MR2 Mk1 Restoration Project

When I bought my 1987 Toyota MR2 NA in February 2000 (at 207,000 km), I decided when I realized the good condition it was in that I would undertake to keep this car around a long, long time. In Canada, a car is declared "historic" when it reaches 25. That means in 2012 this will be a historic car, and I may be retiring along with it.

From buying it until now, in  January 2011, I now have 222,000 km on the odometer and driven about 15,000 km (9,400 miles). The car has spent a lot of time in my garage and in the body shop. This is not negative, because I have had a lot of fun driving weekends.

I don't want to drive on weekdays or commute - too much risk for the car on major highways with traffic jams. In addition, I have collectors insurance on the car meaning I'm only allowed to drive it for pleasure - which it certainly is.

Follow this introduction are several sections (which is fairly long reading) that describe:

Good Things I Found When Buying My MR2

Things I Caught During Inspection

Things That Surprised Me

Repair History (to June 2004) and noteworthy follow-up repairs (to December 2011)

Repair Plans

Lessons Learned

My hope is that what I have learned on this restoration will help you appreciate what it takes to bring a car back from the edge of being a beater. This is a very good driving vehicle, with lots of power coming from its NA power plant. Truly a joy to drive.

1. Good Things When Buying

When I got the car I had it inspected by a Toyota shop. There were a lot of good things about the car:

Not a lot of visible rust. Mechanics noted it looked like a B.C. car from underneath (little rust, unlike from eastern Canada)

Paint finish looks good, but it probably means the car was "detailed" before being sold

New muffler system

New tires

New brakes

Tested on wet roads - it tracked really well

Pedal wear matched the mileage (207,000 km)

Engine tests showed near perfect matching oil pressures on all cylinders

2. Things I Caught During Inspection

Of course there were things I caught too. It was evident that the car had been in a mix-up at sometime not too long ago.

The front trunk appeared exceptionally new and clean compared to the rear trunk

Poor/Rough finish on the front bumper cover

Poor finish on the front air dams, including some peeling and that two pieces were improperly joined

Suspicious finish on left front fender (sloppy body filler finishing)

Missing tire retaining bolt (eventually found in tire tool kit - now I have three!)

Paint finish wasn't bad, but not great either. Some clear coat peeling at trim points

Interior door parts showed wear and some punctures in the upholstery

3. Things that Surprised Me

Old cars are just that - old. They can't be perfect and some things just don't show up in trials. The biggest ones for me were:

Master Brake Cylinder Failure - simple repair

Engine Lamp at low speeds - turned out to be the O2 Sensor that controls fuel mixture. Onboard computer pointed it out to the Toyota guys and it was just a matter of fixing it up.

Oil Leak - okay, so it was only 1-2 drops per trip, but fixing it was a huge effort, and very frustrating for the mechanic. This took years to resolve.

Oil Burning - at startup a puff of blue smoke with light oil consumption. Turned out to be valve seals requiring head rebuild.

5th Gear Pop Out - this problem is well known, but the car never had the problem (at the start). It developed. While the clues were there at the start (see below), it led to an expensive rebuild.

Steering sloppiness - most MR2's have really tight steering, but mine has a play of roughly 1 inch at the wheel. -It took a long time to get to the bottom of this one, but it appears the steering column itself is the culprit with play around joints.

There are a lot of things that have to be done to bring a car back to good condition, because there is no way it will be new again. Everything is shown from front-to-back of the car (not chronologically). At the point of this update, the car has had it's body fully restored (no rust) and fully painted making it in as-new condition. The power train is solid, but the interior has modest remaining work.

Body Work

Damaged Front Air Dams - replaced/repaint

Improperly finished fender cover - replaced/repainted when replacing hinge

Right front fender has small dent - repaired/repainted when replacing hinge

Improperly repaired left front fender - replaced/repainted when replacing hinge

Fading Hood - repainted

Sagging left/right door hinges - replaced

Rust under left fiberglass trim on left rear quarter panel and sill - restoration shop reconstructed with new metal

Rust under right fiberglass trim on left rear quarter panel and sill - restoration shop reconstructed with new metal

Right Door water/wind leaks at T-Top Seal - seal replaced, also caused by sagging hinges

9" Rust on left rear Wheel Well edge - restoration shop reconstructed with new metal including inner and outer panels

Windshield severely scratched by wipers - replaced

Minor rust on metal above windshield - restoration shop reconstructed when replacing windshield

With all the body repairs, the car has been fully painted with a full set of new Toyota pin-strips. Had to have custom ones done for side trim since the original stripes were part of the plastic trim and this had been painted over in the past.

