1988 White T-bar

[Rich135]

Hi All,

I thought I would post up as a new member. I have just bought a lovely 1988 white T-bar with leather from a top guy in Lincolnshire. I am the 3rd owner and it's got 48,000 miles with full history from new, including original invoice etc.

It's not been restored and has very few faults, but I will take my time sorting a few things to bring it back to being like new. I do have the original teardrops which are pretty much perfect, but need new tyres as they still wear the originals! I do like the look of the non-standard alloys though (they need a refurb).

I hope to learn a few things from the site, and look forward to many years of Toyota reliability!

Cheers

Rich

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/[/url]MR2 13 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWdrd) by [/url], on Flickr [/IMG]
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049142187_cc55ee6ac2_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 12 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWpXZ) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049063196_3d200ddeca_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 11 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcW1u5) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049103563_b98be68836_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 10 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWdu4) by Richard Goodworth (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/), on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049142287_4eb37a0265_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWpZH)MR2 8 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWpZH) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049063311_83401b2bb8_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 7 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcW1w4) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049103353_b0ce106c0d_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 15 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWdqr) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049062991_eca004ce52_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 17 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcW1qx) by , on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049103278_19eafe2d04_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 18 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWdp9) by , on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2gcWpTq]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48049141922_4c09d043f6_c.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181975520@N03/)MR2 19 (https://flic.kr/p/2gcWpTq) by , on Flickr

[Tellso]

Nice one Rich. Welcome to the club.
48k miles is impressive. Thats a mere 100k less than mine!

Look forward to the pics (I never worked out how to post them either!)

Cheers
Ben

[Rich135]

Thanks Ben! Yours has been used properly ;)

[Martin42006]

Welcome to the club. Nice to have another member on here, it can get lonely at times.
It sounds like you have got yourself a good low mileage example. Look forward to some photos.

[Rich135]

Welcome to the club. Nice to have another member on here, it can get lonely at times.
It sounds like you have got yourself a good low mileage example. Look forward to some photos.

Thanks Martin. Any idea how I can post attachments? My "posting permissions" just under this box says "you may not post attachments". Do I need to pay a membership fee?

Rich

[Martin42006]

Possibly, Jimi would be able to confirm.
The best way I have found is to upload the images to a 3rd parts image hosting and then just link it here using [I MG] [/I MG] tags

[Gilles27]

Thanks Martin. Any idea how I can post attachments? My "posting permissions" just under this box says "you may not post attachments". Do I need to pay a membership fee?

Rich

Rich, until you get this sorted, do you want to email pics to me and I'll post them here for you? cuz.currie@gmail.com

:)

[Rich135]

That's kind of you, on their way!

Rich

[Rich135]

It's a miracle, I have worked it out. I will go and add pics to the original post.

[Gilles27]

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[Rich135]

Thanks Gilles! My little brain figured it out while you were helping :-)

[Gilles27]

Ah well. You can't have too many mr2 pics in a thread!

[Martin42006]

Looks great. The low mileage must make a big difference. Nice that it has been kept mostly original aswell.
If it hasn't been done already I would see about getting it cavity waxed, best to catch those tinworms early.

[Rich135]

Looks great. The low mileage must make a big difference. Nice that it has been kept mostly original aswell.
If it hasn't been done already I would see about getting it cavity waxed, best to catch those tinworms early.

Hi Martin, Yes I know it has been waxoiled underneath, but I will get it up off the floor over the Autumn and have a proper look around and re-do any areas needed. I will do a search on here and see if there are any tips on which bits to do properly as I am not that familiar with the MR2 at the moment but have had a few other classics over the years - they all have their achilles heals to look after!

Oh, I have the original wheels as well, they will be re-shod and back on the car soon!

