I think this thread is quite overdue. I've posted up pics and people from the forum have seen, ridden in and driven my car but I wanted to share the journey of how it got to where
it is and keep updating this thread as it's continually improved and refined. The car in
question is my 1984 P-type: Super Red, gray leather, 7MGTE, W58, etc. etc. etc. I think one
of the most important things someone can hopefully take away from my experiences and my MK2
is that a project car like this doesn't come together overnight. There are many setbacks and
frustrating moments that generally happen over several years. I purchased this particular
car only last spring however most of the parts and knowledge were "harvested" from my old
white 1982 7MGTE car (that I totalled). So really the history and developement (if you want
to call it that) of the '84 as it sits now goes back to at least 2002! I will try and get
this up to date ASAP but it might take a couple days and posts so please bear with me
If you have questions or comments, by all means post 'em up. I like others feedback, it
may help think about something in a different way and lead to a change or solution that
otherwise wouldn't have ocurred to me.
First, here's the "donor" car, it was fun and the first 7MGTE swapped MK2 in WNY/S.Ontario.
I like to think it got the ball rolling for many others. I know for sure it opened a few
eyes and surprised quite a few people on the track (and street) It ran a 12.9 @ 109mph way back in Spetember 2004. I had tons of plans for this car that I've now tried to implement on the '84.
After this car was wrecked I spent a couple years trying to figure out what the hell to do. Fast forward past the boring bits to last spring and a 1984 MK2 with a running 7MGTE swap
came up for sale in Ontario, Canada. The car belonged to a friend and forum member and I
had seen the car a couple years back and it had a bunch of nice parts on it plus it had
been repainted and had a presumeably still solid body. Basic summary of the car:
-Decent paint job over poor prep/bodywork
-New bodyside mouldings, door opening weatherstrips, sunroof seal
-Broken windshield
-Polished P-type wheels with Michelin tires
-Leather interior in very good condition, carpet stained.
-7MGTE with ARP headstuds, probable BHG, massive oil leaks
-Nology spark plug wires, HKS intake
-Junkie swap harness
-Suprasport LIPP stainless elbow, Brullen stainless 3" DP, cat, cat back exhaust
-Fidanza flywheel, RPS clutch
-JK V2 short shifter
-Tokico HP struts and shocks
-New OEM rear springs
-Walbro fuel pump
I bought the car and it ended up needing a ton of work just to get it truly roadworthy. I don't actually have any pics of the car itself when I first got it. Don't really know why. I did start tearing into the car as soon as
the importation paperwork was all done.
Here's the engine bay right after it got into the garage and the hood got pulled off:
I feel before going on that I should give some credit to a shop that had so much to do with getting the to point is was at in this pic. The shop was CP Racing, located outside Toronto, Ontario. You may remember their horrendous strut tower braces that they sold on Ebay for awhile. They were bolted through the upper firewall and sadly a few nice MK2s out there bear the scars of these braces. Fortunately this car didn't get one of those braces installed but they did plenty of other fine work to make up for that. Their IC piping was a disaster. Their wiring was in most cases just twisted together with maybe a bit of electrical tape (if you're lucky!), very little proper soldering and no heat shrink tubing insulation here! Originally this car had an intact swap harness from Junkie, but they hacked that to the point where I had to take it out. Many things didn't work. But I was undeterred (sort of LOL). Here's some more pics to give a hint of how bad things were (these also hint at how bad the oil leaks were and the mess that had to be corrected):
As you can see, at this point things were looking a bit grim.... but obviously you must go on! I have to thank my friends Brian (Brian) and Mark (Superium) for helping during this truly disgusting stage! After removing a few things, it was actually looking worse:
Pulled the engine and transmission. Then the full glory of the filthy engine bay was exposed. Oh my poor floor!:
Yikes!!!!
Stick around, things get better I promise
it is and keep updating this thread as it's continually improved and refined. The car in
question is my 1984 P-type: Super Red, gray leather, 7MGTE, W58, etc. etc. etc. I think one
of the most important things someone can hopefully take away from my experiences and my MK2
is that a project car like this doesn't come together overnight. There are many setbacks and
frustrating moments that generally happen over several years. I purchased this particular
car only last spring however most of the parts and knowledge were "harvested" from my old
white 1982 7MGTE car (that I totalled). So really the history and developement (if you want
to call it that) of the '84 as it sits now goes back to at least 2002! I will try and get
this up to date ASAP but it might take a couple days and posts so please bear with me
If you have questions or comments, by all means post 'em up. I like others feedback, it
may help think about something in a different way and lead to a change or solution that
otherwise wouldn't have ocurred to me.
First, here's the "donor" car, it was fun and the first 7MGTE swapped MK2 in WNY/S.Ontario.
I like to think it got the ball rolling for many others. I know for sure it opened a few
eyes and surprised quite a few people on the track (and street) It ran a 12.9 @ 109mph way back in Spetember 2004. I had tons of plans for this car that I've now tried to implement on the '84.
After this car was wrecked I spent a couple years trying to figure out what the hell to do. Fast forward past the boring bits to last spring and a 1984 MK2 with a running 7MGTE swap
came up for sale in Ontario, Canada. The car belonged to a friend and forum member and I
had seen the car a couple years back and it had a bunch of nice parts on it plus it had
been repainted and had a presumeably still solid body. Basic summary of the car:
-Decent paint job over poor prep/bodywork
-New bodyside mouldings, door opening weatherstrips, sunroof seal
-Broken windshield
-Polished P-type wheels with Michelin tires
-Leather interior in very good condition, carpet stained.
-7MGTE with ARP headstuds, probable BHG, massive oil leaks
-Nology spark plug wires, HKS intake
-Junkie swap harness
-Suprasport LIPP stainless elbow, Brullen stainless 3" DP, cat, cat back exhaust
-Fidanza flywheel, RPS clutch
-JK V2 short shifter
-Tokico HP struts and shocks
-New OEM rear springs
-Walbro fuel pump
I bought the car and it ended up needing a ton of work just to get it truly roadworthy. I don't actually have any pics of the car itself when I first got it. Don't really know why. I did start tearing into the car as soon as
the importation paperwork was all done.
Here's the engine bay right after it got into the garage and the hood got pulled off:
I feel before going on that I should give some credit to a shop that had so much to do with getting the to point is was at in this pic. The shop was CP Racing, located outside Toronto, Ontario. You may remember their horrendous strut tower braces that they sold on Ebay for awhile. They were bolted through the upper firewall and sadly a few nice MK2s out there bear the scars of these braces. Fortunately this car didn't get one of those braces installed but they did plenty of other fine work to make up for that. Their IC piping was a disaster. Their wiring was in most cases just twisted together with maybe a bit of electrical tape (if you're lucky!), very little proper soldering and no heat shrink tubing insulation here! Originally this car had an intact swap harness from Junkie, but they hacked that to the point where I had to take it out. Many things didn't work. But I was undeterred (sort of LOL). Here's some more pics to give a hint of how bad things were (these also hint at how bad the oil leaks were and the mess that had to be corrected):
As you can see, at this point things were looking a bit grim.... but obviously you must go on! I have to thank my friends Brian (Brian) and Mark (Superium) for helping during this truly disgusting stage! After removing a few things, it was actually looking worse:
Pulled the engine and transmission. Then the full glory of the filthy engine bay was exposed. Oh my poor floor!:
Yikes!!!!
Stick around, things get better I promise