[DefSport]

I picked up coinball's '93 Turbo back about a month ago, and have been taking my time getting to know the car. I figure I should start a build thread of sorts here, so I'm going to do a little catching up from posts I made on another forum.

I picked up this awesome Turquoise Pearl SW22 in NC:

Visited turtl631 and my old S13:

...and am still driving back to Seattle:

I've had a few days of thinking it over on the drive back, and I'm pretty sure I want to experience some 3S-GTE action on track, but the current GReddy TD06 is not strong on response. It is a fairly big turbo with old tech in it, and I'm not sure the external WG/fairly pedestrian fastener materials and lack of heat shielding would make it even possible to track in its current state. It has a Megasquirt PNP ECU, and it definitely needs quite a bit of fine tuning before really beating on it as well. It's gotten a lot better in the 5-10 mins I've spent on it tho!


Long term goals are a nice street/track car that's comfortable and high performing in both locations.

 

[DefSport]

The tail lights were really hazy, not surprising being ~20-24 years old, so I gave them a quick polish.

What we're working with:

Nasty layer of plastic coming off with 1500 grit pad:

First side polished up with 1000 grit, 3000 grit, then buffed with PlasticX:

Transformation is pretty obvious:

Did the reverse lights too, this is after one pass with 1500:

All done, looks way better!

I still need to give her a really good wash and wax. I'm actually thinking of wet sanding the car, as some prior paintwork has some orange peel and some fish eyes (probably too deep to really get out with wet sanding, but it'd be an improvement). Debating how much beautifying I want to do right now, given it needs some mechanical stuff.

On the turbo front, I've spent some more time on the tune, and it seems to idle fairly well and drive around the street just fine. Heel and toeing is now possible too! Who would have known a super loose throttle linkage + bad AFRs off idle + really low timing would make heel and toeing feel impossible??? That said, it's still somewhat lazy down below 4-4.5k RPM compared to the SR20VE build + the T4 twin scroll EFR 7163. Giving full boost to the wastegate diaphram, she's hitting 7 psi at about 4000-4100 RPM. That's.... pretty laggy. EFR 7163 was hitting 7 psi in the ~2.2-2.4k RPM range, and would do 18 psi before 3200 RPM.


I've thought about it a lot, and I think I want to try to toss a Borg Warner EFR on a stock 3S-GTE turbo manifold. The T4 twin scroll flange is pretty close to the CT26 twin entry size, and I should be able to weld them up without too much trouble, and I *think* the EFR will clear and I should be able to get a tight radius 3" downpipe down to the stock DP location. The EFR will be this winter when it tends to rain a ton in Seattle.


I also want to put a cat in the exhaust. Hopefully it'll also quiet it down a tad. I hope it lasts with track usage, but the smell is just gross for a car I want to enjoy on the street without worries. Also need to do a quieter exhaust. The Berk is pretty new, but VERY loud, and it drones and reverberates the cabin loudly at ~3-3.2k RPM. Not sure if Berk changed things up, but I heard an earlier one that was much quieter than mine.

 

[DefSport]

More cleaning up/maintenance work!

Bought some Shin-Etsu silicone lube (OEM Honda part is the easiest way to get it) and lubed up all the rubber seals on the car. There are a lot with the t-top openings, but it definitely seemed to bring them back and make them more pliable. Thankfully they all seem in great shape, so hopefully some yearly attention will keep them like new going forward.

Result:

 

[DefSport]

Also cleaned up the car this past weekend and got the haze off the front corner lights.

Hazed up front corner lights ready to be cleaned up:

The initial plastic that comes off is nasty. Very UV damaged and cloudy so it turns the water into an pretty nasty looking.... fluid.

Just washed up, no paint correction or waxing yet:

She shines up pretty good:

Hot Import Nights here I come!

 

[DefSport]

I've thought more and more about it, and I think I at least want to experience some 3S fun for a while. The engine is in pretty good shape overall. It just needs a more modern turbo and a quieter exhaust. Then if I still want to scratch the NA V6 itch, I can do that as a big project later.

