**UPDATED** 1991 Rev 1 (Beastly V6 1MZ-FE VVTI) **UPDATED**

[KarlBristol]

Well today didn't go as smoothly as I hoped although with the help of Jack we managed to plough through a fair amount Unfortunately its not the update that I was hoping for today! lol.

The day started with installing the cup holder that I bought the other day. As I never really store anything other than smints in the centre console I'm not worried about things flying out, and I figured that it was best to fit it hidden in that area.

Its a quick, simple and effective mod. Here is how it looked



No difference when shut



And how it looks folded out:



Id rather the girlfriend has something to store a can in rather than drink in the car. Especially as I intend to drop in a V6 as she will be wearing her drink! lol.

I then had the intention to build the rear suspension properly and fit it along with new braided brake hoses and brake lines

Unfortunately Kwik fit overtightened the wheel nuts when they replaced the rear tyres In an attempt to remove them I even managed to bend and break a breaker bar along with my socket set

A short trip later to a friend's house and they were all cracked off, although that was unfortunately half the day gone already

SO time to crack on...

Wheel came off to show the old set up;





I then ripped out the brake line to the o/s rear brake hose. Little did I know that this brake line sems to snake for a hell of a distance under the car lol

First part of it removed (not a particularly fun job having just taken the car for a blast!)



And the rest:



New parts ready to be made:



One end was made up, fitted to the original splitter unit and then traced through the original route This then left me with a trailing brake line bleeding brake fluid everywhere but ready to be completed later after the suspension



After lots of cussing, a hammer and some man power the old suspension joints were released



These two bolts took a good half hour even with the use of my trusty blow torch!



Anyway to cut a long story short the old unit got removed



It had seen better days and wasn't looking particularly healthy



Jack and I built up the new suspension (several times after a few mistakes and several wasted hours trying to get the top mount in the right place)





This then got fitted and even if I do say so myself it looked rather good

I also fitted the HEL braided brake hose to the caliper ready to be paired with the brake line which I trimmed down accordingly



It comes as no suprise that I finished off the brake line, joined it all together and secured the brake line to the suspension strut (with x2 HEL brake hose clips and a cable tie for good measure! lol)



I then made up a new bracket to hold the brake hose and brake line to the chasis. The old one is not re-usable for this purpose (I did try!!)



Which after being bent into shape looked like this:



These brake parts arent going anywhere! lol.

The spacer then got fitted (which actually makes a suprising difference to the appearance of the wheels and stance) I only intend to fit rear spacers, just so that they fill the arches better (which when combined with the PI lowering racing springs should look perfect)



The car got put back together and I used the new wheel nuts that are now on the front.

Exhausted and tired I went inside and collapsed into a little heap!
I havent re-filled the brake fluid or blead the system as it will encourage me to do the other side. It also means that no one will be stealing my car any time soon! lol.

This week I intend to order new cancer bars and new rear calipers (in keeping with the new front calipers). That will mean that every braking and suspension parts is brand new

Its then time for doing the dreaded polybushing! lol

Oh ... I also had these dropped to me today which I intend to fit when I find a minute



Although it doesn't look like loads for today trying to undo bolts that haven't ever been touched on a 21 year old car is no meant feat and unfortunately takes its time! lol.

Until next time

[riot68]

You do have a habit of getting rather a lot done, nice to see you are keeping it too, as well as remaining OEM with a V6 good luck with it all...

[ashley]

Excellent update- enjoying this thread a lot

[KarlBristol]

Thank you both - I'm pleased with how it's progressing

I'm considering the v6 an an oem+ mod - doing what Toyota should have done in the first place, lol.

I think the bodyworks staying like this - I'm a big fan of sleeper cars

I ordered x2 brand new rear calipers today. They cost me a ridiculous sum of money but at least I can now say that every single last braking component is brand new It also gives me less to worry about with binding etc.... which will be essential with a new engine

Hoping the calipers can go on during the week and the last suspension corner can be done on Sunday

[KarlBristol]

Also just ordered myself a new set of cancer bars

Bit of a rip at £65 but worth it considering I'm attacking all the rest of the suspension and braking components ATM

Wish I could work less, be paid more, and have more time to work on the car, lol.

[KarlBristol]

Micro update before tomorrow - I had the new calipers delivered today
Whoop whoop

Gotta love the fact that every braking component will be new





Here they are lined up with old VS new:



They set me back a substantial amount of money being brand new but its worth it. It will match the front and I don't have to worry about parts failing like on refurbished units.

