Tomato Soup
Backstory:
I Traded my e46 bmw for a red 91 Targa Turbo without half an idea of what I was about to get myself into. I had always loved the mk3 supras but I just knew I wanted a car I could work on without dealing with any special tools or over-complicated German engineering. I've done some work on friend's cars, general maintenance and simple boltons but have never pulled or torn an engine apart and gotten my hands REALLY dirty. My father had a horrible experience with his car at a local body shop a few years back and from then on I had vowed that none of my cars would ever see the hands of a mechanic nor would I ever pay for any labor that I knew I could learn to do myself. I figured my skills would progress as I learned more about my car and any modifications I wanted to do.
The car
I enjoyed the car without having to do more than to replenish my oil due to a small leak from the cps and fill it up with gas. The previous owner had done a MHG with the block and head decked, along with ARP headware. Along with that added security came a 3in turbo back exhaust, 3in dp, intake, afpr, walrboro 255 and all the gauges I would ever want to look at. I had long term plans of maybe going with a 1 or 2jz but it was all just dreaming. Coming back from my first supra meet, I had noticed the oil pressure dropped to a significantly low level and I immediately pulled over, let the car cool down a bit and filled up the oil-thirsty 7M. When I started it up to get back onto the freeway, I noticed a tapping sound coming from the motor at 1-2k RPMS and as soon as I reached around 3k the sound would disappear. My heart dropped in my chest when it finally hit me, I've began to experience the dreaded rod knock I have so read about. I had only owned the car for a few weeks! Lets fast forward another few weeks or so. The knocking had slowly started to become more noticeable, I tried to drive it as little as possible but it was my only way to get around. While slowing down to a stop at a light, I heard the worst metal on metal grinding sound. The car stalled and to my dismay would absolutely not crank over. No leaks or smoke of any kind, just a dead stop. After a few minutes of cursing the world and supra gods, I got the car towed home and I began to troubleshoot. After a bit of research and fiddling around, it became clear the motor would not even crank/turn over by hand. The motor had seized and I would later find that I had spun a bearing.
I figured the cost of rebuilding the motor and having any sort of machine work done would out cost buying another 7mgte and simply swapping it in. That I was prepared to take on. After a month or two of searching I was able to find the perfect 7mgte for $500, he kept the turbo and exhaust manifold... I got the rest. With the help of two friends, we were able to pull the motor with tranny, bolt the tranny to the new motor, swap over what we needed and get the new motor in within 2 days.
Snow (sorta cleaned off) getting ready for pull
Pulling the motor(and destroying front bumper)
Obligatory shot (supra now powered by dave, no oil or bhg issues here, just a few screws loose)
1/2 Way there!
New motor in!
Beautiful coil pack plug
Still not done
Laid in this puddle hooking up slave master cylinder
This was a huge learning experience for me, actually tearing everything apart was fascinating. From there on, though, I was on my own. This process took about a month of about 30 hours of work per weekend (Saturday and Sunday) when I could come home from college. After repairing the brittle wires and plugs that were barely holding together with little strips of electrical tape, learning how the electrical system worked, when and what gets power, what needs to be grounded and where, I finally got the car to turn over and start.
A smile ran across my face and with eagerness as I filled up fluids, quadruple checked for any leaks/loose lines and set the ignition timing. I noticed the car was emitting light white smoke while it was warming up and I just dismissed it as just your average smoky start. I took it for a quick 2 minute spin up and down the street but the car ran poorly. The car began to emit a decent amount of white smoke so I quickly shut it off and began investigating. I knew white smoke was a sign of bhg so with the worst outcome in mind, I checked the oil cap. Sure enough, the interestingly colored buildup on the oil cap said it all. There also seemed to be some white smoke coming from where the block and head meet towards the back on the pass side.. so it could've only meant one thing. It was not the valve cover, I pulled and replaced the gaskets. Another thing to mention, the ct26 needs a rebuild.... The shaft play is unreal and the compressor wheel whines like an old faucet when coming to a stop after turning the car off.
Lets begin the teardown shall we?
I decided to start brainstorming on what direction I want to head in.
And so the build thread really begins here. Without a hp goal in mind, I'm aiming for reliability with the mentality of doing things once and doing them right.I don't want to play around and shoot the shit with numbers, once the car is tuned and running on a reliable and suitable daily-drivable map it'll go on the dyno and see where we're at.
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Whats to come:
Decked Head with 2mm HKS MHG + ARP Studs + gasket refresh (I plan to prep the block with fine grit sandpaper)
Pull wiring harness and clean up + heat shrink all plugs/wires
Refresh hoses
Starter Relay Mod
New thermostat
New shifter bushings
Flush and change all fluids
Drilled and slotted rotors
CxRacing T61 Turbo
CxRacing Intercooler 2.5in piping
Lexus AFM
Denso 550cc Injectors
ECU Master DET3 Piggyback
ACT 6 Puck Clutch
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Long term:
Megan Racing Ez street coilovers
Varrstoen es2
Puke green to Black interior dye
Undecided brand of bucket seat
A much needed repainting, leaning towards either matador red mica (lexus paint) or jet black
Updates to come!!!
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