02x01 - Toyota MR2 MKI Part 1

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheelie Dealers, the show that
loves modern classics.

This time we're going to show you how to
buy, restore and then sell on a fabulous

mid-engine sports car like this,
Toyota MR2.

We've set ourselves to task
of finding a run-down MR2 and

bringing it back to tip-top
condition with just £2,000.

I'll be giving you advice on what to look
out for when you go looking for a

second-hand Toyota, and
my mechanic Ed China will be

fiddling with the spanners
to bring our car back to life.

Why choose an MR2?

Well, with a boot at either
end and lots of storage inside,

you could use the MR2 as an
everyday practical run-around.

With the heaviest part, the engine planted
right in the middle, you get perfect 50-50

weight distribution, and that meant
cracking handling.

Looks great, doesn't it?

Like a piece of automotive origami.

For years, Japanese cars were a bit of a
joke.

Cheap and not very cheerful.

They were the lowest rung of the motoring
ladder.

What they didn't have
was a car to set the pulse

racing until the 1984
launch of the Toyota MR2.

Toyota's first attempt at a mass-market
sports car hit the bullseye.

If you thought hot hatches were common and
you had a yen for better handling on a

realistic budget, then the MR2 was a
must-have.

This was the car aspirational middle
management had been waiting for,

even if it was a bit of a tight fit for
those 80s shoulder pads.

At £18,500 in today's money, it wasn't
cheap, but it was certainly cheerful.

These cars still retain a strong following,
and retail prices have stayed high.

The early models are now 20 years old,
so I'm hoping I can pick up a bargain,

and I've already got a good idea of where
to start looking.

Nearly new second-hand car dealers often
take in old cars as part exchanges,

and my mate Andy tells me he's got an MR2
on his lot and he's keen to get shot of it.

Michael.

Andy.

How are you, fella?

Good to see you again.

This is the one, is it?

It is, mate.

It's a bit of a shed, mate.

What's going on here?

That's not the right wheel, is it?

No, that is true.

It's not.

Have you got another one for it?

No.

Nice.

Lovely.

Thank you.

Mate, what's going on here?

You didn't tell me I had a big hole in a
blooming wing.

That's only a little hole.

It's for ventilation.

Ventilation.

That'll be all right.

Don't worry, it's a bolt-on bit.

Pattern parts, dead easy.

What, so that bolt-on and bolt-off?

Yeah, honestly.

How much is a wing going to cost me one of
these, then?

50 quid.

About 50 quid?

Yeah, they're not expensive.

All right, we can work on that,
then.

Bit of rust round the wheel arch,
and those wheels need refurbishing.

Yeah.

Yeah, you don't care, do you?

What's the exhaust like?

Oh, mate, it's as rotten as a tailpipe,
mate.

What, a couple of those little chrome
sleeves?

Yeah, no, no, that's not neat.

That'll work, won't it?

Boot lock's missing.

A bit of ventilation.

Is there anything good to say about this
car?

It's an MR2 in red.

True, it's a rare old beast.

It is.

All right, moving on to the interior.

Oh, blimey, it's a bit of a mess in here,
fella, isn't it?

Come on, mate, just needs a bit of a
clean-up.

A clean-up?

Yeah.

It needs a jackhammer and a shovel to
clean this car out.

Yeah, the old line.

But I suppose underneath all this dirt is
the proper little thing.

All the dials, all the switches,
got a CD player ready to set.

Immobiliser?

Immobiliser as well.

All the glasses in good old.

A big crack in the screen, though,
mate.

Just get worse.

So I want to drive it round the block,
do you mind?

No, not at all.

Sure?

Yep.

Right, keys?

Yeah.

Oh, no.

You're having a turkey, surely.

Screwdriver.

Ignition key broke.

If the ignition key broke, if the
police see me with this in me

hand, I'm going to get Nick
and I think I've stolen this car.

You've got the original key.

Look.

