What did you do to your car today?

What did I do to my Spyder today?  Sadly,  ignored her as I passed in and out of the bay next to her because of all the other irons I've got in the fire right now. 

I am grateful for this forum that daily reminds me of one of my true joys that sometimes has to sit on a back burner.   She's plugged into the battery tender, shiny and clean . . . and covered until the next time I can take her out for a ride.   I'm fortunate to live in a climate that is not as restrictive as some where cars go up on blocks for the winter.  

I drove her home. Irvine to San Francisco. Total of 9 hours of travel including lunch. Car now has 151,700 miles on it. Not even a hiccup. DESPERATELY needs cruise control though.

@uncle-mush

If you have too much going on I always have a place in my garage (hell, I would build another garage) for that stunning beauty of yours! 

Posted by: @marsrock7

I finally installed Dev's door bushings, which have been riding around in my glove box for well over a year. It was worth the time and effort to do it right... What a difference from such a simple mod! Beyond drive feel I really like how opening and closing the doors feels so much more solid. Now a passenger throwing the door shut as they would a normal car won't make likeme cringe like they are abusing mine. Should've done it sooner but late is better than never!

Very nice to hear. I have been in two minds of making more as I have received some requests on SC. Because of your post Im strongly considering  making more since the printer still works.  Happy that it's bringing joy.  

@dev

After a street drive on some of the rougher roads in my area last night I noticed the car took the bumps and dips more smoothly, didn't feel like I was crashing through. After a highway drive this morning I note the car feels way more solid at high speeds too. Overall worth every penny. I honestly wasn't expecting much difference since I already have front and rear strut bars, the big Magellan MSMB, front under brace and rear toe arm braces. It still helped, a lot!

Your YouTube video was very thorough and left me with no questions on how to properly install them. Thank you for taking the time to put that up for everyone.

It appears there has been a significant influx of new owners in SC, I'm sure if you decided to make another run of these they would bring enhanced permagrin to many.

I'd probably pick up a second set myself, as I'm positive that my first Spyder will not be my last. I think the only reason I don't own more than one already is my single lane driveway and tiny garage (I'm also on a busy street with no street parking). Juggling two cars in this space is already difficult enough. The next house (a few years down the road) will definitely need to have better automobile accommodations.

Very good to hear. I may have said it before that even I wasn't expecting that much but when I added the first rough prototype out of ABS plastic and hearing it crack I knew this modification would be controversial and met with a lot of skepticism  so I had to go easy on my claims, not because it has mixed results but because it can in some ways have more feel than some bracing mods.  I also had to make an instructional video otherwise it would have had mixed or disastrous reviews. 

I’m not a real believer in the waterless washes for the obvious reasons. With that in the back of my mind I frequently read posts and professions of using the Wolfgang Concours Series WG-3700 Uber Rinse Less Wash as a detail spray. You add 3 oz of this to a gallon of distilled water put it in spray bottle, spray and wipe. What the Hell....with reservations and only in specific circumstances, when the car is only slightly (!) dirty, I saturate a body panel, wipe gently with one microfiber, spray again, wipe with another microfiber towel then buff with a third microfiber towel, and in 5-7 minutes, my car is spotless. Any real dirt and I do a real wash. It leaves no streaks. It suspends road dust so it doesn’t scratch. Afterwards water beads.  The paint feels silky. And it costs about $3 for a gallon which after doing this 4x a week has cost me about a $1 in a month.

Posted by: @desertwanderer

@uncle-mush

If you have too much going on I always have a place in my garage (hell, I would build another garage) for that stunning beauty of yours! 

 Thank you,  kind sir.  I am honored by your comments and generous offer to take her off my hands.  My grandson, at 5 years old, already claimed dibs: "Pa, when you die,  can I have your Spyder?"  Ever since that day,  that's been the plan.   I told him yes,  but also told him I hope it's a while before that happens.   He's only 9 now,  but what a great kid!   He's been to many a car show with me and loves telling people about the MR2 Spyder.  Yeah, he'll get it some day. 🙂 

Posted by: @ispy

I’m not a real believer in the waterless washes for the obvious reasons. With that in the back of my mind I frequently read posts and professions of using the Wolfgang Concours Series WG-3700 Uber Rinse Less Wash as a detail spray. You add 3 oz of this to a gallon of distilled water put it in spray bottle, spray and wipe. What the Hell....with reservations and only in specific circumstances, when the car is only slightly (!) dirty, I saturate a body panel, wipe gently with one microfiber, spray again, wipe with another microfiber towel then buff with a third microfiber towel, and in 5-7 minutes, my car is spotless. Any real dirt and I do a real wash. It leaves no streaks. It suspends road dust so it doesn’t scratch. Afterwards water beads.  The paint feels silky. And it costs about $3 for a gallon which after doing this 4x a week has cost me about a $1 in a month.

