**UPDATED** 1991 Rev 1 (Beastly V6 1MZ-FE VVTI) **UPDATED**

[craig]

Nice one Karl. Will get a set of those bulbs ordered for the us markers. Looks good

[Magic Beans]

I need to work out what to buy next for the car now

Nothing. Stop shovelling money into it and just enjoy what you have

She is looking mighty fine though, Karl. A lot of work for sure but you've got a car you can be proud of

[KarlBristol]

You sound like Nic as she's constantly telling me to stop spending on the car I'm not done shovelling money into her quite yet, but I'm not a million miles off

Thanks for the comments - I am mighty proud of her there's just a few bits left to buy/change. The to do list/purchase looks like this:

- x4 new very good quality tyres (my car fishtails scarily in the wet above 50mph!!)
- New smoothed bootlid fully resprayed
- Resprayed rear bumper
- Custom up a metal alternator rain deflector
- x4 new wheel bearings
- Maybe some vented discs as they've been on there for a couple of years now
- Carobtech pads when my current ones pads get low
- Eventually.... Very eventually - a set of double staggered Advan SA3s on decent tyres
- Even further down the line a TRD supercharger
- Standalone ECU

And probably a few other things along the way...



The alternator belt has been tightened up again, and finally the fan belt squeal in heavy rain was fixed 100% this evening. The exhaust mounts and rods are still knocking slightly but a solution is being worked on

[slipping clutch]

I'm really looking forward to seeing your car with a super charger Karl ( as is your local shell station I expect )

[KarlBristol]

So am I
I don't think that the misses is though, but it's certainly on the wish list!!!

The issue is that the TRD supercharges are not only difficult to source but rather pricey so I think it would be a while until I buy one. At the moment it's more of a pipe dream.... But one which will come to fruition eventually! If anyone fancies donating one to the cause it would be greatly appreciated



I almost forgot to add - I went to the Footman James Classic car show on Saturday 2nd November. I rocked up in my car expecting to park up with everyone else and have a nice day wandering around the site.

In reality the stewards called me over and directed me to park my car inside the grounds on show. My car attracted serious attention all day (I was a little embarrassed to be honest as it hadn't been washed or polished for a couple of days!!). A vast amount of people were mightily confused with the car having a large V6 in there and many couldn't even place what make of car it was... That attention was not too shabby considering it was parked next to a fully restored Jensen Healey all day. It brought a smile to my face if nothing else.

I've never seen so many people flock to a car as they did when the engine started in amongst the quiet old cars nearby. I must go next year

A professional company caught a couple of snaps of the car on the way in:

http://www.onlinepictureproof.com/chicp ... =485&h=721

There's a further x2 photos if you press the back arrow


Not much else new with the car recently though - I've just been enjoying it... And it's fishtailing

[Magic Beans]

- x4 new very good quality tyres (my car fishtails scarily in the wet above 50mph!!)

Good man, those Nexans were awful things. Cost me Mule v1 at low speeds in the rain

The SC should be interesting. Won't be cheap though!

[KarlBristol]

I agree Phil, even though my Nexans are basically new they aren't the tyre for me especially with the amount of torque that I'm trying to put on the road in a very light MR2.

I therefore started searches for various new tyres... But today I ended up buying another set of alloys, and more impressively I convinced the other half that it was the best option!!

As much as I love my 17s they are a little painful on low profile tyres especially with the car rolling on drop springs. I've made the decision to drop to staggered 15" alloys so that I've got the best comfort and handling possible.... And I've gone for the complete OEM look making the car even more of a sleeper

I've got a set of rev3 OEM alloys on the way to me which are basically brand new. They have been blasted back and then chemically dipped to remove any remaining impurities. They were then powder coated in metallic hyper silver and baked off. They have been fitted with brand new Proxes t1r in staggered fitment and fully balanced. I've also got a set of wheel nuts and new OEM locking nuts on the way to me. This is the cleanest and most OEM set up that I could find and they come with decent rubber which should stop my car being so tail happy!

