Late Intro to My New Car (Mk1.5 Turbo) - Picture Heavy!

[tommundy]

Hi all,

Well I guess it's better late than never to introduce my new car! I picked it up in September/October and it's actually Ki's old Mk1.5 turbo that was done up at Woodsport.

I got it off a guy down in Hatfield, north of London who was selling as he wasn't using it enough plus was getting married. Got the train down there on a belting hot day and was met by the owner and I think about 2 minutes later after I felt it boost for the first time I was sold! I had a little test drive then we did the paper work and I set off back up north. I took it fairly steadily on the way back just getting used to it but I did give in to temptation down a motorway sliproad and an M3 was duly shown the arse end of a 1988 MR2, hehe. It even managed 30mpg on the journey back upto Sheffield then onto York the following day.

Below is a brief spec list:

2 Litre Rev 2 Turbo Engine
Hybrid CT26 Turbo
Apexi AVCR (2 settings, one @ .7 and one @ 1 bar)
HKS FCD
HKS Turbo Timer
Fully Polybushed
Koni Adjustable Suspension on 35mm Lower Springs
ST162 Front Brakes with Green Stuff Pads
22v (MK2 Turbo) Rear Brakes
Stainless Brake Hoses
Celica ST205 Chargecooler
Colder Spark Plugs
Daft Quad Exit Stainless Exhaust
Decatted
LSD Short Ratio Gearbox
Team Dynamics Wheels with Toyo T1R Rubber
Bucket Seats and CG Locks on the belts
Momo Steering Wheel
T-Bar Front Strut Brace

I'll hopefully get it rolling roaded in a month or so and 240-250bhp would be nice to see.

Since getting it I've done the front brakes as above, replaced all the silicon/vacuum engine hoses, fed it plenty of nice oil, remounted the boost solenoid to a better position, refitted an OEM re-circ dump valve, changed plugs, swapped a coolant pipe and fitted clear front indicators plus all the other odds jobs you do to a standard car. I've also nearly finished some custom A pillar and centre dash gauge pods so I'll have chargecooler water temp, engine water temp, boost and oil temp all angled nicely at the driver.

It's certainly been used and I did 1000 miles in the first week of getting it (including a run out with a friend in his Boxster S in heavy rain in which it performed exceedingly well). I've already got to phone my insurance company to get the 5000 mile annual limit increased! (This included it being in the garage for 2 months, hehe) Just worked out that's roughly 42 miles per day average including days I wasn't using it!

Here are a few pics of it on it's travels:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/hullshow1.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/hullshow2.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/moors.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/mk1snow.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/tunnelrun.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/peaksrun1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/peaksrun2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/quickwash.JPG

Old engine pic; will get a new one @ the weekend:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/kisfinishedengine2.jpg

The performance is fantastic, yet it will happily sit on the motorway. Although 70 to 110 leptons can be done way too easily, hehe. Also, it's my first turbo powered car and although I'm sure the chargecooler helps with the turbo lag, on the low boost setting at least it really isn't that hard to drive. So long as you feed the power in and feel the power it's fine, but I do that with any car anyway.

Hopefully this month I'll find time to give it the proper clay, polish and wax treatment but to be honest I've been too busy just enjoying it until now. (I only sorted out the dodgy one number plate stuck on another on Saturday :))

I'll be at plenty of shows this year so feel free to have a nosey and if the situation arises I'll happily take you out for a quick blast.

Anyway, that's it for now!

Over and out.

B-b-b-b-b-booooooooooooooooooooost!

Cheers,
Tom

[Ben]

That looks like a lovely car Tom - I gotta agree, after getting my Supra (also around 250bhp, but in a much heavier body), boost is slightly addictive! :twisted:

Will you be at JAE this year? If so I'll definitely come and have a nosey. Also, what was that exhast originally attached to?

[mr2mk1chick]

cool :+:
great car. i saw it when Ki had it. wondered where it was now.

sounds a hoot. esp MMC seeing the snow pic - bet that was fun.

[The Silver Fox]

Tom took me for a ride in it last year and it scared the **** out of me. :sick:

I have driven most things from a single seat racing car to a Chieftan battle tank so it might be different if I was driving. :lol:

Douglas

[tommundy]

Cheers guys.

Yep Ben, will be at JAE! Not sure on the exhaust front, would be interesting to find out.

I like the snow pic, obviously weren't going to break any land speed records that day but some Magnum PI style power slides were most definitely had. Not sure what it would have been like without the LSD but it was on grass under the snow on that pic and it got off without too much drama.

Next month will be a busy one as I have runs out on all weekends. :D

It's just crying out for another gear; hopefully Paul will come up with something!

Tara for now.

Cheers,
Tom

[mk1 dal]

hi tom, the car looks fantastic mate i cant wait to see this car in action :mrgreen: , i have just got a supercharger but no way will it keep up with your monster :lol: , dont forget your block of wood to put under the throttle pedal for the lakes run or we will not see you for dust :lol: . see you soon

gary :+:

[tommundy]

Cheers Gary. I have to say you're like a one man Mk1 saving army, very proud to know you. :clap:

Anyway, thought I'd give a quick update on what I've been upto on my car over the last few months.

I've been knocking a few more odd jobs on the head over the past few weeks that include:

************
Replace more hidden vac pipes for preventative maintenance
Fitted new alternator belt
Fitted a new mech speedo drive (finally :) )
Finished off centre dash and A pillar pod gauges with pods installed (my poor fingertips!)
Oil cooler, cam cover and distributor gaskets replaced by Pete @ SBits
New distributor as the shaft on the old one was sheared!
Refurbed wiper arms, wind deflector and C pillar trim
Sorted a few niggling rattles with my trusty screwdriver
Oil n filter change with 15w50 fully synth
Gave the brakes an inspection and greased up the sliders (ooh err missus)
************

Managed to pick up a chip on my windscreen on the motorway last week and it's looking like a new screen so will decide whether to go through insurance or not for that. I've heard horror stories of them not getting put back in properly and rusting along the top edge of the screen.

On the to do list over the summer is tidy up the front end paintwork and tiny bit of bubbling around the rear arches before it spreads. Also may skip the st185 brake upgrade from my current st162 setup and go straight to st205... just need 16" wheels up from as they're only 15's at the moment (16's already on the back).

Got time to give it a quick clay bar and a single coat of SRP. Will have to find time to give it a good few coats and some nice wax as well at some point. Didn't come up too badly:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/800shiny1.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/800shiny2.JPG

That's it for now.

Cheers,
Tom

[mr2mk1chick]

ooh looking tasty :+:

the different sized wheels remind me of lotus etc.
15"s might give you quicker turn-in

have you any pics of your pods install? it took me ages to decide where to pop a boost guage in my old sc.

[tommundy]

Cheers Jo. :)

I couldn't find any off the shelf pods for the Mk1 so decided to make some up myself. Learnt a lot using hot glue, expandy foam, fibreglass and easy sand filler but I'm happy enough with the results. I had to stop sanding once when I noticed some red dots appearing on the filler then realised it was my fingertips bleeding! :lol:

See you if can spot the recycled petrol filler cap. ;)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/pods/pods2.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/pods/pods3.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/pods/pods1.JPG

The office:
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/pods/office.JPG

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/uploads/tommundy/mk15/pods/pods4.JPG

What do people think?

Cheers,
Tom

[cabbydave]

Toyota does a different final drive that would make it a bit better in top but you would loose some acceleration someone on imoc is selling all the gears for this mod

[mr2mk1chick]

I like the pods on the window bit but not sure about the middles ones, but it could be argued i have crap taste anyway :shifty:
I agree that its hard to find places for them if you are going the whole hog with guages of absolutely everything.
I popped our boost guage just above the window wiper switch, as it was a small compact housing and guage - i think from demon tweeks. can't find a photo just now.

nicer to have made your own :+: (apart from the blood-loss!)

[old petrolhead]

Great work the interior is ace, as is the whole car of course. Cheers Richard :+:

[mk1bexwa]

hi tom your car looks amazing and sounds like it goes just as well.
Will be good to have a look round it at JAE lol.
So do you think that the charge cooler has made a difference compared to an intercooler?
Just to say i like the air intake on the engine side pannel, its a nice touch.

Happy boosting

Bex.

[mister2]

Hello Tom
Congrats on The Car it looks Wicked, Awesome!
Trev

[tommundy]

Thanks for the comments all, much appreciated!


So do you think that the charge cooler has made a difference compared to an intercooler?

I cant really comment as I've only ever had the charge cooler; but I hit full boost at just over 2500 revs so it's fairly rapid. I think the charge cooler helps give the engine a very torquey nature as well. :)


Just to say i like the air intake on the engine side pannel, its a nice touch.

Hehe, it certainly divides people that's for sure. People either think it looks really mean or like it's just about to fall off! It will probably be going once I make myself a better ventilated engine lid; give it a more sleeper look. 8-)

I'll put an update up on what I've been upto on the car lately this week hopefully.

Cheers again,
Tom

[tommundy]

Right, it's about time I updated this thread! Nearly 2 years of fettling to update you guys and girls on and plenty of miles under her belt. :D I'll try and get it into some kind of chronological order but there may be the odd few things missing.

