Yellow TRD widebody project ***BIG MOT FAIL, END OF THE LINE FOR ME***

[RST]

Hi,

Am starting this thread so I can keep a record of what I'm going to do with this car, and my intentions. I got the car this week from a member on here. It's a copy widebody -seems solid enough for a rev 3 tubby (1994) and it in much better condition than most MR2's for sale I've found so far but needs some work for my own liking. It's not meant to be a monster build but it's a solid car to start from as a new hobby. I just hope my GT4 sells in the mean time!

This is my 4th MR2, second MK2 and I've had 2 MK3's also. I've also had 2 gen 6 GT4's and a MK1 Aristo TT. I seem to be a bit of a serial Toyota owner. I just can't beat them. Am just so happy to be back in a MK2 though, there is something about them and how you sit in them.

The shopping list still to get is:

• New radiator
  Cam belt
  Cam belt tensioner pulley
  All other accessory belts
  Thermostat
  New spark plugs
  New HT leads
  New dizzy cap and rotor arm
  New fuel filter
  New oil filter -already had
  Engine oil -already got
  Coolant
  Grarbox oil, Redline MT90
  Need to get air con re-gassed
  Plain oil filler cap -to replace a TRD one already on the car, not to my taste
  Different gear knob, the TRD small ball one isn't to my taste (it's too small)
  Front and rear aftermarket strut braces
  MOMO steering wheel boss, the car has a MK3 wheel fitted and I want to swap the OMP WRC I have currently in my GT4
  New scuttle panel trim
  

Some of the parts I got delivered this week are:

• New clear front indicator clusters -current ones are dark, got the new ones from MR2 Ben
  Fit LED sidelight bulbs (already got these from spares box)
  Clear side indicators (already had them in the spares box) -current ones are yellow
  Replace drivers door seal, got a used one from TCB
  Replace drivers side door seal / b-pollar & roof seal, got a new one from TCB parts
  Replace both door lock pull cups -got 2 new oned from TCB parts
  Fit a front license plate mount -got a new one from TCB parts
  Replace the drivers side sill kick plate moulding, got a used one from TCB parts
  The car came with a Power Enterprise cone filter, I got some pipework and silicone hoses from the local factors to replace the kits metalwork to look neater and replace the stock ribbed induction hoses, also need to make a heat shield and cold air feed
  I got a locking fuel filler cap for extra security from Halfords
  

...one thing I need to figure out is the rear license plate, I'm going to have to make some sort of custom mount.

The car came with a Pioneer HU, amplifier and sub behind the drivers seat which isn't to my taste. I'll remove and sell these and fit a new head unit. Also, the car has the worst whine I ever heard in an MR2 through the speakers so will have to sort that out, I guess it's more due to a bad earth somewhere as it comes and goes with bumps in the road.

I have a few quandries with the car, not decided yet:

• It needs new rear light clusters. I can either fit new rev 3 ones or I'm not quite decided against black lexus lights (horror!). Either way I think they'll be stepped out to meet the bodywork rather than inset as I think I prefer that look, and it's how the car was apparently originally built. I have the original extended rear centre panel as a spare also, which will be going black rather than yellow
  I'm not quite convinced with the white 18" Rota Grids. They're the right offset, but I prefer 17's so I might be changing them, and there's WAY too much stretch on the current tyres. I think I want some 17's with proper sized tyres and maybe in a darker colour like gunmetal
  The stock seats have been re-trimmed black / red and while they are mint, I'm not a massive fan of leather seats. If I can find a mint passenger seat in fabric then I may seap in a very tidy Bride Brix I have sitting spare
  There's lots of overspray on window seals, I'm tempted just to get the windows taken out and the roof sprayed black at some point
  MK3 centre badge on the front bumper -I don't like it on a MK2. I need to think whether to remove / replace it or not
  The vallance / grille under the rear bumper has been bent up. I hate this, if there's any way I can bend it back down I think I will try but it looks a bit bashed to look respecctable so far so might live with it

I'm open to opinions on the black lexarse clusters please. I would only consider them when they look right -they might make for quite a clean back end on this car.

Cheers for looking in the mean time, I'll be away working next week for some time so won't change anything soon, but when I do I'll try and put some "how to's together.

[jack-p]

Looking forward to following this, your plans sound like it should end up looking very tidy.
The extended center panel wasn't an original TRD thing by the way, they were designed to look as it currently does (not to say it doesn't look good either way).

Shame about the mounting of the rear numberplate too, where are you going to re-mount it?

[RikH77]

looks good

both plates desperately need re-mounting

[RST]

Cheers guys.

I know about the rear lights thing. The person who fitted the kit originally had them spaced out and to be honest I prefer the look in the original pictures. Kind of an individual look, I'm not a purist so long as it's done right. As they sit now there's actually a horrid gap at the corners which I'm not convinced will fill in without allot of work

...both plates need sorting! The front should be easy but not quite sure what I'll kook-up with the rear yet but it'll look allot better and might include a fake diffuser. The person who had the kit fitted originally had both plate recesses blended

Have been looking at yours Jack for a little while now, looks much tidier than mine is!

