David's '92 Toyota MR2 GT-S Turbo!

[DravidDavid]

Finally...

After months of searching, agonizing frustration, sleepless nights, day dreams and haters...I've finally found one! Pictures to come later when I have the time!

I searched high and low for a genuine MR2 within my price bracket that ever shrank as the months rolled on. I started with $8,000 and it slowly drained away on other things until I had next to nothing left. All I could find was abused turbos, rust buckets, destroyed engines or de-registered bodies. I made a last ditch effort on a few Facebook groups and got one hit. Well, that was all I needed as he had exactly the car I wanted in great condition within my withering budget.

Turns out that person was also a club member and an avid car enthusiast. I hadn't even seen the car yet and I pretty much knew I was driving it away. It had some of the lowest kilometers on the clock that I had seen at 200,000 and almost everything works! Have to have a bit of fun, right?

It's in great condition, minus the faded paint, a few interior rips, loose panels, annoying rattles and two mechanical niggles.

Trim:

- Drivers side window rattles on bumpy road, various RPMs.
- Drivers side mirror is lose, but I can't seem to tighten it with the underside screw. Can't really turn it at all. It does not move electrically either.
- Drivers side door card is loose
- Drivers side door controls are kinda' working. Central locking is a bit dodgy.
- A personal pet peeve of mine. The gear knob leather boot thing is practically non-existent!

Mechanical:

- Temperature gauge does not really work. Quite an important piece of kit that. So it's getting sorted ASAP. It's 99% a sensor problem however. Not worried that it's over-heating right now.
- Minor (almost negligible) oil leak from the cam-belt area.
- Super skittish at not very high speeds. It's OK at 50-60 km/h but once you hit 90, the front is as light as a rice cake and bump steering a REAL problem. Very scary. Not something I experienced test driving the Gen1 and Gen3, so I suspect something is wrong.

Paint:

Faded, cracked and peeling clear coat. Will probably paint it metalic red again, tint the windows and get some nice shiny white mags.

Good Points:

- Awesome to drive!
- A boost gauge in the dash cluster. Seriously, this car was designed after my own heart. It's the most impressive feature I've found so far. I just need an after market one now as I don't want to put one of those big vulgar wall clocks on my dash with hoses and wires running everywhere kept in place with screws and double sided sticky tape! It's there to tell you that the turbo is working and roughly how much boost you are running. Nothing more, nothing less. I really like that.
- Great seating position. Finding it hard fitting in the stock seats. They may be coming out at some point.
- Straight panels. All panels are immaculate, it's just the paint that lets it down.
- Steerable fog lights work.
- T-tops don't leak. Apparently the drivers side got a bit wet, but I cleaned the seals and took high pressure water to them and it seemed perfect.

Future Mods:

- Exhaust! I love the 3S-GTE decel pop you get without a cat. Will be needing a boost gauge and boost controller first however.
- Gen4 or V6 conversion. I have this motor in my Caldina GT-T and it's been great so far. I've seen a few gen4 conversions and would love to take on the challenge.

For now: It's my daily runner and I'm simply going to keep it nice and reliable. Clean it, love it, look after it, show off and eventually attend a run. I'm being told by all the "car experts" that I'm going to be out of pocket for the rest of my life...But they said the same with my Rover MG and that worked out fine!

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TL;DR: Finally got an MR2. Looking forward to driving it more.

[JasonFriday13]

Good on ya. You didn't say what colour, I'm guessing it's red?

Couple of points: the super skittish nature is probably just the wheel alignment, have that done too. The central locking not always working: it's probably the wires in the hinge area as they can fatigue and eventually break, causing stuff to not work.

Also, you can check the manufacturers plate in the frunk for the gearbox code, 734 indicates open diff, 735 is limited slip diff.

About doing an engine swap, all power to you. Gen 3's are considered the best, mostly because the gen 4's conrods aren't as strong as the gen 3. Grrr! has a comparison picture of the gen 2, 3, and 4 rods somewhere on this forum. As for V6's, they are more involved, but the reward is more torque. At the moment, 2gr-fe transplants are the holy grail of swaps.

One way to save money on a car is learning to do work on it yourself. I started with oil changes and sparkplugs, and that ended up with me buying a rolling shell and building it up the way I wanted it. I have a build thread on it in the rides section.

