1986 Toyota MR2 - get kicked into the weeds.

[Sweetpea]

"Mirror mirror on the door, who is the hunkiest bloke on't forum."
"Why it's you James!"

Well that just confirms what I already knew…

So, door mirrors.
The one on the drivers door had the glass broken at some point and a replacement mirror glued into the hole with silicone sealant. I got a replacement years ago but never fitted it.
The one on the passengers door looked fine. When I hooked up a battery it wasn't so healthy. If you pressed the left button the mirror went right, the right button made it go left. The up and down buttons also made it go left and right. Good eh? The down button did make it go down at one point but then it refused to go up again.
When I plugged the replacement mirror into the passenger door wiring it behaved perfectly. So the problem is in the mirror unit then.

Quick look at the old right hand mirror to see how it's screwed together and to make a tool to pop the glass off.




Needless to say the tool didn't work and I carefully popped the glass off with a damn big screwdriver.




It's got a damn big crack across the damn motor housing! Damn it!
At least it's only the front that's bust.




God damn, the back is even worse! Somebody must have wrapped it round a gate post at 50MPH. But then how is the motor unit trashed and not the housing? Oh and it's wired wrongly too. The three wires in the bottom are on little plugs and they were in the wrong holes. That's why it went the wrong way when you pressed a button. Somebody has been here before me.

So… I need a replacement passenger mirror too. Hmmm, engage stingy old git mode… There must be something I can do with this lot.

I can use the back half of the case from the other mirror. But the front of that case is missing one of the clips that holds the glass on so it's toast.
I'll need to reuse the front of this case and glue the crack.

A good wash and a trip through the sand blaster to key the surface and we get this…




Then a bit of work with that epoxy metal stuff. I had some plaster board jointing tape so I ran that across the gap too for a bit of extra strength.




Outstanding! All I have to do now is turn some of this lot…




…Into a mirror.

The motor unit coming back together…




And, as if by magic, a complete mirror back on the car.




It works too!


While I was messing with the car this afternoon a little kid walked past on his way home from school.
"Nice car" he said.
Unfortunately I'm an old git and strongly suspect all kids are cheeky sods. I mean anybody with reasonable eyesight can tell the car's a shed.
My rehabilitation supervisor says I should try being nice to people so I said "thank you" rather than clipping him round the lug 'ole. Hope his eyesight improves soon.

James

[Speedle]

Excellent stuff chap, I do love some "using your noodle" fixes. If it can be saved and re-used then I'm all for it! She's coming along nicely!

[Sweetpea]

Sept 29, 2015 8:39:51 GMT Speedle said:

Excellent stuff chap, I do love some "using your noodle" fixes. If it can be saved and re-used then I'm all for it! She's coming along nicely!

Thanks. If I'm honest I can't work out if I really am a cheapskate bum and my bodgery is making people cringe. But I actually do enjoy the challenge of working out how to repair things. The idea that runs through my head is that the repair has to be as strong as the original (or very nearly) and preferably invisible. You can tell the motor housing has been repaired and so it's annoying me a little. But you can't see it on the car so it'll do until I come up with a better idea.



Anyway, have a picture of the back end of the passenger side sill.




Some bits missing I think you'll agree. Nothing unusual though. It's normally hidden behind the side skirt so you don't know it's rusted away.
A quick anatomy lesson.
The green arrow is pointing at the the outer skin of the wing. Much of it's missing.
The red arrow is actually pointing to the inner wheel arch tub. So it's not structural and the fact it would turn to dust if you poked it isn't that important.
The blue arrow is the end of the sill. Normally they end at the wheel arch but on the MR2 it ends early. Just beyond the door. In effect it turns in and up and becomes the box section that run through the engine bay.

Anyway, the sill is structural so…




…the fact that I can stick my finger through it is a suboptimal feature.

Out with the grinder then.




Looks like the middle section has suffered too.

Bit more choppy choppy and then make a new bit.




Which is welded in and painted.




Starting to sound like a pro now. "Yeah, just boshed a new bit in." The reality is lots of tapping and grinding and fitting and tapping and more grinding etc etc, ad infinitum.

The other problem is that this repair really runs into the inner wheel arch tub that I don't want to touch until another day. So I've had to compromise a little and I'll have to pick it up when I do the wing.

Here is a cardboard template for the outer sill patch.




Crying shame I can't just weld that in but who ever heard of making cars out of cardboard?
So it gets transferred to some tin…




…and then the fun starts. Bending the poxy thing to shape.




It's got some compound bends in it which cause it to twist. I didn't want to cut and weld if I could avoid it so a lot of hammering and persuading were needed.




Slowly slowly catchy monkey.

By the way, the shape of the bottom edge was a bit of guess work as most of it was missing. I know it didn't run the full length of the sill though.
Now it's in the ball park.




Now it's welded in!




I'm not repairing the wing at this point. I have a replacement to go on. One day...

[grenade]

Threads like this one, have given me the courage to try things I may not have previously attempted.
Carry on!

