My roomie and I are car nuts. Fortunately he owns a house with a yard large enough to keep them. He owns an opel gt from the 70's, a ford galaxie from the 60's, a 1st gen MR2, 1985 toyota celica that he is currently wrenching on for track racing (SCCA), and a dodge van as his DD for his wife. I own a 1989 crx dx, a corolla, and 2 mk3 1990 supra's (one n/a and one turbo).
I bought my first 1990 supra (the turbo) in december of 2006 from a guy advertising the car on craigslist in los angeles. I was stupid, and bought it with out title and only used a bill of sale. Come to find out, the car has (or had a lien on it), from a credit union.
Well I found out which credit union it was, and contacted them asking them for a notarized lien satisfaction form so I can put the turbo supra in my name. Well so far the credit union has been unable to find the owner's name, and any record of the car in their records.
Oh yah I forgot to mention the car has about 500 dollars in past due registration that I didn't find out about until I bought it. The credit union hasn't contacted me yet
I was able to determine what was wrong with the supra by trouble shooting, and getting the error codes from the check engine light. First error code problem was that I was getting a knock sensor error code. I was able to determine that one of the knock sensor wires was cut, and electrical taped to the chassis.
I believe this probably happened while the former owner was changing the head gasket from a BHG. This was a sign of things to come. Next error code problem I got was for the temperature sensor. I was able to determine that the temperature sensor wire(s) had been cut, and the engine wasn't receiving any signal because of the cut wire. Finally, I get both of those problems fixed.
My car however is still giving me an error code for the AFM, and the car is idling very rough, and dies when I floor the gas. I run the diagnostic test specified by the TSRM to determine if my AFM is good, and it gives a result that indicates that it is working properly. So as an act of desperation, I found a really good deal on a supposedly functional AFM here on the parts for sale portion of this board. When I receive the AFM, and put it in the car, the car runs beautifuly, but still a little smokey.
One thing I neglected to do before doing any of this was to check the compression of the pistons. When I checked the compression, they were pretty equal across the board at about 95+- psi. I decide to put the car aside until I figure out what I am going to do with it.
That brings me to present day. I answered an advertisement for some one off of craigslist in escondido selling a 1990 N/A toyota supra chassis with out a drive train. I get to the guys' house and I am completely floored by the condition of the vehicle. Only one small dent just above the driver side door, no rust, and the interior is in immaculate shape. No cracks on the dash, the seats are in near perfect condition, and the trunk was in superb condition.
What I plan to do is remove the engine, transmission, and the suspension from the old car, and put it in my new N/A supra. However, I will not put the engine into the car until after I rebuild it. I have found a place selling rebuild kits for 300 dollars which includes the pistons, rings, bearings, re-man'd oil pump, reman'd waterpump. Using the kit, I will rebuild the bottom end, and then buy a re-man'd cylinder head.
I am almost done with the removal process of the engine, and I will mostly likely be prepared for the extraction by tommorow afternoon.
My goal for my supra is to get 300-400 HP. I wil put on an intake, and an exhaust, and some other stuff i haven't thought about yet.
I think that's enough for now, and thank you to any one that was able to make it through the entire episode of "As the Engine Turns Over".
I'll post pictures later.
I bought my first 1990 supra (the turbo) in december of 2006 from a guy advertising the car on craigslist in los angeles. I was stupid, and bought it with out title and only used a bill of sale. Come to find out, the car has (or had a lien on it), from a credit union.
Well I found out which credit union it was, and contacted them asking them for a notarized lien satisfaction form so I can put the turbo supra in my name. Well so far the credit union has been unable to find the owner's name, and any record of the car in their records.
Oh yah I forgot to mention the car has about 500 dollars in past due registration that I didn't find out about until I bought it. The credit union hasn't contacted me yet
I was able to determine what was wrong with the supra by trouble shooting, and getting the error codes from the check engine light. First error code problem was that I was getting a knock sensor error code. I was able to determine that one of the knock sensor wires was cut, and electrical taped to the chassis.
I believe this probably happened while the former owner was changing the head gasket from a BHG. This was a sign of things to come. Next error code problem I got was for the temperature sensor. I was able to determine that the temperature sensor wire(s) had been cut, and the engine wasn't receiving any signal because of the cut wire. Finally, I get both of those problems fixed.
My car however is still giving me an error code for the AFM, and the car is idling very rough, and dies when I floor the gas. I run the diagnostic test specified by the TSRM to determine if my AFM is good, and it gives a result that indicates that it is working properly. So as an act of desperation, I found a really good deal on a supposedly functional AFM here on the parts for sale portion of this board. When I receive the AFM, and put it in the car, the car runs beautifuly, but still a little smokey.
One thing I neglected to do before doing any of this was to check the compression of the pistons. When I checked the compression, they were pretty equal across the board at about 95+- psi. I decide to put the car aside until I figure out what I am going to do with it.
That brings me to present day. I answered an advertisement for some one off of craigslist in escondido selling a 1990 N/A toyota supra chassis with out a drive train. I get to the guys' house and I am completely floored by the condition of the vehicle. Only one small dent just above the driver side door, no rust, and the interior is in immaculate shape. No cracks on the dash, the seats are in near perfect condition, and the trunk was in superb condition.
What I plan to do is remove the engine, transmission, and the suspension from the old car, and put it in my new N/A supra. However, I will not put the engine into the car until after I rebuild it. I have found a place selling rebuild kits for 300 dollars which includes the pistons, rings, bearings, re-man'd oil pump, reman'd waterpump. Using the kit, I will rebuild the bottom end, and then buy a re-man'd cylinder head.
I am almost done with the removal process of the engine, and I will mostly likely be prepared for the extraction by tommorow afternoon.
My goal for my supra is to get 300-400 HP. I wil put on an intake, and an exhaust, and some other stuff i haven't thought about yet.
I think that's enough for now, and thank you to any one that was able to make it through the entire episode of "As the Engine Turns Over".
I'll post pictures later.
Last edited: