tw2's mr2 - the journey to a clean 2

[85AW20v]

While the radiator is out, take it to a radiator shop and get the tanks pulled off and cleaned properly. I've had mine out, flushed it with the hose till it ran clear, thinking it was all good. Got it cleaned out at a shop and the guy said it was about 60% blocked. Up to you bit I know what I'd be doing. Peace of mind cost was $120.

[tw2]

Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to get it pulled apart and cleaned properly. I didn't really get anything bad out with the hose. It was pretty clean. I was surprised that the metal water pipes were very clean and same with the inside of the rubber hoses. I gave everything a paint with brunox to kill the rust. I finally got the rear lower braces rust treated and painted with brunox and miracle paint as well as one of the lower under cover braces I had been meaning to do for a while. Everything assembled with stainless like usual. I am still waiting on the new hoses and clamps/other misc hardware to turn up.

Does anyone know the bolt torque for the lower rear braces? I can't seem to find it in the BGB, otherwise 40Nm will do.

[tw2]

Also got stuck into the new alternator bracket since I needed to put the new belts on. The bracket and alternator were an absolute mess. I used a whole can of electronics part cleaner on the alternator. Hopefully it still works. On the bright side, it is very easy to get in and out with the new bracket. Toyota kind of went overboard with the reliability of this monster bracket didn't they?

This was completely black before. Could hardly make out the slits in the cover.

[tw2]

Way more space. Undo the two bolts and you can just reach in and pull the alternator out the top.

[85AW20v]

Make sure you put the long nut and bolt in with the nut at the chassis side. Sometimes the bolt is too long to get out if you have to because of the chassis being in the way. With your new bracket it might be OK but easier to be safe than pissed off later!!

[GDII]

Make sure you put the long nut and bolt in with the nut at the chassis side. Sometimes the bolt is too long to get out if you have to because of the chassis being in the way. With your new bracket it might be OK but easier to be safe than pissed off later!!

Luckily the long bolt just clears the chassis. The OEM bracket is set this way and this one looks the same.

[tw2]

Yes it is in pretty much the OEM position. The bolt slides in fine both ways. OEM was inserted from the tyre side towards the centre of the car. I put it in the same way. I just finished replacing the belts tonight and torquing the lower braces in place. Still waiting on parts

[tw2]

Rust treatment slowly doing its job. Then sealed so should never rust again.

[tw2]

Not sure how I went so long with the rubbish fusion head unit. Alternator whine was terrible and I have never come across a head unit that could stutter and get stuck in a small loop while playing a digital song off usb. Unfortunately the original installer cut the plugs off so luckily I didn't buy an adapter harness. They did leave a whole pile of butt connectors though so that made it pretty easy to make a harness.

[tw2]

New hose kit installed. Took many hours. They were mostly about right. Some needed trimming. The ones in the front before the radiator ones down by the swaybar were the worst. Definitely remove your reinforcement plates if you have them and take out those two small braces as it will give you a lot more room. I needed some dishwashing liquid to get these two on, they were very tight. Also if you look in my pile of small parts you will see the hose clamps have little clips to hold them open- this is the only way to get them on the upper vertical hard pipes. None of the clamps will fit over the hose and humps in the hardpipe. The solution is to put the hose clamp on first with the clip installed, then put the hose on, bring the hose clamp down into position and release.

Touching the AC line, I doubt it will matter but it is an easy place to monitor.

Didn't get time to do this unfortunately, and my car started leaking coolant with a full fuel tank so I wasn't about to drop it as is or drain 40 litres.

[tw2]

Thanks Simon and Mark for the advice. I took the radiator to the shop. They found some of the core was disintegrating so now having it recored... yay. Good to fix it now and forever. They sandblast all the metal and recoat everything so should be similar to a new one but with perfect fitment. They see a lot of issues with the aluminium ones apparently.

[tw2]

So I am officially a moron. I couldn't get the new radiator mounts into place. I finally realized after way too long that the old mounts were only half removed. If you look in the previous photos you can see the rubber has completely disappeared and the metal insides of the mount have welded themselves to the frame with rust. Once I pried that out, cleaned and painted the area again, all is good.

Well unfortunately I needed a Melvin S core for the radiator. There was an area where the fins were rotting out, it was white in colour and apparently not a good sign. They did a great job, brand new brass core, sand blasted preped and painted end tanks and pressure tested with a warranty. Not cheap but hopefully lasts another 27 years.

[tw2]

[tw2]

So I decided to take a gamble on some 6.5" front door speakers. I already knew a lot don't fit without spacers. The guy at the shop identified the old ones as very old 6.5" components- Infinity Reference series just from looking through the door vent. So I was hopeful if they did need spacers that someone had already done it.... no.

He was correct they are Inifinities from about year 2000. Bit of a rough install. I found those orange house wire connectors in there but also some high quality thick rockford forgate speaker wire. One front speaker was also out of phase from the rest and the speaker mounts were slightly bent from screws being too tight. They should have been decent speakers at the time but it's not surprising they sound like crap.

[tw2]

I got a good deal on some Focal Access components. I should have just got the soundstream 5.25" they had there, hopefully this will be worth it.....

Wiring done in both doors with tweeters ready to go once the door cards go back on.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get some spacers sorted and I am fairly confident I will need to cut the plastic from the inside of the door card to clear the speaker face.