The 80's Called; It Wants It's Pimpmobile Back. AW11 Resto. PIC HEAVY.

[wigwambam]

I bought a car! More of a project monster actually. The devil is in the details with older cars and this is an example of where the devil pissed down from the sky attempting to ruin what COULD be the coolest car I have ever or possibly will ever own!

...COOL

How fucking awesome is this thing to drive? Weeeell it's not gonna pin you to the back of your seat but you may find yourself slipping out sideways owing to the PURE G-FORCES this little bastard can punish you with. Even on standard suspension and a different shit ditchfinder on each corner the grip is awesome. Like a go-kart. Much balance. SERIOUS.

As always there's a catch though. THIS MR2 IS FUCKING RUSTY AS OLD BALLS on the sills. I have gone from chuckling to full on LOLZ now every time I work on the car and always seem to be left with the same massive pile of rusty chunks afterwards. A slight skim over with the wirebrush revealed the terrifying truth about the outer sills, but the passenger side inner is also FUUUUCKED...

So...err...Yeh. I know it looks fucked to the nth degree, but actually you don't have to look very far to find good steel. This car's biggest problems have been caused by previous repairs. In some places this car has not rusted once and looks as though it just rolled off the production line, In other places IT HAS RUSTED TWICE!

Driver's side...

Just a quick note to say that if your grinder is making weird noises perhaps stop and check how tight the screws on the gearbox are BEFORE the magic slime escapes and sprays all over everywhere. The wirebrush attachments might be a bit hardgoing for entry level grinders as you tend to use them for extended periods and the unbalanced nature of them loosens everything, including fillings and wrist cartilage...

 

[wigwambam]

Winky

ROBOT TEEF

From some angles this thing looks like the battle ravaged hulk of an interstellar cruiser. So much wedge.

Passenger's side...

The passenger side of the car also has a patch but it would seem that the welds are less spattery and more regularly spaced. This could be the same person on both sides, this being the later attempt. I often find that the second time I do a job is when I can really get a hold of it and the importance of practice particularly for welding can't be emphasized enough.

The problem on both sides though is that in spite of the adequate/pretty good bodgery the rust still returned and completely ate it's way through the sides and bottom of the sill in both cases, worst around the middle, but fairly even ****ed all the way down. We are going to need to cut right back to where there is no rust and where hopefully in many cases the factory coatings (which have done their job really well in some places it has to be said) remain in tact. There is good metal not too farfrom the bad, I remain relatively confident about that. This job is actually beginning to feel like it's getting smaller. I think I can see a way through...Tyskie...WTF the garage has run out of TYSKIE again. Why does this always happen when my girlfriend goes away and I do car stuff Ey? EYY?

Some folk wax lyrical about what truly lies at the SOUL of an AW11...such balance, much grip, it's purpose...shopping trolley: yes, track thrasher?! : Quite possibly. I can tell you though one secret special power of the AW11 MR2...







SMUGGLING!

80's cars have cavernous panels where you can transport ALL MANNER of things. Everybody knows that. I have never had firsthand experience of tearing one to bits before now, but some things features of this shell have made me laugh out loud. The whole floor is a bit like a steel monocoque dingy boat. Unlike the MX5, the sill box sections are ENTIRELY HOLLOW as far as I can see, and run more or less from the rear arch, down each side, then curving inwards and upwards in a sort of perculiar bow-like arrangement up to the front subframe. Thankfully from what I can see of the inside, I may have gotten off fairly lightly. Whilst there will need to be some cleaning up what looked like rust through a timy hole with a torch atually turned out to be a sort of Waxoyly goo coating, and much less corrosion than I thought. I still have YET ANOTHER massive pile of rusty chunks of sill on the floor again tonight to add to my gallery. Seriously though the amount of rusty cavities that this car harbours are unbelievable, impressive...truly spellbinding...such rust...so trepidation...much JDM points. The sheer volume of rust according to my previous experience is truly unsurpassed.

Seriously though the amount of rust I have found so far TAKES THE PISS. You would never have known the full extent of it under ALL THAT FILLER. Some areas of the sills were literally held together by the paint!

