Heh

Leasing Options have changed staff, and they're useless to deal with. Pleasant surprise, however, is that the firm that owns the RX8 is actually nice to deal with; no retarded things like charging me for the non-removable accessories I fitted like the bonnet struts (they involve modifying the bonnet and inner wing, so a really unpleasant leasing firm could theoretically charge for them being removed!). Another nice thing to verify is that the mileage charge is 5.1p per mile + VAT, so having exceeded the mileage by a couple of thousand is no big deal at all - I shall celebrate by using the RX8 this weekend (once I've finished stripping out the accessories that I can realistically remove - they shall be sold and the money put towards an iPod-friendly headunit for the MR2 - if anyone has spotted an interesting, sub £200 iPod and Bluetooth unit point me at it?).

So arranging for the RX8 to be collected in Birmingham is also no problem, and I will do that and plan to go down, collect the MR2 and hand over the RX8, resulting in nice simple logistics for car moving. Amusingly I could also then leave the MR2 there and bring Hiro (the MX5) up to do the work, but I might wait until spring has sprung.

I've also been perusing the IMOC MR2 owner's club forums, and something has caught my eye...

For the entirely reasonable cost of £2,500, any Mk 2 MR2 (later ones are better, due to bigger brakes) can be converted to a 3.0 V6, delivering better torque, better economy and better refinement. That's not the cost of an engine, that's a turnkey price - drop car off, month later or so, get back car with low mileage cleaned, detailed V6 with new headgaskets and timing belt, new clutch, repainted engine bay, no bodywork mods (only one fabricated engine mount), modified tacho, and new fluids etc... Similar outright performance to the import MR2 Turbo, but with better low-end performance and reliability.

Apparently they're cheaper to insure than the turbo, too, and in terms of access, the servicing is actually easier - the cambelt is easier to get to than on the Camry the engine came from!

Wouldn't want to do it whilst the car is bering reliable, but any signs of serious engine trouble, I think I'd go this route! They don't even want the old engine, they will help you ship it if you sell it on eBay or deliver it back to you...

(And they're in Durham!).

Of course, at the end of the thread, someone has asked about V8 transplants... :D

meltie, they also do Mk 1 V6 conversions, including a supercharged option - costs more as they modify the boot with an access panel for one bank of plugs, but still...

Shinkou

mr_pete posted this pic of the MR2 back in September; having failed to take any pictures when I went over to look at it, it'll have to suffice as a "Lookit, my next car!" post. The picture was linked to a post asking about names, where I made some convoluted and useless suggestions - I don't believe the car earned a name at that point.

One of my suggestions was based on song-length and the numberplate (627 - I also like 27 because it's my birthday. I'm odd like that), and was "Faith". I also used to joke that many of my cars were "Faith cars" - I had some truly awful piles of crap when I was at my worst for having LOADS OF CARS, from the $400 Buick to the £30 Renault 5 - and yet, I had very few breakdowns or even upsets with them. I put this down to having faith in the basic engineering principles of the car continuing to operate as they should.

My current habit is to name Japanese cars in "Japanese" - or at least with Japanese themed names. jenova_red also named the MX-5 Hiro, and the Delica's name is Konekobasu "officially" (though it's also called Corky). The RX8, like the Sera, got nuclear-themed titles as it was 60 years since Hiroshima when I had them, and both cars had connections to the regions bombed.

Based on this, the MR2's name is going to be one I suggested, but in Japanese and with a nice selection of meanings.

So. Meet Shinkou - albeit before Shinkou takes on the inevitable raft of "fiddly little obsessive repairs and tweaks" that I do to my cars.

Helping with the faith-car ideal - I've discovered that the MR2's 3S-GE engine is a non-interference design, massively reducing the prospect of cambelt failure being catastrophic! ISTR this is common with Toyota engines, but it's still nice to know.

( Error: Irreparable invalid markup in entry. Raw contents behind the cut. )