Yeah, actually, there is.

It's called ARP's and a torque wrench.

yea, plus toyota undertorques their heads causing premature blowing.. clean job.
and where is the ECT located? is it on the block or by the thermostat housing?

ECT is threaded into the water outlet housing. It is the sensor in the middle with a green 2 wire connector.

I just installed a stainless braided clutch line today, and I decided to change my spark plugs and run a compression test also today.

Has around 1500 miles on the head gasket, and I changed the plugs when I did the HG.

Here's the compression #'s from my first compression test on 4/16/06, a year before I changed the HG.

Cyl 1: 184psi
Cyl 2: 185psi
Cyl 3: 181psi
Cyl 4: 173psi
Cyl 5: 173psi
Cyl 6: 183psi

Now today the numbers were this-

Cyl 1: 185psi
Cyl 2: 185psi
Cyl 3: 182psi
Cyl 4: 181psi
Cyl 5: 180psi
Cyl 6: 183psi

I used a MAC digital compression tester, all of the spark plugs were removed, engine was hot, EFI fuse was pulled, throttle was held wide open, and I only cranked the motor for about 4 seconds on each cylinder. This is on a 20 year old motor with 123K original miles on it. Not too shabby if you ask me. I was pleased with the results.

And my exhaust is alot louder with new plugs, a definite notice in throttle response and sound. The NGK's that were in it only had about 1500 miles on them.

And I forgot to add that my Cyl 6 plug's white insulator that is exposed to combustion was rusty colored whenever I took the plugs out BEFORE my head gasket. 1-5 were always in perfect condition. You can tell alot about how the engine is running by inspecting the spark plugs. The rusty color was from water getting in the cylinder. Now yesterday was the first day I had the new plugs out after the HG swap. I pulled #6......and it was clean. Looked just like the other 5. I was satisfied after I saw that. I could post pics if anyone wants to see the old #6 vs. the new #6. And I don't by all means baby this car around. Maybe until the oil temp get around 190 degrees, but after that its fair game and I do drive it hard.

Just another update. My super monitor is reading 17.6mpg. And thats mostly around town driving, only had it on the highway a couple times for like 30 miles or so. The last thing it read was 18.7mpg before the head gasket. And it would go up when ever I was in boost, it was weird. Now it goes down when I boost the shit out of it and comes back up to 17.6.

can you post the pictures for me plz. my last spark plugs was ngk that the original owner had and it was compeltely black around the the tip and the tip was the rusty color and now my new plugs look the same mostly on number 5 & 6 and i just replace it with NGK ones too with NGK wires

hey did u get the pictures and oh how does your blitz exhuast sounds im thinking of going with that or the hks one or the apexi GT series i know the Apexi doesnt fit but ill make it

Well I have pictures but my hosting site is fucked up so I can't post pics at the moment.

Listen, if the white insulator on the combustion side of the spark plug, near the electrode, is a brown color, then that is bad. All of the plugs must look the same, nice and bright white. Trust me, you can tell the difference if one is burning water.

I just did a block test on my engine yesterday. Passed with flying colors. I took a pic of the test fluid when I was done but cant post it right now. One thing I did notice is you have to take the overflow hose off the radiator and plug the nipple up with your finger to get an accurate test. Because you will draw air from the overflow tank, or coolant if its not empty, and the fresh air coming from the overflow will give you a false reading. You will think its good to go, but you didn't test it right if you left the overflow hose on the radiator and didnt' plug the hole up. And you should run the test for a solid minute.

And my exhaust is quite loud. But thats because I have no cat or pre cat and I replaced my O2 housing with a 3" downpipe. I have a turbo back 3".

damn i didnt pulg up the overflow tank shit buh i did mines for 4 minutes ill have to do it again soon then thanx..yeah my 6 5 and i think 4 plugs are gone they have the brownish look so ima replace all 6 of them thanx hack

88T it sounds kinda like this ...
 

i did a quick check and its actually near the bottom of the plug were the thread it and i already bought to plugs to replace five and six... so you think thats ok hack...(not tryna thread jack)

ill buy that book
 

ihatehackers... i have read the whole thing all post word for word, yeah i have that sorta time now lol. but nah man congrats on your triumph and if you do ever make a TSRM, hit me up ill buy it, seems you got a good instinct of doing things Right and with pic's... love the pic's.

