Toyota Supra MKIII 26/09 - Action! Intrigue! Suspension!

[MikeKnight]

So I finally decided to do some work on her. I'm ill at the moment so excuse the shortness of descriptions, finding it hard to concentrate.. also may be related to the ten full cans of M8 cavity wax that were emptied into the vehicles various orifices.

 

I'm aware this is not really shite territory, or is borderline shite at best, but thought some here might enjoy it so here it is.

 

All I've done since owning her is:

• Clear indicators all round. Orange looks bloody garish on this model.
• Stripped interior to clean and dry.
• Related to above; hunted rear seal water leak and finally quashed it after emptying bank account at RMB Toyota for seals.
• Various de-rusting campaigns while grumbling. It's a 90's Toyota.
• Starting to re-wire all the random crap the dumbass previous owner had installed for no reason. Most of which didn't even work.
• Slowly getting rid of the garish green painted bits dotted at random around the car. The previous owner was a blithering idiot.

1) So I pulled her into the workshop. Full frontal shot.

 

 

2) Rear shot. Clear indicators look sooooo much better. What an arse of a job though. Had to put the units in the oven, was the only way of getting them soft enough to split. I re-wired the fog lights, which didn't work, while removing the cheap eBay sourced LED bulbs the dumbass previous owner had put in and put them where they belonged; IN THE BIN.

 

 

3) Engine as it looks at the moment. Pretty much completely standard. I'm not going MAX POWAH with this because that would be a ridiculous money sink and would likely require an engine swap to the better twin turbo Japanese lump. I'm just going to tidy it up and make it look nice. The 7M-GTE is a single turbo 3 litre block, perfectly serviceable for my needs and sufficiently powerful to still have a bit of fun. The car is very heavy so requires a decently powerful engine. I have new pipework to go in here as most of the engine is factory and a good portion of the air hoses are split. Air leaks are not good mojo.

 

 

4) Had the alloys it came with (fairly rare Japanese alloys called Kosei Seneka RZ's - thanks volksangyl for finding their name) returned to their factory machine faced look after the dumbass previous owner had painted over them with matt black rattle cans, making them look bloody hideous and tiny. The green callipers are going to be black, or silver, not decided yet. Why all the green, previous owner??? The car has literally NOTHING to do with the colour green at all, anywhere on it, yet he kept painting bits of it this horrible garish neon green. Ugh.

 

 

5) Found an original Supra alloy so repainted it factory silver and am using it as a spare, as the car did not come with a spare when I bought it.

 

 

6) Found some super rare seat belt guides on the US eBay site which bolt to the seats and only fit 89+ cars, awesome! They are really handy and my car is a 1990! Oh.. they don't fit.. because my car is a 1990 but my interior is from an earlier model. FUCKSTICKS. I'm going to weld some brackets onto the seat frames to accommodate them when I get the seats recovered.

 

 

7) The wiring is a god damn hot mess. I'm part way through cleaning it up. Literally bundles of wires that go absolutely nowhere and switches that do absolutely nothing other than disappear behind the dash.. only to be stuck to the dash with sellotape and not actually attached to anything. Also an old car telephone unit under the drivers seat complete with what felt like a metric tonne of wiring and cables, but no car phone in sight. If I meet the previous owner again I may stab him to death with a Biro.

 

 

Oh look, welding! It had lovely big holes, four of them in fact, two one the front of the rear arches and two on the back of the rear arches. It's where they all go because they lack arch liners and all the road crap blasts away at the metal like a focused beam until holes form. Welded up and primed, I just used red oxide as I have loads of it.

 

 

9) And some topcoat because I'm a good boy. Even if you never actually see this part underneath the interior trim.

 

 

10) The gas rams on the boot and bonnet were factory units and very tired, the bonnet would often try to decapitate me like a French aristocrat during the revolution. So I got some new ones and fitted 'em. Here are the old knackered units.

