**UPDATED** 1991 Rev 1 (Beastly V6 1MZ-FE VVTI) **UPDATED**

[KarlBristol]

I thought it was about time that I started up a little profile showing how my cars progressing as I'm sure there will be lots more to come.


Well lets start at the beginning I guess.

I've always wanted a MR2 MK2 as I think they look lovely, but it was never the right time. I decided to focus on buying a house, a brand new car; mundane things like that first.

Anyways on the 14th September '11 the time was right and so I thought I'd treat myself to a second car... I went to pick up my weekend toy. The original advert is here:

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-moto ... tem-full-1

Giving the car a good check over at the side of the road there were some problems that hadn't been listed, or had been mislisted.
The rear tyres were bold and front didn't have much life left, the paintwork wasn't in very good condition, the throttle cable had about 50 miles left in it, the brakes were ceasing and it refused to go into 3rd or 4th gear.... As well as a small patch of rust. There was a small misfire, and it just generally needed some loving. Plus the nearside wing had been dinged, dented, and didn't hold its original shape (to top the wing off it was badly sprayed by hand!!)

Basics are 130k miles, lots of mot, half a years tax and it needs some work...

So I limped it home and the real work began.

Upon flipping through the documents I realised I'd stumbled upon a bit of a gold mine. It has full service history, all receipts for work carried out, original owners manuals and folders and even the origial sales brouchure and accessory brochure!!! - 9 previous owners which isn't bad given the age of car...

- Tyres and throttle cable were changed first (throttle cable ended up only being a 2 minute job)...
- Then I spent 4 days solid sorting out the paintowrk and cleaning up the inside and out, then it looked like this:









- After this I bought some new metal pressed plates and set about giving the car a full service on my drive. This in turn sorted out my misfire.







Wheels need a refurb but I don't have the time or money to get this sorted - also I can't really justify this when it still won't get into 3rd or 4th. So a few more small tweeks. Here it is with new plates:





- Lubed up all the gear linkages and then decided to fit some new Polybushes bought from Japspec performance. This didn't really do much. So I set about researching what it could be whilst I purchased a new blanking panel for between the rear lights. I think that it gives the car a more unique and smooth look from the rear. I went to debadge the rear, but being a UK model there were two 5mm holes left. I covered these with a TRD gel decal. Personally I think it looks quite nice:



I quite like it with Rev 1 lights - everyone else seems to have other ones so its quite unusual.



Time for some general shots:

















At this stage I polished up the rear exhausts to give it a nice look from the rear. The front side lights were covered in mould and moss so I decided to take them out for a clean. I tried to clean them with warm water, scrubbing them, the whole lot. This had no effect whatsover and so I decided to put them in the dishwahser... Bad move! lol. This stripped the reflective silver from inside the lights. So it was time for another set of lights...

I searched eBay high and low and picked up a cheap set. They were in very bad condition (ie missing clips etc...) but after some serious time on them they started to look decent. I decided to get rid of their flourescent orange colour as it didn't match the car and I managed this with some black tint spray.

So back to the gearbox... I heard that redline oil helped resolve notchy gearboxes and so went about trying to remove the gearbox oil plugs.... To no avail! They clearly hadn't been removed from new and were completly stuck to the car... So time for my first trip to a garage.

£10 cash later the car was on ramps with a mechanic trying his best to take the plugs out. It took him 30 minutes with air tools and a large hammer, lol. They even drained the old oil and put mine in for me



The car seems to attract attention wherever it goes... even the garage! lol



I love the look without a spoiler - looks so different!!

This helped with the gearbox but 3rd and 4th were still near on impossible...

After hours and hours of stripping parts apart and having no joy I turned to the internet. Didn't have much luck for nearly a week of 5 hours a day until I stumbled upon this:

http://www.mr2.com/forums/mk-1-mr2-aw11 ... death.html

After 2 hours I'd started to strip the relevant bits down:









Anyway after stripping it all down I got to the little square link of death. It wasn't at all worn down as I expected... So a little thinking, and I realised that it was solid on the pin that held it. As in I couldn't even move it with mole grips So lots and lots of elbow grease, so WD40 and some super grease and it was flowing better than water.... So pleased with my achievement it all got assembled again, and low and behold the gearbox is now nicer than the one fitted to my brang new Astra Sport!! Happy is an understatement! lol

Whilst I was out there and the rain held off I thought why not replace the wing... So went off and bought an old wing in the same colour. And stripped the old one and put the new one on. This was a lot harder than I thought as most of the bolts decided to shear off leaving the threads in the car, and my socket set holding the heads, gggrrrrr

But with some perseverance and lots of time I got there....

