Hi all
I've been lurking on here for some time now, and reading about all the brilliant projects going on, so thought it was high time I got my act together and made a thread of my own. And so, here it comes... introducing my '93 reg MR2... cue drum roll etc.
I've had this car as a daily driver and occassionally racking up a few miles for work for 3 1/2 years now, and covered around 30,000 miles with no major trouble. It used to get looked after pretty well when I had a driveway, but has been neglected in the last year or two.
I was tempted to sell it recently - usual story of needing a lot of work that will probably cost the best part of what it's worth. In the end I decided to follow my favourite old-car-ownership motto of 'better the devil you know' and set about getting it through the MOT, getting it looking a bit tidier, and adding a few mod cons.
I haven't got many recent photos so here's a couple of old pics for starters
When it's looking tidy...
And its usual state of (un)cleanliness more recently:
The tyres were looking pretty tortured thanks to me taking quite a full-fat sideways approach to a sprint day in the summer, so it was time to seek out some decent rubber. As luck would have it, a local chap on the owners club had a spare set of wheels with good tyres, which have polished up much better than the old ones. The old set will be trackday wheels, possibly in a lairy black/lime green splatter effect when I get the chance and some bright paint
"New" rims...
I also managed to get a second-hand silencer from the OC and a cheap cat off ebay, both of which are getting fitted tomorrow.
Seeing as I'm keeping it, I decided to give it a good polish, clay bar and wax... I think this is the first time it's seen a sponge since July! And here's a snap from earlier today when the sun came out...
And it's also a good chance to fit all the parts I've had sitting around for the past few months, so... LEDs are now in the courtesy lights, the binnacle, around the ignition barrel and in the glovebox (which didn't originally have a light at all, weirdly)...
... I've also had a pair of Volvo S40 spray jets hanging around for a while which were a nice easy fit and have made a surprising improvement to the coverage...
So, jobs still to do... Well, as you can just about see in the wheel photo, there's a fair bit of rust coming through on the sill, which I wouldn't mind getting sorted next year.
It's also got a bit of an oil leak, a leaky roof, a bunch of annoying rattles in the driver's door, the starter solenoid sticks if it's parked up too long, and I have no idea when the cambelt was last changed, so there's plenty of joys of retro ownership to enjoy over the next year!
First things first though - MOT tomorrow...
I've been lurking on here for some time now, and reading about all the brilliant projects going on, so thought it was high time I got my act together and made a thread of my own. And so, here it comes... introducing my '93 reg MR2... cue drum roll etc.
I've had this car as a daily driver and occassionally racking up a few miles for work for 3 1/2 years now, and covered around 30,000 miles with no major trouble. It used to get looked after pretty well when I had a driveway, but has been neglected in the last year or two.
I was tempted to sell it recently - usual story of needing a lot of work that will probably cost the best part of what it's worth. In the end I decided to follow my favourite old-car-ownership motto of 'better the devil you know' and set about getting it through the MOT, getting it looking a bit tidier, and adding a few mod cons.
I haven't got many recent photos so here's a couple of old pics for starters
When it's looking tidy...
And its usual state of (un)cleanliness more recently:
The tyres were looking pretty tortured thanks to me taking quite a full-fat sideways approach to a sprint day in the summer, so it was time to seek out some decent rubber. As luck would have it, a local chap on the owners club had a spare set of wheels with good tyres, which have polished up much better than the old ones. The old set will be trackday wheels, possibly in a lairy black/lime green splatter effect when I get the chance and some bright paint
"New" rims...
I also managed to get a second-hand silencer from the OC and a cheap cat off ebay, both of which are getting fitted tomorrow.
Seeing as I'm keeping it, I decided to give it a good polish, clay bar and wax... I think this is the first time it's seen a sponge since July! And here's a snap from earlier today when the sun came out...
And it's also a good chance to fit all the parts I've had sitting around for the past few months, so... LEDs are now in the courtesy lights, the binnacle, around the ignition barrel and in the glovebox (which didn't originally have a light at all, weirdly)...
... I've also had a pair of Volvo S40 spray jets hanging around for a while which were a nice easy fit and have made a surprising improvement to the coverage...
So, jobs still to do... Well, as you can just about see in the wheel photo, there's a fair bit of rust coming through on the sill, which I wouldn't mind getting sorted next year.
It's also got a bit of an oil leak, a leaky roof, a bunch of annoying rattles in the driver's door, the starter solenoid sticks if it's parked up too long, and I have no idea when the cambelt was last changed, so there's plenty of joys of retro ownership to enjoy over the next year!
First things first though - MOT tomorrow...
but don't tell the misses 
