New member- Northampton

[Crossle]

Well bought a car having never had one before and always loved them. Got a classic Audi but was getting a bit board over this winter spell so decided to add a second car to the collection!

What better way to start than by buying a car off of club admin! Being bright yellow I don't think I will be attending any events unnoticed! Actually not a huge fan of yellow but seems to suit the car.

Surprised to see a very low representation of my local area on the club meets section considering how central we are here!

[adamstanford]

I'm over in corby. I'd love to see your yellow car!

[Crossle]

Ah excellent, you might be able to see it from there haha. What are you running?

Don't often see them on my travels. I no there is a blue one buzzing around in Milton keynes I have seen three or four times but that's the only one I've spotted

[adamstanford]

Mine is an 89 g
Red t bar leathers.
Original looking. Polybushes and the usual bits and bobs
And I use it every day.

There used to be another light metallic blue one in corby but that sold on eBay a while back. And a white one in Irthlingborough. I never see any others.

But yeah I'd spot your yellow one a mile off haha!! I saw a yellow one in the garage pics on this site based in Ireland iirc and I was very jealous of its presence as soon as I saw it!!

[Crossle]

Great you can use an old car like that every day. Has it proved reliable?

I have hired a transport service to deliver mine to me on Saturday so pretty excited! Thought my Mrs was going to kill me last night when I tild her I had bought another car but actually she didnt mind the money side- she was just angry because it is bright Yellow!

It always surprises me when I look for a car, we are based nice and centrally in England, right in the heart of the Motorsport world with alot of circuits near by yet when you look for a car you always end up having to travel miles to find one! Also you never find like minded owners in the same area as you! Certainly in Milton Keynes (where I work every day) everyone is travelling round in brand new VW Golf's so maybe thats the reason! No imagination.

[Gilles27]

Good to see the Yellow peril is staying in the club!


Great you can use an old car like that every day. Has it proved reliable
Mine's a daily driver too. It's proved so far to be completely reliable as well as good fun to commute in. They're not too bad in the snow either! ;)

[adamstanford]

People lack their own mind these days. I showed the sale thread to mine and she also does not agree with the yellow. But I think it's insanely right! Yes I live a 10 minute walk from Rockingham speedway. I'm yet to put it on a track for a little hoon I am by no means a mad fast driver so I'd probably embarrass myself. Yeah I've done just about 10k in it now in its first year. I've had to do a bit of welding, which I expected, and the only thing that's actually broken on me was a front arb bracket. Which was joyfully easy to replace. I drove it to Belgium in December for Christmas markets. And it's never failed me, always starts nice, everything works nice. It leaks a bit on the move through where the driver and passenger mirrors are.. Need to sort that really.

I put a bigger alloy radiator in when I bought it as the old one had half its fins hanging out the bottom (wasn't leaking though!) and bleeding it wasn't as painful as I'd expected. A new steering rack, inner tie rods and outers and drop links. All easy jobs remarkably, as I'm no master mechanic. Just remember to treat it as an old thing.. Plusgas and heat are helpful. But it's been more reliable than other cars I have owned, every time I see it I just think it looks great. Obviously the drive is like no other, I see other cars and just think.. You got it wrong!

IMO other than rust (which is easily mended on the grand scheme of things) it is a 100% solid car. Only other things to worry about are your usual consumables, which don't break the bank generally. If you go for original rims you can put premium tyres on at a cheap price.

[Crossle]

Thats some good information thanks very much. I think my first choice would have been Red but what the hell- I like to be a bit different! I had other cars I could have gone for but I thought better to buy a car from someone in the owners club who is more likely to have looked after the car properly. I have bought it under the guise of 'buying to re-sell for profit' where as actually I have no intentions of doing that- I want to keep it! I have just come out of 17 years solid racing single seater race cars and have finally retired from that so thought I should treat myself to some sort of replacement toy! I am completely with you though Adam, if I was sat in traffic and I saw you coming the other way in your MR2 followed by a brand new R8, I would stop and look at your car! So much more character.

The talk of Wheels leads me onto a question- whats generally a sensible size wheel to run on these? To me they dont look like the sort of car that will take a huge wheel very well? Is it better to run them on 15". Also what width will they accommodate? I notice they are 5.5J and 6J as standard. Reason for asking is my car comes with odd wheels so sorting a matching set will be high up on the list of things to do.

