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IDon'tKnow · 09-06-2009, 08:09 PM

Hello folks. My name is Michael, I'm a small business owner hailing from Huntsville, AL. A few weeks ago I bought my second -1st running- AW11. My last AW11 which I bought for $600 - from the friend for whom I had found the car on eBay; drove to Tampa (12 hours) with; realized the guy had seriously misadvertised the car; bought it anyway; drove it home; stopped more than a few times to try and keep the thing running; got it home... he drove it for about a month before misfortune fell upon him - had a blown headgasket when it came into my possession and only got worse from there (Was that run on sentence hard to follow?). You see I was younger, less experienced, poorer, stoned, and probably delusional then. I thought that I was going to build this car from scratch - had been lurching MR2 forums for years - had it all planned out... or rather had an odd mix of outrages ideas, only..... no funding, and believe me - to make good on all of my fantasies for this car I would have had to rob a bank to the tune of $100k+.

So to pass the time, instead of going out and getting a job I hacked the car to bits. Main harness, not going to need that, I'm going to run a standalone EMS, hack hack hack. Gauge cluster harness, not going to need that, I'm going to run an all digital data-logging cluster, hack hack hack. A/C, Heater, & Vent unit, not going to need that, A/C is for lightweights - or should I say heavyweights? - hack hack hack. It went on and on and on, unltil I had nothing left but a slightly rusty AW11 shell with half a motor in it and no longer had a place to store the thing so off it went to the salvage yard - I mean crushers - there was nothing left to salvage.

We'll folks I performed my repentance as best I could. That poor pale gold '85 didn't deserve the treatment it received but what's done is done. All I can do now to prove the sincerity and extent of my reformation is treat this new one right.

Fast forward three or four years and I am riding along with a friend of mine in his 300ZX TT, by riding along I mean racing a Z06, when his improperly balanced fan clutch caused a WP failure. If you think getting to the WP on the MR2 is difficult you've never had to take one out of the Z32. Anyway while doing a parking-lot-water-pump-replacement, I was chatting with my friends mechanic and upon his discovery that I was/am an AW11 nut, he tipped me off on the deal.

She is a Red '86 model with some minor accident damage on the driver rear quarter - thus the $900 price tag for what seems to me to be a fairly well sorted car.

Things I like about the condition of the car:

Cold A/C
Clean, excellent interior -Seats are great, carpet looks new, headliner looks mint - (There is a small blemish on dash beneath the passenger vent, a crack on the clock/vent trim, steering wheel leather has seen better days, and the arm rest/ center tunnel cover doesn't like to stay in place because the plastic ribbing support beneath it is broken so it doesn't quite do it's job and when you put your arm on the pad it tends to bend in and thus not hold it's corner tabs in place).
It runs well and doesn't pop out of 5th. (Although the transmission does make some terribly disquieting noises and I'm sure it won't last too much longer)
It was garaged by the owner previous to the previous owner - although the previous owner pretty much spoiled that by keeping it in his backyard for two years without giving it a moments attention.
The front lip is in good shape.
The weather stripping seems to be in good shape as well as most of the black trim around the windows. - The sunroof doesn't leak.
The tie rods are not seized up.

Anyway - the car has it's not so good points as well - Obviously the damage to the rear quarter needs to be addressed and I won't be addressing it with bondo - new metal will go in when I can find some salvaged at a decent price ($300 is the best I've found so far). The car does the shimmy to a different extent at most speeds, not sure if this is the wheel balance, tie rod ends, and/or other factors. I'll probably just address everything at once when I finish using up the tires.

My other two cars, actually my wife and I share both, are a 2008 Honda Fit; base model, 5 speed, bone stock...... and a 2005 Acura RL - which is a fantastic car you should read a bit about if you are not familiar.

I once owned a 1989 Civic HB (Oh Gosh, he's a HonDUH boy) that was pretty quick. It was fairly modified - B16A swap, Y1 short ratio tranny, crush bent custom 3" cat deleted exhaust, CAI, tokico blues, eibach springs, ect - probably ran a low 14. Was in the process of building a B20/VTEC motor - had the sleeved block, ARP con-rod bolts on OEM PR4 rods, RS Machine 12.3:1 High comp pistons all assembled, and a few other parts as well; Skunk2 intake manifold, long tube race header, 600cc injectors (I know, a little bit big) ect.. - for it when I fell on tough times and had to part the whole thing out. Sad really because it would have made 200hp at the wheels and the EF is a light chassis.

Anyway, that's some of my background. I don't a have a ton of cash on hand right now so nothing outrageous should be happening with my AW11 anytime soon but I have lots of ideas and love this car so you'll see some projects popping up here and there.

If you've managed to read this far I congratulate you. A big thanks to everyone on this forum for having the excellent judgment to be an MR2 enthusiast. I look forward to learning from you all and becoming an active part of the community.

