1992 g-ltd 1MZ-FE VVTI Project Sky gets an upgrade

[Martin42006]

I wonder argue that I'm just a tight git with trust issues.
They aren't without reason though, as shown from my spare caliper that someone had rebuild with an oversized spring seat causing it to seize.
Someone probably bought them as refurbished and wouldn't have known there was a problem till something failed.
When it comes to my brakes I like to know they have been done right.

Not saying all refurbs are bad as there are some very good garages out there. But the poor work done by a few can leave people less trusting of others.
They are deceptively easy once you have taken one or two apart and can understand how they work.

With regards to emissions my car is a 1992 import so gets to take a cat-less test so im not running any cat with it.

[byrney1984]

Many years ago I worked for a company called Brake engineering( only took it because I was made redundant) who solely refurbished every type of brake caliper. From Micra’s to Ferrari’s. You would be amazed at the bodges that went on there. TRW bought them out in the end. If I remember the rear calipers code is 2019. I still have a fair few spares from before I left from levers, push rods etc. But when you set your piston in the caliper you wind it in then unwind it a quarter turn. Some will be left hand threads too. No reason for it other than stock levels.

[Martin42006]

Yea it worries me how much faith some people put in companies just because they paid them to do something,

I had come across that gem about winding the pistons back out previously thanks.

[Martin42006]

Didnt get the chance to do anything else on Sky before the MOT except wash it.
this was due to getting called into work on saturday, not exactly what i had planned.

Anyway the MOT,


Passed with a clean sheet of course. How could you think any different.
Had nice drive home and then back to work.

[Martin42006]

Out with the old and in with the older. :confused1:
No that doesnt sound right.

Lets back up a bit.

Saturday morning me and a couple of friends went to visit a local scrappy that i was told had an mr2 in pretty good condition.
Apparently "pretty good condition" is a very "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" kind of statement.



Very rough but still turned up a few gems its a rev3 although the engine was gone.
Some nice original leather door cards
An almost new radiator
Hook type wiper arms
full set of calipers
Rear struts with good top mounts
rev3 strut strengthening plates
A few extra bits of trim




All in all a pretty good haul and for a reasonable price, my friend wanted alot of the parts but i did get the door cards, rear struts and plates, heatshields and rear calipers.

After the morning getting some parts my mate had some electrical issues and i wanted my car polishing so we managed to come to an arrangement. I began the gremlin hunting and he began polishing sky.

He did a good job



I found that his lack of both front and rear fog light was partly down to some shoddy wiring and also the relay was knacked.
The relay was clicking but not supplying power greater than 0.2v hence why the front fogs didn't work.
The wiring which had been added for the rear fog was just poor work. It draws off the switch illumination line and then the wiring at the lights didn't have any insulation on the connections so it was just shorting out against the body.
Not sure how it had been working for the past few years tbh.

Once back home I unloaded the days haul and got cracking sprucing a few bits up.
The rear shocks got stripped down and then wire-wheel to remove the flakey rust that clogs the blast cabinet.


I have been working occasionally on the brakes too.
One front got finished since it was in the cabinate already.


And a nice gloss red


These are the factory strut plates I picked up and while not too bad I just couldn't bring myself to put them on as they are.
So a quick blasting and then a chrome followed by transparent red.


I may have put a bit much red on but still looks damn good.


Meanwhile that's baking I cleaned the "new" door cards. A pair of tidy original leather cards.



Time to get rid of the poorly done blue leather that was starting to get on my nerves.
Comparison


And on they go.


Loving it already. Now what can we do with them seats.
As it turns out, not alot atm but plans are in place for something a little different.

What else has been going on?
Well not much really. Lots of plans but not enough time or funding to put a lot of them into action right now. But watch this space, some overtime pay is on the way.

[Martin42006]

Lots of prezzies arrived on friday afternoon.




Also many thanks to Jan for the pheonix power rear spats that also arrived, they will be going on soon.



You sir are a legend :clapping: :clapping:

So today has been spent getting everything ready, which mostly involved more sandblasting.


And 2 coats of powder


While i was waiting for them to cure i got the other caliper finished.
The calipers arnt going on just yet because i dont have the rebuild kits or new lines but worth getting a head start.


I may have also fitted a couple of stickers


Tomorrow should see the struts together and fitted.

[Martin42006]

So sunday arrived and first on the list is to get the struts assembled



The fronts were done aswell.

The weather was being rather miserable so i hid in the shed for as long as possible.


The weather was changing so much we had all 4 seasons in one day.

Should only be a quick job to fit them now.

For once it actually did go that easily.
Test drive time.
Out of the 750deg of adjustment i the Koni's set at 180 deg from soft on the front and 360deg from soft on the rear.

It was very smooth. definatly smoother than the old shocks.
I couldnt help myself so on the next test drive i turned it up to full.
wow what a difference.
Can feel every bit of gravel that goes under the car, it certainly made the handling a bit more interesting.

i settled on it approximatly midway and may turn it a bit softer for my daily commute.

After getting back i had a quick look underneath and the coils are very close together.


I dont know if they are supposed to be that close, anyone else with apex springs care to weigh in?

Currently need to let the springs settle but so far it has dropped by approx 1/8" so not very much.

[Martin42006]

Not alot has been going on since i last updated you all, driving and enjoying.
However back in march Practical classics magazine were asking for an mr2 to be part of the test drive against an MX-5, MG F and BMW Z3
They had one for the driving but he let them down for the photoshoot, i happened to already have the day off work so volunteered and went down.

We were in the May edition of the magazine and i have finally got some of the photos through from the shoot.

It was a good article although there were a couple of things that wernt quite right.

Anyway enough blathering let have a gander at some professional photos.








The only other news was i survived the highland drive it was a proper good blast and was great to put some faces to names from the forum. Including my trips there and back i covered around 1600miles and managed to get it down to 24mpg on one day but for most of it i was sticking around 30mpg which was quite nice.

She did however burn through alot of oil, i know it burns a bit normally but with the harder driving i want through 2l in approximatly 1000 miles.
I knew the valve seals were leaking slightly, the original plan when i did the swap was to be taking the engine back out some time this year and give it an overhaul but with the latest addition of another mk1 to restore that plan alogmn with any funds i might have had has gone down the cludgie.

[Paul Woods]

Nice update, yep valve stem oil seals are an absolute must do on any V6 conversion, knowing how methodical you are i am surprised you left them out of your build as it's a real nightmare to do later on.

Even the low mileage ones have gone hard plastic type brittle seals, it looks like a little weak point on the engine, we replace every single one, takes several hours per head but a must do. They leak oil past those seals like a mofo.

[Martin42006]

Nice update, yep valve stem oil seals are an absolute must do on any V6 conversion, knowing how methodical you are i am surprised you left them out of your build as it's a real nightmare to do later on.

Even the low mileage ones have gone hard plastic type brittle seals, it looks like a little weak point on the engine, we replace every single one, takes several hours per head but a must do. They leak oil past those seals like a mofo.

Yea part of me just wanted to get it running as it was and then do an overhaul later.
I think I will spend a long weekend to drop the engine later this year and sort out the valve seals then, the engine seems strong so I don't think there is any need to go much deeper.

There has just been very little time between the other 5 projects we have going on at the moment.