Steady progress over the last couple of weeks - as you will have seen from previous posts I decided to line all of the bodywork up and bolt on to the various front/rear support bars plus various fashioned brackets along the way before going back around the car and bonding everything on. This gave me chance to line things up first.
I’ve now started with bonding panels on - headlamp surrounds are done with the brackets holding the Golf MK2 lights glassed in on the inner side of the surrounds.
Bonnet hinges adjusted and to get a better fit and alignment where the bonnet joins the sill each side I’ve made a couple of supports out of 8mm Perspex that also serve as a mounting point for the front edge of each sill. They basically push the outer edge of the bonnet out each side just behind where the locking pin is. They still need to be painted Matt black to match the rest of the under bonnet area.
Next was bonding this sills on. They were already lined up with the new Perspex supports and I’d used the MR2 rear wing mounting point and door jam points so this was just a case of unbolting, drilling the holes for the dummy jacking point covers, bonding and then bolting it back on each side. Whilst off I also drilled holes and glassed in a couple of 3mm thick 200mm spreader bars that I’m using each side to bolt the clam to the top of the sill just in front of the rear wheels.
In the picture above the clam is only loosely bolted to the sill area. When fully tightened up it pulls the clam down nicely to the top edge of the sill.
I’ve also gone back round the rear of clam and added a couple more 3mm thick right angle brackets, glassed these all in and these now bolt the back of the clam down to the rear support bar. I will eventually go back and hinge the clam but for now I’m happy to have it bolted in and it’s not too long a process to unbolt it and lift it off. I need to that to paint the inside area Matt black.
All the wiring of the lights is now completed. I decided to wire the Hellas in as the front fog lights which works fine with H2 55W bulbs.
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Next things on the to do list are to tidy up the filling around the rear lights and then put aside a couple of free days to bond the door skins and roof panel. I’ve got original Sierra MK1 door mirrors which seem to line up OK but obviously follow the MR2 door profile so are angled up more than the original. I also need to strengthen the window area of the door skin before bolting in the perspex side windows.
I’ve decided to fit an inter cooler and piping into the roof area - one day I’ll get a turbo on it, plus it fills the void quite nicely. I also want to remake the door handle rods before I bond the skins on and use thicker stainless bar as I’m not happy with the action on the handle right now.
That should hopefully take me to mid-November when I’m trying to get it to the point where I can MOT it, and then finish off all the little jobs like painting the inside of the bonnet/clam, fashion and fit under arch plastics and finally do something about lowering the suspension and ride height. My MR2 was on standard springs and original shocks so I’m toying with fitting BC BR Coilovers which I believe can get me 50mm+ lowering on the front and the rear which is really needed to avoid the Baja Bug styling I currently seem to have!\
I’ve decided to focus on getting it ready for MOT and use it a bit on the road before thinking about paint. Nostrommo has done a fantastic job of painting his so I’m toying with giving it a go myself. I’ve already got a quote for 80s themed Ford RS stripes but it needs a base gloss white coat before the wrapping company will do it.
I keep watching videos on YouTube of camper van owners roller painting their campers using Rustoleum. Even found a nice Davrian painted using the same technique in bright white. Just not sure roller painting a car will even look good from 10 feet away! Anyway, that’s for another day.