It's been my only car and daily driver for the past six months and has been fantastic... apart from tackling Sheffield's cratered roads, lol.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

First, some fun from before last summer:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/6JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/7JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/8JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/9JPG-1.jpg

[tommundy]

I'd been considering various options for a brake upgrade for a while on my Mk1.5 but the bigger celica upgrade would have meant possibly getting new front wheels as I run 15" at the front and 16" at the back. Then one day on IMOC I saw a Hi-Spec brake kit advertised at a great price and snapped it up, much to the annoyance of a few other guys, hehe. The Hi-Spec kit is very impressive and features 310mm x 28mm rotors on aluminium bells. This along with the lightweight 4-pot calipers means that the whole setup weighs exactly the same as the standard Celica ST162 setup I had fitted previously, winner!

The kit came with Ferodo DS3000 pads, which in comparison to my rear pads and in combination with the now huge front brakes meant locking up was quite easy. It didn't help that I first got them fitted this time last year and we weren't so lucky with the weather. Anyway, more work on those later on as I went on to fit a Hilux 1" master cylinder, gut the bias valve and refurb the rear calipers along with new discs on the back and yellowstuff pads all round. It now stops amazingly well! I need to do a track day to get used to them as there aren't that many opportunities on the road to give them the abuse they deserve and I normally brake far too early for corners. Although I prefer to carry speed through corners rather than braking then accelerating. Anyhow... onwards with the thread:

Old setup:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-2.jpg

Dirty arch:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-2.jpg

Clean arch:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-2.jpg

New setup (I swapped over the discs so they were the correct rotation after this picture):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-2.jpg

2-3mm clearance from caliper to the inside of the wheel and a surprisingly large gap to the spokes. Just goes to show what good caliper design can give you.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Next up was a job that no Mk1 owner really wants to do but it's necessary every now and then... checking for rust!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-3.jpg

It looked fine before I started, oops! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-2.jpg

The passenger side arch and sill were solid so I left them alone. The inner arch was solid too, which is always good news!

I go and see the wizard, Gary, a little later in the thread to sort out the arch.

[tommundy]

Next up was Tetrosealing the rear arches and the fitment of a Mk2 MR2 20mm rear anti roll bar, which was done by using some front mk1b brackets, slightly modified front ARB bushes from a Ford Transit and a little drilling out of the mk1b bracket mount holes:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-4.jpg

[tommundy]

Some more nose cone sanding:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-5.jpg

[tommundy]

Off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of... erm... Buxton? :D

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-6.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-6.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-3.jpg

Half a Nissan Cherry arch was used. When I got back home it was undersealed under and inside the arch.

[tommundy]

Right, that's installments 1-6 done; I'll be uploading another 16 over the week so stay tuned in.

Any comments, questions, queries... fire away!

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

To aid in working on my car, as normal jacks just don't go under it and I've had a couple of the £20 specials fail on me in the past, I invested in a big jack! :D

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-7.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-7.jpg

It goes all the way under the back and onto the rear engine mount so I can lift the back end up to get axle stands under it.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-6.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-4.jpg

It's so nice to use and if I ever have to use the 'normal' sized jack for anything it feels like it takes ages to do anything!

[tommundy]

First attempt at primering the nosecone.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-8.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-8.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-7.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-6.jpg

The day I did this and the previous 2 days had been manic and I didn't get finished until gone 10pm on the nosecone. This was due to having to go to work the next day, 70 miles away, and then go straight to Tatton Park after work! :)

[tommundy]

A good Tatton Park show!

Oh noes:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-9.jpg

More brake whoring (yet to swap the discs!):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-9.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-8.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-7.jpg

Shiny except for the rear arch.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-5.jpg

[tommundy]

Second, more thorough and not so rushed attempt at the nosecone:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-10.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-10.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-9.jpg

[tommundy]

Next it was time to replace the drop links all round. I found that I could use the common fiesta drop links un-altered (not shortened) due to my car being lowered, which resulted in making my anti-roll bar sit parallel to the ground, champion!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-11.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-10.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-8.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-6.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/6JPG-2.jpg

...and I POR-15'd up a spare wing:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-11.jpg

[tommundy]

The Silverstone Classic, a great event! Camping from Thursday through to Sunday. It was good meeting some new members from the South.

A good picture opportunity.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-12.jpg

Rain, rain, go away...

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-12.jpg

(Discs correct! - :))

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-11.jpg

I'd also recently invested in the cheeky number plate you can see in the pictures above. ^^^^

A 1.6... wtf? :D

[lgreen5]

Looking good mate, did you do your wing and front bumper with a spray gun or can?

Finish looks good

Cheers

Lewis

[tommundy]

The wing was brush painted actually. POR-15 is self levelling and sets more like a resin than a paint. The bumper was an aerosol job, but with good quality primer.

Cheers for the comments Lewis.

Tom

[tommundy]

Next up was the repair to the sill:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-13.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-13.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-12.jpg

Waxoyl was applied inside the sill once the work above was done.

[tommundy]

Next it was time for new rear discs and pads on all four corners. I also fitted the Hilux 1" master cylinder and gutted the bias valve when doing this work:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-14.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-14.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-13.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-9.jpg

I'd refurbed the calipers with all new seals and then painted them black. My rear brake setup is VW Corrado G60 280mm x 22mm front discs with Mk2 MR2 22v rear calipers on extended carriers.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-7.jpg

The day after doing this work I took the car in for MOT and it passed first time. It got perfect braking efficiency (bloody well should by now! :)) and they mentioned that the braking force on the rear was more than most cars register on their front brakes, muahaha!

[tommundy]

A couple of days later I popped over to Leeds for a supercar meet and got parked next to a friend's new GTR! He'd traded his Aston V8 Vantage in for a Nissan!... ok, so it's not any normal Nissan! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-15.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-15.jpg

You'll notice that I'd had a bash at doing my nosecone, which due to changeable weather conditions didn't come out great. It's still like that now and I've decided that I'm just going to wait until I'm ready to have the whole car resprayed after I've stuck new fully POR-15'd wings on it. I'm not planning on selling the car anytime soon so as long as I'm taking care of it underneath I don't mind too much about the odd imperfect bit of bodywork, plus as it's my only car I can't really afford to have it off the road for too long.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Daft little job; relocating the ECU diagnostic port and other attached sensors so that they don't get rained on:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-16.jpg

It used to be visible under here:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-14.jpg

[tommundy]

Next up was some unforseen work! I bought some new tyres and went for a slightly taller profile as my speedo had been over-reading by a bit too much and I wanted to bring it in line with the Mk2's rolling radius. I went from 225/40/R16 to 225/45/R16 tyres so didn't think there would be an issue. Basically the new tyres were scraping like a bitch on the wheel arch! Not sure if softer sidewalls added to the equation. I limped the car back to work at 5-10mph, as I'd popped out on a lunch break, and went on the hunt for a tool to fix it. I did look at people offering arch rolling services but they wanted £60-80 per corner and I could buy a tool for rougly the price of getting one arch done! I had the tool delivered the next day back home to Beverley and so I just made some slight modifications to the arches and turned up the Koni's to full hard to allow me to get from Sheffield to Beverley.

Shiny new toy!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-16.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-17.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-15.jpg

Not bad for a first attempt! - Notice the Movember tache, lol!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-10.jpg

More roll and tache!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-8.jpg

The lips were filled with underseal before being folded over and were then painted over also.

If anyone wants to borrow the roller, let me know!

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Some photo's after a quick wash:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-17.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-18.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-16.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-11.jpg

Exhausts not straight, grr... got a new full stainless system going on next week!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-9.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/6JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/7JPG-2.jpg

[tommundy]

Picking up a new door frame set:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-18.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-19.jpg

[tommundy]

Snow:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-19.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-20.jpg

[tommundy]

That brings us nearly up to date, just a couple more jobs to go!

:D

[tommundy]

New clutch time!

All stuff disconnected from the top side of the engine, gearbox oil drained, drive shafts and hubs removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-20.jpg

Some gearbox bolts a pig to get to from the top (under all that pipework!):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-21.jpg

Gearbox dropped:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-17.jpg

Old cover plate:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/4JPG-12.jpg

New clutch and cover plate on. Notice the patent pending clutch alignment tool! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/5JPG-10.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/6JPG-4.jpg

The actual clutch plate wasn't that worn but there was play in the release bearing and the cover plate flaps were quite 'flat', which is what was probably causing the slip.

I also changed a CV boot that needed doing and replaced a ball joint that was looking a bit tired.

It took longer than I'd planned to do it but it was a good learning exercise and I saved some good pennies by doing it myself, with a little help from friends!

[tommundy]

New chargecooler pump fitment:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/1JPG-21.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/2JPG-22.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/04/3JPG-18.jpg

The old pump had died and so needed replacing. Thankfully I have a water temperature gauge for the charge cooler so knew the moment it had failed! I used this as an opportunity to mount the new pump properly as the old pump had just been held in place by the pipes it was feeding. This is how it was when I bought the car and had just been 'one of those jobs' that you never seem to get round to doing.

I'm glad it's done properly now though!

The pump was an auxiliary pump from a Vauxhall Frontera!

It was very easy to bleed as you could move the pump around before bolting it to the gearbox. I used the mounting holes that are used to mount the Celica ST205 chargecooler pump so it's nice and out of the way of road debris etc. I just made up a bracket out of some dexion I had laying around.

Before the summer I'll replace all the clear hose for proper radiator hose as it's wall thickness isn't the best! Saying that, it's never come close to overheating in the 2 1/2 years I've had it, but I'd rather be able to fit the proper hose and then forget about it! :)

[FossMan]

Nice work.