Perfect condition triangle rims obtained, refinished and refitted.

Peeling paint on front bumper, and abrasion on rear bumper, refinished and repainted.

Right rear Wheel Well edge - restoration shop reconstructed and repainted new metal and custom decals, including extensive rust-proofing (March-2009)

Replaced console (near perfect condition) including Refinishing

New leather Boot on fabricated boot retainer ring

Replaced drivers and passenger seats (near perfect condition) including Re-piping

Replaced door kick-plates including screws.

Refinished and Replaced left and right door panels.

Upholstery/Mechanics/Electrical etc. (from front to back)

Wiper mechanism loose or hitting - adjusted

Windshield stone chip - repaired chip only

Worn Leather 3-point Steering Wheel - replaced with as-new wheel found in 2002 on eBay in nearly perfect shape. As close to perfect as achievable. Had previously attempted to repair original which was professionally dyed, but it was not possible to recover finish.

Originally did repairs on the interior:

Shifter Boot Worn/Torn - Professional custom fabricated Boot

Worn Center Console - Professional Vinyl Refinishing but have also gotten a replacement in superior condition awaiting install

Driver Seat Seams splitting - Professional Disassembly/Repair

But in 2004 upgraded the whole interior with

Worn Pedals - replaced

Right passenger Seat Belt retractor twist - repaired via retread/reattachment.

Cassette Storage case between seats loose - reattached

Blown speakers - the speakers above the driver/passenger ears are blown, as well as the under seat bass - Audio specialty shop rebuilt the original speakers instead of replacing them with new substitutes (non-OEM)

Courtesy Cabin Lamp repaired to remedy a broken connection in the fixture.

Trunk upholstery free fitting with no clips - new clips purchased and mounted

Power Antenna Inoperable including incomplete assembly - replaced

License plate bulb burned out - replaced

Remote Trunk Opener from driver seat not operational - replaced Trunk Lock/Latch

Interior Cleanup / Detailing - completed

5. Repair Plans

Change C-pillar (rear window) exterior trim seals.

Alignment and possible bearing change out as a preventative measure, and to address minor vibration.

As you can imagine, this is a lot of work and worth well over the original cost of the car. BUT, most of this is completed and the car is in amazing condition. So what have I learned?

6. Lessons Learned

Body repair is extremely expensive, but if you don't do it your car will rot off the road and be a "parts" car.

A full and proper paint job means pulling off all the trim. This makes for a BIG price tag. This is now all complete and I can assure you that the price of a car with full restoration and painting compares to the cost of the original MR2.

Transmission 5th gear pop out is the bane of most MK1 drivers. The shifter would rock back and forth (front / back) when the gas pedal would be let-off and then depressed. It seems to depend upon how much movement and speed are involved. My greatest fear was using cruise and have it pop out and wind the engine into the red zone. Lots of varied opinions, but the facts are that the transmission is sick and needs to be rebuilt. It's not bushings, bearings or any other easy solution, and a rebuild is expensive - probably a lot more than you think (approx. $1000 USD). Learning to check the shifter movement as a diagnosis when buying the car in the first place.

Oil leaks are as bad as the AW11 archive warn about. Tough to find and fix - meaning costly too. The engine seemed to only leak after driving, but nothing indicated that it leaked during operation. I've had every seal changed in the engine. My friendly mechanic was going crazy over this one. It took a complete day just to get the timing belt wheel off in order to change the lower seal (it had seized onto the shaft). Of anyone, HE wanted it to stop leaking because I just keep coming back and turned into years! It took about a year after the major remedies to be in for enough oil leakage to identify the final culprit - the right CV boot. During the transmission rebuilt, it was easiest to change-out the boot. Now it's a wait and see. Oh, and for cost, how does $400 USD sound as a cumulative cost?

Burning oil is a problem with older cars. Many cars burn just a bit a startup (puff of blue smoke) when cold, then seem fine with light oil consumption. The problem is valve seals. Big mechanical job to fix in the area of $500 USD. The net result if your head is good, is that the oil pressure across cylinders will be greatly improved. In some cases the ring could be the problem, but it's more frequently to do with the seals in the head.

Windscreens MR2's are a premium item, costing more than many other vehicles.

Accessories and upholstery are hard to get and expensive from Toyota. Some pieces are not available any more. Most trim available is black, and it’s a major challenge to find a good stock steering wheel.

