Bargain-bucket MR2

Started by The Arch Bishop, July 15, 2017, 18:13

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m1tch

#25
Quote from: "The Arch Bishop"Well, back to reality, I thought I could finish it all off tonight and get it back on its wheels. The ominous thunder and lightning was a bit of a portent really as, while the first toe-arm went on a treat (adjusted by eye to give a tiny amount of toe-in), it soon became apparent that the other one was stuffed. Essentially the thread on the ball joint end was bent, probably as a result of the exceptional amount of force required to pop them out of the hub. Will get a replacement asap.

Anyway, that was that and so I decided instead to hook up the battery and start the engine. Started fine, no warning lights, no leaks from the new sump not sure about the exhaust. Still a bit of a rattle from a heat-shield somewhere but I don't know how noisy these cars are normally so I'll leave it to the MOT man to find any leaks!

Ah well, completion, it seems, is for another day!

If there is a rattle at around 2k rpm it will be the welded (now unwelded) heat shield on the pipe just after the manifold - mine is completely loose and makes one hell of a racket like grinding metal, basically the welds rust off and the whole enclosed heatshield rattles, usually fixed using a few jubilee clips.

The Arch Bishop

#26
Quote from: "m1tch"If there is a rattle at around 2k rpm it will be the welded (now unwelded) heat shield on the pipe just after the manifold - mine is completely loose and makes one hell of a racket like grinding metal, basically the welds rust off and the whole enclosed heatshield rattles, usually fixed using a few jubilee clips.

Yes, the rattle is from around that area, but was also the bit that I put a fixing on. There's obviously still some poking and wriggling to do but it'll be worth finding as it sounds a bit rough to the unknowing!

I had a parcel today from Mr. D. Sloan that contained one owners manual and one very good condition rear toe arm with a thread that does doing up and stuff. I'm climbing the walls in wanting to get it back on its wheels and waltzing it through an MOT (uh huh...still dreaming), but I contained myself and started painting it instead (booo boring hiss).

While I'm waiting for the rust-converter to dry, I grabbed the rear wheels and, owing to their rather spiffing fairly recently renovated condition, decided to give them a clay, polish and wax. Very pleased on how they came up;





And one of my favourite details on the car - the centre caps;



Why do they have that red ring? Just to look cool. Just 'because'. I like stuff like that.

1979scotte

#27
Wheels have come up well.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Free Ukraine 🇺🇦

The Arch Bishop

#28
Quote from: "1979scotte"Wheels have come up well.
They have, but it's a bit cheaty really - they were refurbed a little while ago, so didn't need much elbow grease. Never had alloys this tidy!

Ardent

#29
Sweet

The Arch Bishop

#30
And the last bit to go on...



Unfortunately, the thread was a bit gnarly on this devil as well which meant that it just span the ball joint;



In the end, I had to clamp the taper with a set of mole grips and then screw the nut on until it re-cut the thread sufficiently. Bit of a faff but par for the course on on motors.

With that done, it was just a matter on minutes before it was all on;



Before triumphantly dropping it to the ground, I thought I'd better check to see if my fix had cured the exhaust rattle. It was better, but still plenty of 'orrible noises of resonance. I found another broken shield (m1tch was bang on with his prediction) fixing and put another bolt through;



But still there was a slight rattle! Before the cat' got to skin-removing temperatures, I had a rummage on its underside (Ooo..er obviously) and found that the larger cat' shield, while feeling solid, still vibrated enough to create a noise. A large jubilee strap at the elbow of the shield did the trick and finally I was free of the awful racket (but sadly not the voices in my head).

Wheels on next (waxing them up had the side effect of making them like eels to try and grab) with polished up nuts;



And finally, quite a bit longer after I'd started than it ever should have, we're off the axle stands and ready for an attempt at the MOT!



Huzzah!!!

Next patient - needs some exhaust sorting and a few other bits and bobs (this is probably against the forum rules posting it here);



Time to swap some car insurance about and book an MOT then!

