MR2 Roadster Owners Club

Just got back from picking up my new 2. I took a bit of a risk agreeing to buy unseen, but I'm glad I did. The girl I selling it was from a real petrolhead family and was using it as a daily driver. She owns another 3 cars, including a 350z and a race car. Oh and a motorbike!   s:bowdown: :bowdown: s:bowdown:  The maintenance history was very impressive and it has been looked after by the garage that did all the family's spanner spinning. Brakes calipers, discs, pads, hand brake cable, clutch and headlights have all been replaced in the last couple of years alongside routine services. She even left a third of a tank of petrol in it which was enough to get me home.

From my recent experience the variety in the quality of these cars is huge and price and mileage really has little to do with it. It was the 4th car I looked at and is overall the best despite being the second cheapest.

It came with a silver hard top and black wheels. Not really my taste, but I'll get them sorted in time. Hard top is missing the side mounts. It seems very secure anyway, but if I decide to keep it I'll need to buy some.

Tyres are good quality Dunlops and match left/right, but not front/back. Off the top of my head I think that the size might be slightly out at one end (185/55 R15 and 215/45 R16 fitted) so I'll need to check which it is. The car seemed to very progressively oversteer on the damp greasy roundabouts driving home so I will probably keep this set up until I need to change any of the tyres and will then buy a matching set.

I haven't driven even a remotely sporty car for a few years due to kids, and my daily is a 13 year old 1ltr Yaris, so I was expecting it to feel a bit special. Unfortunately it didn't feel that quick on the dual carriageway driving home! However, blasting out of roundabouts in 2nd gear was still great fun.  s:D :D s:D  

This will be a fun car and will do less than 4000 miles per year.

Immediate jobs to do:

Check tyre pressures.
Give the wheels a good scrub.
Fix the aerial - motor whirrs, but it doesn't lower. Needs the white toothed strip melting presumably. Playing with it for a couple of minutes has made it make a horrible noise so I need to re-read the thread and do it properly.
Hard top is on at the moment, the soft top looks okayish but must have leaked at at some point  as there are signs of water in the car - Check and clean the roof drains.
Sort out the ears
Remove pre-cats

Medium term jobs:

Rear lights are misting - open and reseal
Silver hard top  - Sell, vinyl wrap black, respray blue, or try and swap for a blue one. Get some side mounts if I'm keeping it.
Replace original head unit for something with bluetooth. Replace speakers
Move alarm and flip spare wheel
Suspension refresh

Welcome

Post some picture up when you get a chance

Just out of interest, does the engine light come on and go off during the initial start up?

Yep, engine light is fine. I also have just got a very cheap code reader which I'll try using tomorrow to see what codes are stored.

That's encouraging. Perhaps the maf needs a clean then.

I'm away this week so can't do anything with the car, but having checked I have found the tyre sizes are correct. First attempt at a photo is below, just a quick snap with my phone.  The wheel arch gap at the front is significantly bigger than the rear.  Is this normal?

(http://i1376.photobucket.com/albums/ah3/Superluminal2/Superluminals_Blue_03_FL_zpsmux9zh8g.jpg) (http://s1376.photobucket.com/user/Superluminal2/media/Superluminals_Blue_03_FL_zpsmux9zh8g.jpg.html)

Wheel arch gap looks normal, I think Toyota raised the ride height slightly on facelift cars along with staggering the wheel sizes, in an attempt to counteract the car's tendency to snap-oversteer. It's something that irritated the life out of me till I got round to fitting coilovers.

Thanks for the reassurance. I read somewhere that ride height was raised in 2004, but mine is a 2003 car. I'm considering coil overs in the future as I need to sort the suspension and I'm concerned that lowering springs might be too low to get up my drive. Have you noticed any snap oversteer?  I had a bad experience in my Mk1 many years ago on a muddy country road and managed to put it up on the verge - very minor damage luckily.

Mine is an '03 also, looked like it was on stilts when i fitted aftermarket wheels...

