Bargain-bucket MR2

[The Arch Bishop]

This all makes me very happy indeed! I was a bit worried about the Bucket's fate, but it's a flipping good car (especially the engine which was a peach)!

[Iain]

This all makes me very happy indeed! I was a bit worried about the Bucket's fate, but it's a flipping good car (especially the engine which was a peach)!

The engine is very strong indeed. Pulls so well from the mid range. Feels quicker than the red one which has done half the mileage and is about 40/50kg lighter 🤔

[The Arch Bishop]

The engine is very strong indeed. Pulls so well from the mid range. Feels quicker than the red one which has done half the mileage and is about 40/50kg lighter 🤔

The only mods were a cheapy manifold as far as I remember but I don't know if that was changed again by Adam? There was a sneaking suspicion that it'd had a new engine fairly recently. When the cam cover was removed, it was immaculate in there - literally like it'd done about 10k miles. I also had someone mention that the block was paint marked like Toyota had replaced it, but I'm not convinced that was the case as it was too old by then. It was quicker than my 50k MR2 by quite a margin though!

[Iain]

The only mods were a cheapy manifold as far as I remember but I don't know if that was changed again by Adam? There was a sneaking suspicion that it'd had a new engine fairly recently. When the cam cover was removed, it was immaculate in there - literally like it'd done about 10k miles. I also had someone mention that the block was paint marked like Toyota had replaced it, but I'm not convinced that was the case as it was too old by then. It was quicker than my 50k MR2 by quite a margin though!

Manifold is still there and a different back box, thats all. I wonder if there is some engine/chassis numbers somewhere that we could check to find out if it has been changed?

[Carolyn]

Are you sure you haven't got a JDM gearbox?   I ask, 'cos the MR-S is quicker than a Euro car with exactly the same BHP.

[The Arch Bishop]

Are you sure you haven't got a JDM gearbox?   I ask, 'cos the MR-S is quicker than a Euro car with exactly the same BHP.

I don't think it did as the ratios were the same as my FL car, albeit without the 6th gear as far as I remember.

[Iain]

Are you sure you haven't got a JDM gearbox?   I ask, 'cos the MR-S is quicker than a Euro car with exactly the same BHP.

I did think about this but i dont think it is. Will find out more when i can drive it properly.

[Iain]

So ive not had much chance to get into the garage lately with work, xmas and also my newborn daughter arriving 3 weeks early 😳 but in the odd spare hour ive had ive made some progress on the bucket.

Worked on the front brakes, the discs where in an awful condition and the pads had some very uneven wear. The inside pads were stuck in the carrier and i think they had been binding on the disc and making it very hot and overtime the rust set in.

Gave the calipers and carriers some love with a wire brush and re-greased the sliders etc and put it all back together with good used discs from jspec and some decent pads i already had, brakes now work great 😃.

Also changed the leaky nsf shock for a good used item. Old one was toast.

So onto the handbrake next and then its mot time 🤞🏻

Condition of inside of disc 😳


And some serious uneven pad wear...



medical symbol copy and paste

[Chilli Girl]

Well done with all you've done to the old car @Iain - also congratulations on your daughter too.

[The Arch Bishop]

Congratulations on your daughter Iain!

Weird that those fronts have gone like that. They were well and truly serviced back when I first got the car as the sliders were utterly seized. New sliders and everything cleaned, but I suppose that was quite a few years ago now!

With the handbrake, the cables should be fine as I replaced them, but I think at least one of the rear callipers is a knock-off. I'd save yourself a lot of grief and get a decent genuine rebuild one or something. I never did get them working correctly and the consensus was that they were pap.

[Iain]

Well its bad news for the bucket. It was in for its mot today and even though I fixed up what i could but it has still failed on a few things -

- Rust on outer sill/bottom of rear quarter and some rust on the inner sill at front. Both small repairs but would cost another £100 in welding then have to blend paint in etc.

- Emissions was still a fail even with the replacement cat so theres something deeper there

-some strong advisories on various suspension mounts

-and the bloody handbrake! They did say they would let it go because it was so close to a pass but its just another thing.

Its strange (and annoying) that this tester picked up on different issues than the previous place but i know the garage very well and i trust what the results are so it is what it is.

With the above and the fact that the car has a very knackered roof and a gearbox that makes some very concerning noises its just not worth me putting anymore money or time into it.

I tried to save this little car and give it at least another year on the road but it seems it has met its end. I hate to see them broken/scrapped but there has to come a time when its just not viable to continue and i fear that time has come.

[The Arch Bishop]

That's really sad news Iain, but there has to be a line to draw. Make sure you grab the engine out of it though as it was a good 'un!

Good on you for giving it a go!