88 Supra Rebuild (Trans swap 1/18/11)

[Devin LeBlanc]

Thank you, I really appreciate the nice words! A car like the supra needs to be treated right, I try to treat it right. Today I was driving around the block a little and heard a loud hissing sound, so I pulled over right away to open the hood with a puddle of coolant under the car. The Small hose that makes a L in the back of the head split open. I just hope it didn't do any damage to anything else. I baby'd it home into the drive way, Thankfully I was about a minute from my house. Letting it cool down so I can begin the work. Thats one of the hoses I did not replace, so no telling how old it is, and weakened from the exhaust in the coolant from the previous blown head gasket.

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well today I started working on my rims, Here is what it came out looking like. This is wet sanded with 400 grit, then 1000 grit, then buffed with turtle wax, and then polished with zymol polisher. Total time spent about 30 min on one rim. One down, 3 more to go lol. I painted all the center caps metallic silver, they look good but don't match the color of the rim, they are a little darker in the sunlight. I think I might paint them black or another color? Hot pink anyone? Just kidding

 

[87mk111]

That wheel came out pretty good. Black center caps should look ok.

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

So continuing with sanding the rims I went a little to much on one of them and took the paint off.. One got screwed up. Im thinking Im just going to paint them all Black or something just because it looks like crap right now. Next on the list is some springs so it wont be monster truck status anymore. lol

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well, Im low on oil, Low on coolant, and the coolant is milky tan goo... FML

 

[xzeror]

 

[BrandonW]

darn that sucks, what are your plans now?

maybe it happened because of that hose in the back of the head that broke or maybe the starting of the bhg cause that

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

I think it was just the crappy ebay head gasket... I have put 1060 miles on the car after I did the head gasket again. Im going to do a felpro and get the head machined. Starting to pull it apart as I post!

 

[BrandonW]

oh didn't notice you use a possible bad hg, maybe the 90ft lbs on head bolts played a role also

at least you can do it yourself, hope it goes better this time around

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well 4 hours later, head is off.. Head gasket doesn't look blown at all but, It definitely didn't seal how it was supposed to. In between the head and the gasket and the block and the gasket was coated with coolant and oil. The gasket came off without any separation or peeling, its still in one piece. I highly doubt the 90 ft lbs played a role in this happening, though 4 of the bolts right in the middle were pretty loose compared to the outer ones. When I do the felpro the bolts are getting torqued to 85 and then a re torque again after a few heat cycles to 90 ft lbs. I think it was just the crappy ebay gasket that caused it.

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Little update, After further inspection of the head gasket (I was really tired last night) It seems combustion was leaking between some of the cylinders. and didn't seal around the main oil feed passage. Head is being cleaned, machined, all new valve stem oil seals, etc. My brother is doing the machine work and going to have it back to me tomorrow. I also called ARP today and they said for the bolts I have (part number 203-3902) Which is the 12 point bolt not stud, They said with moly lube torque to 90 ft lbs, and with 30wt gear oil 130 ft lb's. So my bolts were way under torqued because I only torqued them to 85 ft lbs using the gear oil. 45 ft lbs off. This time Im going to use moly lube and torque to the recommended 90 ft lbs by ARP. Allowing them to sit over night and then doing a re torque procedure. This way Im sure it will be good.

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Small update, Sorry no pictures. I will have them to post soon. Anyways Got the head back and put it all back together. We ended up taking 10 thousands off the head, All new valve stem oil seals, lapped the valves, valve lash adjusted and within spec. Thank god my brother had like 300+ shims for the lifters. About an hour with a micrometer and some math and I was able to get everything within the minimum/maximum specs. Felpro HG is arriving tomorrow thanks to Rock auto. Got basically everything I need to put it all back together. I need a cap for the back coolant barb on the back of the head (Bypassed the heater core) when I took the "nipple" off it tore. Anyways, Head goes back on tomorrow.

 

[TweeT91109]

Small update, Sorry no pictures. I will have them to post soon. Anyways Got the head back and put it all back together. We ended up taking 10 thousands off the head, All new valve stem oil seals, lapped the valves, valve lash adjusted and within spec. Thank god my brother had like 300+ shims for the lifters. About an hour with a micrometer and some math and I was able to get everything within the minimum/maximum specs. Felpro HG is arriving tomorrow thanks to Rock auto. Got basically everything I need to put it all back together. I need a cap for the back coolant barb on the back of the head (Bypassed the heater core) when I took the "nipple" off it tore. Anyways, Head goes back on tomorrow.

Sweet....BUT!!!!! there had better be pics... lol

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Alrighty.. Heres some pics

Here's how it sits right now:

Parts in the back:

Oh and the fun begins

Head all done and ready to be installed:

Whapow.. Nice

muhahaha, Enough shims? ok maybe not enough.. I have more.... Seriously.. lol

 

[91supran/a]

reminds me of my car mine wasn't two blown head gaskets
it was first blown turbo so rebuilt it new inter cooler piping and a intake fresh oil changed and 153 miles later head gasket blew so that's where im at now...

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well making some progress! Should be running tomorrow if everything goes as planned.. Which it will..

Supplies:

And where its at now, Dinner break lol:

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Progress has ended for tonight! Im to the point where I cant do anything else because I have to re-torque the head bolts in the morning!

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

Well got it all re-torqed and wrapped up this morning! Runs even better than it did before! Smoother acceleration.. I think all of that carbon build up on the intake valves was causing it. Starting to work on the rims now.. Heres what one finished looks like. I still have to outline the Toyota in white in the center cap with a fine brush.

 

[BrandonW]

nice, that was a quick recovery

are you going to do a re-torque after a few heat cycles?

 

[Devin LeBlanc]

eh, Im still thinking about it. I think the re-torque over night was enough to allow the gasket to compress and settle.. Last time I torqued the head bolts to 85 ft lbs with regular oil.. And ARP said with gear oil torque them to 130 ft lbs.. So it was under torqued. This time I used Moly lube and did it to their specs, 90 ft lbs.