Hope you have just as much fun in it as the rest of us do in ours .

[Benckj]

Good job being patience and finding the right car. All the little problems noted are minor and with your good attitude you will get sorted in no time. Welcome aboard and will like to see some pics when available.

[DravidDavid]

Good on ya. You didn't say what colour, I'm guessing it's red?

Couple of points: the super skittish nature is probably just the wheel alignment, have that done too. The central locking not always working: it's probably the wires in the hinge area as they can fatigue and eventually break, causing stuff to not work.

Thanks for the tip! I'll book it in ASAP. I did read it could be something to do with wheel alignment, but couldn't be sure. The central locking was me down to not turning the key enough. I've found a new door problem. Windows don't go down after closing the door. I have to slam it, and sometimes that does not even work.

Also, you can check the manufacturers plate in the frunk for the gearbox code, 734 indicates open diff, 735 is limited slip diff.

It's the limited slip. I was particularly interested in LSD models as I've read too many "I almost died" stories on the open diff models.

About doing an engine swap, all power to you. Gen 3's are considered the best, mostly because the gen 4's conrods aren't as strong as the gen 3. Grrr! has a comparison picture of the gen 2, 3, and 4 rods somewhere on this forum. As for V6's, they are more involved, but the reward is more torque. At the moment, 2gr-fe transplants are the holy grail of swaps.

I've heard the gen3 was probably the best, but the gen4 puts down more power and can handle more power than people like to believe. Some say you shouldn't touch the boost at all, but a friend of mine has been running 22 psi on stock internals for 5 years without any problems. I wouldn't recommend it, or do it myself, but the other upshots of the gen4 are the OBDII diagnostics, a more modern looking engine bay and that extra lug on the exhaust manifold.

One way to save money on a car is learning to do work on it yourself. I started with oil changes and sparkplugs, and that ended up with me buying a rolling shell and building it up the way I wanted it. I have a build thread on it in the rides section.

The original plan was to do exactly what you did. I purchased a Toyota Corolla for 1500 bucks as a reliable runner and was looking for a nice body, as every car I had seen was screwed. I didn't care if it ran. I'd just drop the gen4 motor in it right away with the LSD and a proper exhaust. Then a proper car came up and I changed direction.

Hope you have just as much fun in it as the rest of us do in ours .

I'm really loving driving it around. I would usually try and do work, shopping, petrol, work and the trip home all in one go. Now I'm finding I go home and then back in to town just to get some more time in it! I got home last night and just sat and enjoyed the interior and finding new things, like the velvet lined pocket under the ignition!

Good job being patience and finding the right car. All the little problems noted are minor and with your good attitude you will get sorted in no time. Welcome aboard and will like to see some pics when available.

I'll try and get it all nice and clean and snap some today!

[Grrrrrrr!]

- A boost gauge in the dash cluster. Seriously, this car was designed after my own heart. It's the most impressive feature I've found so far. I just need an after market one now as I don't want to put one of those big vulgar wall clocks on my dash with hoses and wires running everywhere kept in place with screws and double sided sticky tape! It's there to tell you that the turbo is working and roughly how much boost you are running. Nothing more, nothing less. I really like that.

You like the single most useless part of a mr2 turbo? You are weird. Btw, you will find it hard to find one to replace that POS std one, nobody makes 40mm gauges anymore. A pillar gauge pod is one common solution, otherwise a boost controller with digital display or just learn how to do a tidy install of a normal gauge.

LSD won't help you stay out of a ditch if you drive it like a muppet, it'll probably make it easier since you'll light up both wheels instead of just one with an open diff and there goes all your lateral grip. Its the suspension geometry that made the later cars a bit easier to drive (but everybody I know that owns one has still pirouetted down the road at some point).

[DravidDavid]

- A boost gauge in the dash cluster. Seriously, this car was designed after my own heart. It's the most impressive feature I've found so far. I just need an after market one now as I don't want to put one of those big vulgar wall clocks on my dash with hoses and wires running everywhere kept in place with screws and double sided sticky tape! It's there to tell you that the turbo is working and roughly how much boost you are running. Nothing more, nothing less. I really like that.

