Toyota MR2

[Thelost10mm]

Turbo flutter, 5” jap can and pop up head lights what’s not to love.
Here is my 1992 Toyota mr2. Originally naturally aspirated I have now swapped in a Japanese model turbo engine and gearbox. During the course of recommissioning the turbo engine I seemed to have fallen down a rabbit hole and things escalated very quickly.

Like many on this forum I am a humble driveway mechanic. Servicing, bolt on mods and talking dung about cars are fairly easy. However with this swap I wanted to push myself and do everything myself, From building the engine to wiring it all up. I am please to say that this was achieved with the only work being outsourced machining of the block and head and a gearbox rebuild.

During the strip down of the jap 3sgte the bores were a little worse for wear. No dramas I thought, a light hone and it will be grand. That was until number 2 piston was removed and came apart in 2 pieces in my hand. Too much boost? Bad fuel? Who knows but gorilla glue was out of the question. So what do you do when your block needs machining and a new piston. Forged wosnor pistons!

After the rotating assembly with built back up and the head bolted down I was looking at all the brackets that had to go back on. Oil, rust and all the usual build up on them, not a good look. Thankfully I discovered electroplating, more specifically Eagle electroplating. Thanks to them every bracket is now shining away.

A hybrid turbo, supra injectors and a link ecu later the car now runs like a dream and making great power. 340 hp thanks to gsport cars for mapping it.

Mod list:
Wosnor 86.5mm forged pistons
Stock gen2 3sgte rods
Ported head
Stock cams and valve springs
S148 hybrid turbo
Bored fuel rail
Supra 550cc injectors
3”downpipe
Link pnp ecu
Hsd coilovers
Polybushed
Greddy lip
Work vs-xx 3 piece wheels
Aem afr, oil pressure and boost guage
Hks exhaust
More photos

 

[Jonny_W]

Love a nice MR2, looks great

 

[Boksic]

Nice, love the wheels. It's all class though, good man for attacking it yourself

 

[big_pete]

Class, I bet that is a weapon with that power too, even a standard mr2 turbo feels spritely. That looks great!

 

[Thelost10mm]

Love a nice MR2, looks great

Thanks mate, a lot of work but think I’ve done the car justice. No bov and 18psi of boost makes for unbelievable turbo nosies

Nice, love the wheels. It's all class though, good man for attacking it yourself

Thank you, the works make a big difference to the look. EBay is a dangerous tool and when I found these I knew they where the ones

Class, I bet that is a weapon with that power too, even a standard mr2 turbo feels spritely. That looks great!

Thank you. Yes weapon is an understatement, very much a straight line car, corners can get very hairy in the wet. Antilag and launch control are next in the list after I get more familiar with the link software

 

[gav525]

That's a great job you've done. Had a red turbo myself years ago and loved it. Still think the MR2 looks good nowadays!

 

[Thelost10mm]

That's a great job you've done. Had a red turbo myself years ago and loved it. Still think the MR2 looks good nowadays!

Thank you, I would have loved to have witnessed NI in the day when jdm classics like mr2’s, celica’s and other jdm legends were very abundant. Unfortunately the mr2’s are getting few and far between now. Changing from NA to turbo is like night and day.

 

[Father Stack]

That looks fantastic, and fair play for tackling it all yourself, not an easy car to work on. I loved my MR2 Turbo back in the day, loved how it tried in some way to kill you on every journey.

I sold it for £650

 

[Thelost10mm]

That looks fantastic, and fair play for tackling it all yourself, not an easy car to work on. I loved my MR2 Turbo back in the day, loved how it tried in some way to kill you on every journey.

I sold it for £650

Thank you! Yes some things never change and with a wet road and an urge to hear the turbo flutter it makes for an intense drive £650that makes me feel ill.

 

[Captain Starlet]

Absolutely love it its been years since I have seen one on the road. Red was always the one I wanted but a Caribbean Blue turbo popped up and I never looked back. They are great cars, more so with the mods you have carried out, best of luck with it.

I think I have a few bits left over from mine, I will have a look and see what there is if they are any use.

 

[Thelost10mm]

Absolutely love it its been years since I have seen one on the road. Red was always the one I wanted but a Caribbean Blue turbo popped up and I never looked back. They are great cars, more so with the mods you have carried out, best of luck with it.

I think I have a few bits left over from mine, I will have a look and see what there is if they are any use.

View attachment 385075

That’s is a lovely car. Caribbean blue and cosmis blue in the rev 5’s are my favourite. Thank you, I love driving the coast road around home and putting it through its paces. If you wouldn’t mind seeing what parts you have, never know what’ll I’ll need.

 

[Mark_C]

Mines next on the list to get back out on the road once I'm finished the golf and subaru tweaks.