Diary of a MR2

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.

Moderators: IMOC Moderators, IMOC Committee Members

Post Reply
axisofunity
Posts: 1145
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:16 am
Location: London
Contact:

Diary of a MR2

Post by axisofunity »

Thought I'd start up a little diary about my MR2 Experiences... It'll help me to get relaxed about the car as well as provide a chance for the lovely people on here to offer any advice they see fit.

Monday:

Took the car to a valet company near me. Never used them before but I'd heard a few good things about them. I went over in detail what I'd like from them, then went to work.

Picked up the car five hours later and it was very good. They'd steam cleaned the engine bay and all the rest of it, so it was much nicer inside. The good thing was that the owner drove a NA 1995 MR2 so he was able to tell me a few things about drainage locations in the car and so on.

Next stop was the garage nearby where they'd wanted to see it because they needed to assess how much work had to be done on the paint. The Bodyshop manager was very helpful and spent about half an hour inspecting the car.

The main areas of fault are paint being taken away from the bottom of the door and the body kit on both the driver's and passenger's side and general cracking and flaking of paint where the Kit is bonded.

In the end he decided he didn't want to take on the job as whoever had done the spray had in his opinion done an awful job. He also lamented that although the body-kit was nice, it had been fitted wrong and that was reasons the doors were rubbing the paint. He advised me it wasn't worth the money to have the kit reinstalled and the flakes repainted due to money.

I like honest garages, and although I'm pretty pi$$ed off, (I thought the cracking was age, not poor spray / fitting) I decided not to go ahead with any body work. The manager did however advice me to get Halfords to color match the paint and then myself touch it up. It's going to be a bit of a job... But I'll do it when it gets warmer outside.

The car is due back in the same garage on Wednesday for a mechanical check. Although I've had no problems, I wanted to be safe so out goes the timing and cam belt and in go new ones. With the Engine Steam Cleaned this is also a perfect time to see if the sump or anywhere else is leaking.

I decided to put on hold buying some scoops, due to the cash cost mounting up... But I got a second hard Motor for a slightly defective headlamp on order... (Bloody thing will rise, but not sink)

---

In other news to do with MR2.... *_*

I pressed a button on the top of my gear-stick today for the first time.... (I've had the car like 2 months+) never seen it before, but suddenly the gear stick started pulsing with red light... It's got a ring of 8 LEDs in it.... Hehe, made my day.... It's nice and brushed steel as well...

Stereo problems again.... The sound keeps flicking out from the left side... Touching the volume sorts it, but it's kinda annoying... At least it's something I can fix myself once I get time to crank the stereo out and check the leads...

I rennovated the seals around the T-Bar as much as I could today, it's never leaked, but they're old... Hope they last a while longer....

I found I needed the electric mirror's today, one works, one doesn't. Can't be bothered yet to get that sorted as I don't feel confident fixing it myself.

Finally, I found that someone had put some LEDs in silly places around the glove compartments etc. Battery charge had died though on them, so I took them out as they didn't do much at all :-p

---

End for today... Any ideas on the paint cracking or poor kit installation?
User avatar
Lauren
IMOC Committee
Posts: 38632
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:37 pm
Location: Greater Manchester
Contact:

Re: Diary of a MR2

Post by Lauren »

I think close up pics would be needed of the body/kit paint probs to really see tbh.
Raf
Posts: 644
Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:14 pm
Location: close by

Re: Diary of a MR2

Post by Raf »

if your doors are rubbing against your side skirts then even if you paint on top it will still rip the fresh paint off. You need to get rid of the rubbing first!

is the cracked paint around the area where the door rubs?
Leon.
Posts: 12780
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:35 pm
Location: Guildford, Surrey

Re: Diary of a MR2

Post by Leon. »

Stereo problems again.... The sound keeps flicking out from the left side... Touching the volume sorts it, but it's kinda annoying... At least it's something I can fix myself once I get time to crank the stereo out and check the leads...


I had a similar problem with mine. It might actually be that your left speaker terminals are touching the door, and hence being earthed when they shouldn't be??

I rennovated the seals around the T-Bar as much as I could today, it's never leaked, but they're old... Hope they last a while longer....


Silicon lubricant is good for this, maybe this is how you rennovated them?

Cheers

:wink:
axisofunity
Posts: 1145
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:16 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Diary of a MR2

Post by axisofunity »

More Diary:

Got the car back from the Garage and I feel very good...

New cam belt, new fan belt, engine oil. Oil Filter, Handbreak cables, brake fluid.

Got the rear brake pistons unstuck...

Checked for rust or corrorision, NONE underneath or anywhere, the owner said it was better than his 1995 MR2 :-)

All in all £349 well spent... He's going to fit the headlamp motor and air scoop for free as well :-) I'm happy, car feels happy.

Did I mention I found out that my gear-knob lights up? :-p
craig
Posts: 43936
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:44 am

Re: Diary of a MR2

Post by craig »

Nice going mate, always good when the car is sweet!! :D
Post Reply

Return to “MR2 MK2 1990 - 1999 NA & Turbo”