Rich

[Martin42006]

Sounds good. Make sure they have done inside the chassis aswell as these cars rust from the inside out.
The most common areas are
Rear arches, especially the bottoms behind the skirts I would also pull the boot liner out and check the inner arch and the bottom corner.
Sills, seem to start around the skirt mounting holes.
Front bumper bar
Front chassis above the front ARB mountings
B posts around the door opening switch

Pretty much every point on the chassis is becoming a rust trap now but they are some of the most common.

Glad you have the original wheels. I think they are best suited for it.

[Rich135]

Thanks very much Martin, that is really useful. I know the front bumper bar is good, but will get the side skirts off, and the rear boot liner out and check both of those. The "Frunk" is fine.

[Tellso]

What a great example. Certainly been well looked after.

[xanderman66]

Wow ..very nice ..Congrats ...

[Rich135]

I started to do some underbody rust protection at the weekend, so jacked up the car and took the side skirts off to see what it was like underneath! I am pleased to report the sills came up really nicely after a quick clean with a sponge.
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There are a few very small bobbely areas around two of the plastic clips, but I will rub them down and treat them with kurust/paint as they can't be seen one the skirts are back on.

After that I attacked the underneath with a jet washer and will give it a good going over with wire brushes next weekend before using Dinitrol RC900 then underbody seal and cavity wax. I hate the idea of water getting into any little rusty areas if I ever do go out in the wet weather.

Any tips on other areas to look at while the car is up? Should I take the rear mud flaps off and clean all of that up, or is that asking for trouble? They look pretty good but not perfect.

I will try and take more before and after photo's next time.

Rich

[Sillyhatday]

Get all the crap out behind the front wheel arch. Bottom of the A pillar fills with wet vegetation! I filled that area with some black stone chip protection spray. After clearing it out first. You can't see any of it without removing trim.

I always clean behind the inside of the rear wheel arch lip during a wash. It lets wet dirt sit on it.

[Rich135]

Thanks for that tip, I did pull the front wheel arch lining out a bit and found myself pulling leaves out of the bottom of the arch! I will get the liner off completely once the front wheels are off and give it a good clean/protection.

Noted on the rear arches.

[Martin42006]

Looks very tidy under there. Gives hope that the rest of the chassis is good aswell. If you protect it properly now then you will get alot of life out of it.

[Evo4Jon]

Looks beautiful :0)

[Rich135]

I thought I would give you all a quick update. I am still working on protecting the underneath and eventually managed to find a day free to get stuck in with the Dinitrol protection. I got the mud flap and front arch liners off to check for any areas where corrosion had started, rubbed it right back to clean metal, used RC900 to convert any rust, and then put new underslea on (Dinitrol 4941 I believe). I also used Dinitrol ML cavity wax in the sills etc.

So far so good. I haven't found anything that worrying, just the middle "hole" in the mud flaps that had corroded away, but I am sure it will be happy enough with just 2 fixings anyway (can you still buy these new??).

The rain was falling sporadically so I couldn't spend the whole day out there, but I have done one whole side and most of the small areas that needed touching up on the underneath.
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Rear arch:
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Front arch:
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More to do when I get another half day spare!

Rich

[Sweetpea]

That's unbelievably tidy. Blimey... It's as if it's only a couple of years old.

[Rich135]

It was a little bit messier before treatment but I didn't manage to get any before shots! I will try to do that when I tackle the other side. Luckily I haven't seen the need for a welder yet, so fingers crossed that continues.

[Sillyhatday]

Looks spot on under there now. I do try when washing to clean the traps out in the arches, that will help as much as the under seal. Nice to see you got some in the A pillar area. No mud or leaves in there and coated now.

[Martin42006]

Does look nice and clean. would be great to see some before pics of the other side.

[Rich135]

Santa was nice to me this year and brought me replacement front speakers and some larger speakers for the rear (all ordered by me and given to the wife to give to me! A set of 4 Infinities from the popular online auction site, NOS).

I spent some time last weekend building speaker boxes to house them behind the seats (ala a thread I found that Jimi had done). They are all finished other than covering then in black material which should arrive this week.

