Madlife's MR2

[Madlife]

So due to the complaints of no toyota love.. here is the story of my mr2..

I bought it out in Herkimer NY 3 years ago at a little used car lot that got it from an auction down in NYC. He sold it for $2500.. And sadly, I dont think he really knew what he had.

The good:
-Car is a 92 N/A, which has a 2nd gen 3sgte swap in it.
- Registered in NYC for one year, TN for the rest of its life. Upon replacing the struts, it was the easiest car job I have ever done. No rust. used PB blaster on 1 bolt.
- Carbon fiber frunk, trunk, and wingless although I don't like the CF look, +1 for a lot of weight loss. Apparently their 3 piece spoilers are retarded 40 lbs or some crazy ****.
- So mechanically the engine is good, the body is solid, tranny is good.
- I like the body kit on it. Its not one of the overly done options, although the skirts wouldn't be my first choice. Overall fitment isn't too bad either.
- Decent stereo, speakers & amp and nice kicker sub & amp
- Nice aftermarket 16" rims with okay tires.
- 94+ taillights

The bad:
-Interior was a wreck, gaudy 6" tach, carbon fiber stickers, no shift knob, torn seats, ugly 90s blue interior.
- Interior electric is a mess. Drivers power window only works when the door is closed. Passenger switch has a bad connection. Drives side-Passenger window control doesn't work at all. Power locks will unlock, but not lock. Power mirrors don't work at all.
- Head unit appears to be wired by a blind monkey on crack.
-The car had a remote started that was a wreck. I eventually unhooked the control unit.
- 1 out of ever 15 starts it wont start. You turn the key and it feel like there is weak power in the car. Unhook and rehook the battery and she starts right up. This used to happen about 1 of 5 times, until I replaced the battery terminal wires. Now its a lot better.. but not perfect.
- Battery used to die every 3 days if it was driven. Now it dies if its not drive for 3-4 weeks
- Suspension was jacked up.. Way too stiff and it felt like it was constantly bouncing on springs. This amplified the snap oversteer when you hit pot holes. I replaced the suspension, and found it had adjustable struts on CUT springs {OEM?}..
- Aftermarket rear bumper was cracked. Sadly, I liked the Toms bumper. Its plain, but nice.
- Paint is rough. A little surface rust is starting to pop up
- Rear tires are 10 profile to large. On full suspension droop, the hit the back of the side skirts.
- Crap gauges that weren't wired.

Original Pics

[Madlife]

Summer of 09... I cleaned up the interior and got her running a little better.




Strip her down some that following winter

[Madlife]

Picture from this summer


The interior is now 90% black. A combination of black parts, blue parts sprayed with Duplicolor vinyl and fabric, and some faded black parts sprayed to liven up. So far its holding up well. The dash got about 7 coats because I do not want to have to rip that out again. The center console where my arm rests has not faded at all, which is surprising. Even the step pieces of plastic are still black.. The only piece that shows blue is behind there passenger seat where i dragged the corner of the t-top during storage.

I have to re-skin the drivers seat, and ill take some updated pics. Plans for this winter are mild power mods, and some proper sized rear tires. Spring time shes going in for paint.

[DPancoast]

Yes keep posting!

[Big_Jim]

Moved to Members Journals

[Widebody]

Nice Mr2!

[jen.]

Looks like a solid project! You've definitely got it moving in the right direction. Interior looks much better.

[BrandonW]

nice pick up, i like this gen mr2

[justinlansdale]

very cool, keep us updated!

[Vtecepidemic]

Love mr2. One day I will own one.

[qbcsvt]

Nice! Besides the Smurf interior!

- amyn

[Madlife]

[Madlife]

Shes coming along. Still have a couple parts left, but im pretty happy.

[qbcsvt]

Now were talking!

- amyn

[DPancoast]

Thank god

[Madlife]

I haven't been on this thread much since I sold my white 08 WRX hatch{I think was to a member on here}, but here is an update on my mr2. Besides fixing most of the electrical issues, I also did a bilstein strut / TRD spring job, fixed the throttle body, gas pedal alignment, plugs, fluids, broken sway bar mount, paint job and overall she is running happy. I have also moved to the Syracuse area for a new job, have a daughter, and getting myself financially back on track, so I haven't been putting a lot of money into her. Just fixing the little things that are cheap, but time consuming.





Still need to get the power door locks squared away, and she has a torn CV boot which has a 2-part boot on now, but I will be pulling and replacing the axle this winter. Also, I am still searching for a set of rims to put a worthy set of tires on.

[Foolinaround]

Guhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss mine so bad,as I'm sure dpan does. Paging Rudy

[Widebody]

Originally Posted by Foolinaround

Guhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss mine so bad,as I'm sure dpan does. Paging Rudy

Yes?

Looks great man! I wish I had some extra cash for my mr2.

[Foolinaround]

Your mr2 is amazing you stop it right now.

[Madlife]

Originally Posted by Foolinaround

Your mr2 is amazing you stop it right now.

Sorry, no can do. I still have an exhaust to install, boost controller, boost gauge, and proper wheels and tires... then it will be done.