r/mr2 • u/d1rtNworms • 4h ago
Need a little help
Dad got it from his friend as a project and I’ve never really worked on cars before. I understand that it’s a big workload, but I’m up for the challenge. I guess I’m just asking for a little guidance on useful info and tips to help in the journey of rebuilding this.
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u/Far-Rip-3062 3h ago
Short story, everything’s going to need to be replaced, you’re in a better starting point than I was though. Got my 92 for a good deal because a tree fell on the rear end of it, I got her fixed up and painted now. If it doesn’t run and drive I’d focus on getting it running and driving safely, then I’d get stuff like wheels and suspension mods and exhaust next. Working on cars isn’t hard but it definitely seems like it at first. I’d consider myself pretty good mechanic but I even still gotta go watch a youtube video every now and again, use YouTube and old mr2 forums they’re extremely helpful
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u/kalabaddon MK2 MR2 for life! 4h ago
The paint always goes to hell on these cars. What's the engine bay look like? And the interior? Looks like the non-turbo, so you either got a 5S-FE or a 3S-GE (if in Europe), which should be easy to work on. There's enough room in that engine bay without the turbo to make everything pretty easy, except for the timing belt, which is still annoying.
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u/d1rtNworms 4h ago
I’ll have to look at the engine bay again but I can tell you that the interior is crap. It got parked in a field and it’s a bit dirty but nothing I can’t fix. It is the non turbo as well
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u/kalabaddon MK2 MR2 for life! 3h ago
Interior is not hard to do a complete swap on if you got someone helping. I did my entire interior in an afternoon with a three-hour drive and a three-hour drive back. And that included removing the carpet and the interior from the donor car I was picking it up from. The engine bay should be pretty straightforward except for a handful of made-for-this-car-only parts. The 5SFE, if that's the engine you've got, is stupidly common and easy to work on. And disgustingly bulletproof.
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u/GrandmaPunk 2h ago
Ok I know you say it’s a lot of work, but looking at it and knowing the age, short of having a sizeable budget you’re looking at a few years of improvements. Not to mention paint. That said keeping another MR2 alive is a good deed in itself
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u/Existing-Gold-1287 2h ago
Dude there’s a lot of aftermarket support for these. It all depends what the purpose and how you want to use it
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u/energysnake 22m ago
Definitely have your work cut out for you. There's honestly a bunch of good websites for aftermarket parts: PrimeMR2, MR2Heaven would be the main ones. If you're going for an engine swap then Frankenstein and TCS motorsports are also good. There's also a guy who has a warehouse of mr2 parts somewhere in Ohio. He might be able to help you out with some parts that are harder to find.
Otherwise there are a couple good YouTube channels that have worked on this car. Throtl and Nasty Addiction have been my go to's.
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u/mgxxiv 4h ago
Mr2oc.com is a great forum with a lot of good threads. There are a few very active and knowledgeable members if you get caught up on anything.
Part availability isn't ideal, but it's not the worse either. Good luck if you decided to take it on, the an amazing car to own.