[jonsey]

Cracking metal manipulation. It looks like it grew there.

[ToolsnTrack]

Jesus, that's a thorough repair. Good work my man!

[tedmunds]

Blimey old chap. The thread, the metal work, the archbishop and the anatomy lesson have made me want to go to the pub with you. Keep up the good ramblings.

[Sweetpea]

Terribly good of you all to say such nice words, thank you.

tedmunds, pub sounds like a top idea with just 2 small flies in the bear.
Firstly I'm not sure the MR2 will get to Monmouthshite without falling apart. In fact I'm not sure it could even get to the house next door.
And secondly I don't actually drink. WHAT!? No it's true. More or less. I was brought up by Methodists and never got a taste for it.

That aside if I'm ever over your way I'll let you know.



Didn't do much with the car today. But I did wash and polish it. At least the bit's that still have some paint on got washed an polished.
You may be wondering why. You probably aren't alone.

James

[camper damper]

Not bad welding a mate as one and his as rusted at the same spots on the back too. Is yours the one with the 1.6L 4A-GZE supercharged or just the 1.6L 4A-GE 16V engine cause you can put the 20V intake on the 16V and have velocity stack with a good exhaust will give you one nice sounding engine

[oukie]

It's the 1.6 n/a, genuine superchargers are rare, being all grey imports.

[Sweetpea]

It is indeed the NA version. I was going to ask how oukie knew this but remembered that I'd spent the last 3 years writing about it. I'm an Idiot!

Anyway my biggest 'engine note' issue at the moment is to make it quieter. (I'm old.) It's partly because one of the exhaust hangers sometimes touches the mount but it's also very boomy when it's on fast idle. You sit in the cabin and it assaults your ear drums. You go into the garage and you can't hear yourself think for the dull drumming noise. Even the Shepherd Neame brewery on the other side of town complained that it's making their bear frothy.

Maybe I'll get used to it. The noise that is, not frothy bear.

[darrenh]

that wing mirror repair is spot on. i've had very durable repairs like that, using epoxy but saturating and layering fabric into it like poor mans grp

[oukie]

It's not your three years of excellent thread, it was as simple as your car is a mk1a, thus making it n/a only as S/C cars out the factory at least we're all mk1b variant.

That and I'm a mk1 nerd.

Keep up the great work, excellent repair to the inner sill return panel.

[Sweetpea]

There was a reason I washed and polished the car yesterday.
The reason is that the car went for it's MOT today. Yes it took to the roads of Britain for the first time in 6 maybe 7 years.

Unfortunately I wasn't driving. Apart from a quick trip up and down the drive I still haven't driven it! I have finally been for a ride in it though. It's not too bad. I suspect some of the car's finesse has gotten out and walked home over the years but it's ok.
The reason I wasn't driving is because, God help me, I'm not insured. You see the car is worth nothing and it isn't on the road so there is no need for insurance at the moment. I have the "drive any car you don't own" thing on my other car policy but I do own the MR2 so I can't use that. I considered 'selling' the car for a quid to the missus or one of the neighbours but quickly realised that the insurance company would consider that a complete fiddle. Which would have been true. I even spent half an hour on the phone to them trying to work out how to do it officially and failed.
So in the end a neighbour (who also has 'drive any car you don't own') kindly risked his neck and drove the old girl round to the MOT station. (Thank you.)

What's that you say? "Cut to the chase and tell me if it passed?"

Er, OK. No it didn't pass. It failed dismally. But then that wasn't a great surprise. It is, after all, a 30 year old scrap car and a significant amount of it has turned brown and fallen off. The chances of it passing were slim. And also I made no attempt to cover any of the holes. So it had the skirts fitted but I hadn't gaffer taped the holes in the front wings or anything silly like that. I actually want the car to be safe without sticky tape.

So what does a chap do when his classic car fails the MOT? Well he tries to work out why the back lights in the heater controls don't work.




Answer - 'Cos they aren't back lit.'




What, really?! There is a little green bulb (now deceased) in the dash above that shines down over the heater and radio. But no back lights.
Here, to prove the point, is the offending blown bulb.




How very 1970s. It reminds me of my old KE30 Corolla that did the same trick. Actually I quite liked it in the Corolla. Could be a very retro feature.


At some point I'll write up why it failed the MOT and take some photos. Some of it will be contentious I expect. And there were a couple of surprises…
Thanks again to Rob for being 'designated driver' / 'test pilot'.

James

[welshpug]

sorry to be bearer of bad news, but the car needs to be insured to be on the road, regardless of who's driving it, matey's neck survived this time!

[Darkspeed]

After seeing the steering wheel - I would have thought it was more important for your neighbour to check his health insurance was valid before his car insurance

[bstardchild]

Oct 1, 2015 20:42:13 GMT welshpug said:

sorry to be bearer of bad news, but the car needs to be insured to be on the road, regardless of who's driving it, matey's neck survived this time!

