Emilio's Rebuild & Improvement Build Thread

[emiliorescigno]

Well, a whole bunch of progress has happened. I am currently staying at my parents house in Stillwater while they're on vacation, and we had a mini Supra meet Tuesday night (well, Dan came by, but that was 3 Supras!). I'm thinking I need to organize a little mini-meet here in Stillwater in the next few days, as I've been scouting out some good roads around here in Stillwater. We did a ton of work on both of my cars:

Over the last few days I have:
-Figured out a moderately acceptable arrangement for wheels/tires so both Supras have safe and legal tread.
-Installed my ST swaybars in the Blue Supra
-Finished 90% of the missing vacuum hoses for the Blue Supra
-Changed the oil in White Supra
-Finished replacing exhaust gaskets in White Supra, and the leak is fixed.
-Replaced the inner tie rod on the Blue Supra, and got a full alignment.

As usual, I still have a lot of things to do, so I need to get started on a "want to buy" thread. Why not list what I need here as well?
Blue Floor Mats
Charcoal Canister Bracket
BVSV
89+ Cruise Control Relay
89+ Driver's Mirror

Oh, and here are some pictures of the cars together:

 

[toyotanos]

I have 2 of your things...BVSV, LH mirror (mine is white)

 

[emiliorescigno]

So, small update. I got the BVSV from Steve (for the White car), and I got the cruise working on the blue car!!!one!11!!

Now that the cruise is working fine, it annoys me that the clip is broken that holds the cruise switch into the dashboard, so I need to find one of those now.

 

[emiliorescigno]

Soooooooooooooooooooooo, I've been driving the Blue Supra quite regularly, and I've started to notice oil soak around the exit of the bypass valve. I decided to tear things apart to investigate what's causing it, and I'm a bit miffed. I do know that some oil in the intercooler/intake piping is normal when the car is driven hard, but is this beyond normal? I'll let the pics do the talking.

What has me scratching my head is that the engine in this car (Blue Supra) was rebuilt about 15,000 miles ago. The turbo was rebuilt perhaps 5,000 miles ago. Also, like any good troubleshooter should do, I did a compression test on the car and found a consistent 150psi across the board. Any ideas?

 

[toyotanos]

Time for a catch can methinks. Because its gathered on the outside of the turbo inlet that further reinforces that theory since a leaking turbo will not gather oil there (afaik). Simple to install, hard to locate a suitable spot for, though. Mine has been evicted from its previous spot in favor of an oil dipstick.

 

[fixitman04]

looks just like mine emilio... i get a nice puff of blue at startup.

 

[ForcedTorque]

Now that the cruise is working fine, it annoys me that the clip is broken that holds the cruise switch into the dashboard, so I need to find one of those now.

You got PM

 

[emiliorescigno]

I got another goodie for the WhiteSupra:

 

[emiliorescigno]

I think I've more or less decided that the White Supra is going to be going up for sale. I have a few more things I'd like to finish off doing on the car before it's listed, but expect a craigslist and a Supramania classified listing shortly.

 

[toyotanos]

Well you'd better make sure it meets the guidelines or I'mma knock white supra so far off the map not even the Dragon riding Unicorns will be able to find it :evil5:

Oh hai Emilio, what's new?

 

[emiliorescigno]

Well you'd better make sure it meets the guidelines or I'mma knock white supra so far off the map not even the Dragon riding Unicorns will be able to find it :evil5:

Oh hai Emilio, what's new?

bawww, you're no fun! I was totally planning on starting a thread with the subject "buy my shit", and then the body would contain a craigslist link. People would be a fool NOT to buy it!

 

[toyotanos]

lawl, too funny!

 

[emiliorescigno]

It really is a bummer though selling this car, but I'm quite serious about it now. I bought it when I was 17 and didn't know the first thing about what I was getting in to. Now the cost of maintaining and storing is too great to justify how much I use them individually, so the WhiteSupra is going to leave in favor for the Blue car. I plan on switching the Mishimoto into the Blue Supra, but I have to get an external transmission cooler first in order to get everything running properly. I'm worried the crappy tires and wheels on the White car will put off buyers, but I don't want to sink buckets more money into the car. Decisions Decisions...

 

[toyotanos]

Eh, don't worry about the tires so much, worry more about safety and such for it, then take all the goodies you want off for the blue one. You need an external cooler anyways, if you plan on making WS power in BS. That and a valve body build, possible whole trans build and a nice stall converter :naughty: Oh what fun we could have

 

[emiliorescigno]

I have never been a fan of automatic transmissions, but the idea of building up an A340 is starting to sound appealing. I don't really know much about the advantages and disadvantages of various upgrades are, or how it may affect the longevity of the transmission. All I know right now is that a bigger cooler and synthetic fluid are a must to prevent transmission damage, but I'm not sure what sort of reliability I can expect.

As far as converters - what does it mean for daily driving? I also heard of full-lockup vs. non converters? I'm not really sure what it all means from a price/driveability/reliability standpoint, so I have my research cut out for me. For now though, my objectives are selling the white car and fixing all the little "details" on the Blue Car so I have a nice solid car.

 

[toyotanos]

Valve body mod=good for mild power upgrades, makes shifts slightly firmer, keeps OK trans in OK condition for longer.
Built trans= Good for bigger power, depending on what type of build you go with they may want to do their own valve body mods, shifts will likely be aggressive (by your standards)
Stall converter= gets a bigger turbo up on boost but will reduce fuel economy slightly to a lot depending on how loose it is. (stall is max slip on the converter. Put in D, press brake, WOT without spinning the tires- should be ~2k-2500. Stall converter can be up to 5000+rpm) Car will feel lazy to accelerate due to the extra slippage. Get one that has lockup, that will be the saving grace to your fuel economy.

Extra bonus: You will lose some WHP compared to a 5speed car, but you will never, ever miss a shift.

 

[emiliorescigno]

Well today I was starting my drive down to the cities, and I hit a big pothole (in White Supra). One of the lug nuts/studs sheared straight off. I'm debating bringing the car back down to the cities on 4/5 lugs on the left rear wheel - bad idea?

 

[toyotanos]

4/5 isn't bad, but the fact it sheared off when you hit a pothole tells me all the lugs underwent the same strain- makes me nervous about another having been damaged and waiting to let go.

In other news, I have a set of 10 new stock studs at my place- if you give me warning we could even change them out!

 

[emiliorescigno]

Wheel Studs - done! Damaged brake caliper hanger (rusted apart, basically), parts arrive on Tuesday.

 

[leecheater]

Emilio, the offer is still open to use the hoist. I get back Wednesday.