JZA70 return to the road and onwards to reliable performance

[DeSloth]

Hi all. I have some Australian supra owners asking about my car, so here goes.

It is a white manual hardtop JZA70 with a build date of April 1992. JZA70-BLMVZ. I purchased it from an interstate seller, sight unseen in January 2014. The car was registered, but was sitting for a period prior to sale. Being a JZA70, the vehicle was JDM only, and appears to have been imported into Australia in approximately 2001.

This is the second A70 Supra I have owned, the first was an Australian delivered silver MA70 turbo manual from 2007 to 2011. In five years of ownership, that car had a lot of cosmetic and mechanical maintenance, most of which I did myself. Unfortunately it had to be sold. The JZA70 will be similar but more extensive. I am also time poor so will be doing less of the work myself.

The JZA70 was delivered onto my driveway, at which time I drove it 10 metres into my garage and pulled it apart. Then commenced the gathering of parts...

Feedback welcome on various aspects. All suggestions will be taken on board. However the build is governed by some well defined goals that won't necessarily be everyone's cup of tea, because it's my car

At a high level:
- Car strictly for street use.
- It will be driven for enjoyment, not a daily vehicle.
- All repair, modifications to look 100% 'original equipment' to the fullest extent this is possible. Wheels and exhaust will be all that is visible.
- Car must not attract negative or police attention.
- Car will be quick, but will not compromise comfort or reliability of a street vehicle.

Power goal is 300 rwkw / 400 hp. But first comes acquisition of parts becoming scarcer by the month, then getting the car put back together in a reliable state.

Here are some photos of the car as purchased. Previous owner may be reading. It was not in the best shape, but was accurately described and fairly priced.

 

[DeSloth]

Wheels are not to my taste either.

Photo from previous owner sent as the car was loaded.

Car arrived with an aftermarket steering wheel, pre 89 indicator stalks, and 23 km put on it by the shipping company.

Also a radio wiring rats nest

So I bought a OEM pioneer radio (JDM period correct) and fixed up the wiring. Out with the old

In with the new

 

[DeSloth]

Pool ball shifter wasn't really... my thing. Also bushings etc were completely flogged out. So I bought a new shifter, bushes, gear knob and leather boot.

And a C's shifter

Being a JDM only model, the JZA70 came speed limited to 180 km/hr, also maximum indication on the dashboard. Couldn't handle that so obtained a k's 300 meter. Colour matches better in real life.

Aftermarket wheel also had to go. So I bought a used OEM wheel.

And got it professionally recovered. No cruise control was fitted to this car, so finding a non-cruise horn pad was a bit of a mission.

More to come

 

[emiliorescigno]

And got it professionally recovered. No cruise control was fitted to this car, so finding a non-cruise horn pad was a bit of a mission.

More to come

Stuff like this always gets me when I see builds from outside the US. I always forget that other markets had more "base" model cars, with manual HVAC controls, no cruise, and other oddities.

I'm so accustomed to every car being fully loaded!

 

[Silent Deatz]

Oh It's still possible to buy a new lether boot? How much did you pay for a new one?

 

[DeSloth]

Oh It's still possible to buy a new lether boot?

Not a Toyota item, though it looks like it might be. Full grain leather from an ebay seller from Surrey in the UK. I bought the same gaiter and handbrake boot from him in 2007 for my previous Supra, and they were in perfect shape 5 years later when I sold the car (daily driven).

 

[Silver MK3]

DeSloth, this looks like it will be a really nice build. I already like the path it is taking. Looking forward to more updates!

Oh It's still possible to buy a new lether boot? How much did you pay for a new one?

Look up Redline Leather Goods. They do amazing leather work, and they're in Poland, so they're closer to you than us over there in the US. I'm really happy with their products in my Supra.

 

[DeSloth]

Curt can still supply new shifter boots (black only)

Curt Aigner from Elmhurst Toyota, great service and very good prices as a bonus.

Here's another photo of the gear boot, it looks OEM and better quality in my opinion.

 

[DeSloth]

Hatch had rust in it. Once the extent was confirmed, it was easier to buy a used (relatively) rust free item.

And all new exterior trims

Except for the LHS window ventilation louver. If you have a new one to suit hardtop, or a pair, please let me know!

 

[DeSloth]

For reasons unclear to me, compliance workshops were required to replace all the Japanese seatbelts before the car could be registered in Australia. For the rear, they accomplished this by bolting pointy head-height brackets with NEW holes in the drilled through the chassis and quarter window interior plastics... really safe. The old belts were just cut off. Insane and ugly.

Anyway, I needed a lot of new plastics including above quarter trims, hatch deck, and door trims. These were very, very hard to find.

Still looking for hardtop boot plastics, centre console, dashboard, and dashboard under plastics. Colour is 'deep red', not oxblood / burgundy.

I sort-of fixed the existing centre console, and bought some cupholders.

Would like to buy a centre console pocket in deep red if anyone has one (with spring lid adjacent the mirror and seat control buttons).

Thanks for the feedback, will keep the updates coming

 

[DeSloth]

Great updates. That colour has really grown on me. Really hope you are able to source the remaining pieces.

Thanks - they will come up

So I've found some cracks under the quarter glass windows. Both sides are the same.

My previous car had similar cracks in the same location.

