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Finally managed to carve out some time to get through the snagging list of jobs to do to get the MRS200 ready for it’s MOT.
When I fitted the coilovers all round earlier in the year, I managed to shear the bolts holding the ABS wire to the coilovers on both sides, that’s despite me cleaning the threads out. So first on the list was to drill the bolts out and sort them out. Whilst I had the front wheels off I rubbed the calipers down and gave them a nice coat of red enamel. At some point the previous owner of the MR2 Roadster had fitted those nasty fake Brembo plastic covers so there was a load of black high temp silicon adhesive to scrape off. Same had to be done with both rear calipers.
Whilst I had the rear wheels off I decided to make a start on the arch liners. I had planned to form these from thin UPVC sheets, but then decided I would try to rework/repurpose the old MR2 Roadster arch liners. I thought they would sit too low in the arch relative to the MRS200 bodywork, but now I’ve lowered the car by over 50mm it was possible to reuse these with minimal cutting and making some new mounting points.
They seem to work OK and will do for getting the car through the MOT and then I’ll see how they hold up on the road.
I also tidied up the join on the passenger side between the rear clam and the sill which had never really lined up closely so that’s now sorted.
Tomorrow’s jobs are to sort out the mount for the petrol flap release mechanism now I’ve got the wheel arch liners back in, and to refit the MR2 under engine ‘nappies’ as it’s not clear if they will be picked up as missing when it comes to the MOT.
Thanks Wozzy. I replaced all the suspension and springs with BC Racing BR series coilovers. As they come out of the box they lowered the car by approx 40mm. I decided that still didn’t look low enough so I took it down a further 25-30mm so it’s approx 70mm lowered all round. I got them from KAM Racing and spec’d them with 4/6 spring ratings.
I tried to also adjust the stance a little for looks and to try to replicate the original RS200 but didn’t want to play around too much with this and adversely affect the MR2 handling.
Here’s a couple of side on pics taken a few months ago - I’ve been fettling the bodywork since, particularly the join on the passenger side where the clam meets the rear of the sill.
It was relatively easy to fit the coilovers and I managed to do this on my own in a couple of afternoons. As the car still isn’t MOT’d I’ve been limited to a few short runs on a private road - it has certainly stiffened everything up!
Managed to get another couple of hours working on the car yesterday. Apart from sorting out the filling around the rear lights everything is done on the back end now.
Passenger side arch liner is in, and as I said on the post earlier in the week, I tidied up the join between the clam and the sill on this side. Petrol flap release mechanism working, although I think I might need to pad out the hinge metal where it pushes against the inside of the clam as it’s not exactly “springing” open when you press the release from inside the car. But still it opens and works :-)
Also sorted out the underside of the engine and removed the trays/nappies at the rear end as pretty sure these won’t get picked up for the MOT.
As you can see from this pic I will be avoiding all traffic calming/speed bumps now it’s lowered as there isn’t a lot of space under the back of the car.
I think I will also fit a small stainless/ally piece just above where the exhaust pipes exit the clam to protect the fibreglass, and rivet this in - well sort of adds to the rally car look! Oh and the mud flaps are ordered so they should be fitted next week.
Really looking good Dave. If I had the cash, I'd definitely have gone for coilovers. It gives that little extra drop that you just can't get with springs alone.
As it’s going to be a while until I get the MRS200 painted, I decided ahead of the MOT that I would make and fit the rest of the grilles in the front bumper and the ear scoops of the clam.
I used the same approach as I used for the grilles made for the rear clam, placing a thin rubber strip around the edge of the grille itself. As there isn’t so much of a lip around the vents in the front bumper I’ve bonded the grilles in from the front, and done the same with those for the ear scoops, bonding them in from the rear.
I’ve still got some of the flash lines to remove which I’ll do once I’ve sorted out the filler around the rear lights which has cracked - you can see them here in the area around the ear scoops.
car is looking great Dave, cheers for the info. The mesh makes all the difference once fitted doesn't it.
