Jon's 1989 1JZ single turbo restoration and build: Stellllllaaaaa!

[mobes]

Go see Kevin at the Austin Z Clinic on Roxie Drive, tell him I sent you.

Thanks Lance, I stopped by on Saturday and talked to Kevin. Nice guy, nice shop. I'll probably have it sprayed there.

I got the axles and they were just shipped in the sort of boxes they come in at the parts store, no packing of any sort. One of them lost a boot clamp along the way so I bought a CV boot clamp pliers and re-clamped it, and the seller is sending new clamps.

I ended up having to replace both knuckles since I noticed the brake caliper ears on the other one weren't on the same plane, sure enough it was bent. I found the other one locally, a guy is selling a bunch of parts of an '88 that looks like it was in great shape until the engine caught fire. I got all the bushings and bearings removed from all 4 knuckles today and got them cleaned up. I'll be painting those, the new lower ball joints, and the remainder of the suspension parts this week. I've got all new wheel bearings and Energy Suspension bushings as well as the two spherical bushings for the rear knuckles from Toyota waiting to go in.

The lower ball joints I bought are from macautopartsdiscounts on eBay and I must say I'm impressed with the quality. I'd definitely recommend them. They're greasable too.

The fuel cell mounting is on hold until I get the exhaust pipes from the mufflers to the rear subframe worked out. I was going to mount the cell first but it looked like it would be pretty close, drew it up in CAD and it'll be within a couple inches so I'm going to wait on the exhaust just to be sure.

 

[dok33]

Sounds like you're makin progress, will you come fix all the crap that's broken on my Supra for me? Been to busy keeping our other POS vehicles running lately...

 

[mobes]

Sounds like you're makin progress, will you come fix all the crap that's broken on my Supra for me? Been to busy keeping our other POS vehicles running lately...

Sure, you can have the 36 seconds per day when I'm not tied up with work, baby, house, and Supra!

I got up early this morning and picked up a loaner 3-jaw puller from AutoZone. I should probably invest in some good pullers but I don't use them that often. Anyhow, it was brand new (refurbished?) in the plastic, and the leadscrew was already bent. I couldn't get the jaws to grip on the edge of the bearing race because they didn't have a sharp edge so I cleaned up the jaws a bit. I finally got the inner bearing races pulled from the hubs.

I'm going with MKIV rear hubs, they're sturdier and they have a 62mm ridge for centering the MKIV rear brake rotors I'll be using. They use the same wheel bearing which is what gave me the idea to use them in the first place. I wasn't sure if the offset or splines would be different but it's all the same. I'm going to stick with stock arms for now with Energy bushings, I was thinking A1 but after seeing the weld quality and the failure thread I'm going to hold off. Maybe Beech or Battle Version arms down the road a ways but they'll be relatively simple to change out.

Now I'm just waiting on undercoating and hub seals, after that I should have everything I need parts wise to get the Supra back on the ground.

 

[Rajunz]

Thanks Lance, I stopped by on Saturday and talked to Kevin. Nice guy, nice shop. I'll probably have it sprayed there...........

Yeah Kevin is a great guy, and does awesome work. Sherry and I just got back from the Power Tour with the crew from Spectre Performance, was a blast for sure. The Maverick got a whole bunch of chassis mods done to it, full tube chassis car now, and they added an air/water intercooler system, was a fun ride.

 

[mobes]

All suspension parts but the lower ball joints and hubs have been stripped and primed. I was going to try to get the hubs done without removing the studs (because there are 20 of them) but they're just not getting clean enough for me so tomorrow I'll tear those apart to clean them. The lower A-arms were already done in POR-15 with the front subframe.

I decided against POR-15 for this batch, I ran out and figured with the extent of the prep I was doing, using a good quality 2K single stage paint would do just as well. I did skimp on the primer a bit and just used rattle cans, since I used rust treatment to prep the parts and that is a no-no under the 2K etch primer I've been using. I'm not worried about shrinkage on these parts, so no real need for a 2K primer.

 

[mobes]

The undercoating came in the mail yesterday, and much to my dismay the place I bought it from substituted an asphalt based non-paintable undercoating for the rubberized paintable undercoating that I ordered. Now I need to send that back and order some new stuff. I had ordered Mar-Hyde 4311 and received 3M 08881. It sounds like the Mar-Hyde 4311 was discontinued. I'll probably go with 3M 08883 instead.

I pressed out the studs from the hubs yesterday and I'll get those and the lower ball joints primed today, then I can get all the suspension stuff painted tomorrow.

 

[mobes]

Got the hubs and lower ball joints primed today. I ordered 6 cans of 3M 08883 that should be here on Monday, and the mandrel bends for my exhaust should be here on Tuesday. It's supposed to be nice this weekend so I'm going to try to get all the suspension stuff painted and some primer on the bumpers, as well as cleaning the underside of the body. I'm still waiting on wheel bearing seals so I won't be able to put the suspension together just yet.

 

[mobes]

Had the flu the whole 4th of July weekend so rather than work on the Supra like I wanted to I spent the whole damn weekend in bed. :3d_frown:

Got the rear knuckles assembled, the fronts will have to wait on some new hubs since the axle shaft threads are fubar'd thanks to whomever did the last wheel bearing job. I noticed they were a bit rough taking them apart but didn't notice just how bad they were. Note to anyone doing wheel bearings (or ball joints): DON'T JUST HAMMER ON THE THREADS.

