Cheap & Yellow MR2 Mk3
Discussion
New car purchase!!!
After deliberations over which convertible or hot hatch to buy as second car I decided I wanted a 987 Boxster 2.7 with an interesting interior colour. Alas budget creep and a lack of interesting cars had led to me becoming more and more uninterested with the idea.
Then because of previously set autotrader/ebay alerts I was informed of a rather curious proposition.
A bright yellow FL Mk3 MR2, for sale nearby w/ FSH.
It was only £1400. Cheap for an MR2 (although not the cheapest).
I fancied a new project and this was suitably interesting/disgusting/not sure yet so I drove up to Blackburn for a look around.
It was a part ex (for a Ford Kuga of all things) and advertised as a trade sale.
It was parked up in a spillover lot with a flat NSR tire, a rusty door bottom edge and some questionable aftermarket wheels. The inside was sticky and smelt odd. And the dealer was going on about COVID rules and no test drives blah blah.
Anyway I bought it after a 30 second blat up and down a private road with the dealer watching. You only live once etc.
Dealer Pic:
The drive home was interesting. The pressures are all over the shop, it has 4 mismatched but relatively new tyres, there's a disturbing intermittent steering wheel vibration and the roof is a bit holey. Tried to keep up with my mate in his M140i but failed miserably.
But the engine sounds great, the gearbox is smooth and you can feel the chassis is lovely underneath the poor geo/tyres.
So have I bought a lemon......
The car is on 95,000 miles (ish). The service history is frankly fantastic (for the price) with 11 stamps and a stack of receipts, most of which are recent and includes all 4 calipers. The oil looks fresh and ARB links look pretty recent. Most of the receipts are from one garage and it looks like the chap just went once a month for this or that. Clutch was done a couple of years ago.
The interior has already been stripped, thoroughly cleaned and reassembled. I've done the drain holes. It's currently up on axle stand whilst I assess the underneath; subframes look good, no oil leaks and the front pads look brand new. Sills are good and generally not much body rust.
Bad bits:
- Rear brake pads/discs in dire need of replacement (current job)
- Needs new springs/dampers/boots/bump stops all round as everything is very crusty
- All suspension components including the subframes could do with coming off to be treated as everything has a layer of corrosion
- Soft top has a finger sized hole in it
- Drivers seat bolster has a hole in it
- Crusty lower door section
- Crusty rear wheel arch
- It has 2 keys but both have been bodged with glue at some point
Plan is to replace the tires and rear brake bits, then geo and use it over summer. I'll probably do the suspension bits over winter. Full 2 stage correction. It lives under a car port so the roof doesn't really bother me.
It's a second car and so B road fun and possibly my first track day will be it's general usage.
In the future if I'm smitten I'll probably get a nicer one in a darker colour or go for the previously planned Boxster for flat 6 + more boot space for long weekends.
My best mate has 1st refusal and then surprisingly my Mum has 2nd dibs so I'm quite happy to spend a bit on essentials.
But for now it's a cheap summer toy.
Any advice on what I should do to get this running sweet is appreciated. Also does anyone know what the wheels are? Team Dynamics of some sort which I've never heard bad things about but don't know much about aftermarket wheels.
The mystery wheels
Scabby rear arch
Scabby door
Scabby roof
Sticky interior
Spare wheel and full tool kit in there!
Strip and clean
Carpet out and below drying. This was a very easy interior strip tbh.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/5mSyWgoB[/url]
Showing off my new wera 1/4 ratchet set. Lovely thing.
From the steering wheel; this was the second scrub....
Bodged key
The right hand side of the drive is not mine btw
After deliberations over which convertible or hot hatch to buy as second car I decided I wanted a 987 Boxster 2.7 with an interesting interior colour. Alas budget creep and a lack of interesting cars had led to me becoming more and more uninterested with the idea.
Then because of previously set autotrader/ebay alerts I was informed of a rather curious proposition.
A bright yellow FL Mk3 MR2, for sale nearby w/ FSH.
It was only £1400. Cheap for an MR2 (although not the cheapest).
I fancied a new project and this was suitably interesting/disgusting/not sure yet so I drove up to Blackburn for a look around.
It was a part ex (for a Ford Kuga of all things) and advertised as a trade sale.
It was parked up in a spillover lot with a flat NSR tire, a rusty door bottom edge and some questionable aftermarket wheels. The inside was sticky and smelt odd. And the dealer was going on about COVID rules and no test drives blah blah.
Anyway I bought it after a 30 second blat up and down a private road with the dealer watching. You only live once etc.
