87 temp selector control unit. What gives?

[87 Supra]

I just checked the car fax and it says the car was imported to Philadelphia in 1988. It passed their inspection 8 days later and was released. I wish I could find out what country it came from.

On a different note I told my wife this morning why the car was causing us so much trouble with the licensing. She immediately picked up on the possibility that the car might be a bit rare in these parts and asked me what it was worth!:nono: Too funny.

 

[SupaMan]

does it have a 7mge in it? id love to see more pics of this car! its very clean and 1 of a kind!

 

[87 Supra]

Here are some pics of it a few months ago when it was still nice out. Shortly after buying it I bought a $500 parts car so i could swap some interior parts and snag the LSD. Mine had the LSD but it was shot. She really runs well now. Looked to be a fairly well maintained car for its age. The last few pictures are of my parts car. One year newer but the exact same color. Worked great for the interior pieces and seats! I hated taking it apart. It ran and drove but had a bhg.

Parts car

 

[Saavedro88]

MAN.... I can't get enough of that Eurospec A$$!! Do any other Pre89 owners agree with me when I say that thing is hott??? It really makes up for the fact that our taillights are kinda dinky... IMO...

 

[Jeff Lange]

European cars are different in quite a few ways. Post the model code ("MA70L-XXXXX") from the data tag on the firewall, as well as your chassis number (VIN). I'll get as much info as I can get for you about the car.

Jeff

 

[87 Supra]

European cars are different in quite a few ways. Post the model code ("MA70L-XXXXX") from the data tag on the firewall, as well as your chassis number (VIN). I'll get as much info as I can get for you about the car.

Jeff

I’ll send that to you when I get home tonight. Thx!

 

[87 Supra]

Hey Jeff I sent you a PM with that info in it. Thanks again for looking into it for me.

I decided to put a call into Frankfort to see what was taking so long on my title; I bought this car back in August! They said it was in the investigation pile since the Vin didn’t match up. I told them it was a euro import and she was able to fix it right away. Dang I wish I knew this 3 months ago. Still, I’m glad I was finally able to get it sorted out. I piece of me wondered if it had been stolen or something like that.

 

[BorHor]

Haha this is an interesting car. I'd keep the unique euro parts on since not maybe will have them in the US. Maybe grab a set of euro front markers since your car doesn't have them.

 

[gtsfirefighter]

Let me preface this by saying I think your car is perfect the way it is because it's so unique BUT since you have a parts car you can always swap the dash and main body harnesses. It's rather time and labor intensive but can be done.

Let's see some motor shots, more interior too. Super sweet car. I'm jealous.
Loose the trailer hitch though. Also, you can get a leather steering wheel cover from any Wheelskins dealer on ebay. Stitch it on yourself and have a leather wrapped wheel.

 

[akito]

Damn. You can see the JDM/Europe fogs. I wonder why your supra doesn't have the Euro signals. Anyways, very nice car. Thats good since everything is sorted out now.

 

[OneJoeZee]

Well this thread was interesting. Don't see that everyday...

I was thrown off there for a second... Thinking to myself, sliders? wtf is this guy talking about?

 

[87 Supra]

Damn. You can see the JDM/Europe fogs. I wonder why your supra doesn't have the Euro signals. Anyways, very nice car. Thats good since everything is sorted out now.

The Carfax said it was in a wreck in the early 90s. Judging by the paint on the car they replaced the nose and repainted the hood and both front fenders. The trailer hitch is kind of odd looking but they cut the valence so I would have to replace that if I took it off. Where can I get the euro lenses?

 

[87 Supra]

Well this thread was interesting. Don't see that everyday...

I was thrown off there for a second... Thinking to myself, sliders? wtf is this guy talking about?

Yea it kind of evolved a bit didn’t it. Glad I was able to find this stuff out. Now I will be keeping it as stock as possible. I was just wanting to replace the heater control since I was having issues getting my heater to work. I ended up rigging the heater valve and burping it so I get some heat now.

 

[Jeff Lange]

Damn. You can see the JDM/Europe fogs. I wonder why your supra doesn't have the Euro signals. Anyways, very nice car. Thats good since everything is sorted out now.

Not everywhere in Europe had the Amber/White lenses.

 

[Jeff Lange]

Here's the information I have on the car from what I can tell.

February 02/1987 Produced MA70 LHD
7M-GE N/A Engine
Automatic Transmission
Targa Body
3H1 Red Metallic Paint
Grey Leather Interior
Europe-General Destination (Sorry, can't get more accurate than that )
4.10:1 Differential, with Limited Slip (Something we never had)

Some other stuff I noted looking at your pictures:

Your rear wiper stops in the "down" position, as opposed to ours.
You have the folding side mirrors on the doors.
You have the rear fog light and wider license plate spot.
You have the "3.0i" on the moulding (we never did).
You'll only have 1 power lock switch, on the driver's side.
Seat heaters were an option (not sure if you have them).
Someone must have added the rear side markers to pass inspection, as they were not installed in Europe.
Your steering wheel isn't leather, and I'm not sure it ever was.
You have headlight washers, LSD, but no TEMS, this was not an option for 1987 in North America.
Looks like they swapped out your speedometer when it was brought in. It should have had a km/h speedometer originally.
Your fuel gauge doesn't say "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" (Same for Canada).
No factory security system (Same for Canada).
You don't have EGR (At least the car originally wouldn't have had it).
Car would have originally at least, come with H4 housings instead of sealed beams.


Can't think of anything else really important off the top of my head. I do have the European catalogs though, so PM me if you want to know if a part is different.

Jeff

 

[87 Supra]

Hey thanks a lot for the info Jeff!:icon_bigg It sounds like a pretty interesting car. I have been collecting cars for years and I always love finding one that has a unique story to tell. I don’t think mine had heated seats in it. It now has fabric seats since the original ones were shredded. I still have them sitting in my parts car. I guess if the gauge has been swapped out then there is know way of really knowing the actual mileage on it. It reads 170 right now. Might be more than that or possibly less. The car sure does run well and feels tight.