Fuck ME.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew this time but I am gonna have a bloody good go at getting this baby NSX wannabe back on the road. FOR TEH LOLZ!

 

[PikeyMike]

That's not that bad.

 

[wigwambam]

Agreed! I reckon it's easily saveable with a bit of time and patience. The actual substructure of the thing is pretty much solid apart from a couple of holes in the floor and floor sides. The bits that have rusted are all of the weird protuberances hanging off the car at the extremities. Looks fucked nor, but once the knackered metal is off it's will tidy up quite quickly I reckon. At this stage I need to make loads and loads of cardboard patches until I pretty much have a scale model of both sills to use as templates. AFter that...CHOPPIN

 

[wigwambam]

Oooh did I mention that mechanically this thing is awesome now that I fixed the starter solonoid contacts and stuck a new plunger in. Starts...works...In fact EVERYTHING FUCKING WORKS. The interior is tidy too

 

[chodjinn]

Haha ace, I love Mk1 MR2s, miss my old one a hell of a lot. They are awesome to drive and always get looks. I had one lowered on coilies, upgraded front brakes and a few other odds and sods, went like a scalded cat. Also had a throttle mod to remove the overly complex throttle linkage.

And yes, they are absolute rust monsters unless you keep on top of them. Had the previous-repairs-gone-bad before as well with an MGB, I ended up ditching the whole shell so good luck with this!

 

[docwra]

BTW, MR2's arent pimp. Theres another word for them though .........

Loving your rust pics though

 

[kam]

Fuck me you're brave.
Insane writeup

 

[neil a walker]

I also love the AW11. You can make proper crazy track monsters from them as They are the one of the 3 Toyota sports cars set up by lotus in the mid 80's - so early Elise really. Rust looks pretty familiar to mine when i had it, The sills are always fucked. Those side skirts are the biggest water trap ever created. You can get the Sill repair panels from here in case you didn't know? Along with Sill ends, Rear Arches and rear panels.

MR2 Ben | Replacement Metal Sill Toyota MR2 mk1 1.6L 1984-1989

And rear wheel arch repair panels here
TOYOTA MR2 MK1 REAR WHEEL ARCH REPAIR PANELS | eBay

Bit of inspiration....

 

[SX_BIG]

massivly cool cars - that the last pic above - SWEET! keep at it!

 

[wigwambam]

Wow man, if this one could end up being as tidy as those I would be well chuffed. Cheers for the links, I have been thinking that just ordering the whole lot and doing it all at the same time will hopefully result in a good standard at the end. Mostly I just bought this car for some welding practice and it's looking like I am going to get that IN SPADES.

The underneath of these cars is very interesting, everything looks quite racecar already under there, especially the multilink suspension, the fans at the front and the weird ribbed floor. It's likely I will never be an NSX owner, but one of these is about as close as I will get and for banger money.

I have always loved these cars since I was a kid but I need to try and contain my enthusiasm a bit in the early stages as I am a loooong way from alignment setups and tyre choices!

 

[twiglett]

I managed to find one with no rust on it. Cost me £500 and was a little rocket ship. I lovd it so much that after three weeks of ownership I tried felling a hedge, a fence, a massive double 5 bar gate and a steel gatepost with the drivers side at about 60mph.
It really hurt but to prove how well made they are all I had was a spot of whiplash and a sticky left side of my face after a can of lilt exploded upon impact.
It even stayed running and I drove it to the scrappy the same day.
What a waste of a minter.

 

[chodjinn]

The underneath of these cars is very interesting, everything looks quite racecar already under there, especially the multilink suspension, the fans at the front and the weird ribbed floor. It's likely I will never be an NSX owner, but one of these is about as close as I will get and for banger money.

I have always loved these cars since I was a kid but I need to try and contain my enthusiasm a bit in the early stages as I am a loooong way from alignment setups and tyre choices!

