winter driving & engine prices.....

[amadeus]

ok i got 2 quick questions....

1) how safe is it driving the MR2 during the winter?? at the moment i live in washington state and it snows very rarely here and really doesn't stick, but i'll probably be moving to omaha, ne this summer and since it does snow quite a bit there i was wondering..... i really don't wanna have to give up my MR2.

2) my engine (normally aspisrated 5SFE) is currently at 160,000 miles and still runs like a dream but i know that it won't be long before i'll need to replace it. what am i looking at as far as pricing goes??

[JekylandHyde]

1) The MR2s are fine in the snow if you have snow tires and you drive responsibly.

2) If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The 5SFE is a solid engine for economy and longevity. When it starts to go, you can have it rebuilt or buy another one. since a lot of MR2 owners have swapped to the turbo engine, you can get 5SFEs cheap ($250-$450).

Typically with the 5SFE's the first thing to go in the engine are the valve seals. You will notice some blue smoke puffing out of the exhaust at start up. It's not a huge deal and you can drive 10s of thousands of miles like that.

[SHORTYBOY113]

what about runnin 15 psi on 176k turbo engine. is that safe with no smoke

[JekylandHyde]

There is no way I could gaurantee if that is safe or not. I got away with 24.5 psi of boost with a T3T4 turbo on a 200,000 mile engine.

The best you can do is a get a lekadown and compression check and get an idea of how healthy the engine is. From there, it is a matter of how much risk you want to take.

For the most part, whenever you increase power, you reduce realiability and longevity.