Decision time...

[oukie]

Put your location up and people here may be able to help you with advise etc and maybe have a look at the car to just how bad it is/isn't .

Chris.

[gforceuk]

its now up for sale ... Some xxxx put a brick through the wifes windscreen whilst it was parked up in town so money needed to get it fixed.

It in the for sale section , just after 250 for the parts i've bought for it which will pay for the damage to her car.

[Boddney]

That is sad news mate . I thought we had won you round to getting it fixed up.
Never mind we can't always have it all. Find out who did the glass in and we'll get together and beat the £250 pound out of him. LOL
Sorry to hear your news.
Bod

[gforceuk]

I'm sure i'll find out somehow.. nice area we live in.. unless its job related

[trunks_mk1]

Thats unfortunate. I'm always thinking should I ditch the car because I spend so much money on it....just get a new one with less problems and hassel but I just love it, I can't lie, its very attractive car and shape IMO.

I can only guess you are a copper or a criminal lawyer. Hope you catch the sods.

[Gordy]

When my Mk1 was in need of lots of work I simply gave it to an enthusiast who had the time to do something worthwhile with it. It was either that or spend too much time trying to flog it for almost nothing, or just let it sit on the drive and fester even more. Looking back I think I did the right thing and hopefully it provided some fun for the new owner.

If my Mk2 turbo ever blows up I will look for another Mk1 'cos they are lovely simple fun, but I'll try and get one that doesn't need too much work for the simple reason that driving is far more fun that tinkering.

I guess that is the choice... where do your priorities lie... tinker or drive? Hope you make the right choice.

: )

[greglebon]

I guess that is the choice... where do your priorities lie... tinker or drive? Hope you make the right choice.

I'll second that!

I've had 3 Mk1's now, over the last 10 years, and I've carried out extensive modding / repairing on all three of them....

You get to a point in life where on a Friday, you dont want to be planning your weekend like THIS anymore:

10am: Jack up car, remove wheels, blah,blah,blah...
4pm: grab something to eat!
9pm: call it a day, climb in shower
10pm: have some dinner..!

...you really wanna be planning like THIS:

6am: get in car, drive to Brands Hatch
10am: do a few laps of above!
12.30: Pause for lunch, have a chat with some fellow petrol-heads.
1.30: a load more laps during the afternoon.
5pm: leave the circuit, pop into a local pub for some eats / drink.
7pm: get in shower..
8pm: grab a beer...!

NOW: which would YOU prefer to be doing...!

There are only so many years you can spend under cars: every weekend spent this way is a weekend of driving enjoyment wasted...!

[laam999]

Hey, Just thought I should let you know that geforce sold this car to me so now I suppose I can hijack this thread.

I have no intention of selling or harvesting this car. I think that with some time and money this will be a very reliable fun weekend car.

I'm thinking this is going to last over a year to complete (I start a welding course at Easter) and once I have sorted out the rust (the more I asses it the less and less I become worried) I's just a matter of cleaning the engine and servicing all the fluids, new battery and I think it'll be fine. I think I'll take more more than the Summer for the rust tho as I won't have the time, money or skill to complete it before then.

If anyone is around Hartlepool and wants to quickly asses the car for me I would be very please.

Liam

[Cattwooduk]

Been in the same thought process for a while now but I'm leaning more towards the giving up and buying another one now. Any thoughts of how I can get this lot done... thinking the total cost will be better spent on a replacement!
Things to do -
front A-post NS and OS need grinding down, welding plates on and then painting
B-post drivers side de-rusting and re painting
Front NS wing has rust, front OS wing has dent... replace with honeybourne wings and respray
Slight twist in the front splitter been there since I bought it..
-Quote for around 500-600 to sort out all that bodywork rust and fitting/respraying new wings/splitter etc.
Think the clutch is on the way out as it's starting to slip a tiny bit and get occasional smell similar to hot brakes (defo not hot brakes though, already had 500quid to replace whole system last year calipers, discs, handbrake cables etc) - 300 ish for new clutch fitted
Drivers side t-bar leakage getting worse - lots of black shoe polish on seals (worked a treat on passenger side, no biggy just inconvenient!)
Sometimes missfires and runs on 3 cycinders for about 5 seconds when starting up - in the process of diagnosing that (4th spark plug was a tiiiiny bit oily when I checked this morning, gonna keep an eye on it)
Gear box is getting worse - still havent had a chance to check if its linkages or the synchro, almost certain its the synchro though as sometimes changes are smooth as a baby arss and other times it requires some heavy handling and cursing to get it into 3rd - cost of a new box and fitting - any guesstimation how much this will cost?
Leather on drivers seat starting to look like rats are munching it while I'm in bed - new seats/duct tape/leather restoration/rat traps

