www.imoc.co.uk

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That was my MR2 as she was when I bought her. It was imported into the country in 1998, and it’s a Rev 1 (1991) 3SGE GT T-Bar.

I bought the car in Oct 05 off a friend for £1800, and the tech spec looked something like this –

Wheels
16" Super Advan Racing rims
205/45 front and 215/45 rear tyres

Suspension
Lowered 30mm
Rear cross brace

Exterior
Standard front bumper de-fog lamped and meshed
Front splitter
Crystal sidelights
Crystal indicators
Customised side skirts
Rev 3 rear centre panel
Rev 3 rear lights
Rev 3 spoiler
Reversing lights and boot lock removed from centre panel
Sprayed BMW titanium silver
Turbo engine cover

ICE
Sony 6 x 9s

Reasonable enough I thought, but on first inspection the paintwork had seen better days, there was a rattle in the engine bay and it had no tax. And no CD player. It was however rust-free and MOTed until Sept 06, so it couldn’t be that bad, could it?!

The rattle in the engine bay turned out to be nothing more than the support rod knocking against the block, and it was soon remedied with a little sticky fixer.

But the more I looked at the car, the more things I noticed were wrong with it. I eventually decided that these things weren’t going to go away and I had to make a list of what was wrong with her.

After the list and my bank balance gave me a mild case of depression, the car was garaged for around 3 months. The battery was dead, the brakes were seized, and mould was growing on the gear knob and steering wheel. Not pretty. I decided enough was enough and it was time to get Project MR2 into action.

After a full service the fun was ready to begin. Off to the Toyota scrap yard we went, 50 miles away, for a weather strip, scuttle panel, rear quarter bump strips, interior handle and a couple of sun visors. I wish I had properly consulted my Problem List, as I forgot that I needed an air vent, coat hooks, brake light cover, boot carpet pins and the clips that hold the sun visors up. Ah well.
On the drive home, a little knocking noise started somewhere near the passenger footwell. Just before it drove me totally nuts, I found out that it was only the droplinks. Phew.

The car went into the bodyshop in late January, and I rather foolishly told the guy that there was no rush on it. It finally made it to the prepping / blocking stage in mid April-







The day I went to take those pictures I was informed of a slight technical hitch that the bodyshop had hit – the boiler for the spray booth had gone on fire the previous night, destroying the boiler and causing a good deal of fire damage to the booth. Not so good. So as i write this, the car is sitting primed and waiting-





mmmmm smooooooooth



for some Mazda Winning Blue love. Thats the colour of the new MX5s, by the way.

While the car was away I had been busyed myself by collecting little bits and pieces that I could put on it when it came back. So for over a month I had these lying under my bed-

RMG rear splitters.
DVD headunit.
Front strut brace.

I'm currently tryin to get the local tyre place to get the finger out and get me the 18" Matrix Shadows that i ordered a month ago. Apprently the company is selling them cheap as they're down to their last few sets, but the guys can't find them in the warehouse. Nightmare!

But once the 18s come it'l be Project Advan Refurb time, with some polished rim and gold centre action. Lovely. As for the car, it'll be an on-going thing with bits and pieces changing all the time. And as the article title said it'll all be on buget as I'm a student and a tight git, so there'll be a running total as we go along.

I know the car might not appeal to everyone's taste but hey, variety is the spice of life.

Mods for the near future include-

Shiny pedals
KPH - MPH gauges
Funky steering wheel
Shiny Gear knob
Dash colour coded
Slimline PS2 moulded into the glovebox
Tenzo R bucketseats

Stay tuned, sportsfans!

Total so far
Car - £1800
Bits and pieces from scrappie man - £40
Front strut brace - £45
RMG rear splitters - £100
DVD headunit - £250
Total- £2235