MadaboutKitcars

Went back and spent a couple more hours on the filling around the rear lights. Happier with these now and will do until final prep and paint which is some way off yet.



Whilst I had the lights out I gave the insides of the lenses a good clean. The outsides I had already cleaned and polished up. Oh and I couldn’t resist putting on the RS200 decal and Ford Badge - I know I’ve wasted the decal as it will need to come off for painting but feels worth it looking at the back end. It also fooled a delivery driver at the house opposite who thought it was the genuine article apart from the 06 reg plate. He spent 1/2 hour talking to me about what it was after I disappointed him by telling him it was a replica.



I also primed the petrol filler flap and the Sierra mirror caps whilst I had the rattle can out.

Back to bonding the roof, screen pillars and doors now which will be a good few days but hopefully after that it’s just the coilovers to fit and few odds and sods before I can get it MOT’d.

Removing the flash lines from the panels, filling in the rough areas and cracked edges can happen once I’ve got it back on the road.

Thanks Wozzy.

Did you manage to get the new set that was posted up on the RS200 replicas FB page a couple of weeks ago? Beat me to it if so ! Mine have polished up ok and I’m convincing myself the patina on them adds to the illusion of it being a 30+ year old car :-)

Before I bond the door skins onto the MR2 doors I wanted to go back and revisit the door rods connecting the Ford handle to the MR2 rod. The action wasn’t great and a bit hit and miss from when I did this last year so I ordered some new 4mm 150mm length stainless rod and redid them.

Trying to make this as robust as possible I used a couple of central locking rod connectors drilled out to accept the 4mm rod and the existing MR2 rod.



Action feels much better and that’s even without putting a cable tie around the rod on the Ford handle which I will get round to today when the rain stops. Thanks Nostromo for the help here.

Can get on with the doors now.

Thanks Wozzy. I had gone the cable tie route originally but wasn’t happy with the action. It’s also a bit of a pain to get the MR2 rod out of the lock mechanism - that can also be bent into shape to fit the Ford handle directly but again it’s a pain to get behind the plastic anti theft housing round the lock.

Be interested in how you’ve done this

Got round to sorting the roof panel this week ready for bonding to the MR2 hardtop. Also trimmed the windscreen edge to tidy this up where the Sierra windscreen rubber sits. I glassed in a piece at the rear of the roof panel where it was cut away from the clam to both tidy this edge up and provide a lip to bond to the MR2 hardtop.

Before bonding it all down I modified the intercoller and piping I had bought. The intercooler was a universal kit and about 5cm too tall to fit in the roof void. I know another MRS200 builder fitted the same one and sunk a support plate into the MR2 hardtop to create the space. I didn’t fancy doing this and as this is for show right now (at some point I will sort out a turbo kit for the MR2) I cut the top two cores off and welded some ally on the top of the end pieces to make it air tight.



It’s bolted through the hard top and I think looks OK piped up.


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Whilst I was sorting the roof panel out I made a start at removing the flash lines and also painted the inside of the rear clam.





I will bond the roof and screen pillars over the next few days and then make a start on bonding the door skins and tidying them up.

Hi Wozzy - yep not sure what’s happened there with the pic size. Will try to sort out tomorrow.

Hi Nick - here is the item id; 302629828788. Comes with three mounting points top and bottom. I lost the top mounts when I sliced through the cores but it’s pretty solid on the three bottom mounts.



I’ve bolted it through the hardtop with M8 bolts.

Got round to bonding the roof panel on today. All clamped up and hopefully should be dried overnight so I can move onto the screen pillars tomorrow.



The sunstrip has been modified so this is now fully removable once the Sierra screen rubber is fitted, but still has sufficient contact with the MR2 screen surround at the top edge to provide enough adhesion with the magnetic backing. I may ended up sticking it down to the glass of the windscreen depending on how it is with speed on the road but then if the windscreen does end up needing replacing I can sacrifice the sunstrip and make another.