I worked out how much I've spent on it in just over 2 years I've had it and nearly cried, every step forwrd seems to notch up 2 steps back but just can't bring myself to let the damn thing go

[cartledge_uk]

The problme is with the older cars, you can sell and get another, but then most of the time you will encounter similar problems. at least when they are fixed you know its fixed.

[Sharpfish]

I scrapped my last MR2 and bought a much more solid one for a nice price. In my case the rot was fairly extensive due to sitting around and it needed stuff like windscreen etc...

of course it was to do my 2nd Supercharger swap so I wanted a decent solid base to start with AND was looking for a sunroof car this time (my last 2 mr2's were t-bars and the novelty wore off a bit over ten years). Still sunroof/t-bar whatever.. not the point, just get a solid chassis (either by buying another one or welding up the one you have) fix the arches and enjoy.

No matter what cars I look at/try/dream about... aside from a VX220 Turbo I want to pick up some day this is THE car for me... I dreamed of it for almost ten years (in the late 80s+) got one ten years after that, and have owned 3 over ten years.. O.K so the last two both went bye-bye (crash and rot) but third time lucky.

In the ten years of owning '2s I guess only 5 of those years have been on the road - not through any major fault of the car but because it's a great project car - something to take your time with (if you have a garage). I get just as much fun LOOKING at the dismantled MR2 (awaiting engine swap which I'll do when the weather is warmer) than I do driving my other car (FTO V6). As for driving, MR2 always left me with a buzz.. just can't put my finger it, it's shape, it's feel, it's power (as modded SC) and it's current scarcity all add up.

So yeah try and save this if you can! We need these cars on the road for years to come - look at some of those rusted out 'proper' classics from the 60s/70s that people restore.. sometimes nothing but a frame left.. and while they may be worth more in the end, and may be proper vintage, I'm betting they don't feel anywhere near as awesome as a nicely sorted mk1 mr2 does.

If it was a mk2 of course I'd say scrap it and buy another, mk2s being very much a more 'ordinary' car in my book - plus loads of them on every road (like MX5). THE MK1 *IS* THE MR2.

[Cattwooduk]

It's most of the things you've said that have made me keep it so far. I bought it with the intention of it being a project and gradual restoration, it needed some bits here and there done and it's ended up having a hell of a lot more; stainless exhaust, all new calipers, discs and pads, throttle cable and handbrake cables all replaced, I had the rear arches replaced with the galvanised hand made ones from ebay, rear quarters, and the section in front of the rear arches all replaced, so the back end is completely solid now. I wussied out of doing the work myself because I wanted it done to a really nice standard, and as the car is my daily runner I needed it done first time!

I get the same 'buzz' when I just see these cars, and love driving it, I've only driven an old 1.1fiesta before this when I passed my test and decided a mk1 was the car I wanted, and paid an arm and a leg to insure it because I wanted it so much. So I can't compare it to much but to be honest theres nothing else that draws much of my attention (besides one or two things I wont be able to afford for a long time )
It's just over winter all of the things I've mentioned have come up at once and it's going to be a wad of money to get it all sorted out. I've spent pretty much all my money I've earned during my apprenticeship on it, and now I'm about to get my certificates and hopefully a bit of a pay rise, I think I should really start saving some lol.

Idealy I've love to take it off the road for a while, and do all the work myself, but our garage is more of a storage depot and theres no chance of getting a car in it. I'd have to do it in the driveway and it would potentially be left under a car cover for a long time while I work on it.
If I could do this it would finaly be the intended project and I wouldn't have to worry about getting it all back together quickly to get to work. I've been doing my apprenticeship in structural steel fabricating and welding, so I'm fairly confident I could do the chasis side of it myself though its about 10x thinner material, it's all the same principles. Not so sure about fitting other bits of bodywork but would have plenty of time to get it right. I'd like to take the engine apart and clean everything good and proper as well, as I'd learn so much doing it all... Just stumped about what to do as the worst bits need to be tackled this summer or it wont make it through next winter. Arrrgh headache