MR2 MK2, Full restoration, 2GR-FE Engine

[Jbliss]

This is a build thread that i didn't expect to be writing myself.

My brother Luke was an MR2 specialist for over 15 years. He started a company called Pacific Works which then merged to become Driftlimits Performance. Luke knew pretty much everything there was to know about MR2’s and established a very loyal customer base quickly.

In March this year, we lost Luke very suddenly. For the last 9 years or so Luke had a dream to make his perfect MR2 however it was always difficult when there are always customers cars to work on! Over the previous year, Luke got a clean rev 3 and had been acquiring parts to make this perfect MR2. Luke wanted every single bolt on this car to be new and also wanted it to be powered by a 2GR-FE Toyota 3.5l V6 engine.

I can pretty confidently say when this car is finished, it will be one of the cleanest MR2's out there. Luke wouldn't have it any other way.

Spec will be (Im sure i will forget some things)


Engine
Toyota 2GR-FE (325bhp and 285lbs/ft)
Woodsport Manifolds/ Cat pipe
ECU rev limit raised to 7200 rpm


Running Gear
VS Work wheels 17”. Satin black face, gloss black lip, Gold bolts
Powder coated Subframe, Arms, Braces, Mounts etc
Powder coated adjustable ARB’s
All new genuine suspension arms, rod ends, etc
BC racing Coilovers
New Brake callipers
New brake dust shields
New Hubs
Custom Brake lines
RCA’s
Full Superpro Polybush Kit
Every bolt/mounting bracket Zinc coated

Body
Kei Office Front Bumper
OR
Abflug Front Lip
OR
Aeroware Front Lip
Air walker Side Skirts
OR
Greddy Side Skirts
Veilside Rear bumper (Modified)
Do-Luck Rear Spoiler

Interior
Full Alcantara with Stitching


Anyway here are some pics showing where we are up to on the build

Car, Looking a little sorry for itself- Stripping underway



Shiny parts.





Engine


Trial fit of body parts Do-Luck spoiler and Veilside Bumper (Intercooler obviously not included for the NA engine). We’re going to modify the bumper to make it a little different.


Air walker Sides


Wheels



Sill replacement


Starting to prep the underside for fresh Primer, Seam Seal and then Bed Liner. May well Soda blast the underside for ease. Its almost a bare shell currently, but no pictures..




And lastly, the colour. Its not going to be black! All to be revealed soon.

More updates as they happen.


Julian

[Jbliss]

Not entirely sure what the donor vehicle was from. The engine was in another MR2 which was converted by Paul Woods of Woodsport.

[Jbliss]

Essentially it will be a weekend car, used in fair weather only. Ill take it to a few shows etc. Need to find space to store it alongside my own car! It will be a car that i will never part with. Worth far more in sentimental value than anything else.

Yeah im not too bad with the tools. Its nice to have a full commercial garage to use, helps a lot. Also getting help from his friends and coworkers.

Edited by Jbliss on Thursday 1st November 23:34

[Jbliss]

So the car has been stripped a bit more

Frunk completely stripped and loom removed, All brake pipes, coolant lines, clutch line etc removed from underneath.
Interior and Dash removed.

Next step is to finish the last bits of stripping, remove the rest of the underseal and get it off for the underside to be epoxy primer, Engine bay and frunk painted in the new colour and lastly the bedliner. This will allow us to install everything and get the new engine and running gear in whilst not having to worry about damaging the fresh paint.

Once that is done, it will be going in for body prep and paintwork.




Lastly, we had a chance to trial fit some of the front bumper options.
I think we know which one we prefer and what flows better with the sides, rear and spoiler but what do you all think?

Kei office

OR
Abflug

Edited by Jbliss on Saturday 3rd November 18:36

Edited by Jbliss on Saturday 3rd November 18:39

[Jbliss]

I agree. The 2gr v6 doesn't offer as much power as you can get out of a 3sgte, however its the instant torque and power delivery that make it a really nice driveable car. Sure, we could put a supercharger on this one, but not for now.

I know what you mean in regards to a more 'stock' look. i go back and forwards depending on the car. I think at the moment with all the kit in gelcoat it stands out quite a bit, but in the final colour which is going to be dark, it will look more subtle. Picking a colour is one of the hardest things, you just cant tell how its going to look when its all done.

There was never a doubt that the car needed to be finished. Seeing Luke's excitement at getting new parts for this build alone made me want to do it as somewhat of a legacy.

[Jbliss]

Do you mean the wheels currently on the car? if so thats what the car came with so we just left them on for the build process.
The Work VS-XX will be going on at the very end.

A small update today, stripped all the running gear off the car and carried on stripping all the underseal and seam sealer. Wheel wells are tricky since theres lots of tight corners. Its coming along nicely though and should make a good base for the primer and bedliner.

[Jbliss]

Daniel- I love the Kei front, and had one on my own mr2, but i dont think it works as well with the rest of the kit on this one.

Diesel, Yeah im looking forward to getting behind the wheel!, although im certain this will be a fair weather car only.

Uggers, Sounds like a great car! I had a chance to drive a 2gr 2 and it was great. Nice drivability as you said.
Interesting re the gearbox. Did yours have the increased rev limiter too?
Coincidently i did get in touch with Edge Automotive as i like their work. The quote he gave which was an estimate was quite a few thousand which makes it impossible right now. We'll see how the rest of the car stacks up first!. Thanks, Luckily Luke had already acquired all the parts and had made a plan so its just down to me and the guys to execute what he wanted.

[Jbliss]

Just had a read through your build thread. very nice car! makes me want to get this one done even sooner!

Luke had already bought an ECU from frankenstein motorworks with no immobiliser and the raised rev limit. Im hoping that since the loom is all done and was running in a previous car, i will all just be plug and play.

Heres the same arch after a bit of epoxy primer. Only 3 more to go ::facepalm::

[Jbliss]

Hi everyone.
Im aware there haven't been any updates for quite a while. Finding time to work on the car is quite difficult!

Here's whats been happening:

I bought a Rotisserie and made mounts that bolt to the front and rear crash bar. (this will be for sale in a week or so if anyone fancies a full resto!)


Then the car went to the bodyshop to have the underside 2k Epoxy primered before i seam seal and use the bedliner for the underseal. Took a while to get it to this stage!




I also had the frunk and the engine bay sprayed in the final colour so that we could build the car and get it running, without the worry of damaging fresh paint. Im not going to upload those pictures because i dont want to give the final colour away yet!

More soon. The build will be happening in the next week so there'll be lots to post

[Jbliss]

Apologies for the silence on here, been pretty busy!
This is going to be a pretty big update!

So i got the car back from the bodyshop where they epoxy primed the underside and painted the bay and the frunk. The next job was then to seam seal and Bedliner.

Before bedliner and after seam sealing


And heres after Bedliner.


Very happy with the result and it looks brand new!

After that it was time to get the powdercoated running gear back on the car which had all been fitted with SuperPro bushes.
I also took this opportunity to change the steering rack worm gear to a MK3 one. This means its less turns lock to lock.

I am going to change the suspension bolts for new ones!


And finally it was time to get the 3.5l V6 engine in the car. This went in surprisingly easy!

And in the hole!



And after dealing with endless amounts of wiring, and phone calls to the legend that is Paul Woods- She lives!

[Jbliss]

Hi all

So the car is now sprayed and most of the external work has been done.
There are a few outstanding jobs to be done, but im hoping to get the car ready for MoT within a month or so.

Next up is the interior!

Edited by Jbliss on Friday 26th July 01:02