My first Mr2

[matt86]

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, having just bought my first MR2 last week. I have had a bit of a look around to try and suss out how the forum works...hopefully I am posting this in the right area!





So, to the car...it is a White 1989 'G' plate Mk1B, standard spec apart from a Magnex SS exhaust and some 15" Enzo 5-Spoke alloys. The interior is mint, exterior wise it has had two new genuine front wings fitted in 2008, and both rear arches and drivers sill repaired, so far I have found minimal rust...fingers crossed I don't have any nasty surprises!

It has a few niggles I am looking to sort...

1) The backlight for the instruments/clocks do not work
2) Slight exhaust blow, sounds like from the manifold - Now fixed!
3) Needs a new aerial as someone snapped the old one! - Now replaced
4) Hoping to sort a manual choke conversion as cold start idle is ridiculous! - Now fitted
5) Would like to get hold of a Jimi throttle bracket to tidy up the engine bay (if these are still available) - Now fitted
6) Would like to source a space saver wheel to open up some space in the front boot. - Mk3 spacesaver now istalled in frunk

I'd be interested to know if there are any fellow owners in the Warwickshire area as it'd be good to learn some more about these cars.

[Jaspa]

Welcome to IMOC

Can help you on all the point unfortunately but:

2) Slight exhaust blow, sounds like from the manifold
- I have one on a spare engine that I can remove and get to you if you need it. drop me a PM.

5) Would like to get hold of a Jimi throttle bracket to tidy up the engine bay (if these are still available)
- Drop jimi a PM (click the pm button below one of his posts) and he'll sort you out.

And finally

Stuart

[matt86]

Thanks!

I will have to investigate the cause of the exhaust blow a bit more, I'll keep the offer in mind though!

I emailed Jimi earlier so hoping to hear back from him on the bracket.

I haven't taken any pics of the car yet, and I'm not allowed to post URL's yet (?) so can't paste the link to the Autotrader advert. I'll post up pics as soon as possible

[Charged]

Welcome to IMOC Matt

[oukie]

Hi Matt

Welcome

Your exhaust blow might be from where the Magnex and the manifold bolt together you should only ever use crush type single use gaskets available from Toyota at £1.75 each (you will need two)

If any one has reused or put exhaust sealing paste in, it will be blowing from here.

Hopefully it wont be the manifold but these are known to crack.

Chris

[Boddney]

Hi Matt and welcome to the forum,

This is a fun and addictive and very helpful and friendly and crazy and angry (sometimes when REDMR2 and MattMR2 kick off HEHE no offence guys) and consoleing and oh crap, I've run out of and's

Still, welcome good choice of car.

Bod

[matt86]

Thanks Chris,

Hopefully it is just the gaskets, I don't suppose you have the part number for them? Not a problem if you don't. Are consumable parts still fairly easy to get from Toyota dealers?

I see you are in Oxford area, I am often down that way visiting my parents. It would be great for someone with some good MR2 knowledge to give me some pointers and to help identify if I've got myself a bargain or a bit of a lemon! I've bought several older cars in the past, so hoping that I haven't missed anything too major! I am, however, a complete MR2 novice (although I am a long time appreciator of them). The car came with MOT so you'd hope there couldn't be any massive problems with it.

The only area of notable rust it has is towards the front of the passenger door sill, about 30 or 40mm sqaure, but its still fairly solid. Is this a common problem/something I should be worried about?

Cheers for all the great comments so far, it seems you have a great community here

[MartG]

Hi Matt

1) Could be a loose plug on the back of the cluster, or corrosion in the contacts. Or it could be a problem with the dimmer.

4) I think Paul Woods still sells his manual choke conversion kit
6) Only way there is to keep an eye on ebay

[matt86]

Thanks MartG for the info - out of interest, would the space saver from the MK3 MR2 be suitable for a MK1. I've seen lots of people are running the MK3 alloys, so see no reason that you couldn't use the space saver as well?

I'm in contact with Paul Woods so should be ordering the manual choke fairly soon, same goes for the throttle bracket from Jimi And there I was saying to myself that I wouldn't start fiddling about with this car!

My main aim is to enjoy the car, keep it running well, and fix the little niggles, without breaking the bank...

[un1eash]

3) you can get a cheap replacement from ebay, not many mk1's have the original car aerial still, ive gone through 3 over the years, one i caught on my top and bent, and 2 on the garage door.

[sadako]

Also, pleased be advised that it is normal for a mk1 to idle at over 2k when you start it so it depends on how insane your idle is as to whether you need to fit a choke kit.

[oukie]

Also, pleased be advised that it is normal for a mk1 to idle at over 2k when you start it so it depends on how insane your idle is as to whether you need to fit a choke kit.

This is standard

All these cars had wax stats fitted which hold the reeves high when cold, as the wax melts is closes or opens can't remember which and the revs fall to around 800 rpm, mostly the wax stat fail and that's when people go for the manual choke conversion but sometimes people just get fed up of wasting fuel etc.

Oh and yeah your welcome to pop down I'm only a few mins outside Oxford near the A40

[matt86]

Thanks again for all the help so far

I removed the snapped aerial today, its not the original power aerial, just a cheapy 'manual' aerial. I've stuck a rubber grommet in the hole until I source a replacement, I'm not a big radio user so may not be for a while!

Have ordered myself a shiny Jimi bracket, and also a Woodsport manual choke kit, so will be doing some tinkering later in the week all going well

Next job will be investigating the lack of instrument lighting, that could be interesting, but do have a Hanyes manual for reference.

Out of interest, would anyone be after a set of standard Mk1B tear drop wheels? I have a set of 5, 3 with tyres (all fairly old), 2 without...I am happy to give these away if someone wants to collect them from me

Also will be getting rid of my steel spare wheel steel once I source a space saver if anyone would like that?

[Boddney]

Take the wheels down the scrappy Matt. Got £10 for one alloy the other day. You will get more for them if thetyres are removed.

Bod

[matt86]

Quick question on a problem I found/caused this morning!

I noticed that the lever for operating the headlights was not lined up with the dots printed on the dash indicating each position (off, side, dipped).

So...I decided to pull the knob off and see if I could line it up...now I can't get it back on! It came off fairly easily, and nothing broke, but now it seems pretty tough to get it back on! Anyone come across this, any suggestions?

[kaiowas]

They usually go and and off pretty easily, they are keyed though so will only go back on in the orientation it was when you took it off.

[matt86]

Right, looks like the previous owner rounded the keyway in the knob so now I can't get it to fit back onto the shaft.

Anyone got one in good working order I could buy off them?

[IanParkhouse]

Sure I've got one I can swap with you for wheels.

[matt86]

That would be great, do you have a complete unit spare, or just the knob?

It could be quite useful to try a new unit in order to work out whether the dash dimmer is the cause off my non-functioning instrument lighting...

[IanParkhouse]

I've the whole unit, it's been drilled for an alarm led and the dash dim switch doesn't dim. it's just on.