Bargain-bucket MR2

[The Arch Bishop]

They're cracking cars but sadly mine was a pig to keep working. Do miss that lovely gear change and the torquey, smooth 1.7 though! Oh and the lovely steering feel and the handling.... and...and... But in all honesty, I was glad to see the back of it. Gave it to another Puma-hording fella who's doing a great job of fixing it all up - his dad's fallen for it. After 5 years I'd lost my patience with the constant problems and made-of-cheese bolts (five hours to remove a wishbone!!!!). The MR2 isn't being exactly straight-forward, but even after 120,000 miles, being able to easily remove the caliper bolts is a novelty!

[1979scotte]

They're cracking cars but sadly mine was a pig to keep working. Do miss that lovely gear change and the torquey, smooth 1.7 though! Oh and the lovely steering feel and the handling.... and...and... But in all honesty, I was glad to see the back of it. Gave it to another Puma-hording fella who's doing a great job of fixing it all up - his dad's fallen for it. After 5 years I'd lost my patience with the constant problems and made-of-cheese bolts (five hours to remove a wishbone!!!!). The MR2 isn't being exactly straight-forward, but even after 120,000 miles, being able to easily remove the caliper bolts is a novelty!

Always wanted one not so sure now

[mikek]

Kate had one which was a cracking little car when it was working. Coil pack went which in turn fried the ecu and shortly after that it blew a spark plug out of the engine. Car was an absolute money pit.

[CrazySX]

This thread reminds me of when i first got mine, i did all the jobs you have and ordered a rear caliper from Dick, which when turned up was BRIGHT BLUE! I think the Scottish MR2 owners like their brightly painted calipers  s:D s:D

Have a look at my thread if you get a chance.

Shame i didn't see this earlier i could have offered some valuable advice and saved you some time, but best way to learn is by making mistakes.

If the car has done 120k no doubt the rear springs will have snapped.

They way i did my alignment was to get the D shaped washers as square in the D shaped recess as possible.  When i took it for alignment i was told that the rear alignment was near on perfect!! the front was out.

Good work bud, i love the spirit, and will be watching with interest, with any luck i can help  with future issues you may encounter.

[The Arch Bishop]

Kate had one which was a cracking little car when it was working. Coil pack went which in turn fried the ecu and shortly after that it blew a spark plug out of the engine. Car was an absolute money pit.

To be fair, I know quote a few people who have little or very few problems with them, but Fords do seem to be utterly worn out by about 90k miles. Mine wasn't the best example when I bought it!

This thread reminds me of when i first got mine, i did all the jobs you have and ordered a rear caliper from Dick, which when turned up was BRIGHT BLUE! I think the Scottish MR2 owners like their brightly painted calipers  s:D s:D

Have a look at my thread if you get a chance.

Shame i didn't see this earlier i could have offered some valuable advice and saved you some time, but best way to learn is by making mistakes.

If the car has done 120k no doubt the rear springs will have snapped.

They way i did my alignment was to get the D shaped washers as square in the D shaped recess as possible.  When i took it for alignment i was told that the rear alignment was near on perfect!! the front was out.

Good work bud, i love the spirit, and will be watching with interest, with any luck i can help  with future issues you may encounter.

Cheers! Rear springs look pretty new to be honest so I think they've been changed already. I'll give the toe adjusters a little tinker if I get the time before the alignment is done - it did feel pretty wayward!

[The Arch Bishop]

Retest booked for 3PM tomorrow. Gulp.

Did a little preparation this evening, which involved panicking that there was still a leak from the caliper, removing the wheel and finding there was no leak. Put the wheel back on and renewed my 'Big Girls Blouse' membership.

Also remembered to pump up the tyres which were all over the place. One of the rears was down to 25psi which may be a contributing factor to the wayward handling. It certainly wouldn't help.

Fingers crossed (again).

[delhusband]

Good luck, fingers crossed

[1979scotte]

Best of luck

[CrazySX]

Good luck bud. Should pass now providing your tester is alright

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[The Arch Bishop]

Cheers all! If it doesn't pass this time, it's down to me!  :-) :-) :-)

[The Arch Bishop]

Virtual drum-roll......


It's a.....


Pass!

Whoop and, indeed, Hooray!

It's a lot quicker now the brakes are not all binding too! Handling is still hilariously wobbly though - needs alignment before I can really use it.

