Not sure where to begin

[AW11inVa]

So out of fear of screwing up I am stuck. I dont have alot of money to put into this and need to do it as cheaply as possible. I just want a nice daily driver. I am not building a race car. I have the head off my JDM motor for a head gasket. The JDM looks pretty good except for some rust in the water pipes and passages. I will order a seal and gasket kit soon. I am not sure if I want to completely rebuild the head or just have it milled. I am not sure I want to get involved in disturbing the valve shims. I searched the past threads and have the jist of what I need to do but I am not sure what order I should proceed in.

I have been pretty lucky on the last few car restorations as I just pulled running motors out of wrecked cars and put them straight in my projects with no problems.

How would you more experinced guys recomend I proceed with a decent JDM motor and a goal of just having a daily driver.

 

[Rennat]

Just order a gasket set, and make sure you torque the bolts to 75 or 80ft lbs. I would get the head some valve seals at the least. My machine shop did the head for under $200... which included the shimming...

I'm confused though... did you order a JDM motor, or did you just work on the motor thats in the car now???

 

[AW11inVa]

I ordered a JDM....the P.O. threw a rod on the # 6 cyl. through the block on both sides on the original motor.

I have never taken anything to a machine shop to have rebuilt I dont want to get suprised with a high bill ya know.

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

So out of fear of screwing up I am stuck. I dont have alot of money to put into this and need to do it as cheaply as possible. I just want a nice daily driver. I am not building a race car. I have the head off my JDM motor for a head gasket. The JDM looks pretty good except for some rust in the water pipes and passages. I will order a seal and gasket kit soon. I am not sure if I want to completely rebuild the head or just have it milled. I am not sure I want to get involved in disturbing the valve shims. I searched the past threads and have the jist of what I need to do but I am not sure what order I should proceed in.

I have been pretty lucky on the last few car restorations as I just pulled running motors out of wrecked cars and put them straight in my projects with no problems.

How would you more experinced guys recomend I proceed with a decent JDM motor and a goal of just having a daily driver.

Do it right if you want a dependable DD. I'd take the head to the shop and let them clean it up, check out the head, do a valve job, check and set the valve lash, and clean out the block the best you can, there's another thread that talks about cleaning out the rust. If it were me I'd want to make sure the bottom end is OK, which means taking everything apart and checking everything.

Did I forget anything Cuel?

 

[Tire Shredder]

JDM motors can be a hit or miss. some have excellent results some have horrible experiences.

most JDM motors are under 40,000km...so you need to ask yourself. If you knew you were getting rid of your car in 40k when you bought it new, how often would you change the oil?

that being said, since money sounds really tight... just put it in and try it...see what happens. If you it's bad, all you've lost out on is time. buy an ebay gasket set. I bought one for $80 shipped from a seller called "gaskets4less" they look just look beck-arnley seals.

if that JDM motor had signs of of BHG, have the gasket surface inspected for warpage and machined if necessary.

 

[cuel]

Nope, you covered it pretty well

Check out the "Rock" brand gasket kits. I get them at Excel Auto Parts around here. The head gasket is very similar to a Felpro, and most of their kits come with Viton valve seals. All around a good kit for the price, usually runs around $100 or so, where the Felpro is around $200.

 

[labrat469]

Personally I would take the whole motor to the machine shop so there will be no surprises later on. Have the block checked for warping and the cylinders checked out to see if they are oversized, egg shaped and/or tapered. Also get the oil pump and crank checked out to. We all know how 7M's loves to spin bearing because a lack of lubrication.

Your choices are:

Cheap
Reliable
Fast

Pick one.

 

[Guyana00]

Cheap, Reliable, or Fast.

I immediately though of a hooker, a wife, and a one-night-stand. It is 4am.

edit: I felt I should say something relevant, since this is the technical section.

To the OP: I would suggest taking the head to get machined as you will need to anyways, of course, but while you're at it, take the block as well. If money is a major factor, as it can be especially when you own a supra, or even time.

The very least to do would be to machine the head and use some copper spray on the head gasket before you sandwich it in there. I hear it is very sticky and once you spray the hg with it, you usually only get once chance at laying it on there correctly, but if you're careful it shouldn't be a problem.

I suggest this because you won't be getting the block done and if there are imperfection on the block the spray will help to fill/seal them. Of course if the block is warped or has major damage, copper spray will not do anything.

Good luck with the HG job. Oh yes, it has been mentioned already to torque the bolts to 75-80ftlbs, instead of the toyota spec 58. You may want to look around at numbers more though because although I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, but I believe the torque specs should be within the range of about 68-72ftlbs. Anyways, my point is, once you find the correct specs, you can reuse the stock head bolts, they are good quality bolts, but were undertorqued to begin with, which I'm sure you know. Saves a lil $$$, instead of getting aftermarket studs or bolts, (but if you are, anyone will tell you to use ARP, most say studs).

Once again, good luck. Let us know what route you go as you progress.

-Shankar.

 

[PROJECT N00b]

theres no way you can go cheaply and reliable on the supra...those 2 words dont make sense when youre talking about a 20 - 16 year old car called a supra. its either you buy quality parts that arent cheap or go cheap and get shit parts...dont quote me though.

 

[AW11inVa]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I dont think I wantto go "cheap" rather I would like opinions on how to spend what money I have wisely on decent stuff and an idea of what order to purchase certain items. I would like to get a good plan together so I dont buy this when I should have bought that first. I say that because I am a big fan of buy everything I need all at once...then I have no money left over for anythng else. I dont want to do that this time.

 

[suprarx7nut]

-mill the head, FOR SURE
-Cheap gasket set
-Toyota HG
-be sure to use a tap on the block's head bolt holes to ensure you get a clean install. (driftmotion sells them cheap.)
-TAKE YOUR TIME

I replaced a bunch of other crap like hoses and such on mine, but all you really NEED to do is the head milling and new gaskets all around. Valve stem seals will come with most all gasket sets and mine were even Viton.

I say if you have a ton of time, but no money, try it with just the first 3 items and see what happens. You can always pull it again.

 

[AW11inVa]

Is there a vendor on the board that might have a decent daily driver gasket kit for a good price?