Rebuild, new hg, or leave as is?

[northdakotakid]

Well I have finally decided what my plans are for my Supra. It is an 87 N/A 5-speed. I plan on keeping it N/A, as I have a blast driving and cruising it the way it is. I am thinking of freshening it up a bit. The motor has 150,000 miles on it, it still pulls strong, and burns no oil. The only thing that worries me is the stock head gasket. Would it be wise for me to pull the head, slap on a fel-pro or equivalent hg, some arp studs and call it good? Or should I go the whole 9 yards and freshen up the whole motor? I found a "rebuild" kit on ebay that includes new bearings, gaskets, rings, etc. But as it still pulls strong, I am thinking just a new hg and arp studs torqued to the proper settings would be more than enough?

 

[suprarx7nut]

Don't waste your time until it goes. Save your money, keep an eye on it and enjoy the smooth sailing. Best thing would be to keep a fund for supra repairs, you might save enough for a gte swap.

Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk

 

[northdakotakid]

I do have a GTE car sitting for parts. It has rod knock, and the car itself is in poor shape, so thats why I am not driving that one. I do have it on my mind to throw the GTE on the engine stand and slowly build it up...

 

[bioskyline]

if its not broken dont fix it.

 

[SRZMK3]

what a good idea for you to do is to tighten those head bolts all to 70 ft lbs and then call it good. because if your just cruising then with those headbolts tightened in correct sequence to 70 ft lbs you should be good for AWHILE!! but if you go hard and drive hard like i do i would take the head off and true the surface then clean the block top off and slap on a new felpro and put on arp head bolts and tighten those down to like 90 ft lbs like i did and you should be good for a good and hard abuse reliability.... ALWAYS CHECK YOUR COOLING LINES THERE ARE MANY AND MANY THAT CANT BE SEEN IT IS VITAL THAT YOU HAVE NO COOLING LEAKS BE OBSESSIVE ABOUT IT PLEASE!!!! ive seen too many supras going out because the idiot wasnt paying attention to his engine and the head warps.... but honestly if you check it alot and pay attention to everything this engine is friggen bullet proof.. even stock hg and a proper retorque this engine should be good for anyone that just wants to cruise and enjoy with a little blips of speed here and there

 

[hvyman]

Drive it and build the gte. Stay away from the ebay bearings unless you know for a fact its clevite or acl at least. my .02.

 

[northdakotakid]

so if/when i rebuild the gte, stick with clevite or acl bearings? What is this about toyota using "select bearings" for each journal? Do i have to get the crank honed so i can use just standard size bearings from clevite or elsewhere? I do not want to spend an arm and a leg on "toyota select rod bearings"

 

[slow_yota]

Im in the middle (more towards the beginning) of rebuilding my 7mge-T and from what I've read ...

These are the bearing you want:

http://www.enginebearingsllc.com/

These are the pistons you want:
http://store.driftmotion.com/static/i-npr7m-gtepistonset.php

or http://store.driftmotion.com/static/i-npr7m-gepistonset.php if you want to rebuild the 7mge.

Use ARP everything and take your time.

As you will learn the machining process is probably the most difficult & expensive to get right and on the first time..Every American v8 buildin` redneck thinks he can machine every engine known to man because he built a 350 SBC 5 years ago.
Have someone do your work who knows the 7m engine...or at least is open to learning.

On your HG..Drive it and leave it alone!
Build the 7mgte and enjoy the 7mge until you are completely done with the gte build.

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 PM ----------

Bearings are engine group 51 in that first link too =]

 

[Levi Mangiaracina]

On my rebuild I used a Cometic MLS head gasket.

 

[hvyman]

If nothing is done to the crank and it doesnt knock you could use toyota select fit bearings. Have to plastigauge to make sure. Also have to use the same bearing in the same place.

 

[northdakotakid]

The GTE has rod knock. A honing of the crank is definitely necessary I think. I am looking at Clevite for the rods, ARP head studs, felpro head gasket. I will have to buy the rod bearings before I have the crank honed correct? Also, can I reuse the main bearings, thrust washers, etc.? I will measure piston clearances and measure ring end gap to determine my path with the pistons. Also, I live in north dakota (obviously) and I am 99% sure that no machine shop up here has a torque plate for a 7m, so I think I am stuck with standard size pistons. If need be I think a re-ring is the most I can do.