Gilsdorf's Long Road to Automotive-Nirvana

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
Well I figured it was about time that I started one of these Build Threads to help document what I’ve been doing to this car.

I bought this 1989 Turbo in 1992 off of Irvine Toyota’s lot while I was still in the US Marine Corps after my ZX7RR race bike was stolen. I wasn’t even looking for a car; in fact I was coming back from a Ducati Motorcycle dealership with a buddy who wanted to stop off and see the new MKIV Supra. While he was talking (dreaming) with the salesman I was off strolling the car lot. I found it sitting out front and loved the lines and aggressive styling. It was in excellent shape inside and out with about 80,000 non smoker highway miles.

I drove it around in stock configuration for the next five years, until a high speed run from Tijuana to Dana Point (hit 150+ several times and rarely dropped below 110), overheated and blew the head gasket. Aftermarket support was minimal (HKS and a few others), so I put it back together with a stock head gasket and had the turbo rebuilt by Turbo City (no CT-26 60-1 back then). She ran great for another 2.5 years, until the dreaded waterfall behind the dash started to appear. I moved to Colorado and swapped a JDM 7MGTE (I kept the original engine, to rebuild later) into her along with K&N Fipk, Greddy SP exhaust, HKS DP, Apexi AVCR, new Toyota clutch, springs and struts, strut tower bars, cross drilled rotors, SS brake lines and a few other small cosmetic things.

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This really woke up the potential for more power in her and in me! This configuration lasted until I blew the JDM HG in 2003. I got married and started a new life—the Supra sat for a year and a half before I started collecting parts for the rebuild. I decided to do it right and spared little expense: Pauter rods, 0.017 Ross pistons (coated by Swain Tech), PWR radiator with FAL dual fans, Toyota oil pump and bearings, ARP mains and head studs, RC 550, Lexus AFM, Aeromotive AFR, SAFC-2, BOSS 550 DBB turbo (58 trim with big shaft), Jet coated and ported exhaust manifold, Spearco IC, Defcon hard pipes, Greddy BOV, S&T sway bars, RT down pipe, test pipe, RPS flywheel, Spec 3 clutch with SS line.

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I actually bought the very first commercially available BOSS Turbo (Thanks Charles):
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A friend of mine gave me the tires off of his Audi S4 so I went out and bought some new ROH Drift-R 17x8 rims. Liked the lip, now they look small compared to the new 18” Stern rims.

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After I found some Super White trim:
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At SILV05
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Last edited:

oscolivar1

Supraism
Feb 8, 2006
1,000
0
0
36
Virginia beach
nice !!! pauter rods and ross pistons good choice!
whats back there i see spec stage 3 and what flywheel is that??

just wondering.... what'cha use to paint the valve covers??
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
I drove this set up for about 3000 miles and loved the power it delivered, but we could never seem to get it tuned correctly. I bought an Innovative LM-1 WB to help, but still couldn’t get the car to run as strong as it could. Then I decided to go standalone and bought and installed an AEM EMS, Magnacore plug wires, colder iridium plugs, had it tuned by 9Second Racing, and loved spinning the tires at 80+mph! She went from pretty strong to HOLY SHIT Strong! The problem was that the tune was terribly lean and I ended up melting a piston. 9second didn’t want to help out so I started another rebuild.

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Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
Into the new engine went 0.040 Wiseco coated slugs, new bearings, new water pump, brand new factory wiring harness, new oil cooler, and Canton Mecca Accusump and 8micron remote filter system, new starter and alternator, new factory Toyota battery cables. Remanufactured progressive steering rack with SupraSport bushings.

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Wired the on/off switch for the Accusump into one of the coin holders:
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I was trying to get to SILV06, and found Don Walker’s shop (Horsepower R&D, in Aurora, CO) to help me tune the new set-up. His name has been recommended to me by a few of the import guys I know in this area, but I never could find where he was last working, everybody knew him but no one knew where he was working. He has since started his own shop and is doing well. Don was able to get a stable idle and fairly smooth off boost drivability, but once the turbo passed 20psi she would break up really bad and start blowing black smoke out of the tailpipe, the WB would say rich, but not overly rich, we figured that it was blowing out the plugs and needed better coils.

He suggested some quick fixes to get me to Vegas in time for SILV, and some better long term solutions for much more reliable power. I missed Vegas '06 and am still pouring obscene amounts of money into this car.
 

suprahero

naughty by nature
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
14,971
0
36
53
Roll Tide
Wow, I applaud your persistance and loyalty to the MKIII. You're car is going to be badass when you get the bugs worked out of it. It looks really good............lol
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
The latest set up has a Ron R. short runner manifold and alt bracket, 780cc injectors, Q45 throttle body, Hayabusa coils, MSD-4, 12x24x3 intercooler, HKS SSQV, AEM UEGO with gauge, Lo-Tec triple pillar pod, custom stainless steel hard pipes (2.5” hot side, 3” cold side), custom upper and lower radiator pipes, stainless 4” intake, N/A PS reservoir, Greddy catch can vented through the exhaust, Titan adjustable cam gears, LIPP traction arms, brand new factory Toyota bumper skin with a Chargespeed Turbo-A-Duct, Shineauto East Bear lip (being prepped for paint as you read this).

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Once the IC pipes are all finished they (along with the manifold, valve covers, rad pipes and a few other items) are going to be sent to the polisher for some bling bling love. The Q45 throttle body is probably going to be powder coated black or silver.
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
The new 18's:
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They are by Stern (ADR) and are 18x8.5 with 245/40 front and 18x9.5 with 265/35 in the rear. Offset is 35 and 32The tires are BFG KDW-2s that I bought from Tire Rack. Here are some mounted pics:

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(Kevin M. sunshade from the first GB a couple of years ago).

I also picked up some lightweight forged aluminum lug nuts and locks, these are amazingly light compared to the regular steel ones. These are by 5Zigen, but I have seen lots of other companies making them, they run about $100-135 for a set (16+4 locks and key), certainly not cheap but a good place to save some weight.

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rs4buddy

New Member
Apr 8, 2006
29
0
0
EArth
question, how much did the tires cost you? if you dont want to say it then its ok. but just wondering

thanks
jason
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
rs4buddy said:
question, how much did the tires cost you? if you dont want to say it then its ok. but just wondering

thanks
jason

Jason,
I bought snow tires for my other ride at the same time so the bill for 8 tires was over $1500, but if I recall I think the BFGs were around $200 each.

Other ride: 2006 V70R 6mt 300hp AWD
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Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
I got in on that leatherseats.com group buy in 2005, and had them put black perforated alacantra (fake suede) in the center and on the door panels. Loved how it turned out, but for the money I think the fit/quality could have been better (one of the tabs was sewn in the wrong spot, so it had to be corrected before they would fit; and there is alread a small wear spot on one of the side bolsters).

Some interior shots:

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I do have the TRD GB knob and it fits great, there is no point in putting it on just to take it off to install the shifter boot (also brand new factory Toyota, along with the e-brake cover).

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