Understanding an MR2 in 1 day.

[mk2-1jz]

hey guys, I've shifted myself over from the Supra fourm to the MR2 fourm today. Why you might ask? My girlfriend just bought her little dream car, a 1992 JDM MR2 Turbo, were picking it up on wednesday. Now I hate to do the noob thing but I have some specific questions that I need to ask you guys before I jump onto it. I havnt even played around with it yet because we just put a deposit on it today. So dont kill me if I ask obvious questions to you guys because I need to know, search is useless in my case. I know the base of the 3s block, I have a camry as my winter runner, so I know my way around the MOTOR, not much about the car seeing as its shoved in the back.


so here goes. Ill erase some of the nonesense questions the further I get through the FAQs posted in the MR2 section.

again the car is a 1992 MR2 turbo 3s-gte with 138 000 kms on the clock. I'll do this questionnaire style, the less painful to answer possible. I really apreciate your guys help!


1: Where can I get a good online manual for this car (the best out of all those posted in the sticky) so I dont have to post my questions, something like the TSRM for Supras?

until I find that:



2: Where is the fuel filter located on this model? any tips or tricks working in that engine bay?



3: What is the preferred grade of oil/blend to use in the 3sgte? Im not a fan of synthetic oil in older cars.....



4: What kind of spark plugs are reccomended for this turbo engine? I have no idea whats in there now because like I said I dont have the car at my disposal yet. I'll be putting NGK, but which is preffered? Iridium tipped, platinum? G power?



5: What is the gap of the plugs on the 3sgte?



6: Green antifreeze/red antifreeze, are they weirdos in Japan and use the weird coloured stuff?



7: Distributor cap and rotor, availability? Should I buy this from Toyota or go jobber?



8: The simpliest question, are the parts on USDM and JDM MR2 interchangable? Nothing to be suprised about? Like if I can get a normal oil filter from a USDM car and use it on the JDM car?




9: Lastly, what do YOU think I should know about the MR2. Problems, areas to check?




I KNOW the car had been sitting in a shipping container for quite some time, so I'm flushing as many of the fluids as I can as well. Only if I knew this car like I know mine... ahhhhh






thanks a lot to everyone that replies with useful info!

[MR2 Guru]

I have tried to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability, in sequence.

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

1: Where can I get a good online manual for this car (the best out of all those posted in the sticky) so I dont have to post my questions, something like the TSRM for Supras?

www.mr2-tech.com/bgb.htm

You can still buy these from the Toyota dealer for a decent price. This manual should work just fine for you, even though it is technically 1991 based.

Its free online, unless the bandwidth is exceeded.



2: Where is the fuel filter located on this model? any tips or tricks working in that engine bay?

The fuel filter is in the engine bay on the left hand side of the engine bay against the passenger-cabin firewall. When working in the engine bay, you may want to remove the side panels around the engine ears. They dent VERY easily. Also get used to bruised ribs if you are working from the top...


3: What is the preferred grade of oil/blend to use in the 3sgte? Im not a fan of synthetic oil in older cars.....

For older, higher mile, unopened engines I suggest 10w30 summer, 10w40 winter.



4: What kind of spark plugs are reccomended for this turbo engine? I have no idea whats in there now because like I said I dont have the car at my disposal yet. I'll be putting NGK, but which is preffered? Iridium tipped, platinum? G power?

I personally stay clear of iridium plugs. I prefer the NGK copper; BKR6E, BKR6ES. (6 being the heat range for a mostly stock car.) They are super cheap, and function just fine. Copper is generally a better conductor of heat and electricity than platinum. You will find that Copper is frequently used in forced induction applications.


5: What is the gap of the plugs on the 3sgte?

I believe factory gap is .032, but with modifications this can be adjusted for efficiency.



6: Green antifreeze/red antifreeze, are they weirdos in Japan and use the weird coloured stuff?

Small write-up about green vs. red = http://autorepair.about.com/cs/gener.../aa052601a.htm


7: Distributor cap and rotor, availability? Should I buy this from Toyota or go jobber?

I always suggest using OE Toyota parts when possible.


8: The simpliest question, are the parts on USDM and JDM MR2 interchangable? Nothing to be suprised about? Like if I can get a normal oil filter from a USDM car and use it on the JDM car?

So long as you stay with the same generation, yes. Until you are more familiar with these things, always ask for 1992 specific parts. They will all interchange except emissions components, for obvious reasons.


9: Lastly, what do YOU think I should know about the MR2. Problems, areas to check?


You may have just opened a can of worms.

Distributor O-rings - they leak oil and make a darned mess. Sometimes this is a tough one to find since it leaves the entire engine coated. One minute it will look like the valve cover, the next it looks like the block.

Hose from Hell and Hose From Hell On Earth (HFH, HFHOE) - Two very fragile coolant lines located near the turbo. They tend to dry-rot and explode. Not fun to change. If you lose one or the other, youre in trouble.

Suspension pieces, such as bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends are usually worn by this age. They make the handling less than par from most buyers expectations, but once they are repaired it will handle like on rails. There are many sources for these parts.

I'm out of time and sure I'm missing one or two things, but I think you've got the gist of it.

