Getting started

[Jesse Heiss]

First post with Supra Mania. I'm in need of 7M parts and have several to sell, but must have 50 posts or another three months of lurking before I can do so. The build is a turbo 7M with JE slugs, Eagle H beams, replacement head, dry sump, and running on propane. The vehicle is my '92 yota pickup that is becoming a rock crawler. Bought the engine in a partial trade to restore and paint a friend's '89 MKIII. Previous machinist did a crap job on the crank and put a 3/8" bolt in the #6 cyl, (discovered after initial startup and teardown). Replacement piston came today. Hope to get it to the machine shop before race season kicks in. More details to come as I would love some input on the build and general tips. Not my first engine build, but my first 7M.

 

[tyang82]

Nice shiny pistons. Pm me on what parts you have and need.
Welcome to SM

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Thanks. I'll put together a list pretty soon. Finally getting to build the motor and put the truck together so I thought I would post up what's going on. Major concern at the moment is the oil system. Pondering how I want to set it up.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Got the block totally cleaned out, (cylinders, water jackets, and oil passages), and thought I would check the piston clearance. When the head was first taken off, I spun the crank to feel how much resistance there was. Not much at all. Found .022" on three cylinders and number 6 has a couple scores from the rings being smashed into it so my block is only good for the next overbore set of pistons. I've been calling left and right on whole supra's and parts, but everything is selling faster than I can get off work and snatch up a trailer. Sell the good parts and go 1UZ, or keep hunting for a complete 7? Dunno.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Bought another MKIII. '88 this time. Body is in pretty decent shape with very little rust. Complete 7M turbo, (as complete as I needed). Pulled the motor and started opening it up and much to my surprise, it had been recently rebuilt. New oil pump, crank, and oversized Toyota pistons. Cylinders had already been opened up to the size I needed to drop in the JE's. Taking it to the machine shop next weekend to have it honed, decked, and check the crank. Need to start hunting for threads with dry sump setups. I plan to fab a steel plate pan since this is an off road vehicle. Rocks and branches punching through aluminum pans scare me. Measured the engine/tranny combo to figure out how much the input shaft needs to be turned. On a roll, now.

 

[Compton74]

The stock oiling system on the 7m is pretty decent but the best upgrade you can do for it can be found here
http://www.supramania.com/forums/sh...ostat-Controlled-Oil-Cooler-amp-Remote-Filter

IJ is the man when it comes to oil and system setup listen to what he has to say, and even feel free to throw questions out when you have them.

Although this may seem like a dumb question to some, but does the motor you are building have a metal head gasket and arp studs? If not when you get the block and head decked make sure the lower timing cover gets cut as well(the head sits on it and if it is not cut properly the head will not sit flat.)

My question is with that 3/8 bolt in there how did the head and the valves look? That piston looks like hell.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Full ARP arsenal and getting another MLS shortly.

I think the totalled motor is to blame on the last machinist. Not sure that I know the whole story, but from what I've heard the guy was an ass about getting it done. Very obvious to me that the bolt had to have been placed there prior to installing the head because I don't think it would have fit throught the spark plug hole. The valves were bent and the chamber looked like a person's leg does after a shark attack.

Cleaned up the front cover to take along, so no worries there. Really appreciate links and advice on the oiling. This is going in a rock crawler that will see lots of off-camber angles and possibly upside down on occasion. I've had to deal with rod knocks after running WOT close to vertical. Don't want this motor to die.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

 

[Jesse Heiss]

I know that the scoring in the cam journals and on the cams is normal for these motors, but has anyone made cam bearing shells for these yet? I could TIG the head, but that would require the machinist to align bore the journals and the valve follower bores as well. Not sure that I care for that idea. I haven't checked the clearances yet. Everything else on the head looks great. I would just like to get rid of the gouges. A trick needle bearing setup would be nice, but I haven't come across much of that for OHC engines.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Been a few since I added to this. Had trouble getting back on and fed up with trying. Left a lot hanging so I wanted to get back to it.
Took the "new" block in to be pmi'd. A couple cylinders had a touch too much clearance for the 20 over JE's and one with 0.001" taper. So, I bought 40 overs and BC 264's. Crank had already been turned to it's smallest, so I had it polished. Block got hot tanked and decked along with the front cover, (had to remind them about the cover). Full rebuild on the head. All the valves, guides and followers were perfect. Milled and shimmed to spec with the BC cams. Every seal, gasket, and plug on the entire engine is new OE. I picked up some steel to start fabbing the oil pan, but have yet to mock anything up for that.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Mocking up the bare block and installed a supra LSD in the rear a few months back.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

The whole truck, in case you were curious.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

I browsed around for dry sump pans again. Found one, made by or for Bullish that A.R.E carries, but I still don't want to pay $800 for an aluminum pan that will crack open when a rock hits it.
Bought the steel to fab my own pan. The ring for the front cover measured 12 3/32" ID and the ring for the rear measured 10 1/16" ID. They're both 3/8" thick, so I have room to have them machined. Both rings are so close to a perfect radius match though that I think they'll bend to shape once I cut the sections and bolt them down to mock and weld.

I matched up a piece of I think 2 3/16" OD pipe that will fill in the small radius. 12" x 25" 3/8" plate with holes traced to make the rest of the flat frame. The plate will be milled for a flat surface. Every time I get plate from the local supplier, it has a slight curve in it:nono:.View attachment cover small radius.jpg

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Ebay stainless header flange for $75. Fits really well and its all laser cut.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Pulled the head all apart to clean out some of the metal shavings left over from the machine shop. Going to install 975 springs and new stem seals while I'm at it.

Piston crown is 0.013" above the deck. Need to smooth out the deck and head surfaces since they were cut too rough, then check the head gasket compressed thickness.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

Thought I'd add more to this thread as long as the SM forum cooperates on this computer. Last winter I did more fab work on the oil pan. Got the frame roughed out. Stopped by Wulff Bro's pumps to talk to Ed about my dry sump ideas. He was pretty impressed and gave me a couple of his billet pump flanges to take measurements from.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

 

[Jesse Heiss]

The AX15 and R154 transmissions use the same length input shaft and are both Aisin R-series. The 7M bell housing bolts to the AX without issue. Since the AX input has a large diameter pilot tip for use in a bronze bushing on the Jeep 4.0 engine, I had the tip turned down to fit the Toyota pilot bearing. Used a 10 spline clutch disc that matched the shaft spline and Supra flywheel diameter.

 

[Jesse Heiss]

 

[supraguy@aol]

This should be moved to the build gallery if you plan on updating progress on a regular basis.
PM hvyman, and he'll do it for you.

Nice work, by the way.