Quick question
 

Hello, I just had my ford probe turbo die on me so I parted/junked it out now I wanna get some real power I can take to the tracks. Someone I have known for awhile has the n/a '89 Supra. He is offering to to me, however there is one catch, needs the head gasket to be done. He owns a shop and wants 500 dollars for the condition it is in and I would like to offer him some money to fix it. However he may not get to it anytime soon, and I am still without a car. So I may just give him the 500 soon and then decide where/how to get it fixed. I am antsy to drive this car around its in good condition. My question is, is it worth paying him the 500 and then getting the head gasket fixed? I think it has 160k miles on it. How much do you think the going rate for a shop fixing the head gasket would be? I would be able to do it over the summer, but I am up at school and so is this car (about 2 hours away). The main question is, is this a good investment for a car to drive around in for about 2 years and then i will swap out the motor after college, when i have time/money? Also i know its an inline 6, but what are the factory ratings?? HP and torque wise. Thanx for your help pretty soon i am just going to spend that 500 on the car, I looked up prices around here in Mass, and they are up there I feel this would be a good deal.

I think it all depends on what kinda money u can spend and when! It also depends on what shape the body is in, if it is in great shape i think its worth fixing the head gasket. In the meantime u can work on getting more money so u can swap a 7m-gte in it, or even a 1jz depending on ur money. As far as the torque and hp, its a 89 non turbo, they come with 187lbs of torque and 200 hp stock. The power isn't that bad, it will beat up on some probes and civics no doubt. The suprastore.com site has more specs on the turbo model and the non turbo.

Awesome, yeah the body is in good shape... and I need a daily driver car also so i might pick this up and have th ehead gasket done, anyone know form experience how much that costs? i'd assume my insurance will go up a little and also mid grade gas i'm guessing?

The insurance on that car depends on how old you are and if you are gonna have full coverage or not.

I guess last thing, gas mileage.. i'm assuming 19-21 ish range, and does it need midgrade gas... I'm just curious due to current gas prices.

Warning!!!!!!!!!! gas will rape you even if you drive the non turbo, from what i know about 15-17 city and 20-23 highway. Somewhere in there.

...... not from what I've heard. I have a 87 N/A and it gets 19 city / 25 highway

Anywhere in that neighborhood, one more up or not is still pretty bad, i think they have specs on suprastore.com http://www.suprastore.com/19to19nonspe.html

$500.00 is way high. There is a bit involved to changing one I admit, but I would have done in for half that. You may run into issue after the head is off that will cost more. The head will probabaly need to be milled and then you have a good look at the surface of the block and the pistons. You can measure to see the wear on the cylinder walls at that time. The valve guides will need to be checked and you may just want to get a valve job while you are at it. If you do that though then the valve clearances need to be redone which means replacing shims.

All that other stuff is time consuming and will cost more because it willhave to be done by a machine shop. If this guy can do all that and that is what all has to be done then that is more like it and maybe even a little higher, but for just rand r the head and throwing a head gasket on, that is way too high.

Russ

Pretty much i'll be getting a running car for $1,000 he offered to do the work with his dad over our break, they own a shop. I figure this would be a good deal the engine has 80k miles on it... shoudl last me a year and a half until the end of college, and get me into a supra which i have always wanted to.