I think what I'm going to do for the exhaust is either a single big Vibrant muffler like this:

Or 2 Magnaflows in series, the first one a transverse fitment, and the other one in series with the outlet of the transverse setup. Transverse muffler is this: https://www.magnaflow.com/products?partNumber=14267


Advantage of the Vibrant muffler is a larger body (6x10x24"ish), vs. 5x8x18 of the transverse muffler, then I'd try to fit another 5x8x18 single on the one outlet. But an advantage of the transverse muffler is that I could more easily fit a cat to it (running parallel to the transverse muffler setup), and I could put a boost actuated exhaust control valve on the driver's side "short exit" out of the transverse muffler. So it'd be breathing through a 3" to 2.5" straight through exhaust during normal cruising, then as boost built it'd crack open the other 2.5" outlet to relieve pressure.

The current Berk exhaust is just too loud, and it drones horribly at 3k RPM. It might be them cheaping out on the construction, as earlier ones seem to be much quieter. The active exhaust would keep it pretty quiet until I'm up in boost, then it'll go to "normal catback sound," at least that's my thought.

I could also do an active valve on the Vibrant muffler, but I don't know how much difference it'll make with one side being a pretty short run out vs. having a whole other 18" muffler body to run through that's 2.5" (which should knock the sound down pretty good on that side.


Anybody ever use one of those valves? They're total Chinesium, but I don't see why they wouldn't work for quite a while.


Any thoughts on muffler decision? Or if I could find a good condition GReddy SP or TCS replica I might consider that. But no one has bitten on my WTB thread I've got posted.

 

[sinistar]

Looks good, man.

 

[J.harris]

I had that same kit as well (td06 l2 20g). I used to love it, the external wastegate tubular manifold the way the turbo "hits" when it finally spools up. Two things made me switch to a billet ct20b, the first of which was it was hard to keep nuts on the downpipe and I'd always have an exhaust leak the second is the characteristic 20g lag. With the billet ct20b or ct21 as some call it I see positive pressure before I get to 2K rpm.

My power goals were never near what that kit is meant for, along with old technology and a gen3 ecu the turbo didn't fit my needs. What are your power goals?

 

[DefSport]

I had that same kit as well (td06 l2 20g). I used to love it, the external wastegate tubular manifold the way the turbo "hits" when it finally spools up. Two things made me switch to a billet ct20b, the first of which was it was hard to keep nuts on the downpipe and I'd always have an exhaust leak the second is the characteristic 20g lag. With the billet ct20b or ct21 as some call it I see positive pressure before I get to 2K rpm.

My power goals were never near what that kit is meant for, along with old technology and a gen3 ecu the turbo didn't fit my needs. What are your power goals?

I have 550 cc 2JZ injectors, and really don’t see myself wanting more than they can provide anytime in the near future. I’ve done the higher HP thing, don’t need to do it again. Plus SMIC can’t cope with it.

The efr 6758 will almost surely outspool a CT20B by a bit, and I’ve seen them put out 450 rwhp on kill mode. The 6258 is a little tiny for the 3S on higher boost, but it’d still work. No real spool hit on the 6758 tho, and same cost.

I already have a Megasquirt PNP, so the tuning won’t be a problem. ATS intake manifold, gen 3 cams. I figure it can do at least low 300s on 92 octane (no E85 here sadly.)


What’s the rough value of a GReddy TD06 setup with a tubular manifold and ext gate, DP etc? They seem to be pretty rare. It’s honestly a fun street turbo, but it does let its age be known lower down the rev range.

 

[J.harris]

I have 550 cc 2JZ injectors, and really don’t see myself wanting more than they can provide anytime in the near future. I’ve done the higher HP thing, don’t need to do it again. Plus SMIC can’t cope with it.

The efr 6758 will almost surely outspool a CT20B by a bit, and I’ve seen them put out 450 rwhp on kill mode. The 6258 is a little tiny for the 3S on higher boost, but it’d still work. No real spool hit on the 6758 tho, and same cost.

I already have a Megasquirt PNP, so the tuning won’t be a problem. ATS intake manifold, gen 3 cams. I figure it can do at least low 300s on 92 octane (no E85 here sadly.)


What’s the rough value of a GReddy TD06 setup with a tubular manifold and ext gate, DP etc? They seem to be pretty rare. It’s honestly a fun street turbo, but it does let its age be known lower down the rev range.

540cc injectors 93 octane on a gen3 ecu are supposed to be 325whp capable, I don't know how close to the edge that is though, with a standalone you might get more.

