Hi all, I've just bought a 94 G-Limited as my daily driver. I'm really liking the car even at this early stage. I need a little bit of advice on parts. I'm reasonably handy with spanners and will be doing the work on the car myself. I think the car needs inner or outer track roads, as there is a fair bit of wandering from the steering. Is it possible to isolate which it is?
And is there a good source of parts in Ireland for these cars? ( aside from toyota dealers )

There's a quiet clicking from the steering when using large amount of lock at parking speeds. Is this the rack or the PS motor? Rack's seem cheap 2nd hand anyway.
Other stuff.. there was a hole in the exhaust which I've found was in the cat, so thats being replaced with a decat. I'm fitting standard replacement brake pads because I couldn't find ds2500's ( seems they are not available ), and I'm not paying silly money for ebc redstuff.
Anyway thanks in advance for any help, looking forward to taking part in the forum.

Cheers,
Phil

Welcome to the club and enjoy your stay.

Wandering in the MR2 could just be down to bad wheel alignment.

Regarding checking for wear on the inner track rod ends it should be just a case of jacking up the car and checking the actual inner rod for movement against the rack. The outer track rods are just a ball joint but you should be able to check them by hand as well.

I have a spare set of outer track rod ends I just extra ordered if you interested in them PM me, but check yours first, no point in buying whats not needed.

Hi Reckless,

You find parts come up from time to time in the for sale section, however possibly you might just need a good wheel alignment?

The MR2 is adjustable in the back (different to your average shopping wagon), which makes them great as a sports car but doubly as likely to be out of alignment if it's been a while.

Also tire feathering and pressures can have an affect....

Anyway, welcome to the site and keep us posted on how you get on

Cheers for the replies.
I've been scouring the for sale section already
I should have been clearer in my original post - I can feel play in the steering about the straight ahead position, and this can also be felt on bumpy roads. The car will track straight on the motorway if there is no wind, but gets blown about very badly in the wind. I will of course get a full alignment done as well.

Its sounds like inner rack ends of track rod ends . The best was to check it to jack the car up and look for any movement .

Cool, does anyone have a recommendation of where to get the inner track rods in Ireland? Obviously I could get them from the uk, but lets say they are 70 quid + 30 quid delivery, I'd rather give someone in Ireland 90 quid + 10 quid delivery

alrite man welcome to the club ha ha theres a breakers yard between finglas and blanch that has a 94 g limited non turbo for breaking theres most engine parts and body panels available i think pako is the guy to ask for .worth while checkin the cv joints aswel if ur gettin a click when ur turning at slow speed. remember the font is gonna be lighter than most cars so u will feel it thru the steering on bumpy roads and travelling at speed . took me a while to get used to it

Welcome to the forum mate. It seems to have escaped everyone who has posted in here that i break MR2s, prices are usually half od what other breakers ask for

Hi again pacman, I will probably want that steering rack from you. The clicking noise can be heard turning the steering with the car stationary. Though maybe the noise is just coming from the motor?
You didn't say if you had any N/A aftermarket exhausts. Also let me know if you have an N/A induction kit for sale and what the price would be. And while yer at it, how much for the rear clip from a turbo rev2+ ?

Bolloks, i just typed out a long reply but it disappeared for some reaon

In short:

">. Only have exhausts from Turbos. And the Rev2 engine is going into my car

welcome to the club buddy

Another trick that can clam down loose steering is to adjust the tension in the rack . This is done by adjusting the big allen nut that enters the rack beside where the steering cloumn connects .

Well, the clutch is slipping properly now. Does anyone know if the turbo clutch fits the N/A, as it would be a nice cheap upgrade. If not I'll just fit a standard clutch.

reckless wrote:
Does anyone know if the turbo clutch fits the N/A

Sorry, but nope is the answer to that question.

That's grand, I'll just put a standard one in it. Now, more importantly, does anyone know of good guide for doing the clutch?

The bgb just says "remove transaxle" and then talks about how to remove the clutch. The remove transaxle section here: www.mr2-tech.com/bgb/mechanical/volume2/manual_transaxle.htm
But that just shows 2 diagrams of what to remove.

I found a more detailed guide here but its a bit over the top. Any other decent step-by-step guides that people have found or used themselves to do the job?
google throws up very little, I've been searching forums as well. Cheers.

Here ya go: www.mr2-tech.com/bgb/mechanical/volume2/clutch.htm

Erm yep, look at step 1 on that page "Remove transaxle". Thats the bit that I'm looking for more detail on. I should have put that in my original post.. sorry

ah sorry mistook your question :O

mmm, on an MR2 that's quite a job.


