Model: AW11 MR2 T-Bar
Year:1987
Mileage: 141,002
MOT: Aug 2016
Location: Barnsley
Price:£1,400 now just £1,300 £1,200. I can't stand to look at it. £999. Take it away.
Contact details: Please PM me
Short Version
Huge amount spent (over £2k in parts alone)
Club magazine featured
Solid (almost unbelievably so)
Doesn't jump out of 5th gear
T-Bars DON'T LEAK
Great engine with recent intensive service. Oil pressure perfect
Great suspension
Freshly rebuilt brakes all round - stops better than my Mk3 Supra used to
Fantastic period stereo set-up
Bodywork solid but paint 3/10 - a "10 footer"
Full MOT with no advisory (slight exhaust blow was found, they "puttied" and retested before I'd arrived)
Story
I bought this car on the 14th November for my wife, secretly restoring it intensively over a six week period (at ludicrous cost) and gave it to her for her Christmas present. I had hoped it would be a companion to my E28 M535i and get her into the hobby so we could go to shows together. Because of this, I spent a huge amount of time, money and effort making sure it would last for a long time and it'd give me as little hassle as possible for many years to come.
My M535i never arrived (written off before I could take delivery) so we've never gone to shows in the MR2. In April, we found out that she was pregnant and with a first child on the way, we've made the tough decision that it has to go to fund all the things a new child needs. We've also moved to a more child-friendly house which has less parking. As a result of only finishing fixing the T-Bar seals in March (was in parents garage whilst not), it's only done 270 miles in my ownership after its restoration and I'm expecting to be hit heavily on the money and time I've spent. My loss is your gain.
It was in a bit of a sorry state when I acquired it and had been laid up for four or five years by the previous owner at his workplace (MOT station) before the nagging of his wife and boss along with a need for funds meant it had to go up for sale. I'll be blunt and honest throughout this listing and I hope you'll extend the same courtesy to me. I'll also throw in all the extras I've accrued as I've no use for them.
Good Bits
I care a great deal about my wife, so I made sure the car was mechanically perfect on a no-expense-spared basis. Its also had a feature in the MR2 Drivers' Club magazine about the restoration. Like all my cars, I've been militant about keeping it original OEM with only a handful of period options, but also included braided brake hoses (the OEM brakes were not fantastic and I wanted my wife to have confidence). The car was also originally ordered with all three of the only tickbox options available in 1987 being 3E5 red, having the T-Bar and with the leather interior.
The car is SOLID. The MOT tester (unprovoked) remarked that it was surprisingly unbelievably solid in all the usual places and that "it must be due to the sheer volume of underseal that has been applied at some point". It doesn't jump out of 5th gear and stays cool even on the warmest of days. I also have an organised file of history dating back to the mid 90's including the exhaust which I believe to be a stainless performance item fitted in 2001 at "Demon Tweeks" in Birmingham.
Since November, it's had (according to my notes and the history file):
* £18 - Distributor rebuild kit with new bearings
* £15 - Passenger wing mirror (NOS to fix failed motors)
* £18 - Distributor cap
* £10 - Rotor arm
* £7 - Oil filter (K&N)
* £13 - Fuel filter
* £18 - Spark plugs
* £11 - Leather Gear Gaiter
* £7 - OEM Spec trim fastners
* £22 - Gear linkage replacement kit (skateboard bearings - gear shift is perfect)
* £10 - Gummi-pfledge seal revitaliser
* £32 - Farcella G3 cutting compund
* £35 - Farcella G-Mop compounding heads
* £10 - Replacement perspex dash binnacle cover
* £60 - Pair handbrake cables
* £1 - Diodes (Drivers' electric window modified to do auto "full close" as well as auto-open)
* £6 - Brake calliper bleed nipple set
* £89 - Custom Goodridge braided brake hoses x4 (not in some gaudy colour)
* £62 - 4x Bigg Red brake calliper rebuild kits (all four callipers rebuilt)
* £40 - Brake pads front & rear
* £17 - OEM mud flaps in VGC (rear)
* £20 - Electric aerial (now needs replacing AGAIN...)
