cool does it really make that much difference turning up the boost. How did you do that? have you an electronic boost controller or a manual one? Are they hard to fit?

Yeah, it does make a difference, deffo. I couldn't believe the difference. For me it was pretty easy, I have an Apexi Power FC ECU with the hand held commander. I also have an Apexi Electronic boost controller (EBC as opposed to MBC). My EBC is controlled via the ECU and hand commander.

EBC's require a bit of wiring and plumbing but should come with comprehensive instructions. An MBC would be pretty cheap and easier to fit, but you have to stop and start driving to change. A good EBC will allow you to change while driving.

Some people have a full standalone EBC, that's handy, gives you more options and a direct view of whats going on. These can be dash mounted or wherever you like.

If you come to a meet we can have a look, you can look at some of our set ups, see how they work and so on. You are in Kildare right?

Yeah im in Monasterevin, will have to meet up alright, Your in Sallins? Could meet ya around Naas some afternoon if your on

Yeah deffo, ill give you a shout.

Sounds good dude

if you upping your power you always need supporting modifications such as an intercooler to make sure your not going to ruin the car. 1.1 is enough boost to make a big difference under foot, and i wouldnt recommend any higher unless you have forged internals. Grab an xs power intercooler, people will rip them apart but the simple fact is... if you only going for a bit more power, they will work quite nicely!!

I run a blitz spec r boost controller, you could get yourself a spec s one on one of the forums as they let you boost up to 1.3 bar. Mine was fantastic when i had it, and very safe to use.

Ive a greddy IC at the momemnt, and will work grand, even with me going for 2 bar of boost. whey hey!! side ways.... wall..... more money.... but sure its all part of the fun!!

Yeah i think i will go for the Japspeed or xs power intercooler.They are probably the very same one. Im not planning any major power upgrades. Not yet anyway. The guy i got the car off said that the Turbo had uprated internals.I dont know though but it is very quick. It has a HKS Wastegate and other HKS bits in the engine bay & There are 2 HKS Clocks in a pillar pod inside, One is a boost guage, not sure what the other one is to be honest. Maybe when i meet a few of you guys at the next meet you might be able to shine some light on it

yea mate, be happy to have a look sometime

If the turbo has uprated internals, that means it's a CT20b Hybrid. The CT20b has a ceramic turbine (blades) whereas the CT26 (later models)has steel internals. The CT20b is considered a better, more consistant turbo, with more power, but the weak point is the ceramics. Some people will replace the ceramics with the steel internals, creating a pretty nice turbo, the CT20b hybrid. So you're a lucky boy! All the HKS goodies sound good too.

Sure i'll meet up with you during the week and we can have a good close look. Did you buy that car in Kildare? I think I remember seeing that one for sale when I was buying mine, approx 5 months ago now.

I bought, well swapped the car for my last car (Accord type R) with a guy from Tullamore. Before that i think a guy from Tipperary had it. Not sure if mine is a CT20B or CT26 turbo. would i be able to see it on the turbo housing what model it is?

Oh, ok, just looks familiar. Maybe I was looking at it on donedeal or something.

You have a CT26. The CT20b was Rev 1 & 2, after that it was CT26.

Yeah it was on donedeal alright in June. I got the car the end of June.

SWAGGER wrote:

You have a CT26. The CT20b was Rev 1 & 2, after that it was CT26.
Your the wrong way round Swagger ct26 was rev1,2 (6 studs on the hot side for the down pipe) ct20b is rev3+ (7 studs for the down pipe)

Cheers Ricky, I keep doing that. Gotta straighten that out in my head!

So Steelheart, as from a few posts back, you have a CT20b Hybrid.

Just copped how you came up with your username.....im so slow this bank holiday weekend! LOL

Haha no bother Swagger, I actually got the name "steelheart" from an American Rock band from the 80s/90s with that name. They were awesome.

Oh, well that is a coincidence then, seeing as though you now drive a turbo with a steel heart! Very fitting name indeed!

Sure is swagger, well spotted man