MadaboutKitcars

Great job
you should be proud of yourself.

Cheers guys - yes I’m really pleased with the outcome so far.

My wife even said she was impressed with how it’s turned out!

Starting to look the biz now.

I decided today I had put off long enough cleaning the interior out. I started the build with all good intentions of keeping everything clean and tidy but you know how it goes you end up spending more time on a job then you don’t have time to clean up afterwards.

Anyway the interior was quite a mess not helped by having the windows wound down. Now the doors and windows are in it was a good time to clean everything up. The door handle rods are reconnected also and I just need to put the door cards back in before moving on to the coilovers.

I also tried the mats I had made nearly 2 years ago .... a bit bright the red edging I think!

A quick question to fellow MRS200 builders - or anyone with Perspex windows - did you paint the inner edges black (where it sits against the door frame and the lower part where you can see the top of the MR2 through it) and if so what paint did you use?

I’ve tried a Matt black primer specially for plastics on an off cut of the Perspex (I’ve actually got macron windows as I paid extra for these with the kit) and it’s not bonded very well. I don’t really want to have to rub the edge of the window down.

Any ideas or tips?

Many thanks

Before you put the paint on did you use Adhesion Aid? as it gives a surface for the paint to bond too

No Wozzy didn’t try that - will get some and give it a go. Cheers

The cars looking great! Even with the flash lines on there still. Funnily enough, my wife said exactly the same thing followed by, "Is there definitely no way it could be the little MR2 again?"

Dave, what seats have you got in there? Haven't seen a half leather option before... are they from a celica? I cleaned mine out a few weeks ago and what a difference it made!! I like the mats... they'd suit my red interior if you're thinking of chopping them in for some less noisy ones

Thanks Nick - I have made a start on the flash lines just still some big ones left round the back of the clam and around the air intakes and scoops.

My wife also said originally when I started the kit ... “can’t we keep it as an MR2”!!

The seats came up on eBay. Someone had them recovered and never used them and I got them for a good price. They are MR2 pre facelift seats - I actually prefer the ones without the holes anyway. I did look into the company that did them - they are based in Ornskirk and can dig the name out if you’re interested as they provided covers that could be used to replace the factory fabric covers quite easily.

Thanks for the offer but to be honest I really like my red ones as they almost look like the original rs200 ones.

I am selling the engine conversion from badrep if any of you guys are interested
I have a ad in the for sale section

Bit of a slow week this last one. I knew I wouldn’t have two clear days to do the coilovers and I really need to get the car out on the drive for this as there isn’t much room in the garage on the passenger side.

So I decided to tackle the snagging list of little bits and bobs I need to sort before the MOT.

First on the list was to fit some additional Dzus fasteners to the rear screen as I was worried the forces on this when driving at speed may push it out. Seems pretty solid now.

I then adjusted the headlights and set the aim as best I could before the MOT. The garage door test seems OK so we will see what happens when it comes to MOT time. Whilst doing this I also went back and fitted some protective covering to the wiring for the headlights and indicators.



Final job this week was to trim the lower edge of the clam. It was as it came out of the mould and catching the cat hanger. No longer catches and looks a bit neater.



Will have to see what the weather is doing this week if I can get a slot in for the coilovers.

Thanks Wozzy for the tip about adhesion aid - seems to have done the trick on the off cut of macron/Perspex when I tried it over the weekend so will give it a go on the windows this week.

Another question for fellow MRS200 builders....how did you fix your mesh grilles for the ear scoops? I’ve bolted the rear clam vent grilles in and was planning on using Tigerseal to bond the mesh from the back. This looks like it should work on the vents in the front bumper but there’s not a lot of surface area to bond to in the ear scoops.

I’ve used this method before on other kits where I used wire and a piece of thin wood to hold the grille in place from the front of the panel whilst the tigerseal set, just not sure it will hold on the scoops.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Tiger seal from behind should be fine, mine were sealed in that way

Thanks Wozzy

Dave, did you get to fit your coilovers? Really want to see how it looks on the deck! I've also gone with tiger seal on all the mesh on mine. Can see the top vents at the rear being a bit of a ballache though.

Hi Nick. No not had time this week to get to the coilovers and think I’m going to struggle now to get enough time before Christmas to get them swapped over - if I don’t do it next week it will definitely be done by mid January as I want it MOT’d by end Jan.