* £3 - Garfield (period correct - wouldn't be right without him)
* £18 - Pair chrome exhaust tips
* £21 - Set T-Bar eccentric roof guides
* £14 - Air filter (unused as has early K&N panel replacement - will come with car)
* £240 - Rear body repair panels - Good used valance, new rear lower corners, replacement bumper bar and bumper (replaced the awful boy-racer bodykit bumper and repaired damage found underneath)
* £90 - Dot 5.1 brake fluid, 5.1 clutch fluid, Castrol Magnatec 10w40 and fluids
* £50 - Brake pipe and flaring kit
* £14 - Snooper radar detector (period correct - quite useless nowadays but adds ambience)
* £4 - Reproduction dealer sticker and tax disk holder (digital artwork and spares to be provided)
* £4 - Plastic trim rivets
* £30 - Pair good blue velour seats (leather now unobtainable used and correct perforated leather for re-trim unobtainable - this really irritated me)
* £82 - Battery (top spec, 85Ah - has no drain and started after a month of standing yesterday)
* £26 - Bonnet stay
* £105 - Pair new rear tyres (Goodyear midrange - the old ones were poor)
* £7 - Replica tax disk (correct as originally issued for the car on sale)
* £50 - Replacement door/t-bar seal
* £12 - NOS replacement key (& cutting)
I've:
* changed the oil (twice - mistook Castrol Magnatec 5w30 so it had a 15 min flush before being changed for the correct 10w40)
* changed the oil filter, spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor arm
* set the timing properly
* adjusted the TPS to Toyota BGB values (period dealership manual)
* checked the O2 sensor was behaving to Toyota BGB values
* rebuilt the gear linkage
* replaced the battery with a top-of-the-line one
* checked the brake booster operation to BGB values
* replaced the handbrake cables and adjusted the handbrake (repeatedly)
* rebuilt all four callipers with Bigg Red service parts
* replaced pads front and rear, checked disks are within BGB values
* flushed brake system through with Dot 5.1 top quality fluid
* flushed and bled the clutch system with Dot 5.1 top quality fluid
* replaced drivers front copper hard brake line
* replaced rubber brake hoses with quality braided items
* repaired the butchered wiring harness for the radio properly with soldering iron and heatshrink
* pre-wired the radio harness for a Parrot kit (CK3000 - just requires the "brain module")
* replaced the crummy aftermarket wiring for an amplifier
* reattached carpet
* replaced dashboard clock perspex fascia
* returned all plastic to black
* replaced gear gaiter
* sourced NOS key blank and had a second key cut
* modified the driver's auto-down window action to include auto-up
* repaired the stereo surround, replaced stereo bolts & speaker clips (with factory ones, painstakingly obtained)
* fitted stereo system as described below
* replaced the rear bumper with a factory one
* repaired the bodywork underneath the rear bumper (valance, corners). 16hr weldathon, carefully prepped and repainted in correct "3E5 Red". Also injected liberally with Waxoyl.
* replaced electric aerial (requires doing again)
* revive t-bar seals and replace one side
* replace eccentric guides for t-bar and seal t-bar to ensure no leaks
* replace passenger mirror to return electric operation
* added factory mudflaps
* replaced missing prop
* replaced rear tyres with quiet, grippy and expensive Goodyear Ecodrives
Stereo kit
It's no fun if you've got the T-Tops off on a sunny day but you can't hear your 80's classics because the stereo is useless. Built to period specification from period equipment (except the thin subwoofer required for under the passenger seat and CD player), the whole system is hidden under the seats and was designed exclusively for unrivalled quality rather than volume or boom. It uses a Mk3 MR-S CD player to look as factory as possible but provide all the modern mod-cons (such as a CD that doesn't skip like the Mk2 MR2 unit did). ALL of this kit is hidden under the seats and is unobtrusive but the sound quality is beautiful giving clarity and (sufficient) volume with the T-Tops off and windows down, even on the motorway. It's a damn sight better than the factory system in my modern BMW.
