My MR2 story - June week off work to tackle bodywork repairs

[FossMan]

I got my MR2 in August last year and I have enjoyed every mile I have driven in it so far. The previous owner spent hundreds on the engine and the bodywork appeared very tidy although over the winter a few bubbles have appeared on the rear arches and the front wings are going too.

here's a pic, amazing how much a combination of clean white paint and a bodykit can hide


The MOT was a month or so ago and it failed due to rusty sills. I piad to have them welded so that I could get the car back but this prompted me to take the bodykit off to see what else was lurking.

The worst bit is the rear of the sill where it meets the arch. Then I found that the back of the arch has been fibreglassed in the past but now all of the mudguard mounting holes are gone.

I went about getting quotes for repairs and was surprised how much I was going to have to pay. This has prompted me to attempt to tackle as much of the work as I can myself. I have opted for the replacement wing route and this morning these turned up. I went for Honeybourne fibreglass ones as I liked the cost and the fact that I wont have to worry about rust reforming further down the line - here are some pics:




I also got some repair panels for the back from Tony (many thanks if you're reading!!) which will be welded by a friend, again to keep costs down.

So, when i get to this stage I'll be doing all the prep work myself so that I can take it to the bodyshop for the final paint. Are are there any things I should watch out for or hints from those of you that have undertaken something similar, bearing in mind that I'm pretty new to this? I'd especially like to know about what to use on the fibreglass panels to get them ready for paint. I'll try to keep this thread updated with my progress.

At the moment the plan is
(rear)
- Get friend to weld repair panels
- Grind out rust around middle parts of the arch
- Hopefully not find anything that makes me wince!
- Treat rust (any tips here?)
- Prime, fill, smooth arches

(front)
- Take of the old panels
- Measure/drill holes in new panels
- Prep work on the fibreglass?

- Go to the bodyshop!

Cheers
Chris

[halflife]

I have just done quite a bit of metal bashing and painting on my MK1. If it is under a plastic panel it doesn't have to be work of art, it is more important that the repair is sound and properly rust treated (wax oil or similar). I have yet to buy any panels; I just got myself a big sheet of metal and some snips and made my own panels. If it was somewhere I could see though I would always buy proper replacement panels. Just make sure everything is treated afterwards and if an inner panel becomes exposed treat that to some waxoil as well. And remember that paint does not hide anything, it actualy does the oposite. If there is an imperfection before painting it will look worse afterward. A good job is 90% prep and 10% painting.

Also you dont have to use all the replacement panel. In fact if you dont have to then dont. Alway leave as much of the original (completely rust free of course) panel as possible.

[FossMan]

As promised here is my progress so far! I've commenced my week of work so the restoration has begun in my friend Courtneys garage. He is a true legend helping me out with this for a very reasonable price as I have neither the equipment or talent to weld. At this stage my input is to remove parts, grind, paint and make tea!!

DAY 1
Here are the results of Day 1. It started very badly as I ran over my drivers side sideskirt when moving the car around to put it in the garage. What a xxxx! luckily the run of bad luck did not continue


The drivers side sill return didn't look that bad at all. Until the fibreglass was attacked with a screwdriver!!


The outer skin was tidied up ready for repair sections. The inner wing was grinded back as much as possible before a coat of rust treatment.


Sill return welded. A small piece was also made up for the sill as the repair section didn't quite reach.



After a coat of etch primer (£25 a can WTF!?!?!?!)

The rear quarter on the drivers side had already been welded somewhere between 1989 and now so we opted to not use the repair panel on this side.

[FossMan]

DAY 2
Working on the passenger side of the car


There was already repair sections welded in here. They weren't particularly tidy but it's all under the bodykit and it's solid so who cares right!?


Only a small section was made up and welded in here.


Not the same story on the rear quarter unfortunately! it didn't look that bad initially but a prod with a screwdriver revealed a huge amount of filler, fibreglass and believe it or not rolled up masking tape that had been pushed up between the inner and outer skins!! Bodge job!


Blob of filler


A few of the said masking tape balls!


Courtney making a repair section for the inner wing


The repair sections for the rear quarters were a terrible fit. The profile was all wrong and had to be cut in to three sections. We junked a lot of it as well; this was the most time consuming part of the welding.


There was also more rust that was covered by the section so a bit of extra plating was needed.




Pretty pleased with the results here given what a ballache this area was!


All primed up ready for filler.