That is the main reason they handle so well, just make sure all the links and joints etc. aren't seized. When I had mine, just before MOT time the rear end went wonky and it was so seized they couldn't loosen it off to set it back, so the option was replace the entire rear cradle (£££) or scrap it. Unfortunately I didn't have any money so sold it to some AW11 horder who owned like 10 of them already. Still the best car I've ever owned and would definitely have one again!

 

[wigwambam]

Sooo you know those sorts of jobs that you make a start on whilst you are waiting for other stuff to happen? That isn't quite how it played out today. I thought i'd just quickly whip the front off and finally get the front wings off whilst waiting for some stripper to do her thing...wrooong. WRONG. 3 hours later, wading through a sea of dead fairies which must have died after hearing the torrent of expletives from the garage and...well lets just say the front is off now and it's not something I am going to be making a habit of. Meh.

Did I mention this thing is fecking rusty?! No? Well it is. Had a couple of 'Oh shit, game over man' moments after peering down the front box section but it's not actually rusted through and doesn't look nearly as bad cleaned up, so hopefully a bit of Bilt Hamber followed by a lot of waxoyly goo might save it for SOME more years. Today I realised it is time I created a revolutionary new tool for these sorts of jobs. Thinking of filing a patent so none of you lot better copy my awesome design...promise?...RIGHT?!

Dafuq you lookin at? Butthead...

Crikey. Having accidentally tasted the sensation that is Toyota 80's flavour crisps I am think I might go into production. I reckon I have a multibag's worth by now. AT LEAST.

Today's final pile is a goodun...

And relax...

Got a lovely evening of starting my scale replica cardboard MR2. Lovely cardboard. That does not rust. Fuckin spiders...

 

[neil a walker]

Make the bumper support bar out of aluminum box section. It's not worth bothering with that.

 

[StusyGTSR]

Great cars and I can only image you pain as the layers of paint came of to reveal that mess.

I just scrapped my R33 gts shell as the dreaded tin worm had turned my sub-frame mounting points to cheese

 

[wigwambam]

Make the bumper support bar out of aluminum box section. It's not worth bothering with that.

I like the cut of your jib, would that work? I don't have a TIG machine yet and a decent AC machine will probably a distant dream for a while so I can't really do that much to the aluminium so it might end up being fairly crude if I do that. Fuck aluminium MIG tho. Hell no. It would still be quite difficult to get the lights to sit properly as they mount directly to the impact beam but if there's some kind of Fred Flintstone method of doing it out of ally I could be using then maybe that would be a good solution.

By the way...what's that thing you have there in your sig pic? Supra? Does it emit rusty biscuits and crisps too? Reason I ask is I am planning on starting a pioneering new brand of EXTREME JDM crisps and snacks. I have harvested many MANY grams from my MR2 but the mixture lacks potency...I could do with a pinch of import Hachi and some scrapings from the underside of an abandoned Ferrari F40, preferably covered in spooky cobwebs in an underground carpark under Shibuya or whatever...jeez man I should proabably sleep some. Trying to summon the willpower to go and make good my cardboard sill bits. Rum seems to help a bit.

 

[wigwambam]

Great cars and I can only image you pain as the layers of paint came of to reveal that mess.

I just scrapped my R33 gts shell as the dreaded tin worm had turned my sub-frame mounting points to cheese

Man yeah, cultivating various cheese, biscuits, crisps and other rusty flavoured snack products is what poor old Jap cars driven on harsh 'orrrible salty Brit roads do best. I thought maybe if I embaced the rustyness it might be empowering or some shit. Now I realise that was in fact a big load of shit and now the shit is FAIRLY NEAR to my doorstep...and even though the shit technically drives I can't move the shit further from the doorstep as it is washed ashore on no t&t beach now dagnammit. 4age bits anyone? get in there before I sober up.

No tyskies were harmed during the editing of this update, now i really need to stop typing shit and go actually DO something.

 

[chodjinn]

Those front bumper bars can be bought in decent condition for peanuts, not really worth spending the time making one yourself.

 

[akinadan79]

I've always liked these and there are of course loads of race series based around them. I haven't had the chance to drive one yet but they must be pretty well balanced, even if a tad underpowered in stock trim.

Keep at it mate, I'm sure it'll be worth it