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Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:37 pm
by GDII
I finally figured out what brand the front lip on my car is. It had a sticker on it that said G-BRAND so obviously it was that brand but there is almost nothing on the net about that brand.
The sticker looked the same as this.
Image

Then I found this.
00802 G-Brand Rear Garnish.jpg
00802 G-Brand Rear Garnish.jpg (4.87 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00801 G-Brand Lip.jpg
00801 G-Brand Lip.jpg (11.35 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
http://www.rockbrain.com/motor/sw20-gbrand.html
And this
http://www.mr-2.com/english/fm_frame.htm
And this car has it too.
http://www.mr2.com/forums/vbpicgallery. ... iew&g=1490
Definitely G-BRAND as it is the same shape.

It is either a very rare front lip or just undocumented.

I was also walking through wellington yesterday and saw another red SW20 with the same front lip as my car. Was broken in similar places as mine is too. Not sure if it is anyone from here. Car had standard 14s but didn't pay attention to the number plate.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:42 pm
by GDII
I was doing a bit of cleaning on the car today and popped off the overflow bottle lid. The pipe that goes to the bottom was not connected and when I pulled it out it was completely covered in rusty metal filings about 20mm round, the pipe is about 10mm. So I took it out too clean and the whole pipe and it was blocked up. So I cleaned it out and stuck a hose into the overflow bottle. All clean. I know it will happen again because when you squeeze most of the rubber radiator pipes you can feel and hear a crackling sound. All the pipes must be majorly gunked up with rust. I have never had any cooling issues so I hope the radiator doesn't get clogged.

When I fixed one of the heater hoses I replaced the coolant with half water and half antifreeze but it only took half of what the manual said it would. I couldn't find the water drain on the engine so maybe it was all in there still. The water is sometimes clear with a slight green look to it (antifreeze) and sometimes I get white rust foam on the filler cap. Engine doesn't use water so not sure what is going on.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:47 pm
by Benckj
After hearing that description you really need to give the coolant a decent flush and replace. These cars are very hard on coolant and electrolysis which is why you get alot of corrosion. The corrosion is the deteriating of the internal parts due to a mix of materials (ie stainless, brass, steel, alloy) and a fluid to transport the electrons. Works just like a battery so need to change fluid so it is not acidic.

I find that dropping the existing coolant and then running cold water through while engine running works the best. Just need to watch gauge and make sure you have enough water going through to flush through open thermostat. If its really bad then run a bottle of radiator flush through to help dislodge any particles. Then replace with a good antifreeze & distilled water at 50/50 mix. Plenty of info around on how to burp air out from system.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 3:54 pm
by GDII
I replaced the coolant about a year ago. I think what really needs done is to rip out the whole cooling system. Scrubbing all the pipes and hoses but that is not an easy thing to do. I never had any problems bleeding the air out of the system last time so if I do it again it will be fine.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 4:44 pm
by Benckj
A good flush will do wonders especially if you changed the coolant last time and left most of the fluid still in the block. Just because its looks green doesn't mean the corrosion inhibitors are working. I drop a bottle of rad treatment into everyone of my cars every other year.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:09 pm
by GDII
How do I drain the water from the block?

I'm not too happy with the way the coolant is at the moment but it isn't causing any problems so I will leave it for now. Until I can afford to do spend money on my car I am just doing some research on it.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:21 pm
by GDII
Washed and waxed the 2. Washed the engine bay too.
00901 SW20 MR2 Detailed 1.JPG
00901 SW20 MR2 Detailed 1.JPG (57.42 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00903 SW20 MR2 Frunk.JPG
00903 SW20 MR2 Frunk.JPG (64.63 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00902 SW20 MR2 Detailed 2.JPG
00902 SW20 MR2 Detailed 2.JPG (53.9 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00906 SW20 MR2 Frunk.JPG
00906 SW20 MR2 Frunk.JPG (76.78 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00905 SW20 MR2 3SGE.JPG
00905 SW20 MR2 3SGE.JPG (36.56 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
00904 SW20 MR2 Engine Bay 3SGE.JPG
00904 SW20 MR2 Engine Bay 3SGE.JPG (55.92 KiB) Viewed 2739 times

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:15 pm
by GDII
I have been looking around the net and figured out that my rear cross member is from a 12/91+ as it has longer suspension arms.

The cross member on the top is from 12/89-12/91 which my car would have left the factory with. At some point between there and me buying it, someone has swapped it with the one on the bottom.

Picture borrowed from mr2australia.com
SW20 Subframe Comparison.jpg
SW20 Subframe Comparison.jpg (45.08 KiB) Viewed 2739 times

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:43 pm
by Benckj
How do I drain the water from the block?
Don't need to drain just flush whole system with water while engine is running. Once thermostat is open it will allow the block fluid to be displaced.

Flushing and replacing coolant is not expensive. Antifreeze along with some rad flush will cost approx $35.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:06 pm
by GDII
Some of the clear coat has been pealing off parts of the car. The exposed red paint oxidizes quite fast after a good wax so I decided to put clear coat over that part and just overlapping the pealing clear coat to try stop it pealing further.

Before clear coat
01103 Spoiler Pod Prep.JPG
01103 Spoiler Pod Prep.JPG (62.23 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
After clear coat. Looks worse than when I started in the photo but the masking tape residue is still there. And the new clear is much more glossy than the old 21 yr old paint. Plus the old clear (door only) looks more pink.
01102 Clear Coat.JPG
01102 Clear Coat.JPG (32.84 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
Also the rear wing is faded so I put some clear over part of it too.

Wing before
01101 Clear Coat Prep.JPG
01101 Clear Coat Prep.JPG (32.11 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
Wing after
01105 Spoiler Clear.JPG
01105 Spoiler Clear.JPG (17.47 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
Comparison clear right, no clear left.
01104 Spoiler Pod Clear Coat.JPG
01104 Spoiler Pod Clear Coat.JPG (29.63 KiB) Viewed 2739 times
The wing will never come back to the red of the rest of the car but it worked well enough as a temp fix.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:41 pm
by Benckj
Can get a couple of rattle cans from a Colour Shop which match your current paint. They will match the shade and mix the cans to suit. They are very good for doing small items such as the wing, mirrors and even bumpers. When I had my silver/mist blue NA I painted these bits and it looked very good. At $25/can its well worth a try.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:50 pm
by GDII
I already have some colour-matched cans but I am saving that for my front lip when I get it repaired. They whole car needs done again but that would cost too much.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:46 pm
by Benckj
I think two cans did the front bumper, lip, mirrors, full rear spoiler and rear bumper. Don't need to sand right back to primer just hit with some 1200grit and wet sand using a block. I didn't use any clear coat as I found it matched fairly well without and was able to polish up later.

One hint is to also paint the underside of spoiler sides with some primer to keep the moisture from migrating up through fibreglass and forming bubbles under paint.

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:06 pm
by GDII
I will do that. I think I was recommended clearcoat because red fades. Even now car makers have trouble with reds.

It will be nice to get my front lip back but I can't afford to pay the guy fixing it yet. :(

Re: GDII's 1990 G-Limited

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:54 pm
by Benckj
Newer paint has UV protection unlike the base colour they used in the early 90's and when you polish it uses some protection. This is why its peels and fades on many cars built around that time. It is best to apply some clear coat but I had trouble with this on the plastic/rubber parts. Can get the clear coat in a rattle can from same supplier.