* £50 - Mk3 MR-S CD Player
* £73 - Alpine 3553 Amplifier - Described in period March 1990 F.FWD Magazine as blind testing with a panel of experts to have better sound quality than their contemporary home-spec £6,000 reference amplifier. They actually admitted they'd forgotten they were testing others and just listened to it for nearly two hours.
* £60 - Kicker X3i Crossover network - Period correct. Controls frequencies to amplifier to ensure factory located small speakers aren't overloaded with pointless bass and don't need to be replaced with gaudy monsters
* £6 - High level to RCA adaptors - allow factory stereo to run amplifiers
* £120 - Pioneer 8'' thin mount subwoofer - used to fill in the sound for quality rather than add boy-racer beats. Great for 80's synth pop.
* £21 - Alpine 3552 Amplifier - baby brother of the Alpine 3553, used to run the subwoofer
* £5 - Amplifier wiring kit
* £8 - 5-way power distribution block
* £5 - Amplifier wiring kit (#2)
* £10 - Ground loop isolator x2 - removes 'whine' from stereo
* £21 - 3x 2.5m high quality phono cables
* £13 - 2x 0.5m high quality phone cables
* £6 - MDF speaker rings
* factory speakers were replaced in situ with correct size small units by previous owner
To be included
* Disklok - still the only clip-on security tool worth having according to the crims themselves. It's a little battered but I'd planned to respray in Toyota 3E5 Red to match the car anyway.
* Toyota 3E5 Red - 2 tins to accompany Disklok
* Toyota TCCS Checker - the precursor to the OBD diagnostics system. This rare tool was sold only to dealers as their main service tool. I don't have the harness for the MR2 but they do come up on eBay occasionally. The last one I saw for sale was in the USA for $699! Perfect to display at shows
* Car cover perfectly sized for the MR2
* Stuck-on-You Garfield. A must have for any 80's classic
* 1987 model year brochures from "White & Lockwood ltd", the 80's Huddersfield dealer. I've also recreated their dealer sticker, tax disk holder (several spares to come too) and got a replica tax disk.
* £25 of OEM clips for flexible brake lines. I was a little unhappy with the old ones that came off and had planned to do this. 30 min job (including jacking, etc)
* OEM floor mats, OEM branded period replacement bulb kit, OEM branded period warning triangle
* ~10yr MR2 club magazines from late 90's, history to ~1995 and copy of club magazine in which it featured this year
* Original dealership issued T-Bar bags
Bad points
Most are simple and whilst I don't have the skill to do the paint, for the easier jobs I've lost the motivation and can barely stand to look at it without getting upset about the amount of effort I've put in but that it has to go. There are a few only.
* Whilst the body and chassis is ludicrously solid, the paintwork is a 3/10. It's good from ~10ft but one front wing looks like it was done with a roller when you get close, one rear wing is more orange than red, the blending for the rear end is not good, the bumper needs a little attention and the whole thing could probably do with some love. You can't tell any of this when it's moving or a little way away and TBH, I was more concerned about it driving properly. I was going to get it blown over once I'd finished.
* The T-bar front is solid but will not withstand close inspection (appearances only). I have had it back to bare metal, painted it with "Curust", filled it (skim to level rather than full of) and carefully sealed the top of the windscreen channel with (black) sealant as the rubber seal that came out was awful and is unobtainable. It's neat enough and leak free. I also have the trim piece that could go back if you could find a seal and were so inclined.
* The electric aerial needs replacing...again. If I weren't so inclined for originality, I'd consider a manual one or 80's style rubber replacement. It still moves and it recieves signals perfectly but makes a bit of a racket and gets stuck occasionally. £20 on eBay, 15 min job, no longer avaialble from Toyota
* There's a small hole in the airbox which (sometimes) causes low-idle on warmer days. It's a £35 part from the specialist MR2 breaker and a 15 minute job.
