Head gasket Replacement, what else?

[JustinSane]

Hey everyone,

I have my 1987 supra with a typical BHG. I bought it like that, as a project for cheap enough
its an 87 auto mk3 turbo.

I am about to pull the engine to do the head gasket. Its probably been beaten to death, but i did search for this and nothing came up related to what im looking for
The car came with an oem HG. Im not going to use it. I am going to get an HKS MHG, and ARP studs. Thats all common knowledge. I have different questions.

What ELSE should I do while its out? It has 167,000km (100,000 miles)

Obviously timing belt is going to be added to the list. but what else should i get? I want to do everything I can while the engine is out. My goals for the car are basically get the damn thing running, and if i can get some good power while im at it then great. im not looking for suggestions on power, I know what I need for that. What I want to know is, If I did get all the parts needed for say, ~450whp, what should be replaced now to make sure my motor stands up to it reliably?

Should i do, valve seals, front/rear main? etc, etc. etc. or should i just get the whole thing rebuilt while im at it? Dont really want to dump piles of money into this car though, since my MR2s take priority over this car.

 

[hvyman]

If you want to use a mhg the block needs to be disassembled so it can be machined for 30ra or better. So basically you would be doing a rebuild.

And with a rebuild you'd be crazy not to get a new gasket kit and replace any iffy hoses.

 

[JustinSane]

Yeah I guess the gasket set and full rebuild is pretty much a necessity. Should i go with any other better than stock parts? ie main bearings, arp mains etc. or would those type of parts only be needed for insane power levels? what about timing belt? OEM? aftermarket? Dont want to spend tons of money on this car, but certainly not going to cheap out on anything thats necessary.

 

[hvyman]

You can use clevite Or acl bearings. Crank should be polished and checked for what size you need.

You can reuse stock main bolts ot get arp. Up to you.

Timing belt you can use gates.

Driftmotion.com

 

[JustinSane]

Awesome thanks,

I guess first order of business is to get the motor out of the car, and disassemble it, I was kinda hoping to have the parts at the ready, but i wont be able to know what i need until I get the head and block back from the machine shop.

Now I guess Ill have to let the phone tag begin lol.

 

[hvyman]

Ya definality find a good machine shop and not just the cheapest one. Seen many disasters from people using bad machine shops.

 

[Cyrus]

arp main studs are probably overkill for 450whp, stick with stock. will save you some cash, as the arp studs would probably need you to align bore the block for installation which = more machine shop work. not to mention the studs themselves arent cheap. the 7m block, when built properly to stock specifications, will handle 450hp.

definitely replace seals, hoses, and gaskets where ever you can. 400-450whp in its quickest and easiest form, in my opinion, is an upgraded turbo, lexus afm, 550cc inj, walbro pump, afpr, boost controller. these + metal headgasket + refreshed cylinder head (valve job & valve adjustment) and stock short block should get you close to your goal while keeping the car reliable and safe.

good luck!

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

All of this is looking extremely familiar, down to the HP goals for the finished engine.

Currently my block is at Weldandgrind in Edmonton, if you want to see what kind of work they do, I'll be picking it up early next week. the hot tanked and magnafluxed the block, (repaired a small crack at a bolt hole) surfaced the deck and honed the cylinders, polished the crank and my cams. They also did the valve job on the head and decked that. Everything is better than 30RA, so it's good to go with the MHG that I'm installing with ARP studs.

I got the gasket kit from Driftmotion, which came with the new valve stem seals, as well as a lot of other things that I'll need.