1986.5 Supra Restoration Story

[zhenya]

I'm recreating a thread I started on here before the site went down, and unfortunately my thread didn't come back.
So everyone, welcome to a major restoration/learning project. I found this car in the middle of nowhere, where it's been sitting for almost 20 years. The registration expired in 2002, and I don't think it's moved since then. The car had no battery, tires were all flat, and overall the car is a mess.
I got it really cheap because it's in a really bad shape. Faded paint, dents, rust, the dash is disintegrating, and obviously doesn't start. The plan is to use this car to teach myself how to do a lot of things I've never done before. Suspension, body work, paint, interior, wiring, and engine.
The good news is, the car is manual, and anything I do will be an improvement.
Without further ado, here you go

 

[zhenya]

I'm going to summarize things because all of this happened a couple of years ago.
One of the problems with this car is I couldn't get a title for it, so while trying to get it to start, I was also trying to figure out what paperwork I needed to do in order to get a title and make it legally mine. That was a whole other adventure.
The first time we connected a battery, the electronics surprisingly came to life. The crazy thing is, the pop up headlights, power mirrors, power seats, all worked perfectly. That's the quality of Japanese engineering of the 80s.
When we tried to turn the key, obviously absolutely nothing happened. We knew that to get it working and reliable, basically all the normal stuff would have to be replaced. The starter was a giant pain, involving a whole bunch of socket extensions and turns and cursing. With that done, the car actually tried cranking. We had changed the spark plugs (which was also a pain because of the throttle body sitting right on top), so the next guess was not getting any fuel. And wow were we correct. After pulling out the fuel tank, we realized there were rusk holes in it, and the inside of the tank and fuel pump looked like a rusty coral reef.

A few trips to junk yards later we were able to get a fuel tank and pump that was rust free. Progress!

 

[trofimovich]

I remember the last thread.

 

[zhenya]

I'm glad to hear you remembered! It's been a lot of work to get it to do anything. We ended up replacing the TPS, clutch slave cylinder, and a few other things. But in the end, victory!

First Start

First Start Part 2

My favorite part is that there were so many spiders in the car that every morning we would see a bunch of new spiderwebs going from the bottom of the car to the floor. For a few weeks, every day, we would clean up/burn those webs, and new ones would appear overnight.

 

[zhenya]

Since the car started and moved under its own power, it was time to get serious about making it driveable. We changed all fluids, spark plugs, and s
tarted looking for leaks.

There was a noise coming from the water pump like the bearing was bad, so we replaced it.

It was also having trouble idling correctly. Turns out there was a giant hole in the intake boot. Duct tape to the rescue!

Last but not least, a new steering rack, because this one was done with life.

 

[zhenya]

After doing all that, we wanted to give the coolant system a proper test, so we drove it around until it got up to temp, and then kept on going higher. Using scientific testing (picture below), we were able to determine that the thermostat is bad, because it wasn't opening.

After getting that sorted, we took it to a local Import meet, parked next to a friend of mine we made "team pop up headlights".

Surprisingly the supra got a lot of positive attention, second only to a beautiful original FD RX7.

 

[zhenya]

After some time of driving around and everything looking fine, the car decided to drop most of its coolant all over my garage. The culprit was this tiny hose in a very difficult to reach spot on the engine block.

But on the bright side, my daily got a new head unit so the supra got the handmedowns.

 

[MoparMarq]

You've done some nice clean-up on the interior. Looks a ton better, from first picture to most recent.

 

[zhenya]

You've done some nice clean-up on the interior. Looks a ton better, from first picture to most recent.

Thanks! The car started in a pretty low place so the only way to go is up.

Big news today everyone! After owning the car for over 4 years, I finally got a clean title for it! Thank you to everyone who offered advice and support in the original thread about how to accomplish this. I ended up getting a bonded title and then had to wait 3 years to make sure no one claimed it, and I just got back from the DMV with my new clean title in hand! This is a huge step forward, since I can start bigger projects without worrying about someone else trying to take the car.

I celebrated by immediately going to the nearest Toyota dealership to order some parts from the Heritage program. The only one that's relevant to me is the fuel level sender, but that has now been ordered. Overnight parts from Japan! Except in this case it's 90 days from Japan...

So to celebrate, I'll post some pictures that we took a few years ago when we first got the car. The location is a fancy golf course in the nice part of town where I live, just to scare the people with my supra a little bit.

 

[trofimovich]

Horror.

 

[supraguy@aol]

Wow. Nice work, but the road ahead would terrify me.

 

[zhenya]

Wow. Nice work, but the road ahead would terrify me.

I'm over here thinking taking inspiration from your projects, doing multiple cars at the same time lol.

Honestly I'm looking at this car as a learning opportunity. It's already so bad that anything I do will be better than the current situation. So I'll be doing body work, paint, wiring, building the engine, and anything else that comes along.

 

[JDMMA70]

Cant wait to see where this project goes.

Years later, and it must be stated again since this is a new thread.

Looking at your dash made me itch

 

[zhenya]

Some small updates. I got a new fuel level sender from the Toyota Legacy program. Pretty cool to be able to get fresh parts from a Toyota dealership for a 30+ year old car. I'm hoping they add more parts to it in the near future. But now I can see how much fuel I have!!

Of course the supra thanked me for this with the clutch pedal starting to stick pretty badly. It only comes halfway off the floor and I have to hook my foot under it the rest of the way. I'm not sure if I need to bleed the clutch or look at something else. It's a tomorrow problem.

And now that the car has some legit parts in it, I need to start thinking security. Obviously none of the locks work right now. I would really appreciate some guidance on where to get some functional locks and what my options are.

