I am sure those 200k+ autox cars are FAR better maintained than a $1000 mr2, Jesse. Just because someone that is well known in autox has done something, it doesn't mean that it applies in real life. Good luck with the car, be prepared to have stuff break.

 

If the engine and transmission run fine, then I think it is a great buy. $900 for a MR2 is a great price. Put $1200 into suspension and wheels/tires and you will have a fun little go cart. And if the motor breaks, so what, motors for that car are cheap. And if suspension parts break, so what, parts for the car are cheap and plentyful from a salvage yard.

I would check for any accessive rust, burning oil in the exhaust fumes, and any leaks that might allow water to get into the cabin. If the car does not have ttops, I would definetly get it, if it does have ttops, I would inspect carefully to see if water has leaked in through them.

 

nah it doent hav t tops and im gona go check how the car runs probaly 2day so ill check back later.

thanks
ralph

 

It's still a 15 year old small car and WILL come with the problems of a 15 year old car. Little stuff has come up on my 11 year old car....something about mud getting stuck everywhere, no idea....

The motor is known to be a reliable engine when well maintained. With a basic tune up, and doing a leak-down test on it prior to buying, I think it might be a good start.

 

ok i went 2 look at the thing 2day again and i got som pics that will b up later.
the engien starts first swist with no dinging or anything.
but wen u reb it it puffs out white smoke . im trinking its the piston rings or its not warmd up.(it does notsmoke wen i turn it on soi dont think its the head gasket.)
can some 1 help me ?
how much would a swap cost??
i realy lik mr2 so that y im asking so many questions .

thanks
ralph

 

white smoke means water/coolant is getting into the cumbustion chamber at some point....something I wouldn't want to deal with.

Look elsewhere, or get them to bring the price down more.

Swaps will depend on which motor, who does the work, etc.

 

eh the HG job on that car is not so bad. wile its apart he can take care of a lot of little oddes and ends that should be done under the hood anyhow.

The cheapest and easyist swap is the Red top, the motor can be taken from cofers u pull it for about $100, the stock blue top harness, manifolds, trans ect will all work on the red top.
the diffrence is the redtop has higher compression and smaller intake ports with no Tvis. makeing more power then the blue top across the power band.

the 2nd sorta but not quite easy, and quite a bit more pricy swap would be a 20valve motor from a AE101 or ae111 corolla in japan. the motor bolts in to the mr2, and you use your stock transmission, but you will have to dissasemble the wireing harnss and re form it to work in the diffrent configuration. not an overly hard thing to do but time consuming.

there are two 20valve motors. the silver top and the black top,
the silver being the cheaper ($600-800) the black top($800-1000) has a few minor upgrades over the silver top. both are indevidual trottle body, the black top is map, so you can run the throttle bodys open like a sidedraft carbed car, the sound is simply evil.
the silver is veriable valve timing (vvt) its on a rpm switch like vtec, so it just changs with rpm, but unlike vtec it does not switch from 2 cam profiles. it rotates the intake cam as the rpm changes. the black top is quite a bit more advanced in this area. it has VVTL-i thats veriable valve timing and lift with intellagence. it changes the timing, lift baised on quite a few factors, rpm, trottle position, temp, ect. the black top also comes with a 6speed, that can be retrofitted to work in the mr2. with some mods to the shift linkage. (its ment to be in the front, not the back of the car)
they both make just about 150-160hp the silver being on the lower end of that, black on the higher end. but tuners have pulled over 200hp from both motos. without forced induction.
200hp in a firstgen mr2 will rip.

The most insane swap would be a 3S-GTE. the 2.0L turbo motor from a 2nd gen mr2 or celica, this motor is NOT for autox. where all the all the other motors make good power and dont change the weight of the car at all, this one converts the car to a monster. 600hp is not out of the question, but it would lift the wheels. info on this swap can be filled in by others and check out www.huxracing.com hux has done this swap a few times.

please excuse spelling and grammer errors, im tired, as for anthing i may be incorect on, hell it was all off the top of my head so be nice when correcting.

 

oh ya if the chassis is clean get the car, if the motor is not then use that to work the price down. say $700 sence the motor needs rebuilding, or lower if you want.

parts are very very cheap for that car. between internet people, junk yards, and dirt cheap parts cars, anything you need for it is only a few bucks away. for motor parts, you can pick from a bunch of corolla models. FX16, AE86(rare), AE92, Geo metro, chevy nova, toyota goofy vans, the motor or a relative of the motor was in a lot of cars.

 

Engine swaps in a MkI MR2 will put you into a very hard class for autocross. Before you go about buying a car specifically to race, you may want to goto a few events with whatever you have to get a feel for it.