1991 Toyota MR2

Coupe

4 Cylinder 2.0 Liter Turbo

Manual

JT2SW22M1M0021635

5-Speed Manual

Gasoline

Cassette

• 1991 Toyota MR2 • 5-Speed Manual • Black exterior, Black/Blue sport-trim cloth interior • Original N/A hardtop car • Swapped with 3SGTE Turbo motor • 140,000 miles on the chassis • Less than 10,000 miles on new turbo motor The car is the lightest MR2 model available (non-turbo, hardtop, cloth interior, no power options). With the turbo motor swapped in, this offers the best power-to-weight ratio achievable in an MR2. I went down to Mobile, Alabama to buy the car. The previous owner was a Corvette guy who had bought the car from his roommate. The car ran rough, so he didn’t drive it. I babied the car back to St. Louis in vacuum (not hitting boost). After some troubleshooting, I bought a new Air Flow Meter (luckily I found a good deal, they are $500!), installed it and the car ran stronger. However, it still had some weird spots in the throttle. I bought a new Throttle Position Sensor and installed it, car ran great. The interior is pretty clean. No huge imperfections, dash is in good shape. Carpet is good. The ashtray is missing the sliding front cover, but other than that is in place. The center console compartments are all really clean and nice. The seats are in good shape, minus a dime-sized tear in the driver’s seat. The shift boot is black with red stitching and it has a black ball-type shift knob. The VDO boost gauge actually color-matches the rest of the dials well. I cleaned it pretty thoroughly when I bought it and it looked awesome. If it were to get another thorough clean it would probably impress. The body is okay, but not awesome. It was originally red and re-sprayed black in 2000. The paint job is okay, but showing it’s age and wear. With a proper re-spray it would look awesome. Very good 15-foot car. The car was backed into a while back, purely cosmetic, so the front bumper is new and painted. There are a few dings, dents and scratches, including one by the driver door. The biggest imperfections is a bump from a parking lot fender-bender where someone in a Civic swiped the bumper then stopped. It happened at maybe 3-5mph and is reason for the accident report on the AutoCheck. Fixable, but I’ve adjusted the price accordingly as I’m not concerned enough to mend it. While the body isn’t perfect, it is straight and rust free! I can’t stress how amazing it would look with a nice re-spray... Mechanically, the car is...well, new! Fresh motor, transmission shift well, clutch feels good, motor pulls and sounds great. Very occasionally it will idle a little rough - unplugging and re-plugging the TPS remedies this immediately. Sometimes when cold there’s a little initial belt squeal, but it goes right away. I've been messing with the Throttle Positioning Sensor to adjust it properly. I had it perfect at first (car ran AWESOME!) but then I removed it to check for a vacuum leak. As of now, the car has some flat spots in the rev range, sometimes. Calibrating the TPS just takes a voltmeter and some time (neither of which I have!) The car will hit fuel cut when pushed really, really hard (over 10 psi), but aside from that it’s golden. A simple Fuel Cut Bypass will fix this. I’ve tracked down and fixed several vacuum leaks, as well. There is an exhaust leak. It seems to be coming from the manifold-to-turbo gasket. Sometimes, when hot out, it can make the car feel a little sluggish and noisy. There is some air escaping in the head, I believe I did not tighten the spark plugs down enough when I changed the. But overall, it’s an easy fix and the motor itself is very strong. When I got it back from Alabama, I also decided to order a slew of front end parts (ball joints, sway bar, bushings, end links, brakes, camber kit) to tighten up the front. The brakes on the car are around 60% life, but I figured better to replace them. Mostly though, the car needs an alignment. I’d planned on installing all of the new parts, getting new tires and aligning it. However, other plans and expenses have come up. I no longer have the time to dedicate to the car. It’s really a shame because I’ve already bought/replaced all of the parts to have the car dialed-in...my loss is your gain, I guess. Specs: • New short block from Toyota with less than 10K miles • New OEM timing belt • Headwork by Chris Kathage at EngineLogics (stock cams) • Rebuilt/clipped CT-26 turbo, stock exhaust manifold resurfaced • APEXi Cold Air Intake System w/ heat shield • APEXi 3” Exhaust • APEXi 3” Downpipe • Short Shift Kit • Pioneer CD Stereo • VDO A-Pillar Boost Gauge • ARC Front Sway Bar • Two’s ‘R Us Adjustable Sway Bar End Links • ’91 Turbo Brake Conversion (big upgrade!) • ’93 OEM Wheels (bigger, wider) • ’94 Taillight Conversion The car comes with many new, uninstalled parts: • New OEM Front Ball Joints • New OEM Front Brake Rotors • New OEM Rear Brake Rotors • New EBC GreenStuff Rear Race Brake Pads • AquaMist Water/Meth Injection System • RS*r Lowering Springs • Eibach Crash Bolts/Camber Wedges • Other various parts Notes: • New Air Flow Meter, Throttle Position sensor, O2 sensor, alternator and filters • Fresh oil change with Castrol Edge 10W-30 Synthetic and K&N filter • All the parts for AC are present, but does not work • I ordered new extended lug nuts, but they haven’t arrived yet - car has 4 lugs on each wheel until they arrive • The speedo doesn’t work and reads 81,000 miles; chassis has about 140,000 miles on it • One head light has a mind of its own sometimes • One of the triangle vents is missing from the rear coupe windows - it’s a $20 part and I’ll probably just find one and replace it before purchase • Rear tires have good tread, fronts could use replacing soon - they’re mostly just old and been sitting • The CD player needs to be hooked up • The car has some sort of aftermarket speakers • The battery is less than a year old • Very, very occasionally when cold the transmission will grind slightly going into reverse - nothing terrible, it goes into gear fine after that, just figured I’d mention it • New windshield wipers • One fog light is cracked The car is an AWESOME example of a 80% done project. It runs, drives and is presentable. By installing all of the new parts that come with it, tinkering with the TPS a little and attending to some of the body work it would be a super fun, fast, lightweight sports car that looks amazing with a new motor and huge power potential. Just typing this makes me feel silly for selling it, but I need to move it. I have other priorities (just bought a house, student loans coming around) and lack the time to fully enjoy the car. I'm trying to be as thorough as I can in the ad, giving a fair and balanced spot for the good and bad. Here is a walk-around overview of the car: Please email for my phone number if you have more questions. Reserve it set at what I paid for the car. You're essentially getting a good deal on the car with a bunch of free parts. Thanks, M