This is a fantastic build thread. You're definitely doing that car justice.
This is a fantastic build thread. You're definitely doing that car justice.
Woohoo updates! Keep up the fantastic work.
Masterdebator - Thank you I really appreciate it. Let's just hope it doesn't turn out so nice I don't want to drive it.
AnthonyGS - Thank you as always! The back half should be in primer today so hoping to have it back home Monday!
Just a little sneak peak of the rear being finished before I can bring it home this Sunday.
It came out better than I could have hoped for.
So she's finally home and I couldn't contain my excitement... I ended up bolting a bunch of the bits back on to get a mental image of where It's headed.
First here she is back home
Then in a matter of minutes I had the trunk and new turbo engine lid on.
New wheels needed a test fit of course...
As soon as I saw the test fit I booked a time slot to have everything changed over. Then it was time to see how these freshly restored tail lights look ( I'm in love )
And finally some shots mostly re-assembled and resting on the new wheels.
After all of this I just need to start purchasing all of the body work material I'll need to tackle the front end and decide if paint will become the priority to get it out of the way or start back with the swap bits.
Either way every little step with this car gets me more and more excited for the end goal.
To start this update off I finally have shop lights. I used the Barrina (Amazon) LED's that have been mentioned here and Thegaragejorunal quite a bit.
For the price I'm blown away...
Before
After
This is right around 86 FC / Foot Candles and is more than enough light.
I sold my old Enkei RPF-1's quickly so these had to go out. If you ever need to ship I can't suggest Shipnerd enough. I shipped all four wheels for under $100 to Illinois.
Going from NA to a Gen4 3SGTE ( Turbo engine ) you have to upgrade the fuel pump which in these requires the tank be dropped from the car. While not a hard task It's certainly not fun lol. These are known for rust and scale to form inside the tank and mine has both.
I'm thinking I'll try a few rounds of Electrolysis and see where that gets me before going to anything more drastic for clean up like Muriatic Acid.
and the fuel pump hanger looks the worst of all but the easiest to clean
I'll put this through a round or two of Electrolysis as well and see if the tubing has any pinholes / weak spots or if it's good to coat and run.
Mustard - I took your advice, contacted that Scotsman about koukis - he shipped Monday and I had them yesterday...dude, it crossed the Atlantic faster than some stuff moves up the eastern seaboard!
I wasnt (and still not) crazy about the color of the center panel, but may just wrap it or something = it's blue. Also got 93+ tweeter covers from him and a new HVAC control unit
MAD CHEAP
In reply to hybridmomentspass :
That's awesome! Far cheaper than the US / Japan sets. My center panel was also blue and you could easily sand it down, get some dupli-color matched paint to your paint code and then 2k clear in a can(true automotive clear coat with UV protection). I did this using black and it came out amazing.
I'm glad with some work we can still get some of the more expensive bits a lot cheaper across the pond.
Picking-up where I left off with the cleaning of my gas tank...
I completed 4 rounds of electrolysis.
While this took the bottom of the tank to bare metal nicely it seems the "anodes" ( angle iron ) aren't close enough to the walls of tank to truly pull the scale.
My next course of action will be Evaporust using roughly 5 gallons and shifting the position of the tank every few hours for the fluid to soak in different areas. Whatever is left ill attempt to hand scrub where it can be reached or create some complex "anodes" to get closer to the remaining problem areas.
Moving onto some detailing action.. Every year is an event held in New Jersey dubbed " Bear Mountain " for all 3 generations of MR2's and the random all-trac Celica or two. Basically a full weekend of some back roads driving, a very nice car show and a weekend for vendors to set-up and reach out to owners. I just did a quick two step on a friends car ( Polish and wax ) before he ventured off. I'd love to go real aggressive to get some of the deeper marring/scratches out but I'm still happy with the final result
(had to get an obligatory shot or two while my car was out)
That's everything for now. I'm still locating/buying some of the used items I need as I find them as OEM parts have proven to be the best bet when possible.
Looks great. As an owner of too many 93,94,95 MR2s - apprecaite yours!
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
I appreciate the kudos! If you ever wanna sell one of those 94's or 95's just give me a shout lol
In reply to Mustard :
That will be never. I dd one 94T. Other 94T is sub 5,000 miles and the 95T has delivery miles. Own all 3 since new, had 17 at one time. Yup I am the resident MR2 crazy on the forum.
Have a good weekend
In reply to mr2s2000elise :
I would never call that crazy. I think it's awesome you're dd'ing a 94T. AND you have a delivery miles 95T.
One day I'd like to get a 94-95 NA and have that be a 2gr car
Not much of an update but I've been slowly buying some goodies.
I came across a new in box 4" TCS intake
And came across a set of low mile E153 / Turbo model shifter cables for my transmission swap
So after the electrolysis I switched to using Evaporust which worked amazing. I wasn't amazing about taking before photos for this step but it still highlights just how bad this tank was. I still need to determine how I want to do the final clean and coat but I'm over the moon it was able to be "saved"
Before
and after...
It still needs a final clean and coating like I mentioned but I may have a line of sight on a shop that's done a few mr2 tanks local that all turned out great. I could get it fully to bare metal but prefer knowing its been professionally coated. These can be hard to find so the fact it cleaned up this well is great news.
