The MR2 Owner's Club of New Zealand

So I got some pictures of the interior and engine bay today. It is a little bit messy as I do use it as a daily, but it's not damaged and a lot of it can be touched up reasonably easily. I need to get some sun visors (the brackets off them broke unfortunately), get a new drivers seat (or somehow fix the massive rip on the side), get a new shift surround and shift boot, and generally just clean it up.

The engine bay isn't tidy, but its also not completely filthy as well. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do.

Some mods I forgot to mention before is that it has an aftermarket Fenix radiator installed and has a short shift kit installed (I prefer the shorter shifts).

The list of things to do is growing very rapidly at this stage. I guess it lives up to its name as a "project car".

Looks quite nice for the money you paid. That engine strut brace is certainly sturdy enough.
Won't take much work to get the interior looking the part.

Keep up the good work!

Benckj wrote:Looks quite nice for the money you paid. That engine strut brace is certainly sturdy enough.
Won't take much work to get the interior looking the part.

Keep up the good work!

Here's hoping it doesn't take too much work!

Still havent decided on what i'm going to do with the seats. Might go for a bucket setup, but I still want it to be somewhat practical for daily purposes.

Any suggestions?

Easy answer is to replace seats with a set of other MR2 ones. Often a decent set of the gen 1/2 leather ones come up for a low price.

If you wanted something nicer you can import a set of custom made covers which look as good if not better than OEM. Think someone on the forum got a set here and fitted for under $1k.

Taking another approach a set of aftermarket or seats from another car be used. I went this route with Recaros that come from a BMW and some other imported Toyota. This can take some fab work as well as compliance issues. Like most mods, it all comes down to what you want and how much you can spend (time & money).

Benckj wrote:Easy answer is to replace seats with a set of other MR2 ones. Often a decent set of the gen 1/2 leather ones come up for a low price.

If you wanted something nicer you can import a set of custom made covers which look as good if not better than OEM. Think someone on the forum got a set here and fitted for under $1k.

Taking another approach a set of aftermarket or seats from another car be used. I went this route with Recaros that come from a BMW and some other imported Toyota. This can take some fab work as well as compliance issues. Like most mods, it all comes down to what you want and how much you can spend (time & money).

Ill have a think about it and decide later I suppose. I do like the Recaro idea, might look into that.

I would get your mechanical/maintenance bits taken care of first like -brakes, suspension, engine, trans, tyres, etc, etc.
Following success with that then look at improving the fun bits like wheels, paint, ICE & interior. From my experience most MR2 owners do it the wrong way around.

Benckj wrote:That engine strut brace is certainly sturdy enough.

That because TRD Although painted black and missing the badge.

GDII wrote:

Benckj wrote:That engine strut brace is certainly sturdy enough.

That because TRD Although painted black and missing the badge.

Im not sure if its actual TRD or just a replica

Benckj wrote:I would get your mechanical/maintenance bits taken care of first like -brakes, suspension, engine, trans, tyres, etc, etc.
Following success with that then look at improving the fun bits like wheels, paint, ICE & interior. From my experience most MR2 owners do it the wrong way around.

Of course. Not much to do on the engine/mechanical side, which is why i'm starting to think about cosmetic/interior projects. In terms of mechanical I need to fix the oil leak (doing that next week), rebuild the rear calipers (they stick sometimes, can get really annoying), and re-gas the A/C. Other than that the mechanical components of the car actually seem pretty good.

Replicas have welds in places the TRD doesn't. They also used mild steel and MIG welding where the replicas are stainless and TIG welded.

GDII wrote:Replicas have welds in places the TRD doesn't. They also used mild steel and MIG welding where the replicas are stainless and TIG welded.

Got any reference photos?

I have just had confirmation from a previous owner that it is genuine but was received as black with no badge.

1320 Performance make one but have a badge welded to the left side.

TCS have one. Note the welds around the tubes at the brackets. The TRD brace does not have this.
https://www.tcsmotorsports.com/collecti ... ar-x-brace

GDII wrote:I have just had confirmation from a previous owner that it is genuine but was received as black with no badge.

1320 Performance make one but have a badge welded to the left side.

TCS have one. Note the welds around the tubes at the brackets. The TRD brace does not have this.
https://www.tcsmotorsports.com/collecti ... ar-x-brace

Previous owner? And that's pretty cool that if it is genuine.

Previous owner of the brace, not the car.

GDII wrote:Previous owner of the brace, not the car.

I like how you can find the owners of not just mr2s, but mr2 parts