AW11 K20a2 Project Phoenix

[Lawrenceselly]

The Beginning

Welcome to my, so far, 2 year project.

In April 2016 I found an AW11 MR2 in dire need of saving when I went to a lockup owned by one of my dad's friends.

A plan was hatched, and for the small sum of £50 I saved it from its airsoft playground grave.

It was a right state, but once we pulled it out of the barn to the clear light of day. Everything started to get a bit clearer.

I then started the mammoth task of stripping it back to start the restoration process.

The Plan

Engine

K20a2 using Hux racing mounts. Sourced from an EP3 Type R
Hondata or similar engine management

Chassis

Polybushed all round
Adjustable control arms where available
Coilovers
Everything that is serviceable will be removed, blasted, Pol15'd, sprayed, and placed back on the car.

Body

Front:
New, lighter front end by using
fiberglass wings
original bumpers
new front lip from Woodsport (Buddy Club)

Rear:
repair original wings
Twin exhaust tips, total JDM style, CT Fist test approved

All over:
Rust repaired
Pol15 coated

Interior

Zilla bucket seats ( I wished! now its going to be MK4 Golf wingbacks )
Android head unit + Amplified mini stereo system

Engine Bay

Detailed and cleaned, all wiring will be hidden where possible.
Shaved, and moved to frunk where possible.

Colour and Wheels

Porsche Adriatic blue (possibly now Ford Nitrous Blue)
Black / Carbon Detailing

3SDM 0.05 16" wheels // 9" Rear , 8" front.

A few things have deviated from this plan, but stay tuned for the rest of the build log so far.

 

[Lawrenceselly]

The Tear Down

I started to tear down the car, and pack and bag quite a lot of it.

I think most of you are used to rusty bolts and stiff joints. But this took it to another level.

I sold the engine on eBay, it had a few upgrades, but mostly stock. Ended up shipping it to portugal for a cool £200.

A rust free boot! How rare!!

After a few days of dismantling, we got to the big lump.

Engine crane required:

Obligatory MR2 owners pic:

Scrap bin started to grow

Engine off to portugal

Control arms removed

Interior out

Front dismantled

on to the restoration process...

 

[Lawrenceselly]

The Restoration

Tools required!

and put to good use!

Fuel tank out, and cleaned up

Rust removed by grinder

HVAC system, cleaned and restored

Interior metalwork POR15'd

Back together

Did some painting too

and got flocked up

Steering rack restored

Interior cleaned and returned (so it made more room in storage)

Floors coated with POR15

Metal work to get welded on

Undercoating started

Powdercoated pieces thrown back up

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Restoration Pt. 2

Lets bolt on some shiney stuff.

Old wheels tested for fitment.

Back to bodywork

Fuel tank restored.

Walbro 500 fitted and back up it goes

Battery relocation started

Speaker wiring too

And a bit more future rust prevention

refurbished lights

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Restoration Pt. 3

Slightly modifying.

Adding rear arch extensions (Woodsport)

And smoothing them into the original side skirts

MK3 MR2 shifter fitted to use adapter for K20a2

Gear knob is a bit crappy, so lets upgrade that!

Back to bodywork

And some new panels that will stay good looking for a long time!

I also picked up an exhaust system I want to use! So lets make it fit!

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Engine Pt. 1

Picked it up from a breaker, 80k miles on the clock (and I've got the clocks to prove it)

Stripped and sent a few bits to get sandblasted

New steel sump, because its going to be quite low!

did some painting

Even got as far as painting the car!

Notice the exahaust is standing on its own, no more wood!

Engine partially assembled, with a new headgasket

and with the addition of a timing chain, and a wiring loom

Ready to go!

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Restoration Pt. 4

Lets carry on with that bodywork!

Added some new bushes, and removed a few stubborn bolts!

Did a bit of wiring

and made the Civic clocks fit the AW11 frame

Did a bit of full assembly as the rear wheels arrived.

Then made a battery bracket.

Because guess what arrived from the USA

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Fitting the engine

Before we can get there, lets get our wiring game on... it is winter after all! (well it was then..)

Got myself a gearbox, just came attached to another engine -_-

oooh! look, stage 2 clutch with lots of meat on it!

Flywheel on!

Mounts on!

Lets get it in there!

Lets get an exhaust mocked up.

Sitting on its own now.

Wiring pain has started

radiator in!

AND That is everyone caught up! Onto the present day.

