1986 Mk1 Toyota MR2 in 80s white!

Put zorst on yesterday, went to start, flat again. So swore and went to bed.

This morning she started and sounds excellent, revved it up a little in the garage until the fumes made me heady and with the sports exhaust and induction kit it sounds like a bit of a cracker, very revvy. So I'm well happy. There is still a very slight rattle/tappety noise but nothing serious I don't think, and it is cold.

Did sh1t myself at first though as when it started the vibration made the engine cover slam shut and thought momentarily I'd lunched the whole thing! :-)

So just need to get the front bumper sprayed, sort out a reinforcer and front number plate and then go honing it around! Sorted out a new set of seats as well as the drivers has a slight split. Want to make this one presentable unlike the Porsche!

Well now I'm scared! I've only driven two RWD cars, a 190E that I spun, and the Porsche that I later found had a LSD so was safe as houses.

Well after thinking about making my own reinforcer up I decided to splash the cash and bought a brand new one from Toyota, so I know it will fit and will be a selling point when I part ways with it.

This is what £113.45+VAT buys you:

It's a fairly complex shape but paint is a bit skinny for something that sits hidden and covered in road spray, any ideas what's best to paint it with ? Was thinking maybe underseal or good old hammerite?

This weekend I'm hoping to get most the front back on so I can move it out the garage and paint the nose cone in the garage.

Also splashed out on a new headlight retaining spring - £1.80+VAT, I am such a big spender!!

Update time:

Fitted the new bumper reinforcer, realised I couldn't spray the front bumper well enough on my own so bought another all in white. Also came with much better metal fixing brackets, a nice bonus. The bottom one even has the number plate fixing brackets that normally rust off.


So started to reassemble - poking out the garage, nice day so thought I'd work outside:


After frigging ages trying to get the plastic cover over, realised there are several types of foam insert and I'd picked the wrong one out of the three:



Once swapped it all fitted back together well. I still have to play with the alignment a bit as the gaps are a little out, but certainly looks like a car:



Also picked up front seats, my drivers one had split and got this pair that are in amazing condition. Only problem is I'm getting used to them for playing on the x-box so they might not make it into the car!

Well woke up Sunday and weather was luverly so fought through the "Bored at looking at stationary car and lost enthusiasm" feeling and cracked on, went damn well!

Had a good clear out of the front bonnet thing, solid but some surface rust from 20odd years of use, so out came the stonechip protect stuff in white:




Then attempted to refill the coolant system, took frigging ages and think I still didn't get rid of all the air blocks but defo working now. Next car will have radiator and engine at least close to each other though!

Fitted new plates front and back, realised for first time that the TVS ending is probably a reference to the T-VIS Toyota system?

Still need to replace the front grill and give her a wash. Note the rare original factory number plate mounts, most have rusted off by now!


Then swapped the seats over to the good ones, nothing as satisfying as taking the seats out and giving a car a really good clean, found no cash though!

Mmmm 80s loveliness (old seats in for sale section by the way!):



Then took the old battery out, cleaned and painted the battery tray (Toyota seem to have been clever and supply stand for it to catch the leaks so way better than most old cars). The replacement battery I got was a little short, had the same on a ST162 Celica, and did the same great mod - wooden packer. Looks fine to me!


Then came the exciting task of starting it, a couple of goes and then fired into life, sounding v.nice if a little loud with the exhaust. I let it warm and then gave a few revs and engines sounds juicy, so seem to have sorted the engine problems. Mr Nosy of the street slammed his front door in disgust at my revving, always nice to pee off a idiot.

Whilst waiting for it to warm I had a play, and electric windows, electric aerial and CD/Radio works so all seems good with the old girl, she is complete and ready to go again.

Now the dilemna. Do I tax and insure it for a while to enjoy my hardwork, or flog as is so I can spend the cash on a cot or somesuch baby equipment for forthcoming arrival?!

Final one:

Phew! ;D

Right choice. Get cot off ebay or summat? free ads? guess its double congrats then.
I had many niggles with my MR2 but the cool little car made up for all the curse word it threw at me, hence I'm going to do it all over again. top one.

You won't regret it - mine was a cracker. Just carry some water/antifreeze with you for potential bubbles on the first runs - only settled on mine after a good blast around the M25, stopping every couple of junctions! GF obviously not happy after me saying, 'let's have a day out' ;D

It's looking really good - great job. Go razz the nutz off it!

wicked really glad you got this mk1 sorted mate looks so much better now, good condition mk1s are getting rarer by the day and certainly hold there value if in good nick

Well you can buy the interior but the car comes attached!

High and lows today.

Had a great day at work, 18 months of hassle later we've got a new export grid connection on!

Get home to find insurance on door mat, so rush to post office to stand in line with dregs of the world to buy 6 month tax.

Stick the tax in, check oil and water, all seems fine, so I set off hesitantly. Drive around the block a bit, testing brakes etc, seems ok, keeping revs low (under 4k) until warm. All seems fine so I spy the MK grid roads and head off. Go to pull out and it just doesn't want to rev! Apologies to the bloke behind who had to sit at 30 in a 60 until the next pull over.

So I pull over, open the engine bay and it all looks ok. It's starting to sound badly misfiring like my 924 when I accidentally left a plug lead off. I check these and they're all on, some seem more secure than others though but forgot tools (did bring oil and water). Can't see anything obvious so I drive off, stuttering away and make it home.

Now it's raining and getting dark so will have to wait for the weekend but not sure what it is. The odd time I did get it to rev a bit I think I can detect the knocking like it had before from the knackered big ends but can't be sure over the misfiring/spluttery sound like a WW2 spitfire. Could I have knackered big end bearing again in 10 mins of idling and 5 minutes of driving?

Ho hum. Any idea? Or have I just spend £100 texting a garden ornament?! Silly these cars we drive.