1996 MR2 GT-S

[clawnz]

It is official I now own Reubans MR2 GT-S
I got it today. There was some delays as it needed a wheel bearing replaced for warrant.
When Reuban took me out to show me how well it ran, it did not. He tracked this to fuel pump not pumping at full pressure.
So yesterday he spent most of the day dropping the tank and replacing the pump. Phew! It is now running like a Gen3 should.
In the rain I gave it a good scrub down as was pretty grubby from sitting around.
First thing I am having done is cam belt and other bits, while in there replaced. Water pump and oils pump seal. Cam cover gasket and seals replaced.

Then will look around to see who I will get to do some paint work. I would look at doing myself, but do not have a workshop to get it into and the weather is starting to fall apart to consider doing it outside. Roof, rear and front bumpers need it. Upholstery needs a little bit of work.
And for some reason tonight I found the heater is not heating. Will put that on the to do list along with sorting an aerial that goes up and down.
The only photos I have at the moment are copies from the forum.

[clawnz]

First thing has been change the wheels and tyres.
Surprised to find there were no centric spacers in the old rims.
Pic! Pic2




Pics of panels that need painting (except forgot to take pic of boot).
Just getting quotes right now.







I am really thinking of changing out suspension as it is way too hard to be comfortable or enjoyable for me.
And that damn exhaust is way too loud for my liking.
I know I may take some flak for this, but it is going to be a car I like to drive on long runs, and at the moment it is not that.
And unless it grows on me in the next few weeks, somethings are going to get changed.

[knuckles61]

Looking forward to see how you progress!

[GDII]

Nice buy. Hope it serves you well.

BTW I've driven my MR2 for 80,000km on aftermarket (well OEM Mazda BBS RG097s) with no hubcentric spacers with no problems what so ever. No vibrations or broken studs. Hubcentric wheels or rings are required when using shank type lug nuts like the OEM MR2 wheels. Cone type lug nuts locate the wheel properly on the hub so don't tend to cause issues.

[mickeyduck]

My AW's use cone type lug nuts and one of them had AWful vibration at about 100kmh until I fitted spigot rings. Even though I always did the nuts up diagonally and incrementally...

Clive - good score, that car (used to belong to Chris aka Phothog) goes well. I'll look forward to seeing it on a run again...! (hint hint)

Don't you like the Nankang semi-slicks Clive? Reuban said they were real sticky... No good in the wet?

[clawnz]

I don't doubt that if Reuban says those Nankang tyres were good, he is correct.
Seen him drive it hard, so assume his is a very valid opinion.
To me they seem a hard compound, which may help explain why they tend to let go in the wet, as they would not be coming up to temp.
I intend to do a bit of mileage up and down the country in all weather, so dry tyres are not going to be suitable for wet weather running.
The set I have are close to new and done less than 2,000 kms. And they were on the rims I wanted to keep.
I thought the Nankangs seem a harder ride, checked pressures and they were at 30psi, which should be a good pressure to run.
Opinion: 215x45x17 is a little high profile for the front. (Zero clearance between tyre and spring cup).
The tyres I am running are Front 205x40x17 on 7in Rear 225x45x17 on 8in running 30psi. The ride does seem a bit softer. Still very bone jarring.

As for the centric rings. It is interesting. As I take it the car came in like that, so must of passed compliance.
Where rims are legal or not, if they do not fit on center hubs is a question I would be asking.
When I fitted these rims to the 1992 MR2 and we took both cars for a comparison run. I found both front tyres rubbed on spring cup.
But the righthand side also seemed to be running slightly off center. When jacked up and spun you could hear it touch every revolution. Undid nuts and re tightened. Dropped the pressure down to 28psi. This seems to have sorted the issue. It does not matter anyway, but do want to be able to demo motor to prospective buyer.

I know which car I prefer to drive at the moment and I have to change that.

[Benckj]

BTW I've driven my MR2 for 80,000km on aftermarket (well OEM Mazda BBS RG097s) with no hubcentric spacers with no problems what so ever. No vibrations or broken studs. Hubcentric wheels or rings are required when using shank type lug nuts like the OEM MR2 wheels. Cone type lug nuts locate the wheel properly on the hub so don't tend to cause issues.

This is not exactly correct.

Toyota wheel use the centre to align wheel and shank type nuts to hold tight. While the aftermarket wheel generally do not fit the hub centre the acorn nut do a reasonable job at trying to centre wheels based on stud placement. While most people will be happy with a reasonable fit it is not proper and can cause a number of issues.

First is the soft alloy wheels and acorn nuts. Over time the steel can relax as will alloy wheel and nuts. This may cause some movement which can back off the nuts. This depends on the wheel & nuts quality as well as several environmental factors including driving style.

Secondly, the balance of the wheels & tyres can have an affect on vibration. As the tyres wear and age the balance can change which can accelerate wheel movement. If the wheels are not centered on hub this will increase the stress on the wheel nuts which can cause further vibrations.

As you might guess I'm a big fan of using the proper hub-centric spacers when installing aftermarket wheels. I have 4 sets of wheels and all of them have the spacers installed. While it may work Ok on some sets I am a bit cautious as have had strange vibrations at speed which were solved after installing the spacers. On a legal note I do not think that a COC is required for spacers as long as they are attached to the wheel. I glued mine in place so they are not only legal but do not get lost when changing wheels (ie balancing). Can find nylon spacers on TM for around $25/set. Pretty good investment IMO.

