Inyg's "Average Joe" Build Up ¶:P

[Inygknok]

LAST UPDATE: December 30, 2006 - 2:58pM
Got most of the pictures of the interiors uploaded. Hope you like them. I will try to upload the video of the scratch test tonight.


Type of Supra:
1988 Supra turbo, white, with sports roof. 7M-GTE engine.


What I mean with "Average Joe":
By no means I am talking about the "Average Joe" as in the typical, "Oh, I own a Honda and have absolutely no idea what the fuck I am doing, but I like to pretend I do cuz I have stickerzzz LOL r0x0rz". No, don't get me wrong. I mean the "Average Joe" as in the type that has some knowledge with cars, mostly mechanical. I have worked with cars for quite some time now, and like most people of my age (at the moment, 21), I still have a LONG way to go. I can do many of the things by myself, but it's always nice to have someone with more experience to give a hand whenever possible, "2 heads are better than 1".

I do not expect everyone to like each and every single one of my ideas, but I do expect people to at least respect my decisions... at least the "smart" ones lol. I am extremely serious with what I do to my Supra, as it's one of my prized, material possessions. I am pretty easy going, but I like to work hard on it and for it.

Sometimes it may appear that I am being "cheap", but that's why I call this the "Average Joe" build, because the "Average Joe" doesn't have $3,000 to throw into the car each time something breaks or each time I feel like changing something. I am simply showing methods that I have discussed with many members that might be the simpler way to other more innovative, yet more expensive methods other members have found. I will constantly go through the threads here in Supramania to research more into the different modifications I am considering, and for new ideas. So for those who read through my thread, you can feel at ease in knowing that I have taken my time (sometimes not as much, but better than nothing) in searching and trying to learn. I will remind you again, I am by no means a mechanical guru nor a Supra guru, but I will definately DO my best at going through this method of a build up/restoration.

So I will dedicate this build up to all of those out there that maybe don't have the best welding skills in the world, nor the most knowledge in automotive mechanics, or the most expensive tools in the market, etc.. Or as I like to call them, the "Average Joe's".

Hope you enjoy .



Thanks to the following SM members that have helped:
a) tubbie - selling me some parts I needed
b) sethron71 - inspiring me with his FFIM design: HERE
c) theWeezL - doing such a damn good job with the group buy of his well known WeezlWings!

 

[Inygknok]

Ok! First off, pictures of the WeezlWings. Will try to get it painted in January.


Note that WeezL is so kind in sending along with the proper bolts to use

Right after opening the box

Does weigh just about 18 pounds, easy to carry

Shot I took standing on the hood, pardon the mess inside the car

How it looks from the back.

From the driver's side. Excuse the windows, but I removed everything associated with the battery to relocate it, so the windows are stuck up in the meantime (and I am not going to remove the doors to lower them with some thin electric cables).

How it looks sitting from inside (back seat to be exact)

Close look at the front section. Sexiest part of the whole brace.

How it would look if we could have the top on at the same time (no, we can't)

 

[Inygknok]

Here is how I decided to cover up the electrics in the engine bay. Do know that there are many ways and they are all preferred by different people.

I could've gone with just covering them with electrical tape, but it gets messy when the tape gets old and when you're taking it off. I could have also just bought plastic shields, but I wanted to leave that idea for the next mk3.

Split looms tend to look nice. Heck, it's what was used originally in our cars. Yet, after 18 years (in my car's case), it was time to take out the old looms and replace them with new ones. I chose red cuz having everything else black and "silver-ish" just wasn't cutting it for me on this project. Also, I had painted the coil packs red, and it gave the engine bay a bit of life. So why not have the electrics covered in red? :icon_razz


How the engine looked right when I bought it, without the covers

Painted the valve covers gloss black. I know, I should have prepped and sanded them correctly. Still look decent though!

What I was talking about when I mentioned the coil packs

New main loom. Pay attention to the black tape and how it isn't properly wrapped around (doesn't have straight lines along the sides). DON'T DO THAT! Take the time to make it look nice, or at least cut those extra edges (I did after the picture, just to make a point).

How the cables look after taking out the old split looms. Take the time to cover them with new tape. Also, be sure to make it tight.

The looms don't like strong radius turns, so it's best to cut it and connect the following section with a reasonable amount of tape. Be sure to pull it tightly so the bumps on the loom come out through the tape. Also, try to keep covering in one direction so it looks uniformed

You can see the starter motor's cables sticking out through a rectangular hole at the top of the picture. Make sure to measure properly before trying to do anything (unlike I did that one time). You may need to cut small holes to pull out some cables, since not all exit through the same side. Just wrap some table all around the area tightly and it will look just perfect (like I did a bit more down the road).