 

 

11) New units fitted on the bonnet. Hooray no more slamming down on my head while I check the oil!

 

 

12) New units fitted on the boot hatch. These are very good quality units and way, way, cheaper than getting new Toyota ones. Like a quarter of the price. Toyota really do gouge you for factory parts.

 

 

13) With those boot hatch rams fitted, as their fitting bolts lay beneath the side window trim, I could FINALLY re-fit the nice blue leather interior. HOORAY no more horrendous road noise because I'm essentially driving a bath tub.

 

 

14) Here's what a great deal of car stuff from Driftmotion in California looks like, sitting around waiting to be fitted. Oh god I want to fit this all so badly. Basically going to be rebuilding the entire suspension front and back including subframes, rebuilding all the brakes front and back, rebuilding the turbo, new hoses throughout and blah blah blah lots of stuff. Mmmmmm shiny.

 

 

15) Decided to make a start after chompysnake badgered me into fitting the exhaust, which is a custom job from Driftmotion and upgrades the system to a 3" straight through pipe from turbo bellmouth fitting to backbox. Very nicely made and comes with an optional baffle so you don't go deaf, got damn it's LOUD. Anyway here's the old system which I was able to remove as a complete lump. Did I mention the new one does away with the two cats too? Wheeeee.

 

 

16) New system fitted, minus optional baffle. Old system backbox in the background. I'm such a fookin chav m8.

 

 

17) Also decided to update the intake with the one I got from Driftmotion while I was at it, helping the engine breathe better alongside a larger bore exhaust is never a bad thing. This is the old one.. a £15 piece of shit from Halfords to tide me over after I discovered the one the previous owner fitted was literally falling apart and getting sucked into the intake. Fucksake.

 

 

18) New one is an Apexi dry turbo intake. Extremely good intake. Has to be dry otherwise you kill the AFM sensor very quickly on these cars and the Apexi runs better dry than most high end oiled filters do. I did my research and I'm very happy with it. *empty wallet filling with tears*

 

 

That's all for now. The subframes and suspension is rusty as all fook so I'm not looking forward to that, but I'm sure it'll provide some entertainment when I eventually get around to it and post the results here.

 

Now I drive like a tosser because I enjoy being able to hear the turbo spool and dump with the new bellmouth downpipe. FwoooooPSSSH.

[Slartibartfast]

We need videos

[vulgalour]

FINALLY!  I get to post these pictures now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Honey Badger]

Quality work being done there, i do like a good bit of JDM tin fettling.

 

Sounds like its going to be a proper job as well, keep the updates coming!

[vulgalour]

I found an old picture of how your engine bay looked when you got it too.  I'd actually managed to forget how hideous it was.

 

[MikeKnight]

I found an old picture of how your engine bay looked when you got it too.  I'd actually managed to forget how hideous it was.

 

DSCF3481.JPG

 

I had seared the memory from my brain.

 

Also never leaving the keys for it at the workshop again, you and chompysnake will fill it with several 5kg sacks of potatoes next time.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Lovely looking thing, and great to see a methodical un-barrying process, involving generous use of UK sterling along the way. Back lights look great, and remind me of the standard lenses fitted to my old import Celica which I owned a few years back. Not convinced about the alloys though - are they a period extra or something?

Celica rear lights for comparison:

[Liggle]

These are right near the top of my car bucket list, missed out on a manual red one for £2.5k last summer and have regretted it ever since!

[17-Coffees]

Love the A70 Supras! Always fancied one but feel I've missed the chance to get a good one cheap as with most Japanese classic's. 

 

Is the White/black roof combo a factory finish? It really suit's the car.

[MikeKnight]

Not convinced about the alloys though - are they a period extra or something?

 

Nah, never sold specifically for the Supra, but they are 90's Japanese alloys so they're period correct. I like them but they're a Marmite alloy with like/dislike split down the middle.

 

Is the White/black roof combo a factory finish? It really suit's the car.

