Hi TwoBrutal,
Been registered here for a while, but not posted.
Some of you know me already (Gazza_DJ on IMOC and MR2OC, SonicSW20 on Instagram, Gareth in real life...) - I helped organise Japfest this year and last year with Dan.
A lot of this is copied from IMOC, so apologies for any odd formatting issues!
Previously I had a Rev4 Sonic Shadow, which unfortuantely got rear ended at traffic lights. I had this car for nearly 4 years, done 60,000 miles in it, and visited all corners of the UK from Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides. I'd grown quite attached to it to be honest. R310YKP (or Royksopp, as my friend called it) served me well.
As I got Royksopp:
I soon learnt a valuable lesson in wet weather greasy road handling:
But I fixed it:
I went on many an aventure with it:
Saw some pretty amazing places:
And as it was my daily, I made it work for whatever I needed it for:
And as I received it yesterday:
While it doesn't look like much, the rear alignment was way out, an engine or gearbox mount is broken / damaged, and the rear of boot is crumpled. Also, one of the T tops doesn't fit the same as it used to - it's much tighter to the point where it's quite difficult to lock it in place so unfortunately it's got somewhat twisted. Definitely not suitable to go back on the road, anyway.
So, the Rev 5! Purchased back in October 2014.
Here's some pictures from original the ad:
First step was to fit some of the aftermarket bits from the Rev4 - Janspeed exhaust and Momo Team wheel:
Momo Team wheel fitted:
Small, I know. I later replaced this with an OMP Corsica.
Next step was to replace the tired suspension, so it got some BC coilovers. I also got the 16inch Advans repaired (crack in lip) and refurbed in Silver / dark grey:
That's next to a car at stock height for comparison.
Advans:
At some point during all this, I picked up a Legalis R comically cheap, but it's a turbo box with an NA reducer / flange on it. Sounds great but is quite loud.
What's better than staggered 16inch Advan SA3's?
staggered 17inch Advan SA3's with polished lips, of course! They came up for a great price in the right fitment for an MR2, with tyres that were usable too. NIce to be able to switch the look up now and then.
Did my first track day in the car back in December 2015. Great fun, only casualty was the alternator, seemed to have died from the heat.
Oh, this was the start of the end of the clutch as well... Car was due a cambelt etc soon too so the plan was to drop everything and do the clutch at the same time.
I worked out my MPG for the morning session - ~14MPG!
Anyway, here's some track day photos:
And a short clip of a little slide on the exit of Agostini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiWmCuiSESQ
The previously mentioned OMP Corsica went on around Jan 2016:
Roll onto March 2016... It's time to undertake the biggest DIY project yet for me. When referring to us, I mean myself and a couple of able friends :)
Not a lot of photos of this, more time was spent cracking on and getting it done.
Saturday morning was spent getting the engine out of the car. In about 3hrs, we had this:
Not bad going! A few bolts took a bit of doing to get off, nothing too unexpected for an old car.
First job was timing side. None of us have done this before. We also replaced the crankshaft seal, hardest bit was getting the old one out without damaging the oil pump housing, it's a tight fit! Got that sorted though, good thing too as the existing one had started to leak.
We installed brand new tensioner pulleys and water pump. To be honest the old water pump was fine - it was completely clean on the inside. Bearing was a little noisy, but would probably have been fine for a long while yet.
Took a couple of attempts to get the belt on in the correct position, but we got there in the end. Barred the engine over a few times to double check, and it was lining up with where it was before.
Few tidying up jobs etc and preparation for clutch tomorrow (starter motor out etc), and that was Saturday done. Big thank you to Stu and Dom for all the hard work :th:
Onto Sunday - clutch change. Just me and Stu today. Again, neither of us had done this before so the learning curve was steep. We've done our research though, and had copies of the BGB and engine manuals to hand.
Took a bit of doing to get the gearbox off the block. Some persuasion with a rubber mallet and giving it a good wiggle around to free it off the dowels and it was off.
The old release bearing was noisy and felt pretty loose. Definitely didn't have much life in it! The inside of the housing was absolutely filthy (old friction material?):
Cleaned up the components, applied grease where required, and installed the new release bearing. Also installed two new driveshaft seals as this is the perfect time to do it.
Onto the clutch itself. No drama here really, removed the old one, which was pretty much dead. worn down to within a fraction of a mm to the rivets:
It was definitely on borrowed time!
We also replaced the crankshaft oil seal on this side.
Replaced the clutch with a standard Exedy OE replacement clutch. No need for anything fancy on an NA.
Rest of the day was spent getting things ready to go back in the car. Replacing the ARB bushes as the existing ones were a mess (thanks to Dom for the bushes). Got a poly engine mount to go in as well. Ran out of time on the Sunday, but had it all back together and working perfectly the following Saturday.