HI! just want some suggestions!!
 

Hello there all! i just purchased an 1987 toyota supra and am super excited! i have been looking for one for years in my area and finally got it. Its an MA70 7m-gte turbo 1987 supra(duh haha).

My question is on what upgrades to get? eventually id like 400-500 poines being pushed from it. My first upgrade will be 3'' high flow exhaust. Thats pretty simple. But whats next? what kind of intake should i get? Intercooler? fuel system? and eventually which turbo is best to upgrade too? Also i will be putting a new headgasket on.

The car is completely stock and ready to be overhauled. Im not rich, but definatly wanna push it. Thanks in advance!:bouncy:

This is what I would do If mine was a turbo:

Lexus AFM with 550 cc injectors
HKS blow off valve
Tial 38mm wastegate
HKS Boost Controller
HKS Intercooler and piping
HKS Head gasket
HKS Intake
MIne's Ecu
HKS Fuel Cut Defencer
ACT clutch

With these upgrades, youll be able to run 12 to 15 psi safely on the stock turbo. Not sure how much power youll be puttin out, but it will be an increase over stock power.

wow thanks man. Thats what i wanted. I think i will put most those parts on my current car. but i think im going to buy a new engine cause it has alot of miles before i put a T4 turbo on it.

Thanks!

Is greddy a good brand? just wondering, I kno HKS is top of the line, is Greddy the low end?

Greddy and HKS are on par with each other both quality and price. Buy quality parts that are proven and the most important upgrade is a standalone and an expert to tune it which may be hard in Wyoming.

Greddy seems cheaper to me for some reason.(in price) and yes i doubt there is anyone in wyoming, but i live close to montana and idaho so im hoping to find a place there.

Also my speedometer dosent wrk, i tore the dash off and wires and connections seem fine. But dose anyone kno were the speed sensor is?

Cable driven speedo, so no sensor. There is a 3 piece cable running from the right side of the transmission up to the gauge cluster. The "pigtail" looking portion of the cable (on the transmission) is known to break somewhat easily, so that may be a place to start looking. Also, in my personal experience, it has been somewhat difficult sometimes to align and properly seat the speedo cable with the back of the speedometer. Might not be making the connection there.

BTW, I can tell you that you won't find anyone in Billings MT that can do any tuning on anything but a diesel truck. Everything people seem to drive here is diesel or an American V8 of some sort.

yes i wld agree about the V8 thing, not that thats always a bad thing. Well where did you get your tuned? if at all, im in powell. And on the speedo cable, can i buy the parts for the differant cables and put them in myself? if so do you kno part #'s?? and i was reading around a bit and it sounded like that was for the auto trans, i have 5 speed. just a thought, dont kno if its any differant.

Also dose intercooler pipe size make a big differance? 2.5 vs 3?

I haven't had my supra tuned, am still running a mostly stock setup (cone filter and 3 in exhaust are my only upgrades). I can't say for a fact that the speedo cable is the same on a 5 spd, as I have only messed with it on automatics. I would think it would be a similar design though.

There's a handy little website I've found before for Toyota Part #'s, I believe it was toyodiy.com. All you need is your VIN number and you can look at drawings of various parts of the Supra and click on the part you need and it'll give you the factory part number as well as an estimated cost. Pretty handy site, I've used it a few times.

As for the intercooler pipes, I can't tell you from personal experience whether or not it's a good upgrade, so hopefully someone else on here can give some input on that.

Oh i see, you'd think there wld be a shop ther. And i will definatly check put that site, thanks for your help.

And i hope someone will help me with the intercooler bit, and also is it possible for my supra to be burning coolant? If so wat are the symptons??

Burning coolant is not a good sign... If it is, you will typically see white smoke come out of the tailpipe, could see some overheating issues, maybe air in the cooling system, unexplainable loss of coolant. Typically, if you're burning coolant in a Supra, you've got a blown head gasket

OKay well that kinda sucks. this is what happens.
I start the car and it bleches out some exhaust...kinda odd. its not black but not white, id say it was more on the light side tho. Also the exhaust dose feel full of moisture.
After i turn the car off i look under the hood and on the left side of the top of the block in the front, smoke will eek out for about a minute. It also takes about a minute to start smoking. Then the radiatior seems to dump all its fluid in the storage tank and overflows..

So im pretty sure that if the head gasket isn't totally blow it will be soon, I have ceased to drive the car.
What size of HG should i get? 2 mm?? I plan i doing some upgrades so i want it to hold and of course it'll be metal

If you plan on running a metal head gasket, you will need to have a machine shop machine the head gasket mounting surfaces of both the block and head. This is so that the mhg has a smooth mounting surface and will be less likely to blow again in the near future. Because machining the head and block will remove material from both of them, your compression ratio will change without the proper sized head gasket.

Long story short, can't buy a mhg until you know how much the machine shop removed from your head and block, as you will add the amount removed to the thickness of your gasket.