I'm excited to see your results with the EFR turbo, it's nice to see different setups besides the standard stock frame turbos plus it's ball bearing.

I don't know the value of the greddy kit, I'm thinking of selling mine as well....

 

[DefSport]

Yea, generally 540/550 cc injectors can do about 325 rwhp at a safe duty cycle at stock base pressure, and if you really push them you can get in the ~340 rwhp range. I have an adjustable FPR, so I can always add a little more base pressure to add a tad of headroom. But they should support enough power for what I'm looking to do. I want to keep this car as a nice street/track car, and going down the big power road just makes the car stop being as nice to drive on the street. I'm really curious as to how it feels with a more modern turbo on it.

Any ideas on the exhaust thing? I need to take some measurements of the stock rear valence piece so I can get an idea if I can fit ~38-40" of muffler width back there. That setup of a Magnaflow transverse + Magnaflow 2.5" in series with one leg plus the active valve on the "short leg" should probably make it reasonable for cruising around town. If it's still really boomy, I could always add another valve that's partially cracked open on the "long muffler side" to tame it down even more if it came to that.

 

[dsf3g]

Very nice! Love the wheels especially. Look great on the car.

 

[J.harris]

I switched from a nur spec to the stock turbo exhaust with a tanabe b pipe. Seems to do well enough for me, most importantly my 30 minute drive to work has become less intolerable.

 

[DefSport]

I’m not really a huge fan of the wheels, will likely put on something different next year. They are pretty rare 3 piece Works tho.


On the stock turbo exhaust, it seems like people quote all sorts of differences of how much power it gives up over a free flowing exhaust. Can it reasonably support 350 rwhp with an internal wastegate?

 

[DefSport]

I've been upgrading the speakers in my car, with the goal of keeping the stock configuration but slightly upgraded. I'm going with new speakers that will hold up better than the stock speakers will, with stuff like poly cones and rubber surrounds. The foam surrounds are going on most of the stock ones I've come across, no surprise after 25 years.

The rear subwoofers sounded a little odd. The rear driver's side would sound ok, then really muffled at times. The passenger side was basically no sound at all most the time. So I got some Polk MW5532's from eBay. They were cheapest by buying a 5.25" center channel kit through Mavin Electronics. Overall impressions are that the sound is way better than 25 yr old paper/foam speakers that were very deteriorated, but the 4 ohm impedance with the stock sub amps makes them sound under powered (stock speakers are 2 ohm).

The interesting thing I found out is that the driver side sub always sounded better, mainly because it has a much larger volume than the passenger side box. It also has way better sound deadening (~1/2" carpet jute) in it, and thicker wiring inside. I added some butyl rubber sound deadener in the boxes, and some high density carpet padding to help the sound deadening in the box.

Passenger box:

Adding some butyl sound deadener:

Passenger side box installed, I added carpet jute all around the box:

Inside the driver's side box, showing how much more factory jute there is to absorb sound reflections:

How I modded the terminals to accept the stock plugs in the box. Trimmed the positive down a hair in width, and cut the negative in half to fit in the ~3mm wide terminal:

Driver's side installed:

Driver's side box put in, with carpet jute over/behind it. There is no room for the padding below it, as it's larger volume makes it sit right on the floor vs. the passenger side using thick foam to space it up (mine was deteriorated, so I put jute under it):

Install was easy on the drivers, just a little trimming of the terminals and they go right in. No trimming of the speaker mounting flanges at all.



Also installed a front TRD replica strut bar since stock was running very low. Installed with just a bit of work on my ~86k mi '93 turbo T-top chassis:

 

[DefSport]

I'm having trouble finding some part numbers in my speaker install, maybe somebody can help out.

The screws that hold on the stock tweeter are seriously mangled by somebody, I think they just cranked down with a regular phillips head screwdriver and tore them up. I can't really tell which ones are them on any factory listing of hardware. I actually can't even find the stock speakers strangely enough...

Screws in question - they also hold on the side view mirror:

The car also doesn't have a vapor barrier on the driver's side. Really odd thing to ditch, but I also can't find the part number for it:

 

[DefSport]

I gave up trying to decipher which bolts/screws go to the side view mirror/tweeter mount, so I just picked up some 18-8 stainless M5 x 10 mm button head bolts. They'll work fine for the application, and I won't have to worry about corrosion like with a black oxide socket cap bolt. I don't think there's enough room for a hex head + socket there, as the original screws are just JIS cross drive i.e. "phillips head" screws.

