Another big update for the yellow MR2!
This story begins with parts. Oh so many parts.
I had been accumulating a growing pile of parts for some time now, whether it be things I needed more time to install, or parts that were waiting on other parts to arrive. But with a deadline in sight (more on that later) it began time to dive in.
Four boxes taking up room, where shall we start.
The first box I briefly touched on in a previous update, and included my Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines. I went with the Goodridge over the typical HEL units as it appeared to not need any extra mounting fabrication. For only a few bucks more, shipping the Goodridge lines in from the UK seemed like a no-brainer. To go along with these was two fresh bottles of Motul RBF600 which I had bought off a mate at a very good price.
Pleasantly, the car barely fought me at all as we did lines and fluid on the MR2 and the 180sx in the background at the same time. The brakes were bled until it had a nice firm pedal and no air in the fluid, and we had only used around 1.5 bottles.
Installation of the lines couldn't have been simpler, the rear brackets made things completely bolt-on, and it's nice to remove some more 30 year old rubber components for a bit more confidence.
Behind door (box) number 2 was a full polyurethane bushing kit for the front and rear arms. I had bought this almost a full year before installing and kept putting it off for a variety of reasons. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to best remove the old bushings, and I didn't want the car to be potentially out of action for a long time if I hit a wall.
I bit the bullet early one Saturday morning though and got to wrenching. The arms came off with ease and looked to be in great condition, no corrosion or bending to be seen. I bought a 2 jaw puller, aiming to push/pull the bushing out of its home with the help of the through-bolt. The 2 jaw puller lasted about half a bearing before all the bolts holding it together stripped. I managed to get a refund and bought a 3 jaw puller from Repco instead, hoping at least if it broke that I'd have a quicker and easier time getting a replacement.
The 3 jaw puller was extremely sturdy and had no trouble with all of the bushings back and front, except for one extremely stuck one on the rear right arms. The arms were cleaned up, mating surfaces prepared, and the new polyurethane bushings and metal inserts were pressed into place.
The arms were reinstalled and the car dropped down onto blocks, allowing me to torque the arms and bushings into the car under a typical loading setup.
(apologies for the photos, the underside of an MR2 isn't the easiest place to frame a shot)
The new bushings were a night and day difference to how the car drove. Body roll was greatly reduced and the car just felt more planted overall. There was not a huge difference in body vibrations or harsh ride, though the ride wasn't exactly presidential to start with.