My photobucket got jacket up so Im redoing my build thread for the car.
this was the day the car was offered to me at the local autocross... Ironically the car had FTD that day... Here is my '91 MR2 that I purchased from well known MR2/Celica All Trac fan Martin Valent of TM Racing Autocross fame... The car was originally N/A but when the All Trac lunched a Final Drive, he had a really nice red N/A MR2 and combined the two.

Before that happened he rebuilt the engine with all OEM Toyota parts down to the Sealant...

As fate would have it after I had it like a week the car decided the alternator would like to have a meltdown (literally) and nearly burnt the car down had I not taken the dog for a walk when I did... The car was sitting in front of my house and when I went out all was good... when I came back there was smoke coming from the engine cover... at first I thought it was a coolant leak, but as I approached I could tell it was electrical :-( I had no idea where the battery was lol... luckily I found it and pulled the negative terminal... After the fire extinguisher I see this the following morning...

Pull her into the garage to assess the damage. A Diode failed in the alternator back feeding the power into the alternator... Pull it to the garage across the street and assess Thankfully all that was damaged was the alternator and the alternator plug!!!

One can imagine the thought when I was leaving work and heard a loud rubbing coming from the right front when going around a curve... I stopped and see this :-(

The girl I worked with said she didn't know she hit me and didn't wanna come look at it... Oh well the insurance company will thank her as they gave me $2000 of which I used to purchase a new OEM Toyota Fender, Gallon of Paint, New Stainless 3" Exhaust,Foglights and new Wheels... Definitely made Lemonade from Lemons there They looked good!!!

The car began overheating and so I diagnosed it with a borrowed coolant pressure tester to be a leaking headgasket. I ordered up a .051 Cometic Gasket and once the valvecover gasket was off saw the car already had ARP Head Studs installed, which was a very nice surprise!

Gracious photo of the car that was a donor for my MR2... RIP All Trac...

Not happy with the rear tires rubbing, the car was going through rear tires at the rate of 1 set every 5k miles. I sold the Rota Grids and mounted up some RT-615K's to a spare set of 15x7 Rial basketweaves which are currently residing on the car. I saved up my funds and went through the entire suspension on the car minus poly bushings which are in the works. Included in the refresh were Balljoints Front and Rear Tierod Ends, A worn Tierod Bearing (Thanks Two's R US), Adjustable Front Endlinks, and Megan EZ Street Coilovers. What a difference!!! The car had all 4 struts blown, so later down the road i'll get a nice set of correct fitment wheels again, just not 17's lol... I did score a prototype X brace from TCS Motorsports and a neat engine cover fan from KO Racing that should help with heatsoak at autocross events.

I also sourced a set of silicone radiator hoses to replace the hardening OEM ones ,and an HKS Intake.

A few months back I began having an issue the car idling high (~1500) running rough and horrid mileage. I found several issues with the car that I corrected which included: Pressure Test engine(found a cracked rubber intercooler hose) Leaking Intake to Head Gasket (Replaced with OEM) Cleaned the ISCV (No change) Replaced ISCV (No Change) Replaced ECU (No Change) Changed Engine Harness (No Change) *Unplugged Green Thermo Time Sensor at water neck (Problem goes away immediately)!!!! Sad part is I replaced this sensor as I broke it while replacing the Coolant Hoses :-/ I bought 2 so I now have a spare on hand! Ha...

I love the car and will be repairing the rusted passenger side rocker with the new OEM rocker and replacing the inner reinforcement at the same time with new metal as well over the winter as this is the only rust on the car. Overall its been a great vehicle and I have taken it to the $2013 Challenge to spectate with the girlfriend (recently turned Fiancé). Just like any car once you own it for awhile you learn the things that need to come off to work on it... I look forward to hearing from other MR2 owners and will be keeping the project updated regularly.

Love Mister Toos! I regularly see a pristine 1st gen 5spd being hooned around by a Vet - An older dude with blue blockers who takes racing lines across the double yellows on some twisties around Warren County ohio.

Yours makes me want to get back over into the 'yota camp. Nice writeup!

I think your car looks much better with the smaller mesh wheels than the big 6-spokes. IMO anything over 16" just looks too big for an SW20.

Thanks! I agree about the smaller wheels, but really want a staggered width front and rear. West Virginia roads are very rough on super low profile tire combos :-/ the car will be a fun daily/occational autox warrior.

Very pretty MR2. Are you content with the gen2 motor? I drove an MR2 with a gen4 swap recently, and it's drastically different.

Sal_the_man wrote: Very pretty MR2. Are you content with the gen2 motor? I drove an MR2 with a gen4 swap recently, and it's drastically different.

