2006 Lagoon Blue Van Substitute!

[Cailsey]

Yes, fortunately it cleaned up pretty well. Trouble is, I now want to give the whole car a good cut and polish........
I have a friend who is a keen car detailer with all the proper kit, so I may have spend a day with him!

[Cailsey]

Another couple of jobs completed today. When I swapped the manifold, I found two perished/split rubber exhaust mounts, so I ordered replacements from MrT, along with two replacement plastic rivets for the plastic engine cover. I snapped one of them when changing spark plugs.

Exhaust mounts (rubber), part no. T17565-74280, were £6.47 each from Toyota

A smear of Vaseline ( other lubricants are available!!) on the metal mount pegs helps the rubber slip on easily. Avoid using Fairy Liquid on rubber - the salts in the washing up liquid dry the rubber out and it will crack over time.

Plastic rivets for engine cover, part no. T90467-06202, were £1.43 each from Toyota

I decided to remove the rear bumper to make fitting the exhaust mounts easier. While the bumper was off it was a good opportunity to give everything a good clean! It's starting to look much fresher in the engine bay now.

I followed the bumper removal guide here;

 l viewtopic.php?t=12584 l

Very few tools required. 10mm socket and extension, 10mm rachet spanner for the right hand rear nappy bolt (if you have twin exit exhaust like mine).
Small flat blade screwdriver to prise plastic rivet heads out.
Torch.
Small philips (on mine) screwdriver to remove number plate and number plate mount.

It also seemed like a good idea to clean up and polish the exhaust tips too!!

Before;



After;

[1979scotte]

Yes, fortunately it cleaned up pretty well. Trouble is, I now want to give the whole car a good cut and polish........
I have a friend who is a keen car detailer with all the proper kit, so I may have spend a day with him!

If he is any good i would be happy to put a few quid his way mine is in need and im just not the type to do it.
Plus im always working. 25 days straight ATM.

[Felix_5]

That exhaust has cleaned up a treat, nice work! Amazing what can be achieved with a bit effort. Great thread.

[Cailsey]

Yes, fortunately it cleaned up pretty well. Trouble is, I now want to give the whole car a good cut and polish........
I have a friend who is a keen car detailer with all the proper kit, so I may have spend a day with him!

If he is any good i would be happy to put a few quid his way mine is in need and I'm just not the type to do it.
Plus I'm always working. 25 days straight ATM.

Blimey, 25 days straight. Making me feel guilty now with my 4 on 4 off!! I'll speak to my mate and see if he can sort you out. Would it be inside and out? Do you have a hard top? I know he goes to town with clay bars and all sorts of paraphernalia.
He is quite into performance German stuff, VW, Audi etc, and he has done a fair bit of paid work through those forums.

[Cailsey]

That exhaust has cleaned up a treat, nice work! Amazing what can be achieved with a bit effort. Great thread.

Yes, I was pleased.
A good wipe wipe brake and clutch cleaner softened the tar spots which then scrubbed off.
Followed by a thorough polish with Autosol and they were all nice and shiny again.

[Wilky1974]

..... I'm really enjoying this thread! Excellent work. Keep it up  s:) s:) .

[Cailsey]

Yes, fortunately it cleaned up pretty well. Trouble is, I now want to give the whole car a good cut and polish........
I have a friend who is a keen car detailer with all the proper kit, so I may have spend a day with him!

If he is any good i would be happy to put a few quid his way mine is in need and I'm just not the type to do it.
Plus I'm always working. 25 days straight ATM.

Ok. I've been asked to ask the following;
What do you need? A quick going over or a full on detail?
Is your MR2 Metallic or solid paint? I'm assuming metallic as it's silver.....
What condition is the paint in?
Has the car had any paintwork/resprays?

He also asked me to make it clear he is an amateur (he does it in spare time weekends etc.) and does not have paint thickness gauges.

[Cailsey]

..... I'm really enjoying this thread! Excellent work. Keep it up  s:) s:) .

Thank you!! Plenty more to come..... as time and funds permit.
Need to order another tub of elbow grease too!!  s:D s:D

I was intending to go a bit mad and throw all sorts of upgrades at the car, but considering I am a pretty incompetent MR2 pilot at the moment, I decided to make it as good as it can be as standard and then upgrade/improve as and when I will be able to appreciate and utilise the changes.
Had a great drive out in the Essex twisty lanes a few nights ago - in the dry - and it was confidence inspiring. Although better headlamps would be beneficial.

[kiril89]

Nice job on the roof! That Renovo stuff makes wonders, I use it myself every 3 months.

Did you notice any difference in sound/performance after fitting the Toyosport manifold?

Kiril

[Cailsey]

Nice job on the roof! That Renovo stuff makes wonders, I use it myself every 3 months.

