Diaries of the Noob Mechanic: Fuzzydunlop's '85 MR2

[Harrod]

My uncle used to have a silver one that had the black spoiler and air inlet, it was a pretty sweet looking car. While he admitted that his car had it's fair share of problems he always insisted that its production was executed way better than the fiero's.

 

[yhelothar]

You can do an amazing job with a shaker can if you wet-sand. A buddy of mine in college painted most of the panels on his car with a shaker can, then wet sanded them with 2000 grit IIRC. The results:

He had not wet-sanded the roof yet, but had sanded the hood.

Agreed. Here's one I did with the rustoleum. I wet sanded with 600 and started the rubbing compound. I probably could've saved some work with the polishing if I sanded down to 2000. But it wasn't too difficult to buff it out.

 

[yhelothar]

Found this for OP : http://forums.bcmr2.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=9837

wtf he did all that work just to sell it?

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Short update : more of a teaser trailer than anything.

Talked with a local guy who used to paint cars and he gave me a few tips and tricks. He also owns the local Napa so he sold me paint and clear coat the other day.
On saturday I had to work till 2:00p.m., but had the afternoon off so I washed, sanded and prepped the MR2 for paint.
Today, I started at 11:00am and pounded out paint the whole day till 10:00pm. It was a warm 85 degrees here today and was PERFECT for painting.
I'd slap on a thin layer of paint, then come inside and play a couple rounds of World of Tanks, then go back out and repeat. Worked good.
The silver I recieved from NAPA is quite a bit lighter than I had expected but its growing on me. It GLOWS in in the light and I am pleased with the results I am getting. I mean, ya, it still looks like a home garage paint job, mostly due to some dust and a few runs, but its 100x better than what was on there, and "I" am happy with it and thats what matters.
I would have pieced more of it together to get a better photo for you, but the mosquitoes were eating me alive, and the light was getting low... so heres a teaser.

EDIT: I found a little bit of paint blew thru my masking and is on the rear window... whats the best solution to strip that? Razor blade?

 

[Black2na]

with enough wet sanding and buffing even the first paint job can be made to look awsome give it a few days and go on after it so much work now why stop till its awsome dont sell all your hard work short sad part it bad paint makes good bodywork look like crap. so wet sand and buff it. and yes best way is to remove overspray on windows is either fine steel wool and window cleaner or a new sharp single sided razor blade

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

You need a new exhaust, if only the tip, as that current one looks, well, limp.

ya, a muffler hanger came loose before I took that photo. Ive put in a new muffler since then. It looks good and is quiter but I am unimpressed with the sound. Not throaty enough.


As it turns out Nissan has two different silvers that they call "Sparkling Silver". There is the KL0 Sparkling Silver, which is what I have, and then there is WV2 Sparkling Silver which is what the MR2 in the photos above has. The WV2 is more Pewter than silver... Im not disappoint though because this color is growing on me. I just rolled out my car into the sun to let it bake a little and I am happy with it. Ill take a photo when I have its all done... dont want to spoil it! If only these daily thunderstorms would stop.

 

[Black2na]

damnit fuzzy were are my outside shots!

 

[Kroze]

I'm going to steal your car :O

 

[Zargon]

*droooooooooooooooool*

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

damnit fuzzy were are my outside shots!

lulz!
I finally have a day off today where it is not humid nor threat of rain.
Car should be fully painted by tomorrow evening.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

OK guys. Found my old digital camera and charged the batteries for you. Here are a few shots for you. The hood needs to be redone again because the uneven paint is WAY to obvious. I also need to redo the trunk lid. The whole car needs to be wetsanded and polished, but I am waiting a few days to let the paint cure.
So as promised. Photos.

^^My Guard Kitty
There are a tonne of minor things that need to be done to make it look 'just right', but for now Im satisfied.

 

[JCH13]

Looks fantastic :thumbsup:

 

[bbs lm-r]

Looking good man.

Are those vents past the passenger side door? Looks kinda weird.

 

[jlee]

Yeah, there's an intake vent on the passenger side of the engine bay.

 

[manimal]

Man that car! Nice!!!! I had one of those in the early nineties and daily drove it in southern california. I would buy that car back for twice what I sold it now in a heartbeat.



Dont you wish they could make a bone simple new small sports car like that and charge 10K for it!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Yeah, there's an intake vent on the passenger side of the engine bay.

It is supposed to only turn on while the car is in nuetral, so in theory that while at a stop light or in stop and go traffic the car wont over heat. Mine doesnt work, I havent had a problem with overheating.

