87 MR2 side mirror delete

[87jeep]

I removed my electric side mirrors. On the inside of the car each mirror has a panel that almost exactly matches the footprint of the mirror. I took these off and used RTV to adhere them in place where the mirrors used to be. It's my first aero mod on this car. South Dakota law requires only one rear viewing mirror, so I kept the internal rear view mirror.

Car is a 1987 Toyota MR2 with the 4AGE engine. It currently has 215,000 miles on it. The body has very little surface rust but there are a lot of dings and scrapes here and there. The hood is pretty damaged and the exterior paint is chipping in a lot of places. The interior is mostly intact but the old plastic and vinyl breaks if you look at it funny.

It runs pretty well for a 29 year old car. Previous owners took good care of it mechanically and kept records of all the parts they replaced. The previous owner was my brother who was a master Toyota mechanic once upon a time.

I plan on adding a front air dam and a rear lip spoiler in the near future. I don't want to block the radiator grill openings because these cars are notorious for having overheating issues which I would like to avoid as much as possible.

At this time I am using it for a daily driver on good weather days to avoid adding miles to my jeeps. I would also like to try auto cross with it someday. I'd also like to keep most of its sporty characteristics. So my goals for this car are minor aero mods to enhance fuel economy and/or driving performance.

I will add pictures of the mirror delete when I get around to uploading them to Imgur.

[87jeep]

Here are four pictures.

http://m.imgur.com/a/ewdjE

The panels I am putting on the outside where clipped in place on the inside. I removed them, and used tin snips to cut the clips off. I used a flat file to flatten what was left of the clips. I then used RTV to bind them to the opposite side of the car. I clamped them in place for about 40 minutes, which was enough for the RTV to cure enough for them to hold on their own.

It's not the best looking in the world but it works and it only took me about an hour to do. It was also free, as I already had the RTV.

[87jeep]

My windshield is cracked really bad. A new wind shield will cost about $300. A large sheet of lexan will be about $120. A ticket for having a bad wind shield is about $120. I have a heat gun and a pop riveter.

My hood really needs some work. At the very least it needs to be removed, sanded a lot and repainted. I'm thinking about trying to make one out of fiber glass.

Both of these will be winter projects. I drive either a Jeep Wrangler or jeep Cherokee during the winter here so I will have time to work on the MR2. Since winter here is like 9 months long some years these should be reasonably doable.

[serialk11r]

IIRC a 1NZ is not too hard to swap in, in case your engine dies on you, and a C160 drops right in too, IIRC, if you want the extra gear spread for better efficiency. The 4A-GE is not too bad, making 160hp with some minor work, but it's a super heavy iron block.

Do post pictures of your mirror delete. I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a 2000 MR2 Spyder and plan to swap out the stock mirrors with small racing mirrors.

[87jeep]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Do post pictures of your mirror delete. I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a 2000 MR2 Spyder and plan to swap out the stock mirrors with small racing mirrors.

Pics are in the imgur link in the second post.

Mirror delete - Album on Imgur