Will try to get all the other little jobs done in the next week so it’s just coilovers left.

Once there on I will post pics so you can see what the ride height looks like.

You managing to get any time to finish yours off ?

Not really. The odd little bit here and there. Painted the subframe and crash bar, then started adding the mesh on the rear. I'm also removing the radio, ashtray etc and making a new one for a single din unit and some gauges and switches which I can do at work. Its getting to be a bit too cold to want to be outside in a very draughty garage. I was also a bit upset to see one of the local cats has got into my garage and been sleeping on the roof of the car. Two 4 inch sets of claw marks leading off the side of the car in the paint where I assume its rolled over and fell off. This would actually lead me to think it was probably my cat because he's a moron Really just need to get Christmas out of the way now.

I know what you mean about the cold Nick - I’m struggling with that too even in a garage which is pretty draft proof.

Sorry to hear about the cat scratches - hopefully you can sort them out without too much difficulty.

I was going to bond my remaining mesh grilles in this afternoon but when I looked at the temps in the garage it was getting close to 1.5 degrees and I wasn’t sure the Tigerseal would set so decided I would wait until early next week when it should be a good 5-6 degrees warmer.

I had the best of intentions before Christmas to finish off a number of little jobs ahead of fitting the coilovers in the New Year. You know how it goes, lots of visitors, last minute shopping trips and drinks etc ... so much so that absolutely nothing got ticked off the remaining to do list!

What I did become increasingly aware of though as I went in and out of the garage storing the many boxes that came with presents or went with presents that eventually need recycling was the sunstrip just didn’t seem to look right the more I looked at it. I think it’s not deep enough in the centre of the screen as it follows the curve of the MR2 windscreen.

Can I ask for some input from fellow MRS200 builders and others ... do you think it would look better deeper in the middle and more squared off?

Here’s what it looks like now ....



And with a bit of picture editing what I think it would eventually look better as ....



Any thoughts and feedback would be great. Many thanks

I would say deeper in the middle as its looks fatter at the sides in the first pic
looking good though

Hi Dave, personally I prefer it following the curve at the top of the screen but you need to be happy with it. I suspect if it bugs you now, it's not something that'll go away. I'm interested to know how you'd go about squaring it off though as I assume the black line at the bottom of the sunstrip is the window seal?

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Nick, the black line at the bottom of the sun strip as it is now isn’t the MR2 windscreen rubber for the top edge, that’s about a third of the way down the sunstrip from the top edge and invisible. There is an additional layer under the lower two thirds of the sunstrip to space it out where it sits across the glass and the upper third is attached to the windscreen surround/hard top.

It’s magnetic vinyl so sticks pretty much on its own but it means there is a double thickness lower edge which gives the effect of the black line you are seeing in the original picture.

I will have a play about with it as I’ve got plenty of the vinyl. Maybe a deeper version that still keeps some element of following the MR2 windscreen curve without being too squared off ... and without losing too much vision out of the windscreen!

Well time has flown over the Christmas and New Year period and I can’t believe it’s over a month since I did anything of significance on the MRS200.

I decided to ease myself back into the list of odds and sods to finish off before the MOT and fit the new rear lights my wife bought me for Christmas. Wow what a difference they make compared to the old used units I’d fitted already. Much brighter in both appearance and the brightness of the bulbs through the lenses.



You need to look back through the build thread just to see how dull the older units were in comparison.

I decided I would remove the front bumper to bond in the mesh grills as it was proving too tricky to get them positioned and hold them firm while the tiger seal set. I also spotted over the Christmas break when I had the car out of the garage that there was a significant (well about 10 - 12mm) gap between the lower edge of the bonnet and the upper edge of the bumper on the passenger side. It all lined up lovely when the bumper support bar was originally fitted (if you remember I had to lower this about 30mm compared to how the kit was supplied) but I guess with the bonnet adjusted to fit against the sill edge wing area it now needs to be raised on the passenger side to compensate. You can see the gap here.....



I can close it by about 5 - 6 mm with some adjustment of the bracket holding the wheel arch edge but it doesn’t look close enough so that’s the next job to drill the passenger side bumper support bracket and raise this side slightly.

I’m still planning on getting through the odds and sods list so that I can fit the coilovers by the end of the month and then it’s off to be MOT’d.

Looking good, the lights look well.
Not long now then?