2005 Sable Grey project

[southeastblue]

Hi,

I'm more of a lurker than a poster on here, but thought it would be cool to document some changes to my relatively new (to me) 2005 Sable Grey MR2.

It was bought a couple of months back on 100k miles, but with a rebuilt 1ZZ. Quoting the ad that lead to me buying it the engine has had new pistons/ rings water and oil pump, new timing chain assembly, all new gaskets and bearings and machined ground/honed to match the pistons. All the valves were reground as they were going to turbo it.



Pretty much as soon as I got the car I had some Tein springs fitted, 15x7 Rota Grid ET20 alloys with Toyo 195/50 front and 205/50 rear tyres, a Malian 'race' exhaust, solid poly linkage and shifter housing bushes, and a weighted Mishimoto shift knob.



Then I painted the calipers red with a cheap tin of caliper paint and brush from ebay, which came out fairly decent though.



Next was some JDM sized number plates with an OEM plate holder on the front. The rear I just screwed into the stock location, but probably should look from some genuine rear grill infills to close the side gap on the plate. Also installed some pre-painted (black inside) headlights.



Most recently I've had a wrapped Gravity manifold installed to replace the stock manifold and pre-cats. Sounds a bit louder now with the Malian race exhaust, and pops on gear changes and burbles on letting off the throttle. Also fitted a Blitz panel filter, and smoothed the inside of the airbox to remove the plastic wall on one end.



Took a couple more pics with my proper camera, but next up will hopefully be some body kit parts installed and a when Autumn draws in I will need to look for a hard top. Rear spats are on order, just waiting for the TRD lips to come in stock at HZ Dynamics.




Modification list/parts as of September 2023 since I've owned the car:
- Blitz panel filter with wall removed from airbox
- Gravity decat manifold, stock cat downpipe, and Malian race exhaust
- Yuasa 5053 grey battery
- Tein lowering springs
- Rota Grid V 15x7 ET20 wheels in gloss black
- Toyo TR1 195/50/15 front and 205/50/15 rear tyres
- Headlights with inners painted black
- BRD Poly bushed gear linkage, and RHD performance poly bushes on the shifter housing
- Mishimoto weighted gear knob
- Painted red calipers
- Front and rear GB/TTE spats
- Debadged rear
- JDM sized plates with front JDM plate recess, and custom rear plate surround

[Chilli Girl]

Very smart, you've done brilliant and thank you for sharing what you've done along with excellent pics.  I look forward to hearing more in due course.

[southeastblue]

Thanks, got plenty more plans in the pipeline!   

[puma2]

  we like the way you rock and roll with a good write up pictures  
keep up with the good work and you will find that no 2 is the same as we all play with add ons here and there and some everywhere    

[cptspaulding]

Nice work & good pics to boot. Welcome

[southeastblue]

Well I got bored of having to wait for the TRD lip, and it was I think £210 with postage from HZ dynamics (they were due in at some point, but no ETA). So instead for now I've gone with the front Toyota GB/TTE spats instead to go with the rear spats I had on order from Glass Fibre Products on facebook. £90 for the front spats, £85 rear, £20 postage for anyone interested in ordering the same thing. 👍

More pics to follow when I paint and fit them.

[southeastblue]

Should receive my front/rear spats next week, but done a little mod to cover the gaps on the rear JDM sized number plate, using 1mm black plastic pinseal sheet from Ebay.

Cut it to 400x170mm and voila, no more gaps and blends in pretty decent with the stock black plastics.



My front and rear spats are due to be sent out this coming Monday, so should have them next week. May have to wait a couple of weeks to paint/fit them though, as off on holiday very soon. 😁

[southeastblue]

Received my spats early this morning, so painted them in my back garden then fitted them later this evening.

Annoyingly the colour is quite off, so will need to find a good match for the MR2 1E3 paint, anyone know of a good supplier that matches well? Also I only drilled holes and bolted them up, I think they need some tiger seal or something around the edges to close the gap, but they fit pretty well considering it's fibreglass.

I like the look though.

[Joesson]

@southeastblue
A paint supplier that has been suggested by @Carolyn is

https://nuagane.co.uk/

But if your brother is in the trade he likely could get a good match with the colour code, from the plate in the engine bay, on the bulkhead, top left iirc.

There is also a paint code guide somewhere on here.

[southeastblue]

I had a quick look, but do they supply cans or only paint for a gun?

I used some cans with a nice fan nozzle and they were pretty good/easy to use, as I don't have a spray gun myself.

[Joesson]

Not used them myself so can't be sure but I understand they sell  most of what is needed for refinishing work.

