1989 Toyota Supra Turbo from North America - Comments

Head gasket at 80,000 miles

Poor sycnc gears 2nd to 3rd.

This car is very powerful and fast. It handles exceptionally well and serves as suitable every day driver. I love my supra’s and can’t see ever being without one. Mine has been in restoration for over a year now and needs to get back on the road. Missing it is motivating me to get back into the garage and finish it.

This is a value vehicle, however you should be able to work on it yourself. They are old enough that things go wrong and are very expensive to fix if not doing it yourself. For the do it yourselfer though, you can’t hardly find a more satisfying vehicle to own and love.

I put a Billstine performance suspension on it which lowered the front 1.5” and the rear 1.0”. The new look and handling is impressive, however the usual small animal road kill will now hit the front spoiler and undercarriage. Makes a big bang at 70mph.

I have had over 50 vehicles of all makes and models. The 89 supra is my favorite and will be worth every bit of effort and cost to completely restore. After the body is done the engine and trany will follow. I’ll perform the usual aspiration and exhaust upgrades to bring horsepower just under 400. Can’t wait!

The value of this vehicle is in the eye of the beholder. I could see paying $10K or more for one with low miles, garage stored and near perfect condition. In fact, I may just do that if I can find the right vehicle.

"I’ll perform the usual aspiration and exhaust upgrades to bring horsepower just under 400. Can’t wait!"

That only works with a MK IV twin turbo. And even then it takes more than an exhaust and intake combo, you need an upgraded ECU to get it all to work right. You could always try to put an MK IV engine in your car, but I don't know whether it fits or not and MK IV engines go for 10k$+.

First of all the mkiii supras can easily make 400 hp though it might take more than intake and exhaust. If you did want to put the twin turbo in a mkiii it will fit, but as far as I know an engine swap is a pretty big deal, especially when you already have an excellent motor in there to begin with.

The 2JZ-GTE will fit in the MKIII engine bay, but if you keep the stock twin turbo's you have to bang back the fire wall a bit. But if you put on a bigger single turbo it will fit nicely. You can get a jdm 2jz for about 2k depending on condition (that's without a transmission) but it will fit with the MKIIIs stock R154. You can have a slightly modded 2jz in your car, if you do the work yourself, for about $8000.