Got my first Supra. 7mge sugestions for rebuild Please.

[stomis]

Last night I got my very first supra. 87 white, non turbo, non tt, 5 speed. Has a cracked headgasket but drove the car home 80miles no problem. Everything works and shes in great shape especially for $500.

That being said I am new to supras but not to cars. I've been into domestics up until now except the 95 toy pickup I owned a few years ago.

As a disclaimer please dont say just turbo it blah blah blah. I've done ALOT of research before I even bought the thing and am fully aware of what its capable of reaching power wise NA.

The plans for the motor:
Find another 7mge in good shape.

Break it down, clean it up, and rebuild

New bearings, seals, and punch it over .060

Modification to bottom end will be a high volume oil pump, crank scraper, and pistons to achieve 10:1

Things I've been trying to find out: Who makes some decent pistons that arent $700? I know you get what you pay for and such but I come from the world of SBC's where a full rebuild kit is $700 for decent parts. I'm trying to achieve 10:1 as I said. I'd like to run 87 or 89 octane in it which I think wont be a problem with 12-14* base timing.

As far as the head goes I'll be gasket matching it and port and polishing at home. Brian Crower stage 2 daily driver cams, BBC springs and freshen the valves. Same goes for the intake plenums as far as port, polish, and gasket match.

It'll get a pacesetter 3-2-1 header, 2-1/2in exhaust and retain a resonator, cat, and muffler to keep her legal.

Other general mods I plan:
Fidanza light weight flywheel
Clutch which I'm open for recommendations on
Aluminum 1 pc driveshaft
eibach 1.5in lowering springs
solid sway bars

So basically its your typical 7mge stubborness of not wanting to swap to turbo

To recap questions here:
What pistons are a fair price but still decent quality for 10:1?

Are the stock cam gears adjustable? I thought I read somewhere they could be adjusted 0-4* but I closed the window and couldnt find it again...

I'm not used to having an aluminum headed motor so with 10:1 and regular base timing what octane should I be running?

Btw this car will be lightened and run on road courses and daily driven occasionally.

 

[stomis]

Been doing some more research bored here at work. Seems like only SIP sells high compression pistons for the 7m and they're $800... I definitely dont need forged pistons for this so I think I might take the less expensive route and just settle for .020 over rebuild pistons and stick to 9.2:1. Normally I'd say deck the block but I've read thats a big no no for this motor.

Anyone have experience with NPR pistons and bearings? Only comments I've found on them is from honda guys that say they're a tad better than OEM spec. A .020 piston, rings and main/rod bearings kit for just under $150.

 

[BrandonW]

what is the power goal that you are trying to achieve?

 

[7Matt-GE]

NPR pistons ARE OEM spec im getting a set for my motor. they are pretty good.

 

[Chambers]

Looks like you are driving in the right directions, I too fought the popular vote of swapping a turbo in, I enjoyed every slow minute of driving my 7M powered Supras, other than the head gaskets blowing and the rod knock.

I’m not sure if you read anything about the headers available for the 7M-GE, but they are not quite “bolt on” the o2 sensor mount is not in the correct spot, you would have to either move the sensor mount (which could possibly send a bad reading to the ECU since it wouldn’t be getting all 6 cylinders exhaust) or extend the o2 sensor harness to reach where the new mount is.
Of course you could just do one off equal length headers that all go to a nice 2.5” or 3” collector and put the sensor there. That would be cool, but it will be a lot of work.

For another reference on engine parts I would check here, personally I have never purchased anything from them, so I can't tell you anything much about them:

http://www.importperformanceparts.net/

I still have a dream of building up a 7M-GE to actually see what’s possible with it, and may I suggest a piggy back fuel/air controller and a wideband 02 sensor to help tune the engine? Good luck!

 

[stomis]

Power goal for this build will be factory numbers but at the wheels rather than the crank. So I'm aiming right around 200hp/200ftlbs at the wheels. I'm hoping I'll squeeze out a little more but that will be more than enough for what I plan on doing with the car. I'm not setting my sights too high cause that just bring more "just go turbo" comments to a thread.

As far as the header goes I wont even be using their intermediate pipe. I plan to chop the 2" pipe off the 2-1 and weld on a 2-1/2 in pipe with an o2 sensor bung about 6in down stream. This should provide optimal reading off all 6 cylinders and allow the o2 sensor to reach operating temp as fast and efficiently as possible. The exhaust will be completely home made. 2-1/2 in from collector all the way back. High Flow cat, 12in glasspack for a resonator, flowmaster 50 series muffler with a 2-1/2 in and 3in out, no tip

Fuel management will stay stock for the time being. I'm thinking I'll probably get some sort of piggy back to run an LS1 MAF and wideband for my birthday in september.

 

[RazoE]

I turbo'd my NA...

I missed stock NA power so much, I bought another, and then another..

My 86.5 has an exhaust, I recently bought headers and an intake for it, going to throw them on once I replace my engine (rod knock) and get her smogged (registration's coming up). My 92 is bone stock, and I plan on keeping it that way. I love smooth NA power..

honestly, NA's can't really be made fast through power add-ons..

I say go for a nice 2.5" exhaust, intake and headers for a nice sound, and then work on weight reduction by lightneing up your flywheel, and getting a steel or CF drive shaft. MAINTENANCE is also VERY important, flush out all the fluids and replace them with quality fluids.

After that, have fun..!

 

[stomis]

Yeah but everyones idea of fast is different. My mom has a 15.5 second car (g6 gt) with an automatic and decent torque and I find that fast. I'm not looking for quarter mile fast. I'm looking for good handling and something thats gets up and gets out of its own way without a problem. I have no doubt I'll be happy with the car.

 

[SRZMK3]

Yeah but everyones idea of fast is different. My mom has a 15.5 second car (g6 gt) with an automatic and decent torque and I find that fast. I'm not looking for quarter mile fast. I'm looking for good handling and something thats gets up and gets out of its own way without a problem. I have no doubt I'll be happy with the car.

+1

i recommend obx headers instead, you just have to drill out your own 02 sensor bung but its not that hard, they seem to be a better header than pacesetter...
i put an actual cold air intake on my car you just have to be gutsy and cut into the car a bit and fit the filter and pipe under the passenger side headlight, its honestly a better idea than just putting the filter on and leaving it in the engine bay i noticed quite a bit of power gain from doing that.

dont forget about the headgasket, the main thing is getting arp headbolts or studs because the original torque spec was just not enough at all, a mhg requires that you resurface the block and putting on the correct mhg thickness on, but if your broke or lazy a good brand oem headgasket and a good head resurfacing will do just fine because those arp headbolts are on there crazy tight, the recommended arp torque is like 90ft lbs. that should set you in a good position for a fun and reliable with decent acceleration supra with no turbo.

 

[stomis]

I'll look into the header. Your cold air idea sounds good. I'm in no way afraid to hack into the car I just got done stripping the entire hatch interior, spare, and back seat. Tomorrow I'm gonna undercoat it, take care of the little minor rust issues from the bad hatch seal, and begin relocating my battery to the hatch.

Btw I actually found some rust on the car Only one spot exterior wise but it chewed into the fender by the skirt pretty bad. Which means excuses for go fast parts Anyone know where I can get glass fenders?