Well folks it has been a while. After much deliberation, negotiation and finally pestering i'm back in the MR2 universe . Some context;

I went quiet on here after the car failed its NCT for the third time in 2011/12 (kept finding different issues each time 1; emmissions, 2 cv boots, 3 NS Hbrake cable streched). I was in the middle of deciding to stay in a dead end job or go back to college for an MSc. So I chose the latter and couldn't afford to keep the beast on the road up until a couple of weeks ago she has been sitting in my mothers driveway. I wouldnt say I cared for it during its lay up but it did get fresh oil and a solid squirt of oil in each cyl before being parked for 3 years.

Now I specifically rented my apartment because it has a savage garage by Dublin standards... well its clean, secure and white . That was 2 years ago and its sole purpose was to rebuild the car. A horrendous 04 Mini Cooper has lived in it until recently. It took until now to get to this point and am so excited to get her back on the road.

What are the plans;
Total overhaul of everything primarily drive train - suspension - braking & body.
Get her road ready and sort everything over time.
Budget;
as cheap as humanly possible. Told the better half no more than €500. Secret stash of €1,500 at the ready though
Timeframe;
Road ready by March (in middle of buying new house so gotta be out of here soon)
Failures to date;
Stupid fibre glass front bumper and the various rusted fixings holding it on have gotten the better of me and so the default tool... violence was used to remove it.
Threw my shoulder out 2 weeks ago removing starter motor bolts too
Where am I now;
Nearing the point where I can drop the motor. Just draining fluids and have to disconnect coolant hoses. From there going to send the tranny to elm hall (as recommended on here before for a rebuild/ checkup as it always crunched in 3rd)and am seeking recommendations for a clutch (exceedy organic stage 1?) or would a standard "OEM" exceedy handle 260-300 hp???

So in other words its great to be back and watch this space. Pics to come

WOW! welcome back Doc

Sounds like you're really tackling this project head on. Regarding clutch choice, I run a Clutchmasters stage 3. It's very nice for the street and can take a lot of punishment. Not sure on Exeedy but I know they are very popular so must be ok??

Welcome back doc, looking forward to following the progress. Kc'd for luck

Welcome back Doc. I'm running an Exeedy stage 1, the first time that I drove it .. I thought that it was very heavy and was like an on/off switch as opposed to being progressive. There were a few embarrasing moments at traffic lights etc But once I got used to it .. it's fantastic, awesome bite on it

Welcome back.
Good Luck. This year will be better again for MR2 then last very good year.

Welcome back!
Looking forward to some pics.

Update;

Sorry its been a while. The whole work, life and balancing the two has left me with little time to do what I actually want to

So i'm moving ahead slowly. Ready to drop the motor out now but waiting on some bits and pieces to help make life easier then i'll be ordering the must haves and hopefully have enough for the nice to haves thereafter (you know like a working DS window reg for example ).

FYI folks the front bumper is something I'm no longer in need of so if anyone is interested in an original but heavily damaged Bombex bumper PM me and its yours. Note this will need some serious fibre glass repair work done to it. I'll get some pics and put em up if you wish. All donations to the MR2 fund will be gratefully accepted but its free to take.

Pics (only a handful coming)