Emilio's Rebuild & Improvement Build Thread

[emiliorescigno]

With my stock headgasket, I don't really feel comfortable trying to get more power out of this engine, best to just leave it as it is and enjoy it. I just want the Boost Controller to settle in nicely, hopefully making 290-310 at the wheels, and do stuff to make the car nicer in General.

Right now the bigger items on the list of things to do are fixing the rust, getting the AC working, valve stem seals, and fixing my oil leak(s). I just need to find the time to do them, and I'm still not totally comfortable with my mechanical skills, so things will be slow but steady.

 

[92nsx]

WHOO!!!!! Awesome. ....all you need post up is "A/C now working" .....

With my stock headgasket, I don't really feel comfortable trying to get more power out of this engine, best to just leave it as it is and enjoy it. I just want the Boost Controller to settle in nicely, hopefully making 290-310 at the wheels, and do stuff to make the car nicer in General.

More hp = driver not driving rather wallet doing the driving. A/C working = happy driver at MUCH lower cost to owner. No mention of having more HP

 

[emiliorescigno]

So...yearly update? I haven't posted anything here in awhile. Maybe I should get around to doing that now that I have a second Supra. I went down to the cities to get the white car today, and I had trouble. I popped in the battery (inside charging all winter), and I hopped in to fire it up. All I got was a "click", and then all the electrics in the car went out.

I tried another battery in the car (known to be good), and still nothing. I pulled off the ground/negative wire, made sure it was okay, cleaned off the terminals and connectors on both the battery and car, and looked things over. I also checked the fuses in the engine bay and some in the kick panel, no dice.

I've had no luck at all, no matter what I do, it seems like some sort of fusible link or relay is bad, but I don't know where to look. Good suggestions will yield picture updates to my thread! :icon_razz

Because of this, the Blue Supra was driven up to St. Cloud - it seems to be working perfectly, except for a huge oil leak...

 

[toyotanos]

That click followed by all dead 90% indicates a poor connection to the battery. Whether it be internal or the terminals, my cash is on that. (Might be cool and be a cable) I know you checked them, but that's usually what I see with those symtoms.

Oil leak...?

 

[emiliorescigno]

Well, I do know that at some point Sean stripped down the insulation around the wiring for the positive side of the cable, I thought that may be it but I don't really know how to go about troubleshooting it, and it had worked as it is last winter when I parked it. I would be surprised if it was the negative cable to blame, though I guess it's possible. I pulled it out and cleaned all three connections, but still no luck.

Oil leak...?

The Blue Supra has an oil leak, not from the turbo feed, but from the front of the engine, seems like a front main seal or timing cover or something. I can't tell for sure, so I'm going to just replace all the gaskets up front with Toyota OEM gaskets. Fingers crossed it won't be too tough a job.

 

[92nsx]

The Blue Supra has an oil leak, not from the turbo feed, but from the front of the engine, seems like a front main seal or timing cover or something. I can't tell for sure, so I'm going to just replace all the gaskets up front with Toyota OEM gaskets. Fingers crossed it won't be too tough a job.

Here is what you need and when your done come do mine

St. Cloud Toyota had all of them in stock when I had hundo pick them up for me last week
2- cam
1- oil pump shaft
1- main crank

 

[emiliorescigno]

Here is what you need and when your done come do mine

I'll make sure to grab those seals today - I may pass on the cam seals though, the leak is lower down in the engine. I may take you up on the offer to give a hand helping with your seals - if you volunteer your garage heater when I do mine. :icon_bigg

 

[dslocal]

If your still having trouble with no start try taking a ohm meter and see what the resistance is between the clamp and the battery post. Then work your way down the line toward the starter. Is the click coming from the solenoid on the starter or somewhere else?

 

[emiliorescigno]

I will be looking into this problem further once I'm back home near the car. The big trouble is that after the first "click" first trying to turn it on, there's nothing. After the first click, it's as if there is no battery connected no matter what I do.

