Cheers - FunkyPigeon!

Love the cup Dave! Reckon I should drop a hint or two to the wife.

Definitely Nick .... especially if you get a nice pic with that new sunstrip on yours :-)

Success at last with the door handle rod! Persevered with the rods as opposed to using the solenoid as I know the method works on other kits.

Rebent a new rod using a bit more heat on the bends to get them tighter and took Nostromo’s advice to use wire rope grips. I also repositioned the Sierra rod to attach underneath the MR2 rod so it was pulling rather than pushing from above.

https://i.ibb.co/DkwhsmF/A69-A0-E65-...8-C6-CCA83.jpg

Cable tie around where the rod slots into the door handle and feels a lot better in terms of the action. Door opens without needing to pull the door handle fully.

Need to repeat this now on the passenger side, door cards back in and a bit more black painting around the inner edge of the door then it’s ready for the MOT.

Redid the passenger door handle rod yesterday and have to say it was much simpler and quicker now I had it sussed from the drivers side. Also the wire rope grips make it much easier to fit.

Door card back on the passenger side.

https://i.ibb.co/tDTGs23/DD79-BEA0-0...E4-B800-A0.jpg

Bit more tidying up of the inner door area with some matt black paint then I just need to get the drivers door card on. Aiming to get it MOT’d next week - hopefully should be ok. Main areas of concern are the headlight alignment due to how I’ve mounted the Golf MK2 lights and bonded then into the headlamp cowls in the bonnet (I have aligned then as much as I can at home) and the handbrake efficiency which seems to be problem with rear callipers on all MR2 Roadsters from what I can see.

Will post an update on progress once it’s booked in.

I didn’t manage to spend as much time on the remaining jobs on the car this week, so I’m not quite there yet with booking it in for the MOT.

I noticed that the thin black vinyl coach stripe that I’d used down the indent on each side of the car was peeling off at the edges and I just couldn’t get it to stick. Also the gloss finish of this wasn’t contrasting well with the matte white. So I decided I would paint the stripes on. Wasn’t too difficult with a small square brush and masking and like the rest of the finish will do for now.

https://i.ibb.co/5v6JQ6W/F8082830-6-...-C0-C4-FA8.jpg

Not many opportunities to get the car out of the garage with the weather being awful, but I did need to turn it round to put the door cards in and finish off the black paint on the inner door edge on the drivers side. What I have noticed is that the front mudflaps are still catching on the tyres on full lock - you can’t really see in this picture but I will have a go at trimming back the inner edge otherwise I’ll remove the front ones for the MOT.

https://i.ibb.co/sHSZkKJ/F1083655-E2...-C1-D9-DA4.jpg

Drivers door card back in and the inner door edge tidied up with matt black paint.

https://i.ibb.co/CWrdYKW/945-A48-F6-...DA02405528.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/xS7h94F/713105-B0-1...D38752-E23.jpg

Just needs a good clean now inside and out, front mud flaps looking at and another pre-MOT check. Aiming to book it in for the end of this coming week.

Looks great!

Thanks Jack. All cleaned up now inside and out and all the little jobs completed ahead of the MOT.

https://i.ibb.co/WnbZXPH/1508-B0-E7-...BF57-A2-E7.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wZtC13S/58119-E11-1...7-A48-A6-B.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nLYH1Dj/4-C7-D53-B2...CA4-C62-FE.jpg

I just want to have another go at the headlamp alignment given this was tightened up back in 2016 for the U.K. MOT regs. Aiming to have this done tomorrow/Tuesday and will book it in for the back end of the week.

MOT passed !
 

After nearly 3 years building, my MRS200 replica passed its MOT this morning at the first attempt.

Knowing how much the MOT changed last year I have to say I wasn’t that confident it would pass first time despite all the checks I’d done. In the end the only issue was with the headlamp alignment which I had been expecting. I went armed with a toolkit and it’s an MOT centre I’ve been to before with kit cars. The tester was great and showed interest in the car from the outset. He was quite happy for me to make adjustments to the headlamps - i had set these up at home so they were aligned both sides but I couldn’t really get the height of the beam accurate which is where it needed adjustment. Luckily I’d built some adjustment into the brackets holding the MK2 Golf units to the back of the cowls which was enough.

https://i.ibb.co/GRzQPrX/361-EC2-D5-...F9-D7-AF84.jpg

Very happy bunny and the car ran great there and back which was a good 10 mile first run. Taxed it online as soon as the tester updated the pass status and all set to go.

He did record an advisory as to the car being ‘heavily modified’ which I can live with.

https://i.ibb.co/Y7Kx3Hk/151-EAB7-B-...C9-EB0-F82.jpg

As you can imagine I still have a long list of ‘improvement’ jobs to keep me busy but at least now I can enjoy it on the road. I also do still plan to get a professional paint job but the stickers and vinyls are holding up just fine so far so no rush for that.

