8 years, 7 months and 4 days...

JustinGotA1j

New Member
Jan 28, 2007
532
0
0
Chilliwack
How did the shop manage to keep the car for 9 years? Seems wierd to me. Care to get into a few details on this? Very nice car to by the way; I can't wait to see it finished.
 

turboBB

New Member
Mar 14, 2008
12
0
0
NJ
JustinGotA1j;963722 said:
How did the shop manage to keep the car for 9 years? Seems wierd to me. Care to get into a few details on this? Very nice car to by the way; I can't wait to see it finished.

Considering we finally just got over the fact that the car is sitting in our garage and not in "The name that shall not be uttered for we nearly spit blood every time we think of that F@#$@#!!!"'s shop, I'd actually care not to discuss it lest I keel over from high blood pressure. :icon_evil

If there was ever a situation that can define Murphy's Law, I think this would be it. In terms of trying to get the car back:

a) I've tried BBB and small claims court (value of car exceeded $3K threshold so they couldn't do anything)
b) I've contacted lawyers ("Are you certain you'd like to pursue this? I mean, it's not like it's a Ferrari so you may end up spending more on legal fees than the car is worth and I do charge $300/hr...")
c) I've contacted the police ("Well, you say you know this guy and you know where the car is so it's not like it's stolen, you should contact a lawyer (see b) or pursue him via small claims... (see a))

Suffice to say, at this point, I just want to focus on getting her up and running and catch up on all the enjoyment we missed out all these years!

Thx to Keylan's post for the motiviation as well as the supportive members here, I'm sure I can make this a reality. I just need to find the time to work on her and that's going to be a real challenge given I have a 2 yr old going through the "terrible two's" stage and we are expecting another child in July.

But, after nearly 9 years, suffice to say that a few more months will not be an issue in order to see this through.
 

AF1JZ

Almost civilian status...
Jun 26, 2006
3,109
0
0
Fredericksburg, VA
turboBB;963945 said:
Suffice to say, at this point, I just want to focus on getting her up and running and catch up on all the enjoyment we missed out all these years!

That's what we like to hear!!! Keep the motivation and get her all done up. Or you can just sell it to me, I'll buy it right now as it sits ;)
 

cool chuck

I like rims!
Nov 15, 2007
179
0
0
Maryland
Wow. Sorry they had your car that long. Good luck getting her up and running again. Just keep thinking of all the fun you'll have driving it and only 41k on a TT!
 

supramanocnsd

New Member
Mar 15, 2008
64
0
0
Oceanside Cali SD baby
lol I drive my 94TT daily and its only got 41,000mi on it... the first 2 owners were really nice to it... not me... this baby is on the road... I can not believe a body shop had your car that long... thats unreal...
 

turboBB

New Member
Mar 14, 2008
12
0
0
NJ
Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates, have just been so swamped with many obligations. Given that, I haven't made much progress on Gumji.

I did manage to get both front seats cleaned up:
2394894988_c2b5a017d4_o.jpg

(passenger seat)

I'm very glad whatever dirt was on the yellow piping came out during the cleaning. I hope I have the same success with the rear seats.

I also got a new battery and after carefully checking that all the cut wires from the old sound system have been wrapped up in tape, I installed it and turned the switch to on and she came to life. Wow... I never thought I'd be so happy to hear the chiming from the key reminder. :icon_razz Looked at the mileage and it reads 41,595 so I wasn't too far off with the estimate.

Next is to just get her all cleaned up and to organize/clean the parts so that when I finally do tow it to BP, John and his crew can just focus on putting her back together rather than dusting her off.

BTW, the Alpine alarm system was still functional so I'm glad they didn't gut it. I had everything nicely hooked up with an SEA-8081 core and the Smart Windows II from Clifford as well as a remote starter and trunk release. It came with a 2-way LCD display remote and certain features of the alarm can even be viewed/programmed through the in-dash LCD display (CVA-1000). I also had an Alpine paging system put in as well. The only thing that I recall was really bad about this set up was that the range was horrible. Bruce at Sound Effects had mentioned it was due to the metallic tint. Hmmmm... Can anyone confirm if tints affect alarm range?

Otherwise, it's a pretty kick a$$ system even to this day.

Also, I'm looking for recommendations on a replacement exhaust. I'd like the quietest aftermakert set up that would have a deep rumble. Not sure if any of you have ever heard the exhaust note on a 3.0i Z4 but if there's anything that sounds like that, that'd be absolutely killer.

TIA!,
Tim
 

turboBB

New Member
Mar 14, 2008
12
0
0
NJ
Finally got around to cleaning her up and organizing the parts a bit. Have towed her to John @ BP today but after some initial discussions, sounds like I have a major repair bill ahead. According to John, it's about a month's worth of work. He'll call to give me a quote tomorrow.

