MK3 Questions

[jfreeman]

Alright so I originally got my supra in a trade for one of my motorcycles back in 2010, I've replaced a lottttt of shit including bhg since having it. Mechanicaly I've fixed everything that was wrong it (all sensors were bad lol, bhg, master cylinder & lines, tires, speedo cable, plus a h4ckd interior harness :3d_frown: )

Oddly, for some reason the prev, owner put pre89 body panels on it, have no idea why? The car is a '90 n/a

The front bumper is pre89, but still has the post 89 black grill (that goes on either side of the post89 centerpiece)
Has pre89 spoiler, which I hate!

Still has post 89 taillights.

The title is clean and for a '90, sometimes makes me wonder if he found a junk 90 and just retag'd it an 80s mk3. I checked all the vin badges and they look untampered with.

Whatever the case may be, can you guys let me know all the differences between the pre's and 89+ supras? I need to dig deeper into everything I'm gonna need to revert this thing back to the 1990 glory :icon_bigg

I know a guy with an 87 and I saw that the interior gauges were slightly different and the climate control buttons had the peeling layer on them (lol?)
The dimmers are different.

Thanks and let me know guys

 

[CRsupraiii]

I'd check your motor mounts. If they're round then it's 89+, square are pre-89, unless your boy was really ambitious and swapped subframes. Next I'd check your plugs on the body harness behind the glove box, pre-89 should be yellow, and the post 89 should be gray. [For the most part. Some cars got Frankenstein'd around the '89 mark with some plugs from before and after.]

Edit: Steering wheel too, 89+ should be the newer yota steering with cruise on/off and functions on it, and there shouldn't be a cruise on/off to the left of your wheel. Also I believe the newer cars had the panel to the left of the wheel in black instead of dark grey? Could be way off on that last one.

This is of course if you don't trust the VIN. Hope this is all relevant and correct information!

Also, pics or it didn't happen.


- Joe
Sent from my iPhone

 

[lithium14]

yeah, send us a few pictures of interior, engine bay, subframe etc etc and we can have it nailed down to year in a few posts I'm sure.

 

[jfreeman]

Thanks I'm going to get pics of everything tomorrow, Im thinking the engine harness is pre89 as I ordered a 90 knock sensor for the car before knowing this and no way shape form was is going to hook up to the harness lol, had to send it back and get an 88 sensor.

I'll get some pics tomorrow, it's not much to look at, still fixing the last guy's fuck ups.

thanks

 

[Turbo Habanero]

Harness is a pretty easy one if the car has TEMS check the color of the plug on the shock tower if not check the color of the plug on the CPS sensor Grey means 89+ Yellow is PRE 89

Another easy thing to look at is pre 89 speedo goes to 140mph post 89 is 160mph

 

[jfreeman]

http://imageshack.us/g/694/1000617m.jpg/

Got some pics ^

Never mind the horrible paint and wheels lol, plan on addressing that issue very soon

edit: the picture pointing to the coolant temp sensor was uploaded for a different thread

 

[xzeror]

those are the round mounts as stated 89+, some 89s came with everything post 89 cept the wing(pre89 wing) idk about the 90s. Cluster looks 89+ only thing that doesnt look 89+ to me is the front bumper? The entire molding is 89+ as well.. as for the interior door panels i believe 91/92 were the ones that had the larger speaker pods in the front iirc.

 

[jfreeman]

The front bumper is def a replacement, the burgundy paint underneath the blue is a dead giveaway.
I could be wrong but I thought the 89+ had the 3 piece spoiler?
Also, my steering wheel is the 90s one with the cruise control lever/stick on the right of the wheel

Thanks

 

[lithium14]

xzerzor is right... ur trim is 89+, tach goes to 160mph (89+), grey ecu plugs (89+), larger speaker grill/rounder door handles (89+). Just your front bumper and spoiler is pre89. I can understand the bumper since some (like me) feel the pre89 is more aggressive than the 89+. I assume his spoiler was damaged at one point and he replaced with a pre89, or like xzerzor said it was a rare case of 89+ coming with pre89 spoiler. Here is another way to tell for sure: remove your taillights and get the center section off. at the middle of the bottom of the centerpiece is a spot for a fastening plug made of plastic. If there is a corresponding metal tab on the body of the car for that plug to fit into, then your body is 89+, if there is no tab and the the plug is not connected to anything or missing, then u have a pre89 body (rear end at least) lol.

