GDII's SW20 MR2

[GDII]

After a few months of having the TRD rear strut brace I wanted to fix up the missing paint on the badge. So out came the paint, some very small brushes and a tooth pick.

Before, flaking paint from all parts except the white.


Red completely removed.


First coat on the stripe.


First go at the TRD text.


And finished. Came out pretty good but not like the factory finish.

 

[GDII]

A couple of random shots of the wheels

 

[MidnightRun85]

Those are sweet wheels! Really suit the car - and the lug nuts sit nice too!

 

[Punknoodle]

Clean as ever!

 

[GDII]

Those are sweet wheels! Really suit the car - and the lug nuts sit nice too!

I like the nuts too. Specific Advan Racing nuts to finish off the wheels nicely. Very light but still steel for strength.

Clean as ever!

My OCD would have to disagree. Second photo, the spoke with the Advan sticker on it, the black specs in the side is brake dust from a 42km drive. It's so hard to keep new wheels clean. Easy to clean them but they get dirt on them so fast. I take each wheel off to clean them that's how OCD I am.

 

[Punknoodle]

I like the nuts too. Specific Advan Racing nuts to finish off the wheels nicely. Very light but still steel for strength.


My OCD would have to disagree. Second photo, the spoke with the Advan sticker on it, the black specs in the side is brake dust from a 42km drive. It's so hard to keep new wheels clean. Easy to clean them but they get dirt on them so fast. I take each wheel off to clean them that's how OCD I am.

Lol you couldn't have watched me clean mine. Hose, bucket with soapy water, microfibre mitt then chamois. Done. Never spent too long on it!

 

[GDII]

Argh!!!! Lol, I get it though. Sometimes it's just not worth going all out with the clean. It still looks really nice though.

 

[Paulie]

My wheels are NEVER that clean!

 

[Ibonibo]

Amazing work done on your mr2 👍

And some of those pics ... Those beach shots

 

[MidnightRun85]

My wheels are NEVER that clean!

Neither! Who has the time to keep every aspect of their car utterly spotless!

Good from far, but far from good. That's how mine stays. Lol.

 

[GDII]

My wheels are NEVER that clean!

Neither! Who has the time to keep every aspect of their car utterly spotless!

Good from far, but far from good. That's how mine stays. Lol.

I have time. Too much time. Plus new wheels that are protected properly and ones with a simple design are easy to clean. The BBS wheels were a nightmare.

Amazing work done on your mr2 👍

And some of those pics ... Those beach shots

Thanks man. The more photos the better.


A quick update on some more detailing.

I made another batch of CarPro PERL diluted to 1:2 Water : PERL. This time it's a big stronger so more gloss and it should last a bit longer.

Not many photos of all the parts I did but I'll cover them off below.

All the rubber trim/seals for the doors and T-Top. The trim around the top and sides of the front window. Seals around the boot and frunk. A few engine bay parts to be done again. The plastic panel above the radiator and the cover around the spare wheel. These came out well.


Before I did the spare wheel panel. The radiator panel has already been done.


After


Before


After


And the cover after it was done.

 

[GDII]

The weather has been extremely bad this weekend but finally cleared up a bit. Very very heavy rain causing flooding in a lot of places around the country. So I've spent a bit of time in the garage trying to escape the weather but it leaks so not too easy.

Cleaned up a few external rubber parts then managed to get it out of the garage to wash off the dust and hand prints I put all over it.





That beading!




Could be better. Needs more Hydro2 Lite.










CarPro DLUX makes cleaning and drying the honeycomb rear grille way easier than before.

 

[Bram Turismo]

This page is porn.

How do you clean your Toyota logo? I'm seeing people using a brush, but I am extremely stressed about scratching the paintwork if I would use a brush.

 

[GDII]

This page is porn.

How do you clean your Toyota logo? I'm seeing people using a brush, but I am extremely stressed about scratching the paintwork if I would use a brush.

I actually find it hard to clean the badges. I try using a cloth with polish on it. Mostly because I don't have the correct type of brush to do it. If I did I'd use one.
If you use the correct brush and lots of soap to lubricate it you won't scratch it. Pro detailers use brushes.

 

[SVX]

I actually find it hard to clean the badges. I try using a cloth with polish on it. Mostly because I don't have the correct type of brush to do it. If I did I'd use one.
If you use the correct brush and lots of soap to lubricate it you won't scratch it. Pro detailers use brushes.

Tooth brush!

 

[GDII]

Tooth brush!

I know you aren't serious but... maybe a soft one. The only problem with a tooth brush is it has short bristles making it far too easy to hit the handle on the paint.
I use them all the time for cleaning engine bay parts because they are around the house to be used once they wear out from their original purpose.