[Magic Beans]

You've bought yourself a stunning car there

[Vampire]

i had my front and rear bumper smoothed on my TRD and i mounted the number plates underneath the bumpers on on hinges if its any help.

Welcome to the TRD fold

[Vampire]

and i would agree, a yellow car shouldn't have white wheels, need to be black/gunmetal.

[RST]

Just as a reminder for myself if nothing else. Got home on Tuesday from offshore, chopper crew change through Norway was a farce, anyhow I held out long enough on ebay but got me:

TRD duracon gear knob
Standard oil cap to replace a TRD one, not a big fan of TRD oil aps -they're pointless
2 new Toad key fobs as mine were old and tired
Front and rear strut braces, used Cusco copies

...so to make a small start, I stripped the braces and put the brackets into the local alloy wheel shop to have them stripped and powder coated as they were well rusty. I picked up new stainless bolts and nuts for a fiver from the local fixings counter and I just did a quick clean up of the aluminium bars themselves with Autosol and my Sealey orbital polisher. They're not perfect but for 5 mins work each they're fine and will sit fine on the car now, well good enough for £150 to buy them....







After cleaning...





Subwoofer taken out, now I can move my seat properly! Don't think it's worth anything but the amp might be when I find it...





The battery was flat when I got home so yesterday I also got a new one, and I got a new Pioneer head unit today for it -will have to take the plunge with that one over next week and see if I can eliminate the massive whine. Only other things I've done is remove the subwhoofer and place my GT4 ad on Gumtree and Pistonheads.

[craig]

Cracking motor you got there buddy. Tuned in.

[Infamous]

I've been beaten to the sale of this car twice now, once when it was red and now in its yellow form guess it wasn't meant to be.
Great job on this so far, keep up the good work!

[synXero]

Hey, fimmo's oldun!

Any chance you'll sell me the steering wheel after you swap in the OMP?

[RST]

Bit more of a diary update...

Half a step forwards today. Painted my "spare" centre panel. Just needed flatting back then I de-greased and sprayed with Hammerite black stonechip. I like the Hammerite to work with -sticks to anything and gives a very smooth, fine grained texture with a satin finish a bit like black OEM plastic. Weathers great for painting outside at the moment!

Before...



After. I reckon it's about 2" wider than stock on each side, just have to figure out how to mount the clusters when I buy a new set. Current ones are pretty tired...



Went to pick up the strut brace brackets today but they forgot to do them so I grumbled and said I'd be back tomorrow. I've already lost the new bolts for them anyway Grr.

Good news is fitted the new head unit and no whining whatsoever so I reckon the old one was just goosed! Wiring was a bit of a mess though and seems there's no sound from the front speakers though so that's not finished yet. Also found the old amp when I was tracing the wires, will remove that later. Having said that, they will powder coat my wheels in gunmetal for £300, one day service including removing and re-fitting the tyres. They may be a new good friend.

Tried to get JDM sized reg plates today -can't get them anywhere. Either they don't do them or are out of a part to make them. Picked up a new alternator and A/C belt and dizzy arm and ordered a new dizzy cap though.

Other bits of trim to order (last ones hopefully) -new centre dash panel as current one has a redundant sterling laserkey immobiliser base on it and I want a new scuttle panel as the current one is scrappy.

One more thing I need to bottom out is the air con which isn't working. Can't find anyone local who will touch the old systems so far. Have to keep trying as there must be someone. I hope it just needs re-gassing anyway!

I have these bits I collected from Motac in Sterling (great little place for collecting bits and bobs). Think I'll see about improving the induction pipe set-up but I'll need some take-offs welded into the straight pipe for the PCV lines...

Any chance you'll sell me the steering wheel after you swap in the OMP?

Possibly, though will need to wait a while. Fimmo had a separate horn push fitted in a spare slot on the right hand side of the dash (very thankfully in a spare switch slot) so I'll have to see if the original horn function works before I decide to do anything. I do like my OMP's though, I never thought the MK 3 had a very nice wheel when I had my roadster.

I've been beaten to the sale of this car twice now, once when it was red and now in its yellow form [Neutral] guess it wasn't meant to be.
Great job on this so far, keep up the good work! [Cool]

LoL, Must admit I buy with my heart and I did act pretty quick when I saw it. I was looking at yellow cars for a while. I'm skint if my GT4 doesn't sell easily.

Thanks for the positive comments guys!

[KarlBristol]

Car seems to be coming along nicely
I'm tuned in for more updates.


Hopefully this link will help you, as I presume this was the sort of plate that you couldn't find?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... e&_sacat=0

[RST]

Dear Diary LoL...


^^Cheers Karl, yea I'm just adamant these days not to mail order unless it's last resort. So I've been away down in the Central belt and while I was down picked up 2 new import sized plates from Motac in Stirling.

I got my brackets back for the strut braces last week and found the new bolts I lost (I'd put them on the bars for safe keeping -duuh ).