I can't want to hear them! I wonder if I then might need to upgrade the head unit as I still have the original (obviously I will be keeping that for originality) and I like some decent music.
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[Sillyhatday]

I had a set of Infinity speakers years ago. I was impressed with them for the money. They ended up in three different cars, owned by different people. They were robust. Wish I still had them, I was offered them back, but they got scrapped with the car. Anyway.

Nice little boxes you made there. Are they vented at all? I'd heard that car speakers like to be in open baffle to work at their best. Not sure how true that is.

[Rich135]

Yes I think you are right, as every subwoofer I have seen has an open port on them. I have an open hole at the bottom to vent so hopefully that will do the trick (they won't be hard against the floor so it should work). If not, I will make a hole in the back or side.

Good to hear they should sound good! I can't wait to try them.

[Martin42006]

Looks like they will do the job. Once you have them covered in black carpet they will look like they belong in there.
Speakers are always rather far down my list of things to do. Mainly because my ears are to knackered to tell any difference unless one is crackling.
Have heard good stuff about infinity speakers though so im sure it will sound great.

[Sillyhatday]

That vent will do the trick, should be close enough to an open baffle. Subwoofer ports are calculated for area and length, too much to worry about. They can work sealed too. The smaller speakers tend to be made with the knowledge they will be in a door or something that is not sealed at all. It will be fine :)

Interested to know how it helps the sound. Hard to get any bass response from those 4" dash speakers!

[Rich135]

Ok I managed to find an hour to install them today. I wanted to use the correct wiring so had to take a few interior panels off to get to the original rear speakers and remove them completely. I re-used the nice little connector and soldered the other end onto the speaker boxes so that they can be removed by unplugging them easily and all original wiring is in place.

The sound is a vast improvement. Must more depth and can now take a bit of volume. If I am honest there still isn't the "bass" that I am used to, but I drive a modern Skoda with fancy surround sound system and subwoofer, so I am probably being unrealistic expecting anything like it!

Next job is to cover them when the material turns up, and then I'll take some pictures. I might upgrade the headunit for one with bluetooth as I like to stream from my phone, but I'll make sure it is all reversible so I can put the original unit back in if needed. Something like this would be good https://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/car/rec/dab/KDC-BT730DAB/?view=details

I would call this little job a success :-)

[michaeljapp]

Looks like a great example, there really can't be many left like this in the country.

[Martin42006]

If you want more bass then one option would be to pick up a mk1a sub that fits under the drivers seat, upgrade the speaker in it and fit to yours. Easy upgrade as the fitting points and wiring is already there.

[Sweetpea]

Not sure I'd recommend the Toyota under seat sub. It was, well, a bit pointless to be honest.

To get bass (ideally) you need a big speaker in a big cabinet. The best I had was a 10 inch driver behind the back seats using the boot as a cabinet.
You'll never get that in the MR2 'cos there just isn't a big enough volume anywhere.

The theory of porting is that you take the pressure wave off the back of the driver, pass it through a long tube such that it re-appears at the front back in phase. You can only do that at one frequency so you normally organise it to reenforce the sound just where the bass is rolling off. Again, you haven't got the room so I wouldn't worry about it.

The only other thing you could do (and you'll have already have done this) is turn up the bass to compensate for the limitations. But then you'll be limited because you'll run out of travel in the 4 inch drivers at the front. Unless you filter the bass out of the front drivers and let the back ones do the work...

Anyway, If it sounds better then you've done a grand job. Tea and medals well deserved.

James

[Rich135]

Thanks guys, all useful information. I am sure I am currently limited by the head unit as well as the cheap Bluetooth radio sender I am using to pick up tunes from my iPhone so I won't get too caught up in trying to perfect anything.

As you say, you need some big space and the MR2 just doesn't have that!

Anyway, back to the pictures, really pleased with the final result.
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[Sillyhatday]

Dam, they look spot on! Real nice job. Good to hear it was worth doing in the end.

