Toyota MR2 Message Board - View Single Post

koji · 11-04-2009, 12:33 AM

Non-timed update again tonight, I didn't get a ton of work time. I've got a lot of things organized though, so tomorrow should be more interesting.

First off, in my continual effort to move things from the left side of the room to the right, I did finish one piece today. I know it's just the straps that hold the t-tops, but oh well - it's what I could get done. Fortunately I had everything required to make these lying around so the cost was basically zero.

I've been looking around my house and various stores for something to make a mold for the shifter surround and came up with jack till tonight. I bought a couple of mirrors a looooong time ago that clip onto your sun visor. I never intalled them on any of my cars, the shape is right, and when I held it up to the OEM shifter piece it pretty much covered the entire thing.

I've got this thing (with the mirror remove obviously) taped up and I'm filling the back side with plastic adhesive body filler. I'm doing this so that I can then make a mold of the piece, build it up out of fiberglass, then cover it with carbon fiber.

In other news, I began taking apart the door skins. The lower plastic piece that that has the map/dip can/whatever pocket is actually a seperate piece held in by several screws - which I removed. I'm contemplating remaking this piece entirely, using fiberglass, and incorporating some cupholders. There's plent of room on the door for it, it's just that it'll require an inordinate amount of work to get completed. I'm probably going to save these for sometime later in the project.

I don't know what engine I'll ultimately end up running in this car. It won't be the 5SFE, but I don't know if it will be a 3SGTE, 3VZFE (I'm leaning towards this option) or a 1MZFE. Whatever I end up using, I needed to ask myself a simple question: "Do you intend to run more than three additional gauges?" - which is what will fit in the DIN slot I'm going to make in the stock center surround (above the deck).

The answer to that ended up being "oh hell yes" because I've got a wideband AFR gauge laying around and I normally like to run oil pressure/oil temp/several additional temp sensors in cars I drive. I've got six gauges in the WRX and I consider that a daily driver. As such, I decided to eliminate one of the vents in the upper surround bit.

I used some of this material (avaliable at your local hardware store) that's used to mount those glass blocks you sometimes see in bathrooms, to cut a piece to fill in the drivers side vent.

I then trimmed, chamfered, and glued in this piece, then added a liberal amount of plastic adhering body filler. I'll sand this bit down from here and then see about filling in any pinholes or other imperfections before I move on to painting.

11-04-2009, 12:33 AM	#67 (permalink)
koji Cage Fighter Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 176 Thanks: 2 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts iTrader Rating: (1/100% )	Non-timed update again tonight, I didn't get a ton of work time. I've got a lot of things organized though, so tomorrow should be more interesting. First off, in my continual effort to move things from the left side of the room to the right, I did finish one piece today. I know it's just the straps that hold the t-tops, but oh well - it's what I could get done. Fortunately I had everything required to make these lying around so the cost was basically zero. I've been looking around my house and various stores for something to make a mold for the shifter surround and came up with jack till tonight. I bought a couple of mirrors a looooong time ago that clip onto your sun visor. I never intalled them on any of my cars, the shape is right, and when I held it up to the OEM shifter piece it pretty much covered the entire thing. I've got this thing (with the mirror remove obviously) taped up and I'm filling the back side with plastic adhesive body filler. I'm doing this so that I can then make a mold of the piece, build it up out of fiberglass, then cover it with carbon fiber. In other news, I began taking apart the door skins. The lower plastic piece that that has the map/dip can/whatever pocket is actually a seperate piece held in by several screws - which I removed. I'm contemplating remaking this piece entirely, using fiberglass, and incorporating some cupholders. There's plent of room on the door for it, it's just that it'll require an inordinate amount of work to get completed. I'm probably going to save these for sometime later in the project. I don't know what engine I'll ultimately end up running in this car. It won't be the 5SFE, but I don't know if it will be a 3SGTE, 3VZFE (I'm leaning towards this option) or a 1MZFE. Whatever I end up using, I needed to ask myself a simple question: "Do you intend to run more than three additional gauges?" - which is what will fit in the DIN slot I'm going to make in the stock center surround (above the deck). The answer to that ended up being "oh hell yes" because I've got a wideband AFR gauge laying around and I normally like to run oil pressure/oil temp/several additional temp sensors in cars I drive. I've got six gauges in the WRX and I consider that a daily driver. As such, I decided to eliminate one of the vents in the upper surround bit. I used some of this material (avaliable at your local hardware store) that's used to mount those glass blocks you sometimes see in bathrooms, to cut a piece to fill in the drivers side vent. I then trimmed, chamfered, and glued in this piece, then added a liberal amount of plastic adhering body filler. I'll sand this bit down from here and then see about filling in any pinholes or other imperfections before I move on to painting.