1986 Toyota MR2 - get kicked into the weeds.

[Sweetpea]

Nearly there. Just the arch to do.
Despite early indications when I made it, the painful truth was that it didn’t quite fit. So I spent a little while trimming it and shrinking it, with a little stretching thrown in for good measure. Eventually…





Looks promising.
While I was at it I welded a stainless nut to the back so I’ll be able to bolt the mud flap on with it. Haven’t done the other fixings. They are for another day.





Actually, I welded 2 stainless nuts on. The way I do this little job is to bolt the nut in place while I tack it on. Well the first time I did it, as well as welding the nut to the patch, I also welded the bolt to the nut and couldn’t get it out. (Rolls eyes in despair.) So I had to cut it off and try again.

Anyway, once happy the patch got tacked on…





At this point I went and had a little cup of tea and, upon my return, as if by magic, the welding fairies had been out and finished the job.





I was really annoyed about this because I really enjoy a bit of welding and grinding. And the damn welding fairies don’t hoover the grindings off the drive. They leave that menial task to me. Yes, I have to hoover the drive. If I don’t I’ll wind up with a rusty drive when it rains and then the missus will divorce me. Actually, she probably wouldn’t but there’d definitely be a severe ear bending lasting many months, if not years.

So next the wheel tub needs some paint and seam sealing and the out side needs filler. But I’m out of time this weekend so it’s getting POR15 to protect it for a while.





I know the reflections off gloss black covers lots of sins but considering there’s no filler on it I’m fairly pleased with the result. It’s a shame POR15 isn’t UV stable ‘cos I’d paint the whole car with it!





If the weather is ok next weekend I have a date with a holly tree so the MR2 is going to stay like this for a little while until I can get back to it . But it’s another bit of annoying rust off the list so I’m happy.

James

[fastblatt]

Very nice job James. Looking forward to the wing
Mark

[georgeb]

Sept 4, 2018 19:36:11 GMT Sweetpea said:

If the weather is ok next weekend I have a date with a holly tree
James

If IRRC, Holly burns a treat.

Chainsaw, ten minutes, back on wing.

[teaboy]

Half decent job on the arch sweetie.
Por15 is poop, 2k epoxy is the stuff all the cool kids are using these days.

[Sweetpea]

Sept 5, 2018 8:49:40 GMT fastblatt said:

Very nice job James. Looking forward to the wing
Mark

Thank you!
Are you referring to this wing?





I'm not looking forward to it! I have no idea where to start. Actually I am sort of looking forward to it. Something new to try.

Sept 6, 2018 13:14:25 GMT georgeb said:

If IRRC, Holly burns a treat.

Chainsaw, ten minutes, back on wing.

Ah yes, the tree. I've only recently recovered the ability to type as my arms and hands were so trashed. Be doing more tree this weekend if the weather is passable.
I'll write something in the excuses thread...

Sept 10, 2018 0:09:10 GMT teaboy said:

Half decent job on the arch sweetie.
Por15 is poop, 2k epoxy is the stuff all the cool kids are using these days.

Mr teaboy ! How great to hear from you! How's your back doing? I miss your 911 thread, get on with it would you.

2k epoxy? Molest my valuable classic with this modern rubbish? I think not! Anyway, who said I was cool?

[fastblatt]

That’s the one! 👍🏼

[Sweetpea]

The next major job is to drop the the sump and inspect the big ends. Which, I reckon, are so slack you could get your fingers in them. However, Mrs Sweetpea’s parents are coming over in a couple of weeks and the MR2 needs to stay mobile so the sump stays on for the time being.
Besides I only had a couple of hours to play.

So I got out the tin of Dynax Goo and coated the new bits I’d welded into the rear wheel arch.





I’d never coated the bits at the front of that arch that I’d fixed years ago. Mostly because I didn’t have a tin of Dynax Goo.
So I did that while I was at it.





And… It turns out that when I’d repaired the front wing I’d never slavered goo on that either.
So I did.





I’ll blow it all over with black paint at some point just to blend it in.

