Picking up the car

I got the train to Birmingham on the Saturday morning, and went to pick up the car. Got there about 12:30, took a while to get the tax on the car and then drove to the closest petrol station!

The car felt fast, but didnt blow my socks off, i assumed that the stock turbo just wasnt as fast as i thought. Being a total turbo noob, i also didnt realise that the boost gauge should read full when flooring it... luckily a friend did.

When i got back to Cambridge i decided to take it over to a friends, i let him have a drive and he instantly realised it wasnt boosting right. After a quick look in the engine bay, we noticed that there was no diaphragm on the Blow Off Valve, so basically all the boost was escaping.

We temporarily fitted a metal plate into the flange and just to make sure there was no other problem... WOW the MR2 turbo is a bloody rapid car... i was actually slightly scared by it.

That night i got home and ordered a Boost Gauge, Cold Grade Spark Plugs, a stock BOV and various other little bits.

Insurance

Before picking the car up I phoned around a few places to get insurance, i tried Direct Line, Ardian Flux, Chris Knott and Sky Insurance. After a bit more haggling i got a good price. Seeing as im 24 with 3 years no claims trying to get insured on a Imported 260bhp modified turbo... i knew it would be expensive, but £800 was not bad at all.

Purchase MR2

After having my Red 1992 UK GT T-Bar for a year and modifying it and pushing it pretty hard (on a track day)

It unfortunately developed a clutch / gearbox issue that was making it very difficult to pull away. Regardless of what the problem was it was going to be rather expensive to fix, and i would not be able to fit an LSD, which after pushing a car, you know is almost essential... so i looked around on Ebay for a new car and saw one that caught my eye.

I decided to go and have a look at it instead of just getting drunk and buying it on ebay there and then (which is how i got the last one). It was being sold in Birmingham by Salah Imports who are really nice guys who have some really good stock... i dont think they update their website much, but their fore court is full of great cars.

We drove over there after work and met the guy around 8pm and he showed me the car in the warehouse. it was really clean and looked spot on, after the usual haggling, i paid my deposit and waited to pick it up that weekend.