Furginator's build thread

[rfurgy]

I picked up my first MK3 Supra in '08. It was an 86.5 original Wisconsin car that was used but very clean body wise. Had it for a month then get rear ended and bent the day lights out of the rear driver side of the car. I had just put some new exhaust on it that day too.

 

[hvyman]

Awe 4x4. Such fond memories. It was good while it lasted.

Did that car have blue leather?

What car do you currently have or are you getting there and im just posting too early?

 

[rfurgy]

I managed to find this '87 shell for $500 so I snatched it up and got to work. It even had a 7MGTE long block but most of the useful stuff had been taken out already. Something to build later.

 

[rfurgy]

Yep, blue leather. As far as I can tell it was considered the sports package for the 86.5

 

[hvyman]

Nice.

I would ditch the fram tho.

 

[rfurgy]

In a months time from getting the shell, I had my 7MGE cleaned up and installed into the '87 donor shell. The only thing that kept me from having it running sooner is the wiring was sketchy at best for the fuse kick panels inside the car. And the fact that I found out the accident actually popped a radiator seam. I ended up finding this nice aluminum one on Ebay for a good price because one of the top mounting brackets was welded on the wrong way. No big deal though, all I had to do was re-drill the bolt hole in the radiator bracket.

 

[rfurgy]

Then I had to leave it sit for like a year and a half till I was able to get to it again. Once it was car time again, the next thing on the list was to address my bumper issue. The cut one in the front and the rear was missing the support all together. I managed to find some bumper supports locally. They were in rough shape when I got them but I only paid $40 for the two and the front wasn't near as bad as the rear. I took some time and reconstructed them before I put them on the car.

 

[rfurgy]

Once I had the bumper supports all set, I decided to prep the car itself to take the newly worked bumpers and covers. When I put the front on, I had to weld in some extremely thick washers to the frame to hold the support where it was suppose to be. I also had to straighten the rear panels a bit to get the rear cover to mount close. Definitely on the list of future tasks but for the time, it came out as good as I needed it.

 

[rfurgy]

Then it was time for the gas tank. I didn't have the money to replace the tank so I had been forced to work with the one from the accident car. I first had it patched up with JB weld just so it could hold fuel. Of course though, that didn't last as long as the JB Weld company would like to claim it does but served its purpose for the time being. Once I was able to get to the tank (still no extra money to replace it) I figured I would do a real repair this time.
* Do not attempt this without flushing the tank several times to make sure there are NO MORE FUMES! *
I used two pipes that were a hair longer than the tank. I drilled a half dozen holes a couple inches apart in both pipes. I then tack welded long bolts to the tank so they lined up in the holes on the pipes as well as had a pipe directly above and below the seam. I then used washers and nuts on all the bolts and tightened them alternating from the outside in. Then just kept repeating till the dent was pulled. I then reconstructed any holes and tears with my welder. After that, a quick layer of epoxy and some undercoating had it looking almost like new.

Next time I have to fix the tank, it's coming out and a fuel cell is going in.

 

[rfurgy]

Another fun issue left to me by the previous owner was the MOST unbelievable garbage for a roll cage. This thing was poorly constructed, not the right size, and no where near NHRA regulation. It had to come out, No doubt about it.

 

[rfurgy]

Onward to solving more problems. The window motors weren't working too well, the door panels missing, side mirrors missing, spoiler missing, and rear wiper also missing. At this point, I just decided to snag the parts from the 86.5. Made my job easier and everything is now in place and working.

I also swapped the interior dash harness, cluster, dash (Oh yeah, had no dash in the car either), and seats. Finally feels a little like a Supra again when sitting in it.

 

[rfurgy]

Here is a custom flex pipe I fabricated to replace the cat and give me some give in the exhaust. Flex pipe purchased from JCWhitney. The flanges and adapter I picked up at a local NAPA Autoparts. I had to drill out the bolt holes on the flanges a tad bigger for the hardware of choice. Then was able to weld it up for a pretty good end result.

 

[rfurgy]

I have lots more to share, but need to call it a night for now. More to come, you can count on that.

 

[SupraDreamPDR]

Wow, great build thread. Keep up the good work.

 

[rfurgy]

The fall of 2010, I once again had a blown head gasket (even with ARPs). So I pulled the car into the garage for the duration of winter and started work on pulling it apart for a head gasket job. Not to mention, my header was starting to look a bit rough so I also decided I would take care of that while it was apart.

 

[rfurgy]

Got it taken apart in a fairly short amount of time. I'm starting to get good at taking this thing apart. I could tell it was having gasket issues from some miss-firing and burning fluids. Once I got to it, I found that my motor had literally eaten the head gasket and I was burning oil in cylinder 1 and antifreeze in cylinder 6. Strangely enough, the car still ran good enough to drive. It was suppose to be just a head job till I happened to glance at the bell housing and saw that one of the bolts had sheared off and was just laying there. OEM bell housing bolts = Grade 4 (seriously?). At least the broken bolt came out easy with a set of vice grips.

Now I was way further into working on it than expected so I figured I better do some other stuff while it's apart. I started by cleaning it real good with Purple Power De-greaser and a very stiff upholstery brush.

 

[rfurgy]

Once dried, I cleaned up the block with a wire brush to knock any extra off then de-greased it again.

The second picture here is some Purple Power De-ruster at work. This stuff is a phosphoric acid mixture that will eat and convert rust while sealing it off so the rust can't continue to grow. I tested the coating it leaves with open flame from a torch which showed excellent resistance to heat.

I then moved to taping it off and priming it with Dupli-Color Engine Primer.

The engine enamels have a strange curing window that must be observed other wise the paint doesn't cure right and looks like garbage so follow the instructions closely.

On a side note, looking back, I wish I had scuffed the de-ruster layer much better. I think if I were to do it again I would still use the de-ruster but would have scuffed it with a brass wire brush. The coating is quite durable.

 

[rfurgy]

I opted for red. I used the Dupli-Color Engine Enamel. Been finding out this paint is touchy. Make sure the primer has been scuffed very good and definitely follow the curing window instructions. If you don't it can crack, bubble, peal and chip very easy.

It is a good paint though as long as the instructions are followed to the "T".

I also decided to change the freeze plugs as well. These I got from Advance Auto Parts, they have metric freeze plugs they sell singly.

 

[CyFi6]

Nice progress, but ouch man that crank looks like its in bad shape (might just be the pic). Looks like someone had the balancer come loose and the balancer wobbled on the snout of that thing pretty good. I can see the step in the picture. The snout should be the same size all the way to the end, and unless that is just the picture making it look like that you really need to consider getting a new crank for that thing!

 

[rfurgy]

I know this isn't the car but I wanted to show this. I needed a sand blaster for the up coming Supra project but didn't feel like spending hundreds on buying one.

I had a nylon 50 gallon drum sitting around so it ended up being first pick. I also used an old bed frame rail and some extra lumber that was laying around. Once it was all together, I managed to find some old stove racks that fit perfectly inside.