 

Nah, the previous owner had it custom* painted at a reputable* paint shop. It's been done to an okay standard but you can see where they've cut corners. I don't have the paint code either so at some point I'll have to blow over the whole thing.

[MikeKnight]

Gave it its first proper claying today since I took ownership.

 

The brand new, bright blue, clay bar is now black through 80% of it.

 

Also some paint fell off and I found some more rust.

 

[Jazoli]

Nice to see it being resurrected, I had a Turbo nearly 20 years ago, it was quite a car for a 23 year old and by far the fastest in my group of friends who were still driving mk2 escorts, even more so when I fitted a big intercooler off a volvo something or other and a bleed valve to up the boost.

 

 

The arches were beginning to bubble back then, it was a great car

[MikeKnight]

Decided to stop putting it off and pulled the car into the workshop today to do all the "engine compartment" jobs. The suspension, interior and brakes are for later. Too much to do all at once.

 

I have noticed it doesn't have as much grunt as it should have and smokes a bit, I discovered why this was once I started taking the intake and turbo systems apart.

 

1) Intercooler piping, intake system and turbo accordion pipe all removed along with miscellaneous pipes related to them. Note the oil on the turbo, this isn't too bad but I'm going to stop it completely most of it by adding a correctly routed positive pressure ventilated oil catch can. I'm not happy with just how much oil makes it back into the intake on the stock setup. The inside of the "3000" stamped top pipe was awash with oil.

 

I also drained the coolant (rust coloured) and engine oil (black as the blackest night) at this point. Fucksake did the wanker who owned this ever fucking service it??? My answer was NO HE NEVER FUCKING DID as I also removed the power steering reservoir and drained what can only be described as molasses from it.

 

 

2) The vast majority of the hoses I removed, which were supposed to be rubber, actually has the consistency of something more like plastic and did this the moment I touched them. Good thing I have a full set of silicone replacements from the finest* sweatshops of China.

 

 

3) Inside of the oil vapour recirculation hardpipe, as mentioned above. Way too much shit getting back into the intake. Eliminating this completely with a catch can will solve so many problems. As long as it's routed correctly. Split T hose from turbo accordion and throttle body routed through the catch can to another split T hose going into the cam covers. Proper job. Proper positive (throttle body) and negative (turbo side) pressure crank case ventilation. Catch cans routed simply to atmosphere need removing and thrown as hard as possible into their owners face because they're doing FUCK ALL. Rant over.

 

 

4) Top intake pipe and horrible garish plastic engine cover removed. It will not be going back on. This is a pretty engine (when dressed correctly) and the cover just looks bloody awful. Most parts you see in this picture as going to be polished or powder coated tastefully, it will look like a complete different engine when I'm done with it.

 

 

5) Coil packs removed from the engine and central cover inspected.. which just made me want to throttle the previous owner. Utterly caked with oil and is the original central cover with flaking rubberised coating. This central channel cover is a service item and acts as an oil seal. It likely needed replacing about a decade ago and is an easy part to replace. LAZY. OWNERS. PISS. ME. OFF. It's not even like it's expensive either.

 

 

6) More crap to piss me off when I inspected the HT coil leads. Sigh. Fucksake.

 

 

 

7) The coil packs themselves are thankfully in good working order as they cost the sale of one stolen kidney and a bath full of ice to replace. Removed them from the backing plate which is getting powder coated to match the cover it sits on.

 

 

Unfortunately the coil pack grounding strap snapped as soon as I coughed from four miles away at it. Not a biggie, easy replacement. Just old wiring in a place that sees many hot/cold cycles.

 

 

9) After much fiddling, finally removed the throttle body and the idle control. Will not be routing the idle control back to its standard location on the turbo accordion as it does not require metered air in order to function. Simply filtered to engine bay air will work as it only operates at idle.. as the name suggests. Fewer hoses draped over the engine is always a good thing.