I also debadged the front to find the same two little holes staring at me blankly. I couldn't even use the same badge as on the rear because the holes were on top of eachother not side by side.... So I contacted a company called HEKO and got a 60mm2 badge custom made for me. Its real carbon fibre and matches the rear badge perfectly

Oh and I also fitted a small sunstrip and a new tax disc holder, lol

So as of today this is how it sits... (I know it needs a clean but I'd only just come back from a drive, lol)

























Still to do....
- Work out what the hell to do with the interior... leather or not, hhhmmm
- Replace front tyres
- Wheel refurb
- Small patch of rust to be removed and painted
- Might try and repalce some of the suspension joints
- Replace the engine belts
- Lightly tint all of the windows
- Replace windscreen wipers with retro fit Bosch aero ones
- Buy some alloygaitors in blue and fit
- Enjoy it
- Possibly mudflaps
- Brake discs and pads
- Overhaul the brake calipers



Any suggestions then please feel free to say

Any comments welcome good or bad as I know its not to everyones taste...

[alanmr2turbo]

I liked the read up

But

Please say you never spent £1k on a REV1 FE

[KarlBristol]

MR2s seem to be really difficult to find in any decent condition around here and really go for a premium. Around here they seem to go on average for about £1500 even for a rev1 believe it or not (trust me, I spent a long time looking locally for one)

I actually wanted a rev1 as there are fewer and fewer of them around, and I was after something a bit different I can start taking to local classic shows, etc...

I already have a brand new car so the 2 is not a full time mode of transport for me but a weekend toy, hence I can justify buying a slightly less reliable rev1, up to a rev 4 or 5.

It took some bargaining to get him down to £1000, which even given the amount of time effort and money I've spent on it I think is an absolute steal!

[craig]

Nice progress so far mate, need to rip that 3SFE engine out and stick a turbo lump in there!

[KarlBristol]

Thanks mate - theres still an awful lot do do in order to get it perfect

I had been toying with the idea of ripping the engine out and replacing it with a turbo. However I've decided not to, for the pure and simple reason that given a couple of years (10 or so, lol) this will probably be one of the only near original 3sfe rev1s around and running And for that reason it will be rather rare. Plus I like it being different, I mean how many 3sfe's do you see around at the moment where the engine hasn't been altered??

I will probably give the engine an overhaul, take it all out, polish it up and sort out anything thats needed but I think I'm going to keep it mainly standard, obviously with a few subtle tweeks here and there

Ive already decided I'm not putting any form of spoiler or body kit on it. The closest its getting to that is a set of moulded rear mudflaps that I've bought off of someone on here, lol.

May treat it to some leather or half leather seats though...

Outside is nearly there, with a few little treats in store still.
Then I tackle the inside and of course some more mechanical parts.

[craig]

Thanks mate - theres still an awful lot do do in order to get it perfect

I had been toying with the idea of ripping the engine out and replacing it with a turbo. However I've decided not to, for the pure and simple reason that given a couple of years (10 or so, lol) this will probably be one of the only near original 3sfe rev1s around and running And for that reason it will be rather rare. Plus I like it being different, I mean how many 3sfe's do you see around at the moment where the engine hasn't been altered??

I will probably give the engine an overhaul, take it all out, polish it up and sort out anything thats needed but I think I'm going to keep it mainly standard, obviously with a few subtle tweeks here and there

Ive already decided I'm not putting any form of spoiler or body kit on it. The closest its getting to that is a set of moulded rear mudflaps that I've bought off of someone on here, lol.

May treat it to some leather or half leather seats though...

Outside is nearly there, with a few little treats in store still.
Then I tackle the inside and of course some more mechanical parts.

This is true, I had a 3SFE and had a rev 1 turbo fitted. I just found mine so slow. (119bhp 0-60 in 9.3s) compared to rev3 turbo (240bhp 0-60 in 5.2)

Totally agree on the idea with the looks, looks good as it is with the only addition being a rear smooth center panel.

