Hi all! Here goes...
I have always been a lover of Toyotas from an early age. My Uncle is to blame. (thanks Uncle Eric!) He had a supercharged MR2 and then later an 85 MR2 base model which he gave to me on my 18th birthday. Essentially that was my first car and man did I fall in love with it. I became known in the area as 'MR2 Dave'... now... SupraDave!
I sold my MR2 after some engine trouble and money troubles a year or two ago and paid some bills and wasn't going to drive anything but my shitty Saturn. But, while browsing Craigslist ads for a friend looking for a daily drifter I came across an 87 n/a with some mods for road racing for what I thought was a ridiculously cheap price.
Here's what it had:
115k miles
Battery relocated to trunk
antenna delete
radio removed
interior completely removed
Grant GT steering wheel
Hurst shift knob (kind of strange but comfortable)
K&N air filter (not mounted, no adapter)
cold air intake pipe
Pacesetter header
3" exhaust
Magnaflow muffler
high flow cat
CX Racing 2" thick aluminum radiator
belt driven fan deleted
push/pull electric fans
ALL AC components removed (compressor, bracket, lines, etc)
rear wiper deleted (holes from antenna and wiper were filled, sanded, and primed)
4.30 lsd rear
W58 trans
Upgraded clutch
came with stock sawblades and a set of black MSW rims with Kumho Ecsta AST tires
In his listing he said he was setting it up for road racing and was a project
Blinker lights, rear side markers, taillights were tinted and removed at the time
body in excellent condition with the exception of missing passenger fender (was rusted and thrown out) and primer spots from antenna and wiper removal
Everything works!
This was his ad (mostly)
$1000 obo this was his price
a deal already...
I quickly emailed him and planned on meeting with him to take a look at it.
When I arrived I noticed he worked for a shop that rebuilt classic Corvettes. (my outlook got brighter) He informed me that he reinstalled the interior already (bonus). I was able to hear it start, run and even got to test drive it in the parking lot. WOW! I was amazed that for one: It didn't run like a huge pile of Civics (shit) due to the vacuum system delete and charcoal canister delete. And two: it blew no smoke, and ran awesome! The clutch engaged perfectly and shifted and pulled through all the gears! it was at this point that a heater line blew... :icon_frow typical but not scary. No check engine light on?... engine bay vacant of garbage?... exhaust note is perfect?... not missing? Too good to be true. He also told me that the chassis, body, and floorboards were all free of rust and that he had coated the interior sheet metal with a sealer to prevent any rust issues from forming. I decided I wanted it and began to wheel and deal with him.
$600 later I was on my way to the DMV with title in hand.
I placed a call to Gonzy of Gonzy Tuning and arranged to pickup the fender on my way down to get the car the next day. My brother-in-law Jim and I sat in his parking lot and installed the fender, lights, and replaced the heater hose with a piece of hose the seller gave me from his shop. we decided to drive it home without the air filter in place (dangerous but with an hour long journey on the parkway with very little dust and debris we decided to risk it) So we set off on our journey with a car I had only paid $600 for to travel on the parkway. :icon_conf
About 1000 ft into our trip we had to pull over... temp gauge pinned in the red (me thinking the worst at all time thought, head gasket!) But then, I remembered we dumped all of the coolant when the heater line went. So we inched it down the road, stopping frequently to let it cool down a bit, until we got to a gas station and filled it with coolant. Then, on to the parkway. It was on this road that I realized I made a good deal. Jim drives an 83 Camaro with a crate engine, we raced up the parkway getting up to around 115mph. Made it all the way home with no issue. Wow!
Got it to Jim's repair shop, did an oil change, coolant flush and fill, and tune up. We put it on the lift and checked out the undercarriage. Clean and perfect.
It wasn't long before another heater line went. Then I blew out a tire. Then another tire. (anyone with Kumho Ecsta AST tires beware... POS'S)
Changed the valve cover gaskets and cleaned and polished the throttle body and Y pipe. Bought the air filter adapter and mounted the intake pipe with an exhaust hanger bracket to the strut mount.
A few weeks later, on my way to work, I heard the dreaded knock. :1zhelp: Fearing the worst, as usual, I got it to my shop and started searching the forums for a new motor. But instead found some information on others that have had a similar issue and found their crank pulley to be the cause.