(http://i68.tinypic.com/2vbrgnm.jpg)

With regard to oversteer, my MR2 is mainly a track toy which occasionally sees the road when conditions are good (i.e. dry) so I've only ever experienced lift-off oversteer on the track when pushing very hard. But i can imagine it's somewhat easier to do on a greasy road in the middle of winter if you're not being careful.

In summary I'd say you'll be fine so long as you have good tires, good wheel alignment, and you drive to the conditions.

In my experience with MR2's, they're very benign when set up properly: That is decent tyres, pressures checked, and suspension geo correct. they are not dangerous cars and they do not bite unless severely provoked! That said being mid engined they have less polar inertia, so once they go they are harder to get back. As anyone who witnessed me spin 6 times in a row at carlimits will attest....

I'd certainly recommend some track time/carlimits style tuition once you've got to know it a bit. Partly to brush up skills, mainly because it's an absolute riot.

Hope you enjoy it, it looks great!

Thanks for the comments, it is great to know that people are interested!

Quote from: "hachiroku"Wheel arch gap looks normal, I think Toyota raised the ride height slightly on facelift cars along with staggering the wheel sizes, in an attempt to counteract the car's tendency to snap-oversteer. It's something that irritated the life out of me till I got round to fitting coilovers.

lol same here, why on earth did they make them so high they look ridiculous at the stock height even on lowering springs it's to high coilovers needed for me to!

Looks like you bought a decent one and your plans for it are good.

It seems to already have gotten under your skin a bit  s:) :) s:)  

Suspension sorting really transforms the car, as well as tyres of course.

Looking forward to seeing the build progress and get your stamp on it

Nice looking 2 by the way glad you got a good deal hope you sort out all the little issues & enjoy  :-) :-) :-)

Quote from: "shnazzle"It seems to already have gotten under your skin a bit

I do have a tendency to get a bit obsessive about things and I'm not at work this week so lots of time to think about my new toy.  I've also been looking for one since the end of Nov, so it feels a long time coming. I've was quite into tinkering with previous cars like my Mk1 and 205 GTi before family came along.  It has been boring newish cars since then that I can't afford the risks of them being off the road. The MR2 is crying out for a bit of attention in a number of areas...

Spent most of the day tinkering, things that went well were:

Checking the tyres - pressures were bang on, which is a good indicator of the previous owner caring for the car.

Cleaned roof drains - not blocked, but getting gunky. Unlike the majority of jobs, this was made much easier by the assistance of a seven year old boy...

Cleaned the MAF. Simple, so simple I did the our other two cars as well.

Pulled a rear light apart to investigate what seals are needed. I'm happy with all this, and will write up a how to when I do the job properly.

Things that went less well:

Sorting out the ears. I got the strap through, connected it, and it then disconnected itself. The roof also seems to be fitted too far back  s:? :? s:?  , as it is a real effort to open and close. Odd.

Fixing the aerial. Did the opening up and melting trick, but the plastic track promptly snapped further up. I've ordered a new mast from ebay.

Cleaning the wheels. The previous owner had a brake caliper fail and coat the a rear wheel in some kind of rusty residue. I managed to clean most of it off with a pressure washer, alloy wheel cleaner and a nonstick safe washing up pad. Unfortunately I think that it has scuffed the clear coat, and it needs sorting out.

Immediate jobs still to do:

Order parts from Mr T for pre cat removal
Replace aerial mast
Remove pre-cats
Clean the car!

Medium term jobs:

Rear lights are misting - open and reseal
Replace broken key
Hood replacement?
Silver hard top - Sell, vinyl wrap black, respray blue, or try and swap for a blue one. Get some side mounts if I'm keeping it.
Replace original head unit for something with bluetooth. Replace speakers
Move alarm and flip spare wheel
Suspension refresh

It has been a very long time since my last update, but to be fair I've moved house, changed jobs and spent 3 months out of the country since then.

