Hoonsy
Very good point however 6 hours and just short of 10 is a very big difference haha
Especially when you've got to add a bathroom break every 10min for the missus!

All this insurance talk makes me wonder if I could find a better deal. I'm currently with Youi, which I felt was a pretty good deal (was on $75/month) for full comp. No pre-arranged cover amount though, apparently they do post-accident assessments

A 10 hour drive to attend events would be nice.... It takes me 2 days to get to MTC each year, 1800kms each way :(
The nearest track and other owners are 800kms away...

Nice article in fast fours Rob, just read it and have to say that's the first time I have actually seen your exhaust manifold...

Nik_Lee
Nice article in fast fours Rob, just read it and have to say that's the first time I have actually seen your exhaust manifold...

That means you never saw it when it looked good!
It's in my forum profile picture, but it's not the same as seeing it in a completed engine bay. 

When it was first ceramic coated in black about 5-6 years ago, it looked stunning. 

Later the ugly box-shaped heat shield was added out of necessity. Unfortunately it scratched away some of the ceramic coating and now the exhaust manifold doesn't look as good as it once did. It really annoys me every time I look at my engine bay (or the magazine photos). 

About a year ago I trimmed away most of the heat shield (except the part that really needs to be there) so it looks better now, but I removed it completely for the magazine photo shoot.

It's good to hear that you bought the magazine.

More updates:
 
- All parts required for repairing the wombat impact damage are now accounted for. I'm still waiting for some of them to arrive, but they're all paid for. I'm happy that I was able to organise all of the required parts quite quickly, albeit at a painful total cost. 
 
- The last few times I drove the car, my cable-driven speedo would randomly stop working completely, and randomly start working again. Also, for as long as I've had the car the speedo has always been wobbly at low speeds, which is common for cable-driven speedos. I know that these things can be fixed, but I decided that it's time for me to convert to an electronic speedo instead. I have an electronic cluster and speed sensor on the way. 
 
- If not for the wombat incident, I would've already fixed the intercooler-to-throttle piping issue, but that will have to wait a bit longer.

I've been very busy fixing my MR2 because I really want to drive it again!
As of today, all of the hardest stuff is done (sourcing all the parts, replacing the radiator, replacing the AC condenser, replacing the intercooler heat exchanger, etc). All I have to do now is get the replacement bumper and lip painted (I've already got them), and install them. That's it!
The car will actually be better than before, because I now have a PWR radiator instead of the stock one, and the cooling system was overdue for a proper flush which I'd been too lazy to do again until this situation forced me into it.

 
Here are some photos of the PWR radiator in case anyone is interested (it's a PWR 'Type 1821').



 

 
Stock fans mounted to the radiator (I had to get replacements because when I hit the wombat the fan shrouds got badly bent and caused the fans to seize and their motors to subsequently burn out):
 

 
Bottom edge, showing the lower mounting points for one of the fans, and one of the things that sits in the rubber mounts in the lower radiator support:

 
Lower drain port, which comes with a simple plug that you can remove with an allen key:
 

 
Port where the stock 'sensor' screws straight in:
 

 
One of the coolant hose connection points:

 
One of the things that pushes up against the cushioned stock top brackets:
 

 
For the top air bleeding point, the PWR radiator just comes with this dash 4 fitting welded on, so it's up to you to come up with something suitable to attach to it:

 
This is how I handled the top air bleeding point (I bought all of the following things from Motorsport Connections):
- 90 degree dash 4 hose end (to clear the chassis)
- Into a dash 4 rubber hose, 70cm long
- Into a dash 4 straight hose end
- Plugged with a dash 4 plug (see below)

 

 
Then, when I want to open it up to bleed out the air, I temporarily remove the dash 4 plug and replace it with this (it's a combination of a dash 4 male-to-male and a dash 4 straight hose end, with a clear tube pushed onto it):

 
The 70cm rubber hose is just the right length to fit along the width of the opening above the radiator. I wanted it to be fairly long because when I'm finished bleeding the air out of the system, I then lift up the rubber hose above the level of the coolant, remove the thing in the last photo above, then slowly lower the hose until the exact height where the coolant is about to spill out, then reinstall the dash 4 plug. It's quite easy, and it eliminates the leaking O-ring problem associated with the top air bleeding tap on the stock radiator.

They're rather sexy aren't they. I'm glad they've upgraded the drain bung. Mine came with a plastic 'cock' which you have to wreck to get out. I have the upgraded replacement but while it's still sealed in not excited about opening it up.

My wife has a plastic cock too!

5SGTE
They're rather sexy aren't they. I'm glad they've upgraded the drain bung. Mine came with a plastic 'cock' which you have to wreck to get out. I have the upgraded replacement but while it's still sealed in not excited about opening it up.

i have the same rad, snapped that plastic plug right off. pos

Awesome news, did you end up getting some turning fog lights? That radiator looks awesome and yep I do hate that leaking o-ring. I might go a similar set up when the car requires it. 

Yeah my friend sold me some steering foggies :-)