Steve447’s 2000 040 Super White

[steve447]

Ex pat Brit here living in Southern California


Recap of the last 4 years of fun!.

Buying Experience
I looked at/drove 4-5 SoCal cars, all trashed, didn't drive well, chassis, engines felt tired, plastics all scratched or missing, lots of neglect. Price range $4-7k, didn't even bother to look at cheaper cars..
Found MY2000 manual in Super White, 64,000 miles, red seats and door trim
64000 miles, CA car, 1 "owner" bought at end of lease, second owner had bought at auction and was flipping it. Had been garaged judging by condition of door shuts and under frunk/hood areas, usual minor door/wing dings invisible from 2 yds, thanks to super white color.
Trashed newly fitted replacement soft top – unbelievable, glue everywhere, had been cut too short in some areas, looked like it was installed by a blind person with one hand tied behind their back. Didn't seal or even come close to mating to the door seals, soft top trim parts missing.
All original fasteners, all frunk plastics in place with all fasteners present, spare tire, tool kit, OEM filters, all original body panels, all under floor panels there, front and rear bumpers resprayed for sale, no accident damage under paint – some overspray on underside plastics.
Dash and all interior plastics present and scratch free (yes!!), except for usual split on top of center console/arm rest
Red cloth seats in bad shape, mainly dirt and stains. Some wear on driver side. Love the look but they need some serious TLC (new covers).
Drove great, pulled really strong with noticeable VVT power surge @ 4K, no visible smoke
Negotiated a good price based on top condition
Drove home a happy camper

Emissions
Replaced all 3 original O2 sensors, Denso OEM spec – drove repeated Toyota drive cycles (100 miles +) and got monitors to set with no codes.
Emission test passed after purchase!
Mid pipe started to leak from flex joints (maybe brought on by many on and off sessions with the muffler sagas). Ordered new Magnaflow 50 state cat mid pipe. Fitted but could not get it to seal. After much trial and error realized that one of the pipe joints to the three amigos joint was not fully welded were it should have been from manufacture. Warrantied mid pipe received (it was new but looked like it had been welded after the fact in the same area so obviously a batch quality issue).
Dreaded P0440 started popping up, I'd reset it and it would go for a few hundred miles, then it would only go for one drive before CEL was on. Replaced gas cap with OEM, no change. Finally, it started to smell of gas inside the car especially on low tank (more fuel vapor?). Bit the bullet and dropped the tank, replaced the fuel pump gasket, vent valve and gasket. Monitor set within 1 drive. No CEL for a few hundred miles. Fingers crossed that issue is put to bed. All good 15,000 miles later

Exterior
All black exterior trim plastics faded, refinished to look like new
Color coded door lock covers purchased from SC vendor
Like new bonnet bought from local SC member for a great price, original bonnet had picked up a few rock chips otherwise was in great shape
Like new MY2000 headlights picked up and installed replacing originals which were slightly faded.
Passenger side wheel wheel arch liner plastics butchered by previous owner to get to the headlight bolt without removing the front bumper – why oh why?. I picked up a new liner

Brakes
New discs and OEM pads (original OEM pads had 30% life left!)
Fluid change

Soft top
New Autoberry black cloth soft top fitted – one weekend of fun spent fitting it!! Several OEM soft top trim parts were left off or destroyed by the person trying to fit the last top, replacement trim parts ordered from dealership or picked up off SC member.
New top leak proof and looks awesome.
New windshield surround seal fitted (the one inside the car) as old one was cracked and cut (by roof installer)
Spare like new soft top frame purchased for a great price to take donor parts off. Not needed in the end

Exhaust
OEM manifold was "fixed" to prevent future issues with cats
Bought new Lotus style center exit pipe off ebay – didn't fit, hangers in the wrong place and hit the rear bumper. Had a muffler shop adjust it with some welded in sections to lower the outlet. Looked and sounded great for a week or so of commuting then the packing burnt out and it was obnoxiously loud. My 14-year-old son loved it, too much for me.
Bought used 100k miles TTE muffler from SC member, owner had bought a new one. As bought had rattle caused by weld failure of internal pipe, spot rewelded 3, 4 times before finally fully welded around whole diameter – no more rattles. Love the sound and look of this part (made by Remus in Germany). No drone and sounds great when you stand on the gas. Stainless tips look like new when polished
Continual battle with sealing between manifold (OEM) and mid pipe (Magnaflow). OEM locking nuts used but they destroy the studs when you have to remove them (which I have done many times).

