1986 Toyota MR2 - an uncontrollable evacuation of the bowels

[georgeb]

Jul 16, 2015 8:29:36 GMT Sweetpea said:

PS. The only thing going through my brain while writing this was 'So, how do you rub your wood on the head and what are the effects?' but that's a question for an entirely different specialist forum.

Y'see, that's the beauty of living here. I know a girl person who's perfectly qualified to answer your question. *Want a number?

* GeorgeB (Manila) Inc.,  takes no personal responsibility for any injuries or death arising from any information, or use of said information, given herewith, or wherefore, or werewolf.

[tdipd]

Jul 16, 2015 8:29:36 GMT Sweetpea said:

Interesting. I guess, in effect, you are taking gasket marks out of the surface and flattening any slights humps rather than any serious defects.
Do you have the wood and abrasive on the bench and rub the head on it using its own weight or have the head on the bench and move the abrasive over it?

Anyway mine had suffered a coolant loss and, worse still, had some pitting in the surface. Not around the bores but over the rest of the surface. It'll need a 'heavy' skim to clean it up so it was never a candidate for wet and dry paper.

The pitting is more or less visible in this photo.



James

PS. The only thing going through my brain while writing this was 'So, how do you rub your wood on the head and what are the effects?' but that's a question for an entirely different specialist forum.

I have seen guys glueing sandpaper to a pane of glass, like a coffee table, and sanding there using the weight of the head as you describe. I certainly wouldn't sprayglue the paper to my workbench, its fooooked! The head would end up like a banana!

I turn the head upside down and use the sandpaper wrapped around and stapled to the wooden block.

The WRX head was loosing coolant passed the gasket, but I realised before the head got any heating.

If you want rid of pitting etc, yeah go for the skim, it'll be worth it.

If in future you think a head is flat enough to get away with wet&dry, set the steel rule across the length of the surface and look for daylight gaps between the rule and head. If they're very minor they can be sanded out. Whats better than a ruler, is if you can get a length of 40mm x 10mm flat steel stock, and have the narrow edge machined flat by the head skimming machine. Then you've a perfectly flat ruler to use which shouldn't deform.

So, maybe leave it to the pro's in manila if you're not sure whether you'd like your head rubbed wet or dry

[georgeb]

Jul 16, 2015 11:03:54 GMT tdipd said:

So, maybe leave it to the pro's CCAs in manila if you're not sure whether you'd like your head rubbed wet or dry

Customer Care Assistants, if you please

[Sweetpea]

I'm not sure how this is going to play out with Mrs Sweetpea.

"Ah, dearest, this girl person from the Philippines is a specialist in head work. She's going to show me some serious polishing action. We'll be in the garage for several hours a couple of minutes."

I can't really take up this suggestion of personal attention from Manila's finest Customer Care Assistant. My head issues will just have to be looked after by a sweaty bloke with a big machine.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Sweetpea]

Holy cowl!




(See what I did there!?) The radiator fan cowl to be precise. Everybody seems to have nice shiny black fan cowls. Mine seem to have been in storage at the bottom of the Atlantic.




I had a right scrap getting the radiator and its fans off the car. Initially I tried removing the rad with the fans attached but it wouldn't come through the hole. So then I tried removing the fans but they had an 'unusual' and 'non standard' method of holding them on. Anyway, fans and rad eventually found their way home.




The first fan motor gets taped up and media blasted.




And a coat of paint.




Cleaned up nice really.

Most of this was done back in Feb before I started on the roof job. Need to finish off though.

Notice the shiny allen head screws to fasten it back onto the cowl? A2 stainless they are… Back in the 80s Toyota used lots of cross point cheese head screws to hold things together.
They aren't cheese headed because of the shape. They are actually made of Cheddar - except for some of the more critical one which are made of Red Leicester.

Either way they are practically impossible to undo without chewing the heads off.

Out with the high speed screwdriver.




Ran out of bench space so drilled the heads off on my lap. Careful now! Don't slip. Bit close to the old 'gentleman's area'.
I'll tidy this fan shortly. It'll look lovely in those rusty fan shrouds.

In other news, I've tidied the brackets that bolt the radiator to the car.




One day I'll electroplate the bolts but for the time being they are painted.

James

[Sweetpea]

Plans to drag my cherished classic back home suffered a major setback today when some prat dumped a ton of scrap on by drive.




Oh sorry. That is my cherished classic! Better give it a wash then.




Actually, despite the photo, it still looks utterly awful. Definitely needs a polish.

Do you think it's too late to call the previous owner and tell him I've changed my mind?

[oukie]

It's nice, always liked black mk1's, although owning five mk1's, I'm slightly biased

[Ian]

It makes me wish I bought a black over gold one when I was 19 now, and my dad talked me out if it!

[Sweetpea]

Jul 20, 2015 18:57:09 GMT oukie said:

It's nice, always liked black mk1's, although owning five mk1's, I'm slightly biased

Good of you to say that but, frankly, it's a shed at the moment.
Mrs Sweetpea is looking at it with some disdain (she much prefers the red monster parked next to it). I've been telling her she'll have people knocking on the door trying to buy it. A few people did ask to by it from the previous owner but none were stupid enough to go back with money and a trailer.