 

 

10) Aforementioned ICV and throttle body. Stripping them down, having them vapour blasted and polishing them up. Butterfly valve is coked up pretty badly with oily vapours and general grime.

 

 

NEXT TIME ON "JAPANESE TAT ADVENTURES", SEE OUR INTREPID HERO REBUILD A TURBO AND SWEAR WHILE BASHING/CUTTING/SEVERING HIS FINGERS.

[vulgalour]

Wow, you described it to me and I thought you were exaggerating.  That's pretty shocking treatment for this kind of car, but then the warning signs were already there with the orange and green paint in the engine bay.

[CreepingJesus]

Previous owner wasn't addicted to Tic Tacs, was he?

Good work though, and good luck with it. I'd imagine most of what's left of these that aren't already A1 will need un-Barry'd.

[MikeKnight]

Wow, you described it to me and I thought you were exaggerating.  That's pretty shocking treatment for this kind of car, but then the warning signs were already there with the orange and green paint in the engine bay.

 

I'll be taking the intake plenum off today depending how long the Alfa gearbox takes me, I expect to find a lovely coating of oil inside that too. Then onto the turbo and cam covers, then that's pretty much everything off at which point the turbo is being rebuilt and the rest sent off for powder coating/vapour blasting.

 

Decided to do the interior work before the suspension and brakes as the electrical problems are mounting (radio and lights working, not working, working, not working) and the rattles behind the dash are pissing me off. Thankfully the dashes in these cars are extremely easy to remove; four bolts and they literally pop out. Instruments are on a circuit board and come out as a complete unit. I do love Japanese cars, they rot for fun and fizz in the rain but they're (normally) a joy to work on.

[Rocket88]

Shall I change the oil today? No, I've got these cans of lurid green paint, I'll spray random components with it instead....................

[vulgalour]

"I should probably replace the brakes, they're getting a bit worn now.  Or... I could repaint the alloys in satin black so they look godawful.  Yeah, let's do that, stopping is for chumps."

[The Moog]

What is vapour blasting? Do they just play Turning Japanese at the for a prolonged period?

[Guest Hooli]

I had no idea any of these had survived so long.

 

All it needs is ginger indicators at the back & a standard backbox, oh & the right wheels.

[vulgalour]

The stuff that's being undone and put right highlights just why these didn't survive.  Having looked at other ones out there, they all seem to have been mistreated in the early 2000s and then scrapped not long after due to priority being made of questionable mods over things like oil changes and welding.

 

They're a funny car as well.  In auto form like this one they seem like they ought to be a grand tourer.  They're not terribly practical, or economical, but they are comfortable long distance and if Mike's mileage is anything to go by, easy to drive long distance.  With the straight six and a standard exhaust they're quiet and refined in that way the Japanese do so well and the interior trim is nicely appointed.  But then they've got that unnecessary turbo.

 

That's where it all goes a bit wrong for me.  They're too big to really be a sports car and watching the way it goes around corners it's not particularly tight, it gets a right lean on and looks incredibly unwieldy.  It has all the grace of a tea trolley loaded with blancmanges navigating a spiral staircase. It's fast but it's not shockingly so, it delivers the power smoothly and smartly but not with the shock and fun of something like an MR2.  It's also ridiculously heavy.

 

But then, this is a car that was aimed at the American market and I imagine up against something like a plastic Chevy it makes a lot of sense.  Nobody does corners in America anyway so that handling is probably never seen and it's likely a lot more competent than any of their domestic competition.

 

In conclusion, it has pop-up headlights so I like it.

[MikeKnight]

Yes, it's basically a Jap car for America, it's Toyota saying, "Look, we can do it too!", and trying to nudge out against 90's US muscle cars and grand tourers. There are a LOT of these surviving in the US and California especially has a huge Jap car scene with plenty of these touring around. They did not sell well in Europe as Europeans looked them over and were left scratching their heads wondering what market it was aimed at.