The Other Stu

#31
From experience, make sure your arms are torqued properly.
MikeK and I have had the same problem - one of the bolts wasn't tightened properly. The car seemed to almost slide and pull to one side when you braked and would knock on a decent corner.
No Longer Here

mikek

#32
+1
2zz by Rogue. Se7en cams. BMC CDA. Competion clutches lightened flywheel, Megillian Racing Exhaust. TRD sportivo suspension and ARB\'s. TRD braces. TRD quick shift. TRD dash kit, Matts brace. Getting there but not sure when it will stop!

The Arch Bishop

#33
Quote from: "The Other Stu"From experience, make sure your arms are torqued properly.
MikeK and I have had the same problem - one of the bolts wasn't tightened properly. The car seemed to almost slide and pull to one side when you braked and would knock on a decent corner.
Yes, I wasn't mucking around with the rear arms (having been almost killed by a mk1 with a bandy rear arm), so they were all carefully torqued up to specification. I'm a bit OCD with stuff like that.

delhusband

#34
Good luck with MOT, hope it goes OK - looking great.
Hate pointy animals

The Arch Bishop

#35
Booked in for 4.30pm today - wibble!

Fingers crossed there's nothing too serious lurking that I don't know about!

1979scotte

#36
Best of luck
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Free Ukraine 🇺🇦

smarty72

#37
Seems as though you've had a fairly good poke around it so hopefully all will be well.  Fingers crossed another one has been saved...
current: Astral Black FL

Ex: Forest Green 2003.

The Arch Bishop

#38
Well, MOT is done and sadly it's a fail! It seems that the time it was laid up didn't do it any favours!



On the fails we have;

- Front brake binding Offside
- Rear parking brake recording little or no effort Nearside
- Parking brake: efficiency below requirements
- Brakes imbalanced across an axle Front

On the advisories, we have;

- Parking brake lever has little reserve travel
- Corrosion to front chassis
- Rear numberplate deteriorated

So brakes, brakes,brakes and brakes!

Any advice on where to start the investigations would be appreciated - I know that the rear brakes and handbrakes are a bit of a sore point with MR2s but a place to start would be great!

The Other Stu

#39
Try just resetting the handbrake - that might fix it all.
Take the centre console out, undo the 2 nuts all the way to the top.
Turn engine on. Pump the footbrake about a dozen times. Then tighten the nuts up again. That may fix it.

Otherwise, it's new calipers (if they're binding - take them off, put them on the bench and see if they move or stick) or you could have a go at refurbing (I picked up 2 refurb kits for £7 odd each).
Worst case, you'll need new handbrake cables, but that is worst case.

The fronts might just need loosening up a little. Take them off, a bit of TLC, new pads.

Not the end of the world really....
No Longer Here

smarty72

#40
"Front brake binding on the offside" may just need freeing up the slider pins and pads.

Rears, as Stu says, likely to need a little investigation, but new rear calipers is a fairly common issue with the age of our vehicles now.  Might get away with a bit of fettling in the short term.

It's not that bad really...
current: Astral Black FL

Ex: Forest Green 2003.

The Arch Bishop

#41
Cheers for the advice both - appreciated!

I note it has a nearly new rear caliper on the side that isn't the problem, so I suppose it could be either the cables haven't been adjusted since the swap, or (more likely I guess) the other has given up in sympathy! Is it easy to test if the problem - ie: jack up grab the wheels and try and turn them or is it pot luck and only the test will show the issue up?

The Arch Bishop

#42
Ok, I got my long-suffering wife to operate the handbrake while I looked at the levers on the rear calipers. The OK side you can see plenty of movement, but on the other side, there's very little (but there is some). Would this point to an adjustment problem?

Sorry all - 20 questions but I can already feel the free retest loooooming!

smarty72

#43
I'm no expert, but if there's very little movement in the duff side then I imagine the internal handbrake auto adjuster is sticking / seizing.  You may be able to free it up enough, with the adjustment Stu mentioned of freeing off the cable inside and pumping the pedal before taking the slack back up, to get it through the free retest.

But ultimately it either needs refurbishing or replacing.

