Back in another MR2 - Hi everyone

[aj.extreme]

Well its been a fair few years since i had owned an MR2 and i am off to collect one tomorrow afternoon. I've been a member on here years and years ago after owning a UK 1991 Rev 2 N/A T-bar and then a Rev 2 N/A G-Limited with a full Veilside kit. Loved owning my MR2's but caught the rotary bug and have since been driving FC3S RX7's, my S5 TurboII was my last but this went as i've not long come back from backpacking around the world for 12months.

Anyways now i'm in a settled job and the bills are all payed off from travelling i've started shopping about for a car, instead of heading for the nearest RX7 for sale i've decided to come back to an MR2, been too look at a few but finally found one that seems just the ticket.

1995 Red Rev 3 GT N/A Manual Import 91000Km's imported in 1998, 2 owners, the last being the owner for 9 years, full documentation including every conceivable service receipt since it was imported, 7 months MOT no advisories, 12months Tax, Cam belt done last year, only driven 5000Km's since last MOT. The body work is pretty good, absolute no rust anywhere to be seen, totally standard and unmodified except for a pair of split rims which look really nice. Tin top cloth interior A1 condition, clear history £1200

Thought that it was too good to be true? any thoughts? I pick it up tomorrow afternoon, straight down to get a full valet and then off to install a decent headunit as it has the standard toyota double din setup.

I was ideally looking for a turbo but this seemed too good to pass up so the mind got ticking and i think i'm going to look at running her for 12months and tidying her up where needed and then go down the route of an engine conversion, either a turbo unit or V6 from woodsport.

Anything i should be looking out for? The car seems tidy enough and the price seems great, did knock him down a bit though



Looking forward to getting back behind the wheel
Adam

[Navz]

I remember you mate, Welcome back!

[supraturbochris]

welcome back mate

[aj.extreme]

Had the car for just under 2 weeks now and love being behind the wheel of a 2. Forgot how much fun they are, and the wheel set up on this baby = Lots of fun in the corners.

So after driving her for 2 weeks? Found a nice new hole in the stock exhaust system, not dure how i missed that one but hey opens up the route for a new exhaust Have done a pretty decent patch up job so for now should be ok. New induction kit fitted, forgot how big the stock airboxes are!? and toms scoop giving it lots a fresh cold air to feed on.

Rewired a whole new sound system in, took 3 days what a job! Now have 6.5" Vibe Black Air components in the door with 1 " Vibe tweeters in the stock location running of a crossover mounted on the door card being powered by a Vibe Black Box behind the drivers seat. In the back i have a pair of Vibe Slick 4" custom Co-Ax's running on fresh new wire from the headunit and i have a 10" Vibe Black Air sub running in a custom mounted box on the centre console bridged on the Black Box at the moment until i find a new amp for it. All very hidden and out of sight, you'd never know unless you lifted the drivers seat forward or looked in the rear glass to see the sub, sounds fantastic!

Next jobs on the list:

Wheel refurb, am running 17" custom Advan Super Racing 3 spoke alloys on z rated tyres, very nice wheels and very expensive also. Will look awsome when cleaned up, blasted and painted, silver rim, gold spokes.

New Coilovers, rollbars and drop links, drilled and grooved discs, caliper refurb, braided lines and new pads. Get it all done at once i think

Short shift kit? Does the Rev 3 have a short throw already? will the kits you can buy make much difference? Had one on my Rev 2 but recall the Rev 3 having a shorter throw as stock

Replace the bulbs and dials in the dash to white lockwoods

Replace broken interior trim to stock

Quad headlight conversion

Carbon Bonnet

Bodykit, need to find one i like

Respray

and then V6.

Am looking forward to having her finished off will be a real nice car and not trying to go OTT with all the work, just make the existing better!?

If anyone has any suggestions on work to be carried out, common problems or known issues please let me know as i have the car in bits every weekend. Will try to get some pics up soon, i think i need so many posts to be able to do that?

[aj.extreme]

Well....update time

So i've had the car a while now and since picking it up can say that its a little different to how it was lol. I've pretty much done everything myself so far and not being a mechanic or body shop guru am pretty pleased so far. Anyway lets begin

Here she is all washed and waxed from when i collected her





Soon after i noticed a hole in the exhaust so straight away went with a mongoose exhaust and de-cat, this coupled with the induction kit (ebay jobbie) and K&N filter made for a nice grunty sound.

Then went in the short shift kit and TRD ball gear knob, Vibe sound system fully re-wired and Sony double din touchscreen head unit with an iPod dock mounted in the cubby box.

Whilst i was in the process of having the interior apart i decided to wrap the interior panels in carbon, Convert to MPH and fit some white lockwood dials then replace all LED's in the dash/clock/window switch/heater control to red LED's.



Thats my old head unit just before i swapped it out!

[aj.extreme]

Interior looking a little more updated i started on the suspension and brakes.

