I just bought a '91 MR2 N/A. I would have gone with a turbo but couldn't find one, insurance would be a lot more, and I got mine at a great price. It already has a new suspension, a K/N intake, and new clutch and new tires. I have about $1600 to spend on the engine now and I'm looking for cheap horsepower and/or torque. What should be the first thing I do? Any sugguestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Congratulations, and welcome to AF! :D

Sorry I don't have any suggestions in particular, but we have some other MR2 owners that'll throw some knowledge your way soon enough.

intake and exhaust is your basic easy stuff to do...

not too much you can do with an n/a. make sure your ignition is all top notch. i mean you can do header work and intake many work if you got that kinda money....

There is a few things you can do. First would be intake and exhaust. The choices are very limited though. I suggest construction your own intake kit. It will cost you a lot less, and perform just as well, if not better than any of the aftermarket intake kits for the n/a. When it comes to the exhaust, the only real hp maker would be a custom setup, but it's loud and annoying, and expensive. I suggest the Hotshot Header Kit, and the GReddy SP exhaust.

Next I would work on ignition componants and aftermarket clutch. The n/a's ignition components are shitty, and only there to do the job. Jacobs Electronic's ICE PAK ignition system is the way to go, it was dyno tested to gain 15hp on a stock 91 n/a, pretty damn good gains. You will prolly need an aftermarket clutch at this point, the factory clutch can't hold worth a damn. I suggest the ACT street/heavy duty setup.

Next, you can advance timing up to 13 degrees, it will give you some more low end grunt, and a little less high end, but if you have the exhaust and ignition setup that I suggested, you won't see anything but a gain accross the entire power band.

When you really get some money, you can finally do head/intake/throttle body work on the engine. I also suggest at this point Total Seal piston rings, and Gen IV Supra valve springs.

After the engine is built, nitrous is the answer. Zex makes a wet kit that is very simple to install and lets you choose between 50, 65, and 75 shot.

GReddy SP exhaust $500 new $300 used
Hotshot Headers $450 new $375 used
Homemade Intake $100 - 50
Weapon R Intake $150
Injen Intake $150
ACT Clutch $280
Jacobs ICE PAK $400
Zex Nitrous Kit $450

Lowest Price on Performance Parts for the MR2
http://www.HighPerformanceOnline.com

wo0t!!!

Heheh i figured you could write a book on a N/A!!! ^_^

Man look at all these gooofy faces you can use on this board. :finger: :grey:

Put in some more $$$ and get a 3SGTE!!!

save up and get a 3sgte~!!!!! i'm saving up for a 3sgte 2nd gen....since mah 5sfe can't burn any carz

calm down entiZ.
(ooooooh, look at all the smilies :eek: :apoke: :wave: )

TwoSeatTerror covered all the stuff you need for the all motor setup. You can also turbo the 2.2 if you have the knowledge, drive, resources, time, money, etc.
I know of one guy who built his 2.2 and has 427 hp at the wheels. :eek:
He's running 11's on street tires.

first thing i would do to an N/a would intake exhaust to get it breathing well and for the big hp get an aftermarket cam because the originals were made for good gas mileage next would be to get a better ignition system jacobs ice pack then find a dead mr2 turbo and take all the turbo stuff and swap it all into your mr2 the cams alone will get you like
mr2 N/A 130hp
comp.exhaust 15hp
cams 30hp
ignition 10hp
turbo 60hp
=
245hp

um im not sure how much hp the turbo will make so.......

all for about 2.5 Gand???

NA motors do not get huge increases in power with intake/exhaust. The breathing restriction is due to the head. The exhaust system will make increases but only with headers, no cat, hi flow exhaust. cams will make a difference too but you need to properly tune the car to get any meaningful gains. There is a guy on the MR2 board with 467hp at the wheels with a turboed NA 2.2 engine. He's running 10's on street tires.

board.mr2faqs.com for more info.

i suggest you get a jspec 3sgte 2nd gen(225hp)complete engine swap and you wont spend more than $3500.5sfe is not a good motor to modify with and you'll end up spending alot then you wont get a reilable 225hp out of this motor and if you do it'll be loud as hell ! and watch out for the the motor to break down soon but for jspec 2nd gen 3sgte will gives you 225hp on this stock motor and very reliable hp and you just need few minor bolt on modes then you will get up to 265hp easily dude!

K

I got a as new K & N panel filter, car bra, work shop manuals, and a crazy set of 17" Racing sparco pythonII with new tread if interested.

If speed matters to you (it should), then stay away from NA MR2s. If it does matter, then a turbo is not a bad choice.

For anyone looking at an MR2:

The bad

These suck in rain, snow, sleet, anything not perfect.
As with all cars, let them warm up before you go over 4000rpm.
Repairs are expensive.
They eat tires like nothing else, but will also fishtail like nothing else.
NO trunk space, maybe 2 small suitcases or a couple backpacks.
If you are tall/overweight, you won't fit in this car. Neither will tall hair.
T-tops tend to leak.
Parts are hard to find.
4000+rmp in 5th at 80 mph with a 6250 redline???(this is for the NA, the turbos gearing is better)
Make sure that only 2 seats won't be a problem.

