Onceover.

[Piece-it Pete]

Hello folks!

I'm helping my nephew with his new to him '91 7MGE Supra, heading over tomorrow AM. I've read a LOT of posts and plan on:

Timing belt kit inc all seals, water pump, coolant flush with the correct coolant, belts hoses idlers etc, tstat and gasket, dist cap and dizzy (wires look new), fuel filter.

According to a great deal of research I'm going to retorque the head too, change the valve cover gaskets/grommets and seal the hex plugs in the valley.

Time dependent I may do the oil (it's clean though), gearbox oil and rear diff while there, we'll see.

Any recs or comments?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[ForcedTorque]

91 was a very low production year, take good care of it.

Is there a reason for all of the coolant related replacements, or just preventative measures? Just a tip, don't over-tighten the valve cover bolts, or that repair will be useless.

 

[Piece-it Pete]

He loves it, I think he'll take very good care of it. He's already scheming upgrades but learning expenses. I'm lucky too, he's a natural wrencher. 'Break that bolt loose boy!'

Nothing wrong with the cooling system, the car seems to run excellent. Gramps wanted to do something to help with his car and bought a lot of common maint/tuneup parts for it. It's right at the service interval for timing belt, and the hoses look a little iffy. Belts unfrayed but certainly not new. My sis decided we should change the w pump while we're there, heck why not.

I'm actually going to use an inch/lbs torque wrench for the first time, on the valve cover bolts - 22 inch lbs correct? I wouldn't ordinarily but want him to learn the right way first, then he can break/strip bolts however he sees fit lol.

Oh and we'll change the little rubber plug referenced elsewhere. There is a rattle in the back, I think strut bushing, we'll address later.

Thanks.

Pete

 

[IndigoMKII]

Honestly, if you're going to change the valve cover gaskets, I'd use a different type of fastener to hold them on.

 

[Piece-it Pete]

Thanks! I got the stainless bolts mentioned here somewhere.

Pete

 

[Silver MK3]

Its nice to see someone who starts out doing things the right way.

I assume by rubber plug you mean the one at the back of the motor that caps the coolant line? If so I definitely recommend replacing it. Mine started leaking as soon as I flushed the system.

I would also replace the spark plugs while you are in there. You may also want to replace the vacuum lines if they are still the original ones. Mine were very cracked when I got my car. Also it may need a new air filter, I use WIX oil and air filters. They seem to be regarded as the best available.

Not sure how much time you have but it would probably be beneficial to flush the power steering and clean out the screen in the reservoir.

Have fun with the fuel filter, I've never touched mine but I hear it is a pain to get to.

Good luck, just about anything you will ever need to know about MK3 Supras can be found on this website.

 

[Piece-it Pete]

Again many thanks

Spent a lot of Saturday and got the head retorqued, along with most hoses. The base torque was definitely less than 70. Forgot to change the rubber plug, d'oh! Great time spent with my nephew, it's nice to work with someone with a natural bent to machines, better than I ever was.

I didn't know you had to pull the throttle body assembly to get to the plugs/wires or I would've had them handy. Going to replace them soon. With the wires being obviously new I figured it'd be a job for another day. Pulled the plugs and cleaned/regapped them, NKG 'R' plugs, with a weird white corrosion/buildup on the outside of the outer electrode or whatever you call it, the part that bends to gap. The gap on all of them was well over .06. Also the sensor that bolts into the intake manifold was very dirty, cleaned the heck out of it. Anyone know what it is? Anyway it runs better now.

There was a little oil and coolant in the spark plug valley particularly up front. I didn't have the correct 14mm allen, the biggest standard I had was enough to get the valley cover/oil ones out but couldn't loosen the ones on the bottom, that I assume are the source of coolant? We'll rtv them when we do the plugs. Also I had to run out and get the correct 10mm socket for the head bolts, only had regular 90 degree allens.

What else, hmm. Didn't get to the timing belt, next week or two. Ditto fuel filter. Hard? Great. I half-tried to find the oil sending unit and didn't. I figured I'd find it when we do the timing belt/water pump.

Good news, all fluids I could check are fresh-y seeming. This car must've been someones' baby. Lots of other new parts. Green coolant so it's been flushed? Makes me happy. I will eventually change all fluids regardless, 23 years seems like a decent interval

Long and short what we did was all good, satisfying. Hoses were pretty crusty, head wasn't redone, plugs needed gapped. I like the 'feel' of the 7M too, seems like a quality thing.

