MR2 355 restoration

[jonnyboymills]

Hi Folks,
For a number of years I have always fancied buying an MR2 355 replica. Around October time I thought I would start the wheels in motion and begin saving my ££££.
I put word about with several of my friends and family in the motor trade. a few weeks later my friend mentioned in passing that he had spotted one parked up last summer in a residential car park, he then went on to say it looked like it had been stood for some time. Later that night when I got home I decided to go on google street view to see if I could spot the car. here it is:


Armed with a note pad and pen, I called around for my Dad (who from now on I shall refer to as Albert Steptoe) for a bit of company and entertainment value, we set off on the journey to Chester.
When we got there the car was not in a very good state cosmetically, it was covered in green moody stuff as it was parked next to trees. The paint was very flat and in dire need of attention. There were two things about the car that instantly put me off. 1, it was Automatic and 2, it had a factory sunroof. never the less I went knocking on doors and eventually found out who the owner was. unfortunately he was out, so I posted a note through his door and went home.
The next day the guy rang me and basically said that the car had been stood for about 2 years, it was not up for sale but he would consider selling it to me.
The next day me and Albert Steptoe set off armed with a battery pack, a wallet full of paper beer vouchers and his mates Iveco car transporter.
The car had not been started for about 18 months and the battery had well and truly had it.
After turning the key on and off a few time to get a bit of oil to the top of the engine we cranked it over and she started up straight away. Good old Toyota reliability!
Photo of the inside with ripped drivers seat:

Albert Steptoe already shaking on the deal before I had even agreed to buy the car "if you don't buy it I will":


When we got the car back home the first job was to fit a new battery and then we got to work with a gallon of TFR and the pressure washer.
Before:

After about an hour and a half of washing and scrubbing, we begin to see results:

Then out came the buffer with a hard compound head and some G3 compound, a soft head and some G10 then Albert Steptoe set to work with a lambs wool wheel and some Auto glym resin polish. The amount of people that were walking past and stopped to talk to us about the car was unreal.
I hope a picture is forming now as to why I call him Albert Steptoe. Please note the yard and garage full of junk:

Here are a few more pictures I took after we spent a full day cleaning the outside of the car:


This picture is probably my favourite:


moving on a few weeks to get Christmas and New Year out of the way. I have since replaced a tyre and a few other bits and pieces. painted the back end in satin black. got the car through an Mot. I decided to get the roof and engine cover painted as there was rust showing around the top of the windscreen and who ever had fitted the kit had made a very poor job of doing the roof, it resembled a freshly ploughed field! I have also dropped off the seat to be repaired at a trim shop in my area. Here are some photo graphs of the car in my friends body shop (the same friend who first told me about the car).


Here is the roof with its final sanded before being primed in high build 2K primer:

Uncle Wilky getting her prepared for primer:

The engine cover had some slight damage, here it is repaired and ready for primer:

Roof in Primer:


When I purchased the car there was no carpet in the boot so I managed to get hold of one off of Ebay, I went down and fitted it in.
Im convinced that the boot had not been converted properly, so I have had to make some drainage channels and also cover the underside of the engine cover as the boot was full of water every time it rained. My drainage system isn't very pretty but it does work. Yesterday my plastic interior trim pins arrived so on Monday I can fit the carpet to the body.

The roof and engine cover are now painted. I only have pictures of the roof at the moment:




On Tuesday I will be picking up the seat from the trim shop and taking the car home, I can't wait......

Im not sure about my plans with regards to the future of this car. I have a few options.
finish the work I need to do, which is, bottom front ball joints and replace front pads then
1, put her up for sale in the hope that a one legged (Automatic) MR2 Ferrari replica enthusiast buys her.
2, hang on to her and drop a V6 Camry engine in and get the car fitted with a tiptronic kit and drive her about for a few months and eventually sell her.
or sell her to Albert Steptoe who has been constantly trying to get his hands on her since I very first purchased the car.
You see the fact that the car has a sunroof and is Automatic puts me off and the kit is clearly not accurate around the rear side windows........ What makes it worse is I have now got the chance to buy one with the correct kit on, no sunroof and a manual transmission at the right money. not sure if its a turbo or not though........
decisions decisions..........
Thanks for taking the time to view this post and feel free to leave comments. I will post some more pictures in a couple of days time when I get the car back.
Peace
Jon

[jonnyboymills]

managed to blag my mate to open up the garage so I can get a sneaky peak in. just need washing off and a full wax polish........ and also I need the drivers seat back from the trim shop.

[cdwood2010]

Looking very nice. :)

[Goldy]

Looks tidy, though I see what you mean about the rear pillars, mr2 are rounded and 355 squarer. I think most uneducated would struggle to tell!

[gavsdavs]

Nice write up cheers for posting

[jonnyboymills]

Thanks guys.

Today I have spent about five hours minting the B*****ks off her. I rang the trim shop to see if I could get my seat today, but no joy. I was told it will be ready tomorrow afternoon.
I started off giving her a wash down (I'm pleased to report that the boot area remained dry) and basically set to work with several of my cousins Auto Glym products that he had lying around in the valet bay. I touched in stone chips and things and touched up a few marks on the wheels with some silver paint. Again, the amount of people that think this car is the real deal astounds me.



I really wanted to take her out for a spin but didn't fancy explaining to plod why I was sitting on a milk crate, so I will just have to wait until I get the drivers seat back tomorrow.
Next job, Brake pads all around.
One thing I did notice was when the car is driven it feels a bit loose on the front end, I was going to check the suspension arm bushes and the ball joints to see if they need replacing.
Thanks for looking.
J

[briweekes]

Hey Jonnyboymills, good work -thats exactly the same model 355 rep I had for the last 7 years (check out my V6 conversion and pics in Brians swap). I'll pm you, as I started a Facebook group for these a few years ago, quite a few members now

[briweekes]

Hey Jonnyboymills, good work -thats exactly the same model 355 rep I had for the last 7 years (check out my V6 conversion and pics in Brians swap). If you're interested in seeing, here's mine. The model is an MR3SS by Fiero Factory:

http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/pict...+SS+Supersport



Let me know if you're interested in joining the facebook private group (it was originally for just F355 replica owners but now has some other ferrari replicas on there (plus other banter). You'd have to add friend a member to join

Good luck with the restoration!!!

[jonnyboymills]

Yeah PM me the details.
Im after selling this one as I have chance of buying another with a more accurate kit, Manual gears, turbo and more. Im hoping at some point to do a V6 swap. your car looks very nice.

[jonnyboymills]

finished