Nathan's Mk2 Turbo Rev 2 - Hard Top - 1993

[2mad]

The reverse lights were accidentally left unplugged from the shop so that was an easy fix.

That was my thought .. great stuff

[nathan.z]

More delays - Alternator won't be installed till Thursday. So the cars been sat for another week...waiting...with a sad cable tied number plate.

[2mad]

Proper pain to swap an alternator .. but very doable .. i did mine ... car looks sweet .. got to expect a bit of teething troubles

[nathan.z]

After more tests it turned out it wasn't the alternator but a failed wire in the loom which wasn't delivering power. Power was spliced from another cable to fix the problem. The heated windscreen was also wired in which is awesome!

The car feels great to drive, lots more grip with the new tyres Yoko's (more in wet than the Toyo) and the alloys feel more stable. The lack of wheel wobble really helps. Glad to have her back on the road after 7 weeks.

Odd jobs left:

- New battery needs securing properly as it's smaller than the old one so rocks around in the cage.
- New wiper blades and mats
- fix front side lights *lots of spare bulbs to test
- Oddly the body shop sprayed over the number plate lights meaning the rear plate lights up red. I do like it but wondering if I'll get pulled over or fail an MOT for it.
- Order some new bits of trim - scuttle panel screw cover / blanking plates.
- Secure new rocker switch for heated screen.
- boost gauge

-CLEAN the interior and exterior - Just ordered a car vac through amazon's black Friday sale.
- Photoshoot when the weather clears up

[2mad]

Thats great news .. so happy for you .. i always had a few jobs needed doing .. think thats standard mr2 ownership


Still cant wait for the photo shoot

[nathan.z]

Special thanks to 2mad for keeping this Thread alive. Apologies these updates aren't as exciting as the other builds. Give me a few years and I'll hopefully be doing some much cooler and interesting updates.


- Front side lights fixed - The LEDs just needed rotating. Now the white LEDS shine through Yellow rather than Orange/Amber like the indicators so they're unique. However I'm worried they could still be mistaken for indicators and cause an accident. I'm going to have a ponder on that...

- New Car hoover arrived, snagged it on impulse on Amazon black Friday sale. It sounds daft but after using my Inlaws car hoover I was really impressed with how much easier it is to use and get into all the nooks and crannies that my Dyson just couldn't reach.

- OEM style Boost gauge ordered - http://rspec.co.uk/performance-gauges/4 ... tor-series

-Oil topped up / fixed stubborn passenger door. Lock needed more lube otherwise it wouldn't shut on first time. Also lubed some squeaky pedal hinges.

-Realised you can order new wiper rubbers for the Bosch Aero wipers which saves a few quid. Much better than buying a full new set for £20. Still waiting for these.

-Lots of xxxx weather so no photoshoot.

- Fitted a 'JDM' coin holder as the previous owner had cut out the blanking slots to fit a turbo timer. One slot left to fill with random goodness (The Amber switch is for the heated windscreen).

[2mad]

Heated wind-screen nice (never had one of them).. got that ready for the right time of year ..


Looking forward to updates .. cars coming along nicely

[nathan.z]

Despite the weather me and a pal found a multi story car park with some cover and dried our cars off. The photos turned out nice and moody with minimal editing required thanks to taking my time setting the camera up.

Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskpMfLKU

[2mad]

Looks bichin Nathan .. top work mate

[androo007]

That looks so fresh, good work

[nathan.z]

Latest updates -

- Boost gauge is currently sitting on my shelf waiting for install. Looking todo this March time.

- I've got a new set of speakers to install as I lost my left channel and the right door speaker sounds like it's blown. Took a look into it today and I'm thinking there's a split in the left channels wiring (at the hinge) OR lost left channel on the head unit itself. Whilst the door cards and head unit are out I'll be removing some of the active speaker wiring. Keeping things a bit cleaner....and there's an after market window aerial to plug in. Might stick it on the rear.

-Passenger central locking is temperamental. (Again, split in the wiring at the door hinge?)

- Heated windscreen doesn't seem to be working.

- Experienced some stutter on full boost last night. (Never happened before)

Winter gremlins

[2mad]

Winter gremlins

Yeah they do crop up .. role on summer

[nathan.z]

Speakers are in.