I really want a ride in this car!! ;)

Brave man rolling the arches on a mk1 too. I need mine doing... 8s + coilovers don't leave much gap.

[tommundy]

Cheers FossMan! I'm close to the point now where I can start thinking about any body modifications that I want to do before a respray. I'll be staying black as although it's a pig to keep clean, when it is clean it looks fantastic! I'd love some dishy wheels but my front brakes mean I'm very limited for choice, doh!

I'll be at JAE, Donington, Tatton etc. If the opportunity arises you're more than welcome to pop out with me for a quick blast.

Yeh, I still can't believe the tyre situation. Some 225 wide tyres must actually be 235 or 245! Let me know if you're feeling brave yourself and want to borrow the roller!

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Right, it's been a while since I've updated this thread so thought I'd give you all a story! I've been doing odd jobs on it over the past few months and will post these up later, but for now I will tell you the story of my overheating, 3 cylinder running and head gasket change! :)

This all started about 2 months ago when I was just arriving into Beverley after having travelled from Sheffield and was making my usual progress on the country roads on the way into Beverley. I noticed the coolant temperature had shot up (I check it regularly without thinking about it anyway), so pulled up straight away. I popped the engine lid and there wasn't any steam but I could hear it pouring out from somewhere. I quickly remembered that my expansion tank was in the boot, so popped the boot lid and was greeted with a boot full of steam! Not great when your ECU is in there... anyway. I left the engine lid and boot lid up for 10-15 minutes to allow it to start cooling down. I then walked to a local motor factors to buy a new thermostat as I thought I may as well change it if I'm going to flush the coolant system out anyway. When I got back to my car I knocked on the door of a nearby house and they kindly gave me a watering can of water, which I used to top up my system and then get the car home the mile or so back to my mums house. This was all on a Tuesday afternoon and I had already booked the week off work with the plan to get loads of odd jobs around the house done.

So Wednesday morning came and I removed what I thought was the thermostat housing, only to find that it was just a water junction. I then checked on the Internet and found the proper location of the thermostat housing and proceeded to remove the thermostat. Then I found out that the one the motor factors had given me was way too small. So, I walked down to the motor factors and went through their parts system manually specifying a 1992 MR2 turbo. They didn't have the thermostat required in stock so I ordered one to arrive on the Thursday. I walked back home and set about wiping down the boot area and removed the expansion tank also. I scoured my garage and luckily found an expansion tank from another car that would just sit in the only gap left in my engine bay. I then went out again to buy some brackets to make a mount for it. I'd organised for Kris and Alison to visit Beverley to matt black my car (a great idea at Tatton!), but it was slightly windy when they arrived and due to the now higher priorities of my car we decided to just spend an afternoon going around the great pubs of Beverley.

Thursday morning came and I went straight down to the motor factors once they'd called me to let me know the part was in, but as soon as I arrived the bloke on the counter said "nah mate, this one's too big"... great, I was thinking. So, they ordered yet another one in, off a celica gt4 this time for the afternoon. I went to the pub for a couple of hours as by now I was sick of walking to and from the motor factors. Went back and they yet again hadn't got the right one. We then decided to go for a thermostat that they did have in stock that was from a camry or a lexus that was the correct diameter but not as long; I just wanted to get the car up and running again! I got home and decided to make a fresh start Friday morning.

Friday morning came and I installed the thermostat, flushed the coolant through and got the car up to temperature. Everything was going well until I noticed some steam coming from the joint of the water elbow that I'd first dismantled originally! I let the car cool down and then unbolted the housing... no o-ring or gasket... that's strange. Okay, a quick check on the internet and I have the part number, so order one from Toyota Sheffield.

I then get the train back from Beverley to Sheffield and spend the week walking to work. Come the weekend I get the train back to Beverley with o-ring in hand. I take a look at the water housing and I can't see how this o-ring is going to be held in place. I decide it'll be best to clean up the two mating surfaces. As I'm sanding away I notice most of the bottom surface is turning silver as you'd expect, apart from a black ring that's steadily appearing! This turned out to be the o-ring, which must have been the original as it was flush with the surface and can't have been giving much of a seal at all. I pick out the old o-ring and install the new one; happy days! Re-do the coolant bleeding procedure, checking for any leaks, none.. great! :)

So I take it out for a test drive and it's all running great. I then pull up at a petrol station and stick a tenner's worth of fuel in. Minutes after leaving the petrol station it loses all it's power. Temperature gauge and all other signs seem okay but it had no torque or power at all and sounded like a bag of nails. I pull up down a side street and after a bit of checking discover that it's running on three cylinders. So, I take the car home and check ht leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm, spark plugs, ignition coil, ignitor etc. All fine... hmm... aha, perhaps it's the ECU that's fried due to the steam! So, on to IMOC I go and buy one from a member. Off to Sheffield I go for another week of walking to work before again heading back to Beverley at the weekend on the train.

I fit the new ECU, reconnect the battery and turn the key... still three cylinders! Argh!

What else could it be? Faulty injector I think now. I check that there is voltage getting to each of the injectors, yes! I check that there is continuity from each injector back to the ECU, yes! It MUST be the injector on cylinder 4. So, I limp the car to Sheffield on 3 cylinders taking it steadily as I was planning on removing the fuel rail and having the injectors cleaned and tested. On the Monday or Tuesday night I remove the injectors and get a lift from someone to take them to the cleaning place. They come back the next day but haven't been cleaned because their machine wouldn't do side feed injectors. Although, they had tested them and said they were fine for resistance and the solenoids were all operating. Hmm.. the mystery deepens!

Then I come across a few posts on IMOC having the same issue and it was being causing by a faulty injector resistor pack. So a quick phone call to Pete Gidden at SBits and I'm round there like a shot with my tools. About 30 minutes later and a few swear words I've swapped over the injector resistor pack. Turn the key... BOOM, all four cylinders, yes!!!

However, I've not had chance to see if the original overheating issue is resolved. So, I test it carefully over the next few weeks and find it's pushing coolant out into the expansion tank. I end up changing the thermostat for an official Toyota one, which makes no difference. Try bleeding it a million times, which makes no difference. Okay, okay, it's the head gasket. So I start planning on all the parts I need and order them all from TCB Parts (Toyota didn't have any stock in Europe!), ready to start work two Mondays ago. I had a week off so thought it'd be no problem getting it done!

On to some pictures :)

Work started on Monday 27th August and I made good progress:

Parts removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/1JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/2JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/3JPG-1.jpg

Inlet manifold, exhaust manifold and turbo removed along with cambelt and a shed load of other things!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/4JPG-1.jpg

Cam cover off.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/5JPG-1.jpg

That was the end of Monday. It's very tight working on the 3sgte engine in a mk1 and as well as being systematic I ran in to some tricky bolts and clips along with shearing some exhaust manifold head studs. It was also drizzling all day, which didn't help! I decided to go back Tuesday morning to finish it off:

Head off.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/6JPG-1.jpg

Carbon deposits on cylinder #4 from running on 3 cylinders.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/7JPG-1.jpg

Cylinder #3 for comparison.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/8JPG-1.jpg

Manky gasket residue.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/9JPG-1.jpg

Cruddy looking gasket. There were no visible cracks in the ring walls of the gasket but it looked pretty buggered.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/10JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/11JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/12JPG-1.jpg

[tommundy]

Valves.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/13JPG-1.jpg

#4 cylinder.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/14JPG-1.jpg

#3 cylinder.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/15JPG-1.jpg

End plate, cam pulleys and cambelt tensioner removed. Now ready to take to get engine shop to surface grind the head!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/16JPG-1.jpg

So, that's Tuesday afternoon that I took the head to the engine shop. I also took the exhaust manifold as one of the heat shield bolts had sheared, so I needed that drilling and tapping. For the head, I was wanting it surface ground along with removing 2 sheared studs and again, drilling and tapping if necessary. They said it'd be back Thursday morning, which turned into Thursday lunchtime. However, they only had one Toyota spec stud, ie. fine thread. So I had to order some through Pete at SBits.

Seeing as it was my holiday and was hosting a party with my girlfriend that night, we decided to actually have a rest for a couple of hours rather than treck across to her parents' house in Sheffield. On the Tuesday or Wednesday I ordered some extra gaskets such as they turbo to exhaust manifold gasket, throttlebody gasket and the hose from hell. The hose from hell is an infamous part amongst mk2 turbo owners that is nie on impossible to change without the turbo and exhaust manifold coming off, so I thought I'd change it while I was there. Mine was looking a bit worse for wear anyway.

Friday came and it was lunchtime again by the time the parts had come in at Toyota and we'd got over to the car. It was raining on and off again and was heavier than Monday. However, I managed to get the block face and pistons cleaned up along with fitting the hose from hell. A bugger to fit and align as it has a sheath around it, which makes moving it about tricky. Here's some pics of Friday 31st's progress:

Where did my engine go? :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/17JPG-1.jpg

Shiny new gaskets.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/18JPG-1.jpg

Block face cleaned up.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/19JPG-1.jpg

Pistons cleaned up as well.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/20JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/21JPG-1.jpg

Shiny head back from the engine shop. They removed and replaced the valve shims and buckets as I'd forgotten/didn't realise that you had to remove them.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/22JPG-1.jpg

You can't really make it out but the finish was a perfect mirror finish!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/23JPG-1.jpg

[tommundy]

Saturday morning we drove to Bristol for the weekend, returning on Sunday afternoon.

