Model:

1989 mk1b (AW11) Toyota MR2

Engine:

'4A-GE' 1.6 16v engine (122bhp in standard guise)

Gas flowed cylinder head

Janspeed full stainless steel exhaust system

K&N cone filter

Suspension:

Standard

Brakes:

Grooved rear discs

Wheels and Tyres:

Standard "teardrop" 6*14" alloys

Exterior Styling:

Interior Styling:

ICE and Security:

JVC CD headunit

Comments:

130,000 miles on the clock. Full bottom-end rebuild at 120,000 miles inc. re-honed bores, polished crank, new bearings, seals, piston rings. Full gas flowed and rebuilt cylinder head with refaced valves and seats. Previous owner estimates 15% increase above stock power. I'm yet to test this but it will be going on 1/4mile and/or rolling road as soon as possible.

July 2008 update

The car has undergone a partial restoration under my ownership. I've fitted new front wings to both sides and had metal welded in to the sills and rear arches. Deleted the rubbing strips and pinstripes in the process, which has made it look much cleaner in my opinion.

Edited 30 August, 201214 yr by 2Fchris

The 80's rule. Love it mate...'beverley hills cop modding skillz'!

I've already been playing about with the car, I've installed a new automatic aerial because the old one was rusted through and stuck 1/4 of the way up (visible in original pics). I have changed the front speakers for Alpine ones that can handle a bit more bass; not much though as they're tiny like mk3 Polo front speakers.

Edited 19 July, 200818 yr by 2Fchris

sweet ride dude! just watch them wet roundabouts

Awesome! Has the GT gone now though?

'fraid so Al, but it's gone to a good home (someone off the forum)

I made a thread about it in polo chat. Had the MR for just over a week and sold the Polo the same day as I picked this up :)

Sorry to see it go, but this looks like more fun!

I quite fancy a 2 seater after I had one for a week a while ago. Small, chuckable fun.

I know what you mean, ever since I drove a Lotus Elise I had a hungering for a MR car. With the Lotus Elise and VX220 being out of my price bracket I started to be tempted by the MR2, but for sheer 80s retro-ness it had to be a mk1. Luckily I found one without too many bodywork problems, which is an effort with these cars!

Update time. Winter wasn't very kind to my MR2 and rust has appeared over the front wings, along the sills and around the rear wheel arches.

The MOT man failed the car on the sills so I got them to weld them up for me. With the weather geting better my eagerness to fix it up grew stronger so I took it to a local bodyshop to get some quotes. Shocked at how much it was going to cost to just de-rust and repaint the existing body panels (quotes up to £1000) I looked in to some other options.

The plan now is to get stuck in myself. Instead of paying lots to get already rusty panels fixed I have bought 2 completely new fibreglass front wings from Honeybourne Mouldings. The front wings on the MR2 are bolt-on so these will need a bit of prep work and some holes drilling but they will never rust on me!

Then for the rear arches I have got some steel repair sections. The car doesn't look in very bad condition at all to the naked eye but the bodykit hides so much! So I have a friend on hand to weld these sections in. Then I will get it ready for paint.

Edited 19 July, 200818 yr by 2Fchris

Look what lurks under my bodykit

Edited 24 June, 200818 yr by 2Fchris

More of my handywork The pics at the top of the page are now post-respray

Edited 19 July, 200818 yr by 2Fchris

I have just fully restored a mk1 AW11 !!

In silver 1987 - i will post pix as soon as its been buffed!

ahhhh c this most days parked along from my work love the mr2's nice work thanks for the note u left on my old polo by the way!

No worries! Did you get it sold in the end then?

AntDub... would love to see that AW11

looks mint mate

I've also got a toyota corolla project going on too

yeh i did sold it to my mate its now in whiteway....lol

cam covers on the wrong way!!

cam covers on the wrong way!!

haha, what are you talking about!? Maybe the engine was designed with the FR Corolla in mind, so it looks a bit funny in the MR MR2... but then it's mounted longitudinally in those so I dunno!

Edited 17 October, 200817 yr by 2Fchris

i think the rot behind the bodykit is probably the worst I've ever seen!! and i thought i had it bad!

love the look of this motor, the work you have done is inspired! keep it up fella

Damn that car looks clean.

I've had a go in one of these, I thought it was pretty fun and quite a bit better than the early 90's MR2 in the bends which I also looked at buying.

The one I test drove wasn't as clean as that, the sills were rotten and the seats had disintegrated. Interestingly enough, everything else was in good condition, all the electrics worked and did as they were supposed to.

Nice car.