 

[MidnightRun85]

This page is porn.

How do you clean your Toyota logo? I'm seeing people using a brush, but I am extremely stressed about scratching the paintwork if I would use a brush.

Just get in there with a cloth, same way you'd do your bodywork. Gotta be patient, but it's worth it! I do it on the model numbers on my car, makes them pop!

 

[Ibonibo]

For the brushes, just go in a DIY shop and take the softest one. It won't scratch. I have "pro-detailers" brushes made from some kind of plastic, to be chemical resistant and they are harder than the soft painting ones...

There are 3 types:

Soft one (non chemical resistant)

Foam ones:

And the chemical resistant ones:

 

[GDII]

More fixes for the MR2.

Ever since I got the car the up and down function on the left door mirror didn't work. So recently I bought another mirror with motors and wires thinking it might be wiring or a dead motor in the mirror itself. Plugged it in, pressed the buttons but no go. So that lead me to wires.

Pulled out the trusty USDM wiring diagram and went searching. Found the circuit then tested the applicable wires in the drivers door loom first.
No need to test the ground wire as the left and right function work and both functions are connected to one ground wire. Tested the blue wire, that has continuity so tested the light green wire, this one did not. So this meant there was a broken wire in the drivers door loom in the left side mirror circuit, obviously the light green wire. As most people know by now, SW20 drivers door looms tend to break in the rubber bellow between the door and body.

Next step was to take apart the door card and pulling the loom out of the car body and through the door speaker hole.

Excuse the terrible photos this time. Using my other camera that is worse than most mid range price cellphones.




You have to remove the purple tape to get the bellow off the area where the wires break.




This would be why the circuit never worked. All the other wires look fine though. But I also have just had the inner door light stop working. Looked at the red with white wire I found not to work but no breaks in it. Very odd.


Turns out the pin has corroded in the plug where it hooks into the body loom. So now looking for another plug with this style of pin with wires to fix this problem.


Back to fixing the light green wire for the mirror, run a piece of wire through the bellow to pull the wire back into place as when I pulled the bellow off it took the end of the wire with it. Hook the wire into the little loop I made on the end and pull it back through.




Instead of soldering which can cause the wire to break at the end of the solder joint if moved too much I opted for crimping in a new connector.

After that I taped up bits as required and put the bellow back in place and threaded the loom back through the door and into the body.


What a mess.


You can see that the pin in the middle row on the left is missing. I took it out so I can potentially insert another one and wire it back to the existing wire.

 

[GDII]

While looking around at the fuse box in the kick panel I found a plug that isn't used.

It has a Red, Red with Blue, Grey and White with Black wire. one wire is connected to the 20A Wiper fuse so my best guess is it's for the optional extra Rain Sensor. It's not in the USDM wiring diagram so I need to find a JDM wiring diagram to answer this and the other plug I found up in the dash that is connected to the interior lighting.

Sorry about the terrible photos.

 

[MidnightRun85]

While looking around at the fuse box in the kick panel I found a plug that isn't used.

It has a Red, Red with Blue, Grey and White with Black wire. one wire is connected to the 20A Wiper fuse so my best guess is it's for the optional extra Rain Sensor. It's not in the USDM wiring diagram so I need to find a JDM wiring diagram to answer this and the other plug I found up in the dash that is connected to the interior lighting.

Sorry about the terrible photos.

Would make sense if it's for an unused extra option. They usually install all the wires and connections for all available options but don't finish off the circuit where the option isn't selected when the car is ordered.

 

[GDII]

I purchased a pair of GEN3-5 rear top hats from a local MR2 club member that I think he got from a wreck at Pick A Part or Zebra.
I wanted to source some because they have longer studs than the GEN1 and GEN2 top hats. This way I can have the TRD strut brace AND install a modified version of my engine lid gas strut bracket. The struts I purchased from him that had the TRD springs from the GEN3 were only GEN2 hats. The GEN3 car had the GEN2 hats because when the car was brought into the country it had coilovers on it. The dealer would have sourced standard struts not knowing the difference and found anything that would fit. They extended the studs for the reinforcement plates the GEN3-5 cars had.

He even supplied the nuts which are far nicer than my rusty ones. Still silver.
So now I have all 3 types of Toyota OEM top hats for the SW20. GEN1, GEN2 and GEN3-5.

Part number is 48750-17040




You can see here the studs are quite long. 6mm longer to be exact. 20mm GEN1 and 26mm GEN3-5. GEN2 are the same 20mm but the build of the centre of the hat is a bit different. Stronger construction.

 

[GDII]

I've been using the MR2 as a daily for the last 2 weeks. It's good to be able to drive it every day.

