dam.....i'm a noob again.

[tfhorst]

hello everyone!! Today I bought my first supra and I going to need some help with this one. It is a 87 n/a, 2tone brown with full leather and 79000 on it...only paid 500 and plan on making it my dd. Down side is it is not running and hasn't been on the road since 03. Should be a quick fix for a fun little classic to cruise in, and from what I understand there are not to many like this one

 

[GrimJack]

That's pretty cheap for a chassis with very little mileage... any idea what's wrong?

 

[tfhorst]

List looks like this so far, fuel pump isn't running, guy said he put in a new one....something something a good one but he couldn't tell me anything about it, hooked a battery up to the connector in the hatch and nothing so I am calling bull shet on him for that one. Have to put on 2 fiberglass fenders that came with due to rust on the old ones,and the back end is kinda springy so might need shocks, other than that should be good to go. Ran it for a bit by force feeding it and it sounded good. Clutch feels odd but haven't had a stick in a wile and don't think you can tell with hydraulic clutch anyway. Oh and the leather on the driver seat looks 24 years old for some reason. Just hope the head isn't blown or I am parting and scrapping her.

 

[GrimJack]

It's unlikely that the head itself is toast... head GASKET might be a problem, it's relatively common on these. However, it's not a terribly difficult fix, and it's not very expensive if you swing your own wrenches.

 

[tfhorst]

That is good to hear, would be a shame to scrap her, have wanted one since I drove my friends mk2 in high school.

I love turning wrenches, it is my time of peace. This will be my fifth restore/rebuild, last one was a zj (grand Cherokee) bought that one in the same shape for the same price (scrap price +towing here in pgh) and made one heck of a comfortable trail runner, going to miss bumping over curbs had enough of suv's for a wile. Sold it at the end of winter and have been messing with bikes in till it started getting cold again.

I have to say thank you for all the info in advance, I used to buy the books but you guys have much more info and much better pics.

I know about the misprint on the Toyota spec sheet, spec on the head is one of the reasons I am here. Had a few 22re's from the same year so I feel familiar enough with the yoda motors and know I could rip this one down with no trouble.

I plan to tune for different reasons than a lot of people here, I am going to tune for mpg, using this car for trips from pgh to tx. Need a highway beast that can run comfortably at 95 for an hour or 2 and hold well on mountain roads, was wanting a Subaru svx but was happy to find a mk3 in the shape that this one is for such a bargain basement price.

I am going to open her up, gotta let her breathe, larger wheels, advance the cams, and some general house cleaning and see what she does. Would like to mount my android tablet where the big ol tape deck is and need to find out if I can run a stand alone unit from an android and if it would be worth it.

Gotta fix the suspension but have no idea how to do that yet. Probably would need to drop her a bit, add thicker sway bars, and run stock struts for a soft feel with a solid base.

I will keep the look to the fine line between old enough that no one notices and nice enough that no one looks just to avoid the hassle, I would love a body kit and spoiler but....can't to it to an n/a, not right and besides I have learned that the best way not to get pulled over is to not be noticed.

I kinda feel like I got a 6 cylinder mustang getting a na supra but maybe I can supercharge or something. Probably won't bother, 200+hp is enough for what I want...at least in till I get another dd.

 

[GrimJack]

I am going to open her up, gotta let her breathe, larger wheels, advance the cams, and some general house cleaning and see what she does. Would like to mount my android tablet where the big ol tape deck is and need to find out if I can run a stand alone unit from an android and if it would be worth it.

I haven't seen an Android client for aftermarket ECUs yet, which is a shame. This is why I bought an Asus EEE Slate, it's a full windows 7 tablet, runs my Vipec software perfectly. Still working on the mount.

Gotta fix the suspension but have no idea how to do that yet. Probably would need to drop her a bit, add thicker sway bars, and run stock struts for a soft feel with a solid base.

Whiteline makes a good set of swaybars, they are available from George at Raptor Racing. Lowering springs - I've used ST in the past with good results, they are a progressive spring so still very close to stock feeling over average bumps, a good deal stiffer on bigger bumps.

I will keep the look to the fine line between old enough that no one notices and nice enough that no one looks just to avoid the hassle, I would love a body kit and spoiler but....can't to it to an n/a, not right and besides I have learned that the best way not to get pulled over is to not be noticed.

Stock wing is a pretty easy addition, and doesn't make it look ridiculous. Brown car isn't going to attract much attention either - probably the stealthiest color ever produced for the Supra when it comes to attracting attention from the law. The N/A bit isn't that difficult to fix either, if that's where you want to go - plenty of folks have put a turbo on the N/A, plenty more have swapped in the turbo motor and electronics, quite a few have swapped in the 1J or 2J series engines, and we even have a couple that have gone V8 and one that's twincharged the thing. Pick your poison...

I kinda feel like I got a 6 cylinder mustang getting a na supra but maybe I can supercharge or something. Probably won't bother, 200+hp is enough for what I want...at least in till I get another dd.

There is a huge difference between entry level Mustangs and entry level Supras. I doubt you'll be disappointed, and even if you are, it's easy to upgrade.

As for a highway car, it should do that rather well. Solid highway cruising I've seen 700km to a tank. Admittedly, I was driving like a grandma the whole time because my clutch started letting go about 500 miles into driving to Vegas, and I still had to make it all the way there and back, but it still gives you an idea of what is possible.

 

[tfhorst]

Well grim I think you just helped me spend my next few paychecks in that last post. Some solid ideas. I had forgotten about progressive springs, that one is a real good call.

I have a windows 7 netbook that I would be willing to slap into this project, still not sure that on the roll tuneing adjustments are needed....would be pretty freaking nice though. I want to adjust the cams, timing and fuel presure a bit before I start.....or do supras have a progressive ecu like the porsha 944? Got some homework to do.

I want to thank you for welcoming on to the form, I think I chose the right place to start my build. I am off to ask half dumb questions about the nature of the beast I just bought.