90 Celica ST Need mod help

[Celicasuit]

Hey guys,
Well as the title reads i need some help with a 90 celica st. I do not yet own it but am planning on making the purchase within the next two weeks. I do not know much about cars but what I do know is that this car comes stock with a little over 100 hp and I want more. My price range is around 1500.
What should i do to it to make it faster?

[jdmccright]

First and foremost...welcome to AF!

The Celica ST is a base trim car with a decent but agreeably tepid engine. As nice as the Celica is, between the cost of buying that car, I'm estimating from NADA at around $2,500, and what you say you want to spend on upgrades, $1,500, you'll get more bang for your buck buying the same year Supra Turbo.

Just a turbo kit for the Celica, which would have to be custom-modded using an existing kit, would run you north of $3,000.

If you can find a Supra that hasn't been flogged for 20 years or at least one that's got good maintenance records, I'd go that route....much stronger inline 6-cyl turbocharged engine to give you more smiles per mile. Expect more maintenance with the turbo, but I think it'd be worth it versus trying to make a racehorse out of a donkey. Good luck to you and let us know what you end up doing!

EDIT...The only thing of note if you decide to go the Supra route is that their engines tend to blow head gaskets if they are the old style. Since they are so old, I would imagine that by now they have been upgraded to redesigned gaskets to eliminate this problem. But be sure to ask about this when evaluating a car...when was it done and what type of gasket used (MHG (metal head gasket) with ARP head bolts are recommended). That'll help you enjoy those 240 horses more by having peace of mind.