If you're in Dublin I can recommend a good mechanic if you don't have the necessary lifting equipment etc etc. He's just swapped the motor in mine so will be pretty familiar with all of the places to attach/detache etc.

I do have an engine crane, problem for me now is I need the car every day and the clutch does seem to be going downhill fast ( 2 weeks ago it wouldn't slip even with the brakes held against it ). If there's someone around Dublin who is used to doing clutches on mr2's then I'd consider it, but Irish labour rates tend to be a bit high.

Well give Terry at Clondalkin Auto a call - 01 457 1693

I think they're cheaper than most but he should be able to give you an idea anyway.

Yeah, I rang him, and he claimed the engine needed to come out for the job, and 450 labour. Erm, no. The engine doesn't need to come out. Anyway, I've found the proper Toyota manual which gives all the steps needed to remove the gearbox.

www.mr2oc.com/downloads/bgb/MR2_SW_1993_REPAIRMANUAL.zip

So I'll be doing the work myself, probably this weekend since its going downhill fairly quickly.

Nice find, good luck on the work it was always going to be cheaper if you DIY. Maybe take some pics and put together a little write up for anyone else that comes looking for this in future?

reckless wrote:
Yeah, I rang him, and he claimed the engine needed to come out for the job

I agree with him,engine out is the easiest way of doing the clutch in an MR2. The job takes about a day for a competent mechanic with an apprentice helping when needed, so €450 labour doesn't seem overboard to me.

BTW I have no connection with Clondalkin Auto, I generally do all my own work, but use a specialist gearbox guy for my clutch change and g/box work. His rates would be about the same as the Clondalkin one. The job is a drop in car on day one and collect on day two.

Also its not a job I would tackle without car lift and somebody to help, hope it works out and keep us posted.

I'd also agree with you that its the easiest way of changing a clutch. Sure we had the clutch changed in 20 minutes on a VW Bora TDI last weekend, after we took the engine and box out. That engine needed to come out anyway though for other reasons.

I know its awkward to do it leaving the engine in the car on the MR2 - there's a lot of stuff needing to be removed, and access is not good.
But the amount of effort in taking out the perfectly good engine in the MR2 and putting it back in without breaking anything - for me it makes more sense to leave the engine in the car and remove the gearbox.
450 - as I said to Terry, I didn't think I'd find it cheaper anywhere else. But it doesn't compare very well with the UK.
I don't have a car lift, I have 3 foot high jack stands, a few trolley jacks and an engine crane. Will have someone to help as well.
I'm sure I'll get it done, what I'm not sure about is how long it will take, but sure we'll see

I wonder what sort of moola Spud@momentum would charge for that job? would be interesting to know for comparative purposes.

Here's an example from Rogue Motorsport in the uk

www.roguemotorsport.com/Services/mk2naservicing.htm

Clutch Change
Standard Clutch
Gearbox Oil
Fitted Price (including vat) £299.99

Considering the clutch + gearbox oil is probably costing them 70 pounds, the labour is nearly half price. And that's to have it done by a specialist who have worked on loads and loads of mr2's.

Awesome price..... there seems to be that bit more competition (and volume of work too) in the UK. Same in the USA and Australia btw.... maybe now that most people in Ireland can't afford new cars so readily we might hopefully see a growth spurt in used parts/maintenance culture which is sadly lacking at present (crosses fingers).

Not saying this is the case, but it's possible that Rogue are discounting the 'run of the mill' work, in order to keep MR2's coming back - and selling them high margin upgrades along the way...

Still I would love to have them a short or even long drive from my place

If Spud or anyone else in Irelnd could compete with Rogue's prices, I'd definitely go for it

My clutch is very noisy and its starting to get on my nerves !

hen I changed the clutch in the last 2 i left the engine in , there was enugh room to dop the box out . I have also changed a gear box in a MK1 and this also was done with the engine in place .
If i was gonna be off work next week i would take on changing your clutch , and could do it for less then €450 .

Well, the clutch is still holding up, just about. Have worked out that it seems to coincide with a smell of burning oil, and then after some more driving it goes away again. Seems to happen every couple of weeks.
It had a fairly easy time during the snow, since I couldn't give it much gas
The snow was great for getting used to the handling of the car, I took a nice long drive on new years day on some deserted back roads

Anyway on monday I did a full service on the car, and decatted it. Doesn't sound a whole lot louder unfortunately, but seems a tiny bit peppier. Heading to Mondello on saturday for a 1/2 day open trackday, should be fun!