hey... n welcome to my cardomain page for my 1987 Toyota MR2.

i had made this page a couple years ago.. all split into sections.. with tons of pics of my car; but it was just too hard to update. realized now that having it as a giant sequence is much more interesting.. and easy to understand the cars changes over time.. sorta like a thread on a forum. so here it is.

i guess this will somehow go from past-tense to future progress as i update things.. but hey, may aswell just start. you get the idea.

 

ANYWAY.. bought my mr2 in early-mid 2006 after wrecking my old car. after a briefish search of a couple mr2's, i ended up buying the one i had looked at first!

its a september build 3E5 super Red II AW11 MR2 NA 5spd... with full options. one of the first mr2's to ever set 'tyre' in australia... since they were released in ~oct87. mine was in a toyota dealer in sydney NSW by october 1987, before being regd in november. from what i can gather, it soon after came straight down to melbourne where it was regd MRTWO. its been here since ;)

as i said, i bought it in 06 when it was still very original. it had its original paint, interior, motor, books, and was completley stock. had managed to get 300,000kays under its belt, but hid that well, it was in brilliant condition.

like most kids, i started doing pointless things to it staight away. pulled the stock deck out and put in a sony one..

some 4" clarion speakers replaced the dash ones...

and some silver ball shiftknob, and nuffy floormats pics of it in though:

also put in some other bulbs.. not suuuure why...

 

..more photos of it though!

i got that car when i was 18.. and i drove it HARD. damn.. burnouts u-turns, roundabouts, d0riftoing.. and all the other 0rSm things you do when you get your first RWD car. eh, it was a bit of fun, but christ i went through alot of wheels n tyres!

replaced the kumho's on the teardrops with 185/60/R14 pirelli dragons:

i remember i really really wanted a set of simmons V4's. hell, still do actually...

next thing i did.. i think.. was buy a set of eunos roadster wheels (mazda miata/mx5). bloody things were flawless too. but ah well, i painted the centres gunmetal.

drove around with those wheels for quite a while too.

meanwhile in the enginebay.. i polished up the intake manifold (yeah, dunno.. looked cool) and made a sheetmetal battery box one boring night after a few drinks... lol

then somehow managed to get my hands on a f/g S/C engine lid:

sprayed that matt black shortly ater

at this point, its maybe.. july or august 2006? drove like that for a while... before i went out and got my hands on a set of SSR reverse meshes. well, actually..just 2. i STUPIDLY didnt buy all 4, even though i only payed something rediculous like 80bucks less for only buying 2. :|

from.. sep06 i think.. some pics from the Great Ocean Road MR2CLUBVIC cruise:

..and another photo of the car at this point:

also around this time, i managed to somehow find and buy a set of Fortech 48spoke 14X7 chrome wire wheels. id spent too long looking at classic ferrari's and wanted wire wheels bad! (no joke :| )

back wheels werent making for a good ride, so i put the SSR's on the back with this combo:

but then the fronts were pox too, so on went the roadster rims again:

^^ THAT was one of the more memorable points my car had.. i think i drove like that for a while. BLOODY HELL it was dorifto spec. mr2 in the window, black engine lid, mismatched wheels, front lights allways up, and super angle on the front plate (that was also put across to one side.. god what was i thinking! haha) etc... that was from probably ~jan-mar07

other wheels that i think slotted into here, were my mx5 rims that i later painted ALL BLACK (to look like watanabe's), and a set of Gold Delta-meshes i got.

(they were super-flush.. but i didnt really like the look, and they didnt fit all that well..)

 

around this time, i got in trouble for driving shenanigans.. and put the orig wheels back on.

month or so later, i luckily managed to get a set of (BR knockoff) 14X6 watanabe's. ANOTHER set of tyres later, and they were on too!

photo from trackday that was sometime around mid 07

only other thing i remember doing was in maybe aug/oct 07, i replaced the tail-lights with 87-89 ones. we didnt get these in aus because the rear rego plate doesnt really fit. look good though!

that is how the car cruised for QUITE some time. this was may to december 2007, and at that time.. after 340,000kays.. i took it off the road and parked it in the back of the garage.

took the wheels and engine-lid off for something different to look at.

hasnt gone far at all since. moved around the back yard a bit, and a few revs here n there - blows smoke at high revs.. but id say that has alot to do with no use, not just the high-kays.
should really do more if you are going to leave a car still for so long, but i have bigger plans for it!!

it is no longer a daily driver, and will be semi stripped and restored by this time next year... all things going well. not a complete tear-down, but enough to get it perfect. because its allready in such tidy condition, not everything needs to be done.