You like the single most useless part of a mr2 turbo? You are weird. Btw, you will find it hard to find one to replace that POS std one, nobody makes 40mm gauges anymore. A pillar gauge pod is one common solution, otherwise a boost controller with digital display or just learn how to do a tidy install of a normal gauge.

I had a silly vulgar boost gauge in the Caldina GT-T. It was a bit of a botch job the previous owner did. It caught on fire eventually and when I did remove it, I discovered the idiot had screwed a hole in my otherwise perfect dash! I didn't want to remove it, because I do like the diagnostic element to a gauge, especially since I wanted to run more boost.

When I saw the factory boost gauge in the dash cluster, I clapped. It's like Toyota figured out that it might be worth keeping an eye on every now and then to check everything was going well. It sits happily in an otherwise unused area of the cluster on other cars and doesn't interrupt anything. It's not stupidly large and colourful with a funny looking needle and branding all over it. Functional, discrete, factory and exactly where it should be...In the dash, not on it.

Am I over-thinking it?

LSD won't help you stay out of a ditch if you drive it like a muppet, it'll probably make it easier since you'll light up both wheels instead of just one with an open diff and there goes all your lateral grip. Its the suspension geometry that made the later cars a bit easier to drive (but everybody I know that owns one has still pirouetted down the road at some point).

I wanted the GT-S because I heard I was told the revised undercarriage and LSD allowed for much better handling. I didn't really drive the open diff gen 1 enough to compare them. I did have a VVC Rover MGF which I believe had an open diff. The MR2 is much easier to catch in a drift than the Rover ever was. I've had enough "almost died" moments in that thing to know what mid engined cars can, can't and shouldn't do. As mentioned before, the only thing that's caught me off guard so far is the chronic bump steer and light handling at high speed. I'll get it aligned and have the shocks and springs inspected to make doubly sure everything is tip-top.

New problems:

- I keep hearing a bubbling noise from the engine after a long drive. Almost as if bubbles are surfacing to the top. I'm not sure if it's temperature change or air in the system. I'm also not sure what is worth, so It's being checked on Monday.

- The throttle is sticky. It does not stick on, but you can't finesse it sometimes at low speed as it jams in the idle position and takes more pressure to un-stick it...But I have to do it carefully with the clutch in otherwise I do launch a bit off the lights. A bit dangerous really. Not sure if it's a WD-40 job or a new accelerator. Suggestions would be great.

- Sometimes the windows work with the doors shut and sometimes not. Sometimes it works first time, sometimes I get weird looks at the car park opening and closing my door over-and-over again trying to get the damn windows to work. The good news is, half the screws in the door card are missing so I may be able to get it off and sort it out if it's not serious.

- Interior lights also stay on with the doors shut sometimes. Slamming it seems to fix it, so I think it's yet another switch hidden somewhere. Does anyone know what the black switch in the door jam does? It's got an R engraved in it, but it does nothing about the windows when I operate it manually.

- It sounds awefully sickly when starting it on a cold morning. I dread to think what it's going to be like in the winter time! Any ideas? Spark plugs? Fuel pump not doing it's job properly?

This car is certainly exciting to own. Yes it's got it's quirks, but when you're behind the wheel you just don't care anymore!

[Grrrrrrr!]

Functional, discrete, factory and exactly where it should be...In the dash, not on it.

Am I over-thinking it?

I wouldn't call a gauge that has 2 seconds lag then just goes straight to the peg "functional". NA cars have a functional battery voltage gauge in the same place.

I wanted the GT-S because I heard I was told the revised undercarriage and LSD allowed for much better handling.

All sw20s made after dec 91 got the suspension changes, and I think most of them got LSDs too, All three of my 93s have had LSDs.

- I keep hearing a bubbling noise from the engine after a long drive. Almost as if bubbles are surfacing to the top. I'm not sure if it's temperature change or air in the system. I'm also not sure what is worth, so It's being checked on Monday.

Probably just localised boiling in the turbo after shutoff, perfectly normal if you shut it down hot. Get your coolant temp gauge sorted and if thats stable then ignore the boiling noise. If it bothers you get a turbo timer.