Pics
Year:1987
Mileage: 141,002
MOT: Aug 2016
Location: Barnsley
Price:
Contact details: Please PM me
Short Version
Huge amount spent (over £2k in parts alone)
Club magazine featured
Solid (almost unbelievably so)
Doesn't jump out of 5th gear
T-Bars DON'T LEAK
Great engine with recent intensive service. Oil pressure perfect
Great suspension
Freshly rebuilt brakes all round - stops better than my Mk3 Supra used to
Fantastic period stereo set-up
Bodywork solid but paint 3/10 - a "10 footer"
Full MOT with no advisory (slight exhaust blow was found, they "puttied" and retested before I'd arrived)
Story
I bought this car on the 14th November for my wife, secretly restoring it intensively over a six week period (at ludicrous cost) and gave it to her for her Christmas present. I had hoped it would be a companion to my E28 M535i and get her into the hobby so we could go to shows together. Because of this, I spent a huge amount of time, money and effort making sure it would last for a long time and it'd give me as little hassle as possible for many years to come.
My M535i never arrived (written off before I could take delivery) so we've never gone to shows in the MR2. In April, we found out that she was pregnant and with a first child on the way, we've made the tough decision that it has to go to fund all the things a new child needs. We've also moved to a more child-friendly house which has less parking. As a result of only finishing fixing the T-Bar seals in March (was in parents garage whilst not), it's only done 270 miles in my ownership after its restoration and I'm expecting to be hit heavily on the money and time I've spent. My loss is your gain.
It was in a bit of a sorry state when I acquired it and had been laid up for four or five years by the previous owner at his workplace (MOT station) before the nagging of his wife and boss along with a need for funds meant it had to go up for sale. I'll be blunt and honest throughout this listing and I hope you'll extend the same courtesy to me. I'll also throw in all the extras I've accrued as I've no use for them.
Good Bits
I care a great deal about my wife, so I made sure the car was mechanically perfect on a no-expense-spared basis. Its also had a feature in the MR2 Drivers' Club magazine about the restoration. Like all my cars, I've been militant about keeping it original OEM with only a handful of period options, but also included braided brake hoses (the OEM brakes were not fantastic and I wanted my wife to have confidence). The car was also originally ordered with all three of the only tickbox options available in 1987 being 3E5 red, having the T-Bar and with the leather interior.
The car is SOLID. The MOT tester (unprovoked) remarked that it was surprisingly unbelievably solid in all the usual places and that "it must be due to the sheer volume of underseal that has been applied at some point". It doesn't jump out of 5th gear and stays cool even on the warmest of days. I also have an organised file of history dating back to the mid 90's including the exhaust which I believe to be a stainless performance item fitted in 2001 at "Demon Tweeks" in Birmingham.
Since November, it's had (according to my notes and the history file):
* £18 - Distributor rebuild kit with new bearings
* £15 - Passenger wing mirror (NOS to fix failed motors)
* £18 - Distributor cap
* £10 - Rotor arm
* £7 - Oil filter (K&N)
* £13 - Fuel filter
* £18 - Spark plugs
* £11 - Leather Gear Gaiter
* £7 - OEM Spec trim fastners
* £22 - Gear linkage replacement kit (skateboard bearings - gear shift is perfect)
* £10 - Gummi-pfledge seal revitaliser
* £32 - Farcella G3 cutting compund
* £35 - Farcella G-Mop compounding heads
* £10 - Replacement perspex dash binnacle cover
* £60 - Pair handbrake cables
* £1 - Diodes (Drivers' electric window modified to do auto "full close" as well as auto-open)
* £6 - Brake calliper bleed nipple set
* £89 - Custom Goodridge braided brake hoses x4 (not in some gaudy colour)
* £62 - 4x Bigg Red brake calliper rebuild kits (all four callipers rebuilt)
* £40 - Brake pads front & rear
* £17 - OEM mud flaps in VGC (rear)
* £20 - Electric aerial (now needs replacing AGAIN...)
