Back on the road again

Discussion and technical advice for 84-89 AW10 & AW11 MR2. 3A-LU, 4A-GE, 4A-GZE.

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JMR_AW11
Posts: 1408
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:56 pm

Back on the road again

Post by JMR_AW11 »

Big day today... :)

I drove my mk1 for the first time in 2 years since I smashed my elbow in a bike accident.

I took it for an MOT today and it passed (again).

I'm really pleased because I can cope OK with the heavy unassisted steering although I've only driven it a few miles so far. I've been driving a mk1 Focus and the MR2 does feel strange after not driving it for so long. I think it needs a good run to fully free up the various bushes etc because it feels a bit clumsy and squeaky over speed bumps etc.

But it's back on the road again :)

I've had the car since 1994 so I have really hated not being able to drive it for the last two years....
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DAN_REV1_TURBO
Posts: 2726
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:47 pm
Location: Coalville, Leics

Re: Back on the road again

Post by DAN_REV1_TURBO »

Fantastic mate bet you`re chuffed. Must have been a bad injury to stop you driving the 2 for so long!
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elbon50
Posts: 3598
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:29 am
Location: Stafford

Re: Back on the road again

Post by elbon50 »

You'll be celebrating 20 years of ownership next year then :thumleft:

That's about 5 years longer than I've had mine

I find that the steering doesn't feel heavy unless the front tyres lose a bit of pressure

Reinflated to normal & it feels light
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Ben
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Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:49 pm
Location: Oxford(ish)
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Re: Back on the road again

Post by Ben »

Glad to hear you're back on the road! Mine was off for about a month getting various work done a little while back, and I went properly stir crazy. I even clay-barred my old E39 diesel,I was missing tinkering with cars so much! :lol:

Can't imagine what two years was like... :pale:

Ditto with the tyre pressures. I found my steering feels a lot lighter with new rubber on the front as well, if you car has been off the road for a couple of years the tyres must be fairly old by now?
2001 BMW M5 (Bahnstormer) | 2004 RX8 231 (the Racecat) | 2001 Volvo V70 (Swedish eBay barge)

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1989 MR2 Mk1b T-bar | 1988 MR2 SC Super Edition
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JMR_AW11
Posts: 1408
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:56 pm

Re: Back on the road again

Post by JMR_AW11 »

Thanks for all the replies :)

D4N_V_U wrote:Fantastic mate bet you`re chuffed. Must have been a bad injury to stop you driving the 2 for so long!


Yes it was pretty bad... My elbow was smashed through the joint so the bone bits had to be drilled and tied together with wires fed through the drill holes. Not good.

The bad thing about it is that it takes ages to be able to get pain free movement in all possible joint directions. Eg it took over a year before it stopped hurting when fitting my sealtbelt in the Focus because you bend up your arm then twist your wrist and push away and pull down at the same time before clipping the belt in place. My elbow did not like this! If I did this several times in one day then the elbow joint would hurt all day :(

The consultant initially told me the break was so bad I'd never be able to bend my arm enough to touch my ear or straighten it to carry heavy items but I did loads and loads of physio and it's now nearly normal in terms of motion range. I can't quite straighten it perfectly like the other arm but I can fold it back as good as the other arm which is a huge, huge result :)

I did try driving around a few tight turns in the MR2 at low speed and the elbow was fine :) The elbow is an amazingly versatile joint in our body and it's easy to take it for granted until something goes wrong...

I'm hoping the car will drive better once I've done a few hundred miles in it because it definitely doesn't feel as supple as it used to. It needs a bit of physio too :lol:
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