Oh and he does have TEMS. Time to start research.

Pete

 

[Piece-it Pete]

Btw the cheapie inch/lbs loaner from the parts store was useless.

Pete

 

[Backlash2032]

I believe the Allen head bolts in the bottom of the spark plug valley are indeed coolant. I have never removed them and don't plan on, haha. Never heard of them leaking either.. you might have just spilled some coolant from taking the throttle body off.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[IndigoMKII]

Green coolant in these engines is a no-no. You need toyota red as these engines are bimetallic and green will eat the head.

The oil sending unit on the 7MGTE is behind the water pump on the block.

 

[Silver MK3]

Indigo is correct. You shouldn't use the green coolant in these engines. You can use Toyota Red, or Zerex G-05. The Zerex stuff is recommended by a lot of intelligent members here. I've been running it for 2 years and its been good. Just make sure you flush the system out really well before you switch, you definitely don't want to mix the different types of coolant.

 

[7M4EVR]

Regarding the fuel filter: It sits up on the top side of the differential pumpkin. Hardest part is getting your hands up there to work, theres not a ton of space, but i didnt have much trouble. I got the back end on jack stands, got down on the creeper with my head at the rear of the car, feet toward the front. I found it was easiest looking up at the filter from the rear side of the pumpkin and fishing my hands up there from the front (hard to explain youll see what i mean). It did help using a very short wrench on the 12mm nut (you can use a socket on the 14mm banjo). spray some pb blaster on the 12 mm and let it soak for awhile to help you out, you dont want to break that. Once you have both sides loose you can loosen the screws on the filter bracket and slide it out. I chased around a fuel issue and took this out and put it back in a few times, got it down to about a 10 minute job, honestly not bad. Worst part just like with any fuel filter is fuel in the eyes and with ours the little scrapes you get on the knuckles getting to it dont feel good with fuel in em lol

 

[Piece-it Pete]

Many many thanks guys.

I've got the Zerex, it'll get flushed & filled when we do the timing belt/water pump hopefully next Saturday. Also the parts guy gave my sis the wrong size vac line (even though she took a piece!) so we'll get back to those too.

Maybe I should do the fuel filter while he starts the front engine teardown. Much easier with the description I'm sure! Gas and grease make bloody knuckles heal faster My hands are a bit big though. Maybe put my sis to work lol.

And ach I already bought some rear struts on closeout from Rock for non TEMS. D'oh. I might just replace the rear strut bushings, I believe they're the knocking culprit. I'll look around when I'm doing the fuel filter.

Pete

 

[Piece-it Pete]

I believe the Allen head bolts in the bottom of the spark plug valley are indeed coolant. I have never removed them and don't plan on, haha. Never heard of them leaking either.. you might have just spilled some coolant from taking the throttle body off.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

You know the more I think about this the more I'm convinced you're right. I didn't know the little hoses on top were coolant, it could've gone anywhere.

Pete

 

[Silver MK3]

Many many thanks guys.

I've got the Zerex, it'll get flushed & filled when we do the timing belt/water pump hopefully next Saturday. Also the parts guy gave my sis the wrong size vac line (even though she took a piece!) so we'll get back to those too.

Maybe I should do the fuel filter while he starts the front engine teardown. Much easier with the description I'm sure! Gas and grease make bloody knuckles heal faster My hands are a bit big though. Maybe put my sis to work lol.

And ach I already bought some rear struts on closeout from Rock for non TEMS. D'oh. I might just replace the rear strut bushings, I believe they're the knocking culprit. I'll look around when I'm doing the fuel filter.

Pete

I had a really hard time finding vacuum lines for my car. The only place that had something close in my area was the Nissan dealer and the guy gave me a whole bunch of it for free because he said he hasn't seen a car that uses it in forever.

 

[7M4EVR]

they ebay silicone vac kits are cheap enough, and actually arent bad quality...come with a bunch of different sizes too.

 

[IndigoMKII]

they ebay silicone vac kits are cheap enough, and actually arent bad quality...come with a bunch of different sizes too.

Heh, they seal themselves shut under high vacuum too.

 

[7M4EVR]

-28 hz on decel and I havent had a problem...yet

 

[Grandavi]

I had all mine replaced with silicone vacuum lines (pretty red). When my engine got rebuilt, the shop threw them all out and put proper ones on without asking.. lol. Did it free too.

 

[IndigoMKII]

-28 hz on decel and I havent had a problem...yet

You've got hertz on your decel? That could be the problem..