2 GR or not 2 GR
Posted: 13/05/20 8:49
I have a choice to make which I hope you can help with.
tl;dr - Do i 2GR my MR2 or keep it as it is?
I know it depends what i want from the car, but I'm interested to hear your opinion on this.
The Backstory
Resale value of the car doesn't matter to me. I never intend to sell it:
Back when i was a kid my Grandad put aside a small amount of money in an investment account. He did this for all of his grandchildren and the amount of money was equal. By the time it came to inherit that money at 21 it had matured to just under £2000. I decided that i wanted to spend this money on something meaningful, rather than some transient thing that would only mean something in the short term. I purchased my turbo for £2200. Now, I never met my Grandad as I was too young to remember him. But in a lot of ways this car is his gift to me. As such, i will never sell it unless i absolutely have to.
Up until now I have resisted making any major changes to it:
Any of you who have followed my vehicle thread, or spoken to me at shows, will know that my overall rule so far has been to not make any changes which I cannot reasonably undo easily. The reason for this was not to preseve the monetary value of the car, but more because I have a respect for the way they were originally produced. I've always wanted an MR2 and have shyed away from making major changes so as to not "ruin" the car.
The Decision
As some as you may know, i recently got rid of my Jaguar XFR. The 5.0L Supercharged saloon was a bit of a beast. The torque and the power delivery were brutal. I got rid of this because it was costing me a lot of money, and after 2 years of owning it i've kind of "done that" now. I've had the silly car which makes silly power, and i've always said during ownership that I would never own a car that powerful again. It's too much to be fun and safe on the road. I want something different.
The MR2 is now my sole source of fun driving, as i've downgraded to something sensible as my daily driver. It's also my source of tinkery. I love working on my car.
The problem is, I'm now itching for a bit more. I'm wanting to play with it some more, and add stuff to it. I miss the torque of my V8 at any RPM.
I now feel as though my decision to keep my MR2 as original as possible is holding me back from actually doing anything with the car.
If i'm going to start playing with the engine, the gen2 3SGTE is probably not the best one to do it with. In any case, i want to remove the engine at some point soon to tidy up the engine bay and try and fix the air con, whilst refreshing any components that need it along the way. The question is, do i put the engine back in?
I can find the money to 2GR the thing. Do i want to mess around trying to keeping the original engine? add some bits where i can? or just get rid of it and wack a V6 in it and give myself a challenge to make the car as good as it can be?
The decison comes down to keeping it authentic, or not. I'm not bothered about resale value, but it would mean making a major modification to a relatively untouched original turbo.
What would you do? 2GR or keep it authentic?
tl;dr - Do i 2GR my MR2 or keep it as it is?
I know it depends what i want from the car, but I'm interested to hear your opinion on this.
The Backstory
Resale value of the car doesn't matter to me. I never intend to sell it:
Back when i was a kid my Grandad put aside a small amount of money in an investment account. He did this for all of his grandchildren and the amount of money was equal. By the time it came to inherit that money at 21 it had matured to just under £2000. I decided that i wanted to spend this money on something meaningful, rather than some transient thing that would only mean something in the short term. I purchased my turbo for £2200. Now, I never met my Grandad as I was too young to remember him. But in a lot of ways this car is his gift to me. As such, i will never sell it unless i absolutely have to.
Up until now I have resisted making any major changes to it:
Any of you who have followed my vehicle thread, or spoken to me at shows, will know that my overall rule so far has been to not make any changes which I cannot reasonably undo easily. The reason for this was not to preseve the monetary value of the car, but more because I have a respect for the way they were originally produced. I've always wanted an MR2 and have shyed away from making major changes so as to not "ruin" the car.
The Decision
As some as you may know, i recently got rid of my Jaguar XFR. The 5.0L Supercharged saloon was a bit of a beast. The torque and the power delivery were brutal. I got rid of this because it was costing me a lot of money, and after 2 years of owning it i've kind of "done that" now. I've had the silly car which makes silly power, and i've always said during ownership that I would never own a car that powerful again. It's too much to be fun and safe on the road. I want something different.
The MR2 is now my sole source of fun driving, as i've downgraded to something sensible as my daily driver. It's also my source of tinkery. I love working on my car.
The problem is, I'm now itching for a bit more. I'm wanting to play with it some more, and add stuff to it. I miss the torque of my V8 at any RPM.
I now feel as though my decision to keep my MR2 as original as possible is holding me back from actually doing anything with the car.
If i'm going to start playing with the engine, the gen2 3SGTE is probably not the best one to do it with. In any case, i want to remove the engine at some point soon to tidy up the engine bay and try and fix the air con, whilst refreshing any components that need it along the way. The question is, do i put the engine back in?
I can find the money to 2GR the thing. Do i want to mess around trying to keeping the original engine? add some bits where i can? or just get rid of it and wack a V6 in it and give myself a challenge to make the car as good as it can be?
The decison comes down to keeping it authentic, or not. I'm not bothered about resale value, but it would mean making a major modification to a relatively untouched original turbo.
What would you do? 2GR or keep it authentic?