Then I remembered that I’d never done anything with the inside of the arch.
It was (is) a massive mess. A patchwork quilt of lacy original metal and layers of patches that somebody had tacked in. The whole lot had been covered in goo which was pealing off.

So I’ve scraped it off and covered it in Hydrate 80.





It’s all going to need to be cut out at some point. Just not now.



Now, while I had the front wheel off…

At high (but strictly legal) speeds I’ve got a bit of a shake in the steering wheel. I don’t believe it’s a tyre out of balance ‘cos it’s always done it. (I’ll swap the front and rear wheels to see what happens anyway.)
But I could believe it’s a brake problem. So I got the dial gauge out to see what the disk runout is.





It turns out that the disk runout is about 0.25mm. The manual says the upper limit is 0.13mm so it’s too much.
Next I marked the wheel stud by the high spot on the disk and then moved the disk around a quarter of a turn at a time. The disk runout doesn’t change and the high spot is always against the wheel stud I marked earlier.

So the disk is ok (it should be, it’s only done a couple of hundred miles) but the hub has some runout. Indeed when I measured the hub with the dial gauge I could see a bit of a wiggle with a high spot against the marked wheel stud.

Interestingly, the chap who does my MOTs told me of another MK1 MR2 in town (there was a white one kicking around) but the owner was going to sell it because it kept warping disks. Maybe he had a hub that wasn’t running true as well?

So the big question is…
What causes runout in the wheel hub? ‘Cos I’ve not got a Scooby…

James

[bstardchild]

Oct 7, 2018 21:44:00 GMT Sweetpea said:

So the big question is…
What causes runout in the wheel hub? ‘Cos I’ve not got a Scooby…

James

Often it's not the hub that is the problem - it's that the discs have been fitted without cleaning up the hub

[welshpug]

overtightened wheel studs could have damaged the flange possibly

[Phil H]

Accident damage?

I’d probably go with welshpug though - overtightening of wheels nuts/studs. Could possibly be because of, as suggested by bstardchild - a slightly below par Oscar swap some years ago? Cranking up the nuts to try and seat the disc whilst a bit of crud or corrosion prevented them fitting correctly first time?

[mk2cossie]

I'd be inclined to give the hub flange an attacking with a wire wheel attachment on a trusty angry grinder and get it religiously clean and back to machine markings if possible

[kevins]

If the stud is too tight a fit in the hole it can distort the hub when pressed in, I have seen this occur on production vehicles.

I would press the studs out, see if the hub distortion changes, if it does get the stud holes reamed out slightly larger, if it doesen't get hubs re-faced and refit the studs. The hub facing is best done using a dummy stub axle and spinning the hub on its bearings.

Kevin

[Sweetpea]

I don't think it's dirt on the hub because it's pretty clean. I mean, not mirror finish but not covered in curse word either. I also ran the dial gauge on the hub and saw a little runout there too which wouldn't be the case if it had a blob of dirt on it. But there is no reason not to give it a good clean so I'l do that at some point.

Over tightened wheel nuts is an interesting thought. I'm terrible for doing that but in my defence I've never had a wheel fall off. Or come off without a fight when I was trying to take it apart...
To press the studs out I think I'd have to take the hub off the car. Sensibly I'd do the wheel bearings at the same time. So that's another job for another day.

Could it be a wheel bearing? They don't feel noisy or slack.

I suppose I also need to measure the left side to see what's going on there too.

James

[ToolsnTrack]

Look at your chamfers. There should be a clearance gap cut in at 45 degrees on the centre hole where your disc sits on the hub spigot. If not, you will inevitably have crud pushing against the discs. Also, get the SPIGOT spotless, MR2s are not stud centering, that spigot is paramount to the wheel running true.

Same goes for the stud holes on the disc. Should have a decent chamfer to allow a clean mating of the disc to the hub face without crud around the stud interfering.

Often the simple good practice things that get missed, then folks see a stripey horse and shout Zebra.

[jamesd1972]

How much would a s/h replacement hub cost ? Might be a simple easy route (and importantly cheaper than replacing brakes all the time)?
Got to be a fair few donner cars out there ...
James

[biturbo228]

Nice work on the panel repair I really must get myself a little stretchy tool for metal expanding.

