I finally finished putting in my double core 26X19X3 racing radiator. I had to modifiy the upper outlet, curve it to head straight to the thremostat outlet and make a reducer for the bottom. Made my own mounting brackets and put in the 16" electric fan. It is ninety one right now, hotter on the freeway. I drove my old test loop and the guage never moved from the point it reached after the thermostat equalized.

I drove further and faster "AND" with out the heater being on at all. I set the controls to 65, turned it off and went cruising and the guage never moved... :lol: :D :D :D :D :D :D . Now when I can get to it I need to get an A/C pump and then hook it up and see how it does temp wise.

Happy Happy Joy Joy............so far.

I also modified the front springs on the car. I cut the top and next coil. Too much, it rubs. I had to put a couple of rubber spring strengtheners between the coils to make it drivable and it helped some. One more bumper in each spring should do it. One thing I did notice thought is that the car really rolls in the turns. I have what looks like a fairly decent roll bar up front, but my daughters Camaro handles flatter than this Supra. Well maybe that is the next step I guess. I still have a whole month or more of hot weather to make sure this is the fix, but it sure is starting out pretty good!

congrats on the new radiator...although i dint like it when you said you cut the springs on teh car.... i really really dont recommend cutting the springs, first off it really does nothing except give the car a lowered look and lower the center of gravity...other than that it offers no real performance aspects because its still the stock springs...thats why the car rolls a lot in teh corner...and second, stock springs are sized according to the car...meaning if you cut the springs ur putting more weight on a shorter spring...at a stock spring length..it can handle the weight of the car during hard turning...when u cut it shorter ur basically putting more stress onto the spring making it more likely to deform or snap...sorry if it sounds like im lecturing i dont mean to...just offering some advice

yeah thats way COOL :)

did i see you need a compressor for the a/c ?

Yeah, that is the next step, a compressor. It will be nice to drive the car, turn the A/C on and listen to some good music while driving. I guess I will start hitting the part stores for that little item.

As for the springs, I know that buying aftermarket springs are the best way to go, but I hated the look of all that air between the tire and the top of the fender. I knew that shortening a spring also makes it stiffer, but I just cut too much. Coil-overs with adjustable springs would be nice, but I thought I would try the cheap way first. It does look a lot better, but it does rub. Lowereing the center of gravity is a good thing if you want a car to handle better. I know you can run into clearance problems, but the car originally was so tall that I thought cutting a coil or two would help.

The front springs are such a pain to get to anyway, but after I did those I was going to attack the rear springs. I didn't mind the car being a little soft, but I really hated how the car rolls and is sluggish to recover when turning the wheel back and forth. I know that it is mostly a sway bar issue and hopefully larger is not too damn expensive, but I am sure it will be, front and back.

Hey it's raining, perfect time to take the car out for some tire spinning, snow is better though........lol.

Thanks
Russ

You'd be surprised how well a supra can handle, it just feels lose. If you want to go performance without spending tons on coilovers, get bilsteins and eibachs. You can get eibachs in 2 packages, one lowers a bit, and gives a firmer ride, the other lowers more, and is very stiff. That and bilsteins and you're set.

awesome stuff!!!

can ya post any pics?

Yeah, now that I have driven it for a week or two I feel pretty confident in the radiator. Ddmcse is supposed to send me an A/C compressor, it is so hot down here in Louisiana..... :o . I will take some pics and try to post them soon.

I also ordered a set of 4 springs from ebay, 2 in. lowering and more firm, not me, the springs...lol. Hopefully they will get here along with the A/C compressor. It seems like I have become addicted to working on the damn thing!!!

Russ

hey you should get that compressor today (tues)
yeah lets see some pix !
everyone should have pix !
lets see your supra

one other thing thats been on my mind :
something i remember from research in the BHG area ..
the trouble with adding high performance cooling and cooling it down is that you aren't really finding out why it's running hot .
if there is a a real problem causing it to over heat and it's not the radiator . then what ? is it running lean ?
with your block/head history your n/a should not have an issue with temp .
i'm always paranoid about high temp and bhg 's
:o

Not to sound absolutly ignorant, but running lean will make my Supra run hot? I have a feeling the fuel pump might be a little weak - could that factor into this?

running lean means the engine is not getting enough fuel in the mix

i found some pretty good info

air/fuel


lean or rich they both suck but i'd take rich before lean

Is a lean mix enough to cause overheating? (I am having an overheating problem and a BHG does not seem to be the source. Used a block test kit and found no exhaust gas in hte coolant. Looking for other things to try...)

thats what the book says . and it is a fact .
are you throwing codes ?
are you bubbling ?
is this a turbo

no exhaust gas in the coolant is a great sign. Yes, you can get hot from being lean. If one of the previous owners thoughts it was wise to run only water in the radiator, you're radiator is gonna clog and not be able to cool worth a flip. If a new STOCK radiator doesn't fix it, check fan clutch, shroud, fan, thermastat, radiator cap, and waterpump.

If you're not bubbling, and the gauge just looks hot, it might be the gauge. Also, you could just be a bit paranoid, let it idle and heat up fully, whatever is shown is normal.