The cursed SW rides again.

[Mike n Rochelle]

After years sitting in the drive then sitting in the garage then sitting in long grass, The black SW is back on the road. Last time she was on the road was 2012 after clean sheeting a WOF. The water pump died on the way to the workshop form memory and the alternator died on the way home. The car had a replacement engine put in when we bought it and blew the head gasket on that then blew the radiator then the alternator then the water pump followed by the alternator again! at this point the motor was starting to sound a little sad in the bottom end so I parked her up.
Some time later I bought the white car pictured bellow for parts and went about stripping her for parts for our one. The motor and box went into the black car quite some time later and after putting in 3 different rear cross members that turned out to be shot I finally had the new heart in. From there it was getting it to run again and that turned out to be a mission so as I was busy with work and misc it got left again. We bought another house and left her to rot out the back of the old place until last week where I got it out of the back yard into the drive.
The rear brake was jamming up on one side when I last worked on it so I got that fixed then onto a trailer she went and off north it went to see what else was wrong with her. The clutch was being a hmmmm yea lets not got there, so that was the first thing attacked and after pumping the pedal it felt good and seemed to want to move the car so it was decided to try and drive off the trailer........FAIL! So it got to go for another ride on the trailer to its new home where it got washed and readied for a visit to a mate with a hell of allot more patience than me.
Yesterday she went back to town where it had the gearbox removed, the offending part causing all the problems fixed and put back together and just like that its moving under its own steam again
After all this time parked up everything still works that did when it was parked and the body is still in the same condition it was in when I bought it that is a miracle. So I drove her home last night and today it has had its missing wheel found and the wiper blades replaced along with the rad cover on the way to a WOF later this week.
So far she had a full JDM aftermarket exhaust (will be getting the rear section swapped for stock item as a bit loud for daily driving), Lowering springs and adjustable dampers, Lightend flywheel and new clutch, A for now anyway carbon fibre TOM's intake and the 16"wheels.
There is a full genuine TOM's Kit off the white car to come and she will probably get the 15"TOM's C3R's back once they have new rubber.
The interior is currently fairly stock with a MOMO wheel, some LED lights I forgot I had installed and the stereo that will now be getting some much needed amplification to support the big drivers the headunit is having a hard time feeding.
Not much more is planned for this car as it is just going to replace my daily and I still have the Twincharge AW and a hilux to finish. We are just happy it works and fingers crossed it still works in a years time because that would be a record for this car :\

The b*#!h herself

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The long dead donor.

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[Benckj]

Glad you got some mobility Mike after the run of failures. Sometimes these cars test your devotion and patience more than others.

[Mike n Rochelle]

The times I wanted to put a axe though the roof of that thing! I think the fact that I loved driving it and it felt good on the road was the thing that saved it. I do regret not shipping the white one off to be fixed and re vined but oh well. The gt is still sitting looking mega sad..... Mold on the seats and steering wheel stuff growing on the outside. It will be getting the replacement seats put in given a good scrub down and then its off to get the turbo sorted and an assessment of the engine before deciding if its getting scrapped or sold.
Anyone know much about the wheels pictured on these cars? I know there Japanese wheels and they are staggered and would have to check but they are from memory two piece. There is a Yellow SW in nelson for sale with the same wheels looking at the photos and I am sure there not TOM's as the stickers say as they are not Ray's wheels so I know nothing about them. Will be going back to the C3R's when they are all cleaned up and sitting on new rubber so she will be sporting a decent part of the toms catalogue once done.

[Mike n Rochelle]

Today I took it for a WOF and it passed ....... BUT on the way home the speedo cable broke at the gearbox and the check engine light is now going so assuming that the check engine light is speed sensor related but have not checked the codes yet.

[DravidDavid]

Today I took it for a WOF and it passed ....... BUT on the way home the speedo cable broke at the gearbox and the check engine light is now going so assuming that the check engine light is speed sensor related but have not checked the codes yet.

You are making me scared to own these cars and expect them to be relatively reliable.

[Alsw20]

Today I took it for a WOF and it passed ....... BUT on the way home the speedo cable broke at the gearbox and the check engine light is now going so assuming that the check engine light is speed sensor related but have not checked the codes yet.

You are making me scared to own these cars and expect them to be relatively reliable.

The oldest SW20s are approaching 30 years old. The newest are almost 20 years old. They are a project car for life.

If you want a reliable no nonsense car, buy a near new Corolla or Camry.

[Benckj]

You are making me scared to own these cars and expect them to be relatively reliable.

Like any old machine it all depends on how well it was maintained. I know owners who drive Model T's which are very reliable but doesn't remotely compare to anything modern.

Good on ya Mike saving another MR2 from the grave. Hope you make it up Central sometime and we can catch-up for a beer.

[Mike n Rochelle]

That car has had a few owners and the previous one to me run the bottom end. The unfortunate thing about the 3s is there old and allot are not maintained to a decent standard that where the first two motors fell short. Thankfully this motor was from a well looked after car that was written off so I got lucky. Keep the oil topped up and changed regularly along with keeping the misc maintenance up to date and most motors will last for a very long time.
Next job is to address a couple of niggling issues like the blown door light and speedo cable along with fixing a suspect blown ext mani seal and going stock with the rear section of the exhaust.
FYI not having a front swaybar sucks
Might go for a cruze up you way in her sometime soon Jim once I have done a few more K's to assure its all good for road tripping again.
Might even get around to trying to organize a club run or two.

[Mike n Rochelle]

WOF REG and it still works! Thats a record for this car.
Just put a swaybar back in the front ex the donor and it is a larger unit than stock, It will be nice to not have the articulation in the front end any more
Decided to keep the exhaust on her for now and am going to fix the flanges that are leaking so it stops chuffing.
Still need to take the TOM's air box back off and have new plugs sitting to go in sometime.
Next will probably be the stereo as it sounds crap. Currently it has some fairly heavy fusion 6inch splits up front and a pair of Fusion 6x9's in the rear in the bins but the bins that were modded by the previous owner are not that flash and there is no bass so I am going to ditch them for a pair of Zeroflex 10's and a Zeroflex amp to sort the bass and the rest should be fine with the headunit crossover control looking after them.
Will take some pics soon and upload them.