Yeah, true.

Yeah.

All right, fella.

Leave me to it.

I'll see you in a bit.

Good luck.

I'll put the kettle on.

Cheers.

He's having a laugh, isn't he?

Temperature gauge is coming up.

The oil pressure's very good.

So overall, I think the actual engine
itself is cracking.

Although it's a bit of a mess, this car
on the exterior, mechanically, it's fine.

There's a horrible grumbling noise coming
from the back, and that would put a lot of

people off, and they'd feel a little bit
nervous about it.

But I happen to know that
these cars did have a little

inherent fault, which was
the bearings in the alternator.

And they tend to rattle them and wear quite
badly, and it's a really cheap, easy fix.

And this car has got that, and I know that
it can fix it quite simply.

Now, he's got this car up for 700 quid,
trade price.

I reckon it's not worth that.

I reckon it's worth about 500 quid.

And if I could get it for that much money,
do you know what?

I think we could even earn a profit out of
this car, because they're desirable,

they're still sought after, and it is the
popular model.

It's the T-Bar option.

You know, owning a car
like this really does mean

you can be champagne
jolly for lemonade money.

Right, time to do the deal.

Now, I'm going to go in with my size tens
on and see if he'll take a monkey.

That's 500 quid cash.

I don't know where to start, Andy.

There's a nasty rattle
coming from the engine, but I'm

sure underneath there
somewhere is a nice little car.

You know who there is.

Oh, mate, it all comes down to money.

You want it?

It's 700 quid for it.

It owes me 700 quid.

It's got tax.

It's got tax, but can you knock the
figures back a little bit?

500 quid, a monkey.

Take it now.

Now, cash, I've got the money with me.

Come on.

Yes?

Lovely.

Oh, yes, what a result.

I didn't think Andy would go for 500 quid.

Perhaps he knows something I don't.

I hope there's no nasty surprises when I
hand the car over to Ed.

How are you doing?

Good to see you.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

No, it's a crack in the screen,
didn't you?

Yes, that's nice.

I hope you've got a good memory.

Why?

Because the list is kind of long.

It's huge, isn't it?

It's kind of long on this one.

I'm thinking already I can see your wheel
problem.

We can get the wheels sorted out.

That's no problem at all.

And the lock's missing.

Do you know what?

I'm scared by your powers of observation.

It's a keen eye.

It's a keen eye.

I mean, it needs replacing, obviously.

It's horrible.

Now, in here, unfortunately, Ed,
you're going to get your hands greasy,

because the alternator is right down in
there somewhere.

Well, it's a common problem.

What happens is water
gathers in this little tray and it

drips down onto the bearings
and wears the bearings out.

Now, people go and buy these and think
something's wrong with the engine,

but actually it's just the bearings in the
alternator.

So it needs replacing.

If you could do that, that'd be great.

Right, a bit of rust on this wing,
Ed, but I've got a funny feeling, mate.

You could probably just unbolt this wing
from the car.

Because while you're
doing that one, you might as

well do this one further,
because this is rotten.

It's got a big hole in it and everything.

And it is just a series of bolts.

So you're sure they do unbolt you?

I haven't got a cutter well done.

No, I'm sure that one just unbolts.

I'm not too sure about the one at the
back.

But, yeah, I'm sure you could work magic
and paint work.

Yeah, that's pretty bad, too.

But you're good at doing that.

I've done it before.

I've seen you do that before.

You can bring it up back to life.

Other than that, Ed, that's going to be
about it.

I mean, imagine what it's going to be like
when it's finished.

Me and you about Wham!

CD'ing, club shopping, carnival
drinks... Oh, there is one other thing.

You know me and my one other things?

Yes, another thing.

I have got this one other thing.

It's tiny.

It's your key for the car.

Are you sure you actually paid money for
this?

I did actually pay cash for
this car, but when I bought

it, somebody had snapped
the key in the ignition barrel.