Shot from afar with plenty of the loom work done. Don't let the picture fool ya, the looms are a very strong red. The camera likes to NOT filter out the tropical sun light, making the looms appear somewhat pinkish. Just look around the pictures for the ones that look truly red, that's the actual color of the looms themselves.

I used black tape around the sections that tend to have about 5 bundles of wires sticking out in all directions. I can twist the black tape all around and then cover it in a uniform fashion and no one will ever notice (or just not complain as much). Also, it kind of helps give it a bit more contrast along the way

A bit from the old looms. We don't want that around anymore, do we?

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

amazing how much replacing the looms can clean up the bay so much! subscribed.

 

[Inygknok]

Thanks CryoSlash. Sometimes the "average Joe" cheap mods do work just fine.

Anyhow, here is something I'm doing to cover up screws that show up in the interiors. For example, screwed on A-Pillar pods. I could have bought a new one, but more important things needed my attention. So for now, I stuck to the one I already had and worked with it, just like some people will tend to do. It's the average Joe way .

I know people will ask me why there are so many caps covering the screws as soon as they see the pictures, so I will answer right now before the pictures. The previous owner didn't do such a good job at placing it correctly, so he had drilled about 5 or 6 holes in the pod. I was going to place magnets for extra support, but I will be doing that later on. For now, here is how to hide some of the revealed screws in our interiors in a way that seems quite proper.

Aside from the pillar pod, I also did the same with the screws that hold the door panels, in the front section of them (there's 2). They are only about 8 cents a piece, so you can feel free to cover as many of them as you want (like the ones at the bottom trim of the door panels, etc., just don't over do it).


My EGT and boost gauges before I gave them a coat of gloss black and some polyurathen clear cloat.

Look at the center screw on top. We will be working with this one.

Screw caps I was talking about.

Screw with the cap on. You can simply open and close it as you wish.

And finally closed. That was easy, wasn't it?

On the door panel.
PICTURE IN JUST A WHILE. JUST REALIZED I DIDN'T SAVE IT IN THE PC!

 

[NashMan]

it's good to run zap straps o the lum as well
or wrape in in many diffetn dretions

 

[Inygknok]

it's good to run zap straps o the lum as well
or wrape in in many diffetn dretions

Yeah, you can. Though personally, I'm not a big fan of those zip ties and such. At least not for the looms.

The one advantage is that even if the ties get toasted from the engine heat, they will keep holding. Electric tape MIGHT give up after some time (could take years though), but if you tighten it correctly, it will hold just fine.

 

[NashMan]

oh yae use good tape and only good tape 3m

 

[Inygknok]

Now time for the shots of the interiors. First, the old interiors. I have very few shots since these were taken right when I bought the car about 3 years ago (Summer 2003).


I don't know what happened to this seat....

Rear seats. They were actually in pretty good condition, but still needed a color change. I still don't know if I'm keeping them though.

From the passenger side

Just for the heck of it, I might get a new TEMS controller. This one looks so worn out already!

The trunk. Had to use the broom stick to help support the hood.

 

[suprahero]

Looking good. Are you relocating your battery because of the ffim, or just to make it look cleaner? I think I may have to relocate mine as well, and was wondeirng how you did yours. I will do a search on it later tonight, but right now I've got to go outside and clean my R-154.................lol

 

[Inygknok]

Looking good. Are you relocating your battery because of the ffim, or just to make it look cleaner? I think I may have to relocate mine as well, and was wondeirng how you did yours. I will do a search on it later tonight, but right now I've got to go outside and clean my R-154.................lol

I wanted the engine bay to look cleaner, but also relocating it due to the FFIM. I'm still not exactly sure as to how I want to pull it off. I wanted to put the battery where the back seat is, but I just might keep the back seat on since this will be a weekend cruiser. What I WAS thinking of doing was, you know that black plate that lies in between the 2 rear panels? Right below that long bar where the cover for the trunk lies. It serves a bit as a support for the wooden piece in our trunks, for its front section. I guess I'll attach a picture later today (I promise) if you guys dont get it.


Anyhow, I was planning on placing the battery box right on top of it, just not sure if the targa top will clear it when it's on the trunk. I don't really like the idea of having the battery anywhere in the main cabin.


Btw, my apologies I haven't placed the pictures of the new interiors yet, still trying to figure out why the PC won't read my ipod.

