Mk2 MR2 turbo recommission

[Heaveho]

I've been offered first refusal on a car that, given my Toyota background and general love for their products, I bizarrely have next to no interest in. As title really. It'll be an import, as all of the turbo models were, it's red, and I believe, modified. I have little info on it, other than the owner did some mods, drove it, span it, shat himself, laid it up in his mate's garage and promptly moved abroad, I suspect to put as much distance between it and himself, given his maiden voyage experience with it.

I'm led to believe the resultant spin ended up with a possible damaged wishbone, which also brings with it the possibility of chassis damage, depending on how hard the hit was.

All of this happened between 5 and 8 years ago, depending on who's relating the story. I was meant to see the car on Friday, but circumstances conspired against all concerned, and I'm working away for the next 5 weeks, but have a mate getting pics of it tomorrow.

In a way, it's a good mindset to have. I'm not interested remotely in the car as a keeper, so there's no emotion here. Meaning I won't overpay. Quite the opposite if I have my way. The guy garaging it simply wants it gone, and is willing to put pressure on the seller whatever the offer, to ensure it vacates the premises. The owner is still paying rent so it's dead money and hopefully he'll be realistic enough to accept a low offer.

I'm very much hoping it turns out to be a Rev 5, at least that would make it more desirable on the open market. Whatever it is though, I'm imagining it'll need a fuel pump, cam belt, and some careful investigation and preliminary work before I try to fire it up. I leave my own cars laid up for 3 years at a time occasionally, and have had no trouble whatsoever with any of them, but bringing them back out still means a reasonable amount of diligence prior to getting them running again.

Anybody had any direct experience of this particular model, and any quirks I should be aware of?

[magpie215]

A friend of mine had a Rev 3 rapid car typical Toyota build quality.

3sGTE engine is a nice reliable unit on stock internals as long as the boost isn't turned up too much.

It's a tightly packaged engine and being mid mounted not the easiest to work on.


Iirc alternators were a common failure due to positioning also turbos and piston Ringland failure if the boost was turned up.

Other than that they were fairly good.

[Heaveho]

I understand there's a small coolant pipe that costs pennies, buried in the bay that requires engine removal to replace. Something I'll have to assume will need addressing given the history of the vehicle, unless there's something in the paperwork to suggest it's been done.

[quigonjay]

Heaveho said:

I understand there's a small coolant pipe that costs pennies, buried in the bay that requires engine removal to replace. Something I'll have to assume will need addressing given the history of the vehicle, unless there's something in the paperwork to suggest it's been done.

The hose from hell as it is commonly known, it can be done without engine removal (i have done it) from underneath but is very fiddly, can't remember off the top of my head what needed to be removed to facilitate removal/fitting but certainly easier than removing the entire engine