P.s. people should really browes through, lol. i saw so many replies on the soultion after it was done lol :sadwavey:

Can you tell me more about this turbo upgrade? I'm getting ready to fix my BHG once and for all...metal head gasket, ARP head bolts, proper torque (about 85 ft/lb's as recomended by ARP).

While I have it off I would love to upgrade the turbo but don't know where to start.

Check out Dan's (ddmcse) webpage, he has pictures of his upgraded turbine housing and he mentions the place he shipped it to. Dan said there was a 1 day turnaround once they received the turbo. I'm pretty sure they ported his turbine housing and installed a bigger turbine wheel. I don't know if the compressor housing was modded. It's definitely worth it, me and Dan have the same mods except the turbo mod and he gets sideways in 2nd gear when the turbo hits 10psi. Plus he's putting down a dyno proven 300+rwhp.

my turbo blows

have a blast go fast



Majestic TurboChargers, Inc
815 Jefferson
Waco, TX 76701
call em up they'll ask how much horsepower you want

1-800-231-5566 (in USA, PR, Canada)

Thank you very much...and remember...

"If you have "NO FEAR"...you're not going fast enough!"

By the way ddmcse, what 'trim' did you get on your turbo and how much lag are you getting?

This is a great thread. I'm feeling your pain.
I just got my head off. The gasket seems perfect. (had it replaced 8k miles ago with stock gasket and bolts...will use metal and ARP now)
I have a fluid leak from my EGR cooler too but the gasket was fine. Maybe the bolts had been to loose but that doesn't acount for the fluid.
You stated I can see this being the source of a mysterious coolant leak via that big stupid plug...
Did you ever learn if that big stupid plug was the source? Or what did you learn?
(I'll have lots more questions later...)

Looks like you sent your head to the machine shop with cams, valves and cam timing belt pulleys still on?

That didn't cause any problems for them or you?

How did they leak and crack test your head?

What is this (shinny silver) 1st picture? Drivers right, lower front of block.

When I was disconnecting wires this plastic grey cap came off the "What is this" very easy. The wire and it's connector underneath doesn't make sense to me as to how or where it connects.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...Whatisthis.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...Whatisthis.jpg

Oil pressure sender unit.

Thanks Bill.
How the heck does that wire connect?

It slides on.

Another question...when using ARP studs and nuts, should I put the studs in then somehow gently lower the head on? Or, what's the opinions and experiences from those who have installed these ARP's?

Thanks...I can see that now.

Another note for anybody...this EGR cooler area I now know has been the root cause of several problems for me and now the main reason I will do all my own work on this car.
1) The first and only BHG I had was 'repaired' by an ex-Longo Toyota mechanic. As the EGR inspection and subsequent new EGR gasket is not a required process to just replace the BHG, and the EGR cooler cover-plate gasket is not even included in the head hasket kit, this apparently was never touched. This is insane since you can not get to this EGR cooler properly without removing the head. Shortly after I got my car back I started having a moderate exhaust leak in and around the back portion of my manifold.
2) I hired a different "mechanic" to heli-coil the bolts as they had streched and when I told the first "mechanic" he said "yes, that is a problem with these cars". (why didn't he suggest replacing those bolts during the BHG job?)
After this second mechanic heli-coiled and semi-repaired the exhaust leak I could still detect a leak from the EGR area. I tried and bought many funky tools to try and reach the bolts but couldn't get to them all.
This leak got so bad the heat burned up my speedo cable covering and broke the cable. (twice)
3) I hired a 3rd "mechanic" who said he could do it without removing the head. His shop seems to have Ferraris, MB's and other high end cars there so I let him try. It seemed to be OK for a few thousand miles then apparently started leaking fluid. (That would seem impossible unless I had another BHG).

This is when I decided to do my own work.
I now have the head off. Took the EGR cover off and noticed 1st the bolds did not all seem tight. Then upon visual inspection of the cover I could easily see the surface was almost warped looking, enough that no way could you get a good seal. I also noticed an eroded area and pin-holes on the inside elbow of the heater hose from the union. I'm pretty sure this was the fluid leaking on top of the EGR cover, bubbling from the actual exhaust leak through the EGR gasket, giving the elusion I had fluid leaking from my EGR. (no sign of fluid ever being inside the EGR cover)

I just had my head machined and also had the EGR cover machined, along with the exhaust minifold.

