Proud owner of a Red Sunroof mk1 with just 46k on the clock.

[PaulGRhodes]

Hi all.

On Sunday I made the long trip down to Plymouth to view and then buy this MR2.


Bar 2 cosmetic issues (small dent next to engine hood, and 4 holes in the bonnet where some kind of statue once stood ) it's perfect - no rust, no resprays, no welding.

Going through the 2 owner History it's clear that it was a daily driver up until the early 90's covering 39k. Then it became a garaged sunny weather car. Mintex pads and brakes went on in 96, along with sports exhaust, braided brake lines, "Toyota Handling Kit" and O.Z. Wheels.
It was then sold to the person I bought it from in 2009 (original owners neighbour) where he kept it under a cover as an investment before deciding to stick it on PistonHeads the other week.

The only real Problem I have is that the History shows that the Cam-belt hasn't been changed since 1993! It's only done 7k since then but surely it needs doing.

Pinkstones Toyota Stoke quoted me £240, and my local garage £200.
Does anyone know of a specialist in the North Staffs area who can do the work at a more reasonable rate? Or at least one who doesn't seem scared to work on it?

I consider myself to be a pretty practical person and plan on doing most of the maintenance myself, so if there isn't anyone nearer I'll set aside a weekend or 2 to do it myself.


But anyways... Hi, I'm Paul!

[FossMan]

Hello there. Car looks lovely. Glad you found one that fitted your needs.

What are you planning to do with the car then? Keep it as it is? Drive it daily?

[PaulGRhodes]

It's totally going to be a fair weather toy.
Once the cambelt is sorted I'll open her up and see what she can do, but for now I'm driving it very carefully.

I don't however view it as some kind of investment. I plan to drive the car as it was designed to be. If I put 40k on the clock over the next few years, who cares?

Mod's wise.... I don't think I'll be doing much to it. Engine swaps and Nitrous won't even be considered. The most I can see me doing is taking it to Woodsport to get a torsen type LSD fitted.

I just plan to enjoy it.

Paul.

[Danthrax]

welcome, cars looks great

[superwhite90]

Hi and Welcome!

Looks a beaut!

Regarding cambelt prices, £240 from Toyota is quite reasonable when the cambelt kit will probably cost £80 in genuine parts alone.

My mate did mine in 90mins, but there isnt much room down there, Mr Woods can do it in a very short timescale indeed but I dont know how far you are from him.

[jonnie]

Hi and Welcome!

Looks a beaut!

Regarding cambelt prices, £240 from Toyota is quite reasonable when the cambelt kit will probably cost £80 in genuine parts alone.

My mate did mine in 90mins, but there isnt much room down there, Mr Woods can do it in a very short timescale indeed but I dont know how far you are from him.

Yep! He can do it in under an hour for £50 including the price of the belt

[kevin..in]

cam belt is long over due at 17 years service limit is 60K miles or 5 years, I can't think of anyone locally who is a toyota specialist, but if you want old school mechanics by someone who genuinely cares then Elms Motors at hilderstone 01889 505 552
is recomended, chris is a top guy and one of the few people I have trusted to work on my own cars
as for speed records then I did a cambelt on my MK1 in 40 mins on the drive, think Paul woods is a 20 min man when challenged, I have also done from running to cylinder head on the counter at local engineers in 2 hours after a 10 hour night shift
and if you're intent on using it a it was intended then get your name down for this
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5925
another recomended Mk1 service
very nice looking car BTW seems you got nearly everything on your wish list but a sunroof (moonroof) is a + in my book anyway