Well it just get more and more complicated lol but i good with that. So if i got just a regular gasket how well wld it hold up?

By the way thanks a bunch you have been most helpful

confused
 

so you guys are probably gonna think i'm stupid but i've never used forums before and i'm not sure exactly how they work
can someone tell me how to post a new thread? lmao

87TT-

Welcome to the Forums! To post a new thread, first select the appropriate discussion area. In this case, we're in the "MKIII Supra" discussion, so only post threads in there about MKIII Supra's. Once you're in the right discussion group, at the top left of the thread list is a button entitled "New Thread". Click that, add a subject, and post your thread! Good luck

Blackdog-

From what I can gather, if you plan on doing any decent power modifications with your car, mhg is the way to go. If you're staying mostly stock, then you should be ok with a stock Composite head gasket, as long as you get one of good quality. That means you can rule out places like eBay where you can get a whole engine gasket set for $50. I would say go OEM or with a namebrand aftermarket gasket manufacturer, such as FelPro.

Keep in mind that whichever gasket you decide on, it's strongly recommended that you install it with either ARP Head Bolts or ARP Head Studs; both allow you to torque the gasket much higher than the rated 58 ft/lbs, allowing you to greatly extend the life of your gasket.

Well i am going to start to look around town to see if anyone will do the block. Cause id love to do more modifications for fairly decant hp. But do you know if i have to remove the engine for this to happen? Or can the work be done on it while the motor is still in the car?

To do it properly, you would have to remove the block because you would also have to remove your rotating assembly (crankshaft, pistons, connecting rods). This way the block can be dumped into a cleaning bath so it can be inspected for cracks and other defects. This also gives you the chance to do a full rebuild on the car, so you get a nice clean start for your upgrades.

If you are fairly confident in the bottom end, you can leave the block and the rotating assembly in the car. By doing so, you'll be taking all of the labor of smoothing the surface into your own hands. It'll take several hours, but it can be done.

There are 2 threads that I've read that seem to be fairly informative on this topic. The first one, they decided to smooth the block by hand. Check it here. The second one, he took it to a shop and had it dunked. Check it here.

speedo...
 

hey...i jus got my car a coupl of weeks ago, and yer i jus got it rego'd on the weekend, pretty awesome haha

anywayz...i am havin problems wit my speedo 2 (i got a manual btw)...i jumped under the car, and i saw where the cable comes outta the box and into the fittin , and then the next cable from the fittin goin up (towards the firewall im guessin lol)
BT, you said it is a 3-piece speedo cable? where is the other connection?
cause im gonna put a new cable through and i jus wanna make sure i know what i gotta b lookin out 4...

thanks in advance.

Oh i see, well thanks alot man. Im not sure if i can afford to do a total block rebuild pistons, cams, crank, ect. so if i can get away with it for awhile then i will wait to do that. And so would the machince shop do all of that for me? remove the motor and dip the block and all??

And yes it is a 3 connection cable tho i havent been able to get underneath it to see were all the connections are. You said the cable was out of the box? as in the transmission?? so the third cable couldve fallen out.

ok fair enough.
yer thats right... gearbox/ transmission lol
well i know where it comes out from the side of the tranny, and ive looked behind the cluster...so i jus got to locate where the middle part, or where the other connection is...when i find out ill let you know...or if you find out before me, let me know hahaha

...but i dont know about falling out...im thinkin that the cable has may have snapped...if its the original cable, then it wouldnt suprise me if it has snapped cause its gettin pretty old lol

Most of the speedo cable is 1 long piece from the gauges down near the tranny. The second piece is only about 6-7 inches long, I believe it's got a slight curve in it. The last piece is a short, somewhat curly piece (often called a "pig tail") that connects to the transmission.

ok cool...thanks 4 that man, i will go have another look at it when i get the chance, i must have missed the link between the part coming out of the box and the short piece and just thought they were together lol

Well hope you get it fixed, thats all i thought id have to do..now a new head gajet rebuild is up lol sadly i wont get to start on it for along time..grr

Head gasket replacement
 

I'm in the middle of a rebuild and I have to say taking the block out and having a shop shave the block and heads is the way to go. After years of slow leaking HG - it will eat away at the block surface making it very difficult to get it cleaned enough for another gasket to seal. The pitting and corrosion leaves defects that need to machined out.

Since the shop can do this with the block out, you can easily go to Metal HG and save the worry. Also, if it has been leaking awhile – you will want to do a bottom end rebuild just to get the new bearings and rings in. My crank and block checked out OK so it was $200 for the ring/bearing kit plus the $150 in shop costs to clean and shave the block and flywheel.

