Cheap little interior mod!

[Peter C]

Take one Rev 1/2 rear centre panel MR2 badge:



There are a couple of clips on back of the badge.



Cut the clips off and apply two blobs of adhesive to the back of the badge.



Voila. A little mod that introduces a bit of bling to the dashboard.

[craig]

yep, I did this on my first MR2 back in 2004

[Peter C]

yep, I did this on my first MR2 back in 2004

bu88er. I was so pleased that I invented something new.

[craig]

yep, I did this on my first MR2 back in 2004

bu88er. I was so pleased that I invented something new.

8 years too late I'm afraid bud

[Peter C]

8 years too late I'm afraid bud

That's poor even by my standards!

I did something else today:

This was the rear box before I started. In this photograph it doesn't look too bad, but take my word for it, it was stained and dirty.



I write brushed the box and cleaned it with white spirit. To prevent overspray I masked off the rear grille and box brackets.



I polished the twin pipes with Autosol. They don't look bad, considering they're 16 years old.



Cracking looking rear end!



But wait, that's not all!

Next I dealt with the door window strips. The top gloss layer had rubbed off and they looked awful.



I know that some of you boys recommend removing the strips and spraying them off the car. However, having already once had the pleasure of removing one of the strips (not easy!), I decided to paint them in situ.





Bit of prep and wipe with white spirit, followed by a squirt of black gloss paint and the job was done.





Not impressed? How about this (from last weekend):

My MR2's wheels were letting the car down. They weren't kerbed but all four had blisters and scabs where the lacquer and paint finish had failed. I had to take action.

I spent almost £50 on materials.



I wanted to finish the wheels in a darker shade of silver, almost grey, rather than the original light silver colour.

I started by taking all four wheels off the car.



Weather conditions weren't great! I did the rubbing down outside. Despite the obvious snow, it was a lovely day and it was a pleasure to tinker outside in my garden.



Inside my workshop I set up a wheel drying area.



All four wheels rubbed down. The blistered areas were rubbed down with 120 grade sandpaper whilst all areas to be painted were prepared with 800 grade wet and dry paper.



I taped up the wheel rims and covered the tyres with an old copy of The Sun.



And here are the wheels after the first coat of paint.



The wheels had 6 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear varnish.

In between coats, I've kept myself busy painting the calipers orange.





Final result:



Sweet!

[craig]

Kudos where due mate, the exhaust, door strips and wheels make the car look so much better!

[ryan]

I did a din mod on my old red mr2. I got a stainless steel plate off Ebay with the MR2 cut out, placed it on the same size piece of glass, then used obscure frosted vinyl, mouted it on the cubby tray, then wired in some green neon glow sticks I wanted the lighting to match the std colours of the dash and not look out of place. It actually looked pretty good and not at all chavvy believe it or not. Cant find the pics of it though

[2mad]

Well done Peter . Im off to paint my window strips now



Kev.

[Rob]

Good work Peter

I always paint my strips off of the car though - I find that easier than masking it all up!

I now have a spare pair to recirculate on the car every time the finish starts to wear

Where did you get your caliper paint?

[Peter C]

I painted the calipers with two coats of Dulux Weathershield paint. It comes in a variety of colours but I just happen to have a pot of orange left over from another project. Just as well, it looks sweet.

[riot68]

Great write up, although isn't dulux weathershield masonry paint for exterior walls...

[DAN_REV1_TURBO]

You can paint metal stuff with it aswell put a primer coat on first.

[Harold]

I thought you needed heat resistant paint for callipers? I really need to do my black window strips also, how long does spraying them last?

[Pidge]

Top job bud

[riot68]

You can paint metal stuff with it aswell put a primer coat on first.

Never tried that, have painted lot's of exterior walls with it though ...

[Peter C]

Oops, my bad.

I actually used Dulux Metalshield paint.

[Peter C]

I fancied a smaller steering wheel and bought this via Ebay last night.



I was surprised how quickly I got used to it. The only time the steering wheel feels a bit odd is when parking, otherwise I love it. Charlie, my two year old son, likes it too.



I also bought and fitted clear side repeaters and front indicators.



I gave the MR2 a wash and took a couple of pics.





Great looking car!

[Peter C]

I thought you needed heat resistant paint for callipers? I really need to do my black window strips also, how long does spraying them last?

In the past I only used high temp paint to do my calipers but this time I just used what I had in the shed.

The last time I painted the window strips they still looked good two years later when I sold the car.

[Nails]

I thought you needed heat resistant paint for callipers? I really need to do my black window strips also, how long does spraying them last?

I've used hammerite a few times on the calipers of previous cars including one I had for almost 10 years and it never came off.

Normally use autoglym back to black on the rubstrips but been meaning to paint them and was wondering how well they'd paint with them being rubbery stuff. A job for sightly warmer weather then.

[going4the1]

I'm not sure either about the paint on the door strips. I lacquered them a couple of years back and they looked great for a few weeks. Then the heat from the sun must have expanded the strips causing the lacquer to flake/craze. It may have the same effect on the paint.

If I treat them in the future I will be using paint which is specifically for use on plastics.