RockingDad's Modest Silver 2005

[Rockingdad]

Thought i'd start a readers ride topic for my MR2 which I bought about a week ago. I've wanted one ever since the Mk1 was released and I was a kid (yes i'm not a young owner lol), so after a serious of unfortunate health events recently and now coming out the other side I no longer put off till tomorrow what I could do today and treated myself to an early Christmas present,A 2005 model in Silver with 102,000 on the clock and pretty good condition all round. I'll add some better pictures when I can get out with the camera. Here it is the day it was picked up by my son for me:




The only thing that annoys me is that the previous owner put a black set of MR2 wheels on but the PFL ones so the rears aren't 16's but they are at least the correct size being wider than the fronts so thats something I suppose.

The first thing I've done on the car (i'm not amazingly mobile atm) was the cloudy headlights. I'd read about sanding and polishing them (sounded a bit harcore to me) and also read about everything from toothpaste to Farecla G3.... I did have any G3 left from an old project but did have some good old T cut and Autoglym paint restorer so gave that a go, worked a treat:

Driver side Before:


After ten minutes of effort:


Passenger side before:


After:


I have a few things that I want to sort out on the car, some really minor, some future upgrades, list as follows:

Replace all but three of the frunk plastic rivet clips (they are mostly missing)
Replace latching clip on the wheel storage lid thats broken
Replace rear engine lid support retaining clip.
Replace all discs and pads
Android head unit and speaker install
Caliper paint
Stainless decat manifold
Stainless Exhaust

I know this list is going to grow over time!

Cheers for looking

Rockingdad  s:) s:)

[s12vea]

Nice write up but the pictures aren't showing for me.

[Rockingdad]

Cheers, Pics should now be sorted, now using photobucket  s:) s:)

[s12vea]

Pictures working  s:) s:)

Looks nice with the black against silver

[Rockingdad]

So progress is going to be slow for a bit due to my surgery recovery but a couple of issues I've had to solve have involved an issue with the cat and the engine management light coming on yesterday. First the cat issue. So I look out of the window a couple of days ago and find the fat elephant with fur we call Gibson sitting on the damn  vinyl roof!!! (Ahh you thought I meant the cars cat didn't ya lol). Turns out he's walking along the window ledge (see the first pic in the thread)  and jumping off it onto the roof, how the he'll he hasn't gone through it I don't know. Anyway ordered and received this morning some of those bird spike things people put on buildings to put on the window ledge. ... the things we do to protect our cars.....and prolong the life of the bloody cat.

Anyway, engine light issue, came on yesterday after about three miles FFS. Plugged in the reader with trusty Torque pro and  P0140 o2 sensor heater circuit,  bank 1, sensor 2. Bit of a search on the forum and I find its the rear post cat sensor which people say is a bugger to get out. Found a new denso one for £53 so I'll order an O2 socket and switch it out when I'm able.

Anyone needs an OBD scan Nr me I'm happy to help  s:) s:)

Rockingdad

[Rockingdad]

Ordered some new plastic trim rivets off ebay (100 for £4) which turned up today, Mine only had four in the front plastics when I picked it up



The edges are a little rough but could easily be sanded/trimed if you need em looking perfect...do the job though  s:) s:)

There are a couple of items I need to get hold of if anyone can help.... Front trunl retaining clip is broken and won't lock, are these available?



Also I need a clip that hold the engine lid prop, I guess this is going to be a drill out job to replace. Does anyone know if these are available mail order, 40 mile round trip to my nearest dealers!



Some larger scale updates should be happening after Christmas as I've sold my Jeep which will fund some goodies for the MR2, Was sad to see it go but I'd had it for seven years and was time for a change (hence the MR2)  s:) s:)



Cheers

RockingDad

[martin_b]

Don't sell the Jeep!

I'm on my 4th, great under rated cars

 keep them both.

[Rockingdad]

Ahh too late it sold Sunday! I did love that jeep and nearly didn't sell it but it was time for a change. I'll probably end up buying another one at some point  s:) s:)

[1979scotte]

Hopefully now you've gone Japanese you won't feel the need for a Yank Tank.
The only time I hanker after a 4x4 is when it snows.
Find the 2, polo and my van fit the bill nicely.

[Rockingdad]

ok so since the O2 sensor was changed out (see the How to section of the forum for a write up), not much happening as i'm on a spend ban due to Christmas and some previous 'incidents' involving me buying things my good lady had already bought.

Anyway, Birthday was last Sunday and amongst a good range of car related pressies I got some of the Chrome Rings for the Dash. I felt the cluster hadn't really been finished off properly and dropped some hints. I'm pretty happy with them, fit nicely and very easy to fit


I'm ordering the Android head unit after Crimbo and some new speakers so I'll sort a How to for that. I'm going for an Eonon GA2114.

[tomaky]

Ordered some new plastic trim rivets off ebay (100 for £4) which turned up today, Mine only had four in the front plastics when I picked it up
did these work well? have you got a link?

[Rockingdad]

Yeah they weren't bad at all. Here's a link.  
 m http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181910280820? ... EBIDX%3AIT m

[tomaky]

Cheers buddy will stick some on order  s:) s:)  across 3 cars ive got about 2 clips per car haha

[Rockingdad]

Holy thread resurrection Batman,  I'm going to update this build thread and try and put everything in here in order... from over the last nearly two years. If you want more detail there are videos covering some stuff on my youtube channel, link in sig at the bottom...anyway.

Had a suddenly horrific rattle at low revs, definitely a tinny heat shield rattle. Got underneath and found the bolt up points on the cat shield that lives just behind the universal joint on the exhaust had rusted right through and was just hanging on. The previous owner had already removed the rear nappy so I took the shield off completely. I did think about wrapping it but haven't as yet.

the offending shield:

Next up I needed better sounds so I started with a new head unit. I decided to opt for an Android unit from Eonon (GA2114). it excellent but did sit a little further forward than the standard head unit. I could have either redrilled the mounts that screwed to the side of it to push it back into the centre console, but used the stock surround and modded it to bring it forward.

i''ve got the unit running navigation, spotify, dashcam, rear reverse cam, music player and Torque pro amongst other things. focal components and compact sub to be added.

[Rockingdad]

And with the surround fitted, you can buy these 'ears' to fill in the gaps from the stock stereo that is left when fitting a standard double din. They are bloody useless and I ended up chopping the side mount brackets off, triming them as they were too wide and glueing them to the frame.