7MGE's in MX83's

[dnegative]

I've been looking for a new daily and have spotted a nice MX83 Cressida, had a look over the car today and its surprisingly tidy for a 19yr old car with 230k on it. Could do with a vacuum and scrub inside but its not bad. Popped the bonnet and found a problem, a dreaded 7MGE I have a good feeling the car has always been serviced (has a gates sticker for the timing belt being done recently, AC regas stickers, radiator looks new, has red coolant, no leaks, everything is clean etc) and it is a late model car (1992) but fucking 7M's are known for popping their cherries more often than shitbox Falcons.

Are they really that bad?

In all honesty I'm most likely going to drive it as is for a year or two then do what everybody else does to one.

[RAAAH23]

lol no they seriously arnt. a relative is running 9's in a corona with a 7M (all be it turbo) with completely stock internals. the motor's never been cracked open. if torqued down properly 7M's are actually pretty strong units. Everyone has given them a horrible name but thats because the torque specs from factory are off. get that head down tight and you wont have a problem.

[RAAAH23]

Also look here...

http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/tec...es-others.html

[wiseco7mgt]

Same as above ^, never had a drama with one once i had both gasket surfaces milled finely and a good MHG used with Hylomar and Arp's. In fact that's only motor i use for swaps simply because the parts are cheap and done properly they yield great results.
90% of people that have issues with them either have no idea or fancy themselves as being better mechanics than they actually are.

[Supra967]

90% of people that have issues with them either have no idea or fancy themselves as being better mechanics than they actually are.

Or want to drive their car without ripping the head off for major rework

even with mild BHG it'd be okay for a year or two, just keep your fluids up. New radiator could mean they're chasing cooling problems? If you're thinking of converting later just focus on the body work.

[Hiro]

...MX83 Cressida...popped the bonnet and found a problem, a dreaded 7MGE

Why are you so surprised that you found a 7MGE under the bonnet of an MX83? That IS what they came with standard you know, were you expecting a built 1JZ or blown 1UZ?

[dnegative]

New radiator could mean they're chasing cooling problems?

Or it was just owned by some old person who had no idea about cars, liked his Cressida and didn't think twice about driving it to his mechanic with a blank cheque on the front seat whenever something needed fixing. I have a gut feeling the previous owner has done a HG, sent it off to his mechanic who has ripped the bloke a new one and done the works (head, radiator, coolant, service etc)

Car is at a dealer, its from the auctions, deceased estate?

Why are you so surprised that you found a 7MGE under the bonnet of an MX83? That IS what they came with standard you know, were you expecting a built 1JZ or blown 1UZ?

Yeah, kinda

[andrew_mx83]

the whole headgasket issue really is overrated. sure they blow, but fix them properly and it wont come back. its a weekend's work and a couple of hundred bucks ffs.

best way to ensure it wont come back is to deck the block, but you can get away without it. prep work is vital, i spend at least 2 hours on the block surface getting it as good as i can by hand. i helped another forum member change his on monday, from fully disassembled to running was 4 hours, not working hard.


use a decent gasket, work CLEAN, torque to 72ft/lb then retorque as per my other thread, and be sure to get the head hardness tested when it gets machined. if its soft, bin it and get another one.
metal gasket and studs are overkill for 90% of NA applications, in fact i almost always reuse the old bolts without a problem.


ive lost count of how many 7m's ive put gaskets in now and to my knowledge none of them have come back... as i say fix it properly and its all good. once the gasket is fixed, barring big end knock the motor will give years of reliable service -just dont mind the oil leaks lol

[andrew_mx83]

mx83's are VERY cheap to run

as an example i bought my current daily cressida 3 years ago, and run it on a tight budget. i was adding it up the other day and it only owes me about $2000 for that entire time including purchase, initial HG repair, later engine rebuild, brake upgrade and tyres, stereo, fresh interior plus usual maintenance items

i have a lot of spare parts and do all the work myself, so i will always have cheap motoring. but hey im still not complaining, thats VERY cheap for 3 years of driving. its on gas now too so only costs about $30/week for me to run around like a mad cow everyday.

[dnegative]

its a weekend's work and a couple of hundred bucks ffs.

I know where your coming from, the purpose of me getting some sort of placid daily is so that I don't have to touch the thing at all. I just want something comfy, will drive over shitty country roads, has enough power to happily cruise around (with the odd overtake etc) and the only things I have to do is give it a service every 10k.


I just wanted to know what buying one with a few k on the clock means (as in, it would of defiantly done a HG and been fixed at some stage or it probably hasn't (surely by 1991/1992 they realised their fuck up and fixed them?), wont and all the stuff about them is internet exaggeration). I am pretty keen on this one, body is pretty good with fuck all rust.

[andrew_mx83]

if you want to spend $$ then buy one with a history, retorque the head and be fine. otherwise buy a cheap car, do the gasket initially then enjoy trouble-free motoring

doesnt matter what year the car is, the gremlin remained...

[dnegative]

Having no fucking idea what your getting yourself into is half the fun of buying old used cars

1990 supra manual is interesting

[wiseco7mgt]

in fact i almost always reuse the old bolts without a problem.

Your advice is spot on except for reusing the old bolts. The only time i would reuse them was if the car was worth nothing and i could care less if it blew 12 months down the track.
They are torque to yield bolts and aren't designed to be reused for obvious reasons.
http://www.acl.co.nz/Tech/Torque%20T...0Headbolts.pdf
For the price of a set of Arp's it's very cheap insurance, considering you've already had the head hardness checked and gone to the trouble of getting everything else right.

[Supra967]

[QUOTE=andrew_mx83;1374986]mx83's are VERY cheap to run]

[QUOTE]

Similar weight to a supra yeah? I was getting 400km to 70L haha, cost me a fortune.

[dnegative]

How did you manage 17.5L/100km?

Either something is wrong or you drove it very hard all the time