Soon to be a mk3 owner!
 

Hi all, first thread but I've been reading around a bit. Anyways I may be buying this supra: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/1417033027.html

It's a 7mge with 148k miles, but the head gasket, the catalytic converter, and radiator all have been replaced at 130k miles. It's my first car and all that I can afford to buy ($2000 budget). Checked it out today it looks nice, great condition for its age, but I know that once I have it I'm going to want to mod it.

First thing I'm going to do is remove any excess weight, then I read about replacing the intake exhaust and headers before anything else. Are there any good brands that I should look out for? I'm really just looking for easy mods that I can do myself, since I don't have access to a full garage or the money to do a full engine swap (it would cost way more than I'd like to spend to replace the engine with a 1jz or a 7mgte).

I'm basically asking how to get the most horsepower out of this 7mge without a full engine swap or turbocharging it. Just bolt on D.I.Y. mods please, like a new intake, exhaust, muffler, etc. Recommend me some stuff because I feel like if I do something without asking I'll lose money or screw something up :crazy2: Thanks!

well, from what I've read, with intake, exhaust, and a few other upgrades, there's not much power to be added overall... might be able to get 80 extra ponies, but doubt you'll be able to achieve that 400+ HP that supra's have earned their names from. That's typically done thru larger turbos and other upgrades. I've got a cold air intake system on my 7mge and love the sound I get from it. Want to do exhaust system, but from what I've read, the real beneficial ones only mount up to the turbo elbow, thus requiring you to have a turbo. Seems the best naturally aspired mk3's can do for exhaust is Cat-back. Having said that, anyone please feel free to correct me, I'm here to learn too). On my 7mge, I'm more concerned with cooling... keeping the coolant, oil and other liquids cool.. I expect that to give me better than I have now... and short of cat back, it's all I can see doing to my mk3 as I enjoy having the back seat a lil too much to concern myself with weight mods.

Thanks for the reply :D So a cool air intake, a cat back exhaust, and header seem to be the way to go. Cool.

I'm not looking to supe it up to 400+ horses, its a supra, but i'd rather not put so much cash into my first car! When I get a mk4 I'll definately get it up to 600hp at least <3 but thats in the FAR future.

If I can squeeze 80 horses out of a NA that would be amazing considering I only really expected to gain 20-30 lol.

I'm gonna drive it around mostly just show off to my friends, drift in empty parking lots, etc. Basically something just to do some cool tricks in while still having it be able to drive me from point A to point B.


Any suggestions on which brands to look out for? I'm grabbin this car in the next week or so :D can't wait.

Gaining 20 to 30 over stock is a bitch.... Many others (including myself) have spent a TON on these engines to get more power and it's simply not there to be had. For the most part it comes down to the head, it simply does not flow well enough to make anny major power without forced induction or NOS.

A 1JZ swap is not a straight swap. If you don't have a garage and another car to get you by forget it. A 7M-GTE swap can be accomplished by a knowledgeable person in a weekend for a newbie perhaps a week.

if you want a good engine back exhaust for a 7mge with out having that fart can and getting fucked with by the cops. Go and buy a pacesetter monza performance exhaust. If your budget is only 2000 for your first car, there will be no gas left buy the time you can afford a 30000 to 50000 MK4. save up to swap to a 7mgte any idiot can make that engine change.