im going to pull the motor and gearbox out, all lenses, the kit, and window trims off. leaving all the panels hanging, aswell as quater and real glass. most likely not painting any doorjambs/shuts either.
because the paint on it has no problems (lifting/peeling/crowsfeet etc) and is still only the original layer, it can be repainted over the top. theres no need to bare-metal when the old paint provides such a good base. so that'll just be scuffed back, then itl be redone in 2k/2pack 3E5 super-red.. blocked flat... one or 2 coats of clear, before being sanded and buffed. i want the paint as flat as possible, and its not all that much extra effort.
however, im hoping to god i can manage to find an original pinstripe set for it (its a single sticker 3-line one) the 3 sections on the side are combined with the bumpstrip, so im really gonna try and peel that off so i can re-use it. the other body stickers - the toyota and MR2 on the boot, and eagle on the rear bumper - can all be bought repro.

ill get both styles of bumper painted for it, the flat nose it allready has aswell as a slant nose one.. and do the same with the engine lid, ill keep both a red NA and SC lid. nothing wrong with having a few spares.

most exterior trim plastics are fine, but ill replace any that are cracked.. and probably just re-do them all in a flat black paint. passenger B-pillar plastic is pretty scratched, and C-pillar exterior vent plastic is cracked.
however, rear window plastic visor can be buffed perfect, aswell as the orig ADM tail-lights. front bumper and quater indicators can be easily bought new, so no dramas there.
only other bit it needs is a new sunroof edge-seal.. as its sunburnt pretty bad. maybe sunroof tint redone?

RUST is one thing im gonna keep a effing good lookout for. the car is a sep87 build, so its over 20years old. thankfully being an aussie car, all the floors and sills were perfect last time i checked; but the front bumper/radiator support looked a bit sad (common problem?) and im worried about the lower a-pillar door-jambs. i think toyota screwed up with the windscreen drainage design. :S
speaking of which, windscreen needs to be replaced. hella sandblasted, and may-aswell get it done while the windscreen trims are off. all other glass is fine. gonna leave the doors full (widing mechs and catches) when it gets painted, as theres no need to take it all out. will replace the main plasic motor gear though, as they're both missing a tooth or two (fkn plastic shit)

gonna have to save some serious coin for the interior though. would LIKE to buy a new centre armrest (cracked/worn), radio surround(cracked), shifter(worn), RHS doorcard(splitting at top), handbrake handle (worn and sundamaged), steering-wheel rim (Worn), and carpet from toyota (worn), aswell as some of grey cloth checker-material for the drivers seat to be retrimmed. but gonna have to see how much all that costs. have bought heaps of little bits from toyota before.. and found it pretty bloody affordable... so might not be that bad. worst case ill have to hunt down some very tidy originals. also can get the toyota shifter badge/sticker reproduction off the same bloke who does the exterior stickers. lucky, since it doesnt exist in toyota parts-books.
still have the orig radio and super-80's equalizer too. infact, i have 2 of the radio's. hope to make one real clean one from the two.
then theres the massive wantage of a sunroof shade. heard that its considered part of the headliner, which it hopefully isnt, as thatl jack up the price including something i dont need. my headliner is fine. otherwise, its gonna be one helluva search for a new sunrof shade - never actually seen one in person!
ANOTHER sunroof bit id like is the sunroof storage bag/case. i dont have one of those either

next - frunk n boot look a little tired. i dont think im going to be re-painting these shut-areas as they're still perfect... but im going to see how much new boot panelling is from toyota.. as i cant imagine itd be all that dear. mine is pretty tatty.
frunk needs nothing really. just a good polish and clean up. i have the tool kit which needs a real good clean, but is it the same one as the celica's?? if it is, ill be pouncing every celica (and period toyota) i see at the wreckers.

now motor n gearbox.... ehh.. def needs a going over. engine is loose, and diff is whiney..
uses a bit of oil, burning it and sending it out the arse-end as a lovely subtle blue smoke.
because its gonna be very costy to get them both rebuilt, ive been on the lookout for a low-kay drivetrain. in which case itd just be re-painted, bolts re-plated, and put back in. any hoses and piping thats shot ill just replace aswell. not a whole lot going on though, being an NA. whole harness, ECU etc was working fine.. so thatl just get a wipe n go back in.

as for suspension and whatnot, ill either buy new springs and shocks, or a set of cheapy D2/G4 coilovers. other boots and rubbers need to be replaced, new rotors, pads, and ill replace (Again..) all 16 wheel studs. which i hopehopehope will be able to get a full set of new tear-drop wheelnuts for.
now, those 5 teardrops will also get cleaned up. they have an odd turned finish which i cant re-do myself. sorta like you'd do on a giant lathe. they then have a gunmetal metallic grey in the teardrop sections, and a clear-coat over the lot. they really do look great when they're new. tyres will either be 14" azenis RT615's or ill try n find a set of OE bridgestone Potenza RE88's (discontinued recently?).

only other thing i can think of is the exhaust. ill either clean up the exhaust it has along with new tips.. OR get a new muffler/tip section, OR get a standard style HKS one. needs it though, as the exhaust on it now looks like ratshit. :S

thats all. gonna update this cardomain page when there is progress. gotta get the yellow GTS done first (see cardomain pages), then its this cars go! cant wait.

but yeah, comment and rate it if you like. not a whole lot to see, but cmon.. im putn a bit of effort into this page!