new here, my intro
 

hey, im 18, love cars etc etc. my dad just picked up a 1990 N/A with 102k on the clock. It was a 1 owner car and is in great shape, all maintenance was done by toyota. Only thing is the head gasket was never done, am I to worry? Car is stock other than pioneer head units, cassette and cd, and 225 goodyear eagle f1's all around. heres a couple of photos, let me know what ya think. nice forum hope to stick around. :x:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/DSCF0125.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/DSCF0128.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/DSCF0126.jpg

It's nice seeing a good, clean stock supra. Welcome to the Forum!

Looks great how much did you get it for?

$2700 final price :)

Good deal! I would do the head gasket and get it out of the way so you never havet hat worry in the back of your head, then you can have confidence that you have done it right too.

What? Are you crazy? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. While I agree a head gasket is a thing to worry about on high mileage cars, it isn't a preventative measure. Some last a lot longer than others. The one in my car went out a 200K. Hell no, I wouldn't just replace the head gasket if there were no symptoms.

Well, thats just my opinion, i would rather do it while i have all the time to prepare and take my time with it instead of getting caught off gaurd and being stuck.

I would agree about the "if it aint broke, dont fix it", unless your planning to really push the car. If your doing normal daily driving, I would think if it was going to be a problem, it would have already appeared. However, saying that, you've got a very nice car and if you got spare time and just want to make sure that the problem never appears (it can be expensive from what I read here if you have a BHG without noticing it for some time)... then go ahead. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of solution or something like that.

ok thanks for the info. I guess I will probably look at replacing it in 10k miles or so, since I wont really want to be pushing my luck with a 112k mile car with hopefully some bolt ons. also, did this car come standard with abs?

oh and another thing, whats the final drive ratio? I looked around and saw maybe 3.7, but doing 70mph in 5th i was turning around 3k rpm, little over maybe, and according to this calculator, Gear Ratio Speed Calculator, 5th with 3k rpm would only be 59mph (I put in 17.9685" for tire diameter since 16" wheel and 50mm tire height, correct? and 5th gear ratio of 0.783)

i belive some 89s to 92 mkiii all had abs or was at least an option

if you see the abs light when you turn the key on you have abs

couple more pics. approaching 2 months and still looking clean!

Question: does the turbo have the same size injectors?

If I wanted to turbo this, and went with a much thicker headgasket (2.0mm) would it lower the pressure in the engine enough to bolt on a ct26 with aftermarket header, intercooler, and intake?

me and the car
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/PICT0657.jpg

interior = spotless, cd and cassette
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/PICT0663.jpg

engine bay needs a good wipe down
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...v/PICT0664.jpg

Im no expert, but I believe the turbo and non-turbos shared the same injectors. However, I have looked at doing a lot of mods to my 88 and I think you may be better off getting a turbo 1jdmze (is that correct name?) to drop in if your gonna go that route. Will give you time to prepare the engine prior to dropping it in. There will be a lot of little issues (from what I read in the forums), but its not too daunting of a task.

Again, I am just going from my little knowledge, but pretty sure if you do a search for "engine swap" on the forums you will find so much info your brain will dance the dance of a 1000 knives... (w/e that means...)

Personally, I would buy a turbo Supra before I actually swapped one.. but thats just me doing math...

Your car looks good as is and probably performs just fine for a daily driver.

thanks for the tips. did you mean the 1jz swap? If so, thats a bit out the price range i would want, this car would be strictly budget, as in full exhaust and intake + head gasket and a used full stock turbo set up plus a decent intercooler to keep engine temps nice and get a few more ponies. and im fairly confident I could do the turbo myself with the help of the TSRM. the 1jz appears at LEAST $1k plus shipping. i can hopefully get all the turbo parts for $200 used, intake $150, exhaust will be more but i would be doing it if i went 1jz anyways. :x: i will read more and rethink my options though.

another question. I really dont want to dish out $1000 when my head gasket blows, and when I asked if I can just torque the stock headbolts to 75ft/lbs if itll be fine they said no, the bolts stretched. what about using the ARP bolts and torquing those to 75ft/lbs? I really would like to do this ahead of time without removing the head and leaving the stock head gasket, if at all possible.

Most of that 1000$ is in labor. If you can do it yourself, it is more like 500$ or so (150$ HG, 200$ for head work, 100 or so for bolts) I think everybody here said it just fine. If the head ain't broke, don't worry about it. Save up and buy the parts as you can. That way, when it blows, you will be prepared. I don't think that new bolts will get you that much extra time. Since the engine already has 110K + miles on it what will new head bolts get you? 25-50K??? Save up, get some ARP bolts and a quality head gasket. Continue saving and when it blows look at what mods you can afford. Run it till it dies, but don't abuse it. You should get at least a couple of years if not more before she blows. Save your pennies and maybe you can afford a 1JZ when she does. Heck, I just got my running today, so you are ahead of me!!!!


Oh, I forgot to add, I have ABS and mine is an 87.

thanks thats a good post. Only reason Id consider trying new ARP bolts is because this engine only has 102k, but maybe making it to 200k even then would be wishful thinking. And I found out it does have ABS, would have been pissed if it didnt. :stupid:

5th gear is 0.783

MK3 TSRM On-Line

congratultions that was a great deal i wouldn?t touch it if i was you,wait till it blows you?ll be lucky if doesn?t.

BTW, you have ABS. On the pic of the engine bay, in the upper left side, to the left of the charcoal canister and in front of the wiper motor is your ABS module. Now, if it is working or not is the question. If the ABS light doesn't come on when you first start the car in it's standard self-test, it may not be functioning. Or the dash bulb is blown. More testing required. (sigh). Also, I bought an '86.5 parts car that did not have ABS, so I believe it was an option.

nope self test does come on, works :)