[85AW20v]

Since moving up to 15" rims on the AW, I've broken a front hub and didn't have centric rings fitted. It cracked around the spigot that the rings fit on to and that did cause a bit of vibration - well heaps actually!! I've got aluminium rings off TradeMe for $20.00, fitted now so we'll see how that goes over the winter clubmans race series at Taupo. The ones I needed were 73.1 x 54.1.

See ya
Simon

[clawnz]

I am settling in to Blue.
Running my wheels and tyres and dropping pressure to 28psi front and 30psi rear it is not so stiff.
I take it the low profile 17in rims take a lot of give out of the side walls. Which you would have on 14ins or 15ins.
All in all was happy with how it went on the Possum Run.
Instead of going backward to standard springs, I will consider progressive spring rate set up, at a later date.
I need more time, so planning on a run down country this weekend. I feel you cannot beat hours to adjust to a vehicle.

I have taken off both number plates and straitened them. Fitted a number plate mount on the front bumper.
Changed out orange front lights to the white ones and got them working. One was blown bulb and the other was a dodgy LED bulb.
Gave away the LED's as did not like the look.
Power steering seems to be fixed after changing out solenoid. Did try the hook flashing Ign,. switch a number of times. The fault was intermittent.
Changing out the pod gauges on the pillar to mounting where the ash tray is.
And fitting a rear view camera. This is due to restricted vision. I resolved some of that by removing the rear window tint. The tinted interior mirror added to the poor rear view vision. (I like to know what is behind me). I also find the spoiler tends to block headlights of cars behind.
Spent a little bit of time cleaning things up. Air Filter and engine breather were pretty dirty. And some polishing, repaiting.

I have decided to get a complete respray done now instead of just some panels. That way I avoid any miss match of colors, and am considering a custom blue paint, as long as it is not far off the original blue. But that is months off.
Mechanics are first priority, and they are having to wait until the 1992 is parted out and gone. Also we are getting the MR2 that my motor is going into here in the drive.
Once that is sorted it will be Blues turn, to get attention.

[Benckj]

I'm a bit surprised at the state of the clear coat on roof & bonnet. Being a 1996 they should have that issue sorted. Good plan to do complete re-spray although this is an expensive option. Will get to mine someday as I have skirts and wing which don't match. Might be beneficial to approach 'Mr Shiney' as he cam often rejuvenate the paint work with excellent results. Small areas like front lip or side vents can be rattle can painted first and then blended in a tad with polish.

I'd do some homework on the progressive springs before forking out $$. Most of the lowering springs are progressive and the first few coils do very little as they are compressed. Larger profile tyres do help considerably as does dropping pressure like you did. Most owners install the wheels and tyres for looks & performance which can compromise comfort.

On the loud exhaust there is very little that can be done on the cheap. I designed my system to incorporate an exhaust bypass valve which I can use closed or open depending on the need. That way when I'm on the road travelling I can close up and drive in relative silence. Still have the road/tyre noise which I'm working on solutions to minimise. Once again tyres make a huge difference.

[clawnz]

Thanks Jim.
When I went over what needed touching up or repainting. There is not much left that is OK. I think it only left the bonnet and rear bumper. And even that has a few stone chips. Front lip, Front bumper, both front guards, boot lid, engine cover, roof. Rear guards and doors could possibly sorted. And at that point better to pay the dollars and do the lot. The way I see it as most of the panels need respraying a total repaint should not be that much more cost. As total repaint time will not be much different.
A custom paint job certainly will add more to final figure. 2 pack Paint and 2 pack clear alone looks like around $600 to $700 and primer and thinners. Och! But I feel it should be worth doing well.

Here's the two I have picked out so far. Hard to get a real feel of how they would look an a car. Photo's never do it for me.

A: My Blue Obsession" custom metallic CV Autothane two pack paint. What a gorgeous strong blue, it has stunning green hues that look amazing!


B:"Soul Mate" Pearl Basecoat Premium Deltron 4 litre one off mixed color.This is a stunning green/blue color with a red flip and has red green pearl added

[clawnz]

Reuban has been laying into me to repaint in genuine Toyota Tropical Blue.
And deep down I know he is correct. So it looks like Tropical Blue it is going to be.

Moving on! Power Steering. It is doing my head in. No power steering in the mornings, until I have clocked up some mileage.
Switch off and back on and it works for the rest of the day.
I only have one more ECU to swap out and that is it.
Tried relay, 1x ECU, unpluged all the connectors and plugged them back in. Checked oil level, over full.
Tried hook flashing ign s/w before I changed out relay.
Nothing has made any difference, as yet.
When you start from cold you can feel power steering pump runs and stops.

Heater control is a fail. Replaced dash control. No! Not that. Next is to dig into the dash and replace control module that operates shutter and hot water flow cable.

Suspension. Sorting that out. Paid the money and got fully adjustable Coil Overs.

Exhaust. Working on that issue. I was trying to find a site I had seen where they opened up a MR2 muffler and modified it. I for the life of me cannot find that.

[GDII]

What coilovers did you get?

Good the hear you staying with the factory blue. It's a really nice colour.

[Benckj]

I like metallic paint and both those blues look awesome. When I do mine being white I'll change to a super pearl white like Lexus used. Still waiting on my brother to deliver the goods. Can get the paint & supplies for free except can't get delivered. Enough projects to do anyway so paint can wait.

On the PS it does sound like a relay or brush issue. You have tried the 20x On/Off key trick again??

[clawnz]

A set of D2 from Scarles Rosebank Road.
Street version. They were having a sell off, so got the set for $900
[urlhttp://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1080244897[/url]

What coilovers did you get?

Good the hear you staying with the factory blue. It's a really nice colour.