During my time in the MR2 scene I have never seen this ultra rare instrument cluster fitted to an MR2. One came up for sale many years ago on the Australian MR2 club and that was the only time I have seen one available.
I have always tried to obtain the rare Phoenix Power items but now, in 2018, it is extremely difficult to source anything!
The instrument cluster is unique due to its combined use of the TRD 300kph racing speedometer and tachometer that has a 10,000rpm range. No other instrument available for the MR2 is configured in this way.
After browsing the online forums, looking at Yahoo Japan auctions, I could not find one. After looking at my copy of Hyper Revs I noticed that the gauges were supplied to Phoenix Power by a company known as ‘K’s’ in Japan. I believe they are still in business today but no longer supply the SW20 MR2 setup. The originally prepared the cluster on an exchange basis.
I joined a few of the MR2 clubs and for sale/wanted groups on Facebook and decided to post a photo of the instrument cluster under a wanted post. To my amazement I was contacted almost immediately by a person who runs a Japanese auto spare shop in Trinidad & Tobago. He had imported a Gen 4 3S-GTE engine for his personal build and the Phoenix Power cluster came with it, thrown into a cupboard and not used. We struck a deal and now I have it installed on my Type II Phoenix Power SW20.
When the cluster arrived it was suffering from smoke damage. The dials were slightly off white. So I decided to fully restore them before fitted to my MR2.
Each gauge was taken out and stripped and each face plate cleaned using my special formula. I was pleased when they cleaned back to a pure clean white!
To finish the restoration I ordered a brand new Denso transparent cover for the entire cluster. This was imported from Japan and no longer available from Toyota directly.
I am really happy with the finished result and feel they will add value to my MR2 project. My aim is to produce a car that is true to the 90’s era and represents the heritage of one of the leading MR2 tuning companies in Japan – Phoenix Power SPL.