Everything James said is right. I just didn't want to complicate things. He's got a better less confusing way of saying stuff than me :lol:

A quality radio playing will help with the bass. That's where most of the power is needed. I've used http://caraudiosecurity.com/ http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ in the past. I can't say what they are like these days.

[Rich135]

Thanks very much for those links, I will take a look!

[Rich135]

I know you guys like to hear about progress on our cars. I have spent the last week taking off the rear bumper to check and restore the bumper bar etc.

I am relieved to say everything was pretty good with just a bit of surface rust on the top inner bumper support trim and some on the main bar too. All three strips of metal were rubbed down, rust treated, etch primed and top coated, along with a liberal dose of cavity wax in the main bar.

All is now looking like new and ready to go back on.
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All is looking good behind the bumper too.
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[jimi]

For future reference, a bit of background on my speaker box design. It was never meant to be a sub box and was specifically designed to be a closed box to deal with bass/mid frequencies, I wanted the tight bass you get from a closed box design, not the "woolly" ported/open sub sound.
The box dimensions were worked out using the Theile/Small parameters for the 6" component speakers I intended to use. Also had to allow me to still store the T-bars safely behind the seats and lose as little seat travel as possible..
My system is set up much as James described, 2-way coaxial speakers in the front and 6" in the boxes. My head unit allows me to tailor what frequencies go where and also has a built in equaliser. Basically mid/high to the front and low/mid to the sub output., sub output is used to drive a amplifier under the passengers seat, output from this is routed via tbe Infinity crossovers to remove any high frequencies.
The rear output is not used and the standard rear speakers have been completely removed, in fact I have LED lights installed bebind the rear speaker grills.
As James pointed out sound (as in hifi) is very subjective and individual so what I was aiming for may not suit others all that really matters is whether you like the sound or not.

[Rich135]

Thanks for posting that up Jimi. Maybe I shouldn't have drilled a port then, but the sound is excellent none-the-less, especially as it's only coming from the original head unit at the moment. A MASSIVE improvement on the original speakers which were obviously all shot from being 32 years old. Thanks again for posting up the pictures/dimensions of your boxes, they really do the trick.

Nice idea on having LEDs in the old speaker holes!

[jimi]

If your happy with the sound, that's all that matters :thumbup:

[MR2 Michael]

It certainly looks like you've got a really mint car there. Definitely been well looked after.

[Rich135]

It certainly looks like you've got a really mint car there. Definitely been well looked after.

Thanks Michael, it's a credit to it's two previous owners. I will just try to keep it that way.

[Rich135]

So the car has been at a local body shop for the last couple of weeks as I really wanted to get the rear valance resprayed - it had just started to get some surface rust at the edges so I wanted to stop that before it took hold. I also had the rear bumper resprayed, as well as all of the inner lips of the arches, as they had some paint chipping off from general use over the years and I didn't want any rust to set in. Lastly they re-lacquered just below the engine air intake as that had failed near where the bumper strip is.

They are all the original arches as this car hasn't had any body work done, so I wanted to keep them that way.

I know we all like pictures, so here are a few while I was putting it back together.

Still to to: Put the side bumper strip back on under the engine intake, put stickers on the bumper and rear 3/4 panel, put rear mudflaps back on, replace front wheel arch liners, put the rest of the bolts in the under bumper bar (done), put side skirts back on.

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[Rich135]

New pin striping put on tonight. It was a bit nerve racking but I am happy with the result.
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[Martin42006]

Looking really tidy there. Good job.

[MR2 Michael]

Well done for getting them on. Look pretty perfect to me.

[Rich135]

Thanks chaps. I have a few little goodies turning up this weekend so I can keep playing with the car. A new belt (replaced the alternator but the website I ordered the belt from sent a 4 tooth not a 5 so had the put the old one back on for a few weeks), wipers and oil filter ready to give her a service in a few weeks.

How hard is it to do the cambelt on one of these? I did my Land Cruiser a few months ago and that was fairly straight forward but the access is probably much better under that massive bonnet! It looks a bit tighter in the MR2.

