Toyota MR2 T-bar MK1

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sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Saturday 18th April 2009
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Picked this up today for my GF. What a cracking little car to drive - has to be the best handling car I've ever driven on the road with a rev hungry motor.









It's a got few bits of rust around the rear arches and the front inner arches, but the rest seems very strong having had new sills, front wings and a replacement SH door.




Got a load of spares with it, including the original alloys and a full set of polybushes that cost the previous owner just under £200 but he never fitted.




Plan is to get it MOT'd and use it for the summer, then next winter see about having the bodywork attended to. I suspect the inner arches will need welding for the MOT:




sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
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Pow! said:
You forgot to list to do the handbake wink
Yeah, going to have a look at that later. Even on the top click of travel it won't hold on my driveway and it's not even that big a slope.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
quotequote all
jaik said:
That looks great with the Roadster wheels on.
Yeah it's funny that, normally car's tend to look best on their original alloys but these help freshen it up a lot. It's nice to have the original set of wheels too, but these MK3 rims have some fairly new Toyo Proxos T1-R's on them.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
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Red Firecracker said:
I'd really recommend the manual choke mod from Woodsports, transformed mine.

Manual Choke Mod
Can't say I've noticed a problem with cold starting, it does tickover at about 1500rpm untill warm but here the car tends to get driven straight away rather than getting stuck in traffic the minute I pull away.

Got to get some bits to give it a service, anywhere you recommend for getting parts?

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
quotequote all
Ferg said:
Very nice.
Thanks, but it's not really as good as it looks in the pictures. After the paintwork's done it should look the buisness.

It's such a different car to drive than the MK2 I had - so much more agile and responsive.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
quotequote all
Ferg said:
Just saving it from scrap is a noble effort.
It's really not that bad, I've been poking around it today looking for rust before I spend any money on it. It would be easily bodged to get it MOT'able for another 2-3 years but I want to do this one properly as they are getting rare cars nowadays.

I removed the side skirts to have a look at the sills, they have been done a few years ago but the drivers side has a bit of rust coming through again. Got the front wheels off to have a better look at the work required to the inner arches:








The plan is to remove all the suspension and brake pipes as I want to fit the bushes and it needs a couple of brake pipes anyway. Whilst it's apart I want to strip all the old underseal off, treat any rust I find, then put fresh underseal and waxoil on.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
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Established 1984 said:
Welcome to mk1 ownership. Jimi bracket on the engine as well, another bonus.

Do you wanna make a quick buck selling the bushes on? biggrin
Cheers, after driving it I can see what all the fuss is about.

What's a Jimi bracket? Plan to use the bushes sorry, it would be rude to it back together with the old ones!

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Sunday 19th April 2009
quotequote all
Established 1984 said:
sniff diesel said:
What's a Jimi bracket? Plan to use the bushes sorry, it would be rude to it back together with the old ones!
The stainless steel bracket that connects throttle cable to the T-VIS systems is an after market product, originally there would of been a rather ugly contraption over cam covers. More details here
Right, I remember the seller saying something about it but there was so much else to take in looking at the rest of the car.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Tuesday 21st April 2009
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KingJeff 4th said:
Probably not that helpful in the long run, but the episode from Wheeler Dealers might be inspiring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByHPW-eo7G4&fea...

Parts 2 3 4 and 5 are in related links. Worth a watch anyway.
I remember seing that a few years ago. Think I've got a small whine from the alternator, it's still charging fine though.

sniff diesel

Original Poster:

13,107 posts

213 months

Saturday 16th May 2009
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Well after much poking around underneath I've found a lot more rust than first feared. TBH I think I'll be better off getting a better one to start with, so I've decided to brake this one for parts to get some money back on it. If anyone's after any bits then drop us a PM.