 

[toyotanos]

I 100% absolutely freakin OMG guarantee that its a battery connection issue! (ok, so maybe not that much, but you get the point )
I have had to fix so many of those at work after people replace their battery (even after the dealership, too) You have enough current capability (at the fault point) to run the radio/blower/etc ut once you want that 200amps for the starter the small connection you had just sparks and opens up=no power anywhere. Power and ground circuits are both susceptable, so you need to check both. I find the positive side is more frequent, but like I said, you need to check both

 

[emiliorescigno]

I 100% absolutely freakin OMG guarantee that its a battery connection issue! (ok, so maybe not that much, but you get the point )
I have had to fix so many of those at work after people replace their battery (even after the dealership, too) You have enough current capability (at the fault point) to run the radio/blower/etc ut once you want that 200amps for the starter the small connection you had just sparks and opens up=no power anywhere. Power and ground circuits are both susceptable, so you need to check both. I find the positive side is more frequent, but like I said, you need to check both

I checked over both sides, and they both seemed totally fine? The terminals are super clean, and I cleaned and re-connected the connections to the terminals. My dome light and such don't function at all now, regardless of what I do, no sparks when I connect the terminals even. Would the stripped grounding on the postive cable do this? How can I fix the stripped cable? I don't know how to rebuild a cable that has an inner and outer bunch of wiring...

 

[toyotanos]

Do you have a picture of said wire damages? I can picture the fusible link section of wire being damaged causing a lack of power to the fusebox, which in turn feeds the vehicle wiring and ignition switch, but not sure about the "grounding on positive cable" statement...

 

[emiliorescigno]

but not sure about the "grounding on positive cable" statement...

Oops, proofreading is my enemy. I used the wrong term, "shielding" is more appropriate. There is a shielded wire wrapped in more copper wires which is then shielded again. The entire outer layer has been cut off. I will get pictures next time I'm in Stillwater....

 

[toyotanos]

That's what I figured. Shielding shouldn't affect the power system, just makes a little more noise through the radio.

 

[92nsx]

I'll make sure to grab those seals today - I may pass on the cam seals though, the leak is lower down in the engine. I may take you up on the offer to give a hand helping with your seals - if you volunteer your garage heater when I do mine. :icon_bigg

Sure if you want all I have to do is back the vette out of the garage. Not sure on how long the process takes but Im guessing about a afternoon start to finish with cleaning everything. The trickiest part is unbolting the A/C compressor bracket. The basters had to make that one tab with a bolt threw it go right threw the lower timing cover. (that is if your bottom crank pulley/ harmonic balancer comes off with out a fight )

All though on the cam seals here is the way I look at. For the extra $10>$20 for both, I would replace them because who knows how close they are to also failing like the lower one (s) you already have that failed. My cam seals are also not leaking also but since it is all apart might as well spend the extra pennies and 5 mins to replace them as well. For less then $40 and the piece of mind knowing that all front seals are new Toyota seals are good/new = priceless. One less thing to worry about on the 7m engine.

Also depending on your budget and maintenance things you haven't done yet, it would be a great time to install a new timing belt (since it has to come off anyways) and the timing belt idler pulley. Might as well do it right the first time

 

[toyotanos]

^^ This man speaks the troof!

 

[emiliorescigno]

Well, I started pulling apart the front of the engine today, and HORRORS!

The timing belt was nearly slipping of the front of the cam gears, and the timing belt idler pulley was wobbling loose, and its bolt was finger tight. The only thing holding it in place was the plastic timing belt cover. There is oil everywhere inside the timing belt area as well, so a seal here somewhere is toast. I now need to get off the crank pulley and Power Steering belt, who are putting up quite a fight!

edit: As per Chris's suggestion, I went ahead and ordered the Schley crank pulley removal tool. On hold for the next few days until it arrives, I suppose.

 

[Moy]

Well, I started pulling apart the front of the engine today, and HORRORS!

The timing belt was nearly slipping of the front of the cam gears, and the timing belt idler pulley was wobbling loose, and its bolt was finger tight. The only thing holding it in place was the plastic timing belt cover. There is oil everywhere inside the timing belt area as well, so a seal here somewhere is toast. I now need to get off the crank pulley and Power Steering belt, who are putting up quite a fight!

edit: As per Chris's suggestion, I went ahead and ordered the Schley crank pulley removal tool. On hold for the next few days until it arrives, I suppose.

For when you get done with it all... you're welcome

 

[emiliorescigno]

Crank pulley bolt is off! That tool worked perfectly. Now I can't get the pulley off even though the bolt is gone. Gah!

 

[funky_monkey58]

Crank pulley bolt is off! That tool worked perfectly. Now I can't get the pulley off even though the bolt is gone. Gah!

Try using a puller.