[Sweetpea]

Cam belt's not terrible in my opinion. The bottom pulley can be a git to get off. There isn't a lot of room between the engine and the body. And it goes round the engine mount so that has to come apart. I think I just took mine off to get it out of the way.

Good luck!

[Martin42006]

Cam belt is doable in an afternoon.
Engine mount has to be removed and you will need a deep 10mm splined socket for the tensioner bolt.
The bottom pulley can be stuck but please for the love of whoever you regard as holy don't use a 3 jaw puller.
The pulley lip will break, it's done very often and really gets on my nips.
You want a "plate" style puller. It bolts in the middle of the pulley and a bolt through the middle to wind the pulley off.

I cobbled one out of a spare bit of 10mm plate.
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2020/02/265d5e01ce1cd4437cb646ae4fb4849d-1.jpg

[julianw]

Iirc I made something similar when i was doing the cambelt repeatedly (issues with oil leaks from the gasket on the covers and the oil seals on the ends of the cams). But I made mine much longer and it sits on the face of the pulley, not inside it. The end of this tool would then brace against the inner wing/engine bay wall and meant I didn't need to lock the flywheel to undo the crank bolt. I'll try to get a pic when the archaeological dig reaches that part of my garage.

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[Rich135]

Thanks everyone. After doing a bit of reading last night as well, I am confident I can tackle this one over the summer.

Thanks for the tip on not using a 3 jaw puller - typically I have about 6 different sizes of those, but don't have any plate style pullers! I bought a bunch when I needed to remove a broken driveshaft from a diff on my old Lotus. I will try and cobble one together from a few parts when I get to that and give myself plenty of time in case I need to order any special tools.

Many thanks

Rich

[Rich135]

OK chaps, I need to keep myself busy, and seeing as we aren't really allowed to use our cars at the moment (side from a quick trip to the garage to get some paracetamol for the elderly neighbour over the weekend) I have decided to tackle my cam covers.

Firstly, as they look in situ - they really are the worst bit of my engine bay:

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Next up I employed my 15 year old daughter to help remove them - she did all the work and I just directed. She did a great job and aside from getting the old seal washers off (which were a pain) the covers actually came off really easily.

I managed to retain this sticker which look pretty original to me, so hopefully I can reapply it. Surprised to see french on there!

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Next was paint stripper left for an hour or so and a copper brush to get all the paint off. That worked really well. Then I rubbed one of them down with 500grit wet and dry to get a nicer finish - furthest one done, nearest one not yet done:

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After finishing rubbing down - mine weren't that pitted at all so shouldn't take long - the plan is to clean thoroughly in a sink, then use thinners to clean the main surface before allowing to dry and applying paint in the following order - let me know if you disagree!

- seal all holes
- etch primer
- UHT silver paint - a good few coats so not too thick each time
- hand paint the letter black and red - I only have humbrol paint pots - that will be ok won't it?
- UHT lacquer - a good couple of coats

I have new seals and seal washers ready to go back on afterwards and will use some gunk in the corners where they are prone to leak (I saw the previous owner had the same as there was still some evidence).

Any other tips welcome.

I want to check the valve clearances while I am in there, and have read the BGB but having never done this before I am in new territory! I will try and fine TDC first (guess I need to get under it turn the main crank?) and see how I get on.

All the best
Rich

[jimi]

How hard is it to do the cambelt on one of these? I did my Land Cruiser a few months ago and that was fairly straight forward but the access is probably much better under that massive bonnet! It looks a bit tighter in the MR2.

Many years ago Paul Woods used to charge £50 for a cambelt change, which included the belt. IIRC his record time for the change was 39 minutes :eek:

[Rich135]

Many years ago Paul Woods used to charge £50 for a cambelt change, which included the belt. IIRC his record time for the change was 39 minutes :eek:

I saw that during my reading about it Jimi - crazy! Recently he said he still does them but there isn't as much call for it these days so he is out of practice. It's a shame he is hours away from me.

