So, uh, I won an MR2 on eBay. A very special MR2, in fact. One I've wanted for a decade or so.
JG's car! He blew the headgasket years ago, and it's been sitting in his garage ever since. Now, it's mine.
Onto the pics!
So, uh, I won an MR2 on eBay. A very special MR2, in fact. One I've wanted for a decade or so.
JG's car! He blew the headgasket years ago, and it's been sitting in his garage ever since. Now, it's mine.
Onto the pics!
What did I get? Here's a quick list:
Three sets of wheels/tires.
Duplicates of pretty much every plastic part on the car.
A supercharged JDM 4A-GZE and transmission.
Four large boxes of random MR2 crap that I haven't opened yet.
Extra rear glass.
New accessories (A/C compressor, etc.) that I'm assuming are for the new engine.
Whatever weird CD JG listens to still in the radio.
What's my plan? First things first: Get it driving again. A timing belt and a gasket set are already on their way, and the head is coming off in a day or two.
More pictures will come soon. Christmas has been in the way, and I've barely had time to look the thing over.
You got a steal! He should have given you a sweet deal before bothering with eBay 
Hah, the thing is neither of us really knew what the whole mess was worth. He ended up giving me a bit of a friends and family discount, but we figured we'd let eBay sort out the actual value. I didn't think it would stay in my price range, but it did!
If I remember correctly from my MR2SC days, the AC compressor on the SC is different from the non SC and therefore somewhat rare.
I think the SC alternator may be unique too.
More that I remember about SC vs NA.
The SC uses different rear axles; stronger, thicker. These axles were a popular and desirable upgrade for anyone who added more power like a turbo. As such, demand exceeded supply of these axles in 2004. I am not sure if that has improved but they were NLA as new back then.
The SC engine required a SC ECU and these were rare too. Megasquirt may solve that issue now.
Cool! How well does an early MR2 that has spent most of its life in Florida resist rust? I haven't seen a solid one up here in years.
It's got a little surface rust on the underside of the trunk, and one tiny spot next to one of the front fender bolts. POR-15 should permanently fix it.
JohnRW1621 wrote: If I remember correctly from my MR2SC days, the AC compressor on the SC is different from the non SC and therefore somewhat rare. I think the SC alternator may be unique too. More that I remember about SC vs NA. The SC uses different rear axles; stronger, thicker. These axles were a popular and desirable upgrade for anyone who added more power like a turbo. As such, demand exceeded supply of these axles in 2004. I am not sure if that has improved but they were NLA as new back then. The SC engine required a SC ECU and these were rare too. Megasquirt may solve that issue now.
Thanks! I have everything except those axles, so I'll have to do some digging.
How about a hint on the plan for the project after it's running and driving?
'85 rear struts had a rear sway bar.
For' 86 no rear sway bar was offered and the tabs are gone for mounting one.
In '89 a rear sway bar resurfaced but was only offered on the SC of' 89.
The car does benefit from a rear bar but they are rare.
Rare? My car has a shiny bright blue one!
As far as plan? I'm not sure yet, but I think it's going to be a toy for Nicole and I to autocross and do track days in.
Tom Suddard wrote: and the head is coming off in a day or two.
need a worked head.... ????
maybe we can work something out..........
axles for the E5 trans are made from unobtanium
I will definitely be following this since I just purchased an 85 mr2 myself.
Subscribed!
Wow, that's clean. I bet the rear quarters are even still made out of metal and not newspaper.
Clean ones do not exist up here in New England. They just rust everywhere.
JohnRW1621 wrote: '85 rear struts had a rear sway bar. For' 86 no rear sway bar was offered and the tabs are gone for mounting one. In '89 a rear sway bar resurfaced but was only offered on the SC of' 89. The car does benefit from a rear bar but they are rare.
Actually, the tabs were there early in '96 because they ran out their supply of leftover struts. There is no firm date when the tabs disappeared, they just did when they ran out of older struts.
I had an OEM rear bar in the garage for a while, but I think I gave it to the neighborhood scrap metal truck...
FWIW my '87 had tabs on both rear strut housings when I got it, so I think it was more hit and miss.
Work has begun!
It was dark and miserable under the hood, so I had to hang an extra shop light. That ate up most of the free hour we had to work on this car, especially because I had to go and buy a new ballast for the used fixture.
Let there be light!
Unfortunately, this project is moving more slowly than I expected. Nicole really wants to learn how to work on cars, and for some reason, she isn't as much of a fan of working until 3 a.m. as I am.
On the bright side, the oil looked like, well, oil. It gave me hope that the rod bearings haven't been sitting in antifreeze for 10 years.
The new gasket and head bolts get here Saturday afternoon, so we're aiming to have the head off by then.
cam covers can be a real berkely to get off... trick is to pry off the small washer/seals under the acorn cam nuts before you try to remove the covers...
you will need a 10mm 12 point socket for the head bolts.... and don't lose the washers! EDIT washers under head bolts... the cam cover washers... you are throwing them away
What's with the truck plate from Missoula?
Progress!
Ouch (I fixed it with a helicoil).
Making Progress.
Success!
Cleaning time!
Scraped the old gasket off.
Success! (Yes, everything was flat and I used fresh bolts)
Where it's at right now:
Oh, and I ordered a new water pump. Somehow, that slipped my mind–I tried to turn the stock one and it was almost completely frozen.
Toyota head gasket??? Many of the aftermarket types fail.... 
also... what's with the shave cream??
Also... that crank bolt is the earliest version
That bolt has a torque of 87 ft/#s, the later types are higher
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