Hello from Wales

[chief44]

Hi all. I recently bought a white 1988 mk1 mr2 as a project to fill the time between tours (I work as a roadie).
I owned a 1991 celica gt4 for a while, and loved it to bits. But, money problems meant I had to get rid and downgrade to a vw polo. I eventually got sick of understeer and decided to buy a cheap mr2 project.
So, off to Birmingham. The seller though it had a headgasket failure as it was using water. But there were no other obvious signs pointing to the HG so I took the risk and bought it. Apart from afew spots of rust and a blowing exhaust it seemed pretty tidy.

Anyway, after getting it home and having a gander, it turns out the thermostat had been removed from the housing. A replacement will be going in tomorrow.

Anyway, just thought I'd say hello as I've already learnt alot from this forum.

Cheers all!
Ben
(I'll lob some pictures up soon.)

[mr2mk1chick]

Hi Ben

welcome to the club

from a gt4 you'll love the mr2 mk1 the power to weight in nice in a mk1 i think.
I hope the engine hasn't suffered from the overheating problems or whatever it was....

my hubby used to be a sound engineer on tours years ago, and got into mr2's the same as you

[chief44]

Thanks very much

Yeah I cant wait to have a proper drive round the welsh twisties! The gt4 was very very good, but quite heavy.

Been tidying up some bits and bobs. I replaced the stat the other day, which is good. But just as I was getting the car up to temperature to finish the refill the alternator seized and snapped the belt. Hoorah!

So i've got a new belt and cambelt kit to go on at the weekend. All I need now is another alternator. Anyone know where's a good place to look? Or if anyone's got a spare one knocking about I'll happily take it off your hands.

my hubby used to be a sound engineer on tours years ago, and got into mr2's the same as you

Good stuff. Whereabouts did he get to? Any big names?

Cheers,

Ben.

[Rick McRick]

Yeah I cant wait to have a proper drive round the welsh twisties!

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6804

[chief44]

Good stuff Rick. But I think I'll be touring in April so won't be able to make it. If things change and I end up staying home, I'll definately be coming along. (Providing the old girl is running well).

[Rick McRick]

That's a shame. Well if you want some company and you're doing the north wales area, post up, some of us might come along

[chief44]

Hello again!

Sorry for the delay, been having some troubles with the old girl, but she was running again today.
So, cambelt done (took about 2.5hours, about 45mins was spent making a puller), replacement alternator fitted (thanks to Mik for sorting me out there ) and all is well.
I was suffering from a hunting idle when warm, but after a bit of 'search' action, I diagnosed it to be the waxstat. I've rammed a valve cap in there for now so i'll be looking to sort a manual choke kit soon.
I managed to fit afew jobs in whilst waiting for new bits. Refurb'd the wheels in black. Never done any before, so they're not perfect, but i'm pretty pleased with them. Not convinced about the white rim tape yet, hence only being on one side at the moment.
Also gave the cam covers a bit of a spruce.

Things to do -

-locate small coolant leak. found a small puddle this morning, but couldn't for the life of me trace it.
-sort out rusty arches
-get it on the road!

Before


After

[chief44]

Hmm, these pictures are a bit big, I've resized them in photobucket, but they're still coming up pretty big on here....ummmm...

[Rick McRick]

Those cam covers came up great, I should get that done to mine, nothing says a well loved car like a clean engine bay.

I see what you mean about the tape, I liked it at first glance, kinda gives the wheel a needed border that the non taped side it lacking, but maybe too harsh a border? I think I'm maybe leaning towards the non taped side, or perhaps a different coloured tape? Would red to too cliché on a black wheel?

[chief44]

Yeah, im pleased with the covers. Very easy to do yourself if you don't need the car for a day or two. Hand painting the lettering took an age though!
I agree with you about the wheels. Red tape was my second choice, but I thought it'd be nice to keep the white theme. Cheap enough to try it though. Decisions!

Also forgot to mention, the clutch is pretty much shot. Wheey! From what i've read on the subject it seems to be a similar situation to the gt4, in that its possible to change it with the engine in situ, but dropping it out would make things easier.