[Rich135]

OK the etch primer, silver and lettering has been done, just the lacquer to go now.

PS bath towel will be available for sale after the event, please keep an eye on ebay and bid generously

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[Rich135]

OK, cam covers are back on, with VERY brief test drive to get the engine up to temp and check for leaks - all seems good (I did apply a bit of gunk in the corners before putting them back on).

Very pleased with the look, such a big improvement in the engine bay.

Before:
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After:
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[jimi]

Looks great :cool:

[Sweetpea]

It does look great.
The OCD bit of me was always upset that they didn't put the writing on the other way up on the MR2... Can't blame you for that though!

[jimi]

It does look great.
The OCD bit of me was always upset that they didn't put the writing on the other way up on the MR2... Can't blame you for that though!

You probably know already know this, the writing is that way because the 4A-GE was originally designed for use in a FWD car and in that orientation the writing is the right way round. The 4A-GZE on the other hand has the writing the correct way for a MR2 ;)

[Martin42006]

Engine bay looking really good. Nice work on the can covers.

[Rich135]

Hi All,

I have only done a few jobs recently on the Mister 2. First as a full body treatment, starting with clay bar, followed by using my new dual action machine polisher to give a full compound, then polish and then wax treatment.

Having never used a machine polisher before, I was a bit nervous but the results were amazing. The clay bar really lifted the "matt" feel of the paint, the so many little imperfections were taken out with each stage. It took a while to do the whole thing, including masking any black areas, but was well worth it. Pics never do it justice, but are good to see anyway.

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Other than that, I have polished the rear tail pipe using my dremmel and some autoglym (not in above pics) and just driven her! Any excuse to pop to a local farm shop during lockdown and now we have a bit more freedom I will head out for longer drives when the rain stops.

I hope everyone is well.

Rich

[Gannett]

Nice work.

[Rich135]

Hi All, I have decided I am bored in the evenings and want to tackle some other bits on my car. Last night, after giving the engine a spruce up and using some Autoglym rubber and plastic gel on the pipework etc (amazing stuff!) I got the urge to remove the front headlight pod and check the state of the metalwork.

As expected I have some surface rust, as well as corroded screws holding the chrome surround on (had to dremel a few off). The cavity looks really good, with only a few very minor areas which will need treating, pics below.

I wouldn't mind getting the units themselves shot/sandblasted and have been quoted £72 in vat to get the pair done - a bit pricey? That doesn't include painting... I thought it might be almost as cheap to buy a small blast cabinet, as I have a compressor - any recommendations for the cabinet or material to do the blasting? I have never done that before.

Lastly, are the pods powder coated or just painted, out of the factory? The shotblast guy said it would cost more if they were powder coated but I don't know how to tell!

Here are some pics:
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[Martin42006]

I think they were powder coated from the factory.
The guy sounds a bit high especially if he isnt coating or painting them. might be worth sing if you have another powder coater local. the parts wont be cheap to blast due to all the angles and cavities though
There is definatly nothing wrong with getting a blasting cabinate and giving it a go but i would say if your expecting any sort of decent results and not have it take all week then you need a big compressor.
As an idea my blasting cabinate is connected up to a clark industrial which can supply 14cfh and it works well but takes an age to get through powder coating and can be a bit slow on rust. im currently looking for another compressor to run in tandem.

Crushed glass works well for a cheap media and gives a great finish but does get quite dusty after a while.
if your wanting to strip them down the best thing i can suggest is some industrial paint remover, i quite like power strip it works well (do not use in an enclosed space, make sure you have ventilation!!)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Power-Strip-Best-Industrial-Strength-Heavy-Duty-Paint-Stripper-Remover-1Litre/252471247040?epid=19031290178&hash=item3ac87580c0:g:UpkAAOSwZZlbmN1c

smother it on and leave it wrapped in cling film for half an hour and you should find most of the power coat has bubbled off and the rest should shift with a wire brush or a second application.
once you have it mostly cleaned off then give it a blasting and paint/powder coat.

