Hi All

[Joe]

Joe here, I'm a complete MR2 novice, and in fact I'm currently pretty worthless at working on cars full stop, but I'm hoping to learn. I shall within a week be in possession of what I think is an '87 mk1b, but I'm not entirely sure. If anyone's interested I can post the pictures that were on the advert but until I get it at the weekend I won't be able to take any.

It'll be my first car, and at the tender age of 21 insurance has is so far proving to be a bit of a problem, if anyone has any tricks to get it down I'd greatly appreciate it.

I look forward to slowly syphoning off your collective knowledge so that I may one day impart it myself, I'm open to any information, hints, tips or tricks that any of you can offer me. I doubt there is anything so basic that I don't need to know!

[superwhite90]

Hi Joe and welcome to the Mr2Mk1Club!

See if you can put your mum or dad under your policy as named drivers as this is what I did up until a few years ago. I was 21-22 when I owned my first mk1 and it cost around £1100 to insure. If you go on the comparison websites be sure to phone the actual brokers up before you take out the policy as I was shafted a few years ago when all my modifications were not listed.

Alternatively if you don't use it for an every day vehicle, i.e. only at weekends, much lower mileage will get you a cheaper quote. I intend on using mine when it's rebuilt for about 1500-2000 miles and have been quoted £163 - I am 28 but that's with NO NCB on the policy so anything is possible.

[Joe]

Thank you kindly.

I've put my dad down as a named driver, and I've gone for limited mileage, and just through phoning around and sheer force of will I've managed to go from people not wanting to insure me, through £1,100 for third party only (not even fire and theft) to £2,800 fully comp and I've managed to find a quote for about £850 fully comp. Sounds like I won't get it down much further than that though, I shall nevertheless persevere.

[cchrysos]

Hi Joe, welcome to the forum!

As always....we love to see pictures!

As for insurance tricks...i learned at the weekend that putting named drivers on a young drivers policy can bring it down fairly significantly.
My nephew was quoted just over £2000 to insure his first car (Ka). Putting his dad on as a named driver took it down to £1700 and putting his mum on as well took it down to £1500! Not sure i fully understand their logic but it works.

good luck

[Joe]

Ask and you shall receive, these are the only pictures I have access to. However, come Saturday I should have an awful lot more, lol.

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As for the named drivers thing, I believe it's basically to do with that fact that both can't be driving the car at once, so all the while the parent is driving the car the insurance company isn't at as much risk. Could be completely wrong, but it made some kind of twisted insurance company logic to me.

[PeteP]

Welcome.

£850 doesn't sound too bad for a young driver. Actually, compared to my insurance (at 45 with plenty NCB) you're doing quite well. One thing to watch is the modifications that are noted on the policy. I didn't consider my car to have any but the K&N air filter and replacement exhaust may well be notable. I really must get around to checking that with my policy, although I've heard folk on here say that many policies allow two minor mods and some companies don't consider upgraded exhaust and air induction kit to be of any interest.

If you're car is '87 then it is a MK1a, but if you're not sure of the year then one of the easiest ways to identify it is the wheels: MK1a has the triangular pattern wheels and the MK1b has the pepperpot ones. I've yet to see a MK1b owner who prefered MK1a wheels, though the other way around might be done - it's what I'd have done if I didn't already have the pepperpots on my MK1b. The changeover year was '88 and during that year there were a few merges and some cars have a combination of 1a & 1b as standard. (that's right, isn't it, guys?)

As far as getting to know how to work on cars from scratch, most cars from that far back were fairly simple by today's standards, although I've discovered some aspects of the MK1s that was pretty advanced for a production car of the era. Nothing seems particularly complicated if you understand some basic mechanical principals, can follow the manual, and double check with other owners beforehand. You can't go far wrong - unless you think you know better and try to reinvent the wheel, like I've just done. Doh!

[PeteP]

Ah, photos posted as I was typing.

That's a MK1b with aftermarket wheels. Pity (in my opinion) as the originals really keep to the retro look. You may have to mention these as a modification as they are probably considered more expensive than originals, though they don't look any bigger so not a performance mod.

The centre panel around the gear stick and the door panel are different on the standard MK1a.

[cchrysos]

Actually, i think all '87 cars were MK1b and teh changeover was in '86 cars....of course there could be some '87 changeovers around if they sat in the showroom for a while before selling.

I have seen that car for sale on Autotrader for a long time now (many many months). It looks in great condition! It has all the body stripes too so is probably original.

Good luck with it Joe.

