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K-Swapped Toyota MR2 Nears 700 HP with 32 PSI of Boost But No Thanks to China

This silver Toyota MR2 looks slightly better than your average junk car. Think about the car you would expect a not-so-wealthy college student to have, and you won't be too far from the truth.
K-swapped Toyota MR2 9 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
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As it turns out, that's just the flypaper - a carefully crafted ruse to lure people into thinking it's easy prey, right before it unleashes all of its (nearly, for now) 700 horsepower on the unsuspecting predator, turning it into its victim instead.

Well, this couldn't have happened with the MR2's original engine, so this one has a Honda-sourced K20 unit instead, capable of revving at over 9,000 rpm for that beautiful sound and those high horsepower figures. Exactly how high? That's what Owen, the owner of the vehicle, and Stu, his Motor Addicts colleague, are trying to find out by putting the little Toyota sports car on a dyno.

The guys ask the Dyno operators for predictions, so he asks back: "What boost are you guys OK with going to?" They waste no time answering: "All of it!" That's the spirit. You don't build an insane car like this only to hold back when it matters the most.

The first few runs are thoroughly disappointing. They can only get as high as 400 hp or so, which is way off their intended target. Granted, they were building up the boost gradually, but the graphs don't lie: the engine simply stops pulling after a certain point. They figure the air filter is too small for the size of the engine and turbo, but after a little more fiddling with the car, the main cause of the problem is revealed: China.

It looks like during the engine build, somebody decided to fit Chinese knock-off wastegates instead of the original parts. As a result, at least one of them didn't operate properly, getting locked into either "on" or "off" position - both just as harmful depending on what the turbo was doing.

With those replaced with the right parts and with Owen's pockets slightly lighter than when he had arrived, the MR2 was ready to give it another go. And give it a go it did. With only half its maximum boost (16 psi), the K20 engine produced a maximum power of 517 hp. In a car that weighs 2,645 lbs (1.2 tons) and doesn't have upgraded brakes or anything, that's more than enough. However, it wasn't all this rig could offer.

Using a bit of methanol and the full 32 pounds of boost, as initially requested, the Honda MR2, so to speak, managed to reach its full potential of 678 hp (687 PS), making Owen a happy and proud owner. Now, the only question that remains is how will all that power translate into drag strip time? Well, unless we're mistaking, tomorrow is May the 1st, which is when the Santa Pod Raceway in the UK holds a "Run What Ya Brung" event, and guess who's going to be there. We guess we'll see more of the MR2 pretty soon, then.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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