Jay's MR-S Roadster Project

bluesmoke · March 24, 2014, 22:37

OK, so I just wanted to start a proper progress thread for my new car. I'll still post silly questions far too often in the forums, but this is where I will document any work I do.

I found the car on Gumtree. I didn't realise it was a cat C in the past until I went and saw it in Glasgow (!!) but it was only £400 and I just thought screw it, I'm having it. I wanted a Rev 3 Turbo as a project for this summer but I saw this and thought what a great little car to use as a track day/fast road project, as well as it being a bit different to the four MK2's I have had in the past.

I've always missed the MR2's since breaking my last one. I made a huge mistake doing that. This is kind of a way to have fun while exorcising a few of those demons!

I'm still a bit sceptical about putting time and money into this car because of the Cat C in 2008, but on the flip side, if me or the Mrs bins it on track, it won't be the end of the world! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

First things to do are check the pre-cats, replace the knackered roof and put on the facelift alloys I have already bought. I need some tyres for them first though. Unfortunately when trying to remove the exhaust heat shield, the knackered old bolts totally rounded, so I am waiting on a set of bolt extractors to get them out.

The alloys aren't pristine, and I may try and refurb them myself but I'm tempted to just use them as is for now.

Hopefully, being on just 53k will mean a lot of the suspension components have enough life left in them to not need changing just yet. It does need a full geo doing.

Here it is:

Nice to find it has a TRD backbox on there. I'm not sure how to sort that cruddy tailpipe out though. Is it removable? Or would it have to be cut off and a replacement welded on? Or alternatively, as there seems to be a screw sticking out of it, is that just a cover part that can be replaced?

Picked the wheels up tonight:

And a bunch of service bits to treat it:

Long term plan is to either turbocharge it or 2ZZ it. I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but am leaning toward 2ZZ heavily despite my love of turbos. I like the cleaner nature of the engine bay, the purity of a quick, NA roadster and the OEM reliability it should have. I would love the power and delivery of the turbo, but would worry that I'd have to spend at least £3k on it, could encounter random issues that take the car off the road and have a messy, tightly packed engine bay......

I'm sure I will work it out in time. Once my current daily E60 535D sells, I will throw a couple of grand in the budget pot for the Roadster.

That's it for now s:)

s:)

cabbydave · March 25, 2014, 12:40

Glad to see your back in a 2 Jay be careful in this one and buy good tyres. I remember the turbo

Anonymous · March 25, 2014, 12:54

Have you see the turbo kit for sale s;)

s;) s;)

s;)

bluesmoke · March 25, 2014, 13:05

Quote from: "cabbydave"Glad to see your back in a 2 Jay be careful in this one and buy good tyres. I remember the turbo

Cheers Dave, glad to see you're still on the scene. Running a Roadster now yourself?

Quote from: "Meeerrrk"Have you see the turbo kit for sale s;) s;) s;) s;) s;) s;)

Stop it! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

I'm not able to buy anything yet. I wasn't even meant to buy those wheels...... s:flame: :flame: s:flame:

I have to wait for my E60 535d to sell before there's money in the restore and mod pot. Hopefully that won't take too long and I can then pay off the credit card and the finance!

It is great to have another 2. Probably won't inside and use it until the end of April now, so give me time to do the servicing etc. with no pressure.

bluesmoke · March 28, 2014, 17:12

It's the weekend! Yay! s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

That means I can start with a service on the 2 and I can also have a go at removing the damaged heat shield bolts so I can check the pre cats.

Also ordered some Redline MT90 gearbox oil from Opie. Great service from them as always. Hopefully that might address the slight crunch going down into 2nd s:D

s:D

Oh, I also have a working aerial on its way too.
Busy, busy.

Anonymous · March 28, 2014, 17:15

Weather looks good for a blat too, or at least it does down here, hope you enjoy it s:D

s:D

bluesmoke · April 2, 2014, 23:05

This past weekend, I managed to spend a little bit of time on the car. It was Monday before I managed to remove the heatshield though. What a ballache.

I ended up having to thread the grinder through the bottom of the car to get one of the lower bolts off as only one bolt came away intact on this. Hopefully I will find a way to get the remains out for the other 3 once the manifold is off the car.

Pre cats there:

This O2 sensor was so hard to replace that my abs still hurt, 3 days later! The thread on it is knackered, and I've had to buy a replacement as this won't go back in in this state. The thread was welded into the manifold and has disintegrated during removal:

This discoloured silver plastic stuck to various bits of the dash will be going!

Progress has been a bit slow, but I should manage to get more done this weekend. I'll hopefully get the manifold off and complete the pre cat removal.

bluesmoke · April 16, 2014, 10:16

[Mod]Thread merged. Continuation of topic

Been on the look out for a 2nd car for a week or two now after realising just how much my blue one would need to bring up to a level I would be happy with and coming to the conclusion that I could get a non Cat C car with a knackered engine for similar money.

The original plan was going to be to get another blue one, as I think the roadster looks great in blue, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Agreed a deal of £475 for this instead, with me having paid a deposit and balance on collection in a few weeks. I'm going on holiday soon and then the seller is off on a stag do, hence the slight wait.

Roof has one small tear. I wanted a perfect hood, but decided I could live with such a small tear for this money. I will repair it as best I can and forget about it until next year when I will review the situation.