Engine/GBox
1qt per 200-500 miles consumption depending on freeway or not driving - kept it alive for 10,000 miles with almost daily oil level checks.
Compression test – 145-220-220-220
White ash on cylinder 4 plug, oil burner...
Got fed up with checking oil so used engine bought off SC member. Owner went 2zz. So far so good, runs great with no codes and no oil consumption issues.
MAF mod – significant improvement/bang for buck but 2zz injectors caused random P0330 error. Fixed by reverting to original injectors and reversing the MAF mods ☹
New Clutch (non OEM) installed during engine swop. Release bearing noisy (non OEM).
New OEM air filter
VVT filter cleaned out
Bearing mod to shift linkage
New G/Box fluid

Wheels/Tires
OEM 15" wheels all round with budget tires – Sold
Lotus Elise OEM 16"/17"wheels with Advan A0D07 tires bought – I think they look great, rear tire on one side catches the plastic inner liner on big compressions. Plan to swop to slightly narrower S-Drives soon

Interior
Cyclehead made diamond stitched black Alcantara door arm rests, door cards and center arm rest. Really lifts the interior
Momo solid chromed weighted, metal round gearknob – great feel, hot in the summer when the roof is down! - update, replaced with TRD 6 speed knob when C60 installed.
S2000 AP1 black leather seats. Custom made bolt on steel brackets to attach the inside rear mounts.
Scion FRS audio unit with Bluetooth mic inserted into spare dash switch blank
Like new condition floor mats purchased from SC member
2005 model HVAC control panel fitted (I preferred the look)
Alcantara retrimmed and fattened up wheel purchased from UK supplier - love it..

2ZZ
The Spyder was my DD for the first 2 years but now it's a weekend only car. I felt the 1zz was a better commuter/DD engine so didn't swop it out straight away.  Looked for a good 2zz for a couple of years before buying a succession of cheap (very) engines which all ended up being junk due to cylinder liner and bearing issues.  The good news was that set me up with a great supply of spare parts and I learnt a lot about the engine.

Finally my patience was rewarded and a lucked into a great deal on a modded 2004 Corolla with a built 2Zz that was supercharged and dry sumped.

After a lot of thought, mainly centered around the strict ca emissions laws, I decided to put the engine back to stock spec and see how it went.

I rebuilt the engine with stock pistons and rods, reverted to a wet sump and swopped it and the C60 in early last year.

It runs great 2000 miles later.

[steve447]

The Spyder in its natural habitat.  Luckily there are some great mountain roads close by to escape from the gridlocked traffic.

[Bernie]

Looks great and very jealous California must be a dream to drive off into

[steve447]

Cali is great but there are always compromises where ever you live.  I still miss the U.K.  mr2's  are really expensive compared to the U.K. especially hard tops - $2000-$2500! On the plus side my 2000 came looking almost new underneath.

[Ardent]

Great Read.

$2k you buy a whole car over here for less than that.

I need to look into shipping costs for hards tops and get some sent over.

[Ardent]

Always like the little details.
Your side repeaters in bumper, ours on the wing.

Generally, I'm not a fan of white cars, but it suits the 2 very well.
Only seen them on screen. Don't think came in the colour over here.

The one I always think of had a Black hardtop. Looked the mutts nutts.

[Lancsman]

Enjoyed your detailed MR2 history too. It's always bemusing to us enthusiasts how a previous owner manages to severely damage areas of the car yet other bits look cared for. My mr2 red edition only had 68k on clock but owner lost interest in servicing it at 48k, ten years ago. Didn't ever clean it internally either. The spark plugs were so perished, when I changed them the engine light came on cos it had been so used to overcompensating for bad spark!

[Chilli Girl]

Cute picture

[s12vea]

Welcome

Love that steering wheel

[steve447]

Thanks for the positive comments.  Ive been fortunate enough to have driven and owned much more powerful and expensive cars but the Spyder always puts a smile on my face

[Ardent]

The Spyder always puts a smile on my face

And that's why we love them.

[steve447]

Going to add an another post to reintroduce my self, but for completeness sake on this thread I'm back living in the UK and have already bought a Sable 54 plate with a hardtop... let the mods begin!

[SuperArt]

Welcome back! Could've picked a better time to come back to the UK but for all that's wrong with this place at least our beloved cars remain a relatively affordable vice.
Happy modding and driving!

[steve447]

Thanks, sometimes timing gets chosen for you...

Looking forwards to being able to work on my UK 54 plate spyder soon, have started collecting parts for it and will have some go fast goodies from my garage the US when our household goods arrive.