Before bonding the roof I decided to rework the intercooler piping so it doesn’t take up so much of the hardtop screen space and sits better relative the inside of the clam and the roof scoops.


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Thanks guys. Was only when I looked back at the pictures this morning and then went out the garage I realised it looked awful. Plus the first layout I had, the right angle pipes were pretty much filling the roof scoops.

Wozzy, once I get the door skins on and mirrors/Perspex in there isn’t that much more to do for the MOT. Bodywork prep and paint will come after that....almost forgot ... the coilovers need to go on before the MOT

Thanks Nick. I wasn’t sure about taking the centre piece out and had prepared a piece of metal I would have glassed back in to replace it if it went pear shaped, but it’s actually ok and not flexing without it.

I also painted the lower part black with the paint I used inside the clam just to see what that looks like blacked out and will most likely keep it like that when it’s painted proper.

Yep it’s the one with the wobbly wheels! There has been some discussion about it on the RS200 Replicas Facebook page.

Doesn’t look to have been progressed that far and it now looks like wheels are extra.

You can still buy the MRS200 kit despite what the advert says.

I guess like any used car, particularly a project car or part built kit, it’s worth what the buyer is prepared to pay. I agree with Wozzy and Nostromo that it could be shown in a better light particularly with the wheels.

Windscreen pillars are now bonded on. Bit more of a challenge clamping these down due to the angles, but seemed to help with alignment that mine were split from the roof panel when my kit was delivered.



Used expanding foam to fill the roof void and also the inner void between the screen pillars and MR2 screen surround. Just need to fill and prime the join each side to the roof panel and refit the windscreen rubber then it’s onto the doors.



In the image below the drivers door skin needs raising slightly when it gets bonded on. Panel gaps aren’t too bad with this lined up, but a bit more work to do on lining up the door skin on the passenger side.

Yep. Really enjoyed driving the MR2 before I stripped it to build the kit. Hopefully not long now but I know the door skins and mirrors can be a pain.

At least the door skins are all cut and lined up roughly so it’s really just bonding them and fitting the brackets to the inside of the MR2 door to support the bottom edge where it was cut down.

Managed to spend a couple of hours over the weekend filling the join between the roof panel and screen pillars. Couple of coats of white primer and I was ready to refit the windscreen rubber.



Profile of the windscreen rubber is better now following the fettling of the screen surround edges.



The sunstrip logo has been on so long now I’m getting a bit bored of it! Think I may end up changing it before I finish. There is a nice RS200 logo in blue with ford logos either side on one of the real RS200s that I may try and have a go at copying but the door skins need my attention first!



In between coats of primer I decided I would bolt in the clam grilles rather than stick with the thin cable ties I had used so far. Went for M4 cross head bolts in black which are just about hidden by the rubber edge strip.



They are in pretty solid now so will do until I get round to painting the car.



I did manage to make a start on the doors, focusing on the brackets to support the bottom edge of the MR2 door where the lower edge had been cut away. Bonded/glassed these in and once I’ve finished an inner support panel each side for the inside of the door skin where the top bolt for the mirror pillar sits I will be just about ready to bond the skins on each side. I will also drill the holes for the Perspex side windows whilst the door skins are off so these are done before they are bonded on.

Cheers Wozzy.

It’s 5 or 6mm rubber strip with a really small profile (I’ll check the order paperwork but think it’s about 1or 2mm only the profile). It pretty much grips the edge of the mesh itself but I put a couple of dabs of Gorilla gel glue on it just to make sure.

With it in place on the clam there isn’t really anywhere for the rubber edging to move so hopefully it should stay put.

Bit of a frustrating week on the doors, mirrors and side windows. All started off swimmingly well with the drivers door - all lined up, brackets working great to reinforce where the MR2 door skin is cut down and eaves protector plastic used to create a new base for the door.



Panel gaps not too bad and close to the original which left a lot to be desired I know!