I like being different also, I've made the rear of my rev3 look like a rev2

Thought about a turbo engine lid?

All the best with it mate

[KarlBristol]

Forgot to say the car originally came with some horrendous green LED windscreen washers. As seen in the later photos these have been ripped out and replaced with very small understated black washer jets. A hell of an inmprovement!

I currently have a new thing of Brazilian Carnauba wax on order.
Also have a set of moulded original rear mudflaps on the way with some internal door handle shrowds
And finally an aero wiper upgrade is also on the way

Photos will be included when its all done

[DAN_REV1_TURBO]

I had one exactly the same colour blue, moonroof, 3SFE on an H plate aswell which was my first MR2. It drove brilliantly, I had it upto 130k miles on the clock before I sold up and bought the Turbo. I would just keep it clean and nice mate if it`s driving well, not worth the hassle of an engine swap (Well, it is, but not really worth the headache when you could sell this at some point and pickup a rev2 turbo with bigger brakes/turbo engine and everything installed as standard and working as it should for say, 1300 quid). I miss my blue interior!

[KarlBristol]

Well its been a few days without money spent on it, so heres an update for you all to enjoy...

Firstly I was looking at my interior and realised that the handle shrouds were demolised. Especially on the driver side. They appeared to ahve been stuck back together so I set about rectifying that.

I bought these:



Then set about replacing the ones already fitted:

Passenger side originally





And 2 minutes later:



Drivers side originally:





Looks like its been removed before and stuck back together badly! lol

So all in all they look a lot better replaced now

After this came the mudflaps



Mid fitting before drilling the bumper:











All done for one side:





Then the other side:



Both done:



I think it looks like a hell of an improvement and it should also help to keep the car a little cleaner (thats the plan anyway!)

Then I fitted some upgraded aero wipers





They look really really good

Then I felt that I didn't know my bank manager well enough as it was, and so probably my most signifant purchase to date with the car was made. My thanks go to TbarSAN who sold these to me. Hes a really genuine bloke!

So today my interior got a slight seeing too when these got delivered:



I already had a full cloth interior which I fancied changing. I didn't want full leather for fear of it cracking, etc... so made a compromise and went for leather bolsters, and suede centres. I must say I haven't really seen any other cars with these in as of yet. But here's what happened this afternoon aswell...

My material seats:



Started by removing the drivers one:



One out:





Before and after seats





Both of my new ones fitted:







It suits my tastes a lot better now
I'll stick some leather feed/treatment on the boulsters and it will be as good as new. So chuufed I can't explain!!

Which means that these are now in the garage and will be sold shortly:






Not really sure what to attack on the car next lol
The pads and discs need to be replaced.
I have a few small things in the pipeline.

Of course I did also have this delivered today:



I'm sure that a pot of specialist wax will keep me busy on the car for all of 2 hours! lol

Give me a couple more days and I'm sure there will be another update as currently Im spending money like water lol

[DAN_REV1_TURBO]

Looking good mate, the half leather/alacantra seats look much better than the faded blue cloth ones!

[kendoskeg]

Lovely car, were there many versions without the spoiler?

Really seems to suit it!

[KarlBristol]

Lovely car, were there many versions without the spoiler?

Really seems to suit it!

I've always preffered it without aswell (looks more like a dino)

I may stand to be corrected, but as far as I'm aware the spoilerless ones were only the REV1 NA engined cars

So there are very few around nowadays (massively un-molested that is! lol)

[cvega666]

mudflaps ftw, just fitted some on my car ;>

[craig]

Nice mate, seats are the best stock seats in my opinion. Nice work

[KarlBristol]

Thought it was time for a very mini mini update as its been almost a week! lol

First the car was very very dirty again, but it was pointless cleaning it with no where to put it. So, I set about clearing and sorting my garage again which took a few days. With this complete I could fix my attention to the car again. So I started with a good wash and clean, then used 3 coats of the wax that I had just bought. Here are some before and after photos:

BEFORE







AFTER















Then I thought it was time to treat the cracks in my newly purchased half leather seats. After several hours of attention, mainly on the drivers boulster they were looking a lot better. Though they will need regular treatment to improve them:





Plenty of work done there even though it might not show! lol

I then gave the interior a thorough clean. As full interior pics havent been posted so far, here are a few:





A full blanking panel will be added once I find the right material to use... Plenty of work will go on with the inside, don't worry!!