Problems w/ my MR2
Carpet on the passenger side fell apart
Valve job needed at 120k $1200
Oil leak in distributer cap.
Good 6 speaker stereo, but stock cd player sucks.
Sometimes force is need to get in to 1st or reverse.
Difficult downshifting, probably because of miles on transmission

The good

Gas mileage (no that anyone here cares, i don't)
Very light. MR2 Turbo+cheap mods=very fast
Great handling. Little aid from power steering (two hands for most people). This gives you great feeling for the car and will often times stop you from loosing control, which is hard to do unintentionally.

I'm selling it and buying a 95-98 eclipse gsx or a 300zx.

Let me know if any of this helps anyone or if you disagree w/ any of it.

However, if you prefer to autocross, the NA is perfect for you.

Snow is not an issue with the NA. I've driven my car in deep snow without a problem. Engine parts are the same as camry parts. The NA comes with a forged crank and the pistons will take up to 8 psi. It does have problems with wet and slippery conditions (if you're not careful) but find me a rear wheel drive car that isn't a problem in this weather.

I'm surprised noone mentioned this.

First thing I'd do is get a good tuneup. Also make a friend with your local dyno shop. That way you can see if any of these (future) mods are doing anything. Also it will be able to tell you if you're down on power before you start tossing mods on.

Reply to Kerpalstaxi's good & bad about the 91 MR2 NA.

About them sucking in snow, above about 35MPH, yes, they can be very scary, but below that they take off fairly well with most of the weight on the rear wheels.
About eating tires, mine eats the rear tires very quickly (also an NSX problem) but the fronts have shown almost no wear at all. Also buy good performance rain tires (I have now the Kuhmo 245/45/16s on back and they are really nice for the price). If that back end hydroplanes on you at freeway speeds (as it did on mine with bald tires) you will be going sideways instantly. Anyone out there have rear alignment specs to lessen tire wear but not handling?
I'm 6'3" and fit in the car OK, but have no extra headroom. I did fool with the seat bottom a little to get my butt lower.
T-tops leak and more importantly, take a big bite out of the structual rigidity of the car. Get the moorroof version as I have. (looking for a solid roof '91).
Most of the parts are about as hard to find as they are for a 4 cyl Camry.
Yes, the shifting of the trans is not great. Any improvement ideas out there?
The throttle cable gets sticky and slow after many miles. I'd hate to dig one out.

I bought the NA because I wanted good low end torque, it's my daily driver. The NA has enough power to go up any highway hill in 5th gear. My issue with it is getting it to run cleanly and get the throttle response to be a alot more snappy (lightweight flywheel will help). In the NA you have an excellent chassis with a mundane Camry motor thrown in. The programming in the stock computer must have been designed for old grannys (again the Camry roots). Very slow to ramp up the fuel rise. My goal is to put an aftermarket ECU on it and then work on getting more air into/out of it.
The turbo has, IMHO, no low end power and bad boost lag, but if you only want a weekend warrier than that's the car for you.

What do you guys mean you cant do much to the N/A? my 94' MR2 N/A has 376 crank hp! and it is all motor. best 1/4 mile on nitto slicks is an 11.76@118mph. Anything is possible with enough money. if you do your homework and find every part you can for it and spend close to 8 thousand on the motor it is possible and you will go faster than the turbo and be more reliable. ive got about 12K on this motor with no problems. the only complaint is that gas mileage is down to about 12 mpg around town and i have to change my oil every 2 thousand miles instead of 3 thousand. but because you dont have to wait for turbos to spool i get better launches than the turbo mr2. so depending on how insane you want to go with it depends on how fast it goes. oh yeah and one more way to go faster in the car. get the bottom end blueprinted and balanced and get it to racing tolerances. Paeco does this for about $2500. and switch the N/A tranny for the turbo. for one you have a better LSD Differential and its geared differant. youll go a couple miles an hour faster in each gear. plus if you have it balanced it revs higher so now i am closer to 40 mph in first rather then like 32 mph. hell i got 80 mph in second! and it get there quick. so if im online instant message me and il tell you the parts list of what to get and where. hope it helped.

11 Sec:
Excellent! It's great to hear from someone who wants to take the time and effort to go for the big HP naturally aspirated! Can you elaborate some more here about what it took to get that HP? We'd all like to know.
Does the turbo tranny (and it's CV halfshafts) bolt right in place of the stock tranny? Are the bolt patterns the same?

hey well i started out with bolt ons. intake,exhaust i even had a header made for it cause no one makes an emissions legal one. then i got mild cams and a jasper ignition. i got the Tom's air scoop that feeds directly to the intake filter. i got underdrive pulleys and 95 supra TT injectors( any from that body style will fit) i then upgraded the fuel system and got high tension valve springs for the supra.they also dont make it for the mr2. then i got a four puck act clutch and heavy duty pressure plate. after that i was beating turbo mr2' s left and right.then i stopped for a while and then later decided to send the motor out and get the internals done(a.k.a expensive)

i sent the short block to paeco inc. and had them replace the stock pieces with thier high perf. peices. they over bored it 30 thousandths and put in their high compression pistons. their lightweight rods and their forged crank. they then balanced everything to racing specs and inserted their bearings. i let them install it cause it would then be warrantied. i got that back about 3 weeks after they got it.