Very chuffed - beers tonight! Thanks for all the help, advice and encouragement! Now it's road-worthy(ish), I can clean it.

[CrazySX]

Congrats bud! All your hard work has paid off!!

Well deserved beer then on to the 2zz conversion yeah  s;) s;)

[jonbill]

Well done!

[mikek]

Fantastic! Now enjoy

[The Arch Bishop]

Congrats bud! All your hard work has paid off!!

Well deserved beer then on to the 2zz conversion yeah  s;) s;)

Ha! yeah, I'll get right on that!   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Well done!

Cheers!

Fantastic! Now enjoy

Will do, as soon as I've got the geometry sorted (it's a little....um.... interesting on a bumpy cambered road)!

Got a little present from the kids as a congratulation;

[delhusband]

Yey! Enjoy, fun time now  s:) s:)

[K T M Rider]

 s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[The Arch Bishop]

Well now I can get on to tidying this sound but grubby car!

With the light fading, I grabbed some Meguair's APC and gave the rather green hood a scrub down;

Before;



And after;



Photo flatters it a little, but it's not bad for a first pass! I did wonder whether to give it a coat of plastic restorer, but that'll likely give it a rather greasy look and I'd prefer it more matt.

Another thing that was bothering me (possibly more than it should) was the front number plate sticking out at the corners;



Some number plate sticky pads soon remedied that;



Little things but they add up to bring a dishevelled old car back to respectability!

The wife and kids are away for a week from tomorrow as they're on Guide camp and, while I'll obviously miss them dearly (cough), I'll have lots of time to renovate the paintwork and the interior - looking forward to doing it immensely! I'll keep posting so you can join me if you haven't been bored to death yet.

And the sun sets on a great day of MR2 ownership...

[CrazySX]

I got excited for a sec and thought you were getting rid of the cowboy hat toyota badge and getting a midship badge on it  s;) s;)

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[The Arch Bishop]

Nah. I'm fine with the hat!  s:-D :-D s:-D

[The Arch Bishop]

Cleany cleany soap soap! After waving goodbye to the wife and kids today (bye then!), I could move my attentions to the down-at-heel paintwork.

First things first, a good soapy wash;



And scrub out much of the green algae as I could;









After that, I attacked the sand paper-like bodywork with a clay bar. It was pretty gritty, but not the worst I've had. After a pass with that, I decided to have a concerted go with the rough looking bonnet. It would appear it's had some remedial work in the past - backed up with a receipt for a mobile minor bodywork outfit - which has resulted in half the bonnet being sprayed in a pretty amateur effort, skipping the attention to detail and going straight to the invoice it seems. Anyway, it's only me that'll ever notice, so a polish with Super Resin Polish (never seem to buy this but always seem to have loads of it) followed by a few coats of Collinite wax and it's a lot better.



I also did the headlights while I was at it;



While it was clean, I grabbed a few photos you'll be surprised to hear... Please bear my indulgence;





painted caliper actually looking pretty good;







However, as you can tell from the last two pictures, stormy skies were approaching which once again stopped play. I may have to move on to the inside this afternoon instead. Tomorrow looks a little more settled.

Even the dog was less than impressed;



Still, rain is just an excuse for some beading shots;

[delhusband]

Looking really tidy, lovely.

[The Arch Bishop]

Thank you delhusband - much appreciated!

Good weather today meant I got to finish the bodywork off. Sorry - yet more pictures I'm afraid;

















I also gave the rear toe bolts a twizzle to try and get it driving somewhat straight until I can get the geometry done. It's a lot better, but it does feel like it's falling over itself in the bends a bit. Needs doing properly - just need to fit it in!

[Chilli Girl]

Really great work, she looks fabulous and all your hard work has certainly paid off.  You would never believe that this is one of the  earliest Roadsters that were first produced, what is it 17 years old? It looks great - bet you're well chuffed - you should be!   s:D s:D

[The Arch Bishop]

I have to admit that I'm pretty chuffed with it. Not many cars that look that good at 17 years and 120,000 miles. Obviously, the photos hide a multitude of sins, but for the money, it's a smart little roadster really!

Just need to sort the handling - I'm not 100% convinced it's all tracking related. It feels a little like there's a shock gone at times, but I've done the bounce test and they seem in good shape. The turn in seems if anything a little too sharp. I've driven plenty of go-karty cars over the years, but this feels almost too much. Still, I'll get it tracked and see. I know there are very sensitive to being set up right.