My centre dash clock hasn't worked since I got the car so I started to rip apart all the plastics to see what was wrong. Whilst doing this I found that most screw holes weren't held with any screws! That explained some rattles!!!

Long and short of it is that the previous owner thought that rather than getting a radio connector he would steal the power supply from the clock. So there is a bit of bodged wiring behind there that will need sorting out as there's nothing linked to the clock atm

As I'm a bit of a photo whore I thought I'd take a few more...
I also cleaned underneath all panels/trims inside the car and took out the carpets and cleaned under them aswell...









My two beasts together:





I then spent a day attacking the car with a thing of touch up stick and some t-cut; its looking a lot better for it!! I like the fact that its still got a few little stone chips and the original paint as I don't want it to look brand new it is basically now a classic car after all

I finally also got and fitted a replacement engine prop holdall clip in the engine bay! It had been really annoying me, as the clip that holds the prop had been broken and it was being held by a cable tie which meant more rattles.

Looks a lot better and the car is now rattle free!!

Then I set about the windows.
The rear quarters looked like this:



Within the next couple of months I will be blacking out the rear windows and so these stickers needed to go. Also they were chipped old and dragged down the look of the car. Unfortunately they were very stubborn to get off!!

After lots of stuggling and several hours believe it or not the windows then looked like this:



I still wanted it to be evident that the car was alarmed so I stuck some up to date ones on the front windows instead. Looks brighter, newer, sharper and less fussy!



Next task was the windscreen wipers, which were original, rusty and might have been black in some previous life!

I noticed that they really needed attention when I first fitted the aero wipers. So the other day they got said attention!







They were properly rubbed down and then sprayed with a couple of coats of hard wearing engine enamel black. It gave a really nice finish. Here is is with just the drivers side done:







As stated that is with only the drivers side done
Both have now been done
Unfortunately it doesn't come out brilliantly on my phone camera but trust me when I say that its a marked improvement!

As its my birthday coming up soon I went cap in hand to ask my dad to sort out the one thing that the car has desperately needed since I bought it. Rust removal!! Unfortunately a small patch is rusty above the o/s rear arch which appears to have been patched badly before. This needs attention. Also the o/s rear sill also has started to rot away.

The part of my car I cry at ever time I see!









I have used the same bodyshop for a while now and he is going to sort it out for me so the car is going in on the 5th November to be fully sorted...

Its not cheap and I have to pick up the lions share of the cost but what will be done is the rust fully removed on the arch, new metal welded in, smoothed and the full panel painted. The surrounded panels will then be blended to give a perfect match.

The sill is being completly cut out, a new piece fabricated and welded in. Once again it will be smoothed, painted and blended.

This will get the bodywork up to A1 condition then!! I can't wait


On payday Im giving the engine a full service including all belts, dizzy, plugs, leads, etc... etc... Its currently running sweet as a nut but Id rather stop a problem before it has a chance to happen!

Im also looking around for another set of wheels. I was considering having these refurbed but Im tempted either by originals or proper split rims... give me a couple of weeks and Im sure that they will be changed. There a wanted swap ad up now anyway lol

Time to end on a high with some more piccies of it yesterday with sidelights on:











Its almost been returned to its former glory.

After the service, body work, wheels, and tints I think its a case of going through systematically and replacing worn out bits that I can find. Then just keeping on top of all of it forever more

Its definately being kept relatively OEM

Any suggestions are welcome...

[Tsia]

Awesome car, keep up the good work! Might I ask where you got that TRD badge from on the front? /want.

[craig]

Good reading mate, car is certainly coming along nicely! Keep it up!

[KarlBristol]

Awesome car, keep up the good work! Might I ask where you got that TRD badge from on the front? /want.

Thanks - I got it custom made for me to match the back one; its made out of gel covered carbon fibre. I can take some close up pics for you if you want.

If memory serves correct it only cost me about £23 posted

Heres the website mate:

http://www.heko.co.uk/

Theres also an online badge creator if that helps
I emailed them with all my requirements and they got it all sorted for me.

[Tsia]

That's awesome, thanks!

[KarlBristol]

Lets just say that I have lots of parts on the way after going a bit OTT on eBay lol. All will be revealed shortly...