1992 MR2 MK2 Project: A big drive

Whats next?
Bolt it all back together and off to the mot?
Wouldnt that be nice eh.
Sadly that isnt how reality works in the house.
There is still quite alot to do but we are getting closer.

Something fun though. I won a thing, Trevs blog from the youtubes was giving away a box of goodies and i got lucky with it.


A new panel hammer and some rusty effect paints. Along with a couple of workshop mugs, stickers and a CD.

Back to the car.
I got the fan shrouds back together and fitted. Pleased to report that my modifications fitted so I can run both fans on the bigger rad. Not due to a cooling necessity just simply i couldnt find anyone selling a new smaller rad.


I bought some mesh to protect my new aircon condenser which would be “difficult” to replace if a rock went through it.
This is bonded onto the back of the front bumpers teeth and a few zipties to hold it in place while the adhesive sets.


Bumper brackets were powdercoated previously with some other bits.


Continued bolting things back on


The front crash bar has been sprayed with cavity wax, you see the the puddles underneath where its run out again.

Waiting for adhesive on the front bumper to set i cracked on with testmounting the brakes.
A friend with CNC router made me the first bracket out of ally so i can test everything fits.


Im happy to say that it does fit exactly as intended. Anyone would think i had measured it meticulously and multiple times.


Looking pretty smart there


And with a wheel mostly on we can see we should have clearance.


I say mostly on as its hitting the spring perch and wont bolt up all the way.
But the tyres currently on these wheels are the wrong size anyway so im not concerned there.

Unfortunately my friends little machine is a tad gutless and cant do the depth that the rear brackets need not to mention it hasnt been right after machining the first one so its possible something went wrong in there. It sounds like im going to have to find someone else to do the machining on these.
The rear test bracket was made of MDF instead. While im sure it would fail an mot im also confident that it would fall off before we even got to the garage, but i just need to test the fitment.


Its livable but i might more the caliper forwards a little more to center the carrier in the disk.
Ii does show we have enough clearance however


Providing the tyre fitters are careful where they stick the weights, im going to need them as far forward as possible to be safe.


Front bumper sort of mounted back on.


Yes shes missing a tooth. I suspect it came off in the accident.
Luckily the number plate does a pretty good job of hiding it.


I also have the passenger seat dropped in place to keep it out the way


Im leaving it with a heavy duty cover on for now but i do keep sitting in it with a cuppa and can confirm its very comfy.

Well i lost 2 weeks due to taking the workshop apart so i could get my mk1 shell out the back and down to birmingham for the nec show then getting it back and tucked away again before tidying the workshop and dragging the mk2 back in.

So once again work can continue.

Another big box of parts arrived from Japan. Only took it 7 weeks to arrive from ordering but 48hrs from it leaving japan and it was on my doorstep.


Plenty of new bits that i needed for putting the car back together.


I decided to get what bits i can afford now while its still available from factory so new door seals, mouldings and lots of bits which might have reused but would likely have needed replacing at some point later when production would probably have stopped.


The car was cleared out and some new sound deadening installed where i had to remove the original ones for the new seat mounts.


It rollered on well stretched into the dip and i was rather happy with how it came out.

Onto the seats, i removed the airbags from both and the seatbelt sensor from passengers side.
Then wired up the heating elements, to keep the amount of wires required i did all the magic under the seat. So the way it works is the relay switches the elements between a parallel and series circuits depending on if you are on high or low setting. This way only requires 3 wires to be run to the seat and leaves me a nice place to hide the relay.


I did some testing on the seat and drew up a diagram of how it should be wired, if anyone else wants to do the same here is my diagram.


On the drivers seat i kept the seatbelt sensor and just changed the plug so it can fit to the mr2 loom.
In goes the carpets and passengers seat.


Followed by drivers, i do love how well they suit the mr2 could easily have been the factory seats.
Im a shorty so while the seats are fine for me i was curious how they would fit someone a bit taller. A friend dropped past whos 6’4” so i had him to try it out and am pleased to report that he fits fine with headroom which is nice.


Continuing the interior a bit i mounted up the handsfree microphone to the interior light housing since i had run it when i had the dash out.


A quick bracket for the passengers 12v outlet.


