Highlander

rikkir
I better start saving lol

They don't look so bad on a red car either. Set of staggered 16'' by 7 and 8 now sitting on my shed floor now wearing some antique (hard as) A048s. Could be available at MTC2015 for less than Rob paid for shipping alone.

I really want to get some 17x8 and 17x9's. They do look good though.

rikkir
I really want to get some 17x8 and 17x9's. They do look good though.

Yeah, IMO you need at least 17 inch rims if looks are a high priority for you. 18s can be a bit more of a pain because they fill the wheel arches so much (but that's also why they look so good lol).

I've still got the stock 15's at the moment, but i figure i'm better off waiting for what i really like rather than making a compromise to save money and then forever regretting it.

Very nice Rob. Looking forward to seeing how the car performs this year with some good rubber.

Looking good Rob!

Having been through another MR2 Trackday Challenge, I'm still very happy with the car, but there are a few minor things to address. 
 
I need to re-do the piping from the turbo to intercooler, because it was blowing off on numerous occasions under heavy boost (around 27-30psi for many seconds on the straights at Wakefield Park). It's only a short section of piping in an L shape. Currently the L shape is something that I hacked together with a straight pipe and a curved pipe, with 3 silicon joiners, and the overall shape/alignment is not quite right so the joiners are over-flexed. I'll try to replace the whole thing with one custom-shaped pipe, and then have 2 silicon joiners instead (one at the turbo outlet and the other at the intercooler). I should replace the worm-gear hose clamps with T-bolt ones too, but I think the main problem is the alignment of the pipes rather than the clamps. 
 
Another thing is my oil catch can. It sometimes fills up quite fast at the track, which is OK considering the boost level I'm running, but the problem is that I have to remove the whole catch can from the firewall just to drain it, which is slow and messy. To solve this problem/inconvenience, I'll either add a drain hose back to the sump (and ensure that I change the oil quite often), or I'll add a nipple/valve on the bottom of the catch with a drain hose so I can manually drain it by just loosening the valve. 
 
The last problem (getting more serious) is that some of my gearbox synchros seem to be totally worn out, and some of the others are on their way out too. It's reached a point where it's getting annoying. For many months it's been very difficult to get into 1^st gear unless I'm almost stationary. Also, at the trackday challenge the shifter started grinding every time I changed from 3^rd to 4^th. I could double-clutch to get around these issues, but that's only a bandaid, plus I'm hopeless at it because my muscle memory wants me to shift 'normally' lol. I might be due for a gearbox rebuild with brand new synchros. Some of the more expensive parts may need replacing too, due to excessive wear from the grinding, but hopefully not! I'm dreading the thought of a gearbox rebuild (although I would get a specialist to do it), because there are differences between each year range of the E153 and some parts are discontinued or superseded. 

If you have the cash brand new E153s are available :) 
 
http://twosrus.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_35&products_id=379
http://www.monkeywrenchra...7&products_id=1176
 

Mrskylighter
If you have the cash brand new E153s are available :) 
http://twosrus.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_35&products_id=379
http://www.monkeywrenchra...7&products_id=1176

Yeah I know, it's so tempting, but soooo expensive . The exchange rate would make it even worse, and imagine the shipping cost to Australia, probably with import duty too :-/
I'm not ruling it out though, because it would be amazing to drive my car with a brand new gearbox, and I intend to keep my MR2 forever. 
 
If I opted for a brand new gearbox, it would probably cost me about $5000, including shipping to Australia, import duty/taxes and the labour of removing my current gearbox and installing the new one. With the brand new gearbox, the installation would be very straightforward, and it should last for the remaining life of the car and make it even more pleasurable to drive. I would also need to decide whether to keep the factory LSD in the new box and sell my Quaife LSD, or swap my Quaife into the new one with a subsequent increase in labour cost. Whatever the decision on the LSD, I would probably recover a big chunk of cash by selling the current gearbox and one of the LSDs, so let's say that the effective total cost of the brand new gearbox would be about $4000-4500. 
 
If I opted to have my current gearbox rebuilt with new synchros (at least), it would probably cost about $1500-2000 including labour, depending on whether any other parts are excessively worn out apart from the synchros. It would be a significantly bigger hassle than buying a brand new gearbox, because I would need to order lots of new parts and ensure that they are correct, plus dealing with superseded and discontinued parts. Also, with a rebuild it might feel slightly less perfect than a brand new box, and there is always a risk of something going wrong during the rebuild.
 
Ultimately I have to decide whether it's worth spending an extra $2000-$3000 to have a brand new gearbox, knowing that it would be perfect and require minimal hassle compared to a rebuild.

New is always worth it. Do it!

I agree with admin, i would go new if it were me.
Rebuilds IMO are never as good as new items / gear.