1986 Toyota MR2 - an uncontrollable evacuation of the bowels

[gt]

i've been following that build gonna be amazing when it's done,i think i would struggle leaving a 2mm gap, looks dead easy when he does it, on with the welding been at it this morning with much better results turned the welder up to max 1 with wire speed between 6/7 much better now looks a bit brown around the weld but i'm working outside and the gas is getting blown about.
good idea on blowing holes i've been blowing a few hole on purpose and then filling them in last thing i want is to spend ages making a panel and the blow through and not be able to sort it.
i did use to weld years ago with oxy/acetylene and brazing but you have a lot more control with gas, anyway feeling a lot more confident now but that will probably change when i start on the car, not looking forward to welding upside down.

[darrenh]

Jul 3, 2016 14:41:13 GMT gt said:

i think i have the same welder a clarke 151, i'm trying to weld 1.2mm steel and can lay a nice tidy weld with good penetration on sheet steel but i'm struggling with butt welds can i just ask what settings you are using.
i'm using 0.6 wire and the welder is on min, power level 2 and wire speed 6 and it either looks like bird curse word or i'm burning holes ,maybe i just need to practice more...lol

i basically use the overlapping spot weld method that sweapea describes.

another option if you have access, is to back the panels with a lump of something non ferrous (copper, bronze, alluminium) which acts as a heat sink and if you do blow through the weld doesn't stick so you can literally weld across thin air. i use poor mans version which is just some 22mm water pipe hammered flat or squashed flat in a vice. it works ok but if you get it really hot will melt, i'd prefer some copper bar, but tend to make do with what you have !

i don't have the correct props to hand, but like this (the ruler is your non ferrous) clamp them all together, or if its inside a cavity you can hold at the rear with strong magnets. ive used a 2p coin when filling holes.

[Sweetpea]

I've got two ways of starting this post and I'm not sure which way to go. Let's do both.

Beginning 1:-
Lexus have a philosophy known as L-Finesse. I know this 'cos my other car (the one that actually works) is a Lexus and it's in lots of the blurb.
When you try and find out what L-Finesse actually is you get rubbish like "Seamless Anticipation" and "Incisive Simplicity". How am I going to build myself some L-Finesse when I can't even work out what it is? I strongly suspect it was invented by the marketing department and is meaningless.

Helpfully, I am now in a position to be able to provide a definition for the nice people at Lexus. "L-Finesse is that quality entirely absent from the driving experience of a 30 year old largely scrap MR2." (Not an entirely helpful definition but it's a start.)

I know this because….

Beginning 2:-
At the end of my last post I ended with the question "What next?"
Well, you couldn't be expected to have realised but it was a very leading question. And there is a very specific answer.

Nothing.

Yup, you heard right. There is nothing next. That hole in the floor was the last thing on the MOT man's list of faults. The list is complete and so it's MOT time again.

I'll tell the story later but today the old girl trundled off the the garage round the corner and an hour later….. Passed!

There is a tradition on Retro Rides to have the "first fill of petrol photo". Here you go!




And just to prove that I didn't push it there here's a video of it's first trip on public roads in a long time.



This year is the car's 30 birthday. I really wanted it back on the road this year because of that. I'm quite chuffed that it is!

[DrSebWilkes]

I AM HITTING THE LIKE BUTTON, BUT NOTHING MORE IS HAPPENING!!!

Genuinely proud of you. I just got in at the end, but I am sticking around after the party! I am dead chuffed, and you really are an inspiration. Super well done.

[georgeb]

Bloody hell James, wasn't expecting that!

Played for and got, well done that man.

Seems to pick its feet up quite nicely as well.

[fer4l]

Delighted for you!!!

Great work

Cheers

Matt

[vulgalour]

*confetti*

Excellent, excellent update and absolutely rewarding to see you out and about driving it after all that meticulous work (and bits of milk bottle).

[varelse]

Nice one! I hope you remembered to pick up another repair panel/milk for morning coffee while you were at the service station.

Good effort though.

[Ian]

Great news, it doesn't take long to get used to the indicator being on the left hand stalk, it makes it much simpler in a right hand drive car for lazy driving.

[stevek]

Ace. I didn't expect that when I checked in this morning, you kind of sprang that one on us! Top result.

[oukie]

Jul 6, 2016 6:43:35 GMT Ian said:

Great news, it doesn't take long to get used to the indicator being on the left hand stalk, it makes it much simpler in a right hand drive car for lazy driving.

There is no left hand stalk in his car, only mk1's with cruise control have a left hand stalk.

[oukie]

Superb effort, I especially like the video at about 3:20 you can see you are grinning and let out a little giggle lol, they're amazing cars to drive , way ahead of their time imo, all you need to do now is a 4agze conversion lol 40% more power. Only kidding n/a is fun fun fun in the twisty stuff.

Awesomeness is standard on these cars, good effort and well done.

[Dez]

well that was a bit of an anticlimax. youre not actually supposed to finish these things you know!

what are you going to spend all your time writing about on the interwebs now?

[Morris63]

Get in!, You beauty!, and any other expletives and whoops of joy you care to add. Nice going James - really pleased to see the result of your graft

[Sweetpea]

Thanks chaps!

I did keep that a bit secret but I've been planning it for a couple of weeks. Yesterday was a bit fraught at times though. About an hour before the test I was still battling with electrical problems and a failed handbrake.
No lunch and a pile of technical issues. But that's what I do at work!

I'm very very pleased. Mrs Sweetpea will tell you that I don't get excited about anything. Even when we are off on holiday to some new and interesting place it washes over me. To the point that she's asked "don't you want to go?"
Well last night I couldn't get to sleep! A kid with a new toy...

The other thing I should say is that yesterday was the first time I have ever driven an MR2, and only the second time I've ridden in one. I should also say that it was a total bag of curse word! There is so much work still to do to bring this car back from the dead. Including an engine rattle that sounds evil. I'll post a video for some thoughts 'cos I'm really not sure what it is.
But for the time being I'm going to do nothing much and enjoy trundling around the town in it.

Jul 5, 2016 23:12:26 GMT georgeb said:

Seems to pick its feet up quite nicely as well.

Yes it's a lusty little thing. And I haven't set the ignition timing properly yet. And the TVIS variable induction isn't working. And I was miles off the red line in the video. There's more to come...

I've mangled a few quotes in this thread but here's another one. In tact this time.
Churchill after the battle of El Alamein.

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

[westbay]

[Ian]

Jul 6, 2016 8:41:31 GMT oukie said:

Jul 6, 2016 6:43:35 GMT Ian said:

Great news, it doesn't take long to get used to the indicator being on the left hand stalk, it makes it much simpler in a right hand drive car for lazy driving.

There is no left hand stalk in his car, only mk1's with cruise control have a left hand stalk.

I meant right! Sw20's and my early mini was the same

[darrenh]

MOT and a full tank

the official "that'll do" seal of approval

gratz mr pea

[darrenh]

err, just watched the video. i thought to myself "i recognise that wall" (no really) then you drove past (for security reasons) "a farm produce outlet"

you are literally in the next town to me and i've been following this thread for 3 years. eh?!

[Sweetpea]

Jul 6, 2016 10:28:38 GMT darrenh said:

err, just watched the video. i thought to myself "i recognise that wall" (no really) then you drove past (for security reasons) "a farm produce outlet"

you are literally in the next town to me and i've been following this thread for 3 years. eh?!

Oh really? We should meet up sometime. You up for that?