Fixed in place. Should be nicely out the way there, and yes it illuminates with the dash lights.


A change i may have glossed over earlier is the clock spring and stalks, i have upgraded to a rev5 clock spring to gain an extra pin and the potential for another one on top of that if i opened it up and add the contacter and pin. The stalks are also in better condition than mine so i used them too. I did have to extend the wiring as my column has rake adjustment and the rev5 one came off a stalk that didnt.
This is usefull so i can run the cruise control from the wheel this time rather than from the column.
The horn takes 1 pin, radio controls take 1 or 2 pins depending on the functions i want to have, the cruise stalk can also run off 1 pin. This should leave me with a spare pin which i think ill put in as a ground so i know all the controls are going to work reliably.


I spent a bit of time looking and found the is200 stalk looked to fit so i bought one.
Good news is it fits perfect.
Bad news is it arrived broken and held together with blutack so thats gone back so i should be getting a replacement.


Something that doesnt fit with the seats since i lowered the mounting points is the boot and fuel flap release levers.
Nothing that cant be fixed by chopping it up


Then chop it up a bit more.


This leaves an unsightly gap down the back so out comes the jb weld and start rebuilding it a bit.


Cleaned back and shaped to fit along with a quick spray of adhesion promoter and satin black.


A template for another bracket, this time in the boot.


Then made in steel


Done in black and reassembled with some electrics. Usb ports and a 12v outlet.


The ports can be switched off or set to either permanent live or ignition live, which is what the switch on the left is for.


The wires have already been run when i rewrapped the body loom, im out of connector bodies though so that will have to wait till some more arrive.

I am hoping to get things to a point soon where i can put a battery on and test all the electrics that i have fitted or modified. Really dont want to get the car back together and then find there is any issues.

My last 17 years before retiring were with BMW and prior to that I did 12 years with Toyota.  Our parts dept had some parts for the MK1 MR2 which they sold on Ebay.  Stupid thing is these parts were still available from Toyota GB but they sold for more than retail on Ebay.
So, it could be worth your while enquiring if the parts you require are still available from Toyota GB.  Other than that it would be pot luck trying some older dealerships. (but probably not the ones that have had multi million £ revamps)

A sit down and think has sparked a slight change in direction.
Initially my thoughts were to get the car back together, MOT’d and on the road before worrying about spending ages cutting and polishing the paintwork align with finishing up some other bits.
However as im bolting bits back on im realizing that isnt going to work well in the long run as im likely to damage the new trim when it comes time to it rub down.

So starting with 1000 grit i have started rubbing down the roof and rear quarters.


Got it nice and flat with all the orange peel out before moving through 1200 to 1500


Despite the flurry of snow we had up here by the time the next weekend came around it was rather warm and sunny so i pushed the car outside and began the polish with G3 compound


Its come up great and looking like i had got all the orange peel out



Now i just need to move through the compounds and pads as there is quite a few scratches and swirls left by the g3 and foam pad.
Not that you can see it in the sun but once i had pushed it back into the workshop it did stand out as a bit dull. I have ordered some g10 which should be here soon.


As the day was ending i got the quarter windows rubbed down. Masked up the glass and gave them a coat of interface (adhesion promoter) followed by satin black.



There was also a damaged corner on the drivers window so i repaired that with some jbweld plastic. It seems to have bonded on well, it isn't the best to sand as it stays flexible but i think its close enough ready for a coat of paint.


I have sourced a couple more parts including the heated mirrors off the revision 4 uk model.
This requires an extra 2 wires to be run into the mirrors, and since mine are the JDM electric folding type its a little more work to pass the wires through.


Just have to take the motor off the top of the mechanism so you can push the wires through, its not too much work. For getting them down the sleeve they were taped to the end of a welding rod and pushed through. It does show just how well built the folding mechanisms are when you see them in pieces.

I also gave the mirrors end caps a quick coat of satin black as they were scuffed up and generally looked a bit rough.


Mirrors are now back together and have the heating elements in them which im sure will come in handy for winter. They will get an additional connector in the door as the existing connector is full, i have already added the wiring and fuse in the cabin for the heaters and the wires from the door plug so it shouldnt be much to fit them now once im ready to put the doors back together and on.



