MR2 Spyder: A Love/Hate Relationship, Chapter 2

MR2 Spyder: A Love/Hate Relationship, Chapter 2:

Removing the Pre-Cats

So, for three days following my purchase of “Itsy Bitsy” and having brought her to my home in Silver Spring, Maryland, I kept the top down and just enjoyed driving my new convertible.

However, on the night of my third day of driving “Itsy Bitsy” I had a nightmare.  In my dream, I was driving my Spyder when suddenly the engine exploded into flames and conked out.  Then I flash forwarded to being in a car repair facility where the mechanic who had just disassembled my engine to find out what had gone wrong, was speaking to me. “Sorry to tell you, but your engine got destroyed by failed pre-cats.  If only you had removed the pre-cats, you would still be happily driving your car far into the future.”

With that premonition firmly in mind, I decided to remove my Spyder’s pre-cats as quickly as possible. First, I read the numerous postings on SpyderChat to make sure I was doing the removal quickly, thoroughly, and with the least amount of work possible.  I remember being surprised by numerous accounts of the pre-cat removal process being very difficult. But I was confident that with my 40 years of “Shade Tree Mechanic” experience I would be able to complete the job rapidly. I also failed to take in consideration that over 160K miles of engine usage might make everything harder to take apart.   Little did I know!

 Having already ground off the top of several nuts holding the heat shields during my aborted “Pre-Purchase Inspection,” I resolved that I would make every attempt to remove the rest of the bolts intact for all of the rest of them.  The adage, “You can always tell a craftsman, by the quality of their work;” kept going through my mind.

I began the process by simultaneously spraying bolt loosener while I tapped each bolt and/or nut with a small ballpeen hammer.  In the past, this method had always worked well with me.  I then let the bolt loosener work its magic over the next 24/48 hours.

During the interim, I proceeded to removing all of the removable plastic panels and carpet from the interior of my Spyder.  My plan was to carefully wash, clean, and surface coat all of the plastics; as for the carpeting, that was to be replaced.

Days later, I began to remove all of the pre-cat bolts and nuts.  One of the first intact heat shield bolts refused to move even with my 24” breaker bar…so off to Harbor Freight (driving my Spyder) I went to buy a 36” breaker bar.

Even with the 36” breaker bar, the bolt refused to move.  So I tried hitting the end of the breaker bar with a 5# sledge.  At first, the sledge seemed to be doing the job, and I was happy to have found such an easy solution.  It was only after I realized that all I was accomplishing was rounding off the bolt head, that I got a glimmer of how hard this project would actually be.

 Once I got the O2 sensor heat shields and sensors removed, I used a small dental mirror to visualize the condition of the 2 pre-cat matrices.  Luckily for me, both pre-cats were intact, so I re-installed the O2 sensors. Around this time my DD ---Daily Driver car--- crapped out, so I had to keep using my Spyder to get new tools, supplies, and parts.

All in all it was a hot, sweaty, knuckle bleeding, multiple month process.  If I had it to again, I would probably remove as many of the bolt heads and nuts as possible with an electric angle grinder and just go from there.

During the ensuing 35 to 40 hours I worked on getting the pre-cats off, I ended up making multiple trips to:  Harbor Freight; Sears; automotive tool suppliers; as well as several purchases from Amazon.  Here are the things I bought and/or tried:  plumber’s wrench/pipe wrench; channel lock plyers; 3’ aluminum “Cheater Bar;” freezing ---I tried a canned spray along with a 5# purchase of dry ice accompanied by isopropyl alcohol; heating ---went through 2 cannisters of propane; first set of rounded off head sockets ----about $75; second set of rounded off head sockets ----about $50; multiple  sizes of vice grips ---$45; metal drill bits ----$65; two sets of “EZ Outs” ---$50; Dremel tool cut off wheels ---$20; electric grinder abrasive wheels ---$15; plus two additional different bolt loosener spray products ---$16. To no avail, I also tried tightening bolts and nuts in an effort to loosen them.

During my next to last drive to pick up additional supplies, I was shocked to find that my Spyder’s motor ----which had run perfectly before I started the pre-cat removal process--- was now: smoking; idling poorly; and losing power. Major Bummer!!!!!!

 So, for the next 6 months or so, I, along with multiple helpful SpyderChat members (Thanks CarlBecker, Dev, and other SC Forum members) attempted (unsuccessfully) to figure out what went wrong ----pre-cat matrices had failed during my attempt to remove them--- and, naively, I hopefully attempted to repair it.

Ultimately, when all diagnostic and moderately easy repair attempts failed; I decided to be ready for any eventuality by buying a very lightly full block 1ZZ motor from, yet another, SpyderChat member. From then on, I started carrying a 5 quart bottle of oil, rubber disposable gloves, plus funnel, for daily oil level checks and replenishments.

Due to sister in hospital slowly dying from caner, ongoing health issues, inclement weather, and other difficulties, I was unable to fix my DD.  So, even though I knew the original engine in my Spyder had failed, it became my designated DD.

Determined to continue “Itsy Bitsy’s” restoration, I began to buy and stockpile parts and accessories in anticipation of installing the New-To-Me 1ZZ engine (Thanks dbloti) . So, here is what I got:

New BlueDriver OBDC reader/reset hardware and software

New front windshield and wipers (installed)

New front windshield tint film kit (to reduce glare from very top of windshield)

New emergency brake cable (installed)

New car battery

New Advanti ST 1 Storm Lightweight Wheels/Rims, 6 (Goodwin Racing)

New carbon fiber low clearance radio antenna

New sun visor removed plugs (Thanks fellow SC member)

New O2 Sensors

New intake manifold sensor (MAF)

New valve cover seal

New PVC valve

New LED bulbs almost everywhere

New front and rear cameras with recorder

New clear map lens cover ---Mitsubishi

Newly recovered leather heated seats (Thanks MikeV)

Used low mileage 6 speed Euro MT (Thanks MikeV)

New Whiteline rear brace (Thanks MikeV)

Nearly new coil packs, 4 (Thanks, fellow SC member)

MWR Short Shifter Kit & Brass Bushings

Used Che exhaust header (Thanks fellow SC member)

New (2) transmission shift cables

New and used motor mounts (Thanks CarlBecker and Dev)

New Denon Starter

New Denon Alternator

New 2ZZ clutch and throw out bearing

New interior carpeting

New rubber and stainless steel brake lines

Lightly used Blizzack winter tires

Lightly used Fidenza lightweight flywheel (Thanks fellow SC member)

New APR flywheel bolts

GPan 3, 6 quart extended aluminum oil pan

New drive belt tensioner & Belt

Used larger injectors ---for MAF mode--- (Thanks fellow SC member)

MAF mod spacer (Thanks Corky)

Full Body Stiffening Kit/Che Braces (Thanks former SC member)

Lightly used OEM shocks (Thanks former SC member)

New shock mounts and shock bellows

Cyclehead convex mirrors

New Spyder custom oil filler/funnel (Thanks Dev)

New KTS exhaust system

New instrument panel lens cover

New secondary power distribution panel and wiring

New front control arms ---Moog---

Used rear control arms (Thanks nocoolname)

Used Classic Luggage Rack (Thanks fellow SC member)

New OEM or better liquids:  transmission oil; cooling system; brakes; and steering

Used: 2 ton foldable engine hoist; 2 ton load leveler; and rolling motor mount

To Be Continued