I had a very busy week at work with meetings Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It was JAE at the weekend and so I booked Wednesday off work to finish off the job. I'd got to Pete's yet again to pick up some odd final bolts and nuts and was ready. Here's the work from last Wednesday:

More parts to go on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/24JPG-1.jpg

Shiny rev3 metal head gasket; this one won't go!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/25JPG-1.jpg

Head on and bolted down.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/26JPG-1.jpg

Cams installed.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/27JPG-1.jpg

End plate on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/28JPG-1.jpg

Cam timing marks.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/29JPG-1.jpg

Inlet manifold installed (along with loads of vacuum pipes and electronics underneath.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/30JPG-1.jpg

Fuel rail, injectors and throttle body installed along with more pipes.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/31JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/32JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/33JPG-1.jpg

That was all I could do on Wednesday as the Toyota head gasket set that I'd bought didn't include a gasket for the oil drain/feed from/to turbo, argh! A quick phone call to Pete and he put an order in with Toyota. My plan was to finish it off and test drive it on Thursday night and then get to JAE on the Friday night.

Well... that was the plan. Toyota didn't deliver the part to Pete and so I had to call off going to JAE! :( However, this at least meant I could take my time on Saturday and make sure it was all put back together perfectly. The gasket arrived on Friday and so I made a final trip up to see Pete. One other odd thing I noticed was that my intake cam didn't have a dowel installed for the cam to go on. I did manage to get the cam timing perfect without it but thought if I've gone this far I may as well make the effort to finish it off properly.

So Saturday came and my first hour was used to strip back the throttle body and attached metal brackets/supports, remove the cam cover, cam belt, cam belt tensioner and cam gear just to install a bloody dowel, lol. With that done and put back together I carried on with the job.

Turbo installed loosely so that the exhaust manifold can be wiggled on.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/34JPG-1.jpg

Exhaust manifold and turbo all on with new gaskets.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/35JPG-1.jpg

HT leads, turbo heat shield, downpipe and o2 sensor installed.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/36JPG-1.jpg

Soldered on new alternator loom plug as old one was fubared.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/37JPG-1.jpg

Cut off unused brackets from chargecooler, painted it and lagged it with aluminium tape. (I've now received and brand new Celca GT4 sticker plate to finish off the chargecooler)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/38JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/39JPG-1.jpg

Alternator bracket, oil filter, alternator and belt installed and tensioned.

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/40JPG-1.jpg

Chargecooler in!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/41JPG-1.jpg

Pretty much done!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/09/42JPG-1.jpg

I then fitted the exhaust and one of the bloody hanger brackets broke off so couldn't test drive it as it's just held on on that side with a tie wrap for the time being. I've had a mk2 exhaust ready to be fabricated to fit my car for a while, so that will hopefully be getting done this Saturday. It needs to be done by the MOT expiry a week on Friday anyway!

I topped up all the fluids and after cranking it a few times with the EFI fuse removed to make sure there was a bit of oil all around the system, she fired up first time! Woo! :) I ran it up to temperature and there were no visible leaks, but there'll be more testing this weekend.

I got home at about 8:30pm on Saturday and had a relaxing evening, although I had to prepare my clothes and stuff ready for going on a training course in London this week. Fun, fun, fun!

So, the plan now for Saturday is to double check for leaks and check fluid levels before driving it down to the exhaust centre to get the mk2 exhaust fabricated on. Then I just need to fit a new rear drivers side brake caliper as the handbrake mechanism was sticking on (I disconnected it 6 or 7 weeks ago as it was dragging).

Apart from that I can't think of anything that should need doing, but it'll be nice to put some miles on it before the MOT to check for anything silly.

Well, I got a bit carried away there but I know a few of you guys have heard mixed bits of information so thought I'd try and give the full picture. I'm sure there's stuff I've missed out but I'm glad I persevered with it!

Roll on full boost! :)

Any questions, praise or sympathy, please feel free!

Over and out!

Cheers,
Tom

[Master-B]

Great post tom. It shows that anyone can do it if they have the right tools and some patience! Well done mate

[mk1 dal]

what took you so long tom :lol: , excellent write up mate and hats off to you for top job done :clap:. a major strip down not for the amateur do it your self person , you have skills mate well done and saved your self a fortune in the progress , happy days

gary

[tommundy]

Test drive went well. Had such a grin on my face!

Unfortunately the exhaust centre weren't willing to give me a fixed price on modifying the mk2 exhaust to fit my car. However, I've booked it in for Thursday to have a complete system built from scratch :) Got to treat the old girl every now and then!

Will just fit the new brake calliper today then get it booked in for MOT tomorrow or Tuesday to find out if it needs anything other than the exhaust doing to pass. Hopefully it doesn't then I'll re test it on Friday once the exhaust is fitted and join you guys on the peaks run, woo woo!

[cabbydave]

Tom theres a place near me that will mod your exhaust for you. What make exhaust is it?

[tommundy]

Hi Dave,
cheers for the tip. However, the exhaust place have quoted me £365 for a complete stainless steel system that is brand new, built to my spec and comes with a lifetime warranty. A good price I thought.

It might cost me at least a hundred quid plus petrol plus what I paid for the mk2 exhaust to get it modified, so for an extra hundred quid or so I can get a bespoke system :)

I'll be selling the mk2 exhaust now. It's a Mongoose mk2 turbo exhaust. Let me know if you're interested for your 1.5.

I'll post up pics of the new system once it's fitted.

Cheers,
Tom

[cabbydave]

PM me a price Tom if its the same as the one that was nicked from my garage by the pykeys i will be interested

[tommundy]

Well I've got my car back and it's failed on a couple of things:

-New front brake pipes left and right - a little bit more than surface corrosion so having them replaced
-New front tyres (tread is fine in the centre but sides are worn out from cornering ) - putting new ones on
-Little bit of welding needed behind the rear corner triangle on the near side

Plus of course, exhaust and handbrake but they're both being taken care of by moi! I discovered that it was the brake cable that had seized, but the caliper could have done with changing anyway. New cable arrived this morning so I'll fit that tonight after work.

Not too bad overall considering it's my daily driver and get's used in all weathers.

[tommundy]

Well, I had a rather interesting journey on Wednesday night!

Car was driving fine, when all of a sudden it felt like it was tram lining really badly, or perhaps a binding brake? I limped it onto a side road and found my rear nearside wheel was at a strange angle. Something obviously wasn't right... I managed to borrow a jack and wheel brace off someone in a house close by and took the wheel off, only for the hub nut along with a bit of CV joint spline fall out! A quick check around the rear of the hub confirmed the CV joint was indeed free and easy. Usual AA story ensued... they insisted on sending a man in a van first, even though I told them the rear wheel was hanging off! Anyway, he arrived and decided against towing it backwards on the back of his van due to the front spoiler. He then ordered a low loader, which turned up quite quickly. I had to stop him from putting his towing hook onto the bumper bar eye! He didn't believe me at first, but finally he listened to me and used the proper hook attached to the chassis underneath the front. Anyway, got it home fine.

Today I got the car jacked up and took the drive shaft out and as it was now quite clear that the wheel bearing was fubared too, I removed the hub as well; pics below!

Gearbox oil drained and hub and drive shaft removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/3JPG-1.jpg

Hmm, what's missing from this picture?

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/4JPG-1.jpg

Ah... this!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/6JPG-1.jpg

Pinball anyone?

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/5JPG-1.jpg

I'm very thankful this didn't happen on a motorway/dual carriage way or also while I'm away in Europe in the summer on a 2500 mile road trip!

Just ordered a new wheel bearing and had already ordered a pair of CV joints. I'm going to change the offside one just to be on the safe side!

In other news, some new shiny rotors and pads arrived! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/1JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/05/2JPG-1.jpg

I'll give an update once it's all back together! :)

Cheers,
Tom

[Ben]

Just had a wheelbearing replaced on mine, very glad I did now!

[tommundy]

Just had a wheelbearing replaced on mine, very glad I did now!
Yeh, Ben, too right!

I'm not sure which part caused the other to fail or whether it was just a combination of age, fatigue and having the 3SGTE in the back.

Anyway, I'm safe, the car is safe, and all the parts needed are en route! :)

[tommundy]

Well, after being told that I should buy an ST185 CV joint, I went out and bought 2 (thought I'd do the other side too to be safe).

After trying several techniques to get the old out joint off, out came Gary the grinder! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-1.jpg

When I went to build up the shaft, the ST185 joint was too small... hmm... interesting!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-1.jpg

Annoyingly, I'd already packed the joint with grease, but thankfully EuroCarParts accepted both joints back with a full refund, even with me returning them outside of the 28 day returns policy; champion!

After a bit of searching over on twobrutal, I found someone that had had a similar issue. They said that you should buy an ST165 CV joint. I then found on another thread on twobrutal that Ollie had bought a CV joint from TCB Parts (part no. CTY45016E). However, this part is listed as fitting both ST185 and ST165 Celica's... hmm... the mystery continues. Anyway, I ordered one joint to see what it's like and bingo! It fits! :) (I ordered it from http://www.redlinecarparts.com/ at a very good price!).

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/9JPG-1.jpg

What I can only assume is that there must have been some crossover ST185's and then later revisions changed their CV joints. Unless certain motor factors have goofy parts directories. Anyway, I was a happy boy. I also changed the inner CV boot as this was split.