Dealer Pic:
The drive home was interesting. The pressures are all over the shop, it has 4 mismatched but relatively new tyres, there's a disturbing intermittent steering wheel vibration and the roof is a bit holey. Tried to keep up with my mate in his M140i but failed miserably.
But the engine sounds great, the gearbox is smooth and you can feel the chassis is lovely underneath the poor geo/tyres.
So have I bought a lemon......
The car is on 95,000 miles (ish). The service history is frankly fantastic (for the price) with 11 stamps and a stack of receipts, most of which are recent and includes all 4 calipers. The oil looks fresh and ARB links look pretty recent. Most of the receipts are from one garage and it looks like the chap just went once a month for this or that. Clutch was done a couple of years ago.
The interior has already been stripped, thoroughly cleaned and reassembled. I've done the drain holes. It's currently up on axle stand whilst I assess the underneath; subframes look good, no oil leaks and the front pads look brand new. Sills are good and generally not much body rust.
Bad bits:
- Rear brake pads/discs in dire need of replacement (current job)
- Needs new springs/dampers/boots/bump stops all round as everything is very crusty
- All suspension components including the subframes could do with coming off to be treated as everything has a layer of corrosion
- Soft top has a finger sized hole in it
- Drivers seat bolster has a hole in it
- Crusty lower door section
- Crusty rear wheel arch
- It has 2 keys but both have been bodged with glue at some point
Plan is to replace the tires and rear brake bits, then geo and use it over summer. I'll probably do the suspension bits over winter. Full 2 stage correction. It lives under a car port so the roof doesn't really bother me.
It's a second car and so B road fun and possibly my first track day will be it's general usage.
In the future if I'm smitten I'll probably get a nicer one in a darker colour or go for the previously planned Boxster for flat 6 + more boot space for long weekends.
My best mate has 1st refusal and then surprisingly my Mum has 2nd dibs so I'm quite happy to spend a bit on essentials.
But for now it's a cheap summer toy.
Any advice on what I should do to get this running sweet is appreciated. Also does anyone know what the wheels are? Team Dynamics of some sort which I've never heard bad things about but don't know much about aftermarket wheels.
The mystery wheels
Scabby rear arch
Scabby door
Scabby roof
Sticky interior
Spare wheel and full tool kit in there!
Strip and clean
Carpet out and below drying. This was a very easy interior strip tbh.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/5mSyWgoB[/url]Showing off my new wera 1/4 ratchet set. Lovely thing.
From the steering wheel; this was the second scrub....
Bodged key
The right hand side of the drive is not mine btw
Edited by smiley_boy2501 on Wednesday 1st July 16:51
Main thing is does it burn oil (it will) and at what rate? Keep an eye on that.
You can get whiteline camber adjustable bolts and tein suspension which transforms the handling with a good alignment. 24psi was good on track for tyre pressures also.
Power steering uj is poss cause of issues too as they seize.
You can get whiteline camber adjustable bolts and tein suspension which transforms the handling with a good alignment. 24psi was good on track for tyre pressures also.
Power steering uj is poss cause of issues too as they seize.
The wheels are made by Rimstock https://www.rimstock.com/ and called 'Monza R' don't appear in their current wheel line-up, so guessing a few years old (their range doesn't change much). Team Dynamics are more Tesco than Aldi or Waitrose.
Edited by EssexBiker on Wednesday 1st July 15:25
EssexBiker said:
The wheels are made by Rimstock https://www.rimstock.com/ and called 'Monza R' don't appear in their current wheel line-up, so guessing a few years old (their range doesn't change much). Team Dynamics are more Tesco than Aldi or Waitrose.
Thanks for the info. Not sure whether this is a good thing tbh as I hate Tesco and I love Aldi & Waitrose but I presume you mean they're middle of the pack?Edited by EssexBiker on Wednesday 1st July 15:25
I don't know whether I like them. They're the right staggered size at least.
I've ordered Hankook Ventus Prime 3 for anyone that's interested. I will report back once fitted.
If anyone has a list of things specific to this care they think could cause steering wheel vibration that would be useful. I'll check the usual stuff and the column UJ.
smiley_boy2501 said:
Thanks for the info. Not sure whether this is a good thing tbh as I hate Tesco and I love Aldi & Waitrose but I presume you mean they're middle of the pack?
I don't know whether I like them. They're the right staggered size at least.
I've got two sets of Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2s (15x7 and 17x7) which stand up to track abuse and general day-to-day driving really well - the 1.2s are more motorsport-style and are one of the most popular track day wheels these days, but I'm sure the Monzas will be just as good quality. Not sure on the Monzas, but the 1.2/1.3/3s are quite light also!I don't know whether I like them. They're the right staggered size at least.
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