1983 MK2 Celica Supra w/7M-GTE engine swap


Overview:

I'm graduating in December, so my '83 7MGTE 5spd project is for sale. There's 35 pictures, you can see them here. The pictures there are 800x600. There's fullsize (2048x1536) versions of them here. Here are some pictures from my photo gallery, from when I bought and worked on the car: initial purchase, more work.

The engine is a 7M-GTE from a MK3 Supra Turbo. It is a 3.0L inline-six turbo engine. The stock 5M-GE was a 2.8L naturally aspirated inline-six. The MK2 weighs about 3000 lbs, compared to the 3800 lbs that the MK3 weighed. The 7M-GTE works much better in this car :)

Several people who are unfamiliar with the parts used in the buildup have emailed me asking what this car is capable of running. I hate to make speculations, since the car has no dyno or quarter mile numbers yet, but my goal for the car was about 300-325 rear-wheel horsepower, with fast spool up, and the engine is built with that goal in mind. For reference, the stock 5M-GE made 145hp at the crank.

The 7MGTE that is in the car, with the metal headgasket, 550cc injectors, and the upgraded turbo, should make something around 300-325 rwhp. The car as it stands should have no problem running 12 second quarter miles, once the vacuum leak (see below) is taken care of of course. A bigger turbo would take it higher with no problem - the injectors are good for at least 425 rwhp. But my goal wasn't to build a drag car; I wanted a car that could handle well and even do pretty well in autocross, which is why I didn't use the bigger T04E I've also got. I wanted quick spool up and low-end torque more than big peak HP numbers.


Modifications:

The turbo is a CT-26, upgraded with a 57-trim compressor wheel, a 10 degree swept clip on the exhaust side, and (the cool part) 360-degree roller bearings. It spools up really fast - there's barely any lag. The car also has:

• Metal headgasket
• Nippon Denso 550cc injectors
• Lexus AFM
• Centerforce II clutch
• Electric radiator fans
• Saab 9000 intercooler
• Custom 3" exhaust

I've only driven it at stock boost so far (wanted to take care of the vacuum leak etc before turning up the boost) but even at stock boost it's fun as hell. I had a stock '82 MK2 as well, so I was able to drive both back to back, and the 7M-GTE feels so great, even without going into boost. It's just great having torque :)


Condition:

The engine was rebuilt 700 miles ago. The turbo was just rebuilt and upgraded in September; the car has been driven maybe 50 miles since then. I'm not sure how many miles are on the transmission, but it feels awesome, shifts like new. The car itself has only 116,107 miles.

Someone asked to see pictures of the undercarriage. I don't have a lift, but I did the best I could with a jack. Those pics are on the same page above. You're welcome to go check them out.

The parts of the interior that are not installed are all in the rear hatch. The car doesn't have A/C, but it comes with all the A/C parts from the donor car, so all you should need to do is get the custom lines made and it should work. I haven't looked closely to be sure everything is there, but it looks like it is.

I'll list every single little thing I know to be wrong with the car, just so you know everything about it:

• The tach doesn't work yet, but I will include the MSD Tach Adapter you need to install to make it work. It's just 4 wires that need to be wired up.
• The speedometer doesn't work, and I assume the cable is broken. I've got a new speedo cable I will include with the car.
• The e-brake needs to be adjusted, it doesn't hold.
• Body-wise, the only significant rust is on the rear hatch. There's a little bit in the area of the gas lid, but it's minor. The stuff on the hatch is the only real problem, and the hatch can be easily replaced.
• Engine-wise, there's three issues you should know about. First, I believe there's a vacuum leak somewhere. The engine runs fine, but it sounds like it's missing, especially at idle. It also does a weird thing where when you rev it (and then let off the gas), it stays revved up for a second or two before dropping down. I think both of those are due to a vacuum leak somewhere, which should be easy to take care of, I just haven't had the time to track that down.
• The engine also gives off a little bit of smoke from the CPS area once it warms up. I'm not sure if it's coming from the CPS or from something below it, but it's probably just a bad oil seal or something not tightened down enough. I suspect the CPS O-ring. Again, shouldn't be a big deal to fix, I just haven't had time to dig into it and figure out where it's coming from. BTW, there is NO smoke whatseover from the tailpipe, the engine is in great shape.
• Finally, there seems to be some kind of issue in the wiring for the starter solenoid. It would just not work sometimes. To get around it, I installed a pushbutton starter, which works perfectly, but eventually I wanted to track down the issue in the stock wiring, so I could use the key again. It works fine as it is (with the pushbutton starter), but just so you know about that issue.

The two Greddy gauges in the pictures (Boost and EGT) are not included, and I'll be removing them before selling the car. However, if you're interested in them, I'm willing to leave them in for an extra $100 each. I'm fine either way on that - I love those gauges so I have no problem keeping them if you don't want them :)

The Profec-B shown IS included.

I've also collected some really nice mods that I intended to put on the car, which are now also for sale. If you are interested in any of those too, I'll take 25% off of the price of any of the parts you get along with the car. See thread with parts for sale here.

I'm asking $5000, but will consider all offers. I have a digital camera, so feel free to email me at cow@binrock.net if you want me to take any more pictures of anything, or if you have any questions. Thanks.


Dan