The scuttle panel got a similar treatment of being cleaned, rubbed back with fine scotch brite, adhesion promoter and finally a few good coats of satin black.


Ill be honest i have no idea how well the black paint will hold up. I have hopes that it will last but if not then it will have to come back off and be redone which isnt such a hardship, for now though it looks a lot better than previously.

While im fixing and refurbishing bits i better have a look at the foglights.
They are in rather good condition and since my original ones were the steering type i made sure these were aswell.
As a happy result they also have the optional yellow reflector in there.
Mostly i would say they are good to go except a few small areas.
One of the mounting points is missing.
Not a problem as a quick bit of bent steel, a hole, and some adhesive can fix that.

Next issue is the passengers side has been chopped about abit.


Its missing all the plastic that goes around the lens, it cant be fitted like that, it would stand out a mile.
Luckily i can thank my past self for a change because i never threw away the crash damaged fog light.


And somehow the exact bit i need is one of the very few undamaged areas.
So i chopped it off


You can see the one off the new light above which had been hacked up by someone at some point.
A bit of cleanup and trimmed to fit


Then bonded on, cleaned back and given a quick coat of paint. Of course I painted both so they would look good and match.


The Easter weekend arrived and despite feeling a bit under the weather for most of it i was able to continue making headway on the car.
The rear bumper mounts i had were rotten so i picked up another pair from a friend, they were bent but useable.
My rotten ones for comparison.


And the replacements


After a bit of work with the hammer.


Then a good blasting and powdercoat.


So the rear bumper bar can go back on.


The bumper skin isnt going back on just yet as i still have to lift the car to fit the engine and the easiest place to lift from for the height needed is the towing hooks strapped to the engine crane.

On with a few more engine bay jobs now.
The fuel filler pipe needed stripping and re powdercoating so i did that


Made the first fuel line from tank to filter and refitted the heat shields


Part of the evap system still needed to go back in so i fitted the hard lines and then had a good look at fitting the charcoal canister.
It really needed to move from the original spot as the intake pipe used to catch on it and rub through the vacuum hose.
Down here where the fuse box and coolant tank used to live should be fine.


I bashed out a bracket for it


That will do the job nicely. A quick powdercoat and on it goes


There is a few small things still to finish in the engine bay but i think now its time to give some attention to the large obstruction that has been floating around the workshop for a bit too long.


Its pretty much stripped down to a bare unit now


Out come the cams, bagged n’ tagged to keep them clean


And its just about ready to lift the heads off.


So whats the aim with the engine i hear you ask?
Mostly its just about fixing the oil leaks.
Its dripping oil quite a bit from the upper sump especially after the accident.

Its also burning quite a bit of oil from the valve seals if i remember on average it was about 1L per 1000miles depending on the type of driving of course. Not loads but enough to make me want to sort it before the engine goes back in.

Aside from that im just going to do an inspection and overhaul anything that i think needs doing.
I dont plan on replacing piston rings, bearings ect unless they are out of spec mostly because it would end up very expensive to buy genuine parts for everything and id rather leave the original parts in than use cheaper alternatives.
It was a good running engine so there should be no need to change any of that stuff but im going to inspect it all just to be safe.

I cant believe that engine fits in that little hole!

Im sure it will look just like it should belong given all the other little "tweaks" that you have made look factory fit.

The bottom end as it happens is also rather good.
Tonight i managed to get the big ends and mains plastigauged with them all showing at the tight end of the factory manuals standard tolerance.



This tells me there is no mechanical parts that needs changing within the engine.
The pistons came out and all the rings are free and intact.


I was planning on measuring the rings but i made a decision based on the rest of the engine that they will be absolutely fine. The reason i dont want to take them off is quite simply i dont want to risk breaking one.

I checked the crank thrust and that is well within tolerance.


That means it is just about ready for everything to be cleaned and rebuilt now

All good stuff. I used to use plastigauge all the time on Toyota engines when I worked on them.
To clean the valves I usually clamp the electric drill in the vice, hold the valve gently in the chuck, spin it up and use the back of a hacksaw blade to clean off the carbon. Then finish of with emery tape taking care to avoid the seat.