As most people here, I have always been a fan of Toyota’s history. My first love from Toyota was the Toyota Supra. My Mother purchased a brand new 1982 Toyota Celica Supra which has turned into a 1JZ money-pit. My Father purchased a 1987 Toyota MR2 thinking that my mother would be willing to part with the Supra. Thankfully she did not sell either! The MR2 was a N/A automatic that saw several reliable years of service. It even chauffeured me to a high school prom. The car went to a garage where it sat for more than 10 years. As other cars have come and gone, the MR2 was stored safe and sound. Now that I have satisfied my appetite with two MKII Supras (check my sig), I was asked if I would like to purchase the MR2 from the family. How could I resist! My first car was a 1987 Toyota Tercel where I vowed I would never own another 4-banger. I guess you should never say never! The MR2 design, history, and 4AGE engine was not worth passing up.
After installing a new Optima Red Top battery, making sure fluids are topped off, and tires are the correct pressure, I set out on the 2-hour voyage home. Here was its condition, once in my possession.
Wow this engine bay is filthy!
I then changed all fluids, belts, thermostat, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, brake pads, rotors, brake lines, etc. After 4-hours of scrubbing and cleaning, the engine bay looked like this:
I made a few simple upgrades to the braking system: EBC slotted and dimpled rotors, EBC redstuff pads, and Technafit red brake lines (Turns out George will sell other items than Supra parts. Thanks!)
I then used Mothers clay bar and Meguiar’s TechWax 2.0 and it is smooth as silk and looks showroom ready.
I drove it regularly for a little over a week, then the idle started wandering. After some research and advice, I bled the coolant lines again. Once I started the engine again, I get this…
Time to change my first head gasket. These mid engines drop out the bottom, so up on the MaxJax lift and ease it down.
All went well until the Harbor-Crap furniture dolly decides to snap, letting the engine topple…what a disaster! I move the lift up and hoist under the car to straighten it up.
Tear down…
Seems like such a tiny engine compared to the inline six! I have some rust to remove and clean up the block while I am waiting on the head to come back from the machine shop.
I then went on a shopping spree at RockAuto, my local Advance Auto for most of the cleaners and high-temp paint on the shelf, a MR2 specialty shop (TwoRUs), TechnoToyTuning, and Mark at Vancouver Toyota.
Once I had the head back, I de-rusted (that a word?) and painted/polished everything I could. Here are some progress pics…
I really, really wanted to get the old parts car and do an auto to manual swap, but given that the parts car has been rusting in a field, I did not wish to trust the manual transmission. So back-in the auto transmission goes…for now!
I used my timing light and multimeter to set the timing and TPS, respectively. I then used my shop press to press in polyurethane suspension bushings all around.
Cleaned up the front and rear mounts and pressed in new bushings...
I changed sway bars, put new shoes on the oem wheels, and visited my local Toyota dealership for an alignment.
