2004 Toyota MR2 Roadster

[craigjm]

I have been contributing to Craikeybaby's thread here but thought I should really start my own.

Back in October 2022 A friend of mine called me and asked me if I would go and have a look at an MR2 roadster near me as he was going to buy one for his daughter. I trotted along to find a rather tired looking early black car with a stupid exhaust. I thought I may as well take it for a drive and when I was about a mile down the road I thought these are actually quite good, light versus a modern car, mid engine, handled well but alas not a huge amount of power so you can use the gears at legal road speeds.

Walked away from that black one but we then found a silver facelift 2003 with a "swansea roof" I called the guy and it was still for sale but needed to go next day otherwise it was going to WBAC as he was emigrating. I went and took a look. Much better condition than the black car and the roof was a replacement roof from what i now know is a well known source "Jack the Trimmer" in Swansea, oddly owned by a guy called Raymond took it for a ride, offered the guy £200 more than WBAC and took it over to my friend.

Cue a conversation with said daughter that started with "no thats not the car I was talking about" and she proceeded to show us both a photo of an MX5 so after failing to convince her I decided that I would keep the car anyway. I work from home my lease Porsche coming to an end so why not.

Here she is -



I did a lot of work on that car. I had an initail full service done by a local mobile mechanic, changed the tyres all round to Michelin Pilot Sport 3, full brakes rebuild including refurbed calipers in blue and new handbrake cables, full suspension rebuild, rust proofed underneath, new audio installation of double din JVC unit and JBL sub and amp with hertz speakers. Found a really good specialist, Mr Twos in Willenhall west midlands that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an MR2 of any generation.

Fast forward to October 2024. Just had the rear subframe replaced at Mr Twos and had collected the car. I wasnt far away on the A5 sitting in stationary traffic when a modern mini hit me up the rear at about 50mph



Im sure the new subframe saved the day. Walked away without a scratch. The driver turned out to be uninsured so pretended to be his dad at the scene of the accident giving me his dads details and to the police also. Poor kid in the car infront of me who i was pushed into had only been driving 2 weeks so was a right state. Fast forward a couple of months and his dads insurer Direct Line paid out for the car, the recent work done on it, the audio system and a couple of grand for a nice scar on my shin.

I didnt wait that long though, within a week i had bought another one.








In my mind a much nicer colour than the silver one, 35k less miles, full Toyota history including a new rear subframe a couple of years ago, two owners with the first being Toyota HQ and the second being the mother of the guy I bought it from. She got it when she was 68 and kept it for 20 years still driving it when she died at 88!! this car has aircon which the silver car did not. It also has the hard top which she never took off the car in the whole 20 years!

I did the deal and got it home. Under the hard top of is the original roof that had deteriorated a bit and didnt really want to go up or down after two decades of lying in a bag



I took it straight to MR Twos for a full service and to work on the rustproofing and then set to enjoy it. I then decided to go down the same route as before with brakes and suspension. I fitted the same suspension stuff of original KYB shocks and springs and top mounts but decided to make a change with the brakes this time. Last time i refurbed the calipers blue and fitted Pagid discs and pads and new handbrake cables. I hated those pads. They were so dusty it was awful. The hubs on the discs also rusted. This time i fitted EBC discs with rustproofed hubs, original Toyota pads that have been brilliant and virtually dust free and I had the calipers painted red this time as part of the refurb



Someone on one of the MR2 forums was also selling some Whiteline anti roll bars unused still sealed for less than half price so I went and got those too





By now it was March and the hard top was off the car. The hood was struggling so I took it to the Softtop shop in Stockport and they fitted a new mohair type roof and I went for a blue one for an extra £30 rather than black. The job was £1200 vs about £500 for the Jack the Trimmer Swansea roof that was on the old car. Lots of people on the MR2 forums are happy with them but the quality difference is night and day so glad i did it.

The paint on the car was OK but there were some major scratches and grazes front left side and rear right side where the previous owner was starting to struggle with driving and a few stone chips on the bonnet etc. Then a friends neighbour, also quite elderly happened to drive into the rear bumper and crack it. Willing to pay for the repair and repaint this bought forward the paint repairs to the car.

Took it down to a reputable paint shop and got a quote for the rear bumper and then all the other bits. Fairly reasonable and the old lady was paying bumper. It was suggested by them that once they had done each repair and blended it that it would have covered about 75% of the car so they gave me a price to do the whole car. Decided to go for it





Took the opportunity to debadge the car and I think it looks much cleaner. Also fitted new headlights and foglights to get rid of the foggy originals. Will have a ceramic coating done in a few weeks time

So now the car is all mechanically sorted, new roof, and a complete repaint so what next?

Next job is an audio install to match what I had in the silver car. Different double din head unit this time but still in keeping with the era, its far too low down for carplay. Same JBL amp and sub which are bolted behind the seats, same Hertz speakers. Decided this time to up the soundproofing to the next level but everything else is the same



Just waiting for the silicoln boots for the speakers and then this job will be done in a week or so time.

After the audio the car is getting a new set of wheels and the same Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres the old car had. Going for some Japan Racing JR29 in white in the same size as the standard wheels



There is then one last job to be done that wasnt really in the plan and gives a sneak preview into another project kicking off soon. I have started the build of a Classic Mini with a Honda Vtec engine, disc brakes and coil overs all round, a complete modernisation that I am building from a fresh heritage shell with the help of Potential Motorsport in Leicestershire. Will look something like a David Brown Oselli but thats for another day. Why is this relevant? The interior is in production now and when I bought the leather for the car they have a special offer on which meant I could get 2 free hides. Wondering what I was going to do with them i managed to negotiate that the two free ones could be in a different colour. So hopefully during August the car will have a two tone interior like this



Mine will have black outers and a tan inner where this is grey and it will have dark blue stitching to match the outside and a set of matching dark blue seatbelts

Then the plan is to get on with the Mini and drive the MR2 and enjoy and hope that nobody decides they want to kill it with speed

Thanks for reading and thanks to Craikeybaby for the inspiration for my own thread.

Edited by craigjm on Tuesday 1st July 20:52

[supacool1]

Holy balls! That looked a big hit. Lucky it wasn't a large SUV. Glad you were ok and it got all sorted.

[craigjm]

Yeah I think the story may have been different if it wasn't for the subframe fitted literally just before i collected it. The old one may have fallen apart. That's why it was good to see that the new blue car had already had it done.