So naturally the car gets dirty so needed a wash.


Before. The top of the car stayed very clean due to the Hydro2 Lite that I applied 2 weeks ago to boost the protection.






A few water spots from the leaky garage roof.


The sides bottom of the car got a lot more dirt stuck on them but wipes off easy.


Dirty exhaust tip with a bit of melted on road tar. This actually just wiped off because I have that CarPro DLUX stuff applied to it.

The wheels looked the worst. Lots of road grime and brake dust.


Front wheels not so bad off. Less water and dirt from the road lifts up at the front. The rears get all the dirt however.

Still surprisingly clean for the weather we have had and how far I drive.

Leading edge of the spokes gets covered in dirt while the trailing edge stays clean.

Leading


Trailing


Rears are far more dirty especially around the area where the spoke meets the rim.


Again the leading edge gets all the dirt.


While the trailing edge remains clean.


A spray down with water, most of the paint beads the water except for around the bottom where most of the dirt is.




Hydro2 Lite doing it's job on the paint and windows and assisting the DLUX on the black trim.


After a full wash just before moving it into the garage to dry it off.






I never put any protection on the centre caps until 2 weeks ago. Spray with Hydro2 Lite for an easy application rather than a paste wax leaving white residue behind on the brushed centres. Works very well.


Beading bonnet.

 

[GDII]

I picked up some more free carpet tiles from work as they were going to be thrown out.
This time they are grey 1000x250mm tiles rather than 500x500mm. about half of them had a diagonal cut on one end due to the way they met up with a wall. This worked out fine as laying them end on end would mean the tiles match up perfect. The 'stains' on the red is just water from the MR2 after I put it inside to dry it off.


First attempt at laying them. Mostly to figure out how many I had and how much of the garage floor it would cover.


Then I decided to change things up and go for a stripped and chequered look across the whole floor.

Much better. The right hand side ended up a bit wonky due to the red tiles I cut being not quite 500mm in one way. I cut them all at 250mm but then realised I messed that one up. Not prefect but not a problem really.

Credit to @SVX. Can't quite put my finger on why though since I haven't seen him since yesterday and I did this today. My brain has gone a little fuzzy.

Spoiler

"I fail at photo editing so asked him kindly to do some blurry for me."

 

[Punknoodle]

That floor looks pretty freakin cool. I'm too messy to have that, I'd have stains all through it from oil and coolant etc. Epoxy coating makes it easy for me to clean up after myself lol.

 

[GDII]

That floor looks pretty freakin cool. I'm too messy to have that, I'd have stains all through it from oil and coolant etc. Epoxy coating makes it easy for me to clean up after myself lol.

Free stuff is good and can just be thrown out if it gets that bad. I'd lift it all off the floor if I do go to do messy work like oil and coolant.
Epoxy is definitely a good solution and I'll do that when I own a property myself.

 

[MidnightRun85]

That garage floor is stylin!

 

[GDII]

Today I installed the 'new' nuts from the GEN3-5 rear top hats. Still need to install the top hats themselves but that can wait.
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gdiis-sw20-mr2.209447/page-19#post-11782538


Existing nuts on the right hand side with the side panel removed.


Worst one is all brown. Damn you iron oxide!!


Old top. New bottom.


New installed.

Lets go all out and repeat for the left side.....

Existing nuts on the left hand side with the side panel removed.


Worst one is all brown. Damn you iron oxide!!


That's better


Old top. New bottom.


New installed. As you can see they have no extra length left to add an engine lid gas strut bracket on but an extra 6mm will do fine with the GEN3-5 studs.

Looks much nicer.




You can see the difference here for the stud length

 

[GDII]

Bonus tyre shot

 

[GDII]

Small update on the Demio

I wanted to get a pair of OEM speakers for the rear doors so I managed to find a pair at Pick A Part. They were from the pre facelift version but identical to the facelift so fit.


Only paper cones but OEM was what I was after.


25W but work well. I suspect the power sent to the rear speakers is lower than the front as the levels being even front to back they are far more quiet. But adjusting that brings them back to even if required.


On the car were some blacking plates to help with sound deadening in the doors where speakers weren't present.


Remove these to install the speakers of course.


I had previously looked behind the door cars to ensure I could install these without having to run new wires. I suspected I wouldn't have to due to the factory stereo having fade controls in it already and the door cards had speaker grilles too. The plug was taped up along with the wires to the rest of the door loom.


When you untape the plug the wires to it are folded in the exact right places to be hooked around the clips on the door panel to go down to the speaker.


There is also a bit of foam to go into the slot of the door panel to allow the wires to get to the back of the speaker.


Installed