Once I'd confirmed that this was the correct part, I ordered another 2; one for the other shaft and the third as a spare.

Next, onto fitting it, which turned into a bit of a pig of a job.

A word of advice, do this from underneath the car so that you can get a good hold on the shaft to slide it in and then wiggle it to get the retaining ring compressed and in. If you don't do this, you'll struggle. Basically, I tried for 40 minutes doing it without being under the car and once under the car (with the lower wishbone removed), it took 30 seconds!

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/12JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/13JPG-1.jpg

While I was under there and as the hub had been off too, I treated the old girl to some twos'r'us rear tie bars.

[tommundy]

Bottom arm removed to help access for the CV joint install and also to loosen up the bolts ready for the geometry getting done:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-1.jpg

So glad I went for a 3 piece exhaust when I got the custom one made up. It makes access a lot easier to manage:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-1.jpg

New tie bar vs old. I set the new one the same length as the old one before fitting:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-1.jpg

And fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/4JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/5JPG-1.jpg

Tie bar end fitted to the hub:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/6JPG-1.jpg

The other part of the exhaust:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-2.jpg

Filling the gearbox oil (the funnel I picked up at Tatton was perfect! :)) using 12mm ID, 15mm OD tubing. It took around 2.7 litres at first and then I jacked the front of the car up so that it was level. It took nearly half a litre more! Around 3.2 litres in the end:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-2.jpg

Then I re-fitted the bottom arm and torqued everything up etc.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

My turbo oil seals have been gone for quite a while now, but I've just been managing my driving style and keeping an eye on oil levels. However, with my European road trip quickly looming (I'll start another thread on this, but check out http://www.spa2013.co.uk for basic info), I decided it was time for a new turbo.

I got lucky on eBay about 8 months ago. I spotted a CT26 turbo that was listed as being a standard turbo taken off a Celica. However, on looking at the size of the compressor wheel, it was obvious this was a hybrid. I managed to win the auction for £112 including postage! If it's what I think it is (confirmation to follow) it's a stage 2 CT26 that should cost about £1k to buy off the shelf. I was taking a chance fitting it as the seals could be totally shot, but I was happy with the condition of it and there was very little shaft play, so I thought balls to it.

So, the car got packed with tools as I had reserved my girlfriend's parents' driveway for the weekend. I've been having to do most of my jobs on the roadside since I moved houses in Sheffield a year or so ago, but for bigger jobs I prefer to do them off the road for safety and convenience.

So, here is the car as it stood just after lunchtime today:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-2.jpg

I jacked it up, removed the wheels for easier access underneath and went at it. Charge cooler off (as with practically any job on my engine), exhaust, heat shield and down pipe removed:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-2.jpg

(the moisture on the manifold is penetrating/lubricating spray)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/5JPG-2.jpg

Manifold off. The alternator and bracket had to be removed to allow the manifold to come off, which added a bit of time onto the job, grr! :):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/6JPG-2.jpg

Turbo out after much jiggling. A distinct void at the back of my engine!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-3.jpg

Old turbo vs new:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/9JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/10JPG-1.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/12JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/11JPG-1.jpg

As you can see, it's not only an improvement in performance terms, but also condition! I'll probably sell the old turbo on as it would make a good refurbishment job due to it being a mild hybrid.

I removed the old gaskets and cleaned up the mating faces for the oil and water pipes on the new turbo as well as liberally applying copper grease to all stubs on the turbo and manifold before refitting:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/13JPG-2.jpg

Downpipe and exhaust centre section refitted along with water and oil pipes connected using new gaskets and mikalor clamps:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/14JPG-1.jpg

I'd always found it a bit silly that you could only get to one of the two bolts that hold on the lambda sensor, which meant if you wanted to change it you would have to remove charge cooler etc etc. just to get to one bolt. So out came Gary the grinder for a brief bit of fun:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/15JPG-1.jpg

Everything else refitted, checked and checked again. Just filling the oil and topping up the coolant:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/16JPG-1.jpg

Then after removing the EFI fuse so that I could prime the turbo with oil by cranking the engine ten or so times, it was time to refit the fuse and fire her up!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRwDdnQMoFI

I didn't fit the exhaust as I've got more jobs planned for tomorrow, including fitting a new offside CV joint and tie bar. It sounds quite naughty I think you'll agree!

I checked underneath for leaks, but everything was bone dry, which is always nice!

Right, time for a BBQ and a beer! (Plus bubbly as it's my anniversary with the girlfriend - 15 months.)

As always, thoughts, questions etc. welcomed! :)

Cheers,
Tom

[pistol pete]

That's awesome tom

Just wish mine would start now

[Ben]

Looking forward to seeing this at silverstone :)

[coverco]

Looks good Tom, I bet you are glad it is back on the road.

[tommundy]

Cheers guys!

Yes Tommy, very pleased to have had it back on the road again. However, yesterday didn't go quite as smoothly... :)

Firstly, I removed everything on the right hand side rear and it soon became clear that the wheel bearing on this side was fubared also!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZNRMxuMFdA

There was virtually no play until I took the hub nut off! I'll be checking the fronts too, but hopefully these'll be okay as they don't have as much load going through them.

So, off came the hub along with the bottom arm to loosen off the adjusting nuts. This proved tricky as the captive style nut that holds in one of the lower arm bushes was rounded and the metal hook that's meant to grip onto the bodywork was bent also. This meant a very careful operation with the grinder to remove the nut.

I then set about the CV joint on this side with Gary. I did it this way as I knew it worked and I also didn't fancy paying for another refill of gearbox oil by removing the drive shaft:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-3.jpg

I decided to leave doing the front discs (and all the other jobs I have to complete in the next couple of weeks) for another day, so have today ordered a rear wheel bearing and a lower ball joint, as I thought I may as well change it while everything was off. I'm also just going to phone Toyota to get two new bolts and nuts with the captive hooks, as I don't fancy having to struggle with the other side in a few years time.

Just an additional word on the CV joints I'm using. I had bought some brand new Mk1 hub nuts and castellated caps to treat the old girl, but they didn't fit these joints as they were too small. This can only be a good thing as the new joints I'm putting on have a thicker spline. They come in a kit that includes a flanged nut and castellated cap, so nothing more to buy.

I'll remove the inner boot on this side and regrease the joint then fit the new outer joint when I go over one night this week.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Nuts and bolts ordered from Toyota... ouch! :o

[pistol pete]

oh you have been bisy.. some things never go to plan...
yeah toyota expensive but worth it..

[tommundy]

Yeh, I'm hoping the parts turn up quickly as I'm taking the blue car off the road for the year at the weekend, so need the black one fully functional again! :)

I'll post pictures of my shiny Toyota nuts and bolts up when I pick them up on Wednesday.

Cheers,
Tom

[chief44]

Good work Tom. I hope to see this on a run someday.

[snoball]

wow :)

can't believe you've had so much go wrong. having said that i would've changed the lot when i'd got it - just for peace of mind more than anything - i did it with this mk1 - bushes, arb's, droplinks etc.........

hope that you're troubles are at an end so you actually enjoy driving it as opposed to fixing it :)

[tommundy]

Cheers, I think, snoball. :)

To be fair to it, it's been my daily driver for nearly 2 years and did about 12k miles in the 2 years previous to that so it certainly gets used. I've had it for 4 years now so don't mind spending a bit on maintenance as well as upgrades. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on the wheel bearings every 6 months or so now though. The 3SGTE must contribute to wearing them out, but it could just be down to the age of them also.

It'll certainly be getting driven in August! 2500 miles around Europe through France, Switzerland, Italy, back into Switzerland, France and Belgium ending up at the F1 at Spa and also popping across to the Nurburgring! :D

Cheers,
Tom

[snoball]

i didn't realise you'd had it that long - sorry. things do wrong - but reading this it just seems to be one thing after another so enjoy your trip cos you've definitely earnt it :)

loved reading this thread though - so much practical info that can be used by other members thankyou - i for one will be doing more at home than i currently do :)

[tommundy]

I've had many smiles in between the jobs and I've done all of the big jobs that should see it good for many years to come now.

Cheers for the comments. I've taken a lot of useful information from Internet forums during my ownership of MR2's and am always thoughtful to include part numbers and hints and tips where possible. I'm pretty much self taught, so, so long as you have some common sense and a mechanical mind, there should be nothing stopping you! :)

I should have another update after tomorrow night; hoping to do front discs and a few other jobs also while I'm waiting for the bearing and ball joint to arrive.

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Right, well Wednesday night was a mixed bag. I checked the front hubs and only the nearside front had some very slight play with a dry-ish sounding bearing, but I thought, I've changed everything else, so what's one more bearing, so whipped that hub off. I also split the bells from the rotors, but found that the bells were quite badly oxidised. Anyway, on with the pics!

Worn disc ready to be stripped:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-4.jpg

New vs old (notice the change in design from a ring to tabbed design - this also meant that the tolerances for the lip of the bell were much tighter):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-4.jpg

Oxidisation on the bell - this is meant to be a clean 90 degree lip! (This was the one that had been worked on first as well...)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-4.jpg

Anodised, but in need of some love:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/4JPG-2.jpg

Bungee cords to the rescue:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/5JPG-3.jpg

After doing some reading up on how to shift the very stubborn oxidisation, I though I'd give the "boil in 1 part vinegar to two parts water for 30 minutes" method a shot! (Yes, I'll be using that stew pot at Silverstone next weekend! :D)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/6JPG-3.jpg

It did a great job (pic to follow), and only took about 10 mins with a gasket scraper after I'd rinsed the bells clean with water to neutralise them to get them ready for the new rotors. Speaking of which, some brake comparisons against standard Mk1b discs (These were off my blue Mk1; reason to follow! :)):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/9JPG-3.jpg

So, that was Wednesday and a bit of Friday night taken care of. More to follow...

