chaoticentity Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Hey all, other forums seem to be dead in the water and I don't see the point it trying to use the Facebook groups for this kind of thread. TLDR; big ol' thread on a complete strip and restoration of an MR2 Turbo that has definitely seen better days. I recently acquired the final piece to my 90's Toyota collection, an MR2 Turbo. This particular car is registered as imported in the year 2000, officially registered by the DVLA as a 1994 car, but is an April 1992 car (Confirmed by Toyota, awaiting sending details to the DVLA to get this updated). Thus, this is a Rev2 car. One of the less desirable models as the 3S-GTEs in these don't take kindly to having the power wound up. It's a GT-S trim level, but with a whole host of options. Premium sound package, traction control, LSD, mudflaps, telescopic steering wheel, folding wing mirrors. Probably more that I'm unaware of. Doesn't appear to have the steering fog-lights. Attached are the photos I took when I went to view it. MOT history says the car was last MOT'd in 2009. According to one of the car reports, it's not been crashed, either here or in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 8, 2021 Author Share Posted August 8, 2021 Overly excited about buying the last piece, I eagerly paid the man and got the car shipped back up north. With some help from a friend the car was cranked, and wouldn't start. No fuel getting to the engine after we put 10L into it. Fuel pump sounded like it was doing something but who knows. I've got big plans for the car that don't involve this engine or fuel system so it wasn't too worrisome. A quick look around the car and it's pretty clear a previous owner had a thing for yellow. All hand painted on, brush marks and all. As can be seen from the driver's side sill, the car is no stranger to rust. The other sill is no better, the boot pockets are completely rotten out, the wheel wells are on their way out. After some tinkering I got the headlights to play ball, between turbo timers, an immobiliser and some very goofy wiring to a switch the pop ups work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 8, 2021 Author Share Posted August 8, 2021 The car has had some previous premium choice welding on the boot floor. Doesn't appear to be a patch panel though as it's all corrugated still and it's not a complete weld in patch. Door lock wasn't in the hole, so I went poking in the door... Apparently someone managed to shear the lock barrel, gunna need a new one of those. "Fancy" aftermarket alloy pedals, a mini glove box drivers side and a tidy location for "fun mode" switches... The sun hath kissed the seatbelts, got a rattle can of Buzzweld PiO satin black to hopefully sort that! And the old school immobiliser the car had when I got it. This has been removed and interestingly both the immobiliser and turbo timer were wired into the cars harness using a patch harness. Really cool, and really easy to remove! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 8, 2021 Author Share Posted August 8, 2021 The telescopic steering wheel had seized up so dropped that out, pulled it apart, covered it in WD40 and hit it with a hammer a few times. Now it works. The radiator is one of these shiny new fandagled self-disassembling ones, leave it for 10 years and it crumbles to dust! The car now resides in the garage on 4 four axle stands. Where it'll likely spend the next few years. I spent today trying to remove the front bumper, wings and radiator. None of these are off the car. And I swear 80% of the nuts/bolts I take off have sheared. I've got myself into something quite dire here The final picture is most of the rust that's fallen off the car so far just faffing around with the front end. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc92 Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Cool car, I always wanted a mk1 or mk2. Looks like it'll be a nice long project for you with all that neglect. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 9, 2021 Author Share Posted August 9, 2021 I’ve been busy today, headlights out, front bumper, wings and radiator remain elusive. Bonnet and trunk lid removed, rear bumper removed. Can finally get a good look at the boot pocket rust. Amongst the photos are some pictures of the rear wheel well/sill area. That’ll need some proper care and attention. But according to people in the know this isn’t the worst they’ve seen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Good god, hope that was cheap! As long as you've got the skills to fix it, as paying for welding will be expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 9, 2021 Author Share Posted August 9, 2021 3 minutes ago, Swampy442 said: Good god, hope that was cheap! As long as you've got the skills to fix it, as paying for welding will be expensive! Twas indeed cheap! And no, I do not. But I plan to learn Expecting this to be a multi year process, with a lot of learning involved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 10, 2021 Author Share Posted August 10, 2021 Got the aircon condenser, and radiator out today. And a single foglight, the other one is still fighting. As you can see, there ain't much left of the condenser, thankfully this meant any refrigerant that may have been present after 10 years of no use was nowhere to be found. My brake fluid is blue, I'm hoping this is just some fancy pants "racing" stuff that happens to be blue... To my surprise the underside of the wiper cowl was "clean", well under the dirt it's not rusty is more what I mean anyway. Next up, more drilling to get the other soddin' foglight out. Then the front bumper and wings will come off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formatzero Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 