So, I skeptically reached down and found that my crank pulley bolt could be removed by hand!!!! (supposed to be torqued to 195ft/lbs!!!!). Further investigation found that the key had slipped in the keyway and rounded out the cranks' keyway and damaged the pulley keyway. (how this is possible is still a mystery to me as the crank is hardened steel) So I started researching a new crank and shop to install it. Couldn't afford any of that so I did the next best thing... fixed it. I found a wider key at a local hardware store and used a Dremel to cut the crankshafts keyway back on the side that was round out so that I had a solid wall there and it would fit the new key. Then, once again, I called up Gonzy and went to his house to pull a crank pulley off of the motor he had sitting there (pulling that thing off of a motor not mounted somewhere is a true text of engineering a way to do it... what a bitch!). I mark the key with the depth of the crank keyway and took it, along with the pulley to a machine shop and had him cut the key back to fit the pulley but no lower than the mark I made on it (this put the pulley back in its' exact location). This worked beautifully.
Then my Saturn took a shit and had to be sold for pennies and thus making my project, my DD. This meant I needed to make some upgrades.
What I did:
stainless steel brake lines
drilled rotors
new pads
KYB's with Eibachs (thanks Gonzy)
mk4 Supra n/a 16's wrapped with Toyota Proxes
front upper strut bar
installed a radio
replaced front speakers with Infinity
made a temporary custom plywood deck lid and sank some 6x9 Infinity's into it
picked up the missing molding pieces from Gonzy and painted all of the black
replaced miscellaneous interior trim pieces that were broken or missing
And that is pretty much she sits now. Still my daily driver. Although she is definitely one of the quickest n/a cars I have driven, I thirst to go faster!
So I hit the lists again and decided on a 7MGTE instead of the 1J or 2J. (1J aftermarket didn't seem very strong and I didn't want to sacrifice .5 liters and the 2J was just way too expensive for me, plus I figured on a full rebuild and the aftermarket for the 2J was just as pricey as the motor) But I found a guy selling a "running condition" 7MGTE with auto trans and "everything" needed to drop into any Supra. Asking price? $600. Once again I expect the worst but as I am planning a full rebuild, as long as the block is solid and the cylinder walls aren't scored it would be ok. Guy says the headgasket was just done and ready to go. Got it for $400 and picked it up with a pickup truck.
After removing the transmission, I was attempting to remove the torque converter from the flywheel and to do that meant i needed to rotate the motor to get to all the bolts. So, as I am rotating the motor it suddenly stops with a "thud". Uh oh... :icon_frow So I rotate the opposite direction, just about to the same point when it stops again with a "thud"... FUUUUUUUDGIE THE WHALE!!!! :: angry :: (sorry, got kids... force of habit to not curse) Guess it wasn't in "running condition"!!!
Finally get the remaining bolts out and get it mounted on the stand. I turn the motor over and begin to take the oil pan off to get to the bottom (no pun intended) of this situation. First of all, the oil pan is front sump for a Cressida... Not exactly "drop in" ready.. second, once I got the pan off found that the guy tried to use an oil pump from what I can only think is a 5mge. There is a spot on the pump cut away on the 7m oil pump to allow the crank journal to pass... this pump didn't have that cut away!!! Jackass. That's probably the only reason he sold it. So the stripping began and now the block and head are out at the machine shop getting decked, checked, honed, ground, re-plugged, painted, and all around properly done. Oh and btw, the headgasket was FUBAR and stock, so he lied about that too! Didn't matter anyway...
Here is a list of the parts I have bought and plan on installing:
Gonna call it "The Bruiser" as I plan on making as much as possible black and blue
Picked up a full stock rebuild kit: Pistons, rings, pins, gaskets, bearing, seals, and a timing belt (not going to use all of these parts)
I plan on using the pistons, rings, pins, bearings, gaskets and seals
ARP head bolts
Gates Racing blue timing belt
Metal head gasket (waiting on shop to find out thickness)
Shot peened and cryo-treated rods with ARP bolts
RC Engineering 550cc Injectors
Lexus AFM housing (using my electronics)
Apex'i SAFCII
27"x5.5"x2.5" Black intercooler with black piping and black couplers
aluminum PS, ALT, and water pump pulleys blue or chrome
Oil cooler
AFPR with stainless lines
Innovate Motorsports LC1 Wideband
Apexi Turbo Timer
Glowshift boost gauge
Greddy catch can
I got a mid/rear sump pan and oil pump used from a guy out in the mid-west somewhere
I plan on keeping the CT26 (however mine needs a rebuild little shaft play and I am reluctant to start to rebuild it because I have never worked on a turbo before) and cleaning up the top of the motor by mounting the coils on the firewall
and if I can find someone selling a used one or that can build me one cheap enough a FFIM. My goals are a daily drifter... Looking for around 325whp. I also plan on doing the resistor mod to the tachometer to make it work with the GTE ECU.