Did you notice any difference in sound/performance after fitting the Toyosport manifold?

Kiril

Hi there, no I've not noticed any difference in performance or sound really since fitting the Toyosports manifold. But to be fair, I've only had the car just under a month so have not been trying very hard. The Remus exhaust isn't the quietest - I like the noise it makes - the new manifold certainly hasn't made it any louder.
It has made the engine bay hugely tidier and saved around 4.5 kgs in weight.
I haven't made any performance modifications either - the car came with the Remus exhaust, but is otherwise standard.

[Cailsey]

Pretty happy with the water repellency of the re-coated soft top.

[Cailsey]

OBD II Wifi dongle arrived today - at last.



Will have a play at the weekend.
Have a hire car today - a new Vauxhall Astra. What a sluggish wallowy old barge it seems after the MR2 !!
Brakes are very sharp though.....

[1979scotte]

Just over servod on off switches most modern car brake pedals.

[Jrichards20]

Just over servod on off switches most modern car brake pedals.

This.

The mr2 will stop in half the distance of the astra (maybe exaggeration), its just the Astra feels like it stops quicker. Do an emergency stop in both from the same place at the same speed and see which one really pulls the lungs through your chest. (On private land of course).

[1979scotte]

Just over servod on off switches most modern car brake pedals.

This.

The mr2 will stop in half the distance of the astra (maybe exaggeration), its just the Astra feels like it stops quicker. Do an emergency stop in both from the same place at the same speed and see which one really pulls the lungs through your chest. (On private land of course).

On a car limits day perhaps.   s:D s:D

[Cailsey]

Yes, the MR2 does stop well. It doesn't have the initial sharp 'bite' but really does stop well when you press the pedal. A lot of it is down to adjusting the sensitivity in the foot to the car you are driving - takes a few miles to adjust to a different car. Nice to drive the MR2 home again tonight. The Astra had no oomph.

[Cailsey]

All glass treated with 'Rain X' today.
Quite impressive stuff. Water just beads up and runs straight off.
I was only intending to do the rear screen, but thought I may as well do the lot while I was there.

[1979scotte]

All glass treated with 'Rain X' today.
Quite impressive stuff. Water just beads up and runs straight off.
I was only intending to do the rear screen, but thought I may as well do the lot while I was there.

Its pucker stuff when i can be bothered to apply it.

[Cailsey]

All glass treated with 'Rain X' today.
Quite impressive stuff. Water just beads up and runs straight off.
I was only intending to do the rear screen, but thought I may as well do the lot while I was there.

Its pucker stuff when i can be bothered to apply it.

Indeed. We used to use it on a race car and I completely forgot I had it!

Went to try out the OBDII today, but discovered the software CD was cracked in the post....... the first one went missing in the post.
Not having much luck with that side of things at the moment.

[1979scotte]

I use the odb reader in conjuction with torque app and my phone.
Is the cd for connecting to a PC/laptop?

[Ardent]

All glass treated with 'Rain X' today.
Quite impressive stuff. Water just beads up and runs straight off.
I was only intending to do the rear screen, but thought I may as well do the lot while I was there.

? rear screen?

I use the car lack 68 twins. Really is worth the effort.
pi55ing down all day today here in sunny Leicester, but anything above 30 = water just rolls off the screen. Sweet.

[Cailsey]

All glass treated with 'Rain X' today.
Quite impressive stuff. Water just beads up and runs straight off.
I was only intending to do the rear screen, but thought I may as well do the lot while I was there.

? rear screen?

I use the car lack 68 twins. Really is worth the effort.
pi55ing down all day today here in sunny Leicester, but anything above 30 = water just rolls off the screen. Sweet.

Yes, I was only really going to treat the rear screen/rear window/soft top glass, as I found rear visibility in rain really poor.
Drove to work last night in the rain and it's much improved.
I'll take a look at the Carlack product when I've run out of Rain-X!!

[Cailsey]

Had a bit of fun this morning at Brands Hatch. We had our annual 'Villagers Day', which enables local residents to participate in various activities on and off track, for a donation to local charities.
I went for some performance RWD fun in the BMW M4's on the indy circuit. Brilliant fun as they really encourage you to push as hard as you can!!
Also went for a hot ride in the JP LeMans style car (just visible in photo) as a passenger. Awesome. Made the M4's seem like they were going backwards.
I was hoping to do the Caterham drifting and be-a-hooligan session in the paddock and/or the GT86 rally stage, but these got booked up really quick and I didn't get up there early enough as I was working nightshift till 6am this morning, I was a bit late getting up there and and the driving instruction felt pretty intense after just 3 hours sleep. Next year I'll make sure I book the day off.....

[1979scotte]

Now that sounds like fun.
Had a blast down the M20 today.
Sun out roof down.