Might be outta the game. Is there near Hagerstown MD that know supra's?

[SupraMario]

1 months time, is plenty to get it going, just work on it every second you have. And like it has been said, give up on it now and you will regret it for a long time.

Just pick up a TSRM, a junk laptop, and go sit in the garage and work on it. You can do it.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I've been dumping all my free time into this vehicle for the last 3 months (since the body was returned to me) and it's been slow moving. Damn near all engine bay brackets (suchas those that hold fuses and selenoids) are surface rusted and need sanded. Same goes for the gas tank. I dumped 10's of hours into prepping things, but due to the damn humidity, I can't get a good coating on and it just re-rusts through. Even with a rust converter.


Another issue is that all nuts/bolts/brackets etc were just thrown into buckets and boxes, so it takes freakin forever to do anything since I have to go looking for something every 5 minutes. Which makes building a momentum in my work nearly impossible. Not to mention I get hung up on the easiest of things, which just frustrates the hell out of me. For instance, jackass #2 must have been pulling my vehicle around with a chain around the steering rack because he mauled the hell out of the passenger side boot. Well, attempting to fix it turned out to be more than I could handle. At first, I couldn't get the tie-rod end off the steering knuckle with a puller due to the angle. So I had to pound the shit out of it with a fork to get it separated. This of course sliced the tie-rod's balljoint boot up. Then, I couldn't get the damn tie-rod to turn off of the steering rack. It's just ceased on there. I know a torch would probably help spin it off, but I don't own a torch. And that is just another tool I'd have to buy. My point is every little thing with this car ends up being some huge undertaking for me. And I'm sure it all boils down to lack of expertise on my part. True, I'm logging in my hours here building experience. But at this rate the car with naturally desintegrate before I ever get it running on my own.

I already have a 90 TSRM for my car along with a Haynes manual. I just need direction. This project has kept me up nights for seven years now! That's right, seven!!! It will suck to not get what I've dreamt about finished, but I am looking forward to a good nights sleep for once. Either from the Supra getting completed or from the supra getting the hell outta my life.

I did get some good new today tho. I will have my garage to at least January if not longer. So with the right kind of help, this project may actually get completed!

 

[TurboFreak]

I'm down to help. I'm 2 hours away though. PM coming your way.

 

[Mo87NA]

I know it must be frustrating bro, but don't give up. You obviously started this project because you have a passion for Supras. I can only speak for myself, but to me, my car is more than a hobby. It's something that I truly care about.

Another great thing about Supra owners is many of them are willing to help out (as you can see from all the responses you're getting). I met Chris (Shaeff) and Bryan (Slow66) a couple years back when they decided to go out of their way to help me finish my car. I had never meant them before, but they were still willing to lend a hand. It says a lot about their character. Keep your head up, you'll get it done.

Regards,
Mo

 

[shaeff]

Thanks for the kind words, Mo.

MarkIII4Me: If you were closer to me, I'd lend you a hand for sure. Unfortunately, I'm a bit too far to do that, so I'll just offer some encouraging words.

Stick with it, it'll be WELL worth it when you're done! (trust me, I've had my car on and off the road more times than I care to admit, and each time it just gets better and better! Hopefully this time will be the last and final iteration of my car, which is why it's been on jackstands for well over two years!)

 

[Mo87NA]

No problem Chris. I give credit, where credit is due

Mo

Thanks for the kind words, Mo.

MarkIII4Me: If you were closer to me, I'd lend you a hand for sure. Unfortunately, I'm a bit too far to do that, so I'll just offer some encouraging words.

Stick with it, it'll be WELL worth it when you're done! (trust me, I've had my car on and off the road more times than I care to admit, and each time it just gets better and better! Hopefully this time will be the last and final iteration of my car, which is why it's been on jackstands for well over two years!)

 

[madsupra88]

Damn if only you where in michigan!

Goodluck bro

 

[MarkIII4Me]

Yeah, I know. There's not much of a MKIII crowd in this area. I don't even know of many nice ones around, which is one of the main reasons I want my car done so bad.

I've received several PM's from members willing to help. Which is great! I just need to get my ass in the garage and start cleaning/prepping things so that no one comes down here and just wastes their time. This weather is making it really tough tho. I don't want to sand off rust inside my garage (since I need to paint in there), and I can't sand outside when it's raining. It's too damn cold in the garage for paint to cure too, but a friend of mine is suppose to be lending me a giant turbo kerosene heater soon.

Anyways, all who know MKIII's are more than welcome to stop over and offer their advice.

Thank you everyone!

 

[Scot]

Something seems to be missing.... How did you aquire all of these hi perf parts without the knowledge of putting it all together? I'm not being disrespectful, just trying to get a baseline of your mechanical ability. I'm not saying you should know how to assmble an engine, becasue most people, me included, do not have the experiece. It sounds like you have been shafted by your share of engine builders... I also don't see any tools in the background of any of your pics. If someone comes to help you out you should be prepared with an ample set of tools.

First priority should be to complete the engine. I see that it appears to be mostly put together. WHO did this? Was it assembled by a trustworthy, Supra experienced, mechanic? If not, you are asking for a future post of, why do I have rod knock, why is there no compression... other things like that AFTER it is dropped in and trying to get it running.