* £3 - Garfield (period correct - wouldn't be right without him)
* £18 - Pair chrome exhaust tips
* £21 - Set T-Bar eccentric roof guides
* £14 - Air filter (unused as has early K&N panel replacement - will come with car)
* £240 - Rear body repair panels - Good used valance, new rear lower corners, replacement bumper bar and bumper (replaced the awful boy-racer bodykit bumper and repaired damage found underneath)
* £90 - Dot 5.1 brake fluid, 5.1 clutch fluid, Castrol Magnatec 10w40 and fluids
* £50 - Brake pipe and flaring kit
* £14 - Snooper radar detector (period correct - quite useless nowadays but adds ambience)
* £4 - Reproduction dealer sticker and tax disk holder (digital artwork and spares to be provided)
* £4 - Plastic trim rivets
* £30 - Pair good blue velour seats (leather now unobtainable used and correct perforated leather for re-trim unobtainable - this really irritated me)
* £82 - Battery (top spec, 85Ah - has no drain and started after a month of standing yesterday)
* £26 - Bonnet stay
* £105 - Pair new rear tyres (Goodyear midrange - the old ones were poor)
* £7 - Replica tax disk (correct as originally issued for the car on sale)
* £50 - Replacement door/t-bar seal
* £12 - NOS replacement key (& cutting)
I've:
* changed the oil (twice - mistook Castrol Magnatec 5w30 so it had a 15 min flush before being changed for the correct 10w40)
* changed the oil filter, spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor arm
* set the timing properly
* adjusted the TPS to Toyota BGB values (period dealership manual)
* checked the O2 sensor was behaving to Toyota BGB values
* rebuilt the gear linkage
* replaced the battery with a top-of-the-line one
* checked the brake booster operation to BGB values
* replaced the handbrake cables and adjusted the handbrake (repeatedly)
* rebuilt all four callipers with Bigg Red service parts
* replaced pads front and rear, checked disks are within BGB values
* flushed brake system through with Dot 5.1 top quality fluid
* flushed and bled the clutch system with Dot 5.1 top quality fluid
* replaced drivers front copper hard brake line
* replaced rubber brake hoses with quality braided items
* repaired the butchered wiring harness for the radio properly with soldering iron and heatshrink
* pre-wired the radio harness for a Parrot kit (CK3000 - just requires the "brain module")
* replaced the crummy aftermarket wiring for an amplifier
* reattached carpet
* replaced dashboard clock perspex fascia
* returned all plastic to black
* replaced gear gaiter
* sourced NOS key blank and had a second key cut
* modified the driver's auto-down window action to include auto-up
* repaired the stereo surround, replaced stereo bolts & speaker clips (with factory ones, painstakingly obtained)
* fitted stereo system as described below
* replaced the rear bumper with a factory one
* repaired the bodywork underneath the rear bumper (valance, corners). 16hr weldathon, carefully prepped and repainted in correct "3E5 Red". Also injected liberally with Waxoyl.
* replaced electric aerial (requires doing again)
* revive t-bar seals and replace one side
* replace eccentric guides for t-bar and seal t-bar to ensure no leaks
* replace passenger mirror to return electric operation
* added factory mudflaps
* replaced missing prop
* replaced rear tyres with quiet, grippy and expensive Goodyear Ecodrives
Stereo kit
It's no fun if you've got the T-Tops off on a sunny day but you can't hear your 80's classics because the stereo is useless. Built to period specification from period equipment (except the thin subwoofer required for under the passenger seat and CD player), the whole system is hidden under the seats and was designed exclusively for unrivalled quality rather than volume or boom. It uses a Mk3 MR-S CD player to look as factory as possible but provide all the modern mod-cons (such as a CD that doesn't skip like the Mk2 MR2 unit did). ALL of this kit is hidden under the seats and is unobtrusive but the sound quality is beautiful giving clarity and (sufficient) volume with the T-Tops off and windows down, even on the motorway. It's a damn sight better than the factory system in my modern BMW.