Here is a list of parts I want or plan on buying:
BIC Divorced downpipe
Adjustable cam gears in chrome or blue
ATI Crank Damper
Apex'i AVCRII Limited Edition in black
7MGE valve covers painted black with lettering in blue (7MGE covers=no coil mounting studs :naughty: )
4 ply blue silicone hose kit
Gates blue serpentine accessory belts
ST front and rear sway bar set
Mookeeh adjustable traction rods
Mookeeh Adjustable lateral arms
Ksport or Megan Coilovers
Lexan upper timing cover
Rear strut bar
SSQV BOV
turbo heat shield blanket
If anyone has any comments or input or ideas on ways to squeeze out a little more power without damaging the motor or my account balance it would be greatly appreciated!! Or if you have any of these parts and you are willing to part with them let me know that as well!!!!
As I said I am in pre-build up right now and can modify my parts and or goals.
Also, I will have a lot of extra parts and such that I won't need and would be more than happy to sell.
Here are some parts I know I don't need already:
stock oil pump will work if you grind out the little chunk that the journal hits
Used stock pistons, rods, ring, and pins all assembled and as removed from motor
brand new stock main and rod bearings (bought these before I bought the rebuild kit)
Brand new stock timing belt
Brand new stock timing tensioner
Stock used 7MGTE AFM housing
Stock used 440cc injectors
PM me for prices
Also once this motor is ready I will be selling my 7MGE currently in my car... This will be a complete plug and play setup for a MK3 unlike what I was led to believe about the motor I bought! It will be in my daily driver until that time comes.
I was actually thinking of having a "SWAP PARTY" with the intent of picking peoples brains on the actual swap and just generally getting a bunch of Supra guys together.
Thanks,
Dave S. "aka SupraDave"
Middletown, NJ
Piecesofeight37@msn.com
I have always been a lover of Toyotas from an early age. My Uncle is to blame. (thanks Uncle Eric!) He had a supercharged MR2 and then later an 85 MR2 base model which he gave to me on my 18th birthday. Essentially that was my first car and man did I fall in love with it. I became known in the area as 'MR2 Dave'... now... SupraDave!
I sold my MR2 after some engine trouble and money troubles a year or two ago and paid some bills and wasn't going to drive anything but my shitty Saturn. But, while browsing Craigslist ads for a friend looking for a daily drifter I came across an 87 n/a with some mods for road racing for what I thought was a ridiculously cheap price.
Here's what it had:
115k miles
Battery relocated to trunk
antenna delete
radio removed
interior completely removed
Grant GT steering wheel
Hurst shift knob (kind of strange but comfortable)
K&N air filter (not mounted, no adapter)
cold air intake pipe
Pacesetter header
3" exhaust
Magnaflow muffler
high flow cat
CX Racing 2" thick aluminum radiator
belt driven fan deleted
push/pull electric fans
ALL AC components removed (compressor, bracket, lines, etc)
rear wiper deleted (holes from antenna and wiper were filled, sanded, and primed)
4.30 lsd rear
W58 trans
Upgraded clutch
came with stock sawblades and a set of black MSW rims with Kumho Ecsta AST tires
In his listing he said he was setting it up for road racing and was a project
Blinker lights, rear side markers, taillights were tinted and removed at the time
body in excellent condition with the exception of missing passenger fender (was rusted and thrown out) and primer spots from antenna and wiper removal
Everything works!
This was his ad (mostly)
$1000 obo this was his price
a deal already...
I quickly emailed him and planned on meeting with him to take a look at it.
When I arrived I noticed he worked for a shop that rebuilt classic Corvettes. (my outlook got brighter) He informed me that he reinstalled the interior already (bonus). I was able to hear it start, run and even got to test drive it in the parking lot. WOW! I was amazed that for one: It didn't run like a huge pile of Civics (shit) due to the vacuum system delete and charcoal canister delete. And two: it blew no smoke, and ran awesome! The clutch engaged perfectly and shifted and pulled through all the gears! it was at this point that a heater line blew... :icon_frow typical but not scary. No check engine light on?... engine bay vacant of garbage?... exhaust note is perfect?... not missing? Too good to be true. He also told me that the chassis, body, and floorboards were all free of rust and that he had coated the interior sheet metal with a sealer to prevent any rust issues from forming. I decided I wanted it and began to wheel and deal with him.
