1986 Toyota MR2 review from North America

While Driving down the road one day, a loud screech arose from the engine. The first thing that crossed my mind was that it came from the alternator. The second thing to cross my mind was that the bearing froze up and that the screech was the belt slipping against the pulley. After some investigation, I found that the bottom alternator bolt had vibrated loose, a simple $1.25 nut-and-bolt replacement.

While driving on another day, all of the sudden I hear this whining sound. It sounded like a flat tire rubbing the inner wheel well. It turns out that only one of the two upper engine mount bolts had a nut on it. All this pressure on a single bolt caused it to snap and my engine dropped about 5-7 inches down. It's fall was broken by my transmission mount and drive axles. The whine I heard was the A/C compressor pulley rubbing the bottom plastic engine cover.

Both of these problems occurred do to improper care taken during a previous engine swap.

This car is seriously quick and handles like it's on rails. I took that line from the survey example, but in my case it applies. The car's mid-engine layout and suspension design by Lotus give the car a "glued" feeling. Flat road? Reverse bank? No problem! And as far as being seriously quick, its 1.6 liter with dual cams and 16 valves produces a healthy 120 horsepower that pushes me to 60 in about 8.5 seconds. Not bad for a 16 year old 4 banger. I'm sure the engine swap has something to do with it, especially since the stock block was swapped with a newer model. But with the new engine, my specs are still stock. A real Honda eater...