Nothing to special to update on right now. I did stumble across some front and rear strut bars at a price I couldn't say no to..
I got these for the cost of just the rear and they're in great shape.
The front is a Cusco bar and the rear is a TCS X-brace which is a TRD replica as genuine TRD X bars go for a lot more than I can justify
And how could I say no to mocking them up??
That's it for now. I'm still contemplating if I'll finish the swap first or body work but with work recently picking up I havent had time to do much. I'm leaning towards body work so I can accumulate parts over winter, paint in the spring and finish the swap directly after.
So I've pretty much landed on completing the body work before the swap to ensure I don't rush myself or skip any steps. I know once I have the swap ready I would be so tempted to jus throw it in that it would halt all bodywork progress.
Being said I gathered my materials for my first solo foray into the art / black magic of bodywork...
The first step I took was just hitting the areas needing work with the die grinder to pinpoint the exact spots I'd be focusing on.
Then comes the nerve racking to me part of applying filler and sanding. My current process was the die grinder to mark, 180 grit on the DA sander to prep the area and then apply the 3m Finishing Glaze. Once set I'm knocking that down with the 180 on a durablock and then cleaning up the area with 320. ( I haven't gotten to any 320 grit / clean up yet as I still have a few spots on the drivers side to tackle).
On to round 1 of filler
Overall I felt is went smoothly and I reached out to my friend who did the rear to ensure once I think its complete he can double check my work. I didn't photograph removing the door molding but it was held on with 30 year old goo / double sided tape so that was a slow process as well.
Round two of filler
And finally the photos of where I stopped this afternoon. I know I have one low spot to correct on the fender and then will begin tackling the drivers side. It may not be much but its definitely helping my motivation seeing what I deemed as "daunting" getting one step closer to completion.
I managed to find the replacement rockers someone never used stateside versus ordering them from a vendor in the UK. I was going to wait awhile as the shipping almost matches the price for the rockers but I got the rockers to my door cheaper than just at cost so it felt like a no brainer. So I will also begin mock up of where I will be butt-welding these into the existing rockers as well in the coming weeks.
So its been quite a while.. Unfortunately I had some personal issues come up that wrecked my motivation for a while but I've been getting back at it so this thing can get into paint this late Spring / Early summer.
First was to complete the timing side ( New Oem Belt, Tensioners, Oil Pump O-ring, Cam and Crank seals and so on )
I still need to clean up the Harmonic Balancer / Crank Pulley and decide if I want to clean up the timing cover or get a new oem one while they're still available.
I'm also always on the hunt for odds and ends that I need but are hard to locate.. The most recent acquisitions are some new under tank supports as mine were obliterated and terribly bent up. While it could certainly have been hand bent back I would prefer something that was in better shape to begin with.
Just showing how badly mine were compared to a good condition set
Regarding my "Budget" BBK I finally got in contact with a vendor in Japan to run my front 300zx calipers. They even included a block of wood to clearance my heat shield which I thought was hilarious. The caliper is very tight but it clears and nothing should move so we should be set. Sadly I haven't ordered rotors yet but I couldn't help myself mocking one up.
And to round everything off I have started body work on the driver side as well. Both sides still need lots of sanding and then I'll begin tackling the hood and bumpers.
I have a few more items I'll be picking-up and updating this hopefully this weekend to try and keep this build moving.
Excellent work. Your patience and attention to detail with the bodywork will pay off, that car is going to look amazing.
Good to see this on page 1 again!
Rad!
In reply to WondrousBread :
Much appreciated! Really hoping it comes out well so I'm just going to take as much time as needed. No rushing through this stage.
Nice choice on the Sumitomo calipers. They were on so many things in that time frame as the "big" factory brakes and they work well.
In reply to crankwalk (Forum Supporter) :
The bang for the buck is certainly high using these. I'd love a Wilwood setup but I just don't have the need and this was substantially cheaper while keeping the factory brake bias.
Just a few more pick-ups over the last few days.. I'm still trying to collect parts for when paint is done so getting the car back together is just a matter of assembling everything versus then needing to purchase the remaining swap items. I also snagged a few want items and something to make my body work a bit easier.
First up was my clutch and flywheel. I was initially eyeing up lightweight flywheels but would rather have OEM. I found a nice used OEM flywheel that just needs resurfaced and local shop offers that for $80.
Next up was an Exedy "OEM" clutch replacement. At first I was hesitant for this clutch because it's considered a stock power replacement. After talking to a buddy running this on his twin scroll car I had to jump for the price. It's brand new but I got it for 1/3 of the cost of any new clutch kit.
Now for some exterior items I more so wanted than needed... The turbo engine lid I acquired initially was decent but had a rounded corner that needed fiberglass work and the rain guard had been cut up quite a bit. I managed to sell mine and acquire a mint one for a total of $50 more than mine sold for and I would have had more than that just in material to correct mine.
You can refer to older posts and see this is in far better shape than what I had and is already in primer (still needs blocked)
Lastly, I managed to get some "Toblerone" side markers from the UK. I don't know why but I just love the look of these and the molding will be body color so if I wanted them, now was the time. Of course I had to test fit.
Very glad to see you making progress!
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