09-06-2009, 08:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
IDon'tKnow but I can find out. Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: DC Posts: 392 Thanks: 6 Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts iTrader Rating: (1/100% )	Hello everyone, new here. Hello folks. My name is Michael, I'm a small business owner hailing from Huntsville, AL. A few weeks ago I bought my second -1st running- AW11. My last AW11 which I bought for $600 - from the friend for whom I had found the car on eBay; drove to Tampa (12 hours) with; realized the guy had seriously misadvertised the car; bought it anyway; drove it home; stopped more than a few times to try and keep the thing running; got it home... he drove it for about a month before misfortune fell upon him - had a blown headgasket when it came into my possession and only got worse from there (Was that run on sentence hard to follow?). You see I was younger, less experienced, poorer, stoned, and probably delusional then. I thought that I was going to build this car from scratch - had been lurching MR2 forums for years - had it all planned out... or rather had an odd mix of outrages ideas, only..... no funding, and believe me - to make good on all of my fantasies for this car I would have had to rob a bank to the tune of $100k+. So to pass the time, instead of going out and getting a job I hacked the car to bits. Main harness, not going to need that, I'm going to run a standalone EMS, hack hack hack. Gauge cluster harness, not going to need that, I'm going to run an all digital data-logging cluster, hack hack hack. A/C, Heater, & Vent unit, not going to need that, A/C is for lightweights - or should I say heavyweights? - hack hack hack. It went on and on and on, unltil I had nothing left but a slightly rusty AW11 shell with half a motor in it and no longer had a place to store the thing so off it went to the salvage yard - I mean crushers - there was nothing left to salvage. We'll folks I performed my repentance as best I could. That poor pale gold '85 didn't deserve the treatment it received but what's done is done. All I can do now to prove the sincerity and extent of my reformation is treat this new one right. Fast forward three or four years and I am riding along with a friend of mine in his 300ZX TT, by riding along I mean racing a Z06, when his improperly balanced fan clutch caused a WP failure. If you think getting to the WP on the MR2 is difficult you've never had to take one out of the Z32. Anyway while doing a parking-lot-water-pump-replacement, I was chatting with my friends mechanic and upon his discovery that I was/am an AW11 nut, he tipped me off on the deal. She is a Red '86 model with some minor accident damage on the driver rear quarter - thus the $900 price tag for what seems to me to be a fairly well sorted car. Things I like about the condition of the car: Cold A/C Clean, excellent interior -Seats are great, carpet looks new, headliner looks mint - (There is a small blemish on dash beneath the passenger vent, a crack on the clock/vent trim, steering wheel leather has seen better days, and the arm rest/ center tunnel cover doesn't like to stay in place because the plastic ribbing support beneath it is broken so it doesn't quite do it's job and when you put your arm on the pad it tends to bend in and thus not hold it's corner tabs in place). It runs well and doesn't pop out of 5th. (Although the transmission does make some terribly disquieting noises and I'm sure it won't last too much longer) It was garaged by the owner previous to the previous owner - although the previous owner pretty much spoiled that by keeping it in his backyard for two years without giving it a moments attention. The front lip is in good shape. The weather stripping seems to be in good shape as well as most of the black trim around the windows. - The sunroof doesn't leak. The tie rods are not seized up. Anyway - the car has it's not so good points as well - Obviously the damage to the rear quarter needs to be addressed and I won't be addressing it with bondo - new metal will go in when I can find some salvaged at a decent price ($300 is the best I've found so far). The car does the shimmy to a different extent at most speeds, not sure if this is the wheel balance, tie rod ends, and/or other factors. I'll probably just address everything at once when I finish using up the tires. My other two cars, actually my wife and I share both, are a 2008 Honda Fit; base model, 5 speed, bone stock...... and a 2005 Acura RL - which is a fantastic car you should read a bit about if you are not familiar. I once owned a 1989 Civic HB (Oh Gosh, he's a HonDUH boy) that was pretty quick. It was fairly modified - B16A swap, Y1 short ratio tranny, crush bent custom 3" cat deleted exhaust, CAI, tokico blues, eibach springs, ect - probably ran a low 14. Was in the process of building a B20/VTEC motor - had the sleeved block, ARP con-rod bolts on OEM PR4 rods, RS Machine 12.3:1 High comp pistons all assembled, and a few other parts as well; Skunk2 intake manifold, long tube race header, 600cc injectors (I know, a little bit big) ect.. - for it when I fell on tough times and had to part the whole thing out. Sad really because it would have made 200hp at the wheels and the EF is a light chassis. Anyway, that's some of my background. I don't a have a ton of cash on hand right now so nothing outrageous should be happening with my AW11 anytime soon but I have lots of ideas and love this car so you'll see some projects popping up here and there. If you've managed to read this far I congratulate you. A big thanks to everyone on this forum for having the excellent judgment to be an MR2 enthusiast. I look forward to learning from you all and becoming an active part of the community.