[Rich135]

Thanks very much Martin, I appreciate the feedback. It's helped me to decide I will definitely pay a professional to do it with a decent cabinet, as my air compressor just wouldn't be man enough for the job.

I will try around a few local "paint shops" to see if they want to quote for it, but if not I will drive further a field to the guy that has quoted already.

Cheers

Rich

[Rich135]

I found a powder coating place 20 mins away that are charging £20 per unit to strip and powder coating the units, which seems a real bargain! He said they will take a week as their very busy, so fingers crossed they are good when I get them back. If they are, they might see a bit more business from me when I refresh the suspension over winter!

[Martin42006]

That sounds a very good price. wonder if they have a dip tank setup there would speed up the process alot and make it cheaper.
I know i wouldnt want to blast and powdercoat them for £20 a piece.
Interested to see how they come out, keep us updated.

[Rich135]

I agree Martin. They are a pretty large company doing a lot of industrial stuff, so I think they must have a tank and it will be something they just pop in the oven along with the big stuff.

Fingers crossed!

[Gannett]

Very nice - and lots of fun to drive.

[Rich135]

So, this happened on a drive last Sunday, my daughter managed to get a photo just before it changed to 1!

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We heading to have a look at these in a showroom:

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[Rich135]

Update on the headlight pods - they are back from the powder coater, and.. wow! What a job. Stripped and coated, and he even bunged/covered all of the threads for £40 for all 4 parts. To say I am pleased is an understatement.

Can't wait to fit them over the next few days.

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[MR2 Michael]

Oh wow yeah, they look fantastic. Seems like a good price too.

[Martin42006]

That is a good price and looks like a decent job. Looking forward to seeing them fitted. [emoji16]

[Rich135]

Thanks guys. All fitted last night, didn't take too long at all, which was a pleasant surprise after years of working on an old Lotus...

Near side before putting the cover and plastic shroud back on

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Offside, up and down
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I used someone's tip to mark the covers before removing them to that you can put them back in the exact same place, and that worked a treat! Only minor fettling needed.

I love this little car :-)

[ziggy]

Hi Rich

Cheeky pm sent

[Rich135]

Hi All

Another little update as I have been doing a few others bit. I never like seeing the rusty casing of the air intake fan in the engine bay, so decided to get it out, give it a solid rub down, etch primer and top coat. It's much nicer now and it wasn't too fiddly to do.
Urgh
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That's better
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Next up, I managed to sell my old snow tires from the Land Cruiser I sold over the summer, so had some "car" money and decided to bite the bullet and get new tyres and have the AZEV alloys refurbished before they go on.

All wheels have been swapped with the original tear drops while the AZEVs go for dipping and powder coating - hoping to have them back at some point next week! Pics to follow....

[Sweetpea]

Nice!
The light mechs have come out incredibly well too. One of mine is feeling a bit stiff and sluggish so I'll have to do them before too long. If they come out half as good as yours I'll be very happy.

[Rich135]

Thanks very much. I was really pleased with them as it's the first time I have every had anything powder coated. I want to do more now as it is such a lovely finish!!

No news on the wheels yet - they have been gone a week and i have missed a couple of days of reasonable weather to take the car out :-(

[Rich135]

They need to be fitted at the weekend, but I am very pleased with the end result
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[Tellso]

Very nice! Did you go with those Toyos that you were looking at?

[Rich135]

Yes I did. They seems great value for money and have a lot of good reviews online. I am not driving it hard or tracking/using in the wet, so they will be more than adequate for me.

[Rich135]

Ok wheels all fitted now. Pretty pleased - it's looking quite mean in the darker colour!
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[Tellso]

Really nice. Suit the car. I really like the colour combo.... now get some decent tyre shine on those new rubbers ;-)

[Rich135]

Oh yes, good point! I have some in the garage.... :-)

[MR2 Michael]

They look very nice. And I agree, they do suit the car well. Giving me ideas.....