I'm going to be replacing both rears tomorrow hopefully before I go to work (at least thats the plan). I'm also hoping to replace the braking component on the rear n/s tomorrow morning so that on Sunday the suspension swap is solely that ... the suspension only! lol.

Also hoping my new cancer bars will be with me tomorrow or the next day

[KarlBristol]

Well the whether is so bad that I'm not even stepping outside until I have to go to work I draw the line at working on and under the car in heavy hail

Fingers crossed it dries up tomorrow so I can attack this

[KarlBristol]

Whilst I can't attack the brakes due to the weather it doesn't mean I can't buy more things

Just ordered Mobil 1 dot 4 racing brake fluid. I didn't see the point of ordering dot 5.1 again as I don't track it

Weather forecast isn't looking good tomorrow but I might crack on with it regardless lol

[aj.extreme]

Same problem up here, rain rain rain

[KarlBristol]

So today started with a knock at the door by a courier firm at 07:00 who were delivering this for when the system is ready



I figured that whilst it was dry I would try and put a couple of hours work into the car. Unfortunately it started raining whilst I was working on it; but the results were worth it!!

I'd taken the o/s caliper off the other day but didn't get a chance to fit the new one. So today the wheel came off, everything got greased up properly and I set about lining the new caliper up



Here it is properly finished and fitted on the o/s - well chuffed



It even looks good behind the wheel with new brake hoses and a new caliper I can't wait till Sunday when hopefully the car will be drivable again, and the brakes and suspension should be ace



I then moved onto the other side and removed the old wheel nuts which won't see the car again



This is how the tired rear n/s looked





So, the old caliper came off



I didn't waste my time unbolting the brake lines, and hoses as its all going to be new. So I saved some time and just cut them off, lol



I left all the fittings sitting in WD40 for a bit, before cleaning them all up and greasing them fully



I set on the brake hose and its associated fitting then





Heres a bit of an old vs new. I think you will admit theres a bit of a difference and the new one should work a hell of a lot better







New one all greased up and fitted



I then set about removing the old brake line which was fitted to the car...



Unfortunately the nut has started to round off on the rear brake line splitter unit so I've left is soaking in WD40 in the hope that it will free the thread up a bit. I will try and attack it again on Sunday as I don't want to push it too far and then be completly stuck!

I think to be honest that I will be completly stuffed with this one and will have to do some thinking as to how to remove it ...

New tuner wheel nuts went on and thats probably it for today until parts loosen off a bit



Another couple of hours spent well before a day at work

[KarlBristol]

Well I thought that was it for today ... how wrong I was!

The postie just rang the bell with a few deliveries for me, and to say that I was happy doesn't cover it

First he passed over my new cancer bars





I fully intend to fit them tomorrow morning (weather permitting), when I will also WD40 the brake line splitter again

The postie then passed over a Japenese parcel that I've been waiting for for some time

I unpacked it carefully to find x2 new rare Hyper Rev MR2 magazines. These cost me a LOT of money each but for some JDM goodness it was well worth it





All in all - a very positive day (until I go to work shortly! lol)

[MR2O12]

the old calipers lookd fine tbh.. have you never heard of if its not broke dont fix it lol

[KarlBristol]

the old calipers lookd fine tbh.. have you never heard of if its not broke dont fix it lol

Lol.

They are 22 years old, so their capacity to be effective has probably dropped somewhat. I'm looking to basically build a new MR2 MK2, which is why I've been methodically replacing parts on it with brand new.

Also when I drop a larger engine in there I will need new braking components.
If I'm replacing the brake lines, hoses, discs, pads, and installing a brake cylinder stopper - it would seem a massive shame to not finish it all off by fitting new calipers (that is the only other part that wouldnt be new)

Replacing the entire braking system is literally costing into the 1000s but as far as I'm concerned you can't scrimp on an aspect of the car that can save your life.