These are the adjustable brackets I used to push out the lower outer door skin after it was cut away for the door skin to cover. These have been bolted or bonded inside the MR2 - bolts on the inner door panel and bonded to the inside of the outer skin.



The bottom of the MR2 door is the recovered in a piece of plastic bonded/glassed in place and made from eaves protectors.



Before bonding the MRS200 door skin on I started to fit the Sierra door mirror, cutting the mounting pillars down first. I planned to bolt the bottom two pillars through the MR2 door skin and thought this would be enough given the top edge of the plinth rested against the door skin. Bad move as there was no way I would get a bolt or nut the other side of the skin. So plan B came into play and I am glassing in an ally corner piece to which the mirror will be bolted.

Here’s the template and just waiting for some more ally sheet to arrive in the next few days.



Many thanks to Nathanial the now owner of Andy’s original prototype car for sending me photos of how the Sierra mirrors were fitted to that one.

So while waiting for the ally sheet to arrive I painted the bonnet wing support pieces that I had already made and fitted from Perspex and also got round to buying an adjustable bonnet support as I decided I wouldn’t fit anything permanent under the bonnet.



I have decided to use rivnuts to bolt the Perspex side windows through and drilled these out today. Thanks Nostromo for the pictures of how you fitted yours. I will wait until the ally sheet is in before cutting the Perspex down for the corner piece where the mirror fits and then at least for the drivers door the bonding of the skin will be the final piece.

I say at least for the drivers door .... well the passenger side is another matter and I’m beginning to think the whole passenger side of the car is the ugly sister of the drivers side!

I spent most of this afternoon fettling the passenger door skin to try to get a better fit. The upper edge where it meets the roof line is fine at the rear of the door and a nice gap to the windscreen pillar but along the top edge for about 30cm where it meets the windscreen to halfway along the window top there is a huge gap.

I need to get some heat on the metal framework that surrounds the top edge of the door skin to see if I can reshape it otherwise I can see I will be taking the cutting disk to it and trying to reshape it with glass fibre.

More on that one soon.....

Thanks Wozzy. Yes I had the same on the sills - tried to even it out and also adjust bonnet edge that side but it’s the top edge of the door frame that’s really out.

Will get you the measurement for the bumper in the morning now. Just remember mine is still on std springs and 17” wheels (coilovers are still to be fitted) and I did move the supplied front bumper bar down a good 25-30mm from how it was supplied (to try to remove the sagging in the middle look you seem to get as standard as you look front to back at the car).

Wozzy - measuring the drivers side at the wheel arch it’s 523mm from floor to the top edge of the bumper where it joins the bonnet.

Hope that makes sense - shout if you need more measurements

Managed to get the passenger door skin into a better shape today, thanks to applying some heat to the metalwork and bending it into shape. When I looked closer there were also a couple of places on the edges of the windscreen pillars and rear edge of the door where the fibreglass was catching on the door skin.

I had made adjustments for the sill on the passenger side (see Wozzy’s comments above) and needed to trim the bonnet edge back slightly to line up and also allow the door to open without catching. There is more of a gap at the bottom edge of the door on this side and the trailing edge where it meets the clam/sill, which once I’ve got the skins bonded on I will close up with fibreglass and filler. The bottom edge of the drivers door also needs the gap reducing.



Support brackets are now bonded in on the passenger side and the ally sheet arrived today, so tomorrow’s job is to fabricate the mirror support plinths and glass these in on both door skins.

Thanks Andy and good to hear from you. Yes I did adjust the mounting points for the crash bar to lower it quite a bit (about 30mm if I remember possibly a bit more). It was enough that one of the mounting holes was lost where it was lower down.

I also fabricated brackets at the rear of the front bumper in the wheel arch area to pull this edge up as it tends to droop/sag down relative to the front of the bumper. Overall there is a nice flowing line downwards looking at the channel from the back clam/sill area towards the front bumper