$600 later I was on my way to the DMV with title in hand.
I placed a call to Gonzy of Gonzy Tuning and arranged to pickup the fender on my way down to get the car the next day. My brother-in-law Jim and I sat in his parking lot and installed the fender, lights, and replaced the heater hose with a piece of hose the seller gave me from his shop. we decided to drive it home without the air filter in place (dangerous but with an hour long journey on the parkway with very little dust and debris we decided to risk it) So we set off on our journey with a car I had only paid $600 for to travel on the parkway. :icon_conf
About 1000 ft into our trip we had to pull over... temp gauge pinned in the red (me thinking the worst at all time thought, head gasket!) But then, I remembered we dumped all of the coolant when the heater line went. So we inched it down the road, stopping frequently to let it cool down a bit, until we got to a gas station and filled it with coolant. Then, on to the parkway. It was on this road that I realized I made a good deal. Jim drives an 83 Camaro with a crate engine, we raced up the parkway getting up to around 115mph. Made it all the way home with no issue. Wow!
Got it to Jim's repair shop, did an oil change, coolant flush and fill, and tune up. We put it on the lift and checked out the undercarriage. Clean and perfect.
It wasn't long before another heater line went. Then I blew out a tire. Then another tire. (anyone with Kumho Ecsta AST tires beware... POS'S)
Changed the valve cover gaskets and cleaned and polished the throttle body and Y pipe. Bought the air filter adapter and mounted the intake pipe with an exhaust hanger bracket to the strut mount.
A few weeks later, on my way to work, I heard the dreaded knock. :1zhelp: Fearing the worst, as usual, I got it to my shop and started searching the forums for a new motor. But instead found some information on others that have had a similar issue and found their crank pulley to be the cause.
So, I skeptically reached down and found that my crank pulley bolt could be removed by hand!!!! (supposed to be torqued to 195ft/lbs!!!!). Further investigation found that the key had slipped in the keyway and rounded out the cranks' keyway and damaged the pulley keyway. (how this is possible is still a mystery to me as the crank is hardened steel) So I started researching a new crank and shop to install it. Couldn't afford any of that so I did the next best thing... fixed it. I found a wider key at a local hardware store and used a Dremel to cut the crankshafts keyway back on the side that was round out so that I had a solid wall there and it would fit the new key. Then, once again, I called up Gonzy and went to his house to pull a crank pulley off of the motor he had sitting there (pulling that thing off of a motor not mounted somewhere is a true text of engineering a way to do it... what a bitch!). I mark the key with the depth of the crank keyway and took it, along with the pulley to a machine shop and had him cut the key back to fit the pulley but no lower than the mark I made on it (this put the pulley back in its' exact location). This worked beautifully.
Then my Saturn took a shit and had to be sold for pennies and thus making my project, my DD. This meant I needed to make some upgrades.
What I did:
stainless steel brake lines
drilled rotors
new pads
KYB's with Eibachs (thanks Gonzy)
mk4 Supra n/a 16's wrapped with Toyota Proxes
front upper strut bar
installed a radio
replaced front speakers with Infinity
made a temporary custom plywood deck lid and sank some 6x9 Infinity's into it
picked up the missing molding pieces from Gonzy and painted all of the black
replaced miscellaneous interior trim pieces that were broken or missing
And that is pretty much she sits now. Still my daily driver. Although she is definitely one of the quickest n/a cars I have driven, I thirst to go faster!
So I hit the lists again and decided on a 7MGTE instead of the 1J or 2J. (1J aftermarket didn't seem very strong and I didn't want to sacrifice .5 liters and the 2J was just way too expensive for me, plus I figured on a full rebuild and the aftermarket for the 2J was just as pricey as the motor) But I found a guy selling a "running condition" 7MGTE with auto trans and "everything" needed to drop into any Supra. Asking price? $600. Once again I expect the worst but as I am planning a full rebuild, as long as the block is solid and the cylinder walls aren't scored it would be ok. Guy says the headgasket was just done and ready to go. Got it for $400 and picked it up with a pickup truck.