This is of interest to me...

Care to expand on your 4th Gen swap driving experiences? I'm dying to know!

The Gen IV has like 60hp more than a Gen 2 and I think revs to 8k. I bet they really rip!!! I'd definitely consider one if/when something goes bad on my current engine as it sitting with ~40k on a complete overhaul.

I just realized I haven't updated this email n forever, so here we go... The car had an encounter with a mid flight deer, which broke the passenger side headlight, and more recently the towns snowplow backed into it... Its in the process of having a new rocker panel installed, 2 new fenders, a new Carbon Fiber hood, New Wheel/Tire combo. I scored an EMS Powered exhaust for $90 that needed a good scrubbing, man what a difference from the EBay one it had previously!!!! I replaced the cooling system hoses with Silicone pieces, and added coilovers as well as a complete suspension overhaul.

Sweet mr2! But you might want to take that hks filter off pronto. Every one ive ever seen, the foam disintegrates and sucks up into the engine. On top of its terrible ability to filter (why its called super flow)

Yeah, we used to call those filters the Green Mushrooms of Death.

You've had enough bad luck with this car without adding that to the list.

I've been changing the filters regularly, but maybe an Apexi or K&N is a better option.

AEM Dryflow.

The biggest one you can possibly cram in there.

In reply to dansxr2:

Solid pass on the K&N. They let thru more particulates than they filter. Aem and Apexi have the best filtering a flow qualities from many posts I've read.

I haven't posted any updates recently, but here's where I am... 2nd paint samples are at the State Police Lab being analyzed. I had a friend replace the passenger rocker, paint and install New OEM Fenders,and install my Carbon Headlight Covers. I got a set of Staggered 17x8.5/17x9.5 wheels for super cheap on Ebay., and I love them! I'm going to respray the car over the winter, so my paint will all match. So excited to have it back. Now to proceed legal actions against the Town of Sutton as soon as my paint samples confirm it was their plow ( I'm 99.98% sure it was them). Here's a few pics of how she looks at the present. Still have to install these vent add ons, should have them fitted this week.

That car looks excellent! Ever since seeing Martin's MR2 run in person I have a really bad want for one.

Martin's car is really something!!! 420whp now with his new setup on MS3 Pro. He had a intercooler end tank crack, now fixed it'll be pushing 24-26psi

Really cool stuff. A friend of mine just bought one and immediately had the engine blow up. Trying to get him to post it on here.

I also have a Facebook group, West Virginia MR2 Owners, feel free to subscribe.

Been awhile since I've posted, but I've have several happenings. The clutch decided it didn't want to release so I replaced it and installed a lightweight flywheel. I borrowed my brothers shop on a Sunday and my little brother and I did it in 8 hours start to finish. Old SPEC clutch Gouges from broke hub springs

Lightweight Flywheel

I also sourced a super rare HKS sidemount intercooler core a while back but the pipes that came with it wouldn't work for my application. I had never seen a pic of one installed and began searching for the HKS intercooler pipes. The only set I found were in Australia, and the owner didn't seem interested in selling them. Luckily I had a guy on the MR2OC message me that he had a set he wasn't using and would sell me at a reasonable price.

HKS Pipes OEM vs HKS Intercooler

Also repainted a Celica Valve cover I had and replaced a leaking valve cover gasket.

Also picked up a Berk 3" Stainless ceramic coated Downpipe as my eBay special didn't have a flex and was cracked. $300 and I couldn't fit my oil filter on... I've been noticing the odor of oil and was unable to determine a source. One evening driving home from work, I could see blue smoke from behind my car.... I pulled my Turbo outlet pipe and found this...

I did a compression test last night and got these

1- 170

2- 145

3- 160

4- 145

I did a leakdown test and honestly didn't know how to use the Harbor Freight Leakdown Tester my friend let me borrow. I applied 100psi at TDC on each cylinder without any big leaks. It's blowing oil out of the valve cover breather. It's something that just recently began, and today it blew a pint of oil into my improvised Gatorade Bottle catch can. Gonna redo my test with a better quality gauge and see what it says, but I may be doing a 260hp Gen 4 swap in the near future.

That Berk downpipe was on my shopping list for mine, how did you resolve the fit issue?

Lightly massaged it. My car has an st165 block and a Gen 2 head. Make me a reasonable offer and its yours. I won't be able to use it. I still have the bill, its been driven ~3000 miles.

BoxheadTim wrote: That Berk downpipe was on my shopping list for mine, how did you resolve the fit issue?

Thanks, I'll try to keep that in mind - I'm hoping to find a replacement for the MR2 this month but if I don't I'll continue building it and the down pipe is high on my list of mods for this year.