MR2 May Go for Transition Surgery this Week

Here's the newly installed Clutch Master Cylinder.  It's installed in the frunk and connected to the clutch pedal behind it inside the car.  Hopefully this week the mechanic will have time to take the car in for its major transmission replacement surgery.

The clutch hydraulic fluid will go into that white trapezoid shaped reservoir that is part of the master cylinder

As part of the transmission swap, the mechanic will run a clutch hydraulic line from this device to the rear of the car where the engine and transmission are.

Happy New Year 2019! A Shorter MR2 Day Today

Today's project was disassembling the interior so I could be ready to remove and replace the shifter.  This required having both driver's and passenger's seats out.

As you can see, it was a successful tear down.

I even salvaged the donor shift pattern metal badge that goes on the center console and replaced the one that came with the automatic transmission model.

On the left is my 1988 center floor console

with salvaged shift pattern badge installed and old badge removed.

On the right is the donor console; I'm going to need to replace that boot.

I also found today that I needed to adjust the brake switch to accommodate the new pedal; the brake lights were stuck on.  A little adjustment with a 14mm wrench and that problem was taken care of. Diane stood behind the car and verified proper operation for me while I stepped on the pedal.

I put the seats back in and drove to Ralphs for some potatoes- one of this car's last trips as an automatic.

If I believe tracking info from Amazon and Rock Auto, tomorrow and Friday the new clutch cylinders and clutch kit will arrive for the last steps before handing over to the mechanic for the heavy stuff.

More Toyota MR2 Project

Michael, again.  Today I removed the automatic brake pedal (wide) and replaced it with the brake pedal from the donor car (narrower).  This took hours under the dash with the driver's seat, and many plastic pieces removed to gain access.

After that, I installed the donor clutch pedal bracket using two of the three new holes I drilled in the firewall.  It fit great!  Then I installed the clutch pedal with its spring and starter safety switch.

Three Pedals!  It's Looking Like a Proper Car Now

(but that third one doesn't do anything just yet)

While I'm waiting for the new clutch master cylinder to arrive and fill the third hole, I'll start disassembling around this gruesome thing, but leaving the car drivable.

Much thanks to Harbor Freight and their coupons; I bought my first set of metric open end wrenches that proved quite useful.

Toyota MR2 Project

Michael here, making a guest post.  The 1988 MR2, originally my mother's, has 68k miles on it and looks like new inside and out, and runs well after about a year of minor fixes.  My project is to make it a proper MR2; you see, it has an automatic transmission (naughty) and rather generic wheels (meh).  Luckily, I found a 1985 donor car on Craigslist and the owner helped me get all the necessary bits to make the swap.

The 1988 MR2 Now

The Donor Car (130k miles)

[You can see why it's being parted out]

All the Bits at Home on the Back Porch

(clockwise from 6 o'clock: Clutch, Shifter and cables, 5-speed transmission,

clutch pedal assembly, brake pedal, flywheel, axles)

I started work this weekend installing wheels and beginning necessary modifications in preparation for the major transmission swap to be done by the mechanic on the corner.

Here's the 1988 with the Proper MR2 Wheels Installed

Near the center you can see the new holes I made in the firewall

to install the clutch master cylinder

People have done this before and the web has been a great resource for details on the parts needed and the process steps.

The next steps will be changing out the brake pedal and installing the clutch pedal and master cylinder.

Happy Birthday Jacob

FIVE

TEN

FIFTEEN

Happy Birthday, Jacob.

Road Trip

Michael took us on a road trip today, he has been itching to get out of town. We rented a Peugeot and off we went.

 First stop was a glass museum. It was more the history of glass especially Art Deco then current pieces. Michael was in seventh-heaven.

 This area of the Netherlands has many dikes, water was every where.

 This was the parking lot of the museum. I thought these flowers were pretty. Such greenery in the Netherlands.

 A very blustery day. The weather was in the seventies with cloud cover all day. Such strange weather in Europe, down 20 degrees in one day.

 The Netherlands love their statues, this one of glass blowing.

This is the town we had lunch in. Michael said it was like stepping back in time. It was very quiet. It seemed the quintessential European street to me with flowers and all.

Cars. people and bikes all shared the same road.
The End.

Rotterdam Day 3

Temperature is still climbing, today 94 degrees. We are spending the rest of the day in our AC room.

Port of Rotterdam, Erasmus Bridge.

At the port of Rotterdam, says "they stayed on course". Another war memorial.

 Today was museum day. First up, Kunsthal. Small museum that was difficult to navigate. 

 First exhibit was Viktor and Rolf Fashion Artist 25 years. This reminded me of the I Love Lucy episode with the sack dress.

Princess wedding dress, doll form.

Actual wedding dress.

This room was dedicated to student artists. These faces were made of cardboard and duck tap.

 Another exhibit was from Dutch artist Dick Bruna. His work was popular in the 50s and 60s. Some of the images were familiar to me.

In a park after lunch on to our next museum.

The next museum Het Nieuwe Instituut, was a bust. It was a really strange museum. We were interested in the Steve Bannon Propoganda Retrospective but it was too much reading and a lot of videos. In addition to this museum we bought tickets to see a 'modern' house from the 1930s, Sonneveld House. It was restored beautifully and a lovely self tour(forgot to take pictures).