building up a blown 7mge n/a

[Fingers]

i have a 1988 supra targa top 5spd with a 7mge motor (non turbo), what happened is the engine overheated and now it knocks (not sure why but sometimes its bad sometimes its not), i am looking into rebuilding it but while i drove the car ofcourse because it wasnt a turbo it wasnt that fast, now i know the obvious choice would be to swap the motor for a 7mgte or a 1jz, but im not looking into doing all that and i dont really need a fast car, what im looking into doing would be to rebuild the motor and build it up, i know the n/a 7mge without turbo isnt a very powerful motor, and i was reading through other threads on the forum and most of them were arguments and were not clear cut and dry. so to put it basically if i were to bring my motor to ashop to get rebuilt what should i have done to it, roughly how much around would it cost, and what would be the end result of hp and tq. im just looking for something that feels faster then my 5.0 mustang so i can sell it, if i cant achive it by building up the n/a motor on my supra im not looking to keep it, car is very clean and smells new inside so im trying to hold onto it without swapping the motor out, so any advice will be helpfull please dont suggest a swap though, as i know this would be the most obvious choice, just wondering what the most hp i can get out of a 7mge n/a for what money with what mods, thanx alot appreciate the help

 

[got_boosted]

I've loved all me 7M-GE cars. They are great to drive, smooth, and decently reliable. But, yes, they are slow. I'm actually in the middle of doing a build on my 86.5 in my sig, but I'm going with forged internals because I plan on putting a turbo on it down the road.

I'd say just do a solid stock rebuild. If you're feeling frisky, forged pistons and a MHG will allow you to run a little nitrous or a turbo down the road. Just make sure that the rebuild is solid. don't cut ANY corners.

Collin

 

[benchwarmer]

High compression, lightweight internals, a good port job, and cams are where to start. It's going to be expensive, especially if a shop is doing all the work. As for power it will be noticeably faster than stock but not earth shattering by any means. If you get close to 200 RWHP you should feel pretty proud. Faster than a 5.0? Probably not.

 

[Fingers]

hmmm ok thanks alot, i guess ill sell it then, would it be better to rebuild the motor before i sell it or should i just sell it as a parts car? it should sell it looks brand new except for a dent the size of a nickel in the driver side fender, i just dont know if i should fix the engine back before i try to sell it

 

[PCguylovesSupra]

Rebuilding a 7m properly then finding small sensors that need replacing too... you are looking around $6,000.

Been there, done that.

 

[sneakypete]

yea your better off selling it as is.... after the expenses of doing a stock rebuild, you will never make that money back

 

[Fingers]

is a supercharger an option? if so how much extra will that get me?

 

[85celicasupra]

just swap in a turbo motor and call it a day...

NA is a waste of money, same with a supercharger.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

just swap in a turbo motor and call it a day...

NA is a waste of money, same with a supercharger.

There are a few that think is't not a waste of time and money, $6k for a stock rebuild is way out of line. I have less than that in my motor with everything being replaced with top of the line parts.

 

[lexusdriver82]

If you want power for cheap you should just build up the 5.slow uhhh I mean 5.0 mustang. It won't feel anything like your supra but it will be fast. But just remeber one thing stock mustang vs stock supra (88 supra turbo against 88 mustang 5.0) supra will win quarter mile even up hill.

 

[got_boosted]

I'm doing a fully built 7M-GE in my 86.5for an NA-T project down the road. Shouldn't be much more than $2500

There are a few that think is't not a waste of time and money, $6k for a stock rebuild is way out of line. I have less than that in my motor with everything being replaced with top of the line parts.

 

[supraguy@aol]

Sell the 5.0 and get a 7mgte swap. It'll drop right in, and you'll have a car 10x more unique than a 5.0. I mean- I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a mustang...but a supra? rare. Also, it's my opinion that a MkIII supra just feels better to drive than a mustang, especially if you have fresh shocks and add some H&R's or Eibach's. As for power- have you ever driven a car with boost? It's addictive.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

Sell the 5.0 and get a 7mgte swap. It'll drop right in, and you'll have a car 10x more unique than a 5.0. I mean- I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a mustang...but a supra? rare. Also, it's my opinion that a MkIII supra just feels better to drive than a mustang, especially if you have fresh shocks and add some H&R's or Eibach's. As for power- have you ever driven a car with boost? It's addictive.

I've driven both and as far as handling stock vs stock the Supra will run rings around the Mustang.