- The throttle is sticky. It does not stick on, but you can't finesse it sometimes at low speed as it jams in the idle position and takes more pressure to un-stick it...But I have to do it carefully with the clutch in otherwise I do launch a bit off the lights. A bit dangerous really. Not sure if it's a WD-40 job or a new accelerator. Suggestions would be great.

Probably a frayed throttle cable, usually happens where the inner cable comes out of the outer sheath near the throttle body.

- Sometimes the windows work with the doors shut and sometimes not. Sometimes it works first time, sometimes I get weird looks at the car park opening and closing my door over-and-over again trying to get the damn windows to work. The good news is, half the screws in the door card are missing so I may be able to get it off and sort it out if it's not serious.

Broken wires in the door loom.. its only going to get worse until you repair/replace.

- Interior lights also stay on with the doors shut sometimes. Slamming it seems to fix it, so I think it's yet another switch hidden somewhere. Does anyone know what the black switch in the door jam does? It's got an R engraved in it, but it does nothing about the windows when I operate it manually.

If its the bit i'm thinking off, its not a switch, just a spring loaded flapper to help open the door.

[DravidDavid]

Thanks for all that!

I'll take the door off and see if I can fix a few things. The glass rattles as well, I think it might just be a screw somewhere.

I've got a turbo timer, so I might start using it until I get the temp gauge fixed. I don't seem to experience any lag with the turbo readout. As soon as I hear it spooling it jumps and when I feel the boost kick in, It's on the climb. By the time it gets to the top, I'm usually done accelerating. The point was I know the turbo is doing it's job.

A frayed throttle cable sounds a lot more serious than a stiff connecting arm or something. Not a CRC/WD-40 fix then. I'll see what I can do I guess.

In other news. Just purchased a membership. Can't wait for a club run! Part of me feels weird showing up with another club members ex car. I'm sure that's the wrong attitude...I've got plenty of things I want to do to make it mine anyway.

[JasonFriday13]

I don't seem to experience any lag with the turbo readout. As soon as I hear it spooling it jumps and when I feel the boost kick in, It's on the climb. By the time it gets to the top, I'm usually done accelerating. The point was I know the turbo is doing it's job.

As soon as the boost comes on it should already be at the top. Even cheap aftermarket gauges are much quicker than the stock one. Anyway, I don't have a boost gauge in my car, the voltage meter takes pride of place in the center. Some people like having extra gauges in their car, and that's their choice. I prefer a standard look to the dash (even if it's a Gen 5 beams dash ).

[mickeyduck]

In other news. Just purchased a membership. Can't wait for a club run!

Good man! Look forward to it!

[GDII]

With the door mirror, take it off the car first before trying to tighten the TWO screws on the bottom. Be careful not to over tighten them as you can strip the thread in the door mount. I think these have blue loctite on them, or at least the 3 behind the tweeter do that hold it to the car.

[DravidDavid]

Just an update.

Still haven't found any time to take decent photos! Hoping I might have the energy tonight. I'm finding myself strangely warming up to the Skyline wheels. I still feel like changing them, but they can stick around for a while longer. Maybe I'll paint them.

I tried to take the drivers side door off the other day, and failed. I lost the guts to pull anything off and gently put it all back in to place. I wanted to take it off, because I've got two window/mirror control consoles (one which is stuffed) to swap buttons over. The cup part of the lower door handle has come out of the door card. While it does not effect operation, it's a bit annoying. I tried to fix it, but I don't think I have the appropriate fixtures/screws for the job.

The door handle surround I've just noticed is also missing. The rubber grommet from the edge of the door that hits the inner door jamb is also missing. My interior light/open door switch (black rubber button thing) in the door jamb is also faulty, so I'll need to find another one of those.

It rained for the first time during my MR2 ownership the other day. I had a vision of rain pouring in the cabin the whole time I was working. But thankfully, the tops didn't leak at all! As soon as I open the window and the roof is wet, it's all over! I get drips on my right shoulder and inner elbow all the way home afterward. I'll be cleaning the seals tonight, but I'm thinking I'm going to want some kind of rain shield or monsoon like you find on other cars above the windows. Especially before winter hits!

