My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

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My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby MRSEVEN » Thu Jun 08, 2017 10:45 pm

My 1990 Toyota MR2 SW20

I'm starting a build thread/ log so i can record all the maintenance i've done to the car and so i can look back and remember all the good times i've had with it. I've owned quite a few Japanese imports in the past, but most of them were All-Wheel-Drive turbos. Last year i bought my first rwd car(s13 240sx) and i got hooked! Unfortunately my 240sx had some rust, and even though it was fairly minor i have no experience with bodywork/ welding (yet). I decided i would sell the 240 and look for another summer only car that was rust free! This was at the end of summer, so i picked up a cheap little miata to slide around in for the winter and once spring came i set out looking for a car. I looked at quite a few options and the MR2 seemed like the perfect fit! I was surprised at how cheap and underrated/unknown they are compared to some of the other Japanese classics.


Entry#1: Finding The Car
I gave myself 1 month to find one locally, and if nothing good came up i was going to import one from Japan. After looking at a couple of poor condition mr2s, one that was up to my standards finally popped up! It was a 1990 with 88,000kms. This was the ad on kijiji. No price listed and no information about the car.
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Some photos from the first time i saw the car:
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The owner was an older gentleman who had owned the car since 2007. He had receipts for the maintenance he had done and sounded like he took great care of the car. From 2009-2014 the car was parked at his sisters garage but it was still being driven occasionally. From 2015-present it sat on his pad under a car cover. He explained why it didn't get driven a lot but i'm not gonna get in to all of that. He seemed really honest and answered all the questions i had. He even let me bring a jack and inspect the underside. Overall it was exactly what i was looking for, Low kms, not winter driven/ no rust etc... So on April 28 2017 i bought the car!

Picture of the car in my garage:
The owner had warranty on the battery so i got a new one for free. He also included oil and a filter (Castrol synthetic 5w40) so when i got it home i did an oil change and replaced the spark plugs.
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Couple of other pictures
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Entry#2: Sensor and Springs
The first week of owning the car i replaced the Water Temp Sensor and installed some brand new H&R Lowering Springs that i got a great deal on from a friend of a friend.

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Old Vs New Springs
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I got lazy and didn’t disconnect the brake lines, so i couldn't pull the strut all the way out. Looking back, it would've been a lot quicker if i had disconnected the lines.
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Everything was reassembled and got torqued down
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Entry#3: More Noise

A few days later i decided the Fujitsubo exhaust was too quiet so i went to my local muffler shop and had them weld a little single exit pipe (I still have the Fujutsubo in case i get sick of the droning)
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While there, i also snapped a quick photo of the underside. Looks pretty clean :)
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The old stereo was missing the faceplate, so i installed a new one i got on sale from Visions! The car already had Alpine Type R speakers, and even though i don't care much for stereo systems i appreciate how nice it sounds!
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Rolled Over 88,888kms
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Entry#3: Ignition and Cooling System

Even though the ignition components only had 20,000kms they were 10 years old and the car hesitated under acceleration.

I replaced:
Sprakplugs- Denso PK20TT
Distributor Cap and Rotor - Bosch
Plug Wires - Denso
Thermostat - Stant

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:evil: The rotor took me around 2 hours to replace because one of the screws was stripped so i had to use an extractor to get it out
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I had symptoms of a bad t-stat so that got replaced as well. I don't really trust it because it looks cheap so i ordered another new one (better quality) just to be safe(I still have to put it in)
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Replaced the bleed valve because it was leaking
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Bled the coolant. I didn't bother flushing it because it had fresh fluid put in 7 years ago and it looks fresh. I don't think it went bad just from sitting but maybe someone can correct me if i'm wrong.
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Entry 4: New Wheels

(This took place while i was doing the ignition/cooling system maintenance)

My moddex wheels were stained from sitting for a while and i wanted 17" wheels. I found a good deal on a set of Enkei RP-01 so i drove down to Calgary and picked them up!

Specs:
17x8 +35
17x9 +38

They changed the appearance of the entire car and look great in my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of teal but it's grown on me a little. I'm thinking of painting them white.

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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby immorality » Fri Jun 09, 2017 7:33 am

Looks like you've made a good start.

I would definitely change out the coolant, 7 years is a long time!
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby MRSEVEN » Fri Jun 09, 2017 8:19 pm

immorality wrote:Looks like you've made a good start.

I would definitely change out the coolant, 7 years is a long time!


I'll have to do that when i change my thermostat again then. Or maybe when i drop my engine later this summer!
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby immorality » Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:20 am

It's also worth checking the prices on parts at the dealer. You'd be surprised how often they are similarly priced to your usual NAPA replacements and they are significantly higher quality.
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby MRSEVEN » Sat Jun 10, 2017 3:53 pm

immorality wrote:It's also worth checking the prices on parts at the dealer. You'd be surprised how often they are similarly priced to your usual NAPA replacements and they are significantly higher quality.

I get all my parts from rock auto! They were at least 1/3 of the cost of what napa was charging if not less (for the exact same brand). I've compared the prices to the dealer and they are significantly lower as-well! I'm not sure if it's just my local toyota dealer, but they were really expensive. They wanted something like 200$ for the plugwires, 100$ for a t-stat and like 300$ for an ignition coil (i don't remember exact prices)
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby immorality » Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:38 pm

Yes, Rockauto is awesome, but those dealer prices seem a little off. We are lucky here to have ntrax as a dealer partsperson and he's happy to help out BCMR2 members.
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby 2-yota » Sun Jun 11, 2017 11:52 pm

Agree'd we have it good here as a few local dealers are pretty nice to us MR2 owners when it comes to parts. Either way, a running MR2 is a good thing so keep it up!
-Ed
Black MR2 Turbo
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Re: My 1990 Jdm MR2 SW20

Postby MRSEVEN » Sun Jul 23, 2017 7:33 pm

Entry 5: Ignition, Oil Temp Gauge, and Front Lip

current mileage:92,000kms

I installed a new Ignitor and some new plug wires. The Denso wires i installed before were defected so i exchanged them and got some NGK Wires instead.

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My factory water temp gauge was acting funky so i bought an Auto-meter Oil temp gauge to monitor the car. The install was a-lot easier than i expected. I used a sandwich adapter plate to install the sensor.

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My new front lip finally came in as-well, so my car no longer looks like a drift beater.

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Couple pictures of mine and my friend Ashley's MR2's from my trip to Sylvan lake for their annual car show

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It was a really hot day so we took the engine cover off for the drive back because my oil temps were reaching 215F-219F. With it off it was running a few degrees cooler. I was actually very surprised at how warm it was running on the highway considering it runs at 190-200F in traffic but after looking online it seems all of them run around this temp on the highway.

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