Man that car! Nice!!!! I had one of those in the early nineties and daily drove it in southern california. I would buy that car back for twice what I sold it now in a heartbeat.

Dont you wish they could make a bone simple new small sports car like that and charge 10K for it!

Thanks.
The problem with cheap two seaters is that they cant sell the volume to make up for the cheap price. Its a niche market.

Here is some wet sanding pics from today. I tried to dent some areas with a penny: the doors, roof, and trunk didnt leave marks, which I think would mean the clear coat is cured enough. Rear quarter panels, engine bay lid, and bumpers I will leave for a few more days.

Pre-wetsanding: extreme orange peel due to cheap spraygun/compressor.

Wet sanded 800, then upped to 2000 grit paper. I used dawn dish soap in a pail of water. Then also had a old Windex spray bottle that I used to spray the surface down. It took a LOT of sanding, but well worth it.

After some medium polish compound.

Now I need to buy some high polish compound and really go at it, but the difference is already incredible.

Also: Now added to the list for future projects. new clutch and flywheel installation. Should be in the mail tomorrow.
Exedy Racing - Stage 2 Cerametallic Clutch Kit
Fidanza Flywheel - Aluminum
Found a good deal for the two of them together shipped and took it. Kinda excited to start getting deaper into the MR2.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Looking good!

 

[yhelothar]

You made that old beater into a sexy thing!

 

[Black2na]

awsome! but lose the dish soap when you wet sand and buff all its doing is lubing up the panel and making your sanding more difficult that and change the 800 for 1000 makes the scratches WAYYYYY easier to remove when you sand with 2000. besides that looking awsome

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

awsome! but lose the dish soap when you wet sand and buff all its doing is lubing up the panel and making your sanding more difficult that and change the 800 for 1000 makes the scratches WAYYYYY easier to remove when you sand with 2000. besides that looking awsome

thanks man. I was wondering how necessary the soap was. I think it helps alot with preventing build up on the surface of the paper, but if Im using the spray bottle to clean the bottom of the paper every now and then, then the soap is not necessary. I will attempt this when I get a chance.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

I've been busy. Heres whats happened recently.

Removed the EGR out of the car - Im pretty sure it wasnt working anyways. After a little research I found out the parts are not necessary, wont interfer with performance, will increase throttle response, and are pretty much useless because the CPU only turns it on at a certain rpm level at a certain temperature at a certain speed at a certain level of acceleration. In otherwords rarely - this ugly thing is outa here.

BEFORE

The parts removed never to return to the car (Unless we need to start meeting strict emissions levels)

Inside the valve - ew.

AFTER

Also changed the fuel filter - which Im sure has not been done in a long long long time.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

so that ^^ was a couple of days ago. Im sick of wetsanding for now, so tonight I changed pace a little and started to get deeper into the MR2. Tomorrow I am expecting a delivery of my Clutch and Flywheel, so tonights I did this.

I am photodocumenting the whole process so that I can hopefully create a photo guide for future noob MR2 owners looking to change their clutch/flywheel. I am really tired right now because it was A LOT of work getting it to this stage... Im just concerned about how I am going to be able to get the darned transmission back on to engine... ah heck is heavy.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Old flywheel - something like 18.5 lbs. -check out all those hot spots and cracks!
New Flywheel. - 9 lbs.
ooooh yaaa!
Managed to get the new flywheel and clutch install last night. Even managed to lift and bolt on the transaxle by myself. Was sweating pretty hard and my knees and elbows are bruised. I straddled the transaxle between my legs and lifted up on the mounts with my knees while pushing from the back with my hands. After about half an hour of struggling like this I finally was able to get it aligned and wiggled into place. Big grin. Feel like a man. Now I just hope it works... but it should... i followed a very detailed guide from youtube about installing a new clutch in a Civic Si - everything pretty much looked exactly the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeo_Rm0O3gs

 

[Zargon]

nice!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

New clutch installed. Grabs like a 3 year old in a candy store. Love it. Think I have whiplash though.
Only issue is that I am sometimes having a hard time getting it into gear due to a common problem with the slave cylinder not pushing the fork far enough to disengage the aftermarket clutch. (holy shnikies, I would have never understood what that meant four months ago!). So I had to buy an extended slave cylinder push rod. Should be in the mail tomorrow.
Its hard to take it easy on the new clutch - I know Im supposed to break it in for 750miles, but damn, thats a long 750 miles.
Oh and with the light weight flywheel - its like Ive dropped 400lbs off the car.