<— For specific jobs look through links at left
The backstory:
I picked up my 1988 MR2 in January of 2012, and since then I have been rebuilding, repairing, upgrading, and just having fun with it. I am fairly new to cars, this is only my second vehicle and my first hands-on project. I didn’t grow up around cars so I had to learn as I went, with the help of my trusty service manuals and of course online resources.
I enjoy reading other build logs that have lots of pictures, it helped inspire me to continue my build, so I thought I’d give back a little bit and catalog/document my work.
It begins: I bought my two-tone 88 from the first owner, with 175k on the car. The downside was that it was automatic and had never undergone “major” repairs, only minor maintenance. It was a good deal though since no one wants the automatics. This is what the car looked like when I picked her up.
I drove it around for the summer of 2012 until on one hot day I heard pinging from the engine compartment, and I knew something was wrong. It turns out I broke the rings in cylinders 2 and 3 which was confirmed after doing a proper compression check. This really broke my spirits, since I did not have a garage, only an outdoor parking lot (communal). I also only had the basic assortment of hand tools and no local friends with car experience, garages, or tools.
Not to be stopped I decided to rent a house with a garage and get down to business. Slowly I accumulated all the tools I needed as I performed each job. I have literally undone, cleaned, and put back together every single part on this car, and it feels good. I have attempted to document and explain my work for my own reference as well as to help anyone interested in working on one of these great little cars.
<— For specific jobs look through links at left
The backstory:
I picked up my 1988 MR2 in January of 2012, and since then I have been rebuilding, repairing, upgrading, and just having fun with it. I am fairly new to cars, this is only my second vehicle and my first hands-on project. I didn’t grow up around cars so I had to learn as I went, with the help of my trusty service manuals and of course online resources.
I enjoy reading other build logs that have lots of pictures, it helped inspire me to continue my build, so I thought I’d give back a little bit and catalog/document my work.
It begins: I bought my two-tone 88 from the first owner, with 175k on the car. The downside was that it was automatic and had never undergone “major” repairs, only minor maintenance. It was a good deal though since no one wants the automatics. This is what the car looked like when I picked her up.
I drove it around for the summer of 2012 until on one hot day I heard pinging from the engine compartment, and I knew something was wrong. It turns out I broke the rings in cylinders 2 and 3 which was confirmed after doing a proper compression check. This really broke my spirits, since I did not have a garage, only an outdoor parking lot (communal). I also only had the basic assortment of hand tools and no local friends with car experience, garages, or tools.
Not to be stopped I decided to rent a house with a garage and get down to business. Slowly I accumulated all the tools I needed as I performed each job. I have literally undone, cleaned, and put back together every single part on this car, and it feels good. I have attempted to document and explain my work for my own reference as well as to help anyone interested in working on one of these great little cars.