Buying a MK1

This section is for technical Q & A
Please try the search function before starting a new thread.
Forum rules
Many subjects will have been discussed before. Please try the search function before starting a new thread.
Check in the Know Your 2 as the information you need may already be there.
The forum Administrator has chosen to advise you that this topic is 13 years and 7 months old and that you may wish to begin a new topic or use the search feature to find a similar but newer topic.
User avatar

jimi
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 5167
Joined: 17/05/04 1:00
Years of MR2 Ownership: 18
MR2's Owned: 1
Gender: Male
Location: Glenrothes: The Kingdom of Fife
Has thanked: 45 times
Been thanked: 116 times
Contact:

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jimi »

I recently did a 650 mile run over 2 days, average speed would have been around 70 mph and I got around 39 mpg. Got approximately the same last year on the run to JAE and back (700 odd miles)

It's not really worth welding the front bumper bar, they are usually beyond repair and are just bolted on. I got a new one for mine for around £110 with the OC discount
Bubbling on the rear arches isn't a good sign, the Mk1 rear arches rust from the inside out due to a flaw in Mr T's construction method. Depending on how bad it is, it may be early enough to catch it. It's not worth patching them up if they are away, there's are repair section available for the arches, better to replace with new metal, not that expensive to get done (depending on where you go)
Pay very careful attention to rear arches, sills (the sill extensions can hide a lot !) bottom of the B pillar (where the courtesy light switch is), top of the roof just above the windscreen, floor under the seats.
As has already been said, go for the best body you can find, that's the MK1's weak spot (and it seems the MK2's are beginning to go the same way). The mechanicals are relatively easy and cheap to replace, it's bodywork that costs the money :)


Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
Image
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

Thanks again everybody, I have a much better idea of what to look out for now! Will let you know how it goes..!

Cheers :)

millentubby
Posts: 1283
Joined: 11/07/05 1:00
Years of MR2 Ownership: 0
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by millentubby »

Jonnie - if you find a local one I'd happily give it the once-over for you. We had a mk1 in today at one of my branches and I had a lap full of semi all morning. Was relatively clean too...the car, I mean.
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

millentubby wrote:Jonnie - if you find a local one I'd happily give it the once-over for you. We had a mk1 in today at one of my branches and I had a lap full of semi all morning. Was relatively clean too...the car, I mean.
Hahahah, cheers man :)

I'm struggling to find many good examples locally. I've just dropped somebody an email there to ask a few questions - the car's miles away but he says he has hundreds of pictures of a full restoration and it's a reasonable price so I may consider having it trailered up or if it all looks reasonable. It has some expensive wheels on it that I could potentially sell if I wanted to recuperate some money and bring it back to being entirely standard.

Will definitely let you know if I can find something local though :) Thanks a lot!
Last edited by jonnie on 16/08/10 23:02, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar

Topic author
cabbydave

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by cabbydave »

jonnie wrote:Thanks guys! :) All good information.

I've been wondering what the fuel economy on these cars is like too.. could you perhaps give me a ballpark figure for your car?

I've found a car that's for sale fairly close to me. It has had twelve owners and has a recent MOT pass after needing some welding done on the front end which cost about £300 - I presume this is probably on the notorious crash bar that I've been reading about? He said the garage remarked upon how solid the underside of the car was.

He says there is some rust bubbling through on the rear arches and a bit on the roof and that he has bought new wings for the front but has not got round to having them fitted - they're included in the sale. The interior is in tip-top condition as it has all been re-covered etc.

It's a white T-bar and the asking price is 1200 but he says there's room for negotiation. My idea with this car would be to try and get it for closer to 900 and then have the front wings fitted and a full respray at my local bodyshop which should bring up the total cost to about 1500. Am I blind with desire to buy a MK1 or does that not sound like too stupid an idea?

Keep me right please! Cheers :)
If it wants £300 of welding and front wings painting and arches are bubbling then more like £350for the car
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

cabbydave wrote: If it wants £300 of welding and front wings painting and arches are bubbling then more like £350for the car
Cheers mate, I sent him a lengthy list of questions and got no response so I've kinda given up on it really...

Found this other one that sounds really good but it's a long way away. It's a MK1a and asking price is £2,000 and it has 60,000 miles with 4 owners.

It has had the front and rear crash bars replaced, both front wings replaced, a rear wing replaced and the other patched up (I believe) and has had a full respray. He says he bought the car off his neighbour when it was needing some TLC and took it across to Ireland to have his brother chop off any rust and replace it by welding on new metal.

It has also had new discs and pads fitted and has a new set of wheels with good tyres all round.

He says the paint job isn't totally professional and has some blemishes but that it's a million times better than it was before the restoration. He says he hasn't had any mechanical problems but he doesn't recall the timing belt having been changed - to get the car restored last year he made a 300 mile trip which is about the distance from his place to mine...

Couple of problems however are the length of the MOT and tax. It passed last year with no advisories but the MOT will need renewed in November, and the tax is due in October some time... With this in mind and the distance that I'd have to travel I think I'd have to get him to bring the price down a little bit.

He's sending me some pictures of the restoration process in the next few days. He's been really honest about the car and sounds like a good bloke with a good car so if the price is right I think I could be making a trip for it in the near future...