Jul 20, 2015 21:37:58 GMT Ian said:

It makes me wish I bought a black over gold one when I was 19 now, and my dad talked me out if it!

Twenty years ago I did much the same. I wanted to replace my aging Corolla and there was a red T bar at a garage near my parents. At the time I was carting myself and 'stuff' up and down the A1 a lot. The 2ltr Carina was bigger, more practical, newer and much cheaper.
Glad I've finally got an MR2 though.

[Ian]

I did eventually get an MR2 but it was the next model an sw20GT, great car, that I could never find where it used all the water from, and then the gearbox started groaning and it went.

[oukie]

Ha ha, two of my mk1's are shedish, one's a spares car, my S/C is nice and my other road legal mk1 became un-road legal a few day's ago when it failed it's mot

You just gotta keep at it, now that you have it home you will feel more motivated,

As a side note they never did a black over gold, the gold was probably put on to cover up rust repairs, even twenty years ago these were bad

But more useless information is always available from me if you need to know anything mk1 related I've owned them for 18 year's now, that doesn't mean I now everything but might be able to help you.

[Sweetpea]

Thanks oukie, I'll shout when I get stuck!

The other fan is now finished. Look, a pair!




I'm really quite chuffed with them. They are painted in Halfords "gloss black" which is a total fib. It's not gloss. It's satin really. So as much as it annoys me that it's not gloss and the tin says it is… It is a good match for the original.




I think it looks fan-tastic. Sorry. Amused by my own little jokes!

Anyway, the shrouds are having a bath…




…in the electric derusting machine. Annoyingly I couldn't find a tub big enough to submerge the whole thing. But I've been doing other stuff while they've been boiling so it didn't really matter. More of them another day.

We just need a radiator. Here's one that came off the car.




I know it has a hole in it because it leaked water when we jacked the back up 3 years ago during the assessment.
A bit of poking about revealed this.




It actually looks like it was hit with a stone. Could that have been what killed this car 6 years ago? One little stone?
Apart from that the rad looks in good condition. I've seen a lot worse over the years.

So, cleaned up and…




…and… Look. I know what you are thinking. I really do. And soldered.




Now just hold your tongue a minute. I really do know what you're thinking. It's more or less this.

"What is this complete dimwit doing? What sort of stingy lunatic would reuse a blown radiator on a mid engined car where the cooling is critical. He's a complete bell end and needs his head looking at." At least that's what Project Manager Portia the cat said. More or less. Cat swear words don't translate easily to English.

I'll explain.
Let me introduce you to the water pump.




Thermostat anybody?




Which, by the way, is jammed shut. I'm constantly surprised that the car was running well enough to blow up.

See the problem? As much as I'll flush the system I don't know how much of this crud will be left in there. I'm especially concerned about the heater matrix being full of muck.

I definitely don't want it in my expensive new radiator (which is in a box in the front room). So the old one is going back on for a short while to give all the crud a chance get mobile. Assuming it holds water anyway.

Speaking of boxes in the front room, look what the postie dropped off.




Which needs to go in here somewhere.




Shame it's such an oily bog 'ole. I think there is the rotting foliage of a small tree in there.

James

[bstardchild]

Well after a slow start this project speed is picking up nicely

Still in my bookmarks

[Xenocide]

What a great thread. Subscribed

[tudor]

Jul 16, 2015 8:29:36 GMT Sweetpea said:

Interesting. I guess, in effect, you are taking gasket marks out of the surface and flattening any slights humps rather than any serious defects.

Sounds a bit like levelling high frets on a guitar using a black marker pen and a length of corian with sandpaper stuck to it.

Loving the attention to detail, the gadgets and the can do attitude.

[georgeb]

Jul 21, 2015 20:51:35 GMT bstardchild said:

Well after a slow start this project speed is picking up nicely

Still in my bookmarks

And we've still got weeks of his extended leave to come.

Bookmarks? This, until very recently was the bedrock, the very foundation of mine!

Jul 22, 2015 19:57:14 GMT tudor said:

Loving the attention to detail, the gadgets and the can do attitude.

Yes, it's a bit like a low budget version of johnnybravo's thread!

C'mon James, keep it going. Your audience awaits!

[grenade]

If you have any (and I mean any) questions about an MR2, of any generation- I suggest becoming a member of TwoBrutal.com Seriously, these guys are the nicest, most helpful bunch and they know more about the MR2 that I ever will-
Just something worth mentioning. Nice thread by the way!

[Sweetpea]

Morning all,

Well, except George where it's the afternoon. And Grenade where it's night time. Hmmm. This train of thought is getting messy. I'll quietly abandon it and hope nobody notices.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I promise I'll get my finger out soon. Project 2 is taking priority while the weather is good. I have to say my time away from work is slipping away quicker than I'd thought it would.

Just to add a bit of extra jeopardy over the state of my cooling system I've found another photo of the water pump.




Hmmm.

You'll have to excuse me today as I've a chimney to climb. (No not a Fred Dibnah job, the one on the side of my house. Bloody high enough though.)

James

[Speedle]

Jesus! I've never seen anything like it! Someone's filled that cooling system with some rad weld and no coolant by the looks of it!

[ToolsnTrack]

Is that a water pump, or the dissected lung of a 50 woodbines a day smoker?

Could use that pic on fag packet health warnings and no one would bat an eye.