Flip side to these arguments is that good mr2's are getting thin on the ground, and it would be a shame to condemn another one to being broken for parts?
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Suspension is most likely droplinks, the source of the knocking would come up as an advisory or fail item in a proper MOT, or you could have a poke about the front suspension and see if you can find any parts that have play in them.
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The brakes, disks and pads and maybe clean and grease the slides, are very DIY-able, as are the droplinks.
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The clutch is a big job, probably
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£400 in labour, or a few days DIY mechanic'ing it with a reasonable garage at your disposal.
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Reason being its generally easier to drop the engine and gearbox out of the car then do the clutch rather than try to do it in situ.
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Flip side is doing it this way gives you all the room in the world to do the cambelt while you are at it.
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I've done the engine out gearbox on the drive way many a year ago without access to a 2 poster ramp.
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IIRC the way I done it was; I put the front on ramps, jacked the rear up to put it on axle stands, removed the wheels, then the back bumper, then when everything like wiring exhaust and hoses was disconnected, I used an engine hoist to lift the back of the car, by slinging around the back bumper supports and then lowered it down to the crossmember was on a skate.
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I then lifted the back of the car stupidly high, the ramps under the front wheels stopped the underside of the nose hitting the ground at this point, until the car was clear of the top of the engine.
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I then skated the engine gearbox and subframe away from the car lowered the car's shell back down to the axle stands, and used the engine crane to lift the engine
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/ gearbox off the crossmember, split them on the deck, done a clutch flywheel and crankshaft seal
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(no way did I want to have to do all that again if the seal started leaking).
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Then mated the engine back to the box, lifted it onto the crossmember, lifted the car, skated the drivetrain assembly back in place, lowered the car, slowly, much nudging and tilting needed to get it to line up with the mounts, then reconnected hoses, exhaust and wiring, bled coolant yada yada.
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In hindsight I wish I had just paid a garage.
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The coolant loss could be the hardest one to diagnose, could be
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"pipes from hell"
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(the coolant pipes that go over the fuel tank from the engine in the back to get to the radiator in the front and back to the engine), leaking radiator, leaking heater matrix, or perished hose, or or or.
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I'd suggest pressure testing the coolant system.
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