MadaboutKitcars

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

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.

Cheers Wozzy

Yes probably got a couple of half days of little jobs to sort out including raising the passenger side of the bumper bar then a couple of days to fit the coilovers which I will do before the MOT.

Aiming for end of Jan to be ready for the MOT but you know how it goes with grand plans and everything!

Think you’ll get there first Nick!

I know I saw this come up - crazy amounts of money !

Well grand plans and everything again .... it’s now May and I’ve only just got round to fitting the coilovers! I decided the garage was really too much of a mess and so the new project to tidy up the garage, fit shelving racks etc seemed to consume more time than I expected!

Fitting the coilovers actually turned out to be an easier job than I expected and was really just a couple of half days spread over the last 10 days. Many thanks to Nostromo for helping out with what was involved here. A good breaker bar and impact driver were a godsend and I’ve managed to lower whole car by around 55 - 60mm. There’s probably another 30-40mm it could go lower but the ground clearance particularly under the engine area is now significantly reduced so I’ll give it a chance to settle further and then decide.

I’m pretty pleased with the lower look and improvements to the stance, although as expected the BC Racing Coilovers are much stiffer but they are on the factory setting as they came out of the box.



I did find that because the front is lower, the passenger side front tyre is fouling the bracket I fabricated on that side to support the front bumper on full lock. Another one for the odds and sods list to finish before I can get the MOT.

I still need to sort out the passenger side of the bonnet/bumper where there’s gap and there’s a couple of other bits to get done included fitting the inner wheel arches I’ve made up.


....

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. For anyone else doing this with an MR2 Roadster I meant to say fit new drop links on the rear as it makes removing the old drop links that much easier with only one end to undo.

Spurred on by the coil overs I spent a couple of hours today working my way through the remains of the to do list.

Sorted out the gap on the passenger side bonnet/bumper join and at the same time reworked the brackets supporting the outer edge of the MRS200 bumper on each side to stop the tyre fouling on full lock.



Then sorted out the alignment on the drivers side...



The tops of the doors required a bit of work. I had already purchased a pair of rubber stops (Land Rover Defender) which I fitted on each side to provide some support in the top corner. This helps when closing the door and stops most of the rattles in that area.


....



Doors lineup better but I need to still stiffen up the window frame part of the door skin on each side as they move about a bit too much for my liking. Thanks Nostromo for sharing with me how you did this on yours.

Slow progress since the last posts - various house projects and work seem to have taken over. I did get it out on the drive a couple of weeks ago and to my horror the area I filled and primed on the rear clam to use original Sierra lights has sunken somewhat . Will need to remedy that and pull my finger out to get it finished - with a bit of focus and attention I reckon I can be ready for MOT with a good couple of half days work.

Keep watching and this may have just spurred me on to get it finished!

All jokes aside and thanks for comments/replies but I think the excess use of hardner is probably to blame here on my part. For those who’ve tried to fill the area around the lights on the MRS200 kit when using MK1 lights, there is quite some gap to fill.

I built this up using UPOL GRP resin filler which has pretty much remained solid. I then filled the top layer of this with Big Boy (!!) Easy sanding filler. I reckon it’s this that I first left too thick a layer first off to fill and then second used too much hardner in it when applying.

Anyway not too difficult a job to sort and on the list of 6/7 minor jobs left now to get done before MOT.

Thanks Nick for the pointers on the gel coat - I think I’m a long way away from actual paint yet :-)

Panels are the easy part Wozzy :-) It’s all the fiddly finishing bits to get it looking good and the engineering along the way to get stuff to work day to day like the fuel flap release.

Anyway I don’t think projects like this are ever really finished and that’s 90% of the fun of it for me - I will probably keep tinkering with it still once it’s on the road before I commit to spending £3k on a proper paint job with stripes !

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.

Thanks Nick - I might still come to regret the 70mm drop when I end up ripping various parts of the underside of the engine off :-)

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.

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!

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!