Slightly of topic (sorry Sweetpea but welshpug it really does depend on the policy term held by the driver - you cannot make claims like that without knowing the details

My Daily driver policy allows me to drive any car not owned by me - it does NOT have to be insured by the owner

Now if I parked it on a street and walked away from it - well then I think "insurance" would be a problem but for driving a car to and from an MOT - I've got absolutely no issues with that.

The usual curse word spouted about it must be insured already to be driven by another driver can indeed be curse word - the policy terms determines that

[Sweetpea]

That's no problem bstardchild. I was going to reply anyway.

I can't speak for my neighbour 'cos I haven't looked at his policy (I know he did though) but my car policy doesn't say the car being driven has to have it's own insurance. I understand some do and some don't. It was probably to deal with the question of who is liable when the car was parked on the street by the 'Driving Other Cars' driver. At what point does liability switch back to the owner.

Since the Continuous Insurance Enforcement rule came in all cars with tax must have insurance anyway. And SORNed cars can't be left on the road so the problem must have largely gone away.

I appreciate the heads up though.


I'll take some photos of rust later and we can get back on topic.

[Sweetpea]

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how come your car failed it's MOT then?

I have to say I'm a bit miserable at the moment. My long break from work is now over and I'm in tomorrow morning. (Yes on a Saturday.) And the car failed the MOT. One of the problems is quite unpleasant. I'm faced with the question of keeping the car here and trying to get a bit more done before the weather turns to poo or just trailering it back to Canterbury and forgetting about it until next year.

Hmmm.

So, anyway, lets start with the good news.
Mechanically it's fine. Engine emissions - passed. Brakes - passed. In fact the only mechanical comment is a slightly noisy drop link on the front antiroll bar. So that's good then.

First surprise.




Not sticking out, no sharp edges, no problem. Cool! Thank God for small mercies. But thank him just a little bit 'cos he's about to get his own back.


Lets look at the problems…


Wiper not clearing the windscreen.




Fair comment. I'm surprised I didn't spot that when I tried them out.


Sharp edges on the front wings.




That's on both sides. I could probably have gaffer taped them and it'd have been ok. But not in my head it wouldn't.
Now the drivers side wing is in reasonable condition (read that as 'the drivers side wing is totally f!@*$d') and so I'm tempted to try repairing it just for the experience. The passengers side wing is distorted from having the front ripped off the car so it's scrap. But it'd be easy to do a nasty patch to get it through the MOT. That'll be question number one then. Replace it now or bodge it for the time being?


Rusty brown stuff too close to a suspension mount.




This is a right royal pain in the boobies. And I say that as someone who doesn't have any.
This is the box section under the drivers heals. It's a common rust area. What's hacked me off is that I thought this car was sound in this area. Basically I'd missed it. Useless git that I am. Anyway, it's a slam - dunk as far as the MOT is concerned.


This one might be a bit contentious…
Repairs to the sills not properly welded. That made you sit up didn't it!




Here's a photo from when I did it.
The MOT man's manual says that patches should be continuously welded all the way round. The patch I did isn't. I plug welded it at the bottom because it was originally spot welded. The MOT man wants a bead of weld across the bottom of the seam.
I'm not sure the manual was intended to be interpreted like this but taken at face value that's what it says. It's easily fixed and may add a bit of strength so I don't have a problem with it.


Rusty brown stuff too close to a seatbelt mount.




Bottom of the B pillar on the passengers side. While we are at it…




…this needs doing too.
Both will be replaced with the wing. The question is… Do I change the whole wing (which'll take ages - probably years) or do a nasty patch to get the MOT?


Another possibly contentious one...
Rusty brown stuff too close to the suspension. Rear - both sides.




Remember this…




And me confidently saying that the bit under the red arrow wasn't structural. Well the MOT man disagrees.
I suppose, at the end of the day, the rear quarters are welded on and so add rigidity to the back of the car. At some point there is too much rust and the car is weakened. How much rust is too much?
This is another ball ache 'cos it means repairing the inner arches. Hey ho.

That's it.

So what does a man do when he's mildly depressed and his car is dissolving faster than he can weld it back together?
He fiddles with the radio.

I've got the Mk1a's incredible sub woofer working. The base is now so heavy that it's literally rattling the rust out of the car!
No not really. The speaker is barely bigger than the ones in the dash so it doesn't really add much to the sound. A little but it's not exciting.
And I've also got the illumination dimmer to work when you put the lights on.




Cool eh?
Probably not. But I like a bit of vintage car hifi. I'm sad like that.

James

[darrenh]

b*stard cakes!

if you did it "right" and just seam welded along the lower lips, and not plug welded, it would not be as strong as plug welding two mating flanges. its defies physics

secondly, if you replace the whole sill, plug welding (by word of the MOT manual in the very next paragraph to the one that failed yours) is allowed

also if it had the sideskirts on and the sills were holed and rotten, 12 months ticket sir, safe as houses.

MOT is just pure plums in some respects