My Unplanned MR2 build!

Ive done a couple 240sx before and have forgotten to do build threads so now im gonna do it for this one. lol.
I've now got a turbo MR2 im redoing and thought this would be a good time to finally start a semi-build thread.

As some of you know,I bought a 92 N/A and absolutely fell in love with the car; so I started to look for a turbo. That's when I came across the beauty. A 1991 Turbo with around 122,xxx miles on it with a supposedly blown head gasket.







Here is a picture of it on the trailer after we got it home next to my N/A MR2.




So I dropped the engine and of course in the process gathered parts up to fix it. Well, after I got it pulled apart I came across this:



So needless to say it was rebuild time. I bought some used JE pistons off the forums. After that kind of find; it pretty much blew my budget. So, I screwed the budget and kind of went on a shopping spree. My goal was to just get it back to factory condition but that plan got shot.



new wheels!(rolled them up to my N/A just to see)



New exhaust and a CRW divorced DP. I went ahead and had the valve cover powered coated a sweet red as well.






So, now that the engine is at the machine shop it was time to work on the interior. The seats were shot and as I again came to find out to my surprise so was the dash. So again, not wanting to I had to pull the dash and replace it to which that's the point im at today. After pulling the seats and carpet I found a lot of rust so ive got to weld a few spots up now as well.






My fiancee helping with the dash removal. She actually did most of it and was good at it to.




We finally got the dash,crash bar, and dash harness out. (Only got a pic of the dash removed)



Well, that's were I'm at as of today. I reckon since I'm this far into it I'm going to go ahead and paint the entire car just to make it all new. I'm thinking about maybe a Super Red 2.

We took the crash bar out and sanded it down and primered it up and gave it a good coat of paint! I let her pick the color and of course she picked pink lol














Not to bad i say!

So I took a vacation last week so of course I didn't get anything done. On the way down there I did get a call from the machine shop and they said the engine that came out of the car was complete trash. I reckon when the piston went, coolant sat for a few years and rusted up all the oil and coolant passages beyond repair.

So with that new I started the search for a new engine. That's when I came across this engine. The bottom end needs to be redone but i was going to do that anyways and I get a good head with it to. The best part is, it only set me back 300$!

So as soon as I got back Saturday from 6hr drive I turned around on Sunday and drove back down half way to pick this thing up, I'm hoping to have it broke down and at the machine shop by Friday.

Oh and while getting this engine i got to stop at the huge Sumit Racing store/warehouse. Apparently there's only 3 locations in America. Pretty cool.











As of today i have it broke all down and im taking it to the machine shop tomorrow morning!

looks like alot of work.. but im sure it will be worth it in the end. and its cool that your gf actually wants to help you work on your projects. kinda rare..

keep posting updates, im excited to watch this build.

I LOVE those old MR2's. I almost got a turbo MR2 before my Z32.

Ive seen your na car around town. Was gold paint an option on those cars? Ive always heard that the mid engine makes them a pain to work on, that true? Good luck with the build. Im sure it will be worth it in the long run.

^They are known to be a bit of a pita to work on.

manilikecars wrote:Ive seen your na car around town. Was gold paint an option on those cars? Ive always heard that the mid engine makes them a pain to work on, that true? Good luck with the build. Im sure it will be worth it in the long run.

Not that i know of and yes these cars are a major pain to work on. I didnt think no car could get any worse the my old 3000GT but this takes the cake. lol

Well I finally got to work on the car. After having all the rain we've had I haven't really had much of a chance to go outside but that didn't stop me completely. Since I was confined indoors and what little time I had in between rain showers outside I decided to rebuild the turbo!


Here's how it looked when I pulled it off the engine.




And here's how it turned out after I torn it down and cleaned it up!




After I got that put back together i decided to go get my paint! I know its not black but, I saw a red MR2 while I was on vacation and knew I had to have the red. Plus im a sucker for red.lol




Since the seats were in dire need of recovering I ordered these puppies and like everything else, plan i doing it myself. I also ordered some other goodies but Ill show you those when they get here!




So know that the rain is finally cleared I was able to get back out and continue the tear down. I got a lot further then this but this is the only picture I took during the process. I also have new t-top weather stripping on the way as well.




And that's were I'm at as of today. I hopefully will have more steady updates now that the weather has improved.

Pink? Please no......
I like MR2s. I was researching them before the RX7 purchase.
Great that your fiance is helping!

Its not pink lol ITs called super red. Its more closer to the color of blood then anything else.

i think he ment the stuff your gf painted.

it hidden so hush travis. lol.

LOL!!! I knew it was hidden, but I know it is there now....HAHA!
LOL@ hush.

real men wear pink, unless they are gay then gay men wear pink. see.

Ehhh you'll never see it so i didn't mind lol As long as it keeps it from rusting i don't care.

Ok finally got the rest of the car broke down and started sanding on it! I also got some new parts in as well! Here's were I'm at as of now.





She was hard at work!



I pulled the front bumper off and started some Bondo work fixing up those pesky hair line cracks and some gashes.




Im hoping I'll be ready to spray by not the next, but the next weekend after this one coming.

Here's some of the goodies I got:

Old school HKS turbo timer.



New T-Top weather stripping.



And a rav4 steering wheel and airbag.




Thats pretty much were im at as of now. Just sanding and taping.lol I also got a old school Greddy boost controller but I forgot to take a picture of, but thats it as of now!

looking good those old mr2s are sweet rides my wife is really wanting to get one but we needs a 4door lol

Sorry for the lack of updates guys, ive been super busy with work and with the rain i havent been able to make as much progress as i would like. The plan now is to paint Saturday! Should be a huge change after that.

I did manage to get a tiny bit done though. I got the head and oil pump back on the engine. Still waiting on a socket i ordered to fit the ARP head stud nuts.






Also got my omori boost gauge in today and the airbag adapter harness for the rav4 airbag as well!





Thats it for now. I will def. have pictures Saturday when the paint goes on. I cant wait!!!

I finally got it ready and painted it today! Came out pretty dang good to! I finally get to start putting crap back in now. lol

Heres how it looked before i sprayed it.



After one coat of red.





And after the other two coats of base and two coats of clear.




Ended up coming out pretty dang good. I cant wait to start putting it back together now!

your brave painting it in a field.. i can only imagine how hard it was to keep trash out of it.. and bugs... they love the smell of clear. looks good from the pics though.

I got a little bit done, at least worth showing.

Got the tape off and ive started putting some of it back together.



Got the tail lights painted and put back in.



New T-top seals going back in!



Ive just started to put some sound deadening in the car yesterday.



And last but not least my girl bought me a new shift knob for the car but i couldnt wait so i put it in the non turbo one for now




Thats it for now!

Lookin' good man!

Thanka sir!

great progress man keep it up!

Wow! Its been another month already since ive updated this thing! Welllll heres where im at.

Got the front back on and some of the lights back in. Also got the headlights in but didn't get a picture of that.



While I was outside I also got the fuel tank dropped, drained, and new fuel pump put in and the tank put back in.



New fuel pump compared to the old one.




When I couldn't work outside I worked on recovering my seats. I only took pictures of one, I figured its the same thing twice.lol

Heres what it looked like before the redo:





My dog decided to take a break. lol



And finally the finished product!



That's pretty much it for now. I've kinda got burned out on the project so im not going as hard on it as I was but I should have it done before to long I hope.

Sorry for the super late update. Ive been lazy.

I haven't done much but heres where im at of late. The dash is back in, the engine is completely done and i got some other small things done as well.









And im soooooooooooo tempted to paint this thing black and mount it to the A-pillar. The inner ricer in me lives!!!