Thanks

Scott

[superwhite90]

I've run mk3 mr2 roadster wheels on mine until I recently swapped them for some OZ superleggaras. The Mk3 wheels were 6.5 on rear and 6J on front, standard staggered arrangement to come off the roadster with 195s all round.

I'm still running the same 195s but on goodyears eagle F1 GSD3s - 15" is a good size to go with and i found that there is a better choice of tyre than the 14s.

16s and 17s fit but the handling on 17s is compromised and I found that 16s gave me too much understeer. 16s look more snug in the arch but i really do not like 17s in any shape or form.

[Crossle]

Thanks for that. I have just read up a bit on them and it would seem MK3 wheels are a good and popular option. Cant find any full sets listed for sale anywhere though?

[superwhite90]

eBay.

Sadly I've just swapped mine for a load of bodywork.

[cchrysos]

Thanks for that. I have just read up a bit on them and it would seem MK3 wheels are a good and popular option. Cant find any full sets listed for sale anywhere though?

These are very similar and are a bargain with the tyres if they are still available. A respected member of the forum selling them too ;-)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/showthread.php?17129-15-inch-alloys-wheels-with-good-tyres

[MylesHSG]

To me a MK1 just isn't complete without a set of the tear drops, but each to their own :D

Welcome to the club, I am also getting my MR2 MK1 tomorrow, getting the Train to Norfolk and driving it back!

[adamstanford]

There used to be an ebay mk3 breaker based in Rutland.. I'll see if I can find him later

[adamstanford]

Sellers name is rutlandmr2

Seems to focus on breaking mk3s mostly. Worth giving him a shout perhaps.

[Crossle]

Thanks for the info, I will check that out .Shame the listing on here was back in October so surly they have gone now. I would have certainly had those


Another question, the rust on the A pillars- would it pass an MOT like that?

[autobody]

Hi there, congratulations on your new car. I used to own a yellow one about 10 years ago. Loved it and think the colour looked really good. But yellow for some reason does not show well on photos.

Regarding the alloys I still have them, they are at a garage who is rebuilding my engine. I do hope to travel tomorrow to pick them up and post some better pictures.

[Crossle]

Spot on, let me know on the wheels please.

Car arrived on the back of a recovery truck at mine today. I am pleased with it and it ran up well. Slightly worried I might have bitten off more than I can chew with it but we will give it a good go. I am most concerned about rust. On the front corner splitters/panels, can you buy replacements as the right hand one is completely rotten

[Vistalite]

On the front corner splitters/panels, can you buy replacements as the right hand one is completely rotten
You mean the small corner panels between the plastic splitter and the bumper? Ive got a pair in good condition. They are very easy to fit.

[adamstanford]

I believe so. You can see the rust in the for sale thread

[autobody]

I've seen the forsale post and they are the ones. It's a simple job to do and they do come up on eBay now and then. I have one but not sure which side it is. But many people keep the good ones are a spare.

Regarding the wheels: I have updated the forsale post with some photos I took today. do have a look and let me know if you want them.

[autobody]

Google "aw11 valance" and you will see images of the part you need.

[Crossle]

It's the driver side one I need but will take a pair of need be but if anyone has any good ones drop me a message and I will take them.

Left arch front and rear have smallish rust and right rear quite a lot of rust. Not sure if it's better to repair or replace?

Will take a look at the wheels thanks

[adamstanford]

Left (passenger) front wings are easy to replace but not too easy to find in my experience. I've repaired mine.

Rears I'm not sure as luckily I haven't had to touch them.

[ian crawforth]

you can get a pair of fiberglass wings for £150 from here.
https:www.carbenfibrecreations.co.uk/store/index.php?id_product=8&controller=product

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[sTuArT]

A well known mr2 garage told me last summer you can still buy the front wings direct from Toyota

[mk1 dal]

A well known mr2 garage told me last summer you can still buy the front wings direct from Toyota

And that's when Toyota ran out of stock showing on the Toyota dealer data base . They are apparently in Belgium but lost on the system and have not been logged on the data base , somewhere in the Toyota warehouse the mk1 wings are lost .

[superwhite90]

you can get a pair of fiberglass wings for £150 from here.
https:www.carbenfibrecreations.co.uk/store/index.php?id_product=8&controller=product

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Not a great fit...honeybourne wings are the best.