So this is what was handed to me.

That is the key for the car.

So if you're doing that
lock at the back, if you can

do the lock at the front as
well, that would be great.

Other than that, it's yours, Ed.

Enjoy.

Well, thank you very much.

Good luck, Ed.

See you later.

So, lots of work for Ed to do.

Join us after the break as he pulls on the
overalls and gets down to business.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers,
the show that loves to buy it.

Restore and then sell on Modern Classics.

This is the tired old MR2, which I bought
for just 500 notes.

A right little bargain.

Now Ed's got to turn the car around.

The rust worms have been at the bodywork.

The engine sounds like a cement mixer.

And there's those countless
little jobs like replacing

missing locks and sorting
out those scuffy old alloys.

Ed, my boy, it's time to get your hands
dirty.

I've just driven this car back to the
workshop, and it's a fun car.

But as Mike said, it does sound like a bag
of nails.

Now, he thought it was because of the
automator.

And I did have the misfortune to actually
stall this car.

I went to try and start
it, and the battery was

almost completely flat,
so I had to get a push start.

Now, to my mind, that means
the alternator is definitely

at fault, so that is going
to be my first job to fix.

The alternator sits right underneath the
engine, so it's up with the ramp so I can

free up the three large bolts which hold
it in place.

Of course, I'm dealing with
electrics here, so I've isolated

the battery before I start
working to avoid any nasty shocks.

OK, this is the big bolt from the bottom
of the alternator.

There is one more to undo at the top.

Before I undo that, I'm going to take off
the wiring.

Now, there are two main bits of wiring.

There's one which is a three-pin plug,
and that goes off into the wiring loom.

There's another really
big fat wire, and that

takes the current
directly to the battery.

With the alternator bolts
freed, it's just a case of

man handling it out of the
tightly packed engine bay.

It's time for a masterclass in
alternators.

This is the one we took off the car
before.

As you can see, it's a very simple piece
of machinery.

There's a shaft supported by some
bearings.

There's a pulley on one end.

There's some magnets inside the other.

There's loads of wires wrapped round the
outside.

Lots of physics goes on.

When this spins, power is generated at
this terminal.

That goes to the battery and keeps your
car lovely and full of energy,

which is great.

Now, it's important that this is a very
efficient machine.

Listen to that.

You can hear those bearings are very past
it.

On the other hand, this is the nice new
shiny one.

It's like angels whispering, I think,
out with the old, in with the new.

Now, putting the alternator
back into the car, it's pretty

much the opposite of the
removal, so it should be quite easy.

Bit fiddly, perhaps.

All I'm going to do
now is replace the three

locating bolts and then
drop the car onto the deck.

With the alternator roughly in place,
I'm fitting the fanboat which runs around

the alternator pulley, the crankshaft and
water pump pulleys.

And now it's time for the important bit,
so pay attention.

I'm now going to tension the fanboat.

Now, this is very important I get this
right.

Imagine you've got the
alternator pulley, you've got a

water pump pulley and
you've got the crankshaft pulley.

Now, of course, that's
attached to the engine, so

when the engine's running,
this is spinning round.

And our fanboat goes round all three of
these pulleys.

Now, the thing is, if it's not tight
enough, then when the crankshaft spins,

the alternator probably won't get driven
properly, and that means we're not going

to have efficient transfer of energy,
therefore we're not going to have

electricity and we're not going to have
our battery charged up.

So if I get in the tension
just right, it means

the alternator moves
when the crankshaft does.

Okay, that's pretty tight.

So now what I have to do is check the
tension.

It's a very simple test.

Get my finger, apply a fair amount of
pressure to the belt, and I'm looking for

about 10 mil or so of deflection,
which, of course, I've got.

So now what I have to do is actually test
it.

Of course, first, I've got to connect the
battery again.

This is the moment I both love and hate.

If it works, great, I've got a result.

If it doesn't work, I'm going to have to
carry on troubleshooting the problem.