[tommundy]

So, as I mentioned, the nearside front hub had some play and a slightly dry sound bearing, so I bought a new bearing and left it with a local garage on Friday. They were mad busy on Friday, so I picked it up yesterday morning after receiving a call saying "we can't do it"... great, I thought. I'd also left them the rear right hand hub with a new bearing to do, which they did do as requested. So, off I went in the blue car to pick up the hubs. Well, it turns out that it wasn't through any sort of lack of tools or ability that the bearing couldn't be changed in the front left hub, but the fact that 16 tonnes of pressing power weren't enough to budge the old bearing!... hmm, I thought.

That's when the blue car came to mind... I was (and have since) taking it off the road this weekend, so took up the great idea of swapping the front left hub assembly from it onto my black car. It was mostly a joy to do as the blue car has done <70k miles, but I did run into a couple of issues. One being that the track rod end was so hard to get out that the nut that I was using to protect the thread from the hammering had gripped itself hard onto the thread. This meant some very very careful grinding to remove the nut and leave the thread intact as I had to drive the blue car home to Beverley today to lay it up until next year. The other element I'd discounted was the fact that standard Mk1's have dust shields for the front brakes... hmm, and I've had experience of those pesky torx headed bolts before. They nearly always round, but alas, a miracle, all 3 came out with ease! The dust shield was in great condition (see pics), and so it felt a slight shame to (sympathetically) grind it off, but besides from removing the stub axle from the hub, you can't get them off any other way.

Other jobs done on Saturday were the fitting of the new rear outer cv joint and hub assembly, all except for the new twos'r'us tie bar.

Anyway, more pics:

Blue car wheel arch (very clean!):

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-5.jpg

Dust shield:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/4JPG-3.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/5JPG-4.jpg

New CV joint fitted, all greased and with new a new boot and clips:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/6JPG-4.jpg

New lower ball joint fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-5.jpg

Funky nut and bolt from Toyota from the lower suspension arm to replace the one that had rounded off!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-5.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/9JPG-4.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/10JPG-2.jpg

All tidied away just in the nick of time to enjoy my girlfriends' brothers birthday celebrations! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/11JPG-2.jpg

I'm very aware that my 1.5 will be doing 2.5k miles around Europe in just over 2 weeks time, but I reckon I only have another 3-4 hours work to get her on all fours. Then, it's a case of four wheel laser alignment, new tyres and some more jobs! :)

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Jobs to do:

• Fix leaky boot (drip from inlet manifold into boot access panel)
• Fix leaky drivers side pillar (not very bad at all, possible just perished pipe connecting onto the sunroof drain hole)
• Change front brake discs (nearly done)
• Fit rear vent and box off air filter in the boot (got to take Gary to my baby!... scary!)
• Fit new rear tie bars (half done)
• Get geometry done
• Fit new front wheels (will be done with new tyres, so ten mins work)
• Re-fit passenger seat (five mins work)
• Sand and paint rear arches (just so she looks pretty in the holiday pictures)
• Paint front bumper (same as above)
• Fix rattling sunroof (a 'nice to have', seeing as we're doing 2.5k miles in 3 weeks)
• Fix nearside front wheel catching (just the arch liner slightly catching; hopefully a two min fix)
• Fit car stereo (the girlfriend has requested music, so I have bought a stereo, but have to find somewhere to fit it! - my stereo area is taken up with gauges)
• Fit temperature gauges (optional inlet temperature gauge - not really necessary for the trip; just a job I've had on my list for a while and have all the stuff for)
• Finish rebuilding rear right hand side
• Refit front left hand hub etc.
• Refit exhaust

Parts to order/buy:

• Ducting and clamps for air filter extension (not too painful on my wallet)
• Aluminium sheet for air box in the boot (not too painful on my wallet)
• 4 x tyres (Yokohama AD08 225/45/16 and 195/45/16 or 205/55/16) (very painful on my wallet)

This is the list as of tonight...! :D

Cheers,
Tom

[pistol pete]

Good work Tom
Like me being self taught picking bits up where I can
Nicely list of bits to do there
I need to make a list like hat but once it's running, I have another coil so fingers crossed


I do like the mk1 in black and I bet it's gonna be great fun

Reminde me is yours rev1 ? Charge cooler? Standard / modified?

[tommundy]

Hi Pete,

Cheers for the comments.

Mine is currently the below engine spec:


Rev 2 turbo engine
Hybrid CT26 Turbo (possibly stage 2)
Blitz electronic boost controller
HKS FCD
Apexi RSM (to remove the speed limiter)
Celica ST205 Chargecooler
Decatted
Custom stainless exhaust
LSD Gearbox
Rev 3+ metal head gasket
K&N air filter


Also, when I get chance, I have all the items to do the Rev3 conversion on it.

Yup, it's a great car to drive and hopefully after all this work, it'll be better than ever. I'm going to get some more work done on it tonight; fingers crossed the weather stays good and I get a good 3-4 hours on it after work.

Cheers,
Tom

[chief44]

I've been meaning to ask, have you wired up your chargecooler level sensor?

[tommundy]

I've been meaning to ask, have you wired up your chargecooler level sensor?
Hi there,

Nope, I haven't. I have got a water temperature sensor on it though to check for pump failure. It's never lost any coolant in the time that I've had it.

Cheers,
Tom

[pistol pete]

Hi Pete,

Cheers for the comments.

Mine is currently the below engine spec:


Rev 2 turbo engine
Hybrid CT26 Turbo (possibly stage 2)
Blitz electronic boost controller
HKS FCD
Apexi RSM (to remove the speed limiter)
Celica ST205 Chargecooler
Decatted
Custom stainless exhaust
LSD Gearbox
Rev 3+ metal head gasket
K&N air filter


Also, when I get chance, I have all the items to do the Rev3 conversion on it.

Yup, it's a great car to drive and hopefully after all this work, it'll be better than ever. I'm going to get some more work done on it tonight; fingers crossed the weather stays good and I get a good 3-4 hours on it after work.

Cheers,
Tom

thats a good list... i take it that it does go well.. i have only ever been in 1 1.5 and that was a long time ago now...
can't wait to try mine out..
ill have rev2 engine rev3 metal head gasket, de-cat, induction and exhaust,,, WMS front brakes

i will soon want boost controller and FCD

but first i wand rear ARB, Poly bushe, and maybe coilovers..

[tommundy]

Cheers Pete, yes it flies! It's an absolute weapon on the road and can't wait for my holiday! :evil:

I've got loads of other mods to the chassis, brakes etc. If I ever sell it I'd have to make a bible of all the part numbers and different cars that the parts came from, hehe.

Having an electronic boost controller is worth it's weight in gold. Not only can you adjust boost on the fly, but it also builds and holds boost a lot better. The FCD is essential as well.

Anyway, on with tonight's work... :)

It had been a long day at work as I'd been in work yesterday migrating our company mail server to a virtualised environment. This all went smoothly, but I wanted to be in early just in-case. All went well, and I finished work at 5:30pm and headed over to the MR2 to get cracking.

First up was the rear right hand side tie bar. I lined it up with the old one:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/1JPG-6.jpg

and fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/2JPG-6.jpg

Then on went the brakes:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/3JPG-6.jpg

and I replaced the funky nut and bolt from the rear lower suspension arm on the left hand side with brand new ones from Toyota:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/4JPG-4.jpg

Then I put the hand brake on and tightened the hub nut up to 137 ft/lbs and added the castellated cap and split pin:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/5JPG-5.jpg

Next up was to bolt the brake bells to the new rotors. Here's a quick picture of the cleaned bell surface, ala vinegar and water and scraping:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/6JPG-5.jpg

and here you can see the reason why it has to be so neatly done:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/7JPG-6.jpg

hmm, shiny!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/8JPG-6.jpg

Next up, I fitted the front left hub from the blue car, but needed to drill out the old split pin from the track rod end:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/9JPG-5.jpg

Bells and rotors bolted up and torqued correctly:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/10JPG-3.jpg

Caliper bracket fitted:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/11JPG-3.jpg

Using a special tool to push out the four pot pistons with the old brake pads as spreader plates:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/12JPG-3.jpg

Done!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/13JPG-3.jpg

and fitted!:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/14JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/15JPG-2.jpg

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/07/16JPG-2.jpg

It was gone eight by this time and I was losing light, plus dinner was on the table, so I packed up and enjoyed a well earn't drink! :)

I'm heading over again tomorrow and should hopefully have it back on all fours and ready to drive home in an hour or so as all that's left to do is fit the new front right brakes and also refit the exhaust. Woo! :)

I'm going to order the new tyres in the morning and try and get them delivered on Wednesday ready for fitting to come down to Silverstone.