Cant wait to see where this project goes.

Years later, and it must be stated again since this is a new thread.

Looking at your dash made me itch

I promise the dashboard itch will be addressed soon!

 

[zhenya]

Small update. The clutch is being difficult again, I think the hydraulic system is failing. I got a new master and slave cylinders, but have not had time to install them yet.

The car was broken into last night. I only noticed because the door wasn't closed all the way this morning. They rummaged around in the center console and glove box but ultimately didn't take anything because there's nothing valuable in the car. But it's really making me realize I need to focus on security before going on with more expensive parts and repairs. I don't know where to start honestly. The locking mechanism doesn't work at all, and it's not something I've messed with in the past.

 

[zhenya]

The supra lives again! Replaced the master and slave clutch cylinders and now the pedal is feeling great. But as always with project cars, new things came up.
I've been fighting with the fuel level sender and it refuses to work properly. As soon as I put it in the tank, it seems like it's hitting something because it either stays full or stays empty, doesn't move properly with the fuel.

Also the car has developed a misfire, and I decided to change spark plugs for the first time since I bought the car in 2018. They look...rough to say the least. There was also a lot of standing oil in there that drained into the cylinders and caused a good amount of white smoke. And all around dirty and grime. The pictures are impressive. One of these days I'll pull the valve covers off to really clean it up, but I didn't feel like doing it that day. I do want to figure out why there was so much oil in there. But on the bright side, the misfire is gone!!

 

[zhenya]

Spent some time last weekend on the valve covers. I took them off, cleaned the area, found a random bolt sitting next to one of the cams (no idea how it didn't hit the cam during driving and damage things). Got new gaskets and did a lot of degreasing. There's a metal piece between the two valve covers, and it seems like it has plastic around it that has disintegrated.
Question for you guys. Should that metal/plastic plate cover the valley completely? The way it is now, there are some openings around the screw holes that could be letting dirt/grime in.

 

[Asterix]

The middle valve cover (#3) does a few things: the spark plug boots hook onto it for retention and strain relief, it holds the little trees that hold the plug wires, and the black covering acts as a gasket for the big plugs. The black coating quickly hardens and flakes off, letting the plugs leak oil. It's not a complete seal, as you observe.

You can get a stainless steel one from Nashman. When you install it, you'll want to seal the big screws either with FIPG or a gasket. It's a nice upgrade. I've had one for decades.

 

[zhenya]

Time for a big update!
A lot of things happened since I last posted so I will try to go in order.
I had to focus on my daily driver project car for a while. Had to get new tires and some other small things, and came to a decision that it's time for a new daily. I've owned it for 17 years now so it was hard to come to that decision, but now that it's made, I'm excited for the future.

Around December I decided that it's time to make some serious progress on the Supra. I ordered a lot of new suspension parts. Koni shocks, H&R springs, KYB strut mounts, a lot of bushings, Whiteline sway bars. While I was driving around waiting for the parts to get delivered, the clutch started slipping pretty badly. Thinking about it, I knew I'd have to basically pull the engine to do the clutch. Well if I'm going to go that far, might as well clean up the engine too. Well if I'm going that far, might as well build the motor too. Long story short, I found a shop locally that's familiar with the 7M and spoke to the owner about building mine. He said no problem, my goals are very doable and we can make it happen. I decided that once all the new suspension is in, I'll pull the engine and get it to the shop. I'm going to have them do all the machining and order the parts I will need, but then I'll assemble it myself. Learning experience.

In the meantime, suspension stuff!

The upper control arms weren't bad at all. If you use a bolt to line up the stuff and you have a nice, things will go in smoothly.

The lower arms, on the other hand, are a pain in the ass. Had to cut them out, and still haven't been able to press the new ones in.

The other problem is that the strut mount insulators (the rubber things the springs sit in) is old and in bad shape. I had to look around and another thread found ones that match close enough from Energy Suspension. That took extra time, but the bigger issue is that the KYS strut mounts don't sit properly on the shock shaft. Essentially the flat part that should stop the shaft from spinning when you tighten it is too lose and doesn't hold properly. I'm hoping I just got a bad set and that the warranty replacement will be ok....hopefully.

I know coilovers would have been simpler but I wanted to try this route. Starting to regret it a little bit.

 

[zhenya]

Big update time!

Last time I drove the supra after all the suspension changes I was excited to enjoy the car for a while and not mess with it. And of course it was at that exact time that the clutch let go. Anything over half throttle in any gear and it would spin. Absolutely not driveable. The whole point of this car was to learn how to do things, so that means I'm going to pull the engine out and do the clutch. But while the engine is out, I might as well build it.....

That's how project escalation happens.

I limped the car to a friend's garage and left it there while I was gone on vacation. Yesterday we were going to start working on it when I realized it has developed new and exciting electrical issues. In addition to the horn going off when the car is wet, the radio and clock are constantly on even while the car is turned off. My original plan was to do the build in pieces to minimize the amount of time it was down, and also so I don't spend too much money all at once. When we were disconnecting all the stuff on top of the engine I kept on thinking how much of a pain it's going to be to put back together when the engine is ready. On top of that, if I put it back exactly how it was before, it's going to have the same electrical problems it has now. The plan was always to rewire the entire car at some point and go with a modern ECU, but now I have to decide if I want to do it along with the engine or try to deal with the electrical issues.
Going down the standalone/wiring rabbit hole is going to be a big project in itself, so the forums are going to be my best friend to figure out how to do it right and hopefully not make too many stupid mistakes along the way.