4Cyl's 1990 G-Limited

[GDII]

Saw a good example of this the other day. Clear coat and paint was peeling really badly.

So have I! I'm keeping the car waxed and polished weekly, so no worries there .

Word of advice, don't polish too much or you'll wear all the paint off the car. Speaking from experience, I've got a few patches of primer coming through. Keeping a layer of wax on the car rather than rubbing it in works best. Also keeping it out of the sun works wonders for these cars. Mine is garaged now so keeping the paint in good shape is far easier.

[4CylinderSpecial]

I probably polish every month or so, hand put on and off the wax itself. You can definitely tell what mr2s have been garage cars, clear seems to come off these cars at a reasonably fast rate (even considering their age).

[Swampy]

You don't need a turbo to actually have a turbo. Turbo is a state of mind.

[4CylinderSpecial]

You don't need a turbo to actually have a turbo. Turbo is a state of mind.

Turbo is love, turbo is life

[4CylinderSpecial]

Whew.. I haven't posted to this in a long time! My 2 is still going real nice, just clocked 138,000 km and is doing well so far. A few months ago I got some TRD springs from Reuben, and put them on.. the difference is great, the car feels even more stable going through corners and the like, as well as making it not a monster truck height anymore.

Here're some pictures of it presently:

[GDII]

That looks awesome with the TRD springs. Looks like how it should have left the factory. The 14s still look great on it.

[4CylinderSpecial]

That looks awesome with the TRD springs. Looks like how it should have left the factory. The 14s still look great on it.

It does right? I can understand why they were higher/softer, but the difference is definitely notable!

[GDII]

They just need a better offset. +10 offset or 35mm spacers.

Are you having trouble getting the car in and out of your driveway? You mentioned it was already close to scrapping the front lip with the stock springs.
Last time I had lowering springs in my MR2 the car was so much more stable and planted on smooth roads but as the shocks were stuffed it bounced too much and bumps could unsettle it. The car was more fun though. Way less body roll in corners and it wouldn't squat or dive much under accelerating and braking.

It sounds like you are enjoying the car more now with those springs. Can't wait to get mine installed. That means I'll need another wheel alignment.

Quick question, what is the ride height now on level ground measured from the guard to the centre of the wheel? Stock my car which is the same as yours is 365mm front and 370ish rear.

Nice Aston Martin BTW!!

[4CylinderSpecial]

Quick question, what is the ride height now on level ground measured from the guard to the centre of the wheel? Stock my car which is the same as yours is 365mm front and 370ish rear.

Believe it or not, getting the car down the drive is essentially the same as it was, although hitting the steep edge straight on can cause it to scrape on occasion on the front lip. I notice that too with the bumps, i tested my shocks when I was replacing the springs and they definitely were on the way out - will probably get some oem bilsteins or some equivalent soon i'd say.

The measurements I've got for it now is 320 front and around 330 rear! That's a fair distance change for sure. I had to wait a week or two for the springs to 'settle' before they went this low, but I'm happy with the result.

The Aston is my dads — he's looking at an F-type soon, liking two-seaters runs in the family

[GDII]

Get OEM Bilsteins as a minimum. I haven't driven a car with lowering springs and these shocks but it seems to work. You could get Koni yellow adjustable inserts for yours, they seem to be good for the price.

Yeah that is a big drop. But the early cars were 10mm higher than the later models so you get that extra 10mm on top of the 20-25mm drop that Toyota say you get with them.

[4CylinderSpecial]

Get OEM Bilsteins as a minimum.

Any opinions on Koni Yellows vs Bilsteins? I'm going to get a bushing kit soon too, there's an NZ store which has Prothane bushes for about $200 NZ + shipping from the US.

[Benckj]

IMO go for the Koni's over OEM black Bilsteins.

The Bilsteins are a TC model which are really soft and primarily for road use. Unlike Koni's they cannot be rebuilt or have a life time guarantee. I also believe the Koni's are adjustable which is another huge advantage.

One pro for the Bilsteins is that they are supplied from Toyota with the whole strut housing and the Koni's must be used with the older style Gen 1 version which is held in place with a large nut. Now if you were able to get the Yellow Bilsteins that's a new story.

[GDII]

Go to Twosrus for the bushes. Unless shipping is expensive. Less than $100 USD for the bushes and about $90 USD for shipping unless you can go through another freight forwarding service. They won't do that for your first purchase though. I wouldn't bother if you are going to get a Turbo car in the future. Unless you want to swap all the suspension over and sell of the NA.

As for Koni vs Bilsteins. That depends on what Bilsteins and Konis you are talking about. There are a few options I think for both. But if it's Koni Yellow adjustable inserts vs OEM Bilstein blacks then Koni would be my pick except you can get OEM Bilstiens for $600 a set where the Konis, while adjustable and more suited to lowering springs are over $1000NZD depending on where you get them from.

[Swampy]

so much good advice in this thread. I'm going to quietly take notes. Oh and your car has a good ride height mate!

[4CylinderSpecial]

Cheers for the advice guys. I'll probably grab the Bilsteins unless I can find any good deals on Konis for now — mainly because I plan to import a later gen turbo near the end of the year. Since this car is pretty much going to be on the road for its life, I think it should be fine with the Bilsteins. Are you going with the Bilsteins/TRD combo GDII?