 

It needs the turbo as it's such a heavy car. You can get these in a Naturally Aspirated version too and it's like driving a diesel locomotive, no power at all. Love the engine as it's very easy to get from stock 250-or-so bhp up to 500 bhp at the flywheel before having to swap out the stock internals and turbo. Wonderful old cast iron block. The diff is a really nice limited slip with its own oil cooler.

 

I've never really put my foot to the floor as I wanted to service it first, it's not wise to rag an unknown quantity lest it suddenly go kaboom. But they are very, very, fast when you turn overdrive off and switch ECT (Electronically Controlled Transmission) on. I normally drive it with that off, so the gearbox is normally in full-on 90's lazy auto mode. ECT goes immediately to the redline area and holds it for longer before shifting up. The reason it leans a lot in the corners is because it has a double wishbone setup normally seen on GT's, it lets it down, but you can stiffen it up (and I am) with the aid of a much thicker ARB. The ARB they fit from the factory really isn't fit for purpose and does very little at all. That and they fit plastic drop links to the rear factory ARB... I mean really what the fuck were they thinking with those.. as they are known to snap like twigs when quarter mile racing.

 

ANYWAY.

 

I managed to wrestle the turbo off today but ran out of time for rebuilding it. It looks to be in good condition. I'm replacing the oil hard lines with soft lines from the US, much easier to service if I ever have to remove the turbo again. The CT26 turbo is nice for a factory lump.

 

 

One thing that concerned me was evidence of cracking around the wastegate, but they look like old stress cracks (the stock exhaust has virtually a flat wall infront of the wastegate so heat lingers there for a long time) and it's the only place they're present on the casting so I think I can get away with reusing it. I'll ask around on the Supra forums and see what people think first though as I don't want to rebuild a turbo I'll have to replace as it's a waste of quite an expensive rebuild kit.

 

[MikeKnight]

What is vapour blasting? Do they just play Turning Japanese at the for a prolonged period?

 

 

It's shot blasting but the equipment is specifically made for incredibly fine particles, so fine that it looks like water vapour. Not many people offer it as the equipment is relatively expensive.

 

Normally used on carbs or anything else that's bare alloy, it brings it up looking like brand new and is a perfect jumping off point for polishing.

[MikeKnight]

Well that's reassuring, I googled the cracking on the wastegate and apparently it's rare to find a CT26 that isn't cracked there. Just a design flaw in relation to heat and stress. Makes no difference to it holding pressure correctly, as long as the crack isn't creeping towards the turbine shaft which it isn't in mine.

 

Good stuff.

[purplebargeken]

Great thread, great car, blinding progress, twat cunt of a previous owner. It has pop up headlights which also means I like it. Plus it is white.

[Dave_Q]

I think that's a GT26 ie a Garrett with a Toyota stamped compressor cover.

 

Cracking to turbine housing isn't great news, need to see what the other side looks like really to see if there are any sealing issues. Should be fine to reuse as long at the valve seats properly.

 

The turbine housing is probably still available as a spare part if you did want to replace.

 

Sent from my Power using Tapatalk

[MikeKnight]

I'll be splitting it on Monday so I'll see what it's like from the other side.

 

Truth be told if it did go there are so many T4 upgrade kits on the market, including manifold, I'd probably just get one of those with a new intercooler. Least then I could have a proper Blow Off Valve and not the halfway house that Toyota put in from factory.

 

Still, the factory one does make a nice noise. Fweeee-pss-pss-pss-pss. And I am such a twat because I make it make that noise constantly.

[bub2006]

What's with the tattys?!

[Felly Magic]

POTATOES *optional Irish accent*

No, It's that Johnathan Piers Butler bloke and his fellow Sontarans!

[vulgalour]

Bub:  car came from Ireland in the dodgiest deal ever that should have seen Mike with no car and no money but somehow saw him with a private plate worth £££ (supposedly), a car that wasn't as much as perhaps it should have been and an opportunity to really hurt his own wallet in new and interesting ways.