1990 SW20 MR2 GT Restoration Project

[ToyMonsta]

Here is the Oil Pickup and Baffle Plate that I've just had plated this week.

[85AW20v]

Why not check with the plating guys how clean everything has to be? Might save you and your back a lot of work!!

[ToyMonsta]

Why not check with the plating guys how clean everything has to be? Might save you and your back a lot of work!!

All I'm doing is getting rid of rust and hard crap that their cleaning process most likely won't remove, I have seen bolts that were prepped by somebody and they were almost immaculate.... so I'm going to do the best I can before then.

[ToyMonsta]

I've now had the Gearbox cleaned up ready for all the gearing and other stuff to be installed and have also had the intercooler tanked to get rid of all the blow-by within it.

I have also been working on the GT-4 as well and I'll post a few pics on that.

So here I have the MR2-GT Intercooler and the GT-4's... In these pics the GT-4's Intercooler I had already finished straightening the bent fins (there were many!) it was 10 hours worth of work, tomorrow will be the MR2 Intercooler's turn although it's a lot worse than the GT-4's was.

And here is the gearbox...

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[ToyMonsta]

At the moment the GT-4 engine is getting overhauled so I took the opportunity to start detailing the engine bay as it was covered in 27 years of grime and oil!

Stay tuned! More to come...

[ToyMonsta]

So I have finally finished restoring my GT-4's Intercooler this weekend... It was a lot of work but it's been good practice for when I start restoring the MR2 Intercooler.
So here is the Process and the tools needed to restore the Intercooler.... all up it cost me around $100-$110

Time Needed:
3 Full Days

Tools Needed:
Tweezers
Nail File
Air Compressor or a good hair drier
Wire Brush
Scotch Pad
Black Nitrile Gloves (much more durable than the white or blue)
Green Painters Tape 15 mm
Septone Wax and Grease Remover or equivalent (I used SCA Shellite it's half the price and does the same job)
Septone Super Etch Primer
Septone Acrylic Satin Black

Process:
Step 1: I had the Intercooler washed in a tank of Chemicals, (this was done at a reputable engine rebuilders here in CHCH).
Step 2: Straighten all the fins with a small metal Nail File and a pair of Tweezers, you will need to set aside an entire day for this (dependant on how damaged the fins are).
Step 3: Blow out all the flaked off paint trapped between the fins (use 50-60 PSi) any more and you risk bending the fins again with the pressure of the air.
Step 4: Scour the Alloy with a Scotch Pad and Wire brush to knock off the remaining paint and oxidization, scour to a bright finish (but do not polish) for best results when painting.
Step 5: Remove the contaminants from wire brush etc. With the wax and grease remover and a painters tack cloth (Blue) less likely to leave fibres than the yellow type.
Step 6: Using the Green Painters Tape, mask the ends of the two pipes to where the rubber hoses will stop make sure of a nice sharp edge, run the top your fingernail along the edge of the tape to stop any paint bleed (make sure there are no creases)
Step 7: Lightly Spray the Etch Primer using a misting effect from 20-30 Centimetres away, this will act as a key for the "wet coat". Apply wet coat evenly and allow 1 hour to dry.
Step 8: Apply the top coat of Satin Black using the same method as above, spray 3 even "wet coats" and allow each coat a drying time of 5-10 minutes (no glossy appearance left before next coat) Leave to dry for 24 hours.

And here are the results!

Notes:
I forgot to apply the tape before I started painting but then remembered after the Etch primer lol which resulted with chipped Etch primer.
The photo's don't do the Intercooler Justice, It looks brand new OEM when seen with your own eyes
I've learn't a lot from this, so the MR2 one will hopefully come up slightly better, this was just good practice

[GDII]

Awesome work on both cars. They are going to look great once done.

You can get a special tool for straightening intercooler and radiator fins. Would save a lot of time or at least get you to where you can straighten out the worst ones with your first method faster.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/Allstar-Performa ... 2308861690

[ToyMonsta]

Awesome work on both cars. They are going to look great once done.

You can get a special tool for straightening intercooler and radiator fins. Would save a lot of time or at least get you to where you can straighten out the worst ones with your first method faster.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/Allstar-Performa ... 2308861690

I have one of those and it doesn't work very well, infact I ended up getting more frustrated with that and actually bent more fins lol
The only use that has is when your fins are just buckled but not flattened over like mine were, you cant straighten the fins if you cant get the pick in-between them.

[mknz]

I agree about useless tools, I found it better to stick tweezers through from the opposite side as they were just about the right width

[GDII]

That's true, I've never used one and can see that they wouldn't be the effective compared to your method.

[ToyMonsta]

I just have the Intercooler shroud and mounting brackets to do now, I'll post pics once they are done.

[ToyMonsta]

I have almost finished the Intercooler, here is a few more shots of what I have done over the long weekend so far.

The first thing I did was take off the Intercooler badge clean up the adheasive and then Acid Washed the Shroud.

I then Blasted the shroud in my Blasting Cabinet with Garnet (1st pic had glass bead media which I changed to Garnet)
This process will strip all the oxidization from the Alloy and leave it a porous light grey which then can be polished with glass bead media.

The shroud after blasting with Garnet
(In the 2nd pic I have polished the right hand side with glass and the left side un-polished to see the difference)

Here is the result after polishing with Glass bead

[ToyMonsta]

I then continued with Mounting brackets. Here they are after blasting with Garnet.
One of the Brackets was quite rusted and here you can see the pitting that the rust left.

And here they are being painted.

The mount on the left is the one that was damaged by rust and also bent where the rubber grommet is housed.
I fixed all that before hand

[ToyMonsta]

The next step was to paint the grill that is housed in the Shroud (I have no pics of it being painted) I then fitted the grill into the shroud.
I purchased some weather strip to replace the original padding between the intercooler unit and the shroud to stop it from vibrating when being driven (as seen in the pics below)

I then doubled up the padding as it wasn't quite thick enough. (This did the trick and it now sits firmly on the intercooler with no contact)
Once it is bolted down it will not vibrate.

[ToyMonsta]

There are two pieces of the intercooler mountings that need to be riveted back onto the intercooler as they had broken off and were only held by self tapping screws (previous owner)

One of the larger mount's also needs new rivets to hold it onto the Intercooler. I'm not quite ready to fix the mount to the Intercooler yet but here is a pic of it mocked up.

And here is the final mock-up before I finish it and bolt it together...

All I have left to do is re-print the Intercooler badge Graphics and fill in the INTERCOOLER lettering with black paint via a syringe and also nickel plate the mounting bracket fasteners/Bolts.