Why leave old tired calipers in there, just making do and waiting for them to break when you can replace them with new

If you have a gander at the rest of my thread you will see that it's not about the money or waiting for parts to brake but about about making a mechanically sound and perfect condition mr2. I dont want to fix problems as they occur - I want to prevent problems from happening in the first place

I would have worked some more on my car but the weather has been so por today that I doubt I'd even make it to the garage in once piece! Lol. Might get a chance a bit later

[KarlBristol]

Well this afternoon was a lot more eventful than I thought that it would be, and I managed to get a lot done

As it was pouring down outside I started to work on the car in the garage, although space was cramped for what I wanted to do and therefore I braved the weather and moved it outside

I recognised that I wouldn't be able to get any further in the suspension swap, or even drive the car again if I couldn't resolve the issue that I had with the brake line.

As previously stated, the n/s rear brake line nut section was seized in the T section brass brake line splitter. Today I tried to crack it off again but with no joy. So to make my life easier I detached all of the associated brake lines and removed the T section.



I tried to crack it off by hand a few times although it wouldn't budge. The WD40 had done nothing and as you can see the nut section was already chewed up



I therefore moved to my trusted friend ... my blowtorch



There was a fair amount of smoke coming off of it by the time I was done with the blowtorch

I clamped the unit up and then shocked it with a hammer before using the correct spanner to finally crack it off



You'd be amazed how much effort this took and how long it took. But I got there eventually

This is what the nut looked like by the time I was done. It was like putty to work with and its no suprise that I was having issues



I rubbed the main T section unit back, filled off the connector areas and sprayed up the unit in a tough black to bring it back to a decent looking condition



Once it was fully dry I then fitted it back properly (excuse the photos but it was difficult to take with minimal clearance under the car in a cramped location, lol)





I then finished removing all of the old brake line (easier said than done with how it was originally routed!)



I then set about removing my cancer bars in order to replace them with the ones that I bought the other day. Once again the 22 year old bolts had never been touched and wouldn't move. Out came the blow torch again, and combined with a bit of grunting and swearing it resulted in this:





Pretty sure its only surface rust, but everything else is being replaced with brand new parts so it would be rude not to replace these aswell! lol.





The old ones:



New ones fitted:





I then got my kit ready to make up a new brake line for the n/s rear area (and thankfully the last one to be done!! lol)



Here it is in action:



And the fitting before I cleaned it all up



I then routed the brake line a more logical route and started to test fit the braided hose and line everything up



Needless to say its still in need of a lot of work:



I then made the other end of the brake line and did a rough test fit



I tidied everything up, threaded the brake line properly under the car and started to tighten everything up. I also test fitted the brake line/brake hose bracket (as I did on the other side)



I finished by modifying the bracket so that it wrapped around the connector, thus protecting it from debris and also ensuring that it was held as safely as possible



On sunday I will put a little more waxoil on the section which has rubbed off where I was working on the bracket and it will be like new

All in all a great day of working on the car
Only down side ... I'm on a night shift and its a busy one at that. So technically I did this in the middle of the night when I should be asleep! lol.

All set for Sunday now which should be relatively quick

[KarlBristol]

Well its been a long day and I've been awake for well over 30 hours but its been worth it

Following my night shift I came home and didn't go to bed but waited for Jack to pop over so that we could sort out the last few bits on EOR's suspension

So the wheel came off and this is what we started with on the last side:



With relatively little effort the old suspension strut came out



This left a rather large void



I didn't have the top mount nut spacer needed to build the new suspension strut up. The top mount would not undo as the entire suspension strut would just spin in its mountings. So out came the angle grinder in order to create grooves in the strut to get a spanner onto it. The spring was in the way though and so this also had to go



Grooves cut and spanner fitted



All taken apart



The much needed parts



I then built up the new suspension



New suspension in and ready to be tightened up



All done and with the spacer on aswell



The car then went for a compulsary lengthy drive
No knocks, no issues and grips to the road with great brakes for the windy corners

Love it!!!!
Jack and I then went out for a few photos ... time to photowhore (please forgive me! lol )
Watch this space....

[KarlBristol]

Some joint photo whoring from some time with Jack today
Given how regularly we see eachother I'm suprised we haven't done this before!



















































Well I think that I will leave it at that before I get throttled by other users! lol.

Only thing to make it perfect will be my V6

[jack-p]

You pic whore!

[matt-mr2]

great pics

[KarlBristol]

Thanks mate

We both enjoyed taking the pics; I'm sure we will do more in the future.
There will certainly be photos of our road trips once the v6s are in

On a side note - that is a noticeable drop in the suspension. It's especially visible in the last photo, and it will only settle more with time

[craig]

Nice pics!