Question for the Pros

[spiderman3k]

I currently have a 92 non-turbo. Love the car to death. (Became attached to the car because I invested some work in the car.) Upgrading things can be a pain in the butt, because it is not a turbo. At heart I want a turbo. I am currently getting valve seals replaced and scheduled for a paint job in 2 weeks.

I found a 91 turbo original 120000 miles, $7900. I have 2 days to decide if I want to stop everything on the non-turbo and just buy the turbo and work on that instead.

Questions for the Pros.
1. How big of a deal is gas in the turbo v/s non-turbo? Any explains? (I live in San Diego, gas price is crazy here)
2. Is it true it will cost more money converting non-turbo to turbo than just buying a MR2 with stock turbo?
3. What are some risk of buying a turbo?
4. What would you do?

[MR2Jedi]

Originally Posted by spiderman3k

I currently have a 92 non-turbo. Love the car to death. (Became attached to the car because I invested some work in the car.) Upgrading things can be a pain in the butt, because it is not a turbo. At heart I want a turbo. I am currently getting valve seals replaced and scheduled for a paint job in 2 weeks.

I found a 91 turbo original 120000 miles, $7900. I have 2 days to decide if I want to stop everything on the non-turbo and just buy the turbo and work on that instead.

Questions for the Pros.
1. How big of a deal is gas in the turbo v/s non-turbo? Any explains? (I live in San Diego, gas price is crazy here)
2. Is it true it will cost more money converting non-turbo to turbo than just buying a MR2 with stock turbo?
3. What are some risk of buying a turbo?
4. What would you do?

get the turbo and save yourself a bunch of time, work, money and headache...
buying any used car, you gotta know that you will end up forking out $$$...

[Drifting Dane]

1. Use premium gas... MR2 turbos get 27 mpg on the highway, and 20 mpg city
2.yes that is true, UNLESS you already have a donor car (which you do), in which case it would be slightly less expensive to do a jap swap (4500-5500 depending on what year engine)... and i would know because i just paid for a swap
3. 120000 miles is a bunch... see if the car you are thinking about has proper documentation of services like timing belt, turbo replacement/repair, and regular oil changes.
4. Do a swap (www.mr2warehouse.com) and get a lower mileage/higher performance engine (and all its necessary parts of course)

ps - im not a "pro"

[spiderman3k]

thanks for the info.

I will wait until I find a 93 turbo or higher .
It is rare now but I can wait a little bit.

[keck03]

Originally Posted by Drifting Dane

1. Use premium gas... MR2 turbos get 27 mpg on the highway, and 20 mpg city

hey dd, after my swap i am getting around 18-19mpg. remember those jdm ecus run rich. best so far is once i got 24 doing 55 mph on the turnpike with a state cop following me for an hour and so laying off the boost entirely. i found most people i talked to with turbos get around 20 mpg mixed driving with normal amounts of boosting.

[Piddy]

Originally Posted by spiderman3k

thanks for the info.

I will wait until I find a 93 turbo or higher .
It is rare now but I can wait a little bit.

JUST SWAP IT! Some people whine and cry too much about swaps. The only trouble you are going to have is smog trouble... but I can help you out in that department. Making it smog legal and all..... ya know . Anyways.... The swap should cost you no more than $3,000 for a 2nd gen. $5,500 seems a little steep to me. Ihad my swap done (labor) for $800.... and my clip was $2,200. I rushed into buying my clip... so I was missing a lot of nic nacks that added up about $1k to the price tag. But if I would have gotten a COMPLETE CLIP.... i would have been in the $3,000 range.

[Drifting Dane]

well, there are several things that should be done at the same time as a swap...

resurfaced/replaced flywheel, upgraded fuel pump (if you plan on adding a decent amount of mods to it), clutch is almost a must, new fluids, and new ignition components.

I am paying about 5k for my swap, and im getting a gen. 2... another grand for a gen 3