Anybody have any idea on the vapor barrier part number? The alternative is to get some 6-8 mil plastic sheet and some butyl rubber rope and make my own, but I'd rather do original if I could.

 

[DefSport]

Anybody? Vapor barrier P/N?

The MR2 online parts databases from dealerships kinda suck for description/diagrams, so I'm coming up blank everytime I look through, other than I think I found the tiny "service panel" vapor barrier that goes around the door handle.

 

[vnatewa]

Here you go.

 

[willtotheumm]

The best color IMO! The first TQP I saw was for sale and I had to have it and bought it.

 

[DefSport]

Haven't been doing many updates lately, but I've been putting in at least a few hours every weekend, keeping the projects small for now.

Finished installing the front 6.5" JBL component speakers and 5.25" Polk subs:

The slightly updated Toyota head unit in the car (I think late 90's vintage?) has a definite crackle at times when driving hard. It also does it when changing the balance/fader/bass/treble settings, so I'm guessing it's some loose connection inside. On top of that, I have two young kids, and all my neighbors also have young kids, which is enough reason for me to get a new aftermarket headunit so I can run a backup camera and also run an aftermarket amp since the stock 93+ Premium amp is pretty weak. I'll run a 4 channel amp to the fronts and the two 5.25" subs. Then I'll let the head unit directly power the rears, which I'll probably update to some 3.5" aftermarket speakers with rubber surrounds.

Overall the goal with the stereo is just to update it with speakers that actually have intact surrounds, and get some modern conveniences with the head unit without it looking too much like a Transformers lightshow. I like the OEM stereo look, so I'll make it very easy to reverse things and go back to an OEM stereo and OEM amp if there's ever the desire there in the future. But overall I think I'll enjoy the car more with a Carplay capable head unit and a rear camera to put my mind at ease when backing up at the house.

I installed a rear TRD replica strut bar. It *really* contacted the IC cold pipe that came on I think a typical generic eBay GReddy style SMIC kit. I had the straight hump hose stressed out at like a 15 degree angle, and it was still contacting on the bar. So I got a 30 degree 2.5" to 2.5" coupler and it works much better after a little trimming to keep things compact:

Hump coupler next to it to show what was there before. Things fit well now. Really don't need the nylon wire covering I ziptied to the bar there to keep wear down on the IC pipe now that there's a little clearance, so I might snip that off soon.

Future MR2 driver banging some gears:

Installed some Autopal e-code headlights. The car came with some Sylvannia sealed 6504's, and they weren't exactly the best. I don't see myself doing an HID or LED setup in them now, I mainly just wanted the better beam cutoff and light dispersion. I kinda like the halogen look now, since it fits with the era of the car. It's really strange that a '93 car feels so vintage when driving it, but my daily is a 2018 Chevy Volt, so the MR2 is so strikingly different in so many ways that it's kinda fun to keep that theme.

Also trying to install a ~2000 Celica (6G?) steering wheel on the car. It's in worse shape than was described, but I figure I can install it and see if I like the size etc. I managed to pop the wheel loose of the column last night which was way harder than I thought. I've usually gotten them from with a little tugging/torquing of the wheel, but this thing wasn't going anywhere. So I built a removal tool to use 2 M8 tapped holes on each side of the column, with the tool part being 1/8" thick 1" A36 angle iron. The freaking angle iron was totally bent over and I was cranking on the wheel for all its worth with nothing happening. I gave the tool one final tightening and tried again and it popped loose like a shotgun thankfully! Never had a wheel be on that tight, but now that it's off I'm going to change the resistors in the cruise control stalk and toss it on the MR2 and see how I like it.

Tool:

Driving time is running out in Seattle before it's in the rainy winter season. My plans are EFR 6758 twin scroll on the stock manifold, and most likely doing the clutch with a lightweight flywheel.

I can't decide if I'm going with a Southbend Stage 2 daily or Stage 2 endurance clutch. I want it easy to drive on the street, but to hold the power with a decent margin. It sounds like the Endurance disc engages not much more aggressively than the daily all organic disc, but it's A LOT of work to change it after the fact, so I'd rather not go aggressive if I don't have to. Need to maybe drive a car with one installed to make up my mind...