Hi All
 
I thought it was time to post a few pics of our project SW20 now that things are starting to happen. A bit of background info, I bought the car off a friend who had the car sitting in his front for 4 years after the motor spun a con rod bearing and was waiting to fix the motor but never got around to doing it. The main problem wasn't the motor, it was 4years of sun damage to everything especially the interior. I heard about the car for sale and had a quick look and decided that it would be a nice car to teach my boy a few things about working on cars (myself a lot more lol). So that's where the fun begins as you all probably know lol. As I started to strip the layers back I started to find the bad workmanship of the previous owners.
 
The fun then started to try and find replacement parts for what was broken, faded, cracked or beyond repair without breaking the bank. I'm endeavouring to do as much work myself as I love using my hands and learning new things, plus I also like the challenge.
 
Things on the agenda to do to MR2 are :

• Auto manual conversion
• Full respray
• New interior
• New rims
• Engine rebuild
• Side skirts
• Urethane bushes and coilover suspension
• Double Din Sat Nav system
• TRD strut brace ( if I can find one?)

I'll post more pics and updates as things progress
 
Thanks All
 

Latest Update
 
Been busy sand blasting and painting. Starting to put some parts back on the car to be able to get it rolling to the paint shop.
 
New bearings in
new brake calliper kit
new RDA dimple and slotted rotors
new urethane bushes installed

wow you guys move fast.
are you going for a std rebuild or trying to push out a fair bit more on the N/A
good luck with it all guys 
cheers

Looks like good progress, and looks like you're having fun doing it.
Good luck with the rest of it.
But I was surprised see a TRD strut brace on your 'to do' list -  an expensive item for a budget build.
 
 
 

I love how your stripping, prepping and painting all the bits as you go properly. Should look better than factory when your done.

Got her back on all 4 today. Good to see the hard work coming together.
Purple5ive - It will be just a standard rebuild as I'd like it to be reasonably powered for my son when he finally gets to drive it.
Redtarga - I really like the look of the TRD strut brace especially over the standard unit. But I don't think I'd be able to find one especially reasonably priced one.
MCT_MR2 - Its lots of work but I like to try and get things back to new or better. Its very rewarding to see things come out nice.  Hardest thing is trying to get the right colour combos.
 
Here's some pics from todays efforts
 

I like your brakes, shame the wheels cover them up so much really. What size are those rims they look huge!.
 
do you have a spoiler for it?, I have one in the shed at home if you want it, its currently in standard green paint but is in great condition. I was going to put it on ebay and see if i could get anything for it but in the interests of 'budget buildups' you guys can have it if you want it. its the three piece spoiler. I don't know what postage would cost to wollongong but if your interested in it despite the exorbitant asking price let me know and i will get my wife to pull it out and see what size she can package it up into to post it (its located in Newcastle so postage wouldn't be too much you wouldn't think)
 
I have a few things in there so was thinking about doing a clean out if i get the chance to spend a week at home.
 
good luck with the build mate, great to see a father take interest in something like this with his son, its something that he will benefit from greatly during life IMHO. (trust me, I'm 33, never been shown SH!t so have had to learn the very hard and expensive way! haha)
 
cheers.

Cheers Treay81,thanks for the offer but I've got a few rear spoilers already. Where were you earlier LOL? I'm contemplating going spoilerless though. I'm going to paint it up at the same time and see if I like it without first. As for the rims, they are 18" I got from the donor car I bought off a guy. They will do for now as I'm in agreeance with you, they are too busy. I like a simple 5 spoke rim so its easy to clean and you can see the good work done behind them. I've managed to grab/buy a whole heap of parts over the last year to be almost there in needing anything else plus what I can get from the donor car but as I start putting it back together I know I'll need some more stuff. Once I'm done I'll be selling what I've got left over from the donor car which will include the turbo motor and gearbox. Don't worry I'm learning along the way too lol. Still trying to decide whether to go coil overs or standard suspension set up with lowered springs?
 
cheers
 
 

It’s been a while since my last update. Finally got some paint on the body and some panels. Should hopefully have all the painting done in the next few weeks and then it’s time to start to put her back together. It’s been a lot of work sanding, repairing and painting the body. Not to bad how it’s turning out for an amateur who’s never sprayed a car before.

Looking like its coming along nicely it should look great once you finish.
 
I am not sure if you have found a TRD brace yet and if not you may be interested in these:
http://1320performancestore.com/toyota%20mr2%20sw20%20x%20brace%20trd%20strut%20bar