Fortunately, for myself, replacement of bulbs has been an infrequent necessity in many years of motoring, but ease of doing so has seldom been on the agenda.
A notable awkward that I recall was on a Saab headlight that required dexterous and strong fingers and another on a Ford rear light, that firstly needed a Torx screwdriver to remove the cover.
These were both in the last century and so not too much improvement on the user friendly in 30 years or so!

Did this today and faffed for a while trying to hook in the passengers side clip on the H7 bulb - so thought I'd add some photos and reassurance.

It will clip in, you just need to push harder than you imagine would be necessary!

Here is what it looks like.

The bottom photo is when pushing hard.
And if you push it harder again, so that it feels like your finger is going to explode - it goes that extra few mm into the gap! 😅

Do like the look of the texture of that.

Mirroring my MR2 journey. My first was a silver and that died in a crash (rear ended at 50 by a modern mini) and I then got my current one, a blue hardtop!

Just to finalise this thread. Had the steering wheel done by Royal Steering Wheels as above in leather now with a 12 marker to match the seats and the same blue stitch. Will fit it when back from India in February

Had the steering wheel done in leather now with a 12 marker to match the seats and the same blue stitch. Will fit it when back from India in February

Excellent.  You are a real asset to the club.

Changes made.

Quote from: Carolyn on January 13, 2026, 11:59Thanks everyone for cooperating on this.

I have modified the 'How To'.

Please have a look and give any changes/input.

https://www.mr2roc.org/index.php?topic=62272.msg725375#msg725375

Maybe it would be better to remove the last phrase and the last photo currently in the "how to" because the axial inclination has a greater effect on filling a 6-speed gearbox, which has the filler cap moved to the edge of the car, rather than a 5-speed gearbox, which has a more central cap.


I am adding a photo I took of the 6-speed gearbox if it may be useful.

  gutted to any 2 as a right off i should no from haveing 1  

i do like the way you get up for another go any used what you did from the last 1  

keep going and let no how it all goes

you will love this 2 more because all the time and effort you put in will be worth it   

I have been curious about the hex plug and what is its purpose. I have been told before that it's called a service plug, but for what I don't know and I have always been curious.

I asked ChatGPT and got a very good answer. Having said that I haven't had any issues with the fill plug on a level surface. I did run into issues with filling from the hex plug where it didn't take the right quantity of fluid. I suppose I will doing it like the method below just because I feel it should be done correctly. It makes me think that when you add fluid into the full plug, some of the transmission fluid fills a cavity which overflows to the other side based on the tilt of the transmission. This is why you cannot fill from the hex plug because the transmission fluid will not pool in the right areas and instead drip out the plug early.

QuoteOne plug is the actual fill port, and the other is a fluid level / inspection plug.

Why Toyota did this

The MR2 Spyder's mid-engine layout means the engine and transaxle sit at an angle, not perfectly level like in many front-engine cars. Because of that:
    •    Filling from a single hole could overfill or underfill the transmission.
    •    Toyota added a level-check plug so the correct fluid height can be verified regardless of the car's orientation.

How it works (manual transmission)
    •    Upper plug → Used to add fluid
    •    Side/lower plug → Used to check correct fluid level
    •    When fluid just begins to drip from this plug, the level is correct[/