Very happy for the money. It has a slight crack on the front bumper but there are no dents anywhere, which is a huge plus. I've got to figure out the best way of getting it 170 miles home now...... s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · April 16, 2014, 11:21

Personally I would have put the money for the car, the work for swapping engine, insurance tax etc... Toward the 2zz you are after. With £500+ your probably 1/3 of the cost into getting a 2zz in the back of your original car. Just my opinion, but good luck with both cars!

bluesmoke · April 16, 2014, 12:57

It's ok, once my other car sells I will set the wheels in motion, but with the wedding etc. this year I can't say for sure I will be able to buy the full set of swap bits before the winter. I'd rather use the car with a standard engine until then than just have it sat, you know?

mikews · April 16, 2014, 13:08

What an absolute bargain find with the silver one !

bluesmoke · April 16, 2014, 13:44

Quote from: "mikews"What an absolute bargain find with the silver one !

Cheers, I'm pretty stoked with it! It was at £391 with about an hour left and had 7 bids up to that point. I'd been talking to the guy for a couple of days and he was very good with answering my many questions, so I made him an offer as he'd had a BIN price of £500 on it before the auction had a bid on it.

Very pleased. Will have to take a good look at the wheels and see whether I want to keep them or not, and also try and find out what springs it's running. I do think it looks pretty good as is, just needs the front lip adding.

bluesmoke · May 9, 2014, 08:46

Right, I should be collecting the silver car tonight. It's going to be a late one. Hopefully the Impreza will have no dramas with the towing!

GarethB · May 9, 2014, 16:42

Quote from: "bluesmoke"Right, I should be collecting the silver car tonight. It's going to be a late one. Hopefully the Impreza will have no dramas with the towing!

Good luck mate s8)

s8)

bluesmoke · May 12, 2014, 14:33

Cheers.

Made it back without any real drama, but it was half three in the morning!

Work will start tonight. I will be taking the cloth seats out to put the leather ones in that I bought from currymonster. While they are out I will do the bigfoot transmission cage mounts too....

Anonymous · May 12, 2014, 14:57

So what's the plan between this and the blue one, make one good one out of all the bits or make one good one and sell one bad one?

bluesmoke · May 12, 2014, 21:21

Sell the bad one for bits once I have a good one built s:)

s:)

Bit disappointed to find that the headlights look to be UK ones with the bulb hats bother removed. I don't like things that aren't as they should be, but I guess they will function just the same as normal import lights do.

The key is also screwed and falls to bits s:(

s:(

Not best pleased in all honesty, but we are where we are and I'll fix it all.

Might sell the red leather door cards out of the silver car as I have black seats and cards to go in...

1979scotte · May 12, 2014, 22:13

Quote from: "bluesmoke"Sell the bad one for bits once I have a good one built s:) s:)

Bit disappointed to find that the headlights look to be UK ones with the bulb hats bother removed. I don't like things that aren't as they should be, but I guess they will function just the same as normal import lights do.

The key is also screwed and falls to bits s:( s:(

Not best pleased in all honesty, but we are where we are and I'll fix it all.

Might sell the red leather door cards out of the silver car as I have black seats and cards to go in...

There are a couple of wanted ads for red leather door cards if you want to get shot.

bluesmoke · May 12, 2014, 23:34

Yeah, I will have to figure out what sort if price to ask and when I'll have time to actually remove them! s:D

s:D

bluesmoke · May 25, 2014, 12:05

Finally made a start yesterday and took the cloth seats out. Also removed the door cards and put some black ones in but had to use cloth ones, as the leather ones I have have got tweeter cut outs that won't allow me to fit the tweeters I've currently got, so I'll put them to one side for now.

Centre console is out too and ready for me to fit the big foot shifter cage mounts.

Wish this rain would stop.....

1979scotte · May 25, 2014, 12:27

Nice to see it coming along

bluesmoke · May 25, 2014, 14:03

Feels good just to start getting on with it to be honest!

bluesmoke · June 4, 2014, 11:09

Spent a lot of time with the car's this weekend. I have now got them turned around and facing back to back for the engine swap.

Took out almost all of the interiors, swapped the black handbrake over into the silver car, had to put the cloth door cards in for now, as the leather have the tweeters cut out and my current ones won't fit. The leather seats are in and I swapped the cubby doors with the speakers into the car and moved the wiring across too.

Not sure if I'll keep those yet, but we'll see. Very tempted to get a couple of small 6.5" Subs to give the stereo some real punch.

I've found that the rear screws in the centre console spin, and also the handbrake has too much lever travel currently, so might take everything back out this weekend and address these issues before moving further forward.

I'm also probably going to rip out the stereo and put a proper install in, but nothing daft in such a small car.

The roof had a slight tear on one shoulder, so I have repaired this with patch aid and sikaflex. Won't know if it will hold until I lower it again. It's right when the roof folds so I am not really holding my breath to be honest, but we'll see.

A few pics:

bluesmoke · June 23, 2014, 22:20

Fronts are also 17 inch and the wheels currently have 205/40 all round. I've been reading up via the search for the last couple of hours and it looks like the 225/35s are the ones most people would recommend, if they can find a set!

Do the 40s generally make a negative difference? I guess there are a lot of other factors to consider, and I am presuming these are 7J but haven't been able to check yet. Just hoping to gauge general impressions.

tomaky · June 23, 2014, 22:26

Rolling radius something to bare in mind 40 front 35 back be better.