2001 [just Jan 6]MR2 silver, bought Friday 9, 123k £300

[kwnelson]

Failed MOT  in May for loads of trivial things.    2 TYRES FITTED ROTATIONALLY INCORRECT.   ONE TYRE BELOW 3mm,  TAIL LIGHT BULB,   BRAKE LIGHT BULB, CAME WITH 4X SPARE ALLOYS AND TYRES included,  [Juggled with tyres and because 2 freebies were OK] Brompton on Swale Tyres did not charge to change [P/X for job] [2/balanced/new valves etc ]   N/S REAR CABLE SEIZED NOW REPLACED[hopefully tomorrow]  The car appears to be sound.  Will let you know if this old guy has lost his marbles or if it was worth a punt and passes its MOT!

[ilovejapcrap]

Bloody hell dounds a good buy

[shnazzle]

Nice one! Really hope it's a good one.
Make sure you go through the checklist on the Buyer's Guide

[Essex2Visuvesi]

300 is a bargain!
I thought 600 for mine was a steal

[kwnelson]

Further.   Drove down to Dewsbury to look at a matching Silver hardtop,  bought it for £250  from Dewsbury Car Breakers, very good condition.  good exercise 150 mile round trip. shakedown no problems.  fitted hardtop using normal front fittings,   and HD double cable ties to rear.    Since,  tried to source rear fixing brackets.   No joy so I have manufactured [bodged?] suitable brackets from 25x3mm galvanized steel.    Works a treat,  cobbled a short length of twin cable and connected the HRW and fired it up, it works!

[Treboeth]

Failed MOT  in May for loads of trivial things.    2 TYRES FITTED ROTATIONALLY INCORRECT.   ONE TYRE BELOW 3mm,  TAIL LIGHT BULB,   BRAKE LIGHT BULB, CAME WITH 4X SPARE ALLOYS AND TYRES included,  [Juggled with tyres and because 2 freebies were OK] Brompton on Swale Tyres did not charge to change [P/X for job] [2/balanced/new valves etc ]   N/S REAR CABLE SEIZED NOW REPLACED[hopefully tomorrow]  The car appears to be sound. Will let you know if this old guy has lost his marbles or if it was worth a punt and passes its MOT!

Checking your profile is your age correct?

If yes, lost your marbles   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   no you just bloody found them by buying a 2   s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:  

Best of luck and enjoy   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:

[kwnelson]

Profile age correct,  and yes I have lost my marbles and found a gem.    End of life crisis.

[delhusband]

Congratulations on bagging a bargain, lucky sod!  s:D s:D  happy motoring.

[The Other Stu]

Just for info, you might want to consider the side strikers. If you have your windows open, the force on the rear is immense.
The hard top is designed to be held down at 3 points.

[kwnelson]

To clarify,    I confirm the hardtop is secured with the 2 Manufacturers fixings at the front, and by means of the 2 cobbled brackets being attached to the HT each side by the manufacturers fixing clips, total fixings at 4 points.   Or,  do you mean 3 fixing points down each side,  The Other Stu?  [not aware if the rear is held down, or is it?]    there are not many HT 2's about to check for any rear holding down points, although I am aware there are 2 locating  peg/points.   Any clarification would be welcome.   In the meantime I will not be driving with the windows open.  PS in my original post I referred to cobbled rear fixing brackets when I really meant SIDE!

[Treboeth]

 l viewtopic.php?f=46&t=13446 l

The pdf for the fitting instructions show all the bits you should have.
Fixing points are the two clips above the windscreen, two side clips (strikers) and two rear chrome fixings.
From a safety point they should all be used.

[1979scotte]

6 points of attachment.
2 chrome brackets on the outside and 4 clips inside the car.

[kwnelson]

Thanks to The Other Stu, Treboeth,  1979scotte for the most helpful information and photos.   My 2 hardtop has now been properly been secured at 6 points and I can now drive with the windows open!