So here we go.

Hee-hee!

Okay.

Well, it sounds fantastic.

And also, I've got
loads of voltage showing

on our little voltage
meter on the dashboard.

With the alternator sorted, it's time to
give our MR2 a quick engine service.

First, I'm draining the oil.

Crack off the sump plug and let the old
stuff run into a bucket.

It's a good idea to dispose of this at your
local council dump as it's toxic stuff.

Always remember to replace the sump plug
before you refill the engine oil.

This engine takes just under 3.5 litres of
oil.

So when I get to about the 3-litre mark,
I'm going to start checking the level with

the dipstick, because
it's pretty important

that I make sure I put
just the right amount in.

Too much is just as bad as too little.

Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm near the 3-litre
mark now.

I'm going to check with
the dipstick now, just to

be absolutely sure I'm
in exactly the right place.

Oh, look at that.

Perfect.

Changing spark plugs is really very easy
indeed.

You just have to pull them out,
push them back in again.

But you do have to be careful of one
thing.

The order the leads go onto the right
spark plugs is very, very important.

The car like this, in fact with any car,
there's a firing order.

This one is 1, 3, 4, 2.

Now that's controlled by the distributor,
and that all happens through the leads.

So if you put the wrong
lead on the wrong spark plug,

chances are it won't run
very well, or even at all.

Oh, that's one mini service complete.

Next up is the bodywork.

Now I'm hoping Mike's going
to source me a salvage front

wing, because this one's
too far gone for me to mend.

Until he turns up with the goods,
I'm going to amuse myself working on the

rear wing, which has got some surface
rust, but isn't actually too bad.

Well, the first job in this
little process is going to

be to clear up the metal to
see how bad the damage is.

So I'm going to grind all this stuff off
with a little grinder.

Obviously there'll be things flying
around, so I'm going to wear some eye

goggles and some ear muffs, just because I
don't want to go deaf.

And now for the science bit, and more
specifically, chemistry.

I've already ground
off all the big flaky bits

of rust, but there is still
some in the bodywork.

And I've got this rust remedy,
which is just kind of a magic chemical

that you can get from any automotive
supplier.

Very simply, it chemically changes our
iron oxide, which is rust, into something

which is firm and hard, which I can put
the filler and then paint onto.

It's very simple.

Dab it on with a paintbrush.

Leave it about 15, 20 minutes,
perhaps, to get the chemistry to do its

stuff, and then it's ready for me to put
the filler on.

Just dab it on like this.

Do you know what it is yet?

I'm trying to get all the exposed areas of
the metal.

Look at that.

It seems the chemistry has done its stuff.

My nasty bits of rust
have now turned into solid,

firm material that I
can put my filler onto.

All I have to do is mix it up and Bosch it
on.

This is standard filler.

Mix a golf ball of filler to appease worth
of hardener.

Then mix well and lay it on thinly.

Now, we've got off very lightly with the
wing at the back because it needed a

little bit of a repair, but it's not been
too hard.

This, on the other hand, is well past it.

Look at that.

Shocking at the front there.

Huge, great dent in the side.

And again, there's a big hole at the back
of the wing.

Now, this wing bolts off, but nothing is
ever as easy as it sounds, and this car

seems to have hidden fixings in the most
inaccessible places.

It takes a good hour of
detective work to track down

all the clips and bolts and
free the near-side wing.

One last thing.

Don't forget to disconnect the side
repeater.

It's very easy.

It just twists out.

There we have it.

One removed wing at last.

Now that the wing's off, it's down to Mike
to come up with a replacement,

so I hope he's having luck with his
salvage yard search.

Now, remember what I said to Ed when I
handed over that MR2?

I said, I'll find your wing for it,
no problem.

And I thought it'd be easy.

But to be honest with you, I wish I never
bothered because I had been on the phone

to every single breakers yard in the
United Kingdom.

