1991 Toyota MR2 - Power Pages

Locating older popular imports in stock trim can be a time-consuming task. In this case, we were able to find one for the "Power Pages" that was worthy enough for the challenge; low mileage, bone stock and an engine worthy enough to handle the beating it will receive on the dyno.

It was unfortunate Toyota ended production of the Turbo MR2, even with the new MR2 Spyder as its replacement, you can't get what came factory in the 1991 to '95 turbocharged MR2 turbos-a turbocharged 3S-GTE engine with 200 hp and 200 lbs-ft of torque. Our particular MR2 not only boasts low mileage for that age of vehicle, it's also in rare stock trim. In this particular segment, we will apply aftermarket parts in a two-part "Power Page", a process that would be recommended for anyone who has purchased a used turbo Mister 2.

The EngineThe only other Toyota chassis that comes equipped with this engine is the Celica All-Trac; unlike the Celica's all-wheel-drive drivetrain, the MR2 sports a rear-drive, mid-engine design. Since the MR2 runs the mid-mount engine setup, this gives the vehicle great launch abilities but makes the vehicle much harder to work on, as opposed to front-drives and front-engine, rear-drive configurations. The factory turbocharger is a Toyota-made CT-26 chilled by an OEM air-to-air intercooler. The engine boasts a 2.0-liter displacement with boost pressure a low 6 psi, a combination which makes the 200-hp engine pretty damn amazing, even by today's standards.

Performance ComponentsNot exactly a performance upgrade, but worthy of mentioning are the Kosei RT Pentas and Falken tires. The rims are 17x7.5s mounted to 205/40-17 tires. The finish contrasted well with Toyotas's white paint job. The difference in weight and circumference wasn't too far from stock units, so power loss was very minimal.

In the first of our two-part segment, we bring the MR2 through a basic tune-up, then through a Blitz arsenal that is sure to unleash the power hidden within the factory turbocharged engine. As a fair warning, this is a vehicle that takes some know-how to install aftermarket parts. We started with a quick tune-up using factory Toyota parts, then moved on to a Blitz SUS TEC air filter, followed by a Blitz exhaust.

Our MR2 came to us with 100,000 hard miles on the odometer. At 3000 rpm, the engine had a very bad sputter, a problem solved by a simple tune-up. We replaced all the normal parts that required servicing; this included spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, oil and oil filter with factory Toyota parts.

The Blitz air intake system utilizes its infamous stainless-steel mesh design. To increase airflow, the filter uses a velocity stack-type adapter to mount the mesh unit onto the factory vein air sensor. The filter kit also comes with all the necessary parts to solidly mount the filter to the engine.

Since the car is factory turbocharged, utilizing an 3-inch exhaust system can likely pull maximum power from the turbo. In knowing this, we called upon the Blitz Nur Spec exhaust system. The Nur Spec's piping is not only 3-inches in diameter, it's also stainless steel. The muffler, along with the 4-inch tip, is also stainless. To keep the unit quiet on the streets, Blitz also added a removable baffle for street and strip usage.

Dyno TestOur bone-stock MR2 was strapped to the AEBS Dynojet to establish a baseline-even while in sputtering trim. With absolutely no changes made to the vehicle, the car boosted its way to 157.5 hp and 175.1 lb-ft of torque. Considering the car was in need of a tune-up, this was not too bad for a baseline measurement. Our previous MR2, which was in excellent condition, clicked off 163 hp in stock trim.

With our tune-up underway, we checked the plugs. This led to two conclusions: One, the gap was so large this could have caused the bad sputtering and two, the electrode was rounded, revealing that the plugs have not been serviced for quite some time. Although most of the problem was with the plugs, we still serviced the rest of the general parts. With our mini tune-up done, we were back on the dyno with a gain of 3.2 horses and 2.9 lb-ft of torque more than our previous run.

With the tune-up out of the way, we set about to making aftermarket power. The Blitz filter was an easy installation, and so, easy power. The filter pushed the peak power to 162.3 ponies and 173.7 lb-ft of torque. More power was realized in the mid-range. Since the filter kit doesn't incorporate the factory resonator box, this increased the pitch of the turbo while the engine was under load.

Our last install required some know-how in the removal process. The factory exhaust system runs over the rear cross member, a situation which made removing the factory pipe much more difficult.

We loosened the cross member and removed the rear engine mount and mount bracket; luckily, the time invested in the process resulted in added power. With the baffle still in place, the exhaust pumped out a whopping 174.9 horses and 178.5 lb-ft of torque. This not only bumped the peak power 13 hp, it was also able to pull over 13-hp in the top-end.

With the baffle out, power jumped to 180 hp and 190.0 lb-ft of torque. Since the exhaust system required removal of the second catalytic converter, the boost also jumped an additional 2 lbs.

ConclusionOur MR2 boasts an added 23 hp when compared with our baseline numbers. With our second round sure to significantly bump power, we are on the verge of jumping into the 200-plus ponies to the wheels. Our second install will consist of a Blitz diffuser (aka straight pipe), HKS EVC EZ and HKS Super AFR fuel computer. We will also add a boost gauge to monitor how much pressure run as we jump the power in order to ensure we run with in our stock engine's limits.