I too have debated on stock or metal HG but the cost difference is $50 out of $1200 so if the block is out anyway – might as well do it right. The $1200 I’m into it now is $500 in shop costs and $700 in parts but it is a complete engine rebuild with new clutch

Complete rebuild as in new cams pistons and a crank? Cuz if you can do that for 1200 than im tempted to do so myself.

yer i think im up 4 a hg to, but im not 100% sure...if my radiator build up pressure after about 10sec of the motor runnin...does that mean the hg is blow and is sendin gas through the water mains???

oh and i also hav a new repair to do amung the rest of the speedo cable etc. lol....i broke an axle, so there is a day lost this weekend hahaha
...lucky i got a spare diff with the car when i bought it =P

The way i found out was after i drove it, didnt matter if if was for 2 mins or longer, i opened the hood and a lil bit of smoke was coming out of the motor. Than about 5ish minutes after i turned the car off, coolant flooded into the resivor and spilled over. If coolant fills the resivor and over flows, you have a bhg. If your exhaust is white too. You can check your oil too by drain a lil out and if its water your in trouble. And you can pop the cap on your radiator too(dont do it after driving or while running the car) and if oil is floatin on the top, you have bhg.

ok... well i hav none of those symptoms...the oil isnt milky, there isnt any oil under the radiator cap, the water doesnt overflow from the resuvier (it happened once, but thats it)
as i said, it just builds up pressure in the radiator way to quick
also the smoke ive got comin out is black (still tryin 2 figure out why it is running rich...)
hmmmm...so the search continues hahaha

Running rich huh? Hows your air filter? Check your spark plugs to. And are you still getting decant boost?

rebuild cost
 

The rebuild is with orginal cam. pistons, and crank. I had the cams redone with the head. The shop also checked the crank and polished and balanced the crank so it was like new. I put new rings in the pistons which were cleand like new and disassembled the rods and wrist pins to clean and relube. All new bearings and seals of course.

The other key was checking all the tolerances with plasticgauge on the reassemble so I kew all the rod and crank surfaces were still perfect. Luckily the shop did not have take anything off to retrue the surfaces.

A engine rebuild kit with pistons was $500 and crank would have been another $150. My pistons and crank were like new so I saved the money

oh i see. that very nice. Cool stuff man, and what kit did you use? and im assuming that the extra bucks for the pistons and astuff is just the stock stuff

stock kit
 

Ya, everthing is stock except for the ARP Head Bolts and Metal HG. Since the shop got the block so clean - might as well go all the way. Got the rebuild kit from the shop but threw out the junck HG and upgraded to one that would not fail after a few miles.

I have thread on this project at http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/...e-rebuild.html in case you missed it.

Just go the block back in yesterday and now working on the head reassembly.

oh i see. Well i doubt ill get a kit from any shop around my town lol But i hope im as lucky as you with the block getting clean and all. It wld be nice not to have to replace all that.

Did you remove the block yourself?

yer i already checked the air filter, its like new... however i havent checked the plugs yet...the guy i got it off put them not long before he stopped driving it...however it was sittin out the front of his house for just over 6 months... so im not sure if she is running ruff cause there is still crap fuel in the system...but ill hav a look at the plugs, and also i hav a sneaky suspision that i hav a leaking injector...

ohhh...and my car is N/A ....im not sure how it works over there, but over here in my area of Australia we have provisional licenses for new drivers (new as in i dont have a full license yet lol) and because of previous years of dickhead young drivers who cant drive for shit (but they can crash really good, hahaha), they put restrictions on our licenses, so unless you have a full license now, you cant drive v8's,or any turbo'd or supercharged cars... FREAKIN sucks balls!!!

Injector cld be it too, or worst case seinario is a bad valve or valve gasket

And that is totally lame!! Glad i live in the states now lol

Lift
 

Just me and my little friend – a 4000 pound engine lift.

Attachment 2335

Nice little tool I borrowed. All hydraulic with a few control arms and engine leveler to fine tune the lift in and out. Was able to pluck that block out and back in with fine precision.

Attachment 2334

Every weekend mechanic should have one.

haha heck yes, too bad i cant afford that lol

Hey and D-Joker, you said that underaged driver cant drive turbo cars. So was your Supra a turbo at on point? like did you or the last guy take the turbo off so youg ppl cld drive it?

well lets pray its not the valves or the gasket for that matter... =P

haha yer...it sucks cause i also got a "holden hk premier" (another project i have postponed for certain reasons) which has a 307 chev in it, so i cant drive that cause its a v8...grrrr

ummm im not sure...i mean i didnt take it off, i got it n/a haha...the reason im not sure is cause as far as i know its n/a, but on the intake there a coupl of plates on the top that are blocking holes (bit wierd if thats factory haha), and there is the hole and studs at the bak of the head where the NOK sensor for the turbo hooks up 2...are they normally there on n/a intake manifolds? and on the head? any ideas???...
i can take pics and post them on here if you want??? (cause i know sometimes i dont make sense)...i will jus hav 2 figure out how 2 attach/post pics in here lol :)

oh yer i forgot hahaha
oregonjoe... thats a pretty nice set up...my engine hoist is a smaller design...also kinda wish i had one of those engine levelers...would make things all that much easier :)

yeah sure, pics wldnt be bad. Just us the pic tool in the toolbar above the box where you type.