Sunday 20 March 2011

MR2 - Repairs done, modifications continue

Got the '2 taxed and on the road again. First drives helped identify a few problem areas...These were as follows:

1. Handbrake weak. In all likelyness brakes need bedded in. To be re-appraised.
2. Minor oil drips. Could be from undertorqued oil filter.
3. Head unit still pumped. Sound only comes on after a bump in the road. I forgot about this one!
4. Dash light on fuel gauge side flickering
5. Metallic skimming noise coming from O/S whilst moving. Suspected dustguard bent out of shape.
6. Car is a joke for handling. Darting all over the road and heavy to steer. Front ARB to be refitted ASAP and tracking to be reset.

So how did it fare once i pulled it back in? Well the first hitch was simple. Took the rear wheels off and clocked the witness marks on the rear discs were negligble. A week later and the rear pads have bedded in better. Got the car holding on Montrose street in the city centre, and on one click too!!

Oil drips. My first concern was i had maybe clattered the oil filter when wrestling with the timing belt change. Not even that! I had forgot to torque down the cam covers after repainting! Easy to find that fault too, just looked for the highest traces of oil...

Dash light has been a one off fault. No more flickering so if its not coming back i'm going to resist ripping the dash binnacle out!

Metallic skimming noise was indeed a dust gaurd. The O/S/F brake dust gaurd has deteriorated and split, with the bottom half contacting the disk. Again, simple fix... bent the cover back.

Handling. Now without the front ARB droplinks i was unabe to do much. Well, theu finally arrived yesterday so i popped them back on along with another cheeky mod i acquired while waiting for it to arrive: A rear SW20 (mk2 mr2) ARB. Much stiffer, at 1.5mm thicker. Definite improvement in handling too, with the car having that pinpoint go-kart like precision!

Head Unit. Not quite an easy fix. Electrical stuff is never my strong suit, so Having sound cutting out could be anything. In the end a dodgy rear speaker turned out to be the culprit. Headunit was replaced with a modern iPod compatible unit, and some Kicker components installed up front. Rears remain disconnected for now, but i may install replacements in a different location....

Outside of the snagging list i had a few modifications. First: JDM lights:

You may notice a lack of spoiler. No, not for a despoilered rear...There have been a few changes made to it.
 First, shifted the spoiler back a mounting hole...
Cut off the excess parts that dont blend in, and fill the open gaps with expandy foam!
...and fill in the gaps then smooth! Here it is in place where it will now sit:
Much more purposeful angle!

So that now needs repainting, along with a couple of holes welded up in the bootlid. For now though, its back in rude health!!!

Just as well, as this will be the next unplanned and urgent repair:
More on this later.........

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