[coverco]

Welcome Joe, I believe that car was on Ebay recently. It is the best colour as well :-)

If we can help in any way just ask, don't worry about what you ask as we are quite friendly on here and won't tell you to use the search ;-)

PS I like the wheels myself.

[Joe]

Thanks for the welcomes and info guys.

I think I read somewhere that the changeover was in '87 but it seems this specimen (I'll refrain from calling it mine just yet), was registered in August of '87 so I kind of assumed it'd be a mk1b.

To be honest I was quite surprised to find a quote for £850, I only asked in case someone had any other way to knock it down, every little helps and whatnot.

I think she's in pretty good condition, I did a little bit of homework before I went to see it and it seems as if all the well documented problem areas were all fine, touch wood!

Also for manuals I read that possibly the best thing to do would be to buy a Haynes manual for the US version as most of the differences are minor. Any comments?

[Rinzler]

Welcome aboard Joe!

Saw that one on ebay, looks a fairly straight motor I might add!. Nice one!.

I wouldn't worry about being a novice Joe, I'm not mechanically minded although I wish I was!.

Members here are very friendly and happy to help a member out in need of advice etc so fear not, your in the right place, loads of members here know these cars inside out so you wont be stuck.

Handy if you get yourself a manual which will keep you on the right path, main thing is not to panic if you find yourself stuck, these are very well engineered cars and time has proven how good they are as they are still around when so many other cars have vanished to the pages of history or museums!. I have the Haynes one and it's pretty good, but I don't know if there any other better ones out there.

Just keep on top of your servicing and keep the car running smooth and it will reward you in return.

Insurance quote that's not bad!.

What's underneath like?, if yours is fairly sound be wise to invest in putting a coat of sealant on it, loads of products out there that are aimed at specifically sealing underneath the car, look out for products that are wax oil seal based!.

I've picked a few things up along the way but am far from an expert, these folks here what they know about these cars is amazing, so you will never be stuck.

Happy safe motoring!.

[Jak_01]

Hello,
Nice looking '2! On the insurance side of things i think i can help with it (Im 18 myself!). My MR2 is off the road at the moment (needed a car to take mates out in), so me been me I got myself a 1979 Triumph Dolomite 1850!, this is the first car I have insured and the price on that is £1600 (4000 miles, car value of £2500 and with both parents as named drivers) which for a 1.9l car is impressive for a person of my age! (normally getting quotes of 2-2500 through confused.com on any bloody car like corsas/saxos etc). I guess with you been 21 it would be substantially cheaper! The insurance company is called 'Academy Insurance' http://www.academyinsurance.co.uk/ with my policy been with Aviva!. I like them especially as they dont do any of the evil 'good driver' BS tracker box stuff so you are free to drive and go out in it when you like a real free person! ;) Anyway give them a call they seem to be very cheap! (well for younger drivers anyway!)

Cheers
Jack :)

[HowardB]

Welcome - red cars are GOOD!

[Jawa411]

Hi Joe.

Only been a member of this forum for a few months but the breadth of knowledge is amazing. In terms of insurance, low mileage is key (less driving=less risk of accidents) and put your parents on as named drivers, even if they're not going to drive the car (as i have done with all my vehicles). I am 21 and my insurance is £467 fully comp, 2 years ncb, 1 accident 3 years ago with me not at fault, 5000 miles a year and modifications declared: sports exhaust, performance leads and plugs, sports air filter, aftermarket wheels (mk3 alloys). None of these mods increased my premium. Shop around with insurance is KEY!! The prices vary so much from company to company and you could save a lot of dosh so it's time consuming but worth it.

Good looking car and look forward to many many photos!

Matt

[julianw]

Welcome Joe. Nice looking example you've bought. There's worse places to start learning to fix cars than with a Mk1. They're well engineered and the engine and gearbox are very durable. I'm on my second Mk1, the first one enjoying a rest pending some renovation work with 230,000 on the clock and yes, the original engine. But as someone already mentioned, rust is the thing to watch out for. If you're complacent and don't get on it, you'll be scrapping it all too soon.

As for help, ask away - there's lots of experienced and very helpful people on the forum - both for 'how to' and 'where to get' questions.

[Joe]

Thank you all for the kind words and advice.

Just heard that she's all serviced up and ready to rock so expect more pictures on Saturday, providing I don't just drive through the entire night, in which case definitely Sunday.

Not really much of an update but no one in the office seems particularly interested, so I've branded them all heathens and philistines and started reading the project threads in protest.

Cheers
Joe