Advice, opinions and help needed....

SHOOTER22250

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Nov 15, 2013
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Texas
It's a long story so I won't bore you with details, but I am working on an 88 Supra with the 7M-GTE engine. The car has 69,000 miles on it and up until about 5 years ago was pretty well maintained. Overall the body, interior and engine compartment all look to be in great shape.

From what I understand it was parked about 5 years ago and hasn't been driven since. I am assuming it was parked outside, but from looking at the windshield and body I'm not sure, pretty clean. It may have been under some cover, not sure

I was told they took it to an dealership and they wanted 4000.00 to replace the fuel system.

Anyway, after I got it, I checked all the fuses, visually, and gave it the once over.

The battery was dead (05 model) and I thought before I went and bought a bunch of parts (fuel pump, strainer, gaskets, battery etc) I would siphon out what gas I could out of the tank and refill with fresh.

Upon opening the fuel door, I noticed it was covered in dirt and was kinda sticky. I ran a plastic tube into the tank and pulled it out. On the inside of the plastic tube there was quite a bit of rusty looking material. I reversed the hose and tried again with the same result.

At that point, I decided to drop the tank. When I did, I remove the filler neck and looked inside the tank. I was surprised that there was about a half a tank of liquid in it. I tipped in on its end and poured it out. Instead of a clear liquid it was brown. After that I looked inside the tank and there was at least 3 handfuls of rust near the filler neck opening, I'm assuming it all come from tipping the tank on its end. The rest of the inside of the tank from what I can see is rusty as heck.

As far as I know the dealership never tried to start it.

That leads me to a few questions from the folks in the know.

Since the key was never turned on, as far as I know, do you think replacing the the tank with a new one, with all new hardware and changing the fuel filter be worth it? Or do you think the fuel lines, injectors, pressure regulator etc etc are in as bad a shape as the tank for sitting all those years.

Is the car worth the expense? It would take at least 700.00 just to replace the tank, pump, filler neck etc, etc and there would be no guarantee of it start even with all that done.

Another concern I have is the rest of the systems, like the AC. With it sitting so long, what are the possibilities the seals in the compressor have flattened out and leaked the R-12, the brakes, etc etc.

I was thinking of trying to find an electric pump that would produce the required pressure to feed the EFI system and hooking it up to the fuel line and trying get it running before buying all the new parts, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea or not. I'm thinking it would also need a hose on the return line to catch any excess fuel. What do you think would happen if I did? Any problems? I wouldn'trun it it more than a minute at a time if it ever started.

If you don't think its worth the effort, would it be better to part it out, or try and sell it outright?

I appreciate any and all thoughts, advice and opinions.
 

7M4EVR

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Oct 8, 2012
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fah, fah away
Welcome....The car only has 69,000 miles on it? Why was it parked in the first place is the biggest question, and how much did you steal it for? Post some pics of the body and engine please!!

Anyhow, you have to make the decision yourself if it is worth fixing it. However, if you're not willing to put in the time, money, and research to do it right, which doesn't sound like you are, then I wouldnt bother, especially for a low mileage car like that. Let someone that has a passion for these cars take it off your hands, PLEASE!

That being said, here is what i would do: Clean, and restore the tank myself, probably no need to replace it unless you can find a nice cheap replacement. There are numerous people if you search that have cleaned and restored the fuel tanks with success. It's not too difficult. Then I would take off the fuel rail and have the injectors flow tested or test them with a beaker per the TSRM, you can then easily inspect everything on the rail. take off the fuel filter and have someone blow some air through the line while you are standint at the end of the fuel feed line holding it over a bucket, although i doubt much would get past the filter, it can't hurt. Your obviously going to want to replace the filter and pump.

Once the fuel system is good move on to the other maintainence items, your going to want to replace all fluids (what is the condition of the oil that was in it just curious?) change the spark plugs, and check the plug wires over. At this point get the new battery in and give it a whirl. Likely there are much more maintainence items you are going to have to replace, but that is expected for a car sitting for 5 years. All would be worth it to me to have a 70,000 mile original supra on the road and running strong, but thats me.
 

Suprapowaz!(2)

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Apr 10, 2006
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Pea gravel and a couple of gallons of acetone/thinner. Some use muriatic acid. Strap it to your tractor wheel, jack up the rear of tractor, and let it go for a good while. What? Don't have a tractor. Then you'd have to do it by hand.

[video=youtube;eVZvjdQT3ks]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVZvjdQT3ks[/video]


Or take your tank to the radiator shop and have them acid dip & drain it. You could do that.
 

GrimJack

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Dec 31, 1969
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idriders.com
It's not terribly difficult to test most of the fuel system components by themselves. Pull the fuel rail off, remove the injectors, and take them to an injection shop that does cleaning and testing.

Testing the fuel pump is easy ... pull it out, plunk it in bucket of fuel, connect power, start stopwatch, check how much flow it's putting out. Same kind of deal with the fuel filter - hook up a pump to it, check that you still get the right flow, and that the fuel coming out is clean. Replacing the fuel lines, pump, and filter isn't much coin - I'd be shocked if the parts cost more than $300, and that's using an aftermarket high flow pump, flexible lines, and AN fittings. The cost to have the injectors cleaned and flowed won't be much either.
 

Suprapowaz!(2)

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Apr 10, 2006
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Injector cleaning usually runs about $20 a pop.
I plopped my fuel pump in a bucket of water, connected it, and tested the flow. I was worried about a spark igniting a bucket fuel of fuel, so I opted for water. Dried everything with compressed air, and dowsed it with WD40 after the test. Installed it, and all was good.
Hopefully all fuel lines are empty as they tend to drain back into the tank after sitting a while. That's probably why mine didn't have any junk in them.