In went a set of rebuildable struts with Koni Adjustable inserts and lowering springs, new drop links and sway bars. Brakes taken off and reconditioned by Big Red Brakes, Hel braided lines, EBC greenstuff pads and EBC grooved discs. All bled through and working perfectly.






Looking Good!!

[aj.extreme]

So

Interior - Done (for now)
Brakes - Done
Handling - much better (not quite done)
Bodywork - NEXT

Now came the time to decide what to do with the exterior looks of the car, after much googling and looking at other peoples cars i decided to go for a full border kit. I got the bank card out and got busy with the laptop.

A week later i had all the parts sat in the garage waiting to go on, one dilemma was 'should i attempt myself or send off to a body shop'

With all the rain it was near impossible to work on myself and so i went down to local body shop and asked the question....how much for fitting and spraying (whole car) £1200 GULP

The next day the sun came out and i thought what the heck, down to halfords and home base picked up all i needed and cracked on.

In 2 days i managed to get from stock looking to

[aj.extreme]

Side intake vents, cut away the centre bar, fibre glassed the holes and bonded on the border style scoops and then blended in with fibre glass and bondo.







Not bad for my 1st ever attempt, all sprayed up with rattle cans.

[aj.extreme]

Next the old wings came off and the new vented ones went on.



Side skirts fitted, need blending into the bodywork but this will come in a few weeks time.



Rear spats painted and fitted, again need blending into the rear bumper.

[aj.extreme]

Once that was all set and done i went turned my attention to the front end. Removed the front bumper and fog lights (what a pain in the ass) Removed the bonnet, scuttle plate gave it all a good clean and tidy.




Resprayed the scuttle, door weather strips and got to work fitting the bumper.




Whilst working away the postman delivered a turbo engine lid so got to work on that, stripped, repaired and painted, Rogue fan kit fitted and wired in.

[aj.extreme]

Next was time for the lights to go in, unpacked these from the garage



All wired in and working they look awesome, just got to make a new shroud out of fibre glass.

Back to the front bumper lol. This is taking a bit more fiddling then the rest of the kit, its on and secure but needs more fiddling and with time running out on my days off its got to wait until next week. All in all though very happy with the results and saved myself a bucket load of cash

[aj.extreme]

Sorry for the lack of HOW-TOO's on the above work but i just wanted to give a quick update on how work is coming along.

Sorry i didn't make the Bristol Meet but as you can see i've been a little busy with car.

Work to be carried out next is fully fit the front bumper and get the tobes back in, clear indicators and make a shroud for the quad headlights. Then blend in all the panels and prep for spraying. Once sprayed and i'm happy with the results i can turn my attention to the parts that matter i.e

Turbo or V6?

I wanted to ensure that the car was solid and looking good before thinking about a new engine. In the meantime though i will install an alloy rad, relocate the radiator into an upright position and fit a carbon border bonnet.

I also need to polybush the entire car but thats a fairly straight forward affair.

So any comments welcome, any questions ask away. Will update as i go

[jack-p]

Good read, and well done for doing it all yourself.

Was that all painted with rattle cans?!

[craig]

Great thread mate, much kudos on the effort so far! Welcome back

[ashley]

Impressive

You're just up the road from me- we should meet up sometime and compare notes

[aj.extreme]

Yeah has been a busy few days but well impressed so far, totally transformed the look of the car.

Parts painted Spats, Side Vents and turbo engine lid - All rattle cans

Been a quick cheap fix until i spray the car with a compressor, have decided to give it a bash on the driveway. I have a mate who's very handy at custom paint work

Am really mulling over how to align the front bumper properly? I have a 1cm gap between the wings and the bumper, otherwise fits great. Am thinking about just fibre glassing over and blending it all in to one panel? I know once thats done its done unless i want to rip it off but i'm not intending to change the look of the car and i certainly aint planning on sticking it in a hedge! Failing that its a case of trimming back the impact bar to gain a little more give on the sides.

Also anyone fitted their lenses back into a border front bumper? I have no holes to pop it back in with? I'm assuming its a case of looking at the old and replicating with the dremel but wasn't sure if anyone had success with screwing/bolting back on from the inside?

[aj.extreme]

Impressive

You're just up the road from me- we should meet up sometime and compare notes

deffo, am actually living further towards Kiddie now but still not far away, i run a pub and the roads up here are great so have a good blast up, cold pint and decent food then blast back

Maybe i should organise a meet as i'm pretty central and have a huge carpark, now the brains ticking! could even do a discount for IMOC members lol

[wilki]

very nice car bud

like the advans

[ghostrider88]

Great looking N/A you have there! Some how i d o prefer the N/A over turbo versions. Manly because of the nice sound and the spot on response in the N/A (tried both)
And like those tires. Imagine that they results in a less bumpy ride than with low-profile tires like mine.

[aj.extreme]

very nice car bud

like the advans

Thanks, i am pleased with the work so far and yeah cant wait to get the wheels sorted, love the JDM goodness three spoke bad boys lol

Black spokes polished rim?
All black?
All black with a red lip?

oh the choices