Test driving and having a mechanic inspect the vehicle is a MUST DO. The car that I looked at before this one looked good on the outside, but when the mechanics inspected it, we found that underneath the finish was a dog waiting for a major engine job and a lot of hidden rust.

Find a good mechanic who knows MR2's. My normal mechanic is quite good, but unable to handle the more intense repairs like transmission rebuilding. Fortunately, your local MR2 club was a good way to find a highly recommended mechanic, which turned out to be what I did. Results? Very good.

When getting bodywork and painting done, get a written warranty. As well, ensure it will remain valid should the shop be sold to someone else (its a common way to bail out of warranty obligations), without which the warranty will be worthless. From that point on its up to the professionalism and integrity of both yourself and the shop manager to strike a workable deal.

After putting in a LOT of money, you may still find rust returning. Yes - even new metal doesn't guarantee perfection. After about 7 years, one wheel arch started to show rust coming through (in 2008). This had to be fully cut/replaced. The shop (which is a good one) wouldn't guarantee the result because it wasn't possible to clean the inside of the welds, which is where rust can start. They did their best to coat it with rustproofing, but it still isn't a sure thing. So, be ready to do some work more than one time.

You want to get parts? Look for them everywhere you can where used parts are advertised, sold and auctioned. In the worst case, fine an identical parts car to keep (or drive) as mobile parts inventory. Considering buying used parts in bulk. And, if you think about it, one of the hardest parts to find will be decals. The sad news as that whatever is left is held privately, and impossible to find. The obsolete part warning is real, today -- and the only way you'll get new decals is having them custom-made.

Toyota MR2

Last Updated 2011 January 7

Steering Play - originally thought to be the rack/pinion, it turned out to be a defective steering column, which was replaced and tightened up the steering substantially. Not easy to find - it took an experienced MR2 mechanic.

5th Gear Pop-out - rebuilt. Opinions about what causes this problem varies widely, but the bottom line is the transmission is sick. The number of parts replaced surprised me, but its now quite tight. Decided to rebuild while parts were still available. Good thing, they still turned out to be hard to find.

CV Boots - replaced. The last oil leak before the rebuilt was traced down to a leaking boot.

Clutch - replaced. Figured it was smart to change it when the transmission was already out.

Valve Seal Leakage - rebuilt. This is manifested by a puff of blue smoke at startup. While not burning oil in any great amount, I decided to get it done when the engine was out. Head was reworked. Cylinder pressures measured are reinstallation were 140/145/140/145. Oil loss/use completely halted.

Cruise Control was inoperable - Vacuum Pump and Actuator defective - replaced pump, actuator turned out to be ok. Parts obtained from Parts Car.

Soft Braking - Master Brake Cylinder replaced

Timing Belt - replaced, age unknown with 207,000 km

Minor oil leak - oil pressure unit replaced, oil cooler lines replaced, oil pan gasket replaced. This was a persistent problem, but my mechanic has finally gotten to the root of the issue. The 3 main engine seals were replaced, which sadly could have been replaced when the timing belt was changed. Oh well...

"Engine" lamps illuminates at low speed - replaced O2 Sensor

Replace Air Filter - normal maintenance

Lube/Oil/Filter - normal maintenance

Dirty Battery terminals - replaced battery after diagnostic, at its end-of-life

Water Pump - replaced during rebuild as preventative measure.

Cracked Exhaust Manifold - replaced during the transmission rebuild with a used one. Turns out it had a crack that wasn't leaking yet so I replaced it with a new Toyota original exhaust manifold.

Leaking flex pipe - replaced with new Toyota original flex pipe

Engine Clean-up - overall cleanup, but also replaced the valve covers with fully refinished units.

Check Valve - caused poor idling and stalling once warmed up. Just a worn out part. Replaced with new check valve.

Speedometer Cable - after using the car for 4 years, the cable suddenly broke (at 218k km). Replaced with a new cable.

Temperature Gauge on HOT - after short driving, the temperature gauge would go to HOT, and bounce around from 3/4 to full HOT. Replaced temperature sending unit (corroded) and thermostat.

Repainted front bumper, plus decals - minor paint peeling originally due to improper preparation.

Repaired/repainted rear bumper, plus decals - minor 1"x1" paint/finish scrape.

Replaced "reverse" shifter cable

Replaced and Refinished one wheel after road-force balancing indicated it was not "true".

Replaced tires with Nokian i3's to eliminate some road vibration from the original Dunlop tires.

Power Train

4. Repairs History