Regarding the engine bay... unless you are striving for a super clean, show quality look, why are you grinding all the paint off? This is another time consuming activity that will detract from getting this project running. Of course there is no better time to do this than now.... Is the engine bay completely stripped of all parts? If so, tow it to the nearest body shop and get it sprayed with the color of you choice. Stop spending time grinding, etc. The engine bay should be intact and completed before someone comes to help.... Unless they are just helping with the engine.....

Don't give up and it sounds like you have struck a positive chord with the people on this forum that have the knowledge to help you out. Use them wisely.

Write down your top 3 priorities. Then create a task list of what it will take to acheive these goals. Stay focused and stick to them.

 

[madsupra88]

One thing at a time, dont scatter all over the place and work on one thing and not finish it by getting ditracted and workin on something else!

Hopefully y ou get this thing up and runnin, sounds like you got a great setup so far.

-saif

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I acquired all these parts because different jackasses who had my car said they were ready for them, but they weren't. So everything just got piled up. I have a decent amount of tools. The reason they aren't in the same pics as the engine is because it's a 2 car garage and the parts were on the other side.

And yes! I do care about what the engine bay looks like. I didn't just dump 10's of thousands of dollars into this thing to drive some shitbox looking thing around. The engine bay has already been prepped and painted in the color of my choice by ME. So at least that headache is done and over with.

I bought this engine off of Steve Vang of VangsDyno in OK. I'd have to recheck who did the build for him. He ran the engine for around 3000 miles and put down something like 600+whp with a larger turbo then what I'm going to run. The engine is sound. I pulled the pan and valve covers to make sure of that. No gouging in the cylinder walls or anything like that. And all forged internals are in there as advertiesed. The engine turns smoothly. Any of the old school guys on SF knows of Steve and would never question that he knows his shit. There's plenty of video's floating around of him dragging MKIII supras against all sorts of things, even motorcycles.


My main priorities now is to put the flywheel and clutch to the engine. The tranny to the engine and drop the engine in the car. All sounds simple enough, but I've never done this before, hence why I'm requested knownledgable folks to help me out so I don't screw something up. There's no shortage of things that I need to finish up before the car is ready. The interior eventually needs stripped, sound deadened, repainted black, stereo wires ran, etc etc. But all of that can wait for now. Plus I'm more than comfortable completing that kind of stuff on my own; except maybe the removal of the dash. I need to get end tanks welded onto the Greddy IC core as well as IC hardpipes made and an exhaust from the test pipe to muffler made. I can't really fab any of this until the engine is in the vehicle tho. Also, I really need to finish up the gas tank. It was rusted pretty bad from a leak in the rear hatch which went through the spare tire well and layed on the tank. I just need the humidity to go down so I can finish up the last coat of sound deadener and paint. Grinding down that factory coating was a RPITA which I hope nobody else ever has to deal with.

I'm not a complete moron and I do have some mechanical skills. But when we're talking about the kind of money I've spent and the amount of power this engine will make, I need qualified individuals working with me. The last thing I want to do is hook a gas line up wrong and blow my engine or burn the car down.

As I've mentioned earlier, all helpers are welcome.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I've received PM's from at least 4 members in my area who are willing to lend a hand. Thanks everyone. And the more the marrier, so anyone else wanting to help please drop me a PM.

Thanks.

 

[suprapep]

im in the hagerstown area. i just bought a supra a couple of months ago. im starting my build as well. goodluck with it.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

im in the hagerstown area. i just bought a supra a couple of months ago. im starting my build as well. goodluck with it.

Do you have any prior experience with these cars?

 

[92nsx]

FULLY CRAZY PORTED ($3,500)

You spent $3,500 on just a port job. :aigo: i think some one took you to the cleaners.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

Once again, I purchased the engine off of Steve Vang of Vangs Dyno in OK. He ran the engine for around 3000 miles and had all the engine work done by Defcon Motorsports in ohio. I just talked to him yesterday and he said that he pushed over 700whp on this engine on one dyno run. Steve claims to have over $10,000 in the engine. None of the oldschool guys on SF questioned this at all on the engine's for sale thread since many of them had at least that much $$$ in their 7M's. I've never had any port work done myself, so I am unaware of how much time it takes or how much it costs. The $3500 figure was given to me by Steve off the top of his head. Steve knows his shit and isn't the kind of guy to get ripped off. So I'm confident that the port job wasn't cheap. I have 2 pics of the head port job on the second page of this thread. How expensive of a port job does that look like to you?

 

[ForcedTorque]

Has any of this help come through for you yet? Update the thread when it happens. We don't want you going anywhere.

 

[TurboFreak]

Has any of this help come through for you yet? Update the thread when it happens. We don't want you going anywhere.

Sadly I haven't. College final exams and not working enough(gas $$ for the 4 hour round-trip drive) are getting in my way.

 

[suprapep]

no i have not. i wish i have or i would of helped ya.

 

[Slow_Sc3]

im down to help out ill need a ride as my lic is suspended but iv been more then enough customers cars and my own to know the ropes.