Mine is almost ready for paint now, i have done the same window thing as on my first one
Thanks Wozzy. Yes I saw the pics of your latest car on Facebook - the moulds certainly look to have improved as you can see in the shut lines.
On the window set up I’ve reinforced the upper part of my door skins where the metal surround is and done this with fibreglass so the angle on the window and frame is tighter to the door shut/windscreen pillar. Thanks to Nostromo for the hints and tips on this area. This and the door stop I’ve fitted to the MR2 hardtop to provide a rest for and cushion to the upper corner of the frame when closing has made a big difference.
Made a start today on the remaining flash lines in the panels and testing out all the lights and electrics/warning lights on the donor in readiness for the MOT.
Bonnet, front bumper, roof and upper part of rear clam/ear scoops have all been sorted and the GRP in those areas cleaned up and rubbed down with various grades sanding compounds.
Certainly looks a lot better now, cleaner and very white again!
There are a couple of areas where I’ve filled that need another coat of white primer but it’s really just the doors, sills and rear clam to tackle now- the rear deck of the rear clam around the spoiler is by far the worst for flash lines.
Lights and electrics were fine apart from the drivers side headlight where main beam wasn’t working. Quickly traced this to a bad solder joint on one of the wires going into the relay that’s needed to convert the MR2 setup to H4 bulbs.
Hella covers off now in readiness for the MOT given I’ve wired the spotlights in as front fog lights.
I’ve done the best I can on checking alignment of headlamp beams - there is some adjustment still on the back of the Golf lights that are used but I suspect this may be an area I come a bit unstuck on with the MOT tester!
Not sure if this will be helpful to you Dave (I may have mentioned it before) but I glued some wingnuts onto the rear of the last few threads on the adjusting screws of the headlights. Made adjustment much easier than having to remove the light each time.
Thanks Nick - I remember you telling me this before but it completely slipped my mind. Will do this over the weekend as it is a right pain getting in to adjust them.
No, not booked the MOT yet. Still need to tidy up the filling around the rear lights and the door cards need putting back on and the interior tidying up a bit. I’d also like to sort the rest of the flash lines out on the sills and the rear clam so it looks a little bit more completed - I’ve got a sort of friendly MOT guy I’ve lined up for when I am ready.
I’ve set end of October as a deliberately far way out deadline to be ready for MOT in the hope I’ll be well finished before then!
I was toying with a removable hatch in the wheel arch lining to reach up and adjust from behind but really once they're done, unless you end up having to replace one, you shouldn't need to touch them again.
Yep hopefully shouldn’t need doing that often. My front arches are also quite narrow the way I’ve ended up fitting them so it’s not too difficult to reach round to get to the headlamp adjustment screws, especially if I do the mod you’ve suggested.
I bit the bullet this afternoon and dug out pretty much all of the filler that I’d used to mod the rear clam for the Sierra MK1 lights. This had cracked quite badly where the bulk of the filler was in the wing area. I suspect I didn’t wait long enough when applying it the first time and as it’s quite a void to fill it probably just expanded over time and then cracked.
So I dug it all out and built it up slowly, this time using GRP resin filler which I allowed to set/harden and built it up in a number of layers.
I’ve left it to fully harden overnight and to cool down (as it’s GRP based it gets quite hot as the hardener does it’s job) and will work on the final surface filler over the weekend and give it a coat of primer.
Whilst I had the lights out I also fettled with the mounting points for these as I wasn’t happy with how flush they were on the leading edge of the clam wing.
I’m much happier with them now (they aren’t actually bolted in on the picture above so there’s a gap that shouldn’t be there).
Another job to add to the list of things to do before the MOT is to take off all the black vinyl I’d put on around the clam vents and rear number plate area of the clam. This was just to help me visualise what I would look like come paint time, but I will probably give these areas a coat of black plastidip just to keep the look going until it comes to paint time - the vinyl is just falling off the fibreglass anyway.
Front fog lights aren’t tested on anything pre 2018 (1980 for rear) - and if they’re spotlights, the lens is the wrong pattern to be used as fogs.