That looks like some job you have ahead of you,good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mplavery Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 (edited) Great little project id love to get an MR2 again, always find myself looking for a cheap rev3 turbo . Made some great memory's with my last one i had And not so great lol Here was my old one. I pad 10k for it back in 2001 and only had 20k miles on it.. was like brand new until a wrapped it round a lamppost lol I did buy another but was never the same then decided i wanted a Supra Look forward seeing the updates Edited August 11, 2021 by mplavery (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 11, 2021 Author Share Posted August 11, 2021 1 hour ago, mplavery said: Great little project id love to get an MR2 again, always find myself looking for a cheap rev3 turbo . Made some great memory's with my last one i had And not so great lol Here was my old one. I pad 10k for it back in 2001 and only had 20k miles on it.. was like brand new until a wrapped it round a lamppost lol I did buy another but was never the same then decided i wanted a Supra Look forward seeing the updates Oh jeez that's pretty bad! Bet you're glad it wasn't a rev1 without the door support bars! I've been keeping an eye out for a project one for a while, and this one came it at the right price so went down to see it. Knew it was going to be a big project going in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 11, 2021 Author Share Posted August 11, 2021 Today I managed to get the front bumper and wings off. Labelled up the front loom and removed the impact bar. Not huge progress but just slowly ticking away. Also went scouting for rust… and the front drivers wheel well failed the poke test… ahh well, knew there was gunna be rust! Impressively the inner sill actually seems solid all round, only time will tell if this is the case but a quick poke here and there and it sounded solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 It keeps getting worse!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 11, 2021 Author Share Posted August 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Swampy442 said: It keeps getting worse!! Can't get much worse from here though can it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted August 11, 2021 Share Posted August 11, 2021 (edited) I want to say no..... Edited August 11, 2021 by Swampy442 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 (edited) New toy day. Needed something to assist with rust removal. Once again, not huge progress. Engine lid off, spoiler parts that mount on the rear quarters and old antenna off. Some labelling of bags of bolts. Did a spot of rust removal, back to bare metal in no time Oh and the car has steering foglights Edited August 12, 2021 by chaoticentity (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 14, 2021 Author Share Posted August 14, 2021 Gutted the interior today, thinking oh the rust can’t get much worse… so yep, need some inner sill repairs doing too. Oh well. Previous owner left a lovely gift in the form of having cut the original Toyota harness, so no easy eBay adapter for me this time. Having gutted a supra it’s mad how much more sound deadening and such is in an MR2! The last picture shows the remnants of what MR2 owners call a cancer bar… mine apparently got a bit beyond just cancer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Love this, and your collection of 90s Toyotas. Do I see an ST205 in the background of one of your pics? 3 of my favourite cars : supra, MR2 MK2, and Celica ST205. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 11 hours ago, stevie_b said: Love this, and your collection of 90s Toyotas. Do I see an ST205 in the background of one of your pics? 3 of my favourite cars : supra, MR2 MK2, and Celica ST205. Yup! My first car, she's sat outside on a flat concrete pad awaiting me buying an engine crane, and stand so I can yank the engine, get the gearbox refurbished, replace the clutch and probably do forged pistons so I can wind the boost up a bit without any worry. Lots to do and never enough time Might go as far as starting a thread on that too when I get to it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 Bit of a lax week, took the weekdays off from working on the Mr2. But it’s been a busy weekend! Firstly, front suspension off, mostly. Anti roll bars didn’t fancy letting me do the thing with the Allen key and a spanner so they’re stuck on, and one of the studs used to hold it on decided it liked the nut too much and came off from whatever it was attached to inside the frame. So that’s awaiting my angle grinder coming back. As the outside wasn’t going to plan I moved back inside and pulled the dashboard and the headliner out. Discovered some more rust holes, oh well no pictures for now as apparently the max upload size is 2MB? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 At this point, personally, Id re-shell the running gear lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 32 minutes ago, Swampy442 said: At this point, personally, Id re-shell the running gear lol It’s a turbo shell though! Gotta save it! And I’m sacrificing the running gear anyway as it’s not part of my build plans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaoticentity Posted August 25, 2021 Author Share Posted August 25, 2021 Lol, attachment limit was because my membership lapsed. Thought it was setup to be an annual payment, hey ho. Heater/ac core out, cabin loom out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Lordy! Is there anything that isn't rusted This is either madness or a labour of love to keep going! Looking forward to the updates for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.