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

[HighwayStar]

Thought I liked the previous wheels but those new ones do look good on it. Get it lower next.....

[KarlBristol]

Thought I liked the previous wheels but those new ones do look good on it. Get it lower next.....

Thanks mate, I'm well chuffed with the way that the car is going - slowly getting to the look that I'm after. The wheels really suit it. Its leagues away from when I first got it, both visually and mechanically.

If you like the old wheels you can always buy them as they're available now...

I do need to change the suspension and have been contemplating a slightly lower stance. Only concern is that the girlfriend complains that the car is too low as it is, lol

[craig]

Nice improvement mate, car looks well!

[KarlBristol]

A very mini update, so today I fitted these. Car starts first turn over now, but 3SFE HT leads were a pig to find!:



On the 13th I'm fitting these:



and these front and back aswell:



New track rod ends are being delivered tomorrow, aswell as new dome lights for the inside and VHT black exhaust manifold paint to smarten up that aspect of the engine bay.

Also spent a long long time cleaning and waxing the car again today so its back in its usual spotless condition

Next update here will probably be on the 14th after my knuckles have been adequetly skinned! lol

[iain2010]

Really enjoyed reading this. Love what you have done. Car looks awesome

[KarlBristol]

Thanks for the kind comments.

I tried to attack the drop links a couple of weeks ago although they were to corroded to undo or move at all. I didn't even attempt the ball joints or track rod ends!

As such I've had to wait a couple of weeks until my shifts allowed me a weekend to attack the car with an angle grinder and also for the weather to be half decent in order to allow me to take the car out of the garage.

I was only working on the car on Saturday and was hoping to do front and rear drop links, ball joints, and track rod ends. Unfortunately I underestimated how long things would take due to the level of rust and corrosion. It took me all of Saturday, but I managed to do the rear drop links and ball joints. Just have to attack the front in a couple of weks. Here are a few photos I took in amongst the commotion:



Above are the old drop links being grinded off

Old and new:





Here they are fitted:



And here is one of the ball joints fitted. They took a suprising amount of time to lever out of place and replace;



I was really pleased that even given how cold the car was this morning it started first time and it drives without a fault. The back end is noticably tighter after yesterday's work and I'm really pleased with it..

I did notice some of the suspension bushes need replacing, so thats now been added to the list. So still to do:


- Fit front drop links
- Fit front ball joints
- Fit track rod ends
- Paint my exhaust manifold with my VHT black manifold paint
- Make a front bumper grill to protect the bumper
- Jack the car and rub back all visible metal and then cover with a underbody seal
- Replace the coolant
- Buy and fit a full poly bush kit
- Paint brake callipers (probably blue)
- Track down an original MR2 headunit to fit and replace my modern one with
- Eventually replace coilovers and top mounts
- Go to my bodyshop and have the front and rear badge gaps filled and painted so the car is properly de-badged
- Source a bolt for my one loose underbody panel

[craig]

Coming together nicely matey

[KarlBristol]

Ok well as usual Sunday was my strict "non car day" on instruction of the girlfriend.

However when she went to walk the dog ... I nipped down to the garage for just a minute in order to change the interior light bulbs, (both had blown)







Well after the minute had gone by the girlfriend still wasn't home. So I didn't see any problem in having a look at the engine bay and making sure it was still all in order.

The exhaust manifold was such an eye sore and didn't fit in with the engine; I'd been meaning to sort this out for a while. So I rubbed it back in order to spray it on a different day.

Still no girlfriend at home and as such I masked it off and started to spray. 10 minutes after going to the garage and this was the result;





It quickly became this:









Managed to tuck the car away before the girlfriend got home
Thats one more thing crossed off the to do list... Time to buy a poly bush kit methinks...

[craig]

I need to change my interior bulbs, as one of them has blown

You just reminded me

[CJ]

Enjoying reading this. Good work

[kendoskeg]

This has been great to read so far - keep it up!

Quick question about the sill repair on page 2, how much roughly did it cost?

[KarlBristol]

This has been great to read so far - keep it up!

Quick question about the sill repair on page 2, how much roughly did it cost?

Thanks theres been a lot of time and money spent on it so far - but still so so much left to do. And lots more planned to do so watch this space!!

In relation to the sill replacement: I am very friendly with the bodyshop guy and he owed me a few favours. So I got mates rates, (as such it probably isn't a fair representation of cost). For £400 he took out the old sill and machined a new one by hand custom fit to my car. He then also did the rust removal on the drivers side wheel arch and machined a new arch by hand. Welded all new parts back in, smoothed out and primed. He also did the full respray on the relevant panels and blended (worked out to be around 1/4 of the drivers side resprayed)

You can't tell it's been touched and looks perfect. THe spraying is spot on and I can't believe the colour match. He told me that this would usually cost the better part of £1000 (but he is a classic and sports car specialist). I guess you get what you pay for.

Im guessing at a normal garage and not a specialist this would cost around the 600-700 mark. However I wouldn't trust a lesser garage to colour match a 22 yesr old car.

I intend to do the passenger side at some stage this year.
Well worth it as a means of future proofing!!

[Pidge]

Nice write up bud, looking forward to the next stage

[riot68]

Enjoying the thread, cheers for sharing. Wish I'd done some more before shots if mine, was a right state but amazing what a bit of tlc can do.

Now you've done all that.work, surely you've got to treat it to a better engine at some point...

[KarlBristol]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone

The 3sfe engine is definatley staying - its original and rarer that way - plus changing the engine would cripple my insurance! lol

I finished work at 0800 this morning and intended to do the other drop links and ball joints but tiredness got the better of me and it was rather cold out.

As such I did this today instead:

Before:



After:





I also have another brace and a few other bits and bobs on the way
Plenty to do to it - its just finding the time!!

[KarlBristol]

I'm hoping that if I do a small job every few days that the car will come on in leaps and bounds in no time!

Mini job today

Before. Front suspension top mount:



After



Also had this delivered for the engine bay. It needs some work but hopefully it can be made to fit and sprayed up to look perfect. Question is silver or black, hhhhmmmm :









Fingers crossed with a couple of hours TLC it can be made like new again
The list of things to do to my car grows! - starting with a polish and wax tomorrow, lol.

[riot68]

You were talking about...

Orange...



How about lime...




Or maybe Plum?...

[craig]

R33 midnight purple

[KarlBristol]

Wow, I am impressed by that photoshop! Very swish.

I like both the orange and green colour. I was thinking of a more vibrant orange and less of a burnt orange - almost flourescent....


You've got me thinking about a full respray properly now. AAAAAAAggggggggghhhhhhh lol

Maybe if I start saving then with my other plans I can do this in 2013

[craig]

Wow, I am impressed by that photoshop! Very swish.

I like both the orange and green colour. I was thinking of a more vibrant orange and less of a burnt orange - almost flourescent....


You've got me thinking about a full respray properly now. AAAAAAAggggggggghhhhhhh lol

Maybe if I start saving then with my other plans I can do this in 2013

Only thing is that if you respray the car a different colour, you're left with engine bay/ under frunk in original colour. Unless you're going for a bare shell rebuild.

Would that do your head in or not fussed?