Really depends on the sale of my turbo, mind. But I have a guy that viewed it locally the other day who has made me an offer. It's a bit lower than I'd like but hopefully we can work something out!
User avatar

andyroo
Regional Rep
Regional Rep
Posts: 1932
Joined: 24/05/08 7:43
Current Model: None
Years of MR2 Ownership: 14
MR2's Owned: 15
Real Name: Andy
Gender: Male
Location: Welling,Kent.
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by andyroo »

Not sure of your location mate but these are worth a bid,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

Both of these have been re-listed due to non-paying bidders,first one sold for £1100 and second for £1000. :th:
MR2 MK3 Silver 56
Mercedes E220 2016
Lexus IS300H 2014
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

andyroo104 wrote:Not sure of your location mate but these are worth a bid,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

Both of these have been re-listed due to non-paying bidders,first one sold for £1100 and second for £1000. :th:
Appreciate that mate! Got 'em watched now :th:

They're both about the same distance from me as the other one I was on about but they're obviously cheaper..!
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

By the way, do many of you folk use your MK1s as daily drivers? And for those of you who have rust-free examples, have you taken any action to protect them - under sealing and what-not?

Another thing I was contemplating are the choices of MK1a or MK1b... I've had a read over the differences but I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on whether I'd be better off with one or the other with regards to mechanical stability?

Thanks :)
User avatar

Chris69
Posts: 542
Joined: 05/02/09 20:06
Years of MR2 Ownership: 13
MR2's Owned: 5
Real Name: Chris
Gender: Male
Location: Hampton
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by Chris69 »

Used my mk1b as my daily driver for 6 months while the mk2 was on axle stands.
Faultless and cheap to run.
For rust treatment waxoil is recommended by most.
There is no "it cant be done" only "I cant do it!"

(OO==\°/==OO)
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

Cheers! Would be good to know if anyone else uses theirs as a daily driver as well :th:

I just received a link to some images of the work that has been done on the car that I'm interested in:

http://s602.photobucket.com/albums/tt104/mkingston11/

This is the 1986 MK1a with 58,000 miles that I was talking about. The asking price is £2000, but there's no evidence of a cambelt change and the MOT and tax are both due within the next few months. It's also 400 miles away which would cost me £395 to get trailered up to me or around £200-£300 to go and collect.

For these reasons, I was thinking that I shouldn't be paying more than £1500 for it - after going to collect it and taxing and MOTing it this'll work out to about £1950 - is that too much?

Considering the examples that andyroo104 posted, I'm thinking that it is! Any thoughts? Perhaps I should be offering closer to £1300?
User avatar

jimi
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 5167
Joined: 17/05/04 1:00
Years of MR2 Ownership: 18
MR2's Owned: 1
Gender: Male
Location: Glenrothes: The Kingdom of Fife
Has thanked: 45 times
Been thanked: 116 times
Contact:

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jimi »

The differences between 1a's and 1b's are minimal and not really worth worrying about, one's as reliable as the other.
Cambelt is just coming due (on miles ;) )the engine is non-interference and replacing the belt isn't expensive.
IIRC Paul Woods was doing a cambelt change for around £50 (including the belt) and had it down to around 30 mins :shocked:
I've seen that car before, I remember seeing those wedding pics on one of the forums. Looks like all the main rust points have been dealt with properly, seeing the work that has been done I can't see him letting at go for £1300, £1500/1700 would probably be closer to the mark.

I'd be concerned about the light blue ebay one, the paint job is a cheap blow over, painted with the side skirts on :no: I'd be wondering what nasties are lurking under the paint that one. you'd want to lose the 17's, they'll do nothing for the handling and then there's this bit
CLUTCH IS OK BUT WILL SPLIP IF YOU DRIVE IT HARD.
:no:
The clutch isn't OK if it's slipping when it's driven hard, it's on it's way out ;)

The mica blue one is bad, but
three arches are in brilliant condition, offside rear passed mot but could be rubbed down

at some point.
If the rust has come through to the surface it's to late (they rust from the inside out) and if one arch is on it's way out it's likely the other isn't far behind, I'd guess it will go for around the same money as the light blue one and it's probably the better one of the two
All IMHO :)
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
Image
User avatar

Topic author
robd

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by robd »

Non-rusty Mk1's are pretty hard to come by so the one that's setting for £2k that's been refurbed you may struggle to knock him down on price if he know's what he's got! I've seen other examples with higher mileage than that selling for more on fleabay!

Some very good points & advice from Jimi there :th:

Oh & I use mine as a daily driver & have been for the last two years I've owned it. Always reliable & they can put up with a lot of stick. :D
User avatar

Topic author
jonnie

Re: Buying a MK1

Post by jonnie »

Thanks again :th:

Really need to sort out the sale of my turbo but I think it should be gone soon and it's giving me plenty time to have a good search for a decent car :)

I'm finding it easy to fall in love with cars that I haven't seen in the flesh so it's good to have you guys pointing out potential problems and just generally being a bit more level-headed! Really do appreciate your input :)

I think you're right jimi, 1500-1700 is probably a reasonable price. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but he says the paint job has a few blemishes in it as it was done by his brother who, although experienced, isn't a professional bodyshop - so that gives a bit of room for bartering too I guess..!

Cheers!

Quick Reply

   
The forum Administrator has chosen to advise you that this topic is 13 years and 7 months old and that you may wish to begin a new topic or use the search feature to find a similar but newer topic.

Return to “MK1”