Wish me luck! :D

Cheers,
Tom

PS: The jobs list now stands as follows:

• Fix leaky boot (drip from inlet manifold into boot access panel)
• Fix leaky drivers side pillar (not very bad at all, possible just perished pipe connecting onto the sunroof drain hole)
• Change front brake discs (nearly done)
• Fit rear vent and box off air filter in the boot (got to take Gary to my baby!... scary!)
• Get geometry done
• Fit new front wheels (will be done with new tyres, so ten mins work)
• Re-fit passenger seat (five mins work)
• Sand and paint rear arches (just so she looks pretty in the holiday pictures)
• Paint front bumper (same as above)
• Fix rattling sunroof (a 'nice to have', seeing as we're doing 2.5k miles in 3 weeks)
• Fix nearside front wheel catching (just the arch liner slightly catching; hopefully a two min fix)
• Fit car stereo (the girlfriend has requested music, so I have bought a stereo, but have to find somewhere to fit it! - my stereo area is taken up with gauges)
• Fit temperature gauges (optional inlet temperature gauge - not really necessary for the trip; just a job I've had on my list for a while and have all the stuff for)
• Refit exhaust

Few!

[chief44]

More good work there Tom. The CC temp sensor is a good call. What kind of temps are you getting?
Another question I forgot to ask yesterday was about your exhaust. Did you get a company to make it up for you? I'm looking for company reviews for my upcoming system.

Good luck with the rest of the work.

[tommundy]

More good work there Tom. The CC temp sensor is a good call. What kind of temps are you getting?
Another question I forgot to ask yesterday was about your exhaust. Did you get a company to make it up for you? I'm looking for company reviews for my upcoming system.

Good luck with the rest of the work.
Cheers!

Well, with the water temperature, I'm using a gauge that starts at 40 degrees C and it never even registers. Even on a hot day, the charge cooler is cool to touch. I'm going to swap the current gauge with a digital one so that I can see exactly what it's at.

The only time I do see temperatures over 40 degrees are if you've been driving and then stop the car and go back to it a little later, you get some heatsoak from the engine. However, the temperature drops within 30 seconds to a minute back below 40 once you start driving again.

As for my exhaust, I got it done by a company in Sheffield called Exhausts UK. I was happy with the work and it comes with a 20 or 25 year guarantee. It was £440 for a decat back system. You can choose single or twin pipes and/or exits in different designs and can tailor the system to your requirements. I went for 2.5" all the way through and am glad I didn't go for 3"! :)

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

Slight change on the tyres. I was concerned about the size on the front in the smallest 16" size of the AD08's, so I've got for some Falken FK-452's, which are available in more friendly sizes.

They'll be 205/50/16 on the front and 225/45/16 on the rear.

I've got it booked in for laser wheel alignment at lunchtime tomorrow and the new tyres are getting fitted after work, woo! It'll give me a definite target to get it back on all fours tonight! :)

[pistol pete]

yeah i want to get up to 225 on the rear of mine, only got 205 at teh mo.. won't take long to get through them i am sure :)

is this going to be there at the weekend?

what brakes are they, they look expensive..

been quoted 360 for a decat back exhaust with them picking up the car and dropping it off.. but depends if my car is finished and ready before chiefs exhaust becomes spare...

[chief44]

Pete, I'm hoping to get booked in at torqueflow sometime next week, so my current system will be available then if you need it.

Sorry for the for the thread hijack there Tom. Back to you.

[Jawa411]

225/45's...big bastards!! Once your geo is done it'll stick to the road like shit to a blanket!! When was the last time you drove it?

[tommundy]

I'm just sitting down to tea before heading out to play badminton after working through the rain, but look! :D

920

@Pete - Yes, it'll be there this weekend!

@chief44 - No worries

@Jawa411 - It sure will. I drove it a couple of weeks ago to get it here, but the last time I drove it properly was nearly 2 months ago

[coverco]

Blimey Tom all four wheels on :-)

Great news you have got it sorted, can't wait for the weekend now I bet?

[pistol pete]

Pete, I'm hoping to get booked in at torqueflow sometime next week, so my current system will be available then if you need it.

Sorry for the for the thread hijack there Tom. Back to you.

of topic.. fantastic matethe second its ready ill be on my way to collect :)

awesome tom look forward to seeing it

[Jawa411]

Doesn't look the best Tom but we all know that this thing will drive the best. Blimey 2 months...so you're gonna notice a massive difference the next time you drive it properly.

Jealous!

[tommundy]

Doesn't look the best Tom but we all know that this thing will drive the best. Blimey 2 months...so you're gonna notice a massive difference the next time you drive it properly.

Jealous!
Hi mate,

To be fair to the old girl, she has had oily greasy hands all over her for the last 8 weeks and hasn't had a wash in ages. Don't get me wrong though, the body work does need looking at. That's for next year though! :) The front bumper will be getting matt blacked before the holiday if I get chance and I'll also sand the arches back and tart them up.

I've just got home and unpacked all my tools from my car down into the cellar. Knackered now!

It handled rather interestingly on the way back, but everything else was fine. Looking forward to tomorrow when I can do some proper testing and bed the brakes in etc.

Now, time for a drink!

Cheers,
Tom

[pistol pete]

Great glad to hear you are driving it again ;)
Geo set up done then fun times agead

[tommundy]

Well, today could have gone better...

Firstly, took it for the wheel alignment to be done and it was going well until they found that the front outer track rods had no threads on them, grr. It also seems that I've got some slightly sticking pistons in the four pots, so will be putting new seals in them next week. I've already ordered new front outer track rods and ends, which should be here in the next few days too. The garage did sort out the toe on the rear, so it at least drives in a straight line now, hehe.

So, then I headed back to work and then after work went down to the tyre place to have my new tyres fitted. I had brought 2 new 16" wheels with me to change the front wheels from 15" ones. However, my calculations of the tyre sizes was well out and I later realised that my current ones are 195/50/15, not 195/55/15, which I'd been basing my calculations on, doh! So the 205/50/16's were way too big. They did go on and didn't rub, but I wasn't happy with how close they were to the spring seat and wheel arch. Thankfully the garage were understanding and I've got 2 195/45/16 tyres on order, which I'll get fitted early next week. They did however swap my rear tyres over without any problem, which was nice!

I got home and got the part no. from the calipers to get some new seals and have just ordered a new fancy tool to help me get the pistons out (any excuse!). I also liberally sprayed the bolts that hold on the front cross member as that'll probably have to come off to change the track rods.

Just to cheer myself and feel like something was 100% done today, I fitted my new, slightly smaller, steering wheel that I'd picked up as my current one had been rubbing slightly on my trousers. It took a while for me to work out where the marks were coming from! :) I also nipped up a bottom coolant hose clip that the garage noticed a very very small weep from.

I would have still brought the car to Silverstone this weekend, but I don't want to be having to buy two new discs on the off chance that these warped on the way down.

Honda Jazz it is then! :)

I'll update this thread next week, when hopefully I'll have new track rods and ends, have full geometry done, new front tyres on 16" wheels and have tip top brakes.

Cheers,
Tom

[coverco]

I don't think you have to remove the cross member to do the track rod ends Tom, they just screw onto the ends of the steering rack. You do need to remove it to put poly bush steering bushes in though.

If you had popped the pistons out and cleaned them up with fine sandpaper you would have been ok. Too late now though.

You are a brave man taking your car on a two week European trip, I will keep my fingers crossed for you :-)

[tommundy]

I don't think you have to remove the cross member to do the track rod ends Tom, they just screw onto the ends of the steering rack. You do need to remove it to put poly bush steering bushes in though.

If you had popped the pistons out and cleaned them up with fine sandpaper you would have been ok. Too late now though.

You are a brave man taking your car on a two week European trip, I will keep my fingers crossed for you :-)
Hi Tommy,
Its the track rods themselves I'm changing too.

I'll be 'popping the pistons out' next week now. Why too late?

Hehe, I've got confidence in the car. Just need to get these last few jobs done.

[coverco]

I meant too late for bringing the car to the show Tom. At least you won't have a problem with space in the Honda :-)

Oh I meant to say I have a special tool for removing caliper pistons, it is called a compressor :-)

[tommundy]

I meant too late for bringing the car to the show Tom. At least you won't have a problem with space in the Honda :-)

Oh I meant to say I have a special tool for removing caliper pistons, it is called a compressor :-)
True :(

It was the right decision to make though. The Honda does have VTEC yo! Hehe!

Yes, plenty of room for supplies!

See you tomorrow mate!

[pistol pete]

Ahh well i am sure we will see it some point.. best to make sure its right though bud before you do any serious miles in it..
can't belive you all going tomorrow ill be stuck at work :(

at least the rear tires are done and sorted..

[tommundy]

Right, just an update on what I've been up to this week.

I received my new front inner tie rods and track rod ends on Monday, which looked good. Great, I thought, all I need to do now is order new pistons and seals for my calipers...

So, I phoned my brake manufacturer and, armed with the piston measurements, put my order in for 8 anodised aluminium pistons and a new seal kit. I asked to be contacted when they got shipped, so by 2pm I started to worry, considering I'd ordered them before 9:30am. I called up the supplier and they said they were out of stock. :o They did say that there was currently a production run going on that should finish Tuesday/Wednesday, so I asked them to put URGENT all over my order and phoned them up Tuesday. Still no pistons. Phoned up yesterday and I was told that they'd be made by today, so I phoned up today and they reported that the pistons had been made! :D

...BUT!...