I believe the handbrake aspect of the test takes both sides results combined, as opposed to each one having to hit a specific number.  If I recall correctly, I think it's 16% efficiency, so you may be able to reach that.
current: Astral Black FL

Ex: Forest Green 2003.

smarty72

current: Astral Black FL

Ex: Forest Green 2003.

The Arch Bishop

#45
Ah cheers Smarty, I'll see what I can get done before the retest but if all else fails I'll batter it about a bit to try and free it for now.

I've done the adjustment inside the car, but it's clear from under the car that one side is nice and free with the arm moving through its arc and the other is only moving about 1/4 inch. Lot less travel in the lever now though! No longer in danger of smashing the rear window putting on the handbrake.

On to the positives - I finally got to drive it to the MOT station! The geometry is utterly whacked and it's....ummm....interesting to drive.... crabs down the road like a good-un. Proper scary! However, the suspension feels in very fine fettle and there's no ominous creaks or bangs. Seems quite tight. Engine feels a bit flat, but that just may be it needing a decent service. It seems my fears of a farty exhaust after my working on it is unfounded. The steering is ultra-direct - quite a shock coming from the sloppy electric racks on my MGF and (to a lesser extent) Swift Sport. Most of all, even with the 'hang on for dear life' alignment, I can feel how good the car is underneath. Extra incentive to get it on the road!

As for the advisories, the front corrosion looks similar to that I found on the back, so will hopefully be a scrub back and paint job. The rear number plate was on my hit list as well.

It's all fixable after all!

The Arch Bishop

#46
Well, after a hard day at work, there's nothing quite like coming home and battering brake components off is there? As time is of the essence, I decided to have a go at the front offside brake caliper this evening. Once I'd managed to get the front off the ground (seriously, the front central jacking point is in the middle of the flipping car - lots of jack-juggling to get it up and on axle stands), it was easy to feel that the brake really was dragging pretty badly. The wheel wouldn't spin and quite some force was needed to get is to move. After removing the piston housing it was pretty obvious that it was a sticking slider;



Note the wear of the pads;



Add a new set to the list then!

While one slider pin came out with my fingers, the other one required 30 mins of chiselling off before it eventually gave up it's grasp of the pad carrier.



The old grease had baked on rock-hard in places.

The hole in the carrier was utterly gummed up so required a dunk in gunk and a scrape out before it would happily accept a pin in there.

The gunky pin eventually cleaned up like so (pictured with it's more well-to-do twin brother);



I could slap this all back together with some new pads, but I'm wary about using the tired pin in case it allows gunk to build up again. The dust shields were in good order at least.

I prefer to fix for the long term if at all possible. Thoughts or opinions welcomed!

smarty72

#47
I would 'slap it back together' as you suggest, with appropriate grease such as Ceratec, in the short term and concentrate on sorting your handbrake to get in for your free retest.

Then sort it out at your leisure once you have your MOT.  I can't imagine It's going to 'gunk up' anytime soon with the proper grease in it and regular use.
current: Astral Black FL

Ex: Forest Green 2003.

The Arch Bishop

#48
Really tempted to use what I have, but I've been on the bay of E-ness - as it turns out, a set of 4 pins and dust covers is cheap and can be here by Thursday, so I thought as I'm waiting for pads to arrive and I'm probably not going to get quality time to fiddle much before the weekend, I ordered them. I'm going to do both fronts as I'll have to have the other off to replace the pads.

As for the hand brake, Dick Sloan has sent me a tidy rear caliper to replace mine as I decided putting a known good caliper on there would be far easier than trying to free the handbrake arm on my old one. Pads ordered for the rears as well because I'll be in there anyway... Basically, I'm experiencing project creep. This tends to happen with me.

mikek

#49
Happens to us all
2zz by Rogue. Se7en cams. BMC CDA. Competion clutches lightened flywheel, Megillian Racing Exhaust. TRD sportivo suspension and ARB\'s. TRD braces. TRD quick shift. TRD dash kit, Matts brace. Getting there but not sure when it will stop!

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