I've been to find a part, I've been on the
internet, and I can't find one anywhere.

It's like En's Teeth.

Anyway, I've managed to find one in all
places, a breakers yard down in the

south-east of London,
and he reckons he's got a

tidy one in stock, and
believe it or not, it's red.

So fingers crossed it's a good one.

We've got wing here.

What's that one?

That's red.

But I don't think that's the one.

Oh, that looks more like it.

Ah-ha!

No, no, no, this is the one.

Look at that.

And I'll tell you what, that ain't in bad
nick, is it?

That's in pretty tidy condition.

But another thing that I found out,
when I was investigating getting one of

these wings, do you know there's five
different paint combinations of red?

I just hope this is the right one.

If not, it'll have to paint it.

However, it is a tidy wing, it's red,
it's for an MR2, so I'm going to buy it.

Hey, Governor.

Hiya, mate.

How are you doing?

Wayne.

Wayne, how are you doing, mate?

Now, on the phone, you
said you had a tidy-looking

MR2 wing, and a
tidy-looking MR2 wing it is.

How much is it?

40lb of you, mate.

40 quid.

We take a score of 20 quid for it.

Never.

I'll tell you what, I'll meet you halfway,
30lb.

30 quid.

You're a good salesman.

Go on, I'll have that deal with you.

Lovely.

Now, I've done my part
of the deal, I wonder how

Ed's getting on with
his rear wing full of filler.

Well, I've finished
all the filler work, and

now it looks like it's
beginning to take shape.

I think I might have managed to rescue
this, which is very cool.

So, the next thing I have
to do is use increasingly

finer and finer sandpaper
and get it ready for primer.

So, now it's time for paint.

This is filler primer.

Get into all the little scratches and
nicks and crannies.

So, shake your can well.

Put some paint on.

That's the last of the masking tape
removed, and look at the end result.

We have a lovely, shiny wing.

OK, so the rest of the
paintwork could do with a bit of

a buff, and, of course, the
wing's missing at the front.

But, believe me, once it all comes
together, it'll look fantastic.

Ed!

Hey!

How are you feeling?

Good to see you.

I've been working harder and more too.

You've been working very hard on this.

Look at the state of it filler.

It's like it's been in a crash.

It's a little bit poor, but
there's a lot of other work

I've done on this, and it's
looking really special now.

So, I've fixed the alternator on the
engine, changed the plugs, changed the air

filter, changed the oil, and the oil
filter, so that's pretty cool.

And there's loads of work on that back
wing on the corner.

Oh, yeah, that looks fantastic.

But, I mean, it's still looking rough
here, isn't it?

I know, but that's down to you,
isn't it?

It is down to me, and I've been out,
I've been out, shopping.

That's looking very shiny.

Shopping just for you.

Look, the trouble I had to go to get this.

I have actually polished it for you as
well, haven't I?

Is that right?

I think that's getting close.

There we go.

Whoa, look at that.

That looks fantastic already.

That is looking really, really good,
actually.

OK, I'll give you that.

And it sort of matches, doesn't it,
the paintwork?

Well, kind of, but I think this paintwork
needs a bit more work on it.

I need to get all the
colours to look the same, so

I'm going to have to
polish it really hard, I think.

But you've got that special little machine
in a mop.

I've got the mop and a bit of compound.

I think it should come up a treat,
really spot-on.

And then the car will look a million
dollars after that.

So far, we're well under budget.

All the parts have come in cheap.

Including the price of
the car, we've only spent

around £800 and that's well
under our two-gram budget.

The good news is that Ed has done a whole
heap of work on our little MR2,

but the bad news is there's still a load
more left to do.

But then look what we'll have at the end
of it.

We'll have a little mid-engined sports car
that we can both be proud of.

And then, hopefully, I can find a sporting
tire-kicker that I can sell it onto.

So make sure you join us again on Wheeler
Dealers.

We'll see you soon.

Tala.