Delivery is booked in for the 20th... I can't wait!!!
A little sneak preview:







Centre caps are included they just aren't photographed
Once they get delivered its onto the next project.... Which will probably be re-spraying a smoothed bootlid and rear bumper

Next main priority is to sell my current wheels before Nic castrates me or looks at the bank balance and goes into early labour

[craig]

How come you're going back to stock wheels? Or are these your winter set?

[KarlBristol]

How come you're going back to stock wheels? Or are these your winter set?

As I use the car daily I wanted a set of wheels which gave the best handling, were very comfortable, gripped the road well and were easy to clean. So it made sense to go OEM really....

The standard wheels with these tyres will give a smoother ride, less road noise, the tyres will give better traction and as there aren't loads of little fiddlly bits to the alloys they should be quick and easy to pressure wash down every week. Oh and the new tyres won't send me Fishtailing down the road

Besides I do have a thing for OEM and clean.... I quite like the look of OEM wheels and you don't really see them on very clean or modified MR2s. In fact the only OEM wheels I've seen are badly kernel and fitted to near scrap vehicles.

Another advantage is that with standard wheels the car will look relatively untouched (unless you know what your looking for - lowering, rear light mods, full debadge, wind deflectors etc...) So this will in effect change the car into a proper sleeper vehicle

When a set of OEM kit this clean turns up for sale it's hard to say no

[synXero]

Interesting move.

Will be keen to see how they look on the 2.

[KarlBristol]

The original alloys will be fitted all year round, and whilst I love my Rotas I can't afford two sets so they are up for sale:

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=175183

I like going back to original - the car didn't have original wheels on it when I bought it so it's gone god know how many years as non standard. It will be nice to fit originals back on I think...

[craig]

How come you're going back to stock wheels? Or are these your winter set?

As I use the car daily I wanted a set of wheels which gave the best handling, were very comfortable, gripped the road well and were easy to clean. So it made sense to go OEM really....

The standard wheels with these tyres will give a smoother ride, less road noise, the tyres will give better traction and as there aren't loads of little fiddlly bits to the alloys they should be quick and easy to pressure wash down every week. Oh and the new tyres won't send me Fishtailing down the road

Besides I do have a thing for OEM and clean.... I quite like the look of OEM wheels and you don't really see them on very clean or modified MR2s. In fact the only OEM wheels I've seen are badly kernel and fitted to near scrap vehicles.

Another advantage is that with standard wheels the car will look relatively untouched (unless you know what your looking for - lowering, rear light mods, full debadge, wind deflectors etc...) So this will in effect change the car into a proper sleeper vehicle

When a set of OEM kit this clean turns up for sale it's hard to say no

Fair play mate, looking forward to seeing them on the car.

How about a set of rev5 clear front lenses and gen 7 celica side repeaters. Nice, oem and clean.

Just a thought

[synXero]

It could be troublesome getting the 225 rears in future though - I think this is why many tend to sell their OEMs. Out of interest would you have preferred rev5s? Not that I have any - just curious.

What sort of torque does this engine put down? I wonder if road-spec 225mm tyres will really cope all that well with a V6?

[KarlBristol]

Interesting move.

Will be keen to see how they look on the 2.

I'm a little worried about the cosmetics too!!

However, it's the best move possible (within a budget) for ride comfort/handling and I see so many badly modified and garish MR2s (normally plastered all over eBay) I think it will be nice to distance myself from them and go for an original'ish looking car...

[KarlBristol]

Fair play mate, looking forward to seeing them on the car.

How about a set of rev5 clear front lenses and gen 7 celica side repeaters. Nice, oem and clean.

Just a thought

It should be an interesting move ....

The car had clear corners and clear side repeaters on when I got it.... I wasn't a fan of them personally as I didn't feel that they went particularly well with the rest of the car and the clear corners had started to go green inside.

They just look a bit fussy on my car and OEM tinted front lights and side repeaters seem to go much better with the overall theme whilst still looking original. Don't forget - my car has an original black bump strip running along the centre of it, and a black section running along the bottom of the car so the few OEM tinted bits seem to go better IMO.

Nice thought though

It could be troublesome getting the 225 rears in future though - I think this is why many tend to sell their OEMs. Out of interest would you have preferred rev5s? Not that I have any - just curious.