 

[Lawrenceselly]

The last week

Over the years I've learnt to hate my front bumper, I want to go back to stock.

I got this bumper with the shocks and first set of wheels for a steal!

So lets swap back to the original!

WAY Better!

Just ordered the missing side pieces (in fibreglass of course)

Just waiting on those, and in the background I've started the bodywork train back up again. So stay tuned for more updates. Until then.

Shed open

Sound system turned up to 11!

Check the dog's pulse

Then:

Fill
Sand
Clean
Repeat

Loz out.

 

[jon07043278]

Cool write up

 

[Darren-C]

Savage write up, some serious work done.

 

[ShaunV90]

Never been a fan of these but this thing is changing my mind. Looking forward to more.

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Started painting today. Bit of hard work, and effort, dismantling the car ready to put onto stands, truss, poles, benches... pretty much anything i had lying around that fit the bill.

You just don't realise how many pieces there are... untill you put them on the floor

Masked up the car

And made a modern art sculpture in my tent XD

I call it "foreshadowing"

Off to BTCC tomorrow! See you there if you're going!

Loz out.

 

[lowanslow]

some work done on this. different man i like it

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Been painting a LOT, and I also picked a Colour.

As far as I know, its the 2nd time someone has chosen this colour, and its utterly gorgeous.

Ford Grabber Blue

Just got to paint the rest of it now!

And throw on some clear coat, that's just base.

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Added the clear coat, and god does it make it pop

I got a few more pieces done today, and I forgot the strip across the top of the windscreen! So I finished that off too.

Had to start attaching pieces to make room on the benches for all the little things!

But the defining moment of the day, was bolting the wings on.

Its getting closer!!

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Couple of pictures to share:

Front on, Doors on, Glass in, trim on. and just waiting on some J-type rubber seal to go around the side skirts and over-fenders.

Then that frees up all of the stands ready for the Bonnet, boot, and engine lid to get painted.

Then... It's done!... for painting anyway

Just:
- Seats
- Driveshafts
- Gear Linkage
- Front Brake hoses
- Cooling fans

Then its ready for some tracking, and an MOT.

 

[Jackula]

Couple of pictures to share:

Front on, Doors on, Glass in, trim on. and just waiting on some J-type rubber seal to go around the side skirts and over-fenders.

View attachment 282418

View attachment 282419

Then that frees up all of the stands ready for the Bonnet, boot, and engine lid to get painted.

Then... It's done!... for painting anyway

Just:
- Seats
- Driveshafts
- Gear Linkage
- Front Brake hoses
- Cooling fans

Then its ready for some tracking, and an MOT.

Sick! As others has said, not my favourite car in the world but what an example this will be when it’s done! Lots of effort mate, hope it all pays of for you .

 

[Lawrenceselly]

Hi all, life has been happening again. Getting in the way of fun stuff.

Also other cars have also been getting in the way too... but not in a good way either.

The Mrs was hit by a van with some bull bars. So shes had a complete new bumper and tailgate installed this weekend

Just need to wire up the new parking sensors that came with the bumper!

I've also been having a lot of fun with my Audi.
The dual mass flywheel went, so I ordered a Sachs one for £320, and installed it. Great.

Untill I turned it over, and it sounded like a bag of spanners! and the clutch wouldn't disengage.

Turns out it was a maufacturing defect and the insides of the new flywheel had basically shattered, so I've asked for a Single mass kit instead, so I'm currently waiting for that to arrive, along with a £200 refund for the busted one.

Unfortuently for my parents, its going to be sat like that all week, as work is sending me away tomorrow!

BUT

I have managed some time on the two, obviously not much spare cash or time to throw at it right now, but I managed to:

- Finish all the side skirts and arches.

- I've also gotten all of the last pieces left to paint and set them all up ready for some time, and weather, to become available.

- I've also stripped out the engine loom again, just to tidy it up as I made a lot of dodgey connections when diagnosing things, so thats sat in a bag in my room waiting for a rainy day.

Not much left to do now, my list is:

• Tidy wiring loom
• order and fit new driveshafts
• order and fit gear linkage from H-tune
• retrieve seats from storage and fit those
• still waiting on my crash bar to come back from the galvanisers
• fit electric fans to radiator and wire up
• fit 25mm spacers to rear wheels
• MOT, insure, and tax.

Better crack on!

 

[keef247]

love everything about this build mate bar the wheels but that's personal preference. I think a set of regamasters or work miester's would suit more or reps of either, regas keep the honda theme too. the blue is spot on too