Things that I have done since the last post:

Ariel mast replaced - now goes up/down but makes a horrible noise.

Pre-cat removal. No problems.

Replacement of dampers and springs with nearly new-OEM KYB dampers and Tein springs.

Removed the suspension arms and underbody braces. Refurbed, rust converted, hammerited and refitted everything with superpro polybushes. Fitted refurbed front wishbones with polybushes. The car was up on axle stands for a month with the wheels off and the neighbours referred to it as 'the hovercar'!

Got alignment done.

Bought a blue hard top and sold the silver one. I think this ended up costing me an extra £50, but I got a cover and stand with the blue one. Unfortunately, the blue one rattles a bit which drives me nuts.

I was then moved house and then went abroad for 3 months so the car was SORNed as I took it off the road before going away. I was going to leave it off the road to carry out some significant work, but I have postponed this until the Autumn and will do minor jobs in the short term whilst I drive it over the summer.

Sods law, the night before the MOT the CEL came on with error code P0141; so post-cat O2 sensor heater. Not an issue for the MOT and I've ordered a resistor for a medium term fix.

Jobs to do in rough order of getting them done:

I saw a Corolla T-Sport for sale with no MOT due to rusted rear suspension arms - so I bought it! Recovery was complicated by a cheap, inept and aggressive recovery truck driver, which meant I had to then rearrange collection using an expensive, efficient and courteous driver from another company.

The car apparently had a clutch change 10k ago, but I can't find anything in the fairly extensive service history. It has an almost immaculate leather interior.

So far I have removed the engine and gear box. I plan to get it all ready for install in the Autumn.

Shopping list:

2ZZ Engine - got
Donor gear box for 1-5 and FD, maybe casing - got
Bridge mount - got

Flywheel - probably Fidanza
Clutch - if it needs replacing OEM style Exedy
Intake kit - will probably try to butcher the OEM Corolla intake
Service parts
Rocker cover gasket
Lift bolts
Exhaust - looking at Megillian using Corolla manifold
Sump - will use 1ZZ sump
Dipstick - will use 1ZZ dipstick

Unbelievably it's been 8 years since my last update! The 2zz from the corolla needed a bit of work (replaced a camshaft, timing chain, rocker cover paint, etc) which took a while. So I was driving the car as standard up until the first COVID lockdown, when I took the plunge SORNed the car and pulled the 1zz out. Things were then significantly delayed for a number of reasons, but eventually I got round to pulling the gearboxes apart and rebuilding with the 2zz close 1-5 and 4.5:1 final drive, and the 1zz case, 6th and LSD. I loved working on the gearbox, clean, precise, easy access on the bench and no rusted bolts! All then fitted back together with the 2zz and a new clutch and lighter weight flywheel.

I think I got everything back into the car with a new rear subframe, in about 2023, but was too late to get it on the road that year. Summer 24 came around, I was busy, and the garage nearby pointed out that the rear wheel bearings were shot so I missed that year. Eventually got the wheel bearings replaced, added braided brake lines and got it through the MOT this month!

So far have driven it about 150 miles.
My initial thoughts on the swap:

It's not so relaxing to be in now! The engine is great, but obviously it needs to be worked hard to enjoy the drama of lift. I've got the zero exhaust. It's fairly pricey, but amazing quality, just a bit noisy for me. Especially noisy if I'm making progress. I've also Tiger-sealed the front and rear engine mounts, and they transmit a lot of vibration.

I've also fitted front and rear strut braces

Jobs to do, roughly in order of the likelihood of me ever getting them done:
- re-bleed brakes
- trial S2000 seats I've got in my shed
- replace my new beesting antenna with a bigger one that actually works
- buy and fit enclosed air filter, linked to original intake trunking
- swap security IC chips on the 1zz and 2zz ECUs so I don't need to use different keys to start and lock the car!
- fit b-pillar hardtop brackets
- get wheels refurbed and get matching tyres
- sort out crazed NS head light
- try to carve some of the tiger seal out of the engine mounts to get them 1/2 way back to standard
- suspension back to standard(ish) so I can:
- fit front lower and centre brace without dragging them along the centre of the Devon single track roads
- respray
- replace soft top

First drive with the front strut brace this afternoon...  Wow! Car felt completely different, much more solid, suspension felt more compliant.

