1992 MR2 MK2 Project: A big drive

I'm thinking ill keep the silver side trims they give it a bit of a different look.
I like the later lights but not particularly bothered about swapping mine over. Especially when you see the price some people are charging for them now.

Slow changes. I have been making progress on the side skirts.
I needed to add some fiberglass to the top to hide the plate that was bonded on earlier and then a bit of flexible filler to smooth it in. i did all of that and got everything looking rather good.


You might notice masking tape on the car so i don't cover it in filler or fiberglass.


And then i fitted the door as a final sanity check.
Turns out its a mile off and catches the skirt even with the door as high as it will physically go which puts all the trim out of line.
So i went in and ground a load back out of the skirts.
It still wasnt enough so i went for a cup of tea and a bit of contemplation, this involved me deciding whether to just throw the damn things away and stop wasting time on them.

Unfortunately you cant buy new ones or copies of these skirts and i have so much time invested into them now i couldnt bring myself to get rid.
Therefore i had very little choice other than getting medieval with the doors instead.


Yep the doors i spent time repairing properly reinstating the original flange ect i have now ground a few mm off the bottom.
This separates the skin and frame, removing the flange so once i had it trimmed down to the correct height i waved the gun over it and welded the skin to the frame.
This means the skin isnt quite as easy to remove later on but i cant see why i would ever need to anyway.


With the door refitted we can see enough gap has now appeared and with a bit more tweaking it will look even.


Now just to fix all the areas i had ground out in a feeble attempt to get the doors to fit, before accepting my fate and taking it out on the doors.
We need a way to fix the lower back edge of the skirt and stop it flapping about.
The usual way of doing this is a self tapper into the back of the sill
.
.
.
Thats not going to happen.
I have a particular aversion to self tapping screws along with a strong desire to physically maim anyone that uses them to attach a part on their car.

Violent tendencies aside, i made a couple of little stand offs
They are stainless and fix inside the skirt to make use of the oem bolt hole for the side vent.


Bit of PU adhesive to hold them in place and then fiberglassed over.


With everything now having clearance i could take it all off the car and get the shell back onto the ground.


Its such a change seeing it on the floor again. You really forget how small/low they are.
Anyway she has now been pushed out the workshop and into the garage where it will be safe and i can get on with painting all the other bits without working around the shell.


Now i can get a few panels out to work on i need another stand, i looked online but they are an extortionate price so ill make one.
Going a bit more sturdy than wood this time and using up some of the inch box that i ordered way too much off for the horsebox project.


Ill make another one later but i didnt have enough chain so just one extra for now is all i'm getting.

That truly is beautiful work going on there and the colour is stunning,
This will definitely be as good, if not better, than new,
Nigel

Well this has moved on a fair bit since last time I checked in! Looking mega, going to be pretty special this when it's done!

That's my opinion too
I think a close second is the turquoise 746

Hmmm that looks clean, a v6 trd is ringing bells has he put it up for sale ove the past few years? I'm sure i have seen it on some of the groups.

I looked it up and the one i was thinking of was a darker blue.
Have to say i have never been so keen on the trd's i think they are slowly growing on me but wouldnt build one myself. i think its the huge step down from the wing to the door that bothers me most.

If your bored of watching me paint then great news. I have been doing some more painting.
don't worry too much though I'm fed up of doing it too and soon it will be over in favour of some more interesting jobs.
I got the "new" bonnet out and started cleaning up the underside.


Back when i took all the other bits off the scrapyard car i grabbed the boot lid and spoiler as it was a genuine later model whereas mine was the earlier one with all the holes filled in.
Unfortunately when i started stripping it back i quickly found alot of issues with it, issue 1 being rust coming through in an odd spot.


And then i started noticing the filler.


The whole thing must have been buckled in a crash, partially straightened and then filled.

The spoiler is also has damaged mounting points so would need work to be useable.
After all that i best go and get my old one and tidy that up instead.
Unfortunately someone drove into my shed wall and knocked a spare compressor pump off a shelf and it landed on my boot lid so i have a nice big dent to pull out.


Its not too bad. I had already tapped the lower crease out.
I welded a slide hammer bit onto it and got a load more out of the dent.


Welded up some of the spoiler holes


And then added a thin skim of filler.


I prepped a few parts for high build primer.


And primed


Spent a day blocking it all down.



I cleaned up and got the wet on wet primer on complete with dust and fish eyes so i put the gun down for a few days since i had other work to catch up with.


So then looking at it i figured the dust was probably coming off the roof sheets as i hadnt changed them since painting the shell.
The fisheyes I'm not 100% sure but i think it was from the etch primer i had sprayed on some bare aluminium parts earlier. I had cleaned all the overspray off the panels but must have missed one or 2 specks and it reacted.


Regardless of how it happened a few days later i now need to sand a few of the panels back down and reprime,


Then colour and lacquer.


I'm not particularly happy with the bonnet and i might respray it at a later date. The primer didnt go on very smooth and the colour isnt very even but i have already had to buy another L of paint and i want to make sure i have enough to finish the rest of thebits before i worry about redoing any of it.


In some other news i picked up the front crash bar and my spare subframe from the local blasters. They don't fit in my cabinet and i couldnt be bothered setting it up outside with the wet nozzle to do them especially when he will do it for £20 each.


I had some epoxy mastic left over so i used that to put a nice thick coat on them


It will be getting a black topcoat too mostly as i don't want a grey towing hook sticking out my front bumper.

Last bit of painting, i promise.

There isnt much to tell on these so ill keep it brief.
Filler primer which was then rubbed down.


Then i cracked on with the wet on wet, colour and lacquer.



That is finally the end of the paintwork until i decide to respray any of the bits that arnt as good as i would like.
Going to get it on the road first though.

Despite the snow coming down heavily my heater kept the workshop nice and warm at nearly 20deg, i really need to insulate and fix my doors though.


The rest of the day was spent in the freezing shed with the blasting cabinet and powder coating gun.
So the fan shrouds got finished.


And both headlight bowls with the adjuster plates.


Next day the paint was all dry enough that i could move a few things and begin to tidy up the workshop.


Very nice to finally shelve all the paints and associated paraphernalia.
The car can finally be brought back in and finally some parts can be bolted back on hopefully for the final time.