Nate Forsberg drew a picture of the Toystar today. I absolutely loved it!

I added some text, and now this will be the official Toystar image! Click the image for a larger view.

Pre-Order the Official Toystar V8 MR2 T-Shirt!
Click here to visit the Toystar Shop

So what is a Northstar V8?

So why the first generation MR2?

Because it is the best MR2 of the three generations. It is lightweight, nimble, and mainly because I have a yard full of them. Weighing in at 2500 pounds fully loaded, this 1986 Toyota MR2 will be an absolute monster with over 350 horsepower sitting in the back seat!

With a world full of boy racer front wheel drive cars with screaming 4 bangers, and raunchy sounding 40 year old technology mounted in Camaros and Firebirds I thought it was time to merge the Japanese car that helped start the import trend with one of Americas 10 Best Engines ever! Strip the multi-cam, multi-valve 4.6 liter aluminum engine of all of it's luxury items, such as A/C, power Steering, the quiet exhaust system and the huge 3-phase Alternator and you have a monster motor just looking to play with some unsuspecting motorists.

I don't drag race. But I can learn. I road race a 1986 Toyota MR2, the Krylon Special Lite. The first generation MR2 is my specialty. I know every single nut and bolt on these cars. I know the weaknesses, I know the what the car can take.

Now some have said the engine weighs a ton. In actuality it weighs less than 500 pounds fully loaded. It is only a few pounds more than a fully built 3S-GTE.

Why use am I using an automatic gearbox? Because it was there. I could use the Pontiac Fiero Getrag 4-speed or 5-speed. But then my wife can't drive the car. Plus I am getting older. I am over 40 years old now. I am supposed to drive automatics now. It will just be more fun telling the kids I just smacked that he got beat by an automatic 4-speed.

Speaking of gearboxes, this slush box is programmable. What else can be said of that? It learns how I drive, and adjusts to my style of driving, which my wife's says is either floored or braking hard. I don't think she knows what she is talking about.

So why am I doing this?

Back in 2002 the Racing Strong Motorsports™ and MR2 Owners Club web sites were reviewed in Sports Compact Car. They made mention of the fact that we were discussing tossing in a SHO V8 into one of my spare MR2s. There are a couple of SHO V6 powered MK1 MR2s, but I wanted something that would scare the pants on the Yo-Boyz. Well SCC stated I needed to quit talking about it and just do it. Well it was not that easy. I live in the middle of nowhere. Out in the boonies. Red necks surround me. It is not like where I grew up the the 60s and 70s (Mira Mesa, San Diego, California). This is the real country. No new stuff out here, unless you have a ton of cash. I work for the State of Virginia, have 4 kids ranging from 19 years to 2 years old. So finding these new fangled engines was not on my priority list. Until I opened the hood of the cadillac at my local junk yard!

So here it is. The worlds first Toyota MR2 with a V8 that is designed for street use. There was one tube framed Le Manns racer MK2 MR2. But that was never designed for public roads. Mine is! I want to rule the world with this engine. 500 horsepower is just a few thousand dollars away. Put that in a 2300 (goal weight at end of project) pound go kart and the torque alone should stop the world from spinning!

Follow this project

The left hand column displays each day that we do something. Because of family, work, and weather issues, I mainly do work on the weekends. So check back. Also please look at my sponsors web sites. They have great products not only for MR2s but for many others both foreign and domestic.

Bookmark this page please. Send me email if you have questions. If you have products that look like a match for our project please let me know!

Project update: September 2006

I learned a lot putting the Toystar together. Mainly on what not to do. So we have started the project over. Using the race car chassis, the Krylon Special, everything from the red chassis is being brought over. The new chassis will be built as a Hill Climb race car. Light and powerfull we will be racing in the unlimited class against ex-Indy cars, SUVs with NASCAR engines and extreme exotics with huge horse power.

The Krylon Special has been seen in Savage Land Pictures "Apotheosis". This car has quite a history included a failed 5-star hotel parking lot engine swap, the chase car used in the film that almost got me banned from my own message board, and loads of awesome high speed videos that are on the underground of the interweb.

Thank you.

Bill Strong
Owner & Admin - The MR2 Owners Club Message Board
Racing Strong Motorsports

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