The Madness Begins... 90 N/A-T Build

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
So the story is this. I originally never wanted a Supra. I actually wanted an Integra as my first car.. Then I smartened up and wanted a rear wheel drive Japanese car. I saw a 300zx and loved it.. Until I first laid eyes on a MK3. I went through Craigslist nearly every day.. Every Supra in the area was overpriced for what they were.. High mileage, original engine, BHG, rust buckets. Then I found one that was reasonably priced, and the best condition one I could find. It was a 1990 N/A with a little bit of rust, a rebuilt engine with 60k on it, and 215k on the clock. It may have a lot of miles, but it's actually in very good condition for how old it is.

Heres a few pictures from when I got the car..

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See.. I wasn't lying when I said it was in really good condition for the amount of miles and 21 years of wear and tear.

Heres a few after a good wax job..

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My personal favorite:
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After driving the car from August until the snow flew, I decided to tear into it and fix as much rust as I could. There was so much more rust than I originally thought there was. I was literally about to sell it, but I stuck through it, and emerged with a mostly rust free car. The only rust that remains is on the passenger side rocker panel, and sadly, I don't think that will be fixed for a long while. While the car was off the road, I picked up a $300 parts car, with a blown engine (I didn't know it at the time...) This car made me a lot of money through parting out, and will save me money in the future, seeing as I have a attic full of body parts.. I also stole the passenger side rocker panel off of it, just in case.

Between then and now, the Supra has been good to me. Its never let me down, and has always started for me.. And always beat whoever decided to roll up next to me.. Until a 4.6 powered 05 Mustang GT decided to roll up next to me lol!

Anyway, that brings the story up until present time.

Heres a picture of how the Supra sits currently.

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All I'm planning on doing is having a stockish NA-T making some decent power. Im pulling the engine to put the bung in the oil pan, put a rebuilt pump on, and then slapping it back together. Gonna pull the head, replace the head gasket (obviously) and just generally refresh the head.

And so.. The madness begins.
 

Mal

New Member
Jan 16, 2012
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West Virginia
that interior looks brand new!!!! man i love grey mkIII grey interior... mine is the ugly red :(

good luck on your build, dont give up man, they are great cars!
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
1,823
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Nebraska
Sadly.. the interior isn't quite as nice anymore. There's a few more scuffs.. and there's also a spot where I cut too far into the interior panel when I was installing 5x7s out back. But really. Its in the trunk so it doesn't bother me much.

Also I continued dissasembly of the engine. I have pretty much all of the accessories off now.. all I need to do now is get the harness out from behind the firewall, a couple of heater hose connections, motor mounts, and the transmission stuff, annnd the fuel lines.. aaannnnd the exhaust.

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Jay C

New Member
Sep 30, 2010
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Omaha, NE
Looking good. Can't wait to see some more pics. I don't see many mk3's in NE so another one on the road is always good.
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
So today I didn't get much done. I found out that my clutch sucks hard core.. I cant break the crank pulley loose.. I had the biggest cheater bar in the world (Took the handle off the floor jack lol!) and I made the clutch slip. Yeah. Im gonna need a big impact.

Anyway, todays progress: Got the harness out from behind the firewall, disconnected some heater hoses, tried to find a gigantic breaker bar, made my clutch slip, and re-routed my amp wiring.

To do list: Motor mounts, fuel lines, driveshaft, exhaust, A/C compressor, and it SHOULD be ready to pull.
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
And its out! Gonna need to scuff the firewall and spray it a bit.. Stupid tranny scraped the paint off. That and the rad support. And I also found out that I really need to weld a nut onto the load leveler, it's damn near impossible to turn that thing with the weight of the engine on it.

My happy ass in the engine bay...

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On a side note, I found out that the previous owner deleted the EGR system.. Correctly. J-spec ECU and everything. As long as japanese writing on the ECU makes it J-spec.. But I've never had any problems with CEL's or anything, and he left the EGR in, just blocked off the exhaust port behind the EGR cooler (which isn't there)
 

Jay C

New Member
Sep 30, 2010
283
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Omaha, NE
Going from stuff ive read in other threads (so take that for what its worth) the JDM ECU's have a purple sticker. Also if you do not have a claifornia car you will not get a cel light because of the EGR regardles. Also if the block off plates are used but the EGR remains in i believe it makes extra heat in the #6 cylinder.
 

j3r3my

New Member
Jul 19, 2010
240
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mass
if you get the right block off plate it does NOT hold heat in cylinder 6!...if you just block the intake side and leave the plate behind the head it WILL hold heat...it you get the driftmotion block off plate it removes the whole rear plate and caps just the hole to the 6th cylinder...and if your motor is still in you can take the crank pulley off by turning the car over..i did it on my 2jz..
 

j3r3my

New Member
Jul 19, 2010
240
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0
mass
just re read what you said about the EGR..yes that is the right way and it WONT hold heat
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
The problem is more of it will cause the engine to run lean I believe. When the egr is open the Ecu is compensating for the inert gasses entering the engine.

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Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
Well I got the head off today and I was not expecting to see this.. at all. I have never had symptoms of a blown head gasket. Never overheated, never mixed oil and coolant, never had exhaust in the coolant either.. but yet.. this is by far the worst blown head gasket I have ever seen. All six cylinders have deformation on the exhaust side.

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The copper part was stuck to the head haha

Also, I found some peculiar marks in the number 6 cylinder. It looks like oil rings.. can anybody identify this?

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And I assume this would be fine to run seeing as my fingernail doesn't catch it and the car was running fine before tearing it down.
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Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Nebraska
It was almost coolant jacket -> cylinder on a few. You can see the egg shaped fire ring on a couple.

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tomsupra8683

82gts7mgte
Mar 31, 2007
105
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0
44
puyallup
Ive seen a few head gakets do the same thing on the 7mge.Get the block and head machined use a metal head gasket and arp studs and not have to worry about it.I did two head gaskets on my 7m na-t over this week.The original one blew on #6 because of the dowel pin in the block being the wrong size and not allowing the headgasket to seat properly,The second one was too thick,it was a 3.0mm hks mhg.It lowered the compression so far the car wouldnt start.I had about 110psi per cylinder,The current one i have in there now is happy 1.2mm hks mhg.I drove the car today and boost is great and turbo spools quick the power band is from 2000rpm to 6000rpm anti lag setup for sure.I also blocked the egr hole on the back of the head with a stud and removed the cooler plate.
 

Backlash2032

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
1,823
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Nebraska
Im going to use a stock Toyota gasket + ARP studs torqued at 85 ft lbs.

Also, anybody know of a tool for compressing valve springs in a 7M? The tool my dad has doesnt work.