Jumping to 'a' potential cause here, but both this JZA70 and my previous MA70 were fitted with stiffer than stock aftermarket suspension.

Does anyone have any advice? Seen these before? What caused it? Should I weld them up, or drill out the crack tips and leave them alone?

Here I pushed a cable tie through the crack and took a photo from the rear of the panel

 

[DeSloth]

Removed hatch rubber bump stops. Took a lot of force and heat to break the loctite.

Polished up headlight / foglight plastics and chrome

Purchased new side indicators. Comparison with old shown

 

[HKS_TRD]

Nice build
Loving all the OEM goodness

Sourcing the interior parts will be interesting, you may find that because its a less common color there is more old stock lying around, or you may find that because its a less common color there is no stock.

The dash pad will be the hard one, even if its available new shipping will be crazy, might be worth trying Toyota Australia on that one

My car had the exact same thing done with the rear seat belts, and those new hole are being welded up as part of the tidy up of the car
Whats interesting is your car being such a late build probably had over the shoulder belts in Japan anyway, the earlier ones had lap belts so was a given they had to be changed, but either way something that meets our ADRs is needed

Klippan who made the awful rear belts make another model that you can set up as per the factory belts, I forget the part number but another guy here had his car complied locally under the 15 year rule and they looked alot better, my guess is your car was imported in WA like mine to have those seat belts

If you have a running list of parts you need, and they don't necessarily have to be brand new shoot me a PM, I have a few bits and pieces here and it would be good for them to just find a home I don't want to hoard stuff any more

 

[DeSloth]

Thanks Dan.

Sourcing the interior parts will be interesting, you may find that because its a less common color there is more old stock lying around, or you may find that because its a less common color there is no stock.

The dash pad will be the hard one, even if its available new shipping will be crazy, might be worth trying Toyota Australia on that one

Due to the challenge in finding interior parts, I've researched this a bit. The 'deep red' colour appears to have become available approximately the same time as shadow grey. Unfortunately, for me, it seems to have been an RHD option colour only for the JDM market, and only on white and burgundy (red ruby pearl) exterior cars.

So an option only on JDM 1991+ white and red ruby pearl cars.. sourcing the dash will indeed be interesting. I think North America had the same colour available, but dash LHD obviously.

Not available new unfortunately. I have also asked a few people in Japan with no luck on the second hand market. I think Japan has some laws about 'breaking' cars and dashes rarely, if ever, come up on Yahoo JP. I've found two owners of same colour, one in WA, one in Auckland but the cars are complete / working.

On a related note, there is a finders fee for a RHD deep red dash pad in VGC. Matching interior codes are FK33, or FL33

My car had the exact same thing done with the rear seat belts, and those new hole are being welded up as part of the tidy up of the car
Whats interesting is your car being such a late build probably had over the shoulder belts in Japan anyway, the earlier ones had lap belts so was a given they had to be changed, but either way something that meets our ADRs is needed

Klippan who made the awful rear belts make another model that you can set up as per the factory belts, I forget the part number but another guy here had his car complied locally under the 15 year rule and they looked alot better, my guess is your car was imported in WA like mine to have those seat belts

Yes had shoulder belts from Japan, identical setup to my 1989 Australian MA70. These folks took out something safe, and replaced with items that... weren't.

KJ & SV Hart
MELVILLE WA 615

Cheers for the tip on the belts. I had found Klippan as a company, now will track down info on the parts if they have an on 'on the shelf' factory fit option.

I'll PM you later on about a couple of parts.

 

[DeSloth]

Small update, yesterday I painted my faded and rusty rear speaker grills. Due to the above mentioned seatbelt installation, water had dripped on them and they got messed up over time.

JZA70 rear speaker

 

[DeSloth]

Posting a couple more parts that are waiting in the wings..

New front emblem

Big thanks to Hybrid, APEXi Power FC ECU - plug and play for JZA70.
A 415-A003 Power FC boost control kit also ordered and on its way

RonnieK bushing kit I've had for a few years.
Steering rack bushes were installed into my previous car, so bought some others to make up the full set.

 

[Silver MK3]

Good choice on the Ricochet bushings. I've got them and they've been great so far. It's a little difficult to get the brackets to come down over the new poly bushings though because they're so much stiffer and not worn out like the old ones.

 

[DeSloth]

Good choice on the Ricochet bushings. I've got them and they've been great so far. It's a little difficult to get the brackets to come down over the new poly bushings though because they're so much stiffer and not worn out like the old ones.

Good to know people like the product before putting them in. Similar feedback from Australian users

I did them under the car by myself on my MA70. You're not wrong about close tolerances / difficult to install - never again.

 

[Silver MK3]

Good to know people like the product before putting them in. Similar feedback from Australian users

I did them under the car by myself on my MA70. You're not wrong about close tolerances / difficult to install - never again.

Haha I did it the same way. I think I pulled up on wooden planks to give a little more clearance so I could crawl under the car. I had the old ones out in no time and the right hand side in quickly, but the left hand side was a pain to get aligned up. Your's might be a little difference being RHD though.

 

[Doat]

I am still blown away that you bought an OEM shift knob. Last I checked at the dealer it cost about $170 USD and I wanted to keep it OEM as well but that is just too much for a shift knob, so I bought a genuine TRD one instead lol. Very nice work I like what you are planning to do with the car I always love seeing a Supra get restored with OEM parts.