Years and years ago when Jason Poco was barely a teenager, his dad did what all of us dream of when we're young: Jason's dad bought him a car. But before you think this is some spoiled kid situation, the car he brought home was a 1985 Toyota Celica Supra, one that he bought for a mere $600. For one generation in Toyota's bloodline, the Celica and Supra merged into the '82-86 MA6 Celica Supra chassis. The car wasn't running and had both quarter panels rusted out. No, this wasn't some kind of sick joke. Growing up in the Philippines, Jason's dad always wanted a Celica, but couldn't afford one. So after seeing a local Celica Supra for sale, he knew it would be the first car for his son Jason.
Jason happens to come from a family of car lovers. Nowadays everyone in his family has two cars, one weekend car and one daily driver. Even his mom has a project car! And to help aid everyone's addiction, they recently added a car lift in their garage at home (every grease monkey's wet dream). Jason must have the coolest dad ever. With dad and two brothers, this became a family affair.
At one time, one of Jason's brothers had a Mark III Supra ('86-92), which was eventually crashed and totaled. The only thing salvageable from the wreck was the 7M-GTE engine.
This became the perfect donor car for Jason, and heart surgery for his Mark II Supra was on its way. Mark II Supras came with a 5M-GE engine and so going to a 7M-GTE is the perfect choice. Going with 1JZ or 2JZ really wasn't common or simple in the older Supra. Staying in Toyota's M family of engines made the swap much easier then it would be jumping to the JZ engine series. Turbo 7M's are more old school and perhaps more fitting. Coming turbo and being the best of the M motors, it was an option that was since some modified 7Ms have been able to make over 700whp. The new block has two different mounting points, and so factory motor mounts were just moved to the rear points. Another problem was the new oil pan would not clear the car's front crossmember. The original 5M oil pan had to be swapped over to make things fit. With all factory parts, the swap was complete and running smooth.
Through the years, Jason has added more modifications and the car has gone through many different setups, cosmetically and mechanically. It's still black, as it was originally, but fresh Spies Hecker Jet Black paint was laid over the car covering the original Toyota fender flares, only available on the P-Type Supra. Making the body cleaner, the rear wiper, keyhole and antenna hole were shaved off. To keep it durable the entire undercarriage is coated with bedliner. Underneath, new control arm bushings were also replaced, to complete the suspension restoration.
Now if you're not familiar with the 7M-GTE engine, it has an intake that runs across the valvecover much like on a naturally-aspirated 2JZ-GE or a RB25DET. To maximize air, a custom Ron Ramirez intake manifold was installed, along with the notoriously large Q45 throttle body. The engine block is now overbored and now houses forged JE pistons. A cast HKS turbo manifold feeds the badass Garret TO4Z turbo, all of which were coated in Jet Hot black. Fuel supply comes via Siemens 720cc injectors and a Lipp fuel rail, governed by a Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator. An Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump was installed on the restored gas tank, with a custom sump. Exhaust gases get left behind with a Raptor Racing 3" stainless system. All in all, the car put down an ass-kicking 470whp on the dyno.
Not many of us are lucky enough to still have our first car, and not many of us have even ever had a car built and restored to this level. With a lot of help from his family Jason has been able to keep his first car, and restore what was once a rust bucket, into the beast you see before you.