You’ve heard of overnight parts from Japan, but… Overnight parts from Pontypool?
Pulled a marathon stint in the Clio, driving from Southampton to Pontypool to source a donor engine and gearbox for my close friend and mentor’s 2ZZ-swapped MR-S.
Given the fact we are geniuses (weapons-grade morons), the only sensibly-priced 2ZZ engine in the entire country that wasn’t on moon miles or looking like it was in a house fire was, drum roll please… still in a Celica.
So, off to the Valleys we went on a lovely four hour drive in 34 degrees with no AC down the M3, A34 and M4, and one Toyota Celica was viewed, compression tested with exceptional results, and purchased for the sum of 950 British pounds.
Earlier in the week, I’d managed to convince my local-ish client and friend, Josh, from We Buy Any R, to allow us to use his workshop to remove the engine and gearbox in exchange for him having the rest of the car to break for the goodies like the TTE kit, wheels, leathers etc.
I don’t know why, given that involved helping us out on a Sunday night into stupid hours of the night with everybody involved having work the next day, but they were down for the idea.
The best part of a 45 minute job is the 2 hours that turn into 4 hours, so after getting the MOT-less Celica recovered, we got to pulling the motor.
Well, everyone else got pulling the motor as I have a severe case of “soft hands”, and I also didn’t want to impede on the Welsh chaps with biceps larger than my legs as they looked like they knew what they were doing and also capable of immense physical harm if I got in their way (they were the loveliest people I’ve ever met, to clarify)
After many hours and a lot of angle grinding, including through a pair of completely solid driveshafts, we broke the engine free and got it down onto the ground.
Next step? Get it into the Clio, which was assigned van duty for the day because, well, “funny”. Neither my friend nor myself currently own a practical car so the closest thing is my stripped hatchback being an approximation of a van!
One loaded engine later (at 12:20AM no less), it was time to set off to my friend’s gaff in Southampton.
As you can imagine, “Cup shocks” and “Cooksport springs” does not mean “practical, load-bearing suspension.”
My fitment? FANTASTIC. The drive home? Equal parts f**king terrifying and hilarious. The car felt hideous to drive and my Milltek centre section found every imperfection in the road, including briefly beaching myself coming out of the unit.
Safe to say there was a lot of doing half the speed limit until we got on the M4, then it was mostly smooth sailing.
2013 called, they want their fitment back. Plus obligatory Maccies stop.
After a lengthy drive and dropping my mate back at his, and at 4:40AM, we called it “mission accomplished” given his MR-S is now off Facebook Marketplace and we’re whacking this lump in next weekend.
So what I’ve learned the Clio 182RS *can* be a van if you want it to. Should you though? Probably not, it’s f**king terrifying