the head i sent out and had a 3 angle valve job done to hold in the 11.5:1 compression the new pistons bring and had it ported and polished. i went to g-force and got a custom ECU made with the new rev limiter set to the new red line of 8400 rpm and raised the govenor to 200mph. now the car wont ever do this but this way i definitly wont be surprised when im racing a viper and all of a sudden it stalls at 160. they also reworked the injector pulse and made it work with all the ignition electronics and pulled it all together. then got an aftermarket aluminum radiator and steelbraided hoses everywhere. these are the basics. there are a few other lil secrets that give a couple more horses.

i hope this helps i ended up spending close to $8,000 on the motor alone. now to get the 11.76 i ran on nitto slicks with the interior gutted. on street tires and a full interior and two 30lb subs i run closer to a 12.25 due mostly to not getting the tires to hook up. and keeping the tires from sliding out from under you in second and third. but i love my car and i still get decent gas mileage like 18 on the highway.

And the tranny bolts right up same pattern and everything.the stock CV joints will work just fine but i swapped them out for a set of thicker racing CVs from Driveshaftshop.com. just because i was worried about the stock ones. thanx for not calling me a liar right away because that is what i usually get on these chat rooms. if you get all the info and then dont belive me and choose to call me a liar after that then fine its your opinion. thank you for keeping an open mind.

Originally posted by 11 sec. mr2
i went to g-force and got a custom ECU made with the new rev limiter set to the new red line of 8400 rpm and raised the govenor to 200mph. now the car wont ever do this but this way i definitly wont be surprised when im racing a viper and all of a sudden it stalls at 160.

What did it take to have the engine rev safely to 8400? I just sold my '91 NA and I'm looking for either an MR2 turbo or a 300zx n/a.

How did you do against the viper, surely it wasn't stock if it kept up with you to 160.

:monkeypis:newburn:

and another

more non popups

and finally

hey, kerpalstaxi, isn't that first image Jim Griffins Beast MR2? I've seen that car in person and it's sooooo sweet.

I always liked the pop-ups... :D

Originally posted by MR Yasir
hey, kerpalstaxi, isn't that first image Jim Griffins Beast MR2? I've seen that car in person and it's sooooo sweet.

I'm not sure whose it is but if I get another MR2 (turbo), Those are the lights Ill get. You can buy them from www.mr-2.com . Look for Jimnonpopuplights or Streetweapon Composite

originally posted by:Kerpalstaxi
What did it take to have the engine rev safely to 8400? I just sold my '91 NA and I'm looking for either an MR2 turbo or a 300zx n/a.




well i would first get the engine balanced by a pro. and get it balanced to the littlest degree. then the stock valve springs dont have enough force on the valves to keep them moving at those speeds. the valves with float or not close all the way when you get to a certain rpm destroying all that compression and killing your power.

i found that supra valves will work so i got aftermarket sets of those. and get a lightned flywheel. not a nessecity but the engine will rev really fast. thats the minimum you need. i also got a 3 angle valve job and forged crank and rods but just to lower rotational weight.


originally posted by:Kerpalstaxi
How did you do against the viper, surely it wasn't stock if it kept up with you to 160.


I havent had the chance i just used that as an example. I have just recently installed an aftermarket 200 mph speedo and i dont think its accurate. can any of you tell me, besides fly past a cop, on how to tell if my speedo is correct?

big long formula. There is an easy one out there, but you can do it this way:

Engine rpms/gear ratio/rear end ratio * total wheel circumference (in inches)

This will give you inches per minute
* 60 =inches per hour

/5280 = miles per hour

:)


(I think this will work)

Originally posted by Kerpalstaxi


I'm not sure whose it is but if I get another MR2 (turbo), Those are the lights Ill get. You can buy them from www.mr-2.com . Look for Jimnonpopuplights or Streetweapon Composite

that is jim's car. check it out at www.mr2beast.com
he has instructions on how to do that conversion on his site.

i also got a 3 angle valve job and forged crank and rods but just to lower rotational weight.



Ummmm Bulsh1t.

3angle valve jobs are standerd valve jobs. There is nothing special about them, every car has one.

Do you even know the engine code for your car?? Is it N/A? What kind of fuel are you running with that "Monster set up" ?

How is it that you know your crank HP? Do you use that # to make it sound more than it is because you loose about 15% thru the drivetrain?

I saw some people saying valve job and so on. I would pull the head just to replace the headgasket!!! If you have the money do the valves or porting what ever do it. The main thing IMO is getting that headgasket done. I have seem MANY MR2's junked just from blown warped or cracked heads.If you know your gona run it hard play it safe.
Headgasket,timing belt,water pump. If you wait till things go wrong its gona cost ya big time :banghead: :2cents:
Enjoy the new car :evillol: