I'm pumped my youngest son seems to have the GRM bug. He's about to be 16, and has been pouring over every type of car he can possible get in his $7k ish budget.
He finally finds one he is excited about, and he brings me this.
star wars styling and a v-6.
SOOO, just how bad an idea is this for a 16 year old? he's been driving racing karts including my shifter for years, so this won't actually be fast in comparison.
questions I have about this particular swap.
The owner said the trans is an s53 out of a 5sfe camry. to me those numbers look like it's an older 4 cylinder camry, and all the other v-6 swaps want to get a turbo MR2 trans.
The AC isn't installed and hooked up, I've seen this same engine swapped that wound up with working AC, but I have no idea how hard that will be, any ideas?
Any particular areas prone to rust on these? what other issues should I be looking at?
My wife is just slowly shaking her head and wondering what I did to her sweet baby to make him like such a monstrosity. My older son takes after her and the only thing he cared about in a car was that he could fit his tuba in it. The younger one obviously has different priorities.
You're correct that that isn't the "good" trans, but one survived a decent amount of abuse in my V6 SW20. That's also not an incredibly powerful V6, and it does have oiling issues if he's going to race it. The handling will be pretty exciting if he likes to trail brake, might end up backwards a few times. Also worth noting that these are not safe cars, crash wise.
They like to rust in the rockers, wheel arches, and the lower corners of the trunk behind the back wheels. I think that car is overpriced, personally, but I bet it's fun.
It will be unpleasant to work on that engine in that chassis.
What do you think a fair price would be?
move been a little shocked at what these are going for lately.
In reply to icaneat50eggs :
Closer to $5k, assuming everything is decent. But then again, they have been on an upswing, you're right.
Yeah, not to be a nervous Nellie, but I'd be a touch worried of him leaving the road backwards (although carting experience is a HUGE leg up).
I love MR2s
If you live in TX get a car with ice cold AC that works. Who knows what is involved in getting a swapped motor AC functional? (Rhetorical question-someone here actually does know.) give the kid a fighting chance when he has a date who does not care about autocross classing.
In reply to GTwannaB :
I'm not ready for grandkids which is one reason I like the Mr2. No ax and no back seat makes it at least a little harder.
It's a bad idea because he is 16. The AW11 is a phenomenal car thats arguably second only to the Miata, but does NOT notify you when it's close to it's limit- and when you hit it you'll spin, and since he's young and inexperienced he'll likely overcorrect and snap-oversteer. They don't nearly do it on the same degree as the SW20s, but the AW11s will.
Working on them is kind of odd. Imagine a "strip" that starts of the top of the cam cover to the top of the fender arch on the passenger side- that area is the hardest to get to since there's nothing you can remove that can get in the way. That's also where the water pump is, which has a small protrusion thanks to the cover that you'll have to slip "up" into- I have destroyed water pumps before torquing it on that lip and snapping off the aluminum. Everything else is okay as long as you take the wheel off and jack it up or as long as you're okay leaning over.
As a base model, that car won't have AC and I'm not sure if the bosses are drilled for it. Having a solid roof means less weight- she's the lightest one, and thus possibly the best. Not sure if the hoses would just bolt directly to the compressor, but considering old man Toyota I wouldn't be shocked if they did. That S53 trans can handle the 1MZ fine and bolts in directly even with stock axles. That car you're looking at is probably a little overpriced unless the workmanship is solid- he could genuinely have done that swap on all OEM parts except for the mounts.
Notable areas to look for rust- the lower, frontal motor mount likes to toque itself out of the two bolt holes at the base of the chassis- a simple welded plate of metal can easily fix that. Wheel wells rust easily like all 80s cars. Always take the lower bodykit panels off the bottom (they're only a few bolts) to check if it's crusty underneath- It'll spread into the bottom of the doors like on mine.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
The aw11 isn't that hard to control. The answer to every situation is full throttle. Understeer? FT. Oversteer? FT. 4 wheel drift? FT.
$7500 seems a little dear.
Anecdotal evidence: Every v6 swapped MR2 I've ever seen has blown the motor once driven in anger
In reply to calteg :
That's interesting I was thinking a Camry v6 should be pretty reliable. Any idea why?
In reply to icaneat50eggs :
Oiling- the Camry wasn't really designed to corner hard, so the oil pan wasn't either.
Oil starvation, camrys are not very sporting and this engine is prone to starvation in corners. GRM blew up several while trying to modify one a few years back.
I sold my SW20 with the same swap because I was worried about taking it on track. It was a wonderful street car however.
Well my kid made the mature decision to pass on this one.
he realized being potentially in the unreliable side in high school isn't horrible because I have a trailer, shop, lift and tools and some great mechanic friends that would help him keep it on the road. However the same car in college is problematic since parking lot wrenching is way more of a pain.