[Rich135]

I hope everyone has good a good Christmas.

It's front end refresh this week, starting with removing the headlights, then front bumper, then bumper bar and lastly the fans and fan shrouds.

I'll let the pics do the talking, but a little surface rust on the bumper bar and fan shrouds so they will be going off for powder coating on Tuesday. All other parts I am cleaning up and refurbing.
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[MR2 Michael]

Happy new Year.
That crash bar looks in great condition. I got a replacement one for mine in the end.
Great to see all the work that you are doing, looking forward to seeing this car one day!

[Rich135]

The powder coated parts have arrived! First pic of the fans back together....

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[jed]

Great result, when I refurbished mine trust you had not to drill out the underside fixing bolts, 2 of the bolts broke, well worth the effort, keep updating the thread

[Rich135]

Thanks. Luckily the only screws I couldn't get out where the little cross-heads holding the fans onto the fan shrouds, so they were pretty easy to dremel and grove to use a flat screwdriver on. The bolts at the bottom of the fan shrouds must have been a real PITA!

[Rich135]

A few more parts done. On to fitting the bumper next.

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[MR2 Michael]

A few more parts done. On to fitting the bumper next.

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Now that looks rather good!! You must be so pleased :)

[Rich135]

Now that looks rather good!! You must be so pleased :)

Thanks Michael - I sure am!

[Rich135]

Bumper and bar underneath back on. Just the headlights to go now.
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[Martin42006]

Looking sharp, well done.
A suggestion is to fill the bumper bar with a cavity wax, that way the inside should be kept in good nick too.

[Rich135]

Looking sharp, well done.
A suggestion is to fill the bumper bar with a cavity wax, that way the inside should be kept in good nick too.

Thanks Martin, I have done that already :-) I also put a coating of Dinitrol on the outside of the bar after the above photo's and before it was covered up, as belt and braces.

[Rich135]

All done and everything functioning again. That was a very satisfying job, even through from the outside, no one is every going to know that anything has been done :D

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[Rich135]

It was MOT day today and I am pleased to say we passed! The guys at the garage kept telling me how much they loved the car, which is always nice to hear :-)

I had one advisory, a slight leak from the exhaust between the manifold and the mid pipe. I joined them a couple of years ago and probably didn't use enough paste, so I can have a look at that in a few weeks.

800 miles between MOTs - I blame COVID but even so - that's not good enough!!

[MR2 Michael]

Great to hear another pass!
Did you put new gaskets in-between the exhaust and manifold? I may have some spares if you need them.
I was looking at my mot history the other day and my car only completed 161 miles from its MOT in 2007 and its last one back in June 2020. :-P I have since added another 1000 since then!

[Martin42006]

Another pass is great news. its a lovely example so its nice to hear that the mot station appreciates it.
Mine has only managed 3k miles in the past 7 months which is poor going for me.

[Rich135]

Great to hear another pass!
Did you put new gaskets in-between the exhaust and manifold? I may have some spares if you need them.

No I don't think I did Michael, I think I just used paste. If you can find them I would love to buy one of them off of you!

Thanks

Rich

[MR2 Michael]

No I don't think I did Michael, I think I just used paste. If you can find them I would love to buy one of them off of you!

Thanks

Rich

I will have a look for you. I think you need two between the manifold and front pipe and one between the front pipe and rear back box section.
I'm replacing my exhaust in a couple of weeks and it came with 3 gaskets. I'm pretty certain that I have two more somewhere in the garage.

[Rich135]

I will have a look for you. I think you need two between the manifold and front pipe and one between the front pipe and rear back box section.
I'm replacing my exhaust in a couple of weeks and it came with 3 gaskets. I'm pretty certain that I have two more somewhere in the garage.

Great thanks, let me know when you do yours and then I will try and tackle mine :-)