 

[jfreeman]

Thanks guys, I think it's safe to say that it is a '90 just the spoiler and bumper are changed, as you can probably guess the car is in the shape that it's in because the last 2 owners were both kids who ran it into the ground :3d_frown:

It's in pretty rough shape, I'm getting my hands on a 3 piece and the correct bumper, then I'm going to get the car in primer. Still gotta do some wiring work on the interior harness because it's pretty hacked :icon_frow

Good news is there's no rust :naughty:

 

[Greek]

That is one abused bitch right there.

 

[jfreeman]

Haha, tell me about it, damn kids! Once I get everything fixed and back to stock working condition, I'm going to turbo/manual swap it and clean her up real good

 

[lithium14]

Gotta love no rust!! The only rust spot I have is the battery tray area where battery acid leaked :'(

 

[te72]

Good news is there's no rust :naughty:

Check the wheel wells and spare tire well in the hatch yet? Those seem to be the first places if any that will start getting the cancer... As for parts swapping, I'm never sure what's a what year anymore, parts have been back and forth all over the place on all sorts of cars since I've owned these cars. :rofl:

 

[Greek]

Please, don't talk about wheel wells.

 

[jfreeman]

Yup I've check the wheel wells and spare wheel area, both are good. :thumbup:

There was a tiny spot of surface rust I found on the car but I caught it early and hit it with sandpaper and painted it. All fixed

Can't wait to get the build thread going!

What is your guys' opinion on 2J Single vs 7m Single? I've read all the threads on this topic, so don't tell me to search.

What i'm looking for in the Supra is a good reliable DD, but just until I can get a second car, looking to get a Celica to play with and as work DD, afterwards the Supra is going back under the knife for the swap.

I like the 7m's because I've worked on them longer and are quite familiar with them, I like the 2j's because 1. it would be fun to brag about 2. it's a newer and cleaner looking motor. 3. stock for stock has more power.

The downfall of the 2j is obviously the price, for the price I would be spending on a 2j I could just build nicely tuned 7m.

How is reliability between the two? about the same?

 

[te72]

Please, don't talk about wheel wells.

A line from Mitch Hedberg:

"You know, I think whenever Pringles first started, they meant to sell tennis balls... then a truck full of potatoes showed up, and Mr. Pringle, being the laid back guy he was, said, fuck it, CUT EM UP!"

You wheel wells... cut them out and make yourself a mini-tub.

What i'm looking for in the Supra is a good reliable DD, but just until I can get a second car, looking to get a Celica to play with and as work DD, afterwards the Supra is going back under the knife for the swap.

I like the 7m's because I've worked on them longer and are quite familiar with them, I like the 2j's because 1. it would be fun to brag about 2. it's a newer and cleaner looking motor. 3. stock for stock has more power.

The downfall of the 2j is obviously the price, for the price I would be spending on a 2j I could just build nicely tuned 7m.

How is reliability between the two? about the same?

If I were building merely a toy, I wouldn't mind a 7m, but if I NEEDED the car to be reliable, a JZ isn't a bad option. Can 7m's be made reliable? Yes. All depends on how much dedication you have, time, and obviously money. I've been daily driving a 1j for over two years now, only had maybe 3 minor issues in all that time. Had a 7m that I drove for nearly as long, and only had previous owner issues to fix. Once those were done, never had a problem with it.

Now, that said, the 7m I had was an NA, the 1j a turbo. If you're looking for reliability or high high power... I'd suggest the 2j. If you're looking for a fun, beautiful sounding engine that you may or may not run into issues with (mostly tuning and oil system related it seems), that you don't NEED to be able to drive, a 7m is a good option as well.

 

[destrux]

Yeah but the 7M has more 80's awesomeness built in than the JZ motors. Maybe that's it's problem, too much awesome for the head gasket to withstand.

Sorry.

Anyway... I traded a motorcycle for my supra too! It was an awesome bike, I miss it. Mint condition 93 YZ250. Still had the stock spark plug!

 

[jfreeman]

Haha nice destrux^ I traded a 98 cbr 600 f3 with a less then perfect head gasket. :icon_lol:

Whichever motor I go with, I will be rebuilding it for the sake of resetting engine "miles" to zero. The motor will get mhg with proper torque specs to alleviate head gasket issues. I'll be keeping the motor stock at first, and primary focus is to get a couple years of stress free life out of it before the real fun begins :naughty:

 

[lithium14]

I'm fully building my bottom end right now, enough to support well over 600hp, but I'm only looking for 500ish with my bolt on situation, but the fully built bottom end is focusing on reliability with a superduperawesome oiling system (without going drysump). All I can say is.... it's expensive lol.