Moral of the story...make sure you deal with this stupid EGR issue whenever you have your head off...

AND...do your own work if you want it done correct. Three "mechanics", lots of down time and my personal man hours just taking the car back and forth to these loosers, several thoudand dollars, and they ALL missed or mis-handled this EGR problem.

I agree totally. Do it right, do it once. And do it yourself.

As far as the ARP's, I'm a big fan of ARP bolts. Ease of installation with ARP's unsurpassed quality. And unless you are running over 500whp, I don't think ARP studs are needed. Unless you like juggling studs, washers AND nuts all covered in ARP moly lube. I prefer to juggle just bolts and washers. Plus its a tight fit inbetween the lifter bore castings for ARP bolts but it IS possible without machining the castings. I've "HEARD" that studs DO fit without removing the block from the engine bay but I've never used studs on a supra so I can not verify. I can only verify that bolts fit without any problems, it was actually fun installing the head bolts!!

So you're saying you have ARP bolts, not studs with seperate nuts?
I wasn't given a choice but maybe I can exchange the stud/nut set I have for just bolts. Would be much easier.

I would think by my last post, my sig and the picture in this thread of my ARP bolts that you would know what I used. Yes, I used ARP bolts.

No don't return the ARP studs. Since you already bought them, use them. They are indestructable. I now wish I used them just for the bragging rights lol. But hey, do you. It's your car.

I wasn't sure if you 'say' bolts but really meant studs with nuts. I was not offered a choice so I didn't know I had one. At this point I would prefer bolts. So far these studs and nuts are a real pain. I need to look at some other threads for some ideas on the install.

My guess is the advantage to stud/nut combo is better and more consistant torque values. It will be worth it if I don't ever have another BHG.

Once I figure out this obsticle I will explain later.

Hey Bill UK...or anybody whose done it...I have ARP studs. I thought a good idea would be to install studs first then gently lower the head on. Turns out this doesn't work as the heater union hits the firewall lip. I don't think I can remove the union then fit it back on later as the big 32mm socket wont fit. Now the dilema is can I install these studs after I seat the head...not much room to hand tighten the studs well. How did you do it???

Fit the cylinder head onto the dowel pins in the block. Then take the washers and drop them over the head bolt holes. Next take the allen head wrench that came with your ARP stud kit and thread the studs into the block with the allen head wrench, DO NOT TORQUE THE STUDS WITH THE ALLEN WRENCH. The allen wrench is ONLY to install the studs, not to torque them. Then take the nuts and carefully thread them on. Don't forget to liberally coat all threads with ARP moly lube. Use 5 separate passes to work up to your final torque value. Make sure all head bolt threads in the cylinder block are spotless, any dirt, debris or liquid will throw torque values off significantly.

That sounds swell IF my studs had any hex or way to get an allen or any other kind of wrench on them. They don't. They are just studs...threaded on both ends just like your factory exhaust manifold studs, et al.

I'll keep ya'al posted if (when) I figure something out.

MY BAD...There is a 5mm allen hex on one side. I was wanting to install upside down as the thread depth seemed to match the original bolts that way. Maybe the ARP studs are slightly different to accommodate the thicker MLS gasket?
I hope so. If not I wont get high enough torque. I better trust ARP until proven otherwise. Thanks for your help hack. It was getting late last night and I needed a sanity check and some sleep.

No problem with the torgue and thread depth concern I had. 80 ft-lb. Moving on.

No problem :)

Got it all back together. Test drove and runs good.

But...there is this little vacuum line connector out the bottom of the pipe that connects the turbo inlet to the airflow meter pipe. I don't remember what it does or is, and can't figure out what to connect it to.
This 3 inch diameter pipe/tube/hose has 3 hoses coming out the top to the air intake chamber side, and the one mystery vacuum connector out the bottom.

Any ideas?

It goes to the power steering pump. The hose is only like 5 inches long. It turns the idle up when using the power steering while idleing.

Thanks. I figued that out after looking around and finding the un-attached hose. I guess if that was the only thing I miised putting her back together I'm lucky.
Runs great. 200 miles so far and no leaks, problems, or otherwise.

BUT, with the upgraded turbo by Majestic with 46 trim now I need a boost control to take advantage. Any suggestions anybody?

I would change the oil if you haven't yet. You should retorque the head bolts/studs and run a block test to confirm nothing is wrong.