I fitted the new front sidelight / indicator clusters. Man I forgot how cheap and nasty the Autoart ones are. I trimmed the lugs on the back of them down so they would fit but the fit on the fs one isn't quite right yet. Some of the bulb holder lugs snapped on the new ones when I put a sidelight bulb in so transferred the loom from one of the old ones. I've actually had a set of clear side indicators, again from Autoart, which I've tried fitting on 3 cars now but they just won't pop into place so I peeled off the yellow film from the existing ones and popped them back in place with new bulbs. Still got to do something with the fogs though -I may take them out and replace with DRL's / drivers lamps as I find front fogs useless.





No pics yet but the other day I swapped out the TRD leather ball shift knob for a TRD (copy I'm sure) resin one -it's a tad taller so should feel just a tad more confortable through gear changes. The ball one was just too low and tucked into the gear surround for comfort.

While I was in Motac today I grabbed a set of half decent 6/9's as I want to do something with the audio (again I didn't want to mail order so happy to see something reasonable on the shelf rather than just Halfords junk)...



...I still have to figure out why my door speakers don't work. I'm sure I can build these into the cubby boxes somehow though. I'm not a massive audio junkie but I do like my tunes played clear and sharp so I won't be doing a big audio build.

I spoke to Trevor at TCB this afternoon and ordered some good second hand parts again:

New centre dash plastic so I can replace the one with the redundant immobiliser key fob base
Couple of spare switch blanks so I can swap out my coin holder and put the horn push back on the steering wheel

I picked up a new dizzy cap from Highland Motor Parts last week so thats another item struck off the list for the service. Just not sure what to do about HT leads -think I'll go with Magnecor again -it'll be my 4/5th set and not had any problems with them so far.

I've also just missed a delvery from Demon Tweeks of a MOMO boss to swap the OMP WRC wheel from my GT4 into the MR2. I'm damned if the GT4 is going with that wheel -it can sell with the stock one or my spare rev 2 MR2 one which is much nicer.

Lastly, booked the car in for an air con re-fresh and re-charge at Highland Windscreens in Inverness on Saturday. After speaking with them hopefully it just needs a re-charge, it's the same for my Elgrand which will go in for the same next.

Only thing I got lined up now is I bought a proper BnDeker heat gun last week as my front wheel arch liners need bending into shape because of the much wider front wheels. I needed a heat gun anyway but I'd better sort out these liners pronto.

It seems to be coming together but don't want to take the car on too many high mileage drives until I get the cam belt and radiator changed, then I know I can take it anywhere.

[RST]

Right, last of the spending for the moment:

Air con re-gassed this morning so have nice cold air now! Pheew, had visions of other problems (read expensive problems). Since that was all the Deuce needed, I got my Elgrand MPV into the same place this afternoon and that's blowing cold air now also (double pheew).

Got the last of the batch of parts last couple of days (from TCB and Demon-Tweeks) so now I just need to crack on and fit everything I've accumulated now once the rain stops..



SnXero...

Now I have an SW20 boss and horn push if I get the wheel swapped over this next few days I should be back down to Family in Falkirk/Linlithgow end of next week so if you still want the wheel we can talk business. I'm not convinced on postage for it because of the air bag so would be convenient if you want to do a deal at the moment.

i had my front and rear bumper smoothed on my TRD and i mounted the number plates underneath the bumpers on on hinges if its any help.

Welcome to the TRD fold [thumleft]

...The more I look at it I think that's how I might have to go. Think I'm resigned to getting the back bumper re-sprayed at some point so what ever I do will need some holes / gaps filling and painting.

[RST]

So I'm back from my 4 weeks offshore again and I've been grabbing some parts again when they came up...

Oil filter relocation kit -hopefully no more reaching under the car to change oil filters LoL
JDM rear number plate which illuminates -still have to order a TVRstyle translucent plate
New radiator

I bit the bullet today and ordered a set of black lexus lights from MR2 Ben. I'm not 100% sure until I see them, but they look as mis-placed as rev 3+ clusters to me so I think I will just get away with them on a very kitted car.

I just need to start doing the jobs now. With the good weather today I decided to just jump in it and drive it for a bomb around.

Had to buy new tax today and MOT is due in a fortnight so I'll maybe get a full cambelt done as well. I also want a quote from Nick at custom creations in Elgin for a new exhaust -this one is way too loud for me!

[RST]

Forgot to add, here's the new gear knob. Brings it out of the trim a bit more -much easier to use...

[Infamous]

Nice touch!

[RST]

Cheers!

Garage was closed when I passed it today so I'll have to phone them tomorrow to book an MoT.

I forgot I ordered these baby's -arrived this morning (from arev 5 BEAMS apparently. They're almost MINT)...



I got a Jetex air filter kit coming now also.

https://www.jetex.co.uk/jetex/store/ind ... uctId=7795

https://www.jetex.co.uk/jetex/store/ima ... _oncar.jpg

Just got to get spark plugs, HT leads, cam belt kit and MT90 gearbox oil and am all set for the full service now.

[Protok]

Nice car, good inspiration

I forgot I ordered these baby's -arrived this morning (from arev 5 BEAMS apparently. They're almost MINT)...

Never seen them style of mats before.