I really want to wash and degrease my engine bay, but I'm too scared! Anything I should be covering up? I know the battery is up the front, but there are still electronics in the back and don't want to risk getting it wet. I've got oil leaks. I want to see if I can get a better idea of where it's coming from. I know it's low pressure only. I wouldn't want to use a pressure washer.

On a slightly unrelated note, this is quite an interesting car to live with as a daily. You soon miss a proper boot and 4 seats. It's great being able to say "sorry it's a 2 seater" when I don't want to give people a ride, haha!

I get in to it at 7AM, all the windows are fogged, I wipe them down. Eventually get the car started on the second go, wait for it to warm up while I try desperately to stop the drip from the window. I'm then rolling down my driveway to a rattling driver's side glass panel and wobbling wing mirror. I start to think I'm driving a lemon, but once I get on a proper road and open the taps, I just don't care about any of that anymore. It makes it all worth it.

Photos soon I swear. I need an experienced opinion on whether or not I should bother with a cut and polish.

[Benckj]

Good to see your experimenting with some minor car repairs. It will get easier as you become familiar with taking things apart and fixing common faults. I'll try and give a short run down on the items you identified.

1/ Door faults. Do all repairs with internal card removed (wiring loom, motor regulator tabs, window track grease and adjustments, mirror tighten, speaker replace and control switch clean). Dome light switch only needs some CRC spray and a cover over button to avoid dead spot on contacts. Couple of links below to help.
Door loom
http://stephenmason.com/cars/mr2doorwire.html
Window adjust
http://www.padandwheels.com/mr2/windowr ... owreg.html

2/ Leaking t-tops. Very easy to fix; clean apply balck silicone then cover with Glad Wrap and replace glass. Dry over night, remove Wrap and sealing will be perfect. Make sure both drains (front & back) on each top are clean and working.



3/ Engine detailing. Spray the hell out of the engine bay with degreaser and wash off with hose. Let air dry in the sun afterwards. All connectors, caps etc have rubber seals so should be good. If not then you have uncovered a problem which wouild leave you scratching your head later on. Clean up excess debris with rag, cover hoses, etc and give VC, TB and Plenum quick lick of metalic silver paint. Wipe off any excess over spray with turps. Engine bay will look very good and won't cost a bomb to do. It will also help identify where the oil leaks are. Common spots are VC on rear RHS, distributor shaft and oil pumpshaft.



4/ Tune Up. Figure out why car isn't starting properly when cold. Look at basic tune-up parts like plugs, dist cap & rotor. Spray out TB and IAVC control with degreaser. Generally check and clean everything. This will help you identify parts and uncover potential problems. Read and follow the BGB on what to do. As long as your a member search the forums as there is plenty of advise with pics everywhere. Most MR2 owners are more than happy to help as long as you make the effort to search for solutions yourself first.

[Mr Shiny]

I need an experienced opinion on whether or not I should bother with a cut and polish.

Depends on how far you want to go. A good polish should eliminate most of the fading. As for the clear coat peeling & cracking, this can only really be fixed with a repaint. So a show car it will not be, yet, but it can be made to look better
As you can see with this Alto, the roof is peeled quite a bit. But the condition it was in when I got it was quite shocking!

The attachment 20131117_165008.jpg is no longer available

Here it is before.

[DravidDavid]

Looks great!

Tried some cutting compound on my spoiler this evening. Went well, except for the first panel. I think I pushed a bit too hard and I've blistered the paint. Little bubbles can be found all through it. But I tried it on the smallest most insignificant panel for a reason. I figured it's best that I do it on crappy paint than brand new paint!

Thanks for all the tips on the leaky t-tops! I'm glad they don't leak with the rain. I'll stick to wiping everything down for now, but it's nice to know there is a fix for later. I'll have the engine looked over when it goes in for the temperature gauge. It's probably just bad plugs.

Fuel economy seems ok. $60.00 gets me 3/4 of a tank and 310KM of city driving. Is that about right?

I love giving stuff a go, but I'm quite worried about breaking something I can't easily fix. I like to be shown how things are done first and then repeat! Can't wait for a spanner day to help and learn. Perhaps even help others myself one day. The search button has already been used quite a bit! I searched "monsoon" and found a great looking yellow MR2 with black monsoons, so perhaps they are somewhere to be found!

I've taken pictures, just need to process them.