And a few random garage shots for good measure



Driving the car home was a lot of fun I left the backbox off so that I could do some painting on the rear valance. Loud doesn't quite sum it up. Got plenty of dodgy looks I can tell you!!

[coverco]

Looks good, at least you had some inner arches mine were rotten

Why do people use that expanding foam, it is a real pain to remove my rear quarters were full of it

It is so much more rewarding when you do it yourself

P.S. Was it cold? I just wondered why you had ear muffs on

[flippin'eck]

Looks like a fun time.. I like those fibreglass front wings, will be very interested to see how you get on fitting them

[FossMan]

It is so much more rewarding when you do it yourself

I would love to be able to weld like that but hey, I was there for the whole 2 days and I removed the exhaust, bumper, heat shield, bodykit etc and did a lot of grinding and spraying so it felt like I wasn't just watching.

Looks like a fun time.. I like those fibreglass front wings, will be very interested to see how you get on fitting them

It was a fun time (apart from running over my sideskirt!) and why do you say that about the wings? Have you got some yourself or just thinking about it?

[FossMan]

DAY 3

Car is back at my house now so that I can get on with grinding back the arches and prepping them... or so I'd hoped!


Only a couple of small holes in the drivers side so I put some kurust in there and got on with filling.





Different story on the passenger side though. I didn't fancy fibreglassing/filing such a large area so I'm gonna have to take it back for more welding.

So didn't get as much done today as I'd hoped due to the passenger side arch probs. I did start to clean up my Janspeed exhaust whilst waiting for P38 to set though, which will be properly polished when I refit it. Should look pretty good as I have decided to ditch the heat shield that goes around it. Anyone have objections to my doing that? It was pretty useless anyway due to corosion and every single bolt sheared off when I tried to remove it!

[coverco]

Should look pretty good as I have decided to ditch the heat shield that goes around it. Anyone have objections to doing that? It was pretty useless anyway due to corosion and every single bolt sheared off when I tried to remove it!

It will get quite hot in the boot without the heat shield, so don't keep anything in the boot that should not get hot.

[FossMan]

DAY 4

Are you bored yet!?

Well today i took the car back to my mates garage for more welding on the passenger side arch. Behind the arch liner was a fat hole in the iner wing but that and the outer is now welded and ready for filler/primer. back on track!


Results

While my mate was doing his welding thing I was busy taking off the old rusty front wing and fitting the new Honeybourne one.





To my surprise the new wing went on without any cutting or sanding. Just drilled my holes and plonked it on. It fits really well, the only slight problem is the mount for the bolt that sits under the corner of the windscreen. That is a bit too fat so the wing sits just a bit too high in that corner but I'll fix that when i get the wings off to prime them.

[FossMan]

Well day 5 onwards was pretty boring/stressful. I got the drivers side front wing fitted but it involved loads of swearing at rusted/siezed bolts and front wings/front valance corners that had fused together.

Getting the arches perfectly smooth was also crazy. As my week off work fast approached its end I kept thinking I was finished, only to see a slight raised patch or some other minor defect that meant I had to start again

I've taken it to the bodyshop now, where they resprayed all 4 wings and both doors for good measure. They also fixed the sideskirt that I carelessly ran over!! I told them the situation of me running out of time and they finished off the prep work before putting any paint on. Cost me £450.

Couple of questions if you don't mind:

1. I want to refit my mud guards now that I actually have metal to attach them to. I don't have the small plastic lugs that go in to the square holes in the bodywork though. Does anyone know if I can still get them from Toyota (and what's the part number) or is there a cheaper/quicker alternative out there?

2. Same goes for the rubber seal that goes around the edge of the sidekirt really.

I'm gonna polish it today if the weather stays nice and get some snaps.

[oukie]

Someone on here might have the plastic parts as spares I will look on my spares car, Keep up the good work, Looks good.

[coverco]

I got my rubber strips for the side skirts from http://www.kbox.ca/catalog/ in Canada, it is possible to use the beading from double glazing according to Woodsport but I have never been able to find a profile that looks correct.

For the mudflaps I would use stainless nuts, bolts and washers. The plastic plugs are fine when the holes are new and square but a bit of rust makes them fall out

[FossMan]

So here are the pics:

New paint on the sides shows how cracked and faded the bumpers are. I think I'll be going back to the body shop to get them sprayed and have the pinstripes taken off when I can afford it.

Need to refit the front wings. They need some slight adjustment as you can see in the photos.

[crazylegs]

nice job what you need now is a set of stripes. PM me if you are interested. I sell all the stripes and decals.