The heater for the anodising tank was now broken... OMG, how unlucky am I? So, thinking fast, I asked if they had any stainless steel pistons in stock of the same size, which they did, but they were £4 more each. I asked if they could do anything on the price due to the circumstances and they agreed to meet me in the middle; result! So they were in the post to hopefully arrive tomorrow at work.

On Tuesday night I took off the wheels, calipers, discs and removed the track rod ends.

Then today, I left work early and popped into a local friendly garage for them to help me get the pistons out of my calipers. After about 15 minutes and various rags, welding clamps, bits of sheet metal and a big compressor, they were all out, woo! Slipped them some beer money and back home I went.

After dropping Lois off at a friends house, I set about replacing the inner tie rods, but it became clear that you couldn't do it in situ, so I ended up removing the full rack! Not the most reassuring thing to be doing 5 days before setting off on a 2500 mile European road trip, I can tell you! :)

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/08/1JPG-1.jpg

So, I got that out and removed the inner rods along with the track rod ends, but I was losing light and so decided to pack my tools away.

However, before I did that, I'd noticed that my ratchets had been getting quite stubborn recently; probably due to me working through rain on a couple of occasions, so I stripped them and greased them all up:

http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2013/08/2JPG-1.jpg

So, that leaves me with fitting the new inner rods, track rod ends and rack along with the cross member. This is in addition to refurbishing the calipers when the new pistons arrive tomorrow also. Then hopefully have it all back together to get the geometry re-done on Saturday! Phew! Then I think I'll be doing some serious road testing as I've not even given this turbo any real boost yet. Plus, I've still got some other jobs on my jobs list, but nothing that'll stop us going now at least.

Wish me luck all! :D

[coverco]

So the arches aren't getting a respray then? Good luck with getting it sorted Tom :-)

[tommundy]

So the arches aren't getting a respray then? Good luck with getting it sorted Tom :-)
:-P

Might tart them up a bit so they look better in the holiday pics if I get chance! :)

[tommundy]

I've just taken delivery of a shiny box of 8 pistons and 2 seal kits! :D

Roll on 4:30!

[Lologee]

I set about replacing the inner tie rods, but it became clear that you couldn't do it in situ, so I ended up removing the full rack! Not the most reassuring thing to be doing 5 days before setting off on a 2500 mile European road trip, I can tell you! :)

Are you trying to frighten the life out of me??!! :eek:

[coverco]

Be brave Lois, Mr. Chairman will succeed. :-)

[tommundy]

Today I did a couple of small jobs on the Mk1.5.

I took a work colleague out for a quick blast the other night and after a bit of hard boosting, it became quite jerky and was stalling when off throttle and out of gear. I limped it back to my colleagues house, simply expecting it to be a boost pipe that had come off somewhere, but when I went to pop the engine lid, the handle didn't do anything. Great! So, I just drove it home and decided to tackle it this weekend.

Firstly, I had to get the engine lid open. Normally this would be a jack the car up and poke a screwdriver up the back of the intake manifold from underneath job, but thankfully on 1.5's, there is an access panel cut out of the boot to fit/remove the intake manifold. Therefore, it was just a simple case of un-doing the panel, locating the cable and giving it a pull; bingo! After a bit of investigation, the plastic grommet bonded onto the cable that holds it in it's bracket had come away. I fixed it by simply cable tying the cable in place, which held up to 30 or so test pulls. Good enough for me!

The boost leak was due to the pipe from the dump valve that goes back into the air intake being popped off. This was resolved for good by jubilee clipping it back in place.

It was typical that after 6 months of no problems, when I go to give someone a demo lift out, 2 things go wrong!

It's amazing how a cable tie and jubilee clip can fix what felt like a knackered car!

Whilst I was doing those two jobs, I treated my door seals with the below stuff:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-Einsze...-/161156199749

I gave them two coats allowing it to dry in between and it really seems to have rejuvenated the seals. I'll give it another couple of treatments over the week and that should improve the seals by a good margin! I'll be repeating the process on all seals around the car with the same product after seeing its performance.

It'll be getting an oil change and ignition component check over next weekend as it's being used daily throughout all this crazy weather!

Cheers,
Tom

[tommundy]

So, after doing this trip 9 years ago:

http://spa2013.co.uk/

and then subsequently taking my Mk1.5 off the road that winter, it went straight through MOT last week! :o

Yes, some advisories, and it's a bit crusty, but I'm still one happy man, especially as I'd not really done anything to it to prepare for the MOT after nearly 9 years in hibernation! :)

This week or next week it'll be coming back over to Sheffield with me, as with clearing mum's houses, it also has meant that I'm having to move two MR2s.

I really can't wait to put some miles back under it's belt.

[jimi]

That's pretty damn good, after that length of time, a testament to your maintenance before it went off the road :thumbup: get some pics when your putting some miles on it :cool:

[tommundy]

Cheers Jimi! Yeh, I was in shock more than anything when they said it had passed, hehe. Even though it'd had a full overhaul just before our big euro trip, it had still been 9 years no matter which way you look at it.

Replacement log book arrived this morning, so it's now taxed, and I've booked a train over from Sheffield to Beverley to bring it back to Sheffield tomorrow.

Once I'm back from holiday, I should be able to get some cool content by combining my other hobby of drone flying. :) Also, tech has moved on a lot in 9 years, so should be able to get some lovely GoPro external footage (with exhaust and induction noise) of it.

Will be doing some tinkering on it too, to deal with some of the advisories.

Watch this space.

[tommundy]

So, after a little hissy fit a month or so ago, which I think I tracked down to a faulty main coolant hose, and after waiting nearly a month for the stupidly folded hose bought from Halfords to straighten itself out and my diary align itself, I reminded myself of the fun and games of bleeding the Mk1 coolant system.

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Here's the raggedy old hose; yikes! It wasn't so much leaking, as seaping, but just glad it didn't cause anymore damage thanks partially to luck and my quick reactions when it overheated.

6522

For what should have been a quick job, turned into a medly of swear words and running back and forth for the different tools. The reason being that the jubilee clip on the top joint of the hose was pointing up... directly underneath the main inlet pipe to the turbo, which itself is below an intertwining mixture of 5 or 6 other coolant and air pipes. Where's a 6mm spanner when you need it!?

Anyway, the job was finally done, and the new hose fitted. Then we went onto the bleed process, and again the battle with a modified car where the charge cooler hoses run up the right hand side of the radiator right where the bleed nipple is. This turned what should have been a 30 second job of attaching a plastic hose onto a nipple into a 15 minute huff fest, haha. The heater matrix hose went on easily enough, so we were off to the races with the bleed routine.

6520

With that done as per the manual, I packed away the tools and tentatively went for a test drive. The standard mk1 coolant system is totally overkill for the standard 4AGE, and usually sufficient for the 3SGTE engine in mine, but it's still that double edged sword of going on boost to build the temperature and check for air pockets, and see that the thermostat is doing its job vs going into a compelte meltdown.

Thankfully the shake down went well, with a few stop offs in laybys to check the thermostat had opened and the radiator pipes were getting warm as they should. After that, a bit of boost as a treat on the way home. After 9 years off the road, I still need a lot of time with the Mk1.5 to get used to the power. 4th gear is an absolute monster, and anything below that is a wild blink of an eye.

It may be a bit crusty around the corners, but I'm not letting this one go without a fight after having it for 13+ years.

Loads more jobs on the cards, so watch this space. :)

[tommundy]

Bit of an update on my car!

It failed it's MOT last August on various bits of rust, brakes, droplinks etc. It took a few months for the welder to get onto my car, but I got it back home around November time. However, we were then in the midst of buying our new house, so the car stayed on a friends driveway.

We moved into our new house 2 months ago, and, roll on last night and I got the car moved over. I'd sort of forgotten what cool looking cars these are as I followed it on the transporter, and have safely tucked it away in a corner ready for me to undertake all of the other work required to hopefully then get it back through MOT! :)

6810

I'm hoping to get a garage built in this corner, but still have a few other house jobs to tackle first, but watch this space! The house itself is Grade 2 Listed, so the garage will have to be in keeping, but I'm hopeful we'll get something granted. It'll either be stone built or oak, dependant on quotes and planning.

Quick selfie of me and Lois in front of our new house.

6811

It's been a long road to get here, and there's still the remnants of my mum's estate to wrap up, but we're super lucky, huge mortgage not-withstanding, to be custodians of the new (400 years old!) house. I've already become a bit green-fingered with fruit and vegetable planting, as there's a 30ft long poly tunnel, which we thought we'd need to rent out to other people, but we're probably going to fill it this first season.

Hope everyone else out there is doing well.

[Sweetpea]

Oh nice house.
I've been doing jobs around our house... For over 20 years... I've nearly been round it once. Just time to start again.

James

[jimi]

Congratulations Tom and Lois, nice house :cool:


Oh nice house.
I've been doing jobs around our house... For over 20 years... I've nearly been round it once. Just time to start again.

James
Ahhhhhh your in that club as well James, I'm nearing the end of the 2nd time round ..... in just over 30 years :lol:

[tommundy]

Cheers both! I'm still firmly in the pinch myself stage of believing it's our house.

Haha, yeh, I'm sure there'll always be things to do, but it'll be worth it.

What's funny is I don't think we'll have too many issues with the stuff done several hundred years ago, but more likely the bodges done in the last 20-30 years.

Case in point was this step that had broken, which turned out to just be chipboard that wasn't even fixed down, and was just resting on top of a lump of wood, haha!

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6814

6815

6816

All sorted now.