You should have no issues with the engine rebuild, clean the rusty block deck with scotch bright pads, clean the pistons with degreaser, pull the valves and clean them on a wire wheel on a bench grinder, lap the valves, make sure the head surface is flat and reassemble everything. You should helicoil the head stud holes for the exhaust manifold, they like to strip or break during metal expansion from heat. Coil thread inserts prevent both from happening.
As far as imports go it's about the least import Japanese car you can buy, yours was probably built in flat rock Michigan. The only way to get a 2.2L 12V F2T Turbo in Japan was to buy a Ford Probe GT built in the US.
These are very simple motors and systems to work on.
A bolt is a bolt and torque specs are torque specs.
Turbo's, look them up they work the same on every combustion engine.
The principal is when you want to make more power you have two options, increase engine displacement or increase the amount of air going into the engine. We live at 1 bar atmosphere pressure (+- 14.7 psia), If we had a sealed sphere and pressurized it with compressed air to 1 bar above atmosphere (14.7 psig) the sphere would hold twice the air it held at atmospheric pressure in the same space. Picture your mouth as an engine intake valve and your lungs as a cylinders displacement. If you took the same size breath you do at atmosphere inside the sphere at 14.7psig you would inhale twice the air. For an engine twice the air means twice the gas and twice the energy generated (power), because energy is heat twice the energy means twice as much heat will be radiated into the engine during combustion and twice the friction heat on the oil. (Different fuels (alcohol, E85, nitromethane... )can generate twice the power without twice the heat of gas, some cool cylinder temps drastically and or burn at lower temps...)
The important things with a turbo are changing the oil when or before it needs to be, once the motor oil is passed it's usable life span and starts to break down it happens really fast with the added heat generated by forced induction.
Keeping/making sure the cooling system is functioning properly and never letting the engine overheat.
There can be no air leaks between the air flow meter (bolted to air filter box) and the head where the intake manifold bolts on, not a crack in a hose, not a loose or weak hose clamp, not a vacuum hose leak, not a tiny hole in the intercooler...
Think of it as one long airtight system made up of a bunch of pieces and parts, all of it needs to remain airtight and handle pressure.
1989 Mazda MX6 GT.