In the mean time, I bolted the rear subframe into the car temporarily so that I could fab up the rear part of the exhaust, so that I can now mount the fuel tank and be done with the body work in the rear:

"But Jon, how does the exhaust get in?" The front tip will be cut off and become part of a Y-pipe, fed by a 3" piece coming from the cat flange.

 

[Rajunz]

That exhaust is really cool, the whole car will be a work of art. Really great job Jon.

 

[mobes]

Yeah Kevin is a great guy, and does awesome work. Sherry and I just got back from the Power Tour with the crew from Spectre Performance, was a blast for sure. The Maverick got a whole bunch of chassis mods done to it, full tube chassis car now, and they added an air/water intercooler system, was a fun ride.

Just realized I hadn't replied to this one. Sounds cool what they did with the Maverick. Did the keep the rear suspension that was installed when you had it? Any pics of it in its current state?

That exhaust is really cool, the whole car will be a work of art. Really great job Jon.

Thanks!

 

[mobes]

Hi guys and gals :wavey:

I'm sorry to say the Supra hasn't seen much progress recently. Between getting married, home improvement projects, trying to sell our house, having an infant and now training a dog, things have been a bit hectic.

On a positive note, I'm finished with the home improvement stuff. As we all know, the housing market sucks, so I think we're going to give up on that for a bit and sit tight, so no more wasting time on that. One of my projects was a storage shed, so I now have all the parts on-site. So, I'm hopeful that I can make some progress on the Supra now. Going to try to have her painted at least by Spring.

Current plan:

• Finish the rear floor sheet metal and fuel cell mounting.
• Mask and undercoat.
• Finish prepping the moldings and bumpers.
• Spray the engine bay and possibly the door jambs in the garage.
• Install the subframes, suspension, engine, trans, and accessories.
• Take the car to the painter to finish painting.

Not too ambitious for a few months time, but I think it's feasible.

 

[JCFsupraman]

Jon, I bet you'll be glad once it's done. Brandon is almost finished with mine. I'm just waiting on the Tanabe Medalion Touring exhaust to arrive then put her on the dyno before I put her away til spring. I can honestly say that it took 10 years, a lot of frustration, and money along with a few minor set backs but I think it was worth it.

Boys and their toys eh.

 

[johnd]

Nice work!

 

[87mk111]

Nice looking Poject ya got going on there. Im likin the dual exahsut and rear bumber. good job with the front bumper as well

 

[mobes]

Thanks all for the words of encouragement.

I've got the new front knuckles disassembled, just need to degrease, strip, and paint them then re-assemble. These were in much better shape, no hammer dents or damaged threads. The brake shields were even in good shape, though I won't be using them due to the BBK. I'll set them aside and hopefully I can find someone who can use them. Too bad you have to press out the wheel bearings to swap them out on these cars.

I cut and re-welded the left muffler since it wasn't quite straight (barely off but I'm picky).

I'm also making good progress on the trunk floor. Should have it done this weekend. Pics to follow at some point.

The 3M 08883 undercoating I ordered is supposed to be paintable, but it hasn't completely dried after several weeks so it seems that it isn't exactly paintable either. Now I have to figure out what to do with 5 1/2 cans of that since I'm sure the place I bought it from won't take it back after 6 months. I've got an Eastwood order coming with 4 cans of their house brand stuff so let's hope I get the right stuff this time. I'm also going to give their extreme chassis black stuff a try for the front knuckles.

 

[mobes]

The fuel cell has a home!

Yes, it needs proper mounting, and yes, once I decide how I'm going to handle the filler situation (either leave as-is or add a neck behind the license plate), I'll build a lid to act as a firewall to the passenger compartment.

I ran out of gas and wire so I didn't quite finish the welding, but I'm 90% there. One step closer to getting back on the road!

 

[SupraMedical68]

I really like reading this thread, that's is some really sick bodywork. I can't wait to see this back in black.

 

[mobes]

Small update -

Fuel cell box bottom is done. I was contemplating just leaving a hole for the sump to stick through but instead I decided to shroud it. The seams are sealed and the top side is painted.

I think I'll go with a FueLab pump and filters. Their pumps look like a great value for the money and are variable speed which will be nice not having to run it full blast all the time without buying a separate speed controller. I won't have much clearance on either side without mounting the pump near a muffler so I'll probably mount them on the back of the box since I have a good 6" to the inside of the rear crash bar.

For the fuel filler, centered behind the license plate is the latch for the hatch. I'll have to put it off to one side if I'm going to go that route. I think I'll defer that for now and come back to it later in the build.

 

[Bigzavs]

your level of quality with fabricating never ceases to amaze man! keep up the good work

 

[mobes]

Finished the fuel cell bracket:

You can't really tell by the pics but the front ears are straight and the rear ears are angled 45 degrees down. This is because the hatch area isn't level but the fuel tank is, so it sticks up a bit higher in the back.

The ears are square tubing and have holes in them to fit over tubular posts that have nuts welded into them. The posts are made from pieces of the factory rear sway bar. Yay recycling!

Once I get this painted I'm going to do the undercoating, then work on the suspension some more.