The improvement was so good I spent an hour this evening messing around trying to fit my other braces, but managed to sheer the small 10mm head bolts at the back of the chassis rails. I then spent the next 30 mins trying to drill the remains out.

Mid and front braces fitted this morning and and a test drive before lunch. Mixed thoughts. The last of the rattles are gone and the car feels more solid with the suspension working better, definitely a noticeable difference. The handling is, well, odd. Much more twitchy, initial sharp turn in immediately changing to understeer. Not fun, not confidence inspiring. I'm hoping that this is due to the additional stiffness highlighting the deficiencies of my mismatched set of 10 year old tyres, with much more wear on the front, almost down to the wear indicators.

On the plus side I only caught brace once on the very worst single lane Devon road, even with the Tein springs.

So wheel refurb and new tyres are now an increased priority. Short list for tyres is as close to standard size as I can; Yoko Fleva V701, Michelin PS3, or most likely Falken ZE310. Trying to decide between getting the wheels done in mid-titanium shade or a neodyme, a light champagne/bronze colour that Porsche use.

Yes - I'd blame the tyres.  Mines massively braced and the handling is very neutral on good tyres.

Car is up on axle stands whilst the wheels are away being refurbished and new tyres fitted, so I took the opportunity to wrap my zero exhaust manifold. So glad I removed it before wrapping, even though I had to remove the rear gearbox mount to get it clear. What a pig of a job. (https://i.ibb.co/QhbhT1P/PXL-20260517-114545769.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QhbhT1P)

Quote from: Superluminal on May 17, 2026, 16:59Car is up on axle stands whilst the wheels are away being refurbished and new tyres fitted, so I took the opportunity to wrap my zero exhaust manifold. So glad I removed it before wrapping, even though I had to remove the rear gearbox mount to get it clear. What a pig of a job. (https://i.ibb.co/QhbhT1P/PXL-20260517-114545769.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QhbhT1P)

I've wrapped one of those and it's not easy to do a tidy job all the way down.  Definitely better on the bench!!

Got my wheels back, not perfect but close enough and I love the colour. The alloy place fitted new Kumho Ecsta HS52 in standard FL sizes that I supplied. Unfortunately they forgot to spray my centre caps as promised, so I'm still waiting for them and will collect them next week. My son then managed to sheer a rear wheel stud whilst using my recently calibrated torque wrench, which sent me into a panic. Then I realised I still had a knackered hub somewhere to salvage a stud from and also found a great YouTube video showing it is possible to replace the stud without removing the flange - took less than 5 mins!
(https://i.ibb.co/GGGZ5cr/PXL-20260520-194933765.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GGGZ5cr)

 :o
I'm struggling with the, sheared a stud with a torque wrench.

Yeah, I know. I literally calibrated it at the weekend so I know it was good; I still rechecked my maths and measurements again afterwards. What I don't know is how consistent cheap torque wrenches are over their full range. I calibrated at 39Nm, but this is quite low in its range as it goes to 196Nm. Maybe it's now miles out at 103Nm for the wheel nuts.  But also, who knows what abuse those studs have experienced in the last 23 years?

Over zealous ugga dugga bandits spring to mind.

Quote from: Ardent on May 21, 2026, 09:21Over zealous ugga dugga bandits spring to mind.

And the wheels were recently refinished!!
The one time I can recall seeing a torque wrench being used , by a "professional" was at Halfords when they fitted new front tyres to my daily.
Otherwise the air powered ugga dugga is prevalent in such situations.

Can't blame the wheel refurbishers, I just took the wheels in to them, not the car.