That wing looks a little tricky mind :S how'd you manage it?

[Sweetpea]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Shortly I'll scribble the next bit and tell you all what's happened since.

Oct 9, 2018 10:56:52 GMT biturbo228 said:

Nice work on the panel repair I really must get myself a little stretchy tool for metal expanding.

Yeah, the shrinker / stretcher is a very handy toy. I got a single machine with both jaws. It's a pain swapping the jaws back and forth so I'd recommend two machines if you have space / can afford it. I can live with it though. I suppose it depends how much you are going to use them.

Oct 9, 2018 10:56:52 GMT biturbo228 said:

That wing looks a little tricky mind :S how'd you manage it?

If you mean how did I bend it... I didn't. The previous owner did it. However I can guess how she did it... It had rubbish tyres and the dampers are 'a bit floaty'. I was driving like a pensioner in the rain and lost it on a roundabout. I reckon she did the same but hit something in the process.

If you mean how am I going to replace it... I've no bloody clue! Answers on a post card...
I have a second hand wing but no idea how the bent one comes off. It looks a bit complex around the B post with internal bracing that's hard to unpick. Plus the inner arch is crushed and will need bringing back out to meet the wing.

[Sweetpea]

So how’s my vibration then?

First on the list was to check the disk runout on the passenger side which turned out to about 0.11mm. Just nicely in spec. While I had it in bits I exercised the brake piston and the slides just like I’d done to the drivers side.
The other thing I did (on both sides) was swap the front and rear wheels.

Then I took the car for a pootle.

It’s much better. Why???
Well it always was a bit variable so it could just be having a good day.
Equally, having exercised the slides and pistons it could be that the disk runout has just kicked the piston back so it’s not dragging anymore. Maybe when there is a little more stiction in the callipers the runout can’t push the pads back?
Or it really is an unbalanced wheel after all and I just stuck it on the back…

Let’s see if the vibration comes back and I’ll investigate further.


Another little job, I’ve glooped the repairs I did on the passenger side ages ago.





And I’ve blown some black paint on it all.





Painting it is just to blend it in a little. Yeah, I know. Worried about the looks of the parts nobody looks at and ignoring the smashed in rear end and the nose cone that’s completely the wrong colour. Strange boy.

The next niggly little problem is that my speedo (that’s the speedometer, not my budgie smugglers) bounces at around 25MPH (that’s still the speedometer not my budgie smugglers). Obviously this is the speedo cable sticking. I’m told that they can start producing whiskers and eventually break.

Conveniently you can pull it out from the gearbox end.





Now, you know the speedo cable is a short thing that goes from your gearbox to the speedo. Yeah? Where’s my gearbox? Yeah… In the back. The speedo cable is literally the length of the car. (Couldn’t Toyota have thought of a better idea?)
I know what you are thinking. I’m using the new nonliteral meaning of the word ‘literal’ that people use these days.
(“You know, I was sooo excited that my head literally exploded!” No it didn’t you massive idiot…)


But no, I’m using the old school, literal, version of the word literal. The speedo cable is actually the same length as the car.

Here’s a photo of cable and car.





See. Told you.

So I’ve run it through a paper towel soaked in WD40 (which is an excellent solvent) and cleaned it up. No problems, whiskers or anything.





I’ve done this before and ran some light oil down the outer. I’m not sure if this was a good idea to be honest. This time I left it dry (apart from the WD40). The speedo bounce is improved but not perfect. It’s an easy job so maybe I just keep wiping it over.

James

[matfenwick]

Do you mean literally *exactly* the whole length of the car, or just literally approximately...?

[Sweetpea]

Ah, now there is an interesting question...

How, exactly, are you defining the word 'exactly'? We need a tolerance here.
Without actually bothering to measure it I reckon its within 20cm of the the cars length. The car is 3950mm long according to Wiki (mine is probably a bit shorter 'cos the previous owner appears to have reversed into something). Anyway, I calculate that as about 5%. That's literally not bad I reckon.