This should of taken a few hours but ended up taking 2 days..

- Faulty Left audio channel wire in loom. Had to re-wire and patch in a fresh cable.

- The 13cm Pioneer woofers did not fit onto the stock mount. Had to dremel and cut the metal mount and install wooden spacers to fit in the speakers in.

- Had to cut plastic structures on the inside of the door cards speaker grill to fit in speakers as they protuded more.

- Replaced tweeters and new cross overs.

- Dynamatted around the speakers and on the inside of the outer door skin. Also dynamatted behind the tweeter to reduce wind noise.

- Passenger side door card was rubbing against the central locking mechanism causing it to fail. Now fixed

-New aerial stuck on rear window.

*The sound has vastly improved. Much more clarity, presence and punch. The road noise has reduced greatly and the speakers no longer rumble the door cards at loud volumes. Still feel like it needs a sub though.

Overall huge success.

[nathan.z]

No real updates apart from took the car to a local show for the first time. Service/MOT due shortly and still need to install that boost gauge.









Not my pics - This dudes https://www.flickr.com/photos/124773686@N05/

[JD]

It looks great. It's higher than a motherfucker though

[nathan.z]

It looks great. It's higher than a motherfucker though

Agree'd! Next big splurge will be on new suspension / bushings / anti roll bars all round. I'll have it lowered as it's currently on stock either via coil-overs or lowering springs.

Trying to decide whether to go coil-over or stock with lowering springs. I understand coil-overs are adjustable but I don't want a firm ride and for them to last longer than ~30,000Km.

My budget will be around £1K - £1.5K. I'd rather pay more for higher quality then skimp...I also haven't taken it to the track! So prefer a comfier road ride. The current dampers must be shot, it's very rattly and feel like they're not doing much. Height wise I still want it to go over speed bumps.

[aussieGT]

It looks great. It's higher than a motherfucker though

I always thought mofo's were low!

[2mad]

"Increase the attitude by lowering the altitude" Aaron Coffman




Looks sweet bud but drop it

[JD]

It looks great. It's higher than a motherfucker though

Agree'd! Next big splurge will be on new suspension / bushings / anti roll bars all round. I'll have it lowered as it's currently on stock either via coil-overs or lowering springs.

Trying to decide whether to go coil-over or stock with lowering springs. I understand coil-overs are adjustable but I don't want a firm ride and for them to last longer than ~30,000Km.

My budget will be around £1K - £1.5K. I'd rather pay more for higher quality then skimp...I also haven't taken it to the track! So prefer a comfier road ride. The current dampers must be shot, it's very rattly and feel like they're not doing much. Height wise I still want it to go over speed bumps.

I should think decent coilovers would last more than 30,000 miles. You can get some really good stuff within your budget. At least with decent coilovers your shocks and springs are properly matched. I'm sure with decent lowering springs on standard shocks this isn't a problem though. Hopefully someone can recommend a good balance of comfort with sharp handling.

It looks great. It's higher than a motherfucker though

I always thought mofo's were low!

That too.

There are some seriously low mk2s in the states. It'd be nice to live somewhere with no potholes or speed humps.

[nathan.z]

I visited Luke's new garage today, finally got the boost gauge installed after 3 years of owning a turbo and 6 months of owning the gauge.... *derp* Discovered I've been running max 14psi on the manual boost controller. I also had the heated windscreen looked at, turns out a fused had blown. I'd completely overlooked that..

New developments involve yet another oil leak...either the rocker cover or worst case the head gasket is leaking...a new oil leak seems to be a recurring theme every 6 months. Eitherway if it's the head gasket then it's an excuse to have a metal one installed and a few other touchups.

Other boring stuff - new fitted rubber matts. Got fed up of the carpet ones getting ruined. Went for the 0.4mm heavy duty stuff from carmats4u and I also discovered my passenger carpet soaked. I have the feeling a friend left the window open a crack whilst I away on a stag do weekend. Spent the day with the dehumidifier running inside. Need todo this again tomorrow. MOT passed but needs a full service.. got the parts just need to get round to it. That and another wax is due.