I will keep updates coming for those who are interested but shift this now to an on the road thread.

A big thank you to everyone who has shown an interest in my thread over the past 3 years and especially to those who’ve provided help, inspiration, feedback and ideas along the way.

Congratulations! Please do keep us updated.

Well done on the pass.

Love that advisory :)

Absolutely brilliant news Dave! Is it an advisory for you? Pretty sure you already knew. Now to arrange a meet up!

Thanks guys for the positive comments.

Yep the guy felt he had to include an advisory on the grounds it was ‘heavily modified’. No issues just felt he was sort of covering his own back. Unfortunately the spelling of this came out as “ this vehicle is Hefley modified“ !!

Now if only it was a Hefly MRS200 kit :-)

Having loads of fun with the car now I can finally drive it on the road. Weather hasn’t been great so it’s pretty grubby - I gave it a good coat of resin wax/polish to protect the stickers as best I could given these are just applied to the polished up gel coat for now.

Anyone who has any recommendations on good protectors for this set up with gel coat etc until I get it painted just let me know on the thread here.

Went to fill up with petrol over the weekend as I’d been topping up the tank during the build with fresh fluid from a jerry can but worked out probably half of the half full tank (1/4 of the tank) was probably still the fuel I had in it when it was last on the road before I started the build back at the end of 2016. Loads of folks came over as I was filling up and paying ... one guy was on his way the NEC Classic Car show and thought it was a real one .. even when he was close up :-)

Decided I couldn’t live with the Nav Pod I’d built a small 7” tablet into for sat nav/OBDII gauges and had sat in the cubby hole space in the MR2 dash. I found a folding smartphone holder on Amazon which looked just the job for a spare Android phone I had lying around. Means I can put the lid back on the cubby hole in the dash, and when the phone isn’t in the holder, everything folds down and the cubby holder lid closes.

https://i.ibb.co/smGWRLR/5-AB7-F1-D0...5-ECC9-C50.jpg

There’s quite a bit of lag with the ODBII Bluetooth dongle I’m using and the app (Torque Pro). Will have a play with the set up and also try another spare Bluetooth dongle I’ve got.

Again, if anyone has experience of Torque Pro on Android and can comment if this lag is normal I’d appreciate it.

Thanks Mick - also following your latest build which looks great.

Managed to get out and about in the car quite a bit this week despite the weather. At least the fact the kit keeps the MR2 doors / windows as-is means it’s water tight, and so far (touch wood) the bottom the door where it had to be cut down to fit the MRS200 door skin is staying dry.

https://i.ibb.co/wNp7dp2/5-A612930-D...B7-D0-F366.jpg

It’s surprisingly refined with the MR2 windows up when driving but not so refined that you can’t hear the induction roar from the kit I fitted. That, together with the non-standard exhaust I fitted early on in the build, means it feels faster than the MR2 donor. I need to find a quiet straight road to check if it is actually any quicker :-)

I’ve got a few areas I’ve spotted through the road tests so far that I need to take a look at over the next week or so. The front engine undertray has come away - not enough to drag but on inspection at some point the retaining fixing had been lost and replaced with a cable tie that had snapped - missed that one in all the checks but easy to sort. I’m also still not 100% happy with the fit of the drivers side rear light assembly where it meets the wing area - it needs shifting towards the centre or the car by about 5mm to sit better. I need to open up the aperture in the rear clam a bit so it moves over.

Being white means it only needs the slightest bit of wet or damp on the road and it looks filthy ! At least the arches front and back look a bit more ‘lived in’ now :-)

https://i.ibb.co/26Jkbp3/256-CB99-E-...-F44451395.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tqckGVf/84-A4-F5-D6...-B6409-FD0.jpg

From this angle it looks like there is a nice little pocket behind the mud-guard for crud to collect in... can it get out the bottom, or is it just going to fill up?

The car looks great :)

Yes Kon that is a bit of a mud trap just behind the flap - but the wheel arch liner curves in towards the bottom of the wing so the pocket isn’t that deep.

I’d not thought about it until you pointed it out so will keep an eye on it and keep it cleaned out. Many thanks

Early Christmas present - the black lamp pod cover.

https://i.ibb.co/NnDLKj9/3-D78-B2-AC...-DDCB18-AC.jpg

The lamp pod itself came with the kit from Tribute but I didn’t really want the 4 extra lamps and weight on the bonnet. Wasn’t going to fit it then saw some pics of the original Group B cars with the black lamp pod cover and quite like the look.

So the lamp pod assembly was brought down from the loft and I found a supplier for the black GRP pod cover.

I need to polish up both the pod and the cover and work out a way to mount the pod on the bonnet so it’s removable without leaving too many holes - ideally no holes!

I don’t really want to fit the lamps as I will never use them so it’s really about what it looks like - bit sad I know!