* £50 - Mk3 MR-S CD Player
* £73 - Alpine 3553 Amplifier - Described in period March 1990 F.FWD Magazine as blind testing with a panel of experts to have better sound quality than their contemporary home-spec £6,000 reference amplifier. They actually admitted they'd forgotten they were testing others and just listened to it for nearly two hours.
* £60 - Kicker X3i Crossover network - Period correct. Controls frequencies to amplifier to ensure factory located small speakers aren't overloaded with pointless bass and don't need to be replaced with gaudy monsters
* £6 - High level to RCA adaptors - allow factory stereo to run amplifiers
* £120 - Pioneer 8'' thin mount subwoofer - used to fill in the sound for quality rather than add boy-racer beats. Great for 80's synth pop.
* £21 - Alpine 3552 Amplifier - baby brother of the Alpine 3553, used to run the subwoofer
* £5 - Amplifier wiring kit
* £8 - 5-way power distribution block
* £5 - Amplifier wiring kit (#2)
* £10 - Ground loop isolator x2 - removes 'whine' from stereo
* £21 - 3x 2.5m high quality phono cables
* £13 - 2x 0.5m high quality phone cables
* £6 - MDF speaker rings
* factory speakers were replaced in situ with correct size small units by previous owner
To be included
* Disklok - still the only clip-on security tool worth having according to the crims themselves. It's a little battered but I'd planned to respray in Toyota 3E5 Red to match the car anyway.
* Toyota 3E5 Red - 2 tins to accompany Disklok
* Toyota TCCS Checker - the precursor to the OBD diagnostics system. This rare tool was sold only to dealers as their main service tool. I don't have the harness for the MR2 but they do come up on eBay occasionally. The last one I saw for sale was in the USA for $699! Perfect to display at shows
* Car cover perfectly sized for the MR2
* Stuck-on-You Garfield. A must have for any 80's classic
* 1987 model year brochures from "White & Lockwood ltd", the 80's Huddersfield dealer. I've also recreated their dealer sticker, tax disk holder (several spares to come too) and got a replica tax disk.
* £25 of OEM clips for flexible brake lines. I was a little unhappy with the old ones that came off and had planned to do this. 30 min job (including jacking, etc)
* OEM floor mats, OEM branded period replacement bulb kit, OEM branded period warning triangle
* ~10yr MR2 club magazines from late 90's, history to ~1995 and copy of club magazine in which it featured this year
* Original dealership issued T-Bar bags
Bad points
Most are simple and whilst I don't have the skill to do the paint, for the easier jobs I've lost the motivation and can barely stand to look at it without getting upset about the amount of effort I've put in but that it has to go. There are a few only.
* Whilst the body and chassis is ludicrously solid, the paintwork is a 3/10. It's good from ~10ft but one front wing looks like it was done with a roller when you get close, one rear wing is more orange than red, the blending for the rear end is not good, the bumper needs a little attention and the whole thing could probably do with some love. You can't tell any of this when it's moving or a little way away and TBH, I was more concerned about it driving properly. I was going to get it blown over once I'd finished.
* The T-bar front is solid but will not withstand close inspection (appearances only). I have had it back to bare metal, painted it with "Curust", filled it (skim to level rather than full of) and carefully sealed the top of the windscreen channel with (black) sealant as the rubber seal that came out was awful and is unobtainable. It's neat enough and leak free. I also have the trim piece that could go back if you could find a seal and were so inclined.
* The electric aerial needs replacing...again. If I weren't so inclined for originality, I'd consider a manual one or 80's style rubber replacement. It still moves and it recieves signals perfectly but makes a bit of a racket and gets stuck occasionally. £20 on eBay, 15 min job, no longer avaialble from Toyota
* There's a small hole in the airbox which (sometimes) causes low-idle on warmer days. It's a £35 part from the specialist MR2 breaker and a 15 minute job.
Pics
