Dec 8, 2022 5 min read MR2

Playing Catch Up

Look at those giant Bal..... Testi...... Canisters.

Listen along to a track that resonates with my post! I have no affiliation with the artist

In the last post I gave some backstory to my automotive experience. I have none. It was more like a journey through my "automotive past" that leads me to my favorite piece of junk. My 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo is not a show car, it's not a race car, it's barely even a car in the state it's in. Despite that, I have a strange unconditional love for this car that I have never found with another vehicle.

The kids still use this template right? ....right? *they do not*

I'll talk about my other cars again whenever they are relevant. Possibly if I have to take a break on this project, but my SW20 will be my primary focus for this blog going forward.

Now it is time to catch you up on what state the MR2 is in now, what I've done to it so far, and what my plans are for the future. I bought the car about a year and a half ago and enjoyed it as much as I could in its current state. I bought it at the beginning on the Michigan Summer. I only had a few months of bright, warm, beautiful weather. I wanted to take advantage as much as I could.

0:00

I drove it home like this.

And... that meant 2 days later I was working on the car. According to my photo date, I got 2 good days before I had her up on stands. C'est la vie. That's okay, there was a problem I was already aware of when I bought the car. The clutch needed to be through the floor to get this thing in gear. Every stop light, stop sign, and mild inconvenience on the road made this thing a bitch to get back to the house.

I will remind you as often as I can, **I PAID TOO MUCH**

It also developed a couple additional problems shortly after I brought it home, first of which was the clutch somehow went from difficult to get into gear, to nearly impossible. Another problem was massive exhaust leak coming directly out of the turbo from a cracked downpipe.

I said it was summer, but Michigan weather is still always trying to screw you individually

In this photo you can see the new replacement downpipe on the ladder to fix one major problem. The other is to replace the clutch slave cylinder, bleed the clutch, and adjust the clutch pedal.

Looking back, I can't tell if I tried to fill from the bleed valve or if I really bled *that much fluid?*

This project contains many "firsts" for me. Like I said, I am an amateur. There will be very few moments I have any meaningful experience that applies. That's okay. Part of what I think separates me from others is when I want something I am often laser focused on accomplishing what I want. I am stubborn and do not give up easily. Sometimes to my detriment.

If I can do this, so can you. I am getting through this project with sheer willpower. In fact, one of my biggest inspirations for this project (and one of the projects that motivated me to start blogging about mine) Ronnie Finger of Fingerprints Workshop on YouTube was also an "amateur" by most measures. He had some hobby projects under his belt, just as I do, and wasn't a "traditional car guy" working on project cars his whole life. Again, just like me. I admired his thoroughness. By the end of his project nearly every bolt had been touched and painted. A labor of love. I don't know if I am quite dedicated enough to go through everything like he did, but when I need some motivation I watch his video series again.

My shop hand, Nibbler. My coffee's always cold, I don't know why I keep him around.

It's always a learning experience, here I don't think I was able to get my gravity bleed quite right so I went out and bought a pump that really helped.

That looks like that might be less than 2" diameter pipe. **YIKES**

I wasn't planning to change the exhaust, I had bigger plans for this car, as I will detail in the next post. A new exhaust was not where I wanted to put my money. Alas, the exhaust leak was pretty rough, I already needed to buy a new downpipe. Why not at least get a cheap eBay exhaust to get by for now?

It was only $150 for the exhaust and $75 for the DP. I honestly don't care that it's dented even though it is a focal point when mounted on the car. Since it came dented I was able to get $50 off, can't complain too loudly for $175 all in.

There were a few other things I buttoned up, reconnected the boost controller, reinstalled a couple interior panels, an interior cleaning. Some other small things here and there.

I have never understood putting big subs in cars, but to each their own

Last major annoyance of this post, (oh, there are many more) a previous owner removed the factory sub location / storage unit location. That's fine, I could care less, but the real trouble is now I do not have a place to store the T-top glass. I will have to fab up a bracket to replace this factory location. Or better yet take it from a donor car.

I have been dancing around my future plans for this car since I mentioned it. I want to really make this car my own, mechanically and aesthetically and most importantly I want to track this mother-f'er. Putting it in words and putting it on (digital) paper makes me feel like I have to commit to that. Part of the reason I was a little lenient on "quality" of the MR2 I purchased was that 3SGTE was never going to stay in the car so to hell with it. I am super excited to say.... This car is getting a 2GR-FE!