What sort of torque does this engine put down? I wonder if road-spec 225mm tyres will really cope all that well with a V6?

If it does become an issue I will just have to shop around a bit. I'm sure they will still be made, but will just demand a higher price. I actually prefer the rev 3 wheels to the rev 5 ones... Not sure why - maybe because they look a little chunkier.

My engine is putting down at least 222 lb·ft (328 N·m) of torque at 4400 rpm. When you combine that with the fact that I have the lightest car set up (SW23 with no ABS, traction control, power steering, etc) it can make putting the power down tricky sometimes. It's normally fine but with my current Nexans on 17s it's just a bit too tail happy for my liking.

As the goal is a standalone ECU with a supercharger I doubt that the wheel/tyre combo will be able to cope but for the time being I can try a couple of different combinations and see what works best. The V6 is rather beasty so I'm sure it will still spin up from time to time unless I stick on wide arches and drastically alter the wheels but that's probably a job for the future

[KarlBristol]

I've just realised that I haven't got any sound clips of the car running
Just popped out to the garage with my phone so it's not great quality but it gives you an idea...

It's a little throatier in real life and it runs rich for 30second or so upon start up hence the idle speed (yes that is normal )

I will try to get a better sound clip soon

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h48 ... 71e322.mp4

[Magic Beans]

It's a good much in terms of comfort, especially as it's your daily. My old 18's were evil on the back and had no give in them at all.

All you need now to complete the OEM look is a standard engine. Maybe pick up an old 3SFE lump, tidy it up and stick that in one day?

[jack-p]

Just got up to date on this, loving the progress Karl.

Interesting decision regarding the wheels and I definitely see your reasons for going this way. Out of curiosity are they as light as the rev5 alloys as I remember they were pretty good on weight?

[KarlBristol]

Thanks one and all

An original 3sfe lump you say.... Now that's an idea

I think that the wheels I'm getting are pretty much the same weight (maybe a little heavier) than rev5 wheels. The rears are roughly 7.5kg and the fronts are around 6.8kg so not massively heavy. Should make a nice change to the comfort of a daily driver whilst still being lightweight




I'm sure some of you will have read but my car has been off of the road for the last three days. The battery discharges if the car is left for any prolonged period of time or overnight so I suspected a parasitic electrical draw... not good times as I have to run 2 miles under a marathon to get to and from work every day.

I had issues with my multimeter/ammeter, although today I managed to get hold of another one and it worked perfectly. I ran it in line with the battery and the car was measuring 0.28. Not a good sign and far too much electricity being drawn especially when you consider that my stereo and clock don't draw any electricity as they have been wired in to shut off with the rest of the car. Something wasn't right. I unplugged every fuse whilst measuring the amps hoping it was an electrical wiring issue. It wasn't. At 22:40 this evening in a freezing cold garage my worse fears were confirmed - I continued to measure the amps whilst I unplugged the alternator. Guess what: amps dropped to 0.00 so the issue was located but it's an expensive one

It appears the diodes in the alternator are busted and as drawing on the battery when the car is off. I considered having the alternator reconditioned but I will be far happier buying a new one and knowing that the car is as reliable as it can be.

I'm just about to order some metal so that I can make up a custom shroud for the alternator and belt as the water run off from the engine lid goes into the alternator and belt. I'm pretty sure that this is what's caused the issue.

Oh and of course I'm also going to order a new alternator
Hoping to have it ordered, delivered, fit it myself and the car working again within a week. Fingers crossed

[Peter Gidden]

I had issues with my multimeter/ammeter, although today I managed to get hold of another one and it worked perfectly. I ran it in line with the battery and the car was measuring 0.28. Not a good sign and far too much electricity being drawn especially when you consider that my stereo and clock don't draw any electricity as they have been wired in to shut off with the rest of the car. Something wasn't right. I unplugged every fuse whilst measuring the amps hoping it was an electrical wiring issue. It wasn't. At 22:40 this evening in a freezing cold garage my worse fears were confirmed - I continued to measure the amps whilst I unplugged the alternator. Guess what: amps dropped to 0.00 so the issue was located

Just as we discussed on the phone!

Glad you found it.

BTW, don't bin your old alternator, i'll have it.