Electric Windows and Central Locking kits

[Anonymous]

Not sure why this is - my daughter's car is an import, first reg in 1999 and over here since Dec 2000. It doesn't have central locking, nor electric windows. Importers I have spoken to have never seen another without either or both.
Anyway, discovered an aftermarket kit for electric windows, by Nikkai, cost £99ish.
Fitted one door last weekend and it was a nightmare, and it took most of saturday and half of Sunday. You know, a kit designed to fit anything. What they really mean is, it won't fit anything without some (a lot of) modification. The driver's door is working fine, after I had discovered don't do this, don't do that... The other door I confidently expect to do next weekend in 90 minutes.
The central locking kit from Maplin was cheap at £30 (and even had all the bits for a 4 door car), well kitted - but for the MR2 - NBG. Couldn't suss out where to mount the motors at all and have taken it back.

Car has a cobra alarm which has the outputs to drive central locking, but just being a mean ole git I want to save some money and not get a garage to fit it at quoted £130.
BTW it is a good thing to fit this sort of thing yourself, I managed to find all the loose speaker screws in the door (fitted by an unknown previous owner) and fitted them properly, sorted a couple of broken panel clips , fitted some missing screws for the centre console and tucked away the tatty wiring for rear speakers - all now tidy and tight, and found (the main)cause of a rattle in the dash (to do with the immobiliser wiring)

Anybody fitted anything else to their car to do central locking? (That would mean someone else has the same spec car, of course).

[Peter Laborne]

It doesn't have central locking, nor electric windows. Importers I have spoken to have never seen another without either or both.

Car has a cobra alarm which has the outputs to drive central locking, but just being a mean ole git I want to save some money and not get a garage to fit it at quoted £130.
BTW it is a good thing to fit this sort of thing yourself

I have never heard of a Roadster without central locking or electric windows. I have also never heard of a 1999 Roadster, I thought they were all first reg after Jan 2000. Can you post some piccies so we can see the window winders?

As for an alarm, I would willing pay £130 to get it fitted by a garage. Think about it, pay a bit extra, get an alarm fitted professionally and end up with a Thatcham 1 approved rating will result in you saving the extra money you paid within a couple of years on your insurance.

A simple table:

Alarm = None
Cost = Free
Insurance = Very high premium

Alarm = DIY
Cost = A hundred quid for the alarm
Insurance = Slightly or no reduced premium (only really a peace of mind thing)

Alarm = Approved Thatcham fitted
Cost = A hundred for the alarm, another hundred for fitting and a few quid for approval and certificate
Insurance = Mega reduced premium (a hundred or more per annum)


Two or three years down the line spending that little extra will actually end up saving you more money, as it will cost far less to insure.

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of a Roadster without central locking or electric windows. I have also never heard of a 1999 Roadster, I thought they were all first reg after Jan 2000. Can you post some piccies so we can see the window winders?

Presumably a J-spec import, and the lowest of the three models (sorry, can't remember which is which, something about V, S and ?-editions)??

Does it have steel (ie not the five-spoke alloy) wheels (although these could have been changed)? There are other differences as well.

[Peter Laborne]

Presumably a J-spec import, and the lowest of the three models (sorry, can't remember which is which, something about V, S and ?-editions)??

MR-J = First Prototype
MR-X = Second Prototype
MR-S MkI = Production vehicle 2000-2002 (IIRC released Japan and US Jan 2000 and ROW a couple of months later)
MR-S MkII = Production vehicle 2002 - todate (called the 03 spec it was released Nov 2002)

Click here for pics of the prototypes

[Anonymous]

Now that looks nice

[Tem]

I have never heard of a Roadster without central locking or electric windows. I have also never heard of a 1999 Roadster

First MR-S's were registered in 1999 in Japan.

Here's a post to page that explains the J-spec differences:
 m http://www.mr2roc.org/viewtopic.php?t=1145 m


Edit: Here's some history, claiming summer 1999 for Japan and March 2000 for US.
 m http://spyderchat.com/history.htm m

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tem.

The 'B-EDITION' has no electric windows (amongst other things).