Hope this helps!
MR2 Guru

[mk2-1jz]

hey man thanks a lot for your help! I see I'll be getting along well in this section. I printed that out for use when I get my hands on the car.

Also the rear tires on the car are finished, so I'm wondering how big of a tire you can fit on the stock 15 inch mag? I'm thinking a 245? any suggestions?

[MR2Jedi]

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

hey man thanks a lot for your help! I see I'll be getting along well in this section. I printed that out for use when I get my hands on the car.

Also the rear tires on the car are finished, so I'm wondering how big of a tire you can fit on the stock 15 inch mag? I'm thinking a 245? any suggestions?

Depends on the width of the rim. It's probably 7" wide. The widest tire would be a 235.
There is an online Maunual on the 1st page in the sticky. There's even a link to download it to disc (I did).
MR2Guru pretty much nailed the rest.

[mk2-1jz]

thanks guys, Ill post up when if I have more questions, I really apreciate it.

[mk2-1jz]

ok I have a few more questions:


1. What type of spark plug do you guys reccomed for a stock 3sgte?


2. Synthetic or conventional oil in this particular engine?


3. How long on average does it take to do the coolant changing procedure?

[mk2-1jz]

I also need to know where to find the date of manufacturing, there are no tags on the doors that would indicate such. The car is an imported from Japan model, all written in Japanese everywhere else. My shop told me to look on the little tag on the bottom of the seatbelt but its not written still....the car is a 1992 I need to know to buy parts!

[MR2Jedi]

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

ok I have a few more questions:


1. What type of spark plug do you guys reccomed for a stock 3sgte?

MR2 Guru answered this in your original post:

the NGK copper; BKR6E, BKR6ES. (6 being the heat range for a mostly stock car.) They are super cheap, and function just fine. Copper is generally a better conductor of heat and electricity than platinum. You will find that Copper is frequently used in forced induction applications.

.

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

2. Synthetic or conventional oil in this particular engine?

If it has high mileage-Conventional

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

3. How long on average does it take to do the coolant changing procedure?

It takes awhile. The MR2 has alot of piping. The important thing is to evacuate all the air out of the system or you will have over heating issues. Make sure you bleed the block, the heater core and the radiator.

[MR2Jedi]

Originally Posted by mk2-1jz

I also need to know where to find the date of manufacturing, there are no tags on the doors that would indicate such. The car is an imported from Japan model, all written in Japanese everywhere else. My shop told me to look on the little tag on the bottom of the seatbelt but its not written still....the car is a 1992 I need to know to buy parts!

On the 1st page of this forum there is the : "Online OEM parts finder". Enter your VIN # and it will give you manufacture date down to the month.

[SnowRocker88]

My big suggestion, is become friends with MR2Guru. He IS the MR2 Guru, and has pioneered many advances in the MR2 world. Google search 'MR2 owners club' and there is lots of information out there for these cars...also some MR2-specific forums.

[mk2-1jz]

yeah sorry about asking twice, I had that info about the plugs in hand already! Thanks a lot guys!

[MR2Jedi]

Originally Posted by SnowRocker88

My big suggestion, is become friends with MR2Guru. He IS the MR2 Guru, and has pioneered many advances in the MR2 world. Google search 'MR2 owners club' and there is lots of information out there for these cars...also some MR2-specific forums.

Yep, he knows the MR2 inside and out. He's very helpfull and a really cool guy.

[mk2-1jz]

I'm sure I'll be speaking with him in the near future lol

Update for you guys. I dont have any good pictures yet. I have these for now, (I forgot my tripod dammit) (see below!) but she absolutely loves the car. I drove it home from the importer and passed the keys to her yesterday, she tried it out a bit and they I took the keys off of her and sent her off with my old bucket for the day while I did some maitenence and cleaning up on her car. I promised her a beautiful pristine clean MR2 when she finished work tonight and thats what she got. I swear her eyes almost popped out of her head. The car is a 1992 and oh my god is it clean. It just took some time, some spray 9, gunk, and a good cleaner wax. I gunked and scrubbed the motor with a big scrubby pad, then washed it down, I took out the spare and cleaned up that compartment, hand waxed all the water spots out of the paint (with the cleaner wax) changed the oil, the plugs and took a trip to the dealer to figure out when the car was fabricated (I need to know to buy a new distributor cap) I'm going to use that link posted above when my girlfriend sends me her vin number.

All in all it was a great purchase, the car looks like its new, and shes REALLY happy. And I'm "upset" because she rips the crap out of my Supra, the ol girl just cant keep up. I already warned her, make sure I dont have money because it wont last long lol. I'm still running my stock 5mge with a swap comming in the spring. For now I have to get used to sniffing up her butt on the highway with no chance of passing..... no fun lol I'll just hope she doesnt figure out what turbo lag is (I hope she wasnt listening when I explained it to her)

I'll get some pictures up for you guys the next time me and my girlfriend get some time off together during the day.

I also didnt mention that the car came with a KYB touring suspension with adjustable dampening shocks, it holds the road so nice, not 1 bit of roll its solid though the corners......!!

[Albuynp Ryeno]

Hay this is really off topic and random buy how big is the MR2? Honda S2000 big?

[MR2Jedi]

Wow! Looks really good! Need pics of the inside and engine...Congrats!