 

[Inygknok]

Here they finally are, the new interior pics. Obviously, I'm not done yet :icon_bigg, but this is my progress so far. Also, for those of you who are curious into how I dyed the doors black, I used a special spray for this. The picture is somewhere in this forum..... I'll direct link to it straight from this post as soon as I find it. I know it's a post I made asking for opinions about a month ago. I also have a video doing a scratch test, for those of you with doubts. I will upload it to photobucket later tonight.


Re-done roof panel. Yes I know, I was exhausted that day and dressed up like shit :nono:

Turn up your contrast and brightness settings to maximum for this shot. The camera flash would make the roof look grey.

Here is what I was talking about. Roof looks grey (although, for all of you who wanted a black interior with grey accents, and wanted a grey roof cover, it looks damn nice!

Dome lights. Now silver-ish

Shot of the dash after peeling off all the old leather on the steering wheel.

Shot inside including the passenger door (was testing the looks)

Shot I took inside sitting in the trunk.

Cluster.

Speedometer and tachometer on. I had a bigger and better version of this picture, but I had edited it looooong ago to make a wallpaper. Then cardomain screwed up the picture and this was all I had left.

More of the cluster on.

Replaced the cruise control switch with another change holder. Might replace it with a switch for something.... no idea what yet.

Shot of the back panels in the trunk. Was cleaning around that day.

One of the 2 clips fell on that shot. Ooops!

Trunk with new carpet job.

Steering wheel after matching it. Aftermarket steering wheels are WAY too expensive and they really aren't necessary for a weekend driver.

 

[suprahero]

Looking awesome!!!!!!!!!!
Keep the pictures coming.

 

[Inygknok]

Hey guys, sorry that it has been months since I last posted anything, but I didn't have much work done. In fact, I didn't even touch the car until March. I was busy with university and a few personal matters. As to what's new.... every nut and bolt has been replaced with a stainless steel one. The only exceptions are big bolts that weren't available in stainless, and have been replaced with Grade 8 regular steel instead. Bolts that were in deep places that will NEVER be seen (like the heat shield behind the turbo on the firewall) were replaced with some of those black Grade 8 bolts, along with those on the manifold (I hate how they get orange though).


Check out the bolts holding down the valve covers, plus the tiny allen bolts that hold down the coil pack.

Master cylinder, strut caps, the bracket on the right, and at the top left you can see the lower part of the intake manifold, all with !!!MORE!!! stainless steel nuts and bolts.

Fuse box bracket.

Why not replace those on the timing cover as well?

Close up of those holding the water pump.

Not only are there more stainless bolts here, but I also swapped out the GTE power steering reservoir for the NA model. IMO, it looks cleaner and is a lot easier to work with. Not to mention, it fills up that empty space next to the intake.

 

[Inygknok]

It's been quite a while since I posted. Thing is I had a lot of personal issues to deal with, but as of now I am officially working on the car again. The plan is to get it moving under its own power within the following 2-3 weeks. I even had to move it out of the building since some cop wanted to take it away for bullshit reasons. It was going to be expensive to hire my lawyer for this and I wasn't going to get anything out of it, so I had to move the car twice. But that's over.

Anyhow, I don't have any new pictures but I will be posting what I can as soon as I start working on it. The next new pictures won't contain much as we're just going to get it moving under its own power like I previously said. A bit after Christmas I'll have the remaining money to complete it, but it's progress.


So, sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience!

 

[airhead04]

Hey how did you change the color of your interior? Type of paint and stuff

 

[Inygknok]

I will take a picture of the spray can in a few minutes since the camera lacks the SD memory card and only lets me take one shot. (I'll edit this post), but it's called SEM Color Coat. On monday (and today) I got to see my car after a whole year. The car spent about a year and a half in my parking lot, under NO shade at all (in hot Puerto Rican weather) and then at 2 different houses that are sort of what we call mountainside (I'm a city boy ). I have to say that the painted sections with this spray are actually just as swell as the first day that I painted them. The only prepping required is cleaning up the sparts with plenty of soap and water. I used distilled water. Other than that, a few coats in good heat and you're good to go. The grey sections were actually remade with grey, perforated vynil. The really silver-ish sections were actually some white primer, a can of chrome paint, and some clear acrylic paint. I'm not too fond of it since it tends to yellow after a long time. I'm "meh" about that part but I don't really care. It's the black portions that have impressed me. Pic in a bit.


EDIT: Camera won't save that one picture it used to let me save without the memory card. I'll try again later in the week when I grab one.