Three years with my reasonable dream car: The good, the bad and the 2ZZ

Obligatory pictures of both cars: https://imgur.com/a/5i5uQrX It is time for my yearly update on the life of me and my dumb MR2, many things happened since the last year, so I will now tell you my tales. For the uninitiated, I bought a UKDM MR2 MK3, AKA the MR2 Spyder, the MR-S, the MR2 Roadster or even the MR depending on where you live. The aborted LPG conversion/hybridization attempt I want to drive the MR2 until the day I die, however I live in a police state so by the end of 2027 I will no longer be allowed to drive it during the week, so I cannot go to work in it. A few years ago you used to be able to convert your car to LPG or even micro hybridize it to bypass this. I talked to a few companies and despite the excellently low emissions of the MR2 the government has started to crack down on conversions, so it's effectively impossible for me to do any of those things. The modding decision Originally I was going to keep the car stock, but I got the itch to start modifying it (tastefully, I hope), so I finally decided to dive in and change the parts of the car I personally don't like. My plan is the following Bodykit (nothing insane, just TRD wing, lip and sideskirts, no widening). Suspension (Tein Flex Z). Engine (2ZZ swap). New wheels (undecided, but I want to make some 962-style turbofan shrouds for the front). Suspension I got Tein Flex Z, they are good for the road, they are a bit hard (but I'm told most Japanese suspensions are hard), but it's not hard in an unusable way, so I am enjoying them, I still need to adjust the rake since I have way more on throttle understeer than I should (I know it's MR yada yada, but it's still way too much). The engine decision If you know about the third generation MR2, there will always be an elephant in the room: The engine. Not only did toyota not put in the much superior and perhaps appropriate 2ZZ, but they also decided to add some extra catalytic converters not found in the original 1ZZ due to some california emissions shenanigans (ultra low emissions vehicle classification). Now, the 1ZZ has one flaw that is mostly harmless on its own, it burns oil like crazy (I'm told this is because of a design flaw in the piston oil drain holes). The problem is that combining it with the new precats causes a complicated failure mode where the engine can ingest precat remains that got overheated by the oil that burned off. The solution for this is quite simple, just gut the precats (or very carefully fix the drain holes yourself, I've heard it being done by some crazy local guy). Anyways mine has been burning oil for a while, and it doesn't sound very good. I was offered a chance to swap it to a 2ZZ and I have taken it, while the swap hasn't happened yet I am quite excited to drive the car with the new engine. One of the cool things about the 2ZZ swap is that I get to have the shorter 6 speed celica gearbox, you see the MR2's gearbox is suuuuuuuuuper long, at least the eurospec one, it's hard to keep it in the correct powerband and my gearbox in particular doesn't allow for very fast shifts, so I lost a ton of time and enjoyment because I try to avoid switching gears when driving a bit faster. The 2ZZ revs to the moon, so it should be very fun to drive! The biggest issue is I need to have it all certified, which will be around 2000€ in paperwork alone, but oh well, at least it won't burn oil like a 2 stroke anymore. Body I finally decided to mess with the body, the pre-2001 MR2s have a strange aerodynamic flaw that causes them to be a bit unstable at highway speeds, it's nothing dangerous but it's also not a pleasant feeling, there's a very small air dam toyota made for the post 2000 models. But what I plan to do is to install the TRD front lip which solves the issue while looking cool as hell. I also got a TRD-style wing made in CFRP, it's mega light (2.5KG with 4 bolts), I was originally going to paint the pillars but I think I'll keep them unpainted. Finally fixed AC Ever since I got the car AC didn't work, I assumed it must have sprung a leak, now that I have a proper job (last time around I didn't!) I could finally have it looked at. As it turns out, there was no leak, the level of coolant was just low, I am not sure how this can happen but after refilling it it works just fine. I started actually dailying it I work at a game development studio in Barcelona, unfortunately the public transport situation is absolute trash, even though I have free public transport because I'm legally disabled I still take 1:30h to reach my workplace vs 30 mins by car. For this reason last year I rented a parking spot near work and I started driving there in my silly citroen c2 1.1 with 60 hp. It was all good and dandy, but now that I have another car (more on that later) I could no longer use the c2, and my diesel C4 is not only way too big for me to enjoy driving to work in it, but it's also got some insanely sensitive brakes (I'm told this is normal for this car) and the clutch is cooked, but my father who actually owns that one claims it's perfectly fine. Since the miata is too old to be allowed into Barcelona I have no choice but to use the MR2, it's a surprisingly good experience though, the car is comfy and small, the only trouble is it being RHD in a LHD country, but I adapted very well. Also, I got a Miata I did a semi-impulsive purchase, a 1994 mazda mx5 in British Racing Green, with the 90hp detuned engine, strangely it's actually an NA8, it's a bit clapped out and needs a lot of restoration, which I've started doing. There's absolutely no rational reason to get the Miata, but the allure of it was too strong and I've always wanted to own a car with popup headlights, I swear on me dead mom that this one is staying as stock as possible. The only non OEM part I want to add is modern tail lights. This leads me to another funny anecdote, in the european union parts have a thing called an E-Mark, in principle if a part has such mark and it's made for your vehicle you can just install it and it's just allowed as a replacement and completely road legal, but of course that's not true in Spain (because of course it can never be that simple), the conversation with the inspection station engineer went a bit like this: Me: Ok so I want to buy these new tail lights for my car since mine are in terrible shape, they are modern ones with an e-mark and a mark on the lights themselves. Engineer: Well, just because the part is allowed for road use and homologated for your car doesn't mean it actually is allowed to be used. Me: What do I do then? Engineer: You have to pay an inspection station to add a single line to your car's technical paperwork so you can legally drive around with it. Peak comedy. Closing words It's been a fun yet sad year, but things are looking up. I hope life is kind to me for once and I get to keep enjoying these two beautiful cars for years to come! See you in the future! submitted by /u/eirexe [link] [comments]