After removing the transmission, I was attempting to remove the torque converter from the flywheel and to do that meant i needed to rotate the motor to get to all the bolts. So, as I am rotating the motor it suddenly stops with a "thud". Uh oh... :icon_frow So I rotate the opposite direction, just about to the same point when it stops again with a "thud"... FUUUUUUUDGIE THE WHALE!!!! :: angry :: (sorry, got kids... force of habit to not curse) Guess it wasn't in "running condition"!!!
Finally get the remaining bolts out and get it mounted on the stand. I turn the motor over and begin to take the oil pan off to get to the bottom (no pun intended) of this situation. First of all, the oil pan is front sump for a Cressida... Not exactly "drop in" ready.. second, once I got the pan off found that the guy tried to use an oil pump from what I can only think is a 5mge. There is a spot on the pump cut away on the 7m oil pump to allow the crank journal to pass... this pump didn't have that cut away!!! Jackass. That's probably the only reason he sold it. So the stripping began and now the block and head are out at the machine shop getting decked, checked, honed, ground, re-plugged, painted, and all around properly done. Oh and btw, the headgasket was FUBAR and stock, so he lied about that too! Didn't matter anyway...
Here is a list of the parts I have bought and plan on installing:
Gonna call it "The Bruiser" as I plan on making as much as possible black and blue
Picked up a full stock rebuild kit: Pistons, rings, pins, gaskets, bearing, seals, and a timing belt (not going to use all of these parts)
I plan on using the pistons, rings, pins, bearings, gaskets and seals
ARP head bolts
Gates Racing blue timing belt
Metal head gasket (waiting on shop to find out thickness)
Shot peened and cryo-treated rods with ARP bolts
RC Engineering 550cc Injectors
Lexus AFM housing (using my electronics)
Apex'i SAFCII
27"x5.5"x2.5" Black intercooler with black piping and black couplers
aluminum PS, ALT, and water pump pulleys blue or chrome
Oil cooler
AFPR with stainless lines
Innovate Motorsports LC1 Wideband
Apexi Turbo Timer
Glowshift boost gauge
Greddy catch can
I got a mid/rear sump pan and oil pump used from a guy out in the mid-west somewhere
I plan on keeping the CT26 (however mine needs a rebuild little shaft play and I am reluctant to start to rebuild it because I have never worked on a turbo before) and cleaning up the top of the motor by mounting the coils on the firewall
and if I can find someone selling a used one or that can build me one cheap enough a FFIM. My goals are a daily drifter... Looking for around 325whp. I also plan on doing the resistor mod to the tachometer to make it work with the GTE ECU.
Here is a list of parts I want or plan on buying:
BIC Divorced downpipe
Adjustable cam gears in chrome or blue
ATI Crank Damper
Apex'i AVCRII Limited Edition in black
7MGE valve covers painted black with lettering in blue (7MGE covers=no coil mounting studs :naughty: )
4 ply blue silicone hose kit
Gates blue serpentine accessory belts
ST front and rear sway bar set
Mookeeh adjustable traction rods
Mookeeh Adjustable lateral arms
Ksport or Megan Coilovers
Lexan upper timing cover
Rear strut bar
SSQV BOV
turbo heat shield blanket
If anyone has any comments or input or ideas on ways to squeeze out a little more power without damaging the motor or my account balance it would be greatly appreciated!! Or if you have any of these parts and you are willing to part with them let me know that as well!!!!
As I said I am in pre-build up right now and can modify my parts and or goals.
Also, I will have a lot of extra parts and such that I won't need and would be more than happy to sell.
Here are some parts I know I don't need already:
stock oil pump will work if you grind out the little chunk that the journal hits
Used stock pistons, rods, ring, and pins all assembled and as removed from motor
brand new stock main and rod bearings (bought these before I bought the rebuild kit)
Brand new stock timing belt
Brand new stock timing tensioner
Stock used 7MGTE AFM housing
Stock used 440cc injectors
PM me for prices
Also once this motor is ready I will be selling my 7MGE currently in my car... This will be a complete plug and play setup for a MK3 unlike what I was led to believe about the motor I bought! It will be in my daily driver until that time comes.
I was actually thinking of having a "SWAP PARTY" with the intent of picking peoples brains on the actual swap and just generally getting a bunch of Supra guys together.
Thanks,
Dave S. "aka SupraDave"
Middletown, NJ
Piecesofeight37@msn.com
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