Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Discussion and technical advice the SW20 MR2. 3S-GTE, 3S-GE, 3S-FE etc
Anything and everything to do with maintenance, modifications and electrical is in here for the Mk2.

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doctorwedgeworth
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2016 8:25 pm

Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Post by doctorwedgeworth »

I have a 98 non-turbo MR2 with 100k on the clock. It's still running but it's a rough ride.

I want someone to look it over, give me a rough quote for fixing it all up and do the work. As long as the cost isn't too ridiculous I don't mind throwing money at her.

What I know needs doing :
Suspension is knocking
Front brakes are bad
Clutch is about to fail
Door, sunroof and boot seals need replacing
Both sills need replacing

Probably worth doing the timing belt at the same time, and I'd like to replace the exhaust with a mongoose and fit k&n air filter.

There are a few undiagnosed issues too
Twice it has had the rev limiter hit at 3500 revs. This was always after really wet days where roads were flooded
The performance seems to drop above 3500 all the time, as though the clutch has been dumped
Last week it lost all the coolant. I don't know where - it had been up on a ramp for two weeks and dropped nothing. It was driven home fine, then two days later I took it out and it was empty of coolant. Oil not milky, I put some coolant in and it's been fine since

Anyone willing and able to take her off my hands for a couple of weeks?
rgb
Posts: 237
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:02 am
Location: somerset

Re: Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Post by rgb »

you need to know when to give up . all the jobs are fixable . the coolant loss is the worst but that could be a leaking rad or a knackered engine . the suspension could be a bush or four shocks . id say it would cost 2000 to put right . if you cant do the work yourself you need to look at the figures . put it on ebay and buy another
yokomomr4bx
Posts: 216
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 3:06 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Post by yokomomr4bx »

Unfortunately I agree with the above post...all jobs are fixable but you'll be paying considerable labour. To do these jobs justice, if that's the route you want to take, even doing the work yourself you will end up sinking £1500-£1700 on the parts alone. I would really consider selling it as it is and taking on a more manageable project with perhaps only one of the list needing doing e.g. just the sills.

Best of luck!
Hez
Posts: 314
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: Pontefract

Re: Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Post by Hez »

As above i appreciate people get attached to cars but don't carry on it will just be a money pit, for what it will cost you could probably buy a pretty clean n/a. I know MR2's are being put up for silly money both turbo and n/a but if you look at what people are putting them up for and what they are actually getting for them you will be surprised, there are still bargains around.
Jayridium
Posts: 123
Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:49 pm
Location: North East Scotland

Re: Anyone able to take on my mr2 project? North West area (ol13)

Post by Jayridium »

Flip side to these arguments is that good mr2's are getting thin on the ground, and it would be a shame to condemn another one to being broken for parts?

Suspension is most likely droplinks, the source of the knocking would come up as an advisory or fail item in a proper MOT, or you could have a poke about the front suspension and see if you can find any parts that have play in them. The brakes, disks and pads and maybe clean and grease the slides, are very DIY-able, as are the droplinks.

The clutch is a big job, probably £400 in labour, or a few days DIY mechanic'ing it with a reasonable garage at your disposal. Reason being its generally easier to drop the engine and gearbox out of the car then do the clutch rather than try to do it in situ. Flip side is doing it this way gives you all the room in the world to do the cambelt while you are at it.

I've done the engine out gearbox on the drive way many a year ago without access to a 2 poster ramp. IIRC the way I done it was; I put the front on ramps, jacked the rear up to put it on axle stands, removed the wheels, then the back bumper, then when everything like wiring exhaust and hoses was disconnected, I used an engine hoist to lift the back of the car, by slinging around the back bumper supports and then lowered it down to the crossmember was on a skate. I then lifted the back of the car stupidly high, the ramps under the front wheels stopped the underside of the nose hitting the ground at this point, until the car was clear of the top of the engine. I then skated the engine gearbox and subframe away from the car lowered the car's shell back down to the axle stands, and used the engine crane to lift the engine / gearbox off the crossmember, split them on the deck, done a clutch flywheel and crankshaft seal (no way did I want to have to do all that again if the seal started leaking). Then mated the engine back to the box, lifted it onto the crossmember, lifted the car, skated the drivetrain assembly back in place, lowered the car, slowly, much nudging and tilting needed to get it to line up with the mounts, then reconnected hoses, exhaust and wiring, bled coolant yada yada. In hindsight I wish I had just paid a garage.

The coolant loss could be the hardest one to diagnose, could be "pipes from hell" (the coolant pipes that go over the fuel tank from the engine in the back to get to the radiator in the front and back to the engine), leaking radiator, leaking heater matrix, or perished hose, or or or.... I'd suggest pressure testing the coolant system.
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