Some of you met the Bupra in the introductions thread - but now it's time for me to start a build up thread for her!
I purchased her on August 4th, 2015 and she is my first manual transmission car. My boy is very into old school Toyotas and he thought that the Supra would be a good starting point for me, and I have to say I have fallen in love with this machine.
She's had one owner, and then they sold her to a gentleman who found out shortly after buying her that he had to relocate to another state, so he didn't even bother registering her, which technically makes me the second owner. :biglaugh:
My plan for this car is mostly restoration, with a few mods here and there to make driving her more fun as I obtain new levels of skill. From what I can tell, she must have spent most of her life outdoors in direct sunlight (yay... California), but luckily for me, that's not terrible here like it is in other states where she would have rusted away (YAY Calfiornia!).
Here are a few of the first photos I took of her on the day we brought her home:
Me proudly holding the keys - one original - in the driveway:
In the parking lot at Chipotle - because buying your first project car makes you hungry!
The still amazing-looking badge, despite almost 30 years of sun (that bumper however....):
When we picked her up, I had the boy drive her home - she was living more than an hour away from me and I was not yet comfortable driving that distance in a manual (I know, terrible, but the family always had automatic cars... :nono
. When we arrived, he said the first thing we needed to do was the brakes. We ordered the parts and I practiced driving in parking lots late at night until they arrived.
While we waited, we also installed a Spectre intake/filter the boy had lying around (it wouldn't fit in the '86 Corolla) - here's the disgusting engine bay, minus the stock intake (I'll clean her up, I promise!!):
We replaced the master cylinder (good thing too, it was leaking!), installed stainless lines, brand new rotors, and pads. The pads that were on had life left in them, but we weren't sure what they were, so we replaced them anyway (goooooo Stop Tech!).
Prep for brake installation - a mountain of goodies!
The SHININESS: :biggrinki
I have never seen such a difference in new brake setup (of course my experience is yet limited), but it was like going from stepping on a marshmallow, to stepping on granite. Holy. Cow! Now she goes nose down sooooo easily - add that to the list!
Beyond the brakes, the first big hurdle was getting those bumpers up to par. 30 years of sun did not leave them looking shiny. Luckily I work at a dealership and we have great vendors who were willing to take her for a couple of days and give her some fresh paint. Here are some before and after photos so you can really tell the difference!
Front:
Back:
When she came back, I was shocked! She still needs a good polish - maybe a clay bar, but she already looked 1000 times better! ....... Except for those mouldings!! UGH! :: angry ::
My luck is pretty good when it comes to finding things I need in a relatively short amount of time, and lo and behold, a local pick and pull brought in a 1987 Supra in the same Red Pearl color as mine - we DOVE on that Supra like a linebacker dives on a QB. Sadly, the junkyard Supra was an automatic, so no new shifter and boot, but the rest...
The moulding was the obvious must have, but we also picked up the driver's side mirror (Bupra's was cracked), dome light (Bupra's would not work despite re-soldering), headlight and wiper switch setup (no more blinding people due to inability to turn off my brights!), and the surprise find - an LSD! :naughty:
With the newly painted bumper and moulding, the rear end looks AMAZING!!! :icon_razz
Of course, we also replaced the lifters for the hatch so I didn't have to worry about brain damage! Now the next thing on the list is to get that LSD bolted on. It took over an hour of blood, sweat, and tears to get it off of the junkyard supra - hopefully it won't take that long to get it onto the Bupra!
More updates to come! :naughty:
I purchased her on August 4th, 2015 and she is my first manual transmission car. My boy is very into old school Toyotas and he thought that the Supra would be a good starting point for me, and I have to say I have fallen in love with this machine.
She's had one owner, and then they sold her to a gentleman who found out shortly after buying her that he had to relocate to another state, so he didn't even bother registering her, which technically makes me the second owner. :biglaugh:
My plan for this car is mostly restoration, with a few mods here and there to make driving her more fun as I obtain new levels of skill. From what I can tell, she must have spent most of her life outdoors in direct sunlight (yay... California), but luckily for me, that's not terrible here like it is in other states where she would have rusted away (YAY Calfiornia!).
Here are a few of the first photos I took of her on the day we brought her home:
Me proudly holding the keys - one original - in the driveway:
In the parking lot at Chipotle - because buying your first project car makes you hungry!
The still amazing-looking badge, despite almost 30 years of sun (that bumper however....):
When we picked her up, I had the boy drive her home - she was living more than an hour away from me and I was not yet comfortable driving that distance in a manual (I know, terrible, but the family always had automatic cars... :nono
. When we arrived, he said the first thing we needed to do was the brakes. We ordered the parts and I practiced driving in parking lots late at night until they arrived. While we waited, we also installed a Spectre intake/filter the boy had lying around (it wouldn't fit in the '86 Corolla) - here's the disgusting engine bay, minus the stock intake (I'll clean her up, I promise!!):
We replaced the master cylinder (good thing too, it was leaking!), installed stainless lines, brand new rotors, and pads. The pads that were on had life left in them, but we weren't sure what they were, so we replaced them anyway (goooooo Stop Tech!).
Prep for brake installation - a mountain of goodies!
The SHININESS: :biggrinki
I have never seen such a difference in new brake setup (of course my experience is yet limited), but it was like going from stepping on a marshmallow, to stepping on granite. Holy. Cow! Now she goes nose down sooooo easily - add that to the list!
Beyond the brakes, the first big hurdle was getting those bumpers up to par. 30 years of sun did not leave them looking shiny. Luckily I work at a dealership and we have great vendors who were willing to take her for a couple of days and give her some fresh paint. Here are some before and after photos so you can really tell the difference!
Front:
Back:
When she came back, I was shocked! She still needs a good polish - maybe a clay bar, but she already looked 1000 times better! ....... Except for those mouldings!! UGH! :: angry ::
My luck is pretty good when it comes to finding things I need in a relatively short amount of time, and lo and behold, a local pick and pull brought in a 1987 Supra in the same Red Pearl color as mine - we DOVE on that Supra like a linebacker dives on a QB. Sadly, the junkyard Supra was an automatic, so no new shifter and boot, but the rest...
The moulding was the obvious must have, but we also picked up the driver's side mirror (Bupra's was cracked), dome light (Bupra's would not work despite re-soldering), headlight and wiper switch setup (no more blinding people due to inability to turn off my brights!), and the surprise find - an LSD! :naughty:
With the newly painted bumper and moulding, the rear end looks AMAZING!!! :icon_razz
Of course, we also replaced the lifters for the hatch so I didn't have to worry about brain damage! Now the next thing on the list is to get that LSD bolted on. It took over an hour of blood, sweat, and tears to get it off of the junkyard supra - hopefully it won't take that long to get it onto the Bupra!
More updates to come! :naughty:
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