Supercharged

[mickeyduck]

Hey mate super impressed with the effort gone into repainting it and all the resto work your've done! Well done!

+ 1

[Supercharged]

Very nice! Our next run is on the 22nd http://mr2.org.nz/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12648 - my mr2 isn't going so I'll be in my very broken smokey crapadore - so if you don't trust your tyres you can hang at the back of the pack with me!

Thanks Olaf. I hope to make that run and yes; with 175/65 made in Indonesia tyres - back of the pack is a certainty.

[Supercharged]

Hey mate super impressed with the effort gone into repainting it and all the resto work your've done! Well done!

Thanks for the kind words Ash.

With the exterior and mechanics done I now need some new tires and to also add some finishing touches to restore the interior.

[krupkee]

Wow! nice paintjob, came out really nice. I love white aw11s the best

Where did you pick up those stickers for the fuel/boot/shift pattern? may need to get some of them

[*84vvt]

Very nice! Our next run is on the 22nd http://mr2.org.nz/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12648 - my mr2 isn't going so I'll be in my very broken smokey crapadore - so if you don't trust your tyres you can hang at the back of the pack with me!

Thanks Olaf. I hope to make that run and yes; with 175/65 made in Indonesia tyres - back of the pack is a certainty.

I'm going to take the honorers for the slowest car! on this run in the trusty Green Box (aka the Forrester )

[Supercharged]

Wow! nice paintjob, came out really nice. I love white aw11s the best

Where did you pick up those stickers for the fuel/boot/shift pattern? may need to get some of them

I purchased them online from http://www.tandnmr2mk1carparts.com/our- ... -interior/ but other options exist as well.

My gear shift pattern was scratched to the point where the pattern was gone. It is amazing what a lift such a small detail can provide to the interior.

[Drax]

How was your rear pillar exterior trim repaired? Going to pull mine off soon and try to figure out how to fix them. Few exterior cracks to them and will need to find some form of seal to work with them.

Cheers for any help

Joel

[Ash Kelly Barr]

How was your rear pillar exterior trim repaired? Going to pull mine off soon and try to figure out how to fix them. Few exterior cracks to them and will need to find some form of seal to work with them.

Cheers for any help

Joel

I'm going to fiber glass the under side and epoxi new nuts where I can, will post photos as reference in my thread

[Supercharged]

NEW WHEELS & TYRES

After spending what seems like forever driving on rather horrid 175/65 R14 "Supercat" tyres I finally got the budget together to do something better.....

There is nothing "Super" about Supercat -- in fact they are actually pretty awful in the wet, but after finishing the paint job, cambelt and few other mechanical bits and pieces – well – Rome wasn't built in a day was it?

The replacement options for 14 inch tyres were truly dismal. Best options looked to be 185/55 R14's Bridgestone’s MY02 or Potenza RE01 185/55R14 79V tyres but after research I scratched out the MY02's and getting 4 new RE-01's was (at the time and I believe still is) impossible despite a nationwide search by Bridgestone dealers. Another possible option was the Toyo PRX-888 which was available in 185/60 R14, but that was a racing tyre.

So I took the decision to move to 15 inch wheels, a decision that was really on the basis of opening up more (but still not many) tyre options.

I hummed and harred for a rather extended period over the new wheels. There are so many wheel choices out there. I wasn't looking for "racing" wheels – you know – those lightweight and expensive round things that usually come with the word "racing" emblazoned somewhere on them, just something that looked decent and was a reasonable price. In the finish I settled on some Chinese manufactured VS2 wheels; 6.5 inch width with 40 offset at under $500 for the set.

Tyres still remained a challenge. I was again left disappointed with Bridgestone. I tried hard to get Bridgestone Potenza RE003 Adrenalin 195/50R15 82W or the earlier model RE002 but drew a blank on both. So in the finish I settled on a set of Toyo T1R’s – a respectable tyre and certainly a giant leap from where I started.

Before and after photos below – what do you think? Good calls or not?



Photo 1: BEFORE – 20+ year old 14 inch Cheviot Mag wheels


Photo 2: AFTER – New 15 inch VS2 wheels with Toyo T1R tyres


Photo 3: A picture from a recent club run, showing my vehicle with Keith's immaculate AW11 SC parked behind

[Dell'orto]

Stunning resto job, though if I'm honest the wheels aren't up to the rest of the cars standard. Feel your pain with regard to wheel choice though!
I think if my AW was a hardtop I'd probably go a similar route resto wise too!

[Supercharged]

Stunning resto job, though if I'm honest the wheels aren't up to the rest of the cars standard. Feel your pain with regard to wheel choice though!
I think if my AW was a hardtop I'd probably go a similar route resto wise too!

Thanks for the comments Brad. Wheel choice is tough and I'm not sure I've nailed it right -- but at least the 15 inch rims gave me the opportunity to fit some decent tyres.

Yes, hardtop manual SC's AW11's are the rarest of all MR2 production breeds and their scarcity will ensure continued accretion in value.