[Treboeth]

Thanks to The Other Stu, Treboeth,  1979scotte for the most helpful information and photos.   My 2 hardtop has now been properly been secured at 6 points and I can now drive with the windows open!

s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:    s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:  

Next is to convince you to take the hard top off   s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:

[kwnelson]

Having completed my initial bucket list of repairs, or is that bucketful?  I have been looking at the many and various forums and repairs, one thing that is reported, lots, is the  dreaded REAR SUB FRAME!   My 2 falling into the "well over due" area, I decided to search for a replacement through the car breakers free search, to obtain prices and availability, the weather being unsuitable for squirming about under the car.   The response was great!  Plenty available and the best price was £100+vat+delivery   £140 in total, not bad!  So far so good.  Weather much better today so started squirming, the result was that sub frame although there was some surface rust, it was solid, nightmare avoided.   However, to avoid a future nightmare I am resolved to purchase sufficient rust resistant paint to treat the area.  Here is the big question. What is the best single application paint to use after a thorough preparation?

[1979scotte]

You want to fill the cavity.
They rust from the inside where the exhaust passes.
I have some kind of rubberised paint on the outside of mine as well.
No idea what it's called.

[delhusband]

Hi, this thread might be helpful
How to protect your new subframe from rust?

[kwnelson]

Thanks to all.   After sifting through all the advisers, I have decided to coat the outside of the subframe with Hammerite and to apply sprayed Waxoil to the inside cavity, followed by filling the whole of the inside with expanding foam, the type which is fireproof and the cells are not interconnected and so will not allow the transfer of water by capillary attraction.   I will also clean off the surface rust from the various tie rods and the anti roll bar and treat them to Hammerite.   Time will tell if this works, but I don't think this will concern me by then.   Time to get down squirming!

[ayresyboy]

Thanks to all.   After sifting through all the advisers, I have decided to coat the outside of the subframe with Hammerite and to apply sprayed Waxoil to the inside cavity, followed by filling the whole of the inside with expanding foam, the type which is fireproof and the cells are not interconnected and so will not allow the transfer of water by capillary attraction.   I will also clean off the surface rust from the various tie rods and the anti roll bar and treat them to Hammerite.   Time will tell if this works, but I don't think this will concern me by then.   Time to get down squirming!

Good stuff. Now add the photos! Andy

Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Tapatalk

[kwnelson]

Andy,   Photos?   I have just learned how to switch my PC on.   However,  if My son can teach me how to send pic's,  you will all find how to really yummy it is to squirm under a 2,  get rust in your eyes, smothered with paint,  multi pricks from a wire brush, get slippery with Waxoyl and have your hands glued together with fireproof expanding foam.   Just look at the finished job.   Not counting my liberal self coating, the foam expands x10 times the size of the can.   Being a frugal sort,  I have only "foam filled" each end of the subframe in the area under risk, but Waxoyled the whole cavity.   Wish me luck with the photos.

[kwnelson]

[attachment=0:2ibsdd8a] ia0 MR23.jpeg ia0 [/attachment:2ibsdd8a][attachment=1:2ibsdd8a] ia1 MR22.jpeg ia1 [/attachment:2ibsdd8a][attachment=0:2ibsdd8a] ia0 MR23.jpeg ia0 [/attachment:2ibsdd8a]
All the gear.    No idea!

[kwnelson]

[attachment=0:2jws0e8y] ia0 MR24.jpeg ia0 [/attachment:2jws0e8y]
All the gear. No idea + 1 ! (Cont'd)   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[Chilli Girl]

Photos are perfect, well done.

[kwnelson]

Seems to be getting noisier.    Creaking plastic noise from behind seats in area of folded soft top with hard top on, when going over bumps in road.  I did  put cable ties on adjacent to the 2 press stud straps on the underside of the soft top to strengthen what appeared to be a weak fixing.  Could this be the problem?












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[kwnelson]

Got to come clean!   After all my clever previous work on the 2's rear subframe, and in the light of the prone  to rust subframe.    I had a much closer inspection with my trusty ballheaded hammer hitting the subframe in the area near the exhaust,   and sure enough a small area was found to be wanting having fallen to the dredded rust worm.   Booked her in and repairs were effected.   plated, welded, undersealed, by my favoured vehicle tech' Ian.   I feel a lot more comfortable chucking her around.   I will not be posting any pic's because it does not look better than my previous pic's which looked
great in smootherite silver,  it now looks grotty plastered tar black.