[Zxrob]

Nice write up

I do like a sable, bit biased though

Only way to properly match the paint is to take it to a auto paint dealer, they will scan it and match it up perfectly

Rob

[Carolyn]

I had a quick look, but do they supply cans or only paint for a gun?

I used some cans with a nice fan nozzle and they were pretty good/easy to use, as I don't have a spray gun myself.

They do spray cans and paint for spray guns.

[Topdownman]

I have used this paint;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322777569886

on a repair to my lower front lip so did the whole of it to match better. The result is good and I would have said fine to do a pair of spats. Years ago I bought one from halfords where they mixed it for you, it was shocking! I could do with more lacquer on it as the lacquer can was faulty so had a poor flow (they sent me a new one no bother).

[southeastblue]

I have used this paint;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322777569886

on a repair to my lower front lip so did the whole of it to match better. The result is good and I would have said fine to do a pair of spats. Years ago I bought one from halfords where they mixed it for you, it was shocking! I could do with more lacquer on it as the lacquer can was faulty so had a poor flow (they sent me a new one no bother).

Cheers mate, I may try this paint when I attempt to paint them again, need to hold off until I'm back from my holiday. I had previously painted some parts for a couple of other cars using random paint I bought online with good results, I guess it can be hit and miss, unfortunately this time it was well off with the paint I bought.

[southeastblue]

Back from holiday, I ordered some paint to arrive on my return as recommended by Topdownman.

Painted the spats again, and although the colour is still not 100% it's much better now, and perfectly fine for me, they just need a bit of a polish on the clear coat to make them shinier.




Car battery is also fooked showing 10v and doesn't seem to charge at all from my trickle charger, so have ordered a new Yuasa grey to arrive tomorrow.

[southeastblue]

Polished the spats this morning, looks about 8/10 now IMO colour match wise.     




Need to start thinking about getting a hard top soon.

[Chilli Girl]

They look great @southeastblue - better be quick to pick up a hard top, they are already mega expensive, even more so in the winter months.

[Joesson]

@southeastblue
IF, a big IF , I were ever to consider a Hard Top, I would consider buying a less costly scratched colour unimportant top and respray MR2 black. That will compliment your car and any other should you want to sell the top.
NB Don't forget  you need a fitting  kit and a rear window heater cable.
A Member on here  @Snelbaard  sells/ sold " special " brackets/ fitting kit that may suit instead of the OE parts that can be costly.

https://www.mr2roc.org/index.php?msg=840686

[southeastblue]

Forgot to update this (posted on social media so you may have seen it), but got a hard top for £550.

It's in silver, and has a few scuffs on it, but it will get painted at some point so didn't bother me. Still not sure whether to go black, or sable with the colour though.



Annoyingly coming back from collecting it, the car developed a weird noise. I think it's a manifold leak, so purchased a new metal manifold gasket, and going to get somebody to look over the car shortly.

Next up for the car once I sort the engine noise and get the roof painted, is some TRC side skirts and a spoiler/wing of some kind.

[Joesson]

@southeastblue

You did very well to get a hard top for that price, , especially if all of the fittings were included, that was the £ level around ten years ago.
As for colour my choice would be black as it is said that a contrast is better than a poor match.

[southeastblue]

The hard top came with the fitting kit too so was cheap for current prices!

Yeah going black would mean easier to sell on if needed, and eliminates bad colour matching as you say. Hoping to get a quote soon, I know somebody who can paint it for me for a good price.

[southeastblue]

Recently had fun trying to fix a horrible exhaust leak.

Firstly tried removing the cat to inspect, and found the gasket was damaged between the cat/downpipe and the Gravity manifold.



So I thought sod it, and ordered a Malian sports cat, and fitted this with a new metal manifold gasket too (assumed the Gravity one would give way at the other end too at some point).

Ending up chasing more exhaust leaks, as it just came with another one of these rubbish gaskets, so had to seal it all up with high temp RTV silicone! Absolute nightmare to get off my hands when the tube leaks out the sides! 👀



Anyway, car is okay now, but very loud with the Gravity manifold, Malian sports cat, and Malian race exhaust, but no major leaks I think (not that I could hear them over the exhaust).

Also took some pics and did a little before and after 'modding' for the future, and thought I would see what my car would look like with tinted yellow fogs, MRS front badge, slightly cambered wheels, and different shape number plate.



I may have a couple of little mods lined up, but I'm expecting to pick up a new puppy next week and with Christmas coming up in 2 months the car will have to go on the back burner for a bit. 🙂

[Gaz mr-s]

It's common practice not to use these perforated gaskets.  They're generally regarded as junk.

[Alex Knight]

Never use anything other than OEM ring crush gaskets for that seal. Everything else just fails/leaks.

Looks miles better with the small plate, btw.