I see this Toyota MR2 (AW11) pretty much every day and it only occurred to me today to take a snap of it as I walked by. Keen to own one of these suckers at some stage in all their 80′s doorstop, wedge, wannabe Star Wars glory.
Toyota MR2
-Michael
Archive for November, 2010
Car Spotting; AW11
November 29, 2010
…and every day, the paperboy brings more
November 9, 2010
More spare parts for the BFMR, that is. The convenient thing about amassing a giant pile of spares is that you’re guaranteed to find something missing, broken, or jabroni’d on the project car which requires replacing, post-haste. Usually something trivial, too!
See, I knew this stuff would come in handy one day!
Been ferrying things daily from the lockup down to the garage as I need them, today’s pile of swag includes the radiator overflow bottle, a factory blow off valve return line, the rear washer bottle, a piece of intake J-pipe, and some assorted sensors and electrical parts for when I start testing that side of things.
Anyway, in my first project BFMR update I mentioned briefly that I had a theory the supposed engine failure wasn’t catastrophic. After the jump is a related photo, and some rumination on why I think so:
Treading some rather Familia territory
November 8, 2010
With the TX3 complete, a shed full of spare parts to clean out, and a lack of anything to do on any of my other cars (except a shifter cable swap on the AW11, which I can now proceed with as the new bits have arrived) I decided to kill my boredom and get rid of some of those parts by purchasing a wee little 1985 BFMR Mazda Familia in need of some sorely required maintenance.
In the seller’s own words, “the engine shat a brick about two years ago, and it’s just been sitting in my garage doing jack since then.” I know a challenge when I see one.
yeah I can’t seem to stay away from the damn things – as anyone who reads my numerous blog posts about them can tell you – but surprisingly enough this is my very first proper BFMR, having owned a BFMP and BF5S in the past. This isn’t taking into account the TX3s of course, but since they’re the exact same car, all of my expertise carries over, which makes this a fairly easy walk in the park.
currently the plan for this car is to undertake as close to a factory-standard restoration as I can manage without going too overboard a la TX3. With fewer and fewer BFMRs left in this country it makes sense from an enthusiast’s (and possibly investor’s) point of view.
So… presenting the new summer project!
Finally, my very own BFMR
Nitpicker’s Corner: DR30 vs. HR30 tail lamps
November 8, 2010
Much like the “FC3S Infini has more power than the regular version!” rumour floating around the internet and countless forums*, there exists a similar old wives tale regarding the “smoked” (or facelift) tail lamps on the R30 Skyline.
I’ve now lost count of the number of times (no doubt Michael has as well) I’ve seen the dark coloured HR30 smoked tail lamps being advertised as DR30 ones, and usually with a hefty price premium attached. Simply speaking, when the facelift R30 range was released Nissan decided that they would set the DR30s apart in more ways than just the glaringly obvious front-end treatment by subtly colouring the backing of the rear lamps a different shade of grey to the HR30 ones.
Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself.
HR30 on left, DR30 on right. The difference in shading isn't a trick of the light
This is not to say, of course, that facelift HR30 lamps aren’t worth anything – in fact, they’re still worth quite a bit of coin – but yeah, just some misinformation that I thought I would clear up once and for all.
And no, my HR30 lamps ARE NOT for sale, don’t bother asking.
*they DON’T have more power, interestingly enough – see this link for proof