 Since my car is mostly a garage queen, I often use Griots spray on car wash product with excellent results.   I pretty much detail the car with Griots after each ride,  but like you,  my rides are generally fairly short these days.   If we've done a weekend road trip,  I'll wash her with water just to make sure there is plenty of lubrication when washing.   It's important to have plenty of lubrication when using the spray on car wash products, too.  Important to keep changing the microfiber towels,  as you outlined, to keep from getting fine scratches in the paint from debris picked up in the previous pass.  

I need to get into waterless washes, using water in my new place is a pain. 

I tried my first Griot's product. My beloved AMMO SPIT quick detailer exploded all over my rear cubbies on the drive to LA, likely the pressure change. Very sad. Bought Griot's Best of Show detailer from an AutoZone to clean the MR2 up since it was all sealed up. I like it! Amazing spray pattern, strong and highly atomized. Great bottle. Shame it doesn't smell as tasty as it looks. For that I use Megs Mirror Shine detailer, smells like berries.

Today I finally got my car smogged after being on expired tags since Sep removed link Could not chase down cyl1-4 misfires. It was a blown headgasket. ($150 for diag. on that) New 1ZZ was $830 shipped to my shop. 2800$ install in parts +labor. I always planned on doing the fresh 1ZZ swap myself but with a newborn baby the timing was no good. Anyway, my car is legal now, and more importantly, not burning Oil (or coolant) anymore which it was doing for over 100k miles. $3700 to get another 15 years  grin out of it? Lets hope so.

I'm just glad this Saga is over and I'm very happy to have a Spyder that isn't on life support anymore. For the record my car has 225K miles on it, which is why I opted for a fresh 1ZZ. It burned oil also.

Since I'm here I'll explain how I managed to get a 2003 Spyder that burned oil as it was always a mystery to me. By a miracle I ran into the original owners at a gas station. Apparently under their ownership, the car was rear-ended to enough of a degree to disrupt the 140k-mileage pre-cat material. It then failed smog (somehow) which tipped them off to an exhaust issue; and they spent thousands on full new exhaust from 'Yota. I'm assuming by that point enough of the matrix had been ingested to score the cylinder walls. I suppose, this is a tale of caution to remove PreCats even on the facelift cars.

Posted by: @seantc

Today I finally got my car smogged after being on expired tags since Sep removed link Could not chase down cyl1-4 misfires. It was a blown headgasket. ($150 for diag. on that) New 1ZZ was $830 shipped to my shop. 2800$ install in parts +labor. I always planned on doing the fresh 1ZZ swap myself but with a newborn baby the timing was no good. Anyway, my car is legal now, and more importantly, not burning Oil (or coolant) anymore which it was doing for over 100k miles. $3700 to get another 15 years  grin out of it? Lets hope so.

 

I'm just glad this Saga is over and I'm very happy to have a Spyder that isn't on life support anymore. For the record my car has 225K miles on it, which is why I opted for a fresh 1ZZ. It burned oil also.

 

Since I'm here I'll explain how I managed to get a 2003 Spyder that burned oil as it was always a mystery to me. By a miracle I ran into the original owners at a gas station. Apparently under their ownership, the car was rear-ended to enough of a degree to disrupt the 140k-mileage pre-cat material. It then failed smog (somehow) which tipped them off to an exhaust issue; and they spent thousands on full new exhaust from 'Yota. I'm assuming by that point enough of the matrix had been ingested to score the cylinder walls. I suppose, this is a tale of caution to remove PreCats even on the facelift cars.

 Congratulations on your newborn baby.  

  A blown head gasket is rare but it happens if there is an overheat condition.  Thats a great price on a new 1ZZ.  Good to see that you are back on the road.   I would  have your coolant sampled to see of there is any residual oil and if there is do a few flushes to get it all out.   

Apart from that there is nothing like getting a new lease on this car to keep it enjoying it, welcome to the forum. 

Glad to see you here at "the better place" and happy for you hearing that permagrin is back in your life.   Happy motoring.  I wish you happiness in parenthood, also.

Posted by: @uncle-mush

Glad to see you here at "the better place" and happy for you hearing that permagrin is back in your life.   Happy motoring.  I wish you happiness in parenthood, also.

Posted by: @dev

 

 Congratulations on your newborn baby.  

  A blown head gasket is rare but it happens if there is an overheat condition.  Thats a great price on a new 1ZZ.  Good to see that you are back on the road.   I would  have your coolant sampled to see of there is any residual oil and if there is do a few flushes to get it all out.   

Apart from that there is nothing like getting a new lease on this car to keep it enjoying it, welcome to the forum. 

 

Thank you gentlemen.

As for the 1ZZ I actually contacted a few of eBay's most prominent "JDM Engine" dealers to see if they could differentiate between 00-01/02/03+ 1ZZ engines they had in stock, and I never got a response back from any of them. I'm not sure anyone outside of the top minds could figure that one out by looking at the longblock alone. Definitely wasn't a risk I was going to take. Anyway I got lucky and bought one off of a Spyderchat user who very recently did a 2AR swap on his 2003. My mistake calling it "New" I should have said New-ish, heh.