Well, it's been a long journey, and I've learned so much. Started off with my POS that i got for $800. 89 Turbo, 5spd, Targa. I had been looking for one of these for a while now, and when i heard the price, i jumped on it. Wasnt a great idea, but i love putting time into it.
When I got the car, it had a "blown motor" but after driving it i knew that it was just a blown exhaust gasket. I picked it up, and later that night, a friend and i replaced the manifold and turbo gaskets in about 5 hours. Now i can do it in around 45 minutes lol. I had a great running supra for cheap!
WRONG. I forgot that on the features list of the car, Toyota had included a blown head gasket for me. After driving it a lot, i saw the overheating, heard the waterfall, and of course met the birdcage light. Thanks to this site and the members who know so much here, i was easily able to discover the problem. So, I popped the head off and put an ebay gasket kit on it (60 bucks shipped) It worked great! (for the first few startups, then it blew again. I didnt do any work to the head/block except to check it for straightness, and thats probably why. Later on that night i developed a rod knock. I didnt flush the oil after the h/g change. dammit. O well, the motor came out of the car, removed all rod caps, aand all the journals mic'ed up ok. but they were scored. i put new bearings on it and threw it back together.
Needless to say, it didnt work. still had a slight knock. and a BHG. So i turned up the boost to around 10psi and had fun driving it or a few months. it wasnt that bad except for when i got burned with radiator fluid spewing out the cap, a few blown hoses, and other random bullshit. Finally, in december/january, it was time for a change. I liked driving the supra too much. i felt more comfortable in its drivers seat than i have felt in any other car. ever. I decided to cash in on some of the custom parts from my other car and put it into the supra.
I rounded up a Titan Motorsports 2.0mm MLS Head gasket, an extra head, a bunch of misc gaskets, a new water pump, etc... and i did the head job right this time. Sent the head i bought off to my machine shop, only to find that it was cracked badly. Took off my head and gave it to them, but it needed to be welded. $225 for all the work. They Beadblasted it, welded all the water passages back to normal size (they were eroded to shit) and surfaced the bottom to a 25RA finish. i saved a lot on the work by taking the head to them already disassembled and i lapped the valves and put it back together myself.
After putting everything back together, i decided to do my exhaust while i had it up on jack stands. I sourced a 3" megamouth dowpipe elbow from hotscennesey! THANKS! grabbed some 3" mandrel bends and got to work with the welder. I really like the outcome, and ill throw up some pics in a few days.
The head gasket sealed great (removed all rivets) and its running like a champ today! after 1 week, 300 miles, and stock boost (for now) it still hasnt even gotten close to overheating. PROBLEM SOLVED!
My next step on this car is to fix a small mistake that i made whil being so rushed on putting the head back together. I forgot to put valve stem seals on it. So, it smokes... thats getting remedied next week, but its bearable for now. I also have an oil leak from my valve cove gaskets because one of the bolts is stripped out. That will be taken care of too.
In the future, i plan on fixing the body of the car. it needs paint and some lovin bad. the previous owner thought it would be cool to rattle can the whole thing with home-depot paint, and it looks horrible. I have learned how to work with fiberglass, bondo, and a majority of body work that ill need to do, so i will be starting on that shortly.
But im not gonna let a perfectly good supra die!!!
All in all, im glad to have a site like this to come to, and you people are the best! Thanks for all the help!
When I got the car, it had a "blown motor" but after driving it i knew that it was just a blown exhaust gasket. I picked it up, and later that night, a friend and i replaced the manifold and turbo gaskets in about 5 hours. Now i can do it in around 45 minutes lol. I had a great running supra for cheap!
WRONG. I forgot that on the features list of the car, Toyota had included a blown head gasket for me. After driving it a lot, i saw the overheating, heard the waterfall, and of course met the birdcage light. Thanks to this site and the members who know so much here, i was easily able to discover the problem. So, I popped the head off and put an ebay gasket kit on it (60 bucks shipped) It worked great! (for the first few startups, then it blew again. I didnt do any work to the head/block except to check it for straightness, and thats probably why. Later on that night i developed a rod knock. I didnt flush the oil after the h/g change. dammit. O well, the motor came out of the car, removed all rod caps, aand all the journals mic'ed up ok. but they were scored. i put new bearings on it and threw it back together.
Needless to say, it didnt work. still had a slight knock. and a BHG. So i turned up the boost to around 10psi and had fun driving it or a few months. it wasnt that bad except for when i got burned with radiator fluid spewing out the cap, a few blown hoses, and other random bullshit. Finally, in december/january, it was time for a change. I liked driving the supra too much. i felt more comfortable in its drivers seat than i have felt in any other car. ever. I decided to cash in on some of the custom parts from my other car and put it into the supra.
I rounded up a Titan Motorsports 2.0mm MLS Head gasket, an extra head, a bunch of misc gaskets, a new water pump, etc... and i did the head job right this time. Sent the head i bought off to my machine shop, only to find that it was cracked badly. Took off my head and gave it to them, but it needed to be welded. $225 for all the work. They Beadblasted it, welded all the water passages back to normal size (they were eroded to shit) and surfaced the bottom to a 25RA finish. i saved a lot on the work by taking the head to them already disassembled and i lapped the valves and put it back together myself.
After putting everything back together, i decided to do my exhaust while i had it up on jack stands. I sourced a 3" megamouth dowpipe elbow from hotscennesey! THANKS! grabbed some 3" mandrel bends and got to work with the welder. I really like the outcome, and ill throw up some pics in a few days.
The head gasket sealed great (removed all rivets) and its running like a champ today! after 1 week, 300 miles, and stock boost (for now) it still hasnt even gotten close to overheating. PROBLEM SOLVED!
My next step on this car is to fix a small mistake that i made whil being so rushed on putting the head back together. I forgot to put valve stem seals on it. So, it smokes... thats getting remedied next week, but its bearable for now. I also have an oil leak from my valve cove gaskets because one of the bolts is stripped out. That will be taken care of too.
In the future, i plan on fixing the body of the car. it needs paint and some lovin bad. the previous owner thought it would be cool to rattle can the whole thing with home-depot paint, and it looks horrible. I have learned how to work with fiberglass, bondo, and a majority of body work that ill need to do, so i will be starting on that shortly.
But im not gonna let a perfectly good supra die!!!
All in all, im glad to have a site like this to come to, and you people are the best! Thanks for all the help!