Thanks scimjim. Yep they are really spotlights but using the fog light switch and circuit from the MR2 Roadster.
I was sort of taking a belt and braces approach to the MOT given the last set of changes brought in, since which I’ve had conflicting advice as to whether tell tale lights are tested on the dash/switches for circuits that are present. As the front fog light switch/circuit is there and operational I thought it may still get tested but looks like it won’t.
Fail/major for main beam (post 1986)
Fail/major for rear fog (post 1980)
Advisory/minor for indicators (post 1936)
Advisory/minor for hazards (post 1986)
More filling and rubbing down of the rear clam the last few days. As a bit of a rest from that, and having spent a bit more time with various wet and dry papers on the front bumper and bonnet, I couldn’t resist any longer and decided to apply the first set of 1986 Lombard RAC Rally decals.
To be honest I was struggling with sizing the red Pirelli decals for the front wing/bonnet area and the same for the rear wing/clam. I’d ordered a set that just didn’t seem to look right so decided I’d go ahead and apply them as that was the only way I was going to get to see/prove if they looked right.
Well I couldn’t just stop there with the Pirelli logo and got a bit carried away ....
I’ve actually got a much more decent finish on the bonnet and front bumper than I ever imagined I would based on how the panels came out of the mould. As those will know who have been following my build thread, I’m not going to be getting the car painted for some time, so although it’s never going to be a shiny gloss look, I rather like the Matt white especially now it’s come up so smooth.
Most of the flash lines are off the rest of the panels now, and just a bit more filling required around the back end of the clam.
I know the Rally livery won’t be to everyone’s taste, but let me know what you think of it so far. Shell logo to go on the front wing area just to the left of the headlamp, then Shell script just above the badge and Motorcraft script both in black at the top edge of the bonnet. Just about everything else has been sourced for the rest of the car to complete the illusion!
...I’m not going to be getting the car painted for some time, so although it’s never going to be a shiny gloss look, I rather like the Matt white especially now it’s come up so smooth...
Good plan. I drove my Z300S in gel coat white for four years before getting it painted. That gave me a chance to try out various stripes, badges and indicators.
I wasn’t sure what to do Nick before painting it, then as the panels came up OK with various grades of wet and dry and, as you say, matt is the new black, I decided I’d see how much of the 1986 rally livery was recreatable. The cost of decent quality vinyl decals pretty amazed me in terms of how cheap they were and what started off as a few discrete stickers quickly turned into sourcing a complete replica livery minus the dark blue stripes down the size and upper part of the rear clam.
I’ve had a quote to do them in a vinyl wrap but the wrap company aren’t keen to do it on the raw GRP even if it is rubbed down, so if I decide to stay with the rally theme that bit will have to wait until it’s actually painted.
Will post a couple more pics over the next week or so as I finish applying the decals and get a better idea of what it looks like - oh and of course it will look that much better with the blue rally mudflaps that have just arrived :-)
Cheers Lee - I must admit it looks much better than I ever expected and I just need to sort out the remaining filling around the rear of the clam and sills/door edges now before I fit the rest of decals.
I’m even tempted to have a go at painting the top of the rear clam/ear scoops, and the air intakes, in a dark blue Plasti Dip to create the Ford Motorsport stripes. Needs to be matt to match the white and for the cost of a couple of cans of Plasti Dip I might just give it a go and see what it looks like. So long as it’s going on panels where I’ve polished up the gel coat it should in theory still pull off as Plasti Dip would on a gloss finish so I can always pull it off if it looks pants.
How’s that latest kit of yours going - back from paint now is it?
Dave, if you're going for plasti dip, as in the proper stuff, not the Halfords equivalent, check you're getting tins with the newer spray nozzle. I may have mentioned this before but my memory doesn't stretch past a few hours at the moment. The newer nozzle has a much nicer spray pattern and gives a better finish. There's a video on YouTube by Fonzi (think his name is Fonzi) which explains it all.