 

[Fingers]

yes defiantly i love the handling the supra had and i hate driving the mustang because of the well... lack of handling it has, but the power talks ha ha, if i were to sell the mustang i still wouldn't really get much, and then i would still have to worry about doing everything for the swap, me and my step father do most of the work, hees just not into rebuilding, so if we bought a 7mgte we would most likely do all the work, and it seems like alot more work then if we ripped out the old motor and sent it to a shop to have work done to it, im not looking for an extraordinarily fast car, im just looking for some raw power just to beat some stock 3rd gen muscle with and have some fun with, i heard that it is hard to do a swap from a n/a to turbo as well, something about how wiring has to be run to the dash and exhaust and stuff? idk it just seems like alot of work + buying the new motor and parts as apposed to rebuilding and just dropping back in... i also checked some stats i head stock gte supras in 88 had 220 hp and roughly 200 tq im not sure if thats true or not but if it is how does it beat a mustang stock? i think they have 225 hp and 300 tq and are about the same weight... not sure if any of this is right just asking, and i appreciate the help, thax alot

 

[enjoi.this]

Cheapest route next to rebuilding would be to import a JDM engine. I havent seen any 7MGE's around for a while but they usually run $1100usd or so for a complete motor.

 

[Island_Yota]

yes defiantly i love the handling the supra had and i hate driving the mustang because of the well... lack of handling it has, but the power talks ha ha, if i were to sell the mustang i still wouldn't really get much, and then i would still have to worry about doing everything for the swap, me and my step father do most of the work, hees just not into rebuilding, so if we bought a 7mgte we would most likely do all the work, and it seems like alot more work then if we ripped out the old motor and sent it to a shop to have work done to it, im not looking for an extraordinarily fast car, im just looking for some raw power just to beat some stock 3rd gen muscle with and have some fun with, i heard that it is hard to do a swap from a n/a to turbo as well, something about how wiring has to be run to the dash and exhaust and stuff? idk it just seems like alot of work + buying the new motor and parts as apposed to rebuilding and just dropping back in... i also checked some stats i head stock gte supras in 88 had 220 hp and roughly 200 tq im not sure if thats true or not but if it is how does it beat a mustang stock? i think they have 225 hp and 300 tq and are about the same weight... not sure if any of this is right just asking, and i appreciate the help, thax alot

Stock 7MGTE is 232hp, 240ft/lbs I think, with "light" mods such as a downpipe, full exhaust and some tweaking you are looking closer to 260hp,280ft/lbs.

A stock 5.0L Mustang? 225hp and 300ft/lbs, but they are no where near as nice of a car to drive, speed and power is fun but the reason I like the Supra is because its more of a muscle meets luxury kind of car, more of a grand tourer, well atleast thats what I think of mine (fully loaded 88 N/A)

7MGTE swap is not as hard as it sounds either, as far as motor swaps go its pretty much strait forward, finding a good motor is probably the hardest part.

 

[Neodeuccio]

Cheapest route next to rebuilding would be to import a JDM engine. I havent seen any 7MGE's around for a while but they usually run $1100usd or so for a complete motor.

If you decide to go this route, do a lot of research before buying. I've been considering a JDM swap to replace my toasted 7mgte and from what I've seen, it's not worth it unless you want a JDM engine specifically. The general consensus I've gotten from the guys on the forums is that if you want to swap in a JDM, you'll still need to tear it down and rebuilt it just to make sure the engine you get isn't screwed to start with.

The biggest turn-off for me when looking at the JDM's is that even the professional resellers will keep their stock outside in the weather for a month or two before it's sold. It doesn't matter how good a stock engine is, a few months in the rain/snow/sun will trash it.

If you're looking to keep cost low, JDM is not the route you want.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

You just can't drop in a JDM always. I wish from the start I would have just rebuilt my original motor, long story short, not a very pleasant time with the JDM route and ending up rebuilding the original motor.

 

[got_boosted]

I've loved all me 7M-GE cars. They are great to drive, smooth, and decently reliable. But, yes, they are slow. I'm actually in the middle of doing a build on my 86.5 in my sig, but I'm going with forged internals because I plan on putting a turbo on it down the road.

I'd say just do a solid stock rebuild. If you're feeling frisky, forged pistons and a MHG will allow you to run a little nitrous or a turbo down the road. Just make sure that the rebuild is solid. don't cut ANY corners.

Collin

Yes, I quoted myself, because I still feel that a nice solid rebuild is the best way to go. It's getting hard to find a good used 7M. N/A-T setups are also not very difficult, especially if you drop the compression a bit with a thicker headgasket and run GTE electronics. Depending on your power goals (<400whp), stock pistons will be fine.

 

[87tomanymods]

well your average 5.0 runs around 14.9 sec . na supra 15.9 so its not to much of a feat to get it ass fast as a 5.0 .a rebuild with mild cams ,head work, raised comp, and a few boltons should get you there. prolly 3k in parts and a bit of fpr tuning would be a solid reliable foundation .