Looks like I may have to do bare minimum to get her up and running (+ to pass inspection) and then repair the interior myself as time and resources permits.

I'll post pics as soon as progress is made.
 

turboBB

New Member
Mar 14, 2008
12
0
0
NJ
Stopped by John today as he has made some progress, however, they can't get her started. They initially thought it might be due to the alarm (Alpine SEA-8081) but this alarm only came with a starter relay cut off and not a fuel or ignition cut off. Given that the starter cranks, they now think it may be bad ECU due to no spark also they don't hear the fuel pump priming when the key is turned to On so it could also be a bad pump relay or the pump itself. Hopefully they'll get it sorted out soon...

All belts, plugs, fluids and water pump changed:
2469198089_c87e571fea_o.jpg


Driver's side window installed:
2469198155_3bd7dbe6f6_o.jpg

I was originally going to tint it to match the rest of the car but John mentions that NJ laws have changed since I've applied these tints and that currently, you are not allowed to have any sort of tint on the front windows at all. I wasn't aware of this (but then again, I've not tinted a car since this one).

All aftermarket stereo wiring removed and trunk being prepped to have original parts re-installed along with original sub and speakers:
2469198255_15286a39fa_o.jpg
 

cruisnhard

SM Member
Sep 27, 2007
236
0
0
40
Waupun, Wisconsin
Nice. Sorry about the bad luck. I would have just went in and got it. I had a similar situation and e just showed up with a truck and a few friends and puled it home.
 

turboBB

New Member
Mar 14, 2008
12
0
0
NJ
UPDATE!

Mad props to John Nouri and his crew (thx Alex, Chris and apologies to anyone I might have missed) at Broadway Perfromance for all the hard work in restoring Gumji!!

Mechanically, she is as rock solid as I can recall and drives beautifully. The engine is super smooth and passed a compression test with flying colors. Unfortunately given the additional issues discovered during repairs (faulty ECU, fuel pump + pump relay) plus tons of missing/damaged parts that needed to be replaced, the repairs are now way above the budget we had allocated so I had to take her home as is. There's still some stuff here and there to be done but I think the pics below speak for themselves as to the type of work that BP provides.

I discovered some minor stuff after I came home (door locks, air filter, squeaky brakes, front right marker light) but after a quick call to John, he assured me he will address them so I just need to find some time to stop by next week. Without that marker light installed, I won't able to pass an inspection thus the '99 sticker is still on.

However, bottom line is if you need work done on your Supra (or any other car but since this is a Supra forum...) regardless of which Gen it is, you can trust John and his crew!

And as the saying goes online, if there are no pics, it didn't happen so without further ado...


At the shop day before she came home (look at that shine!!!!) :love::
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And finally after 8 years, 10 months and 3 days... back in our driveway! :icon_razz
2598929753_278f679a1f_o.jpg

(they wet sanded and buffed the body to the shine you see but alas, the bumper was in too bad a shape and will need to be repainted, it'll have to wait as I don't have funds for that now)

2599758798_5e97649f67_o.jpg


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I'll post a WTB for some interior parts later but please PM if you can refer me to a junkyard/site where I can purchase used parts from. I'm on a really tight budget now so replacing new will have to be an absolute last resort if I can't source the parts from anywhere else.

P.S. Eric, thx for the referral buddy!
 
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ViR2

Supraniac
May 20, 2006
932
0
16
36
Lithuania
www.hpaddict.eu
I'm happy for you mate ;) My car had similar story, with being "stolen" by a body shop, I managed to get her back only then when I've sent some "businessman" to hunt the owner. So, good luck bringing her back ;)
 

Boost Lee

Bee Doo Bee Doo Bee Doo
Staff member
Sep 13, 2006
2,750
0
0
Indianapolis, IN
Holy Mother of Dust! Look at that interior and engine bay! :aigo:

Yeah...I'd say after almost 9 long years, that'll do it.. ;)

It's unfortunate that all of that happened previously...
However, I'm glad to see that you've built up the motivation to get it going again.

I assure you, your situation could be much worse (As far as the physical condition of the Supra goes).

Good luck with everything! I look forward to seeing you bring it back to life.

Jeff
 

BP95GSX

New Member
Mar 21, 2008
5
0
0
Passaic/Totowa NJ
Tim, it was a pleasure dealing with you and your wife. Your Supra came a long way in the last month and a half. I really hope you find the room to keep it. You and put a lot of sweat and work and $$$$ into getting it where it is today. With a little more work, it will look like it never happened.
 

eman2289

Noob..but not incompetent
Feb 23, 2007
618
0
0
Jersey
Good to see that it made it home safely. It looks great, as I told you when you were at BP. Good luck, and maybe, just maybe you will find the time, space, and money to keep her. Good Luck!