Question about...V6 + MR2

best recommendation is getting the SW20 (3sgte) Turbo model and mod from there...

thats the cheapest with the least amount of hassle... you buy a SW21 and swap V6 for that price for the car and swap would equal the difference of the just buying a SW20 from the beggining... and stock vs stock... i'd put my money on the SW20 w/ the turbo.

The MR2 Turbo with it's 3sgte engine is a great platform for building lots of dependable power. Not to mention it's awsome mid engine handling and it's great looks. Read the MR2 primer and you will see how easy and inexpensive it is to get it to 280hp... Many have 350hp dependable MR2's.

if money is a problem, then going 5sfe to start gives you the car now, and the upgrades later when you can afford them. but from my experiance, the later never seams to come. something always comes up. buy the sw22.
another way to decide is what are your plans with the car? N/A is better for some things than turbo

moogleX said:

if money is a problem, then going 5sfe to start gives you the car now, and the upgrades later when you can afford them. but from my experiance, the later never seams to come. something always comes up. buy the sw22.
another way to decide is what are your plans with the car? N/A is better for some things than turbo

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yes, very true... the later never comes... its hard to build a daily driver.... you need to garage it and make it a project car... i wish i had that ability

It took me over 7 years to finally be able to park my MR2 and plan a turbo swap. I will hopefully have it done by this spring. Can't wait.

If you can find one, it is definately better to go turbo from the start. The n/a motor is not very upgradeable unless you want to spend HUGE money.

yea the turbo motor seems to be the way to go. it was just meant to be. I'm selling my summer car (hopefully for around $5-6000) to get an mr2 (n/a) and a 3s-gte swap, and some aftermarket parts. that way I'll have everything I need and have another car to drive in about two weeks/a month of down time.

blackdelsol said:

yea the turbo motor seems to be the way to go. it was just meant to be. I'm selling my summer car (hopefully for around $5-6000) to get an mr2 (n/a) and a 3s-gte swap, and some aftermarket parts. that way I'll have everything I need and have another car to drive in about two weeks/a month of down time.

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Why not just get a Turbo to start with and skip the headache of a swap?The 5-6K will get you one.

because I want to start with a motor with around 30-50k on it, and I can probably get a non running mr2 for a reasonable price. the paint can even be shabby because I have a body guy to repaint it already. also, I want the experience of swapping an engine. I love working on cars, and this will just be a way to better learn the car. (also it will be insured as an N/A, which is good, because the turbo model's insurance is 25% higher )

blackdelsol said:

because I want to start with a motor with around 30-50k on it, and I can probably get a non running mr2 for a reasonable price. the paint can even be shabby because I have a body guy to repaint it already. also, I want the experience of swapping an engine. I love working on cars, and this will just be a way to better learn the car. (also it will be insured as an N/A, which is good, because the turbo model's insurance is 25% higher )

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I undertsand you want to Just Do This for the fun and experience. Thats quite commendable. But -also it will be insured as an N/A, which is good, because the turbo model's insurance is 25% higher is insurance fraud. If you should have an accident and the insurance adjuster catches that--trouble and your insurance will be void. maybe even prosecution.

yea, I've thought about that too. it does pose a problem, but I'm doing ok so far, only one accident, not my fault. but yea, its not recommendable to do that, I'm just hoping that it doesn't come down to that. the insurance adjuster won't be able to see the turbo, since it's on the front of the engine under a heat shield, and the only place the engine says turbo is on the IM. I can fix that. I'm not to worried, and I do understand the risk I am taking. its worth it to me.

What about a smog inspection? What are the protocols like there? Those guys will be able to tell the difference.

haha, I got so lucky there. no smog tests in MN. basically you don't even need cats here.

yeah, we don't have them here anymore either. Anything goes. Though, if you get caught without a cat...Big fine...

yea, that would suck. its really nice not having emissions tests here. thats one reason I'll never move to California, the other being that if you get caught street racing there, they impound and destroy your car . my insurance will be under liability, so if I do get in a crash and it is my fault, at least they won't have to cover my car, so I doubt they will go out of their way to see if it has a turbo. I'm glad you brought it up though. I've been planning this for 2 years, so any suggestions are welcome.

Well, it's alot of work. Just try to get a motor thats in good condition and a wire harness that also in good shape too. lotta guys foget the harness ..,

I'm planning on a gen 2 rear clip. sounds like the best way to go. I almost got an mr2 over christmas. $800, perfect body, didn't run. but they sold it before I could get it. I think I could get an mr2, and get it to a driveable state with the turbo motor in it for around $3500.

Check out this link for engines.
http://www.racetep.com/mr2tpart.htm

nice! thanks. that sounds like a good resource.

while you may find swapping the engine fun, you could just rebuild the engine and replace parts with better ones so down the line when you want to up the boost or something, the engine can handle it and is built for it.
while im not very knowledgible abot the techinical specific's, I know stock the engine can handle quite a bit, but its still better to build up your engine in the long run