steel reinforcement
 

hi, im new to the forum but im in need of help im about to purchase a 87 turbo supra and there is a lil bit or rust right under the radiator support. i have been reading that is common to get rust on the steel support is the radiator support the same or is it something different n if so does it take much to fix? thank for your help.

If your just buying the supra now.. I would read a lot.. :)

Check the wheel wells very closely (you are in Florida, so rust isnt going to be as bad of an issue as up North.. depending where the car came from). Also, put your hands in the rear quarter panels (you can access from inside the hatch) and feel the bottoms.. if full of dust/moisture.. your going to have to look at everything for rust. Dont forget to pull the spare tire out and see the condition of its holding area as well. Water will pool there if your brake light seals/hatch seals arent working perfectly.

As for the rad support, I have never personally seen rust there except when the metal is kinked. I will have to let someone else answer that part.

Just as a further note.. I went to buy a 90 Supra for 2500, and ended up buying it for 800 after I did a full inspection (for body filler etc..) as these vehicles have very well known areas where they age faster.. Doors, Quarter Panels (above the wheel well), mud flaps and trim, body trim, brackets that hold the bumpers on, etc...

Do as much reading as you can prior because it will save you a lot of time after.

thanks a lot for your response, the car seams like is good shape but i was over heating so im thinking that's going to be the valve cover gasket. but besides that body is im great shape n the interior is nearly perfect but the best part is that he is only asking 1000 so im going to try to get it for 800.

Valve cover gasket wont cause overheating... you just entered a very large area of problems... lol

1. Supra's are notorious (MKIII's) for bad head gaskets
2. 7MGTE's run very hot already... if they overheat.. your gonna have trouble unless its fixed fast
3. the list is long and endless without seeing the car.. but with a MKIII 7MGTE, I always assume a bad headgasket exists. Look for the signs (smell antifreeze in the exhaust, milky oil, coolant scummy, etc...)

At 800.00 if the car is in good shape.. I like it (bodywise), but be aware, unless you are mechanically inclined and have tools, you may be buying a car that wont be drivable in a short while. I would have a mechanic go over the engine first.


READ THIS!

http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/supra-faq/3296-buying-supra-what-to-know-first.html

It has a lot of good tips.. read the whole thread though.. not simply the first portion.

http://okaloosa.craigslist.org/cto/1986572733.html this is the car, and thanks a lot once again. i just got done looking over the thing that u have planned for your car and it looks like is going to b a beast.

I wouldn't pay more than $500 for a car that I can't start up and listen to. The seller says it needs a head gasket replaced, but it could also have bad rod or main bearings. Driving a car with a bhg for too long causes the antifreeze in your oil to act like sand, and sand will kill your bottom end in no time.

thanks for your respond, i was going to offer him 800 but the more i think about the less i want to get it. he mention that somebody told him that it was a bhg n then he emediatly park it n it has been parked for a year now.so would make the oil and coolant in the engine like sand or would it still b cool to just put a new gasket and just do a regular service?

The only way to really know for sure would be to pull the drain plug and dump the oil. Once it sets for awhile (like a couple of days), you can feel around in the oil for any grainy texture. I would assume that if it's grainy at all, you're going to want to rebuild the engine...

Definitely would think at the very least its a bad head gasket (especially if he thinks it is as well).

now.. the choice comes down to... do you have the skills/tools/shop to do this yourself? To repair a BHG is 1300.00 labor in Canada (the Toyota Dealership quote). then you have parts on top (head gasket, valve cover gaskets, and everything else your run into)

As well, just a fyi, normally on a car that old (as mine are) you have hose issues. I replaced my hoses (all vacuum lines and anything else rubber) except the accordian hose so far. That gets a tad costly as well.

I dont want to scare you off of the car, but you need to know that these cars are not cheaply done if you do them right. From what I can see the body is good on the car and thats a nice start. However, you wont be driving it without putting at the very minimum another 650.00 (guessing of course) into it.

Its a great car and well worth every penny in my opinion. If the body is rust free and interior is in really nice shape.. you can always part it out for more than 800.00 without too much effort should you change your mind. Definitely worth 800 to me.. I dont know about State-side for value.

Anyone else have better input for this?

I just looked again and noticed that the AFM and all the intercooler piping/air cleaner, etc.. is in the hatch. Wondering if you may have a turbo issue. Be very careful with the AFM, its not hard to damage it if you handle it incorrectly.

Radiator support.
 

If your still wondering about that, do you mean that the bottom of the support has rust or do you mean under the radiator has rust. If it's the bottom, then it prolly just got scraped by something. Chances are that it won't need replaced. Just hit the rust with a wire wheel or coarse sandpaper, then cover it with rust converter. If it's so bad it does need replaced (You'd be able to knock the price down with that as well I think), well, my uncle turned a dead deer into 400 peices of dead dear in an sc400, and him and his dad (Both mechanics, not body guys) were able to replace it on their own.

Good luck on getting the car.

Head gasket is going to cost a good bit, plus you are going to want to get it machined and get a metal head gasket and arp studs or bolts. The other thing is its harder to put a car together that you didnt take apart then it is to take one apart and repair yourself. Also a shop will take this into consideration and will charge you more for repairing it. Even though there is less work because some of the stuff is off, it is more work to figure out how everything goes back on when they didnt take it apart. Some places wont even touch it if its apart. And of course you could have other issues with the car, so in short if you can't do it yourself and don't want a car that is going to need a lot of care don't get it. Supras are great cars but they need work due to the age and mileage.

so i ended up getting the supra, and im currently looking at head gaskets i have come accross a few that im interested in but just recently i came across a felpro, has anybody heard anything good or bad about it?
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-iivy5Z8znn3
or should i just go with a hks?

I really dont want to answer that because its very involved. There are many threads discussing Head gastket replacement and although in my head its very simple, when I go to do it, I realise that its much more than a head gasket replacement. If you are just looking to redo the headgasket, I would go with OEM. If your planning on extra power, I would do a lot more planning. Totally depends on the engine and what you see in the engine bay, plus what your final plans are with the vehicle.

Going to work on upgrading the turbo, upping your boost, adding a 3" exhaust (highly recommended), replacing all the old rubber or whatever else it needs, doing the valve seals, etc.. etc... all this plus your budget are the factors. You really want to think this through solidly and do it once. If you are going with a thicker/metal headgasket, your going to have to be a bit more careful with the head/block prior to putting it in.

Its an excellent motor when its done properly, but you should start with what your final goal is (just get the damn thing running and daily driver or "lets get this puppy really moving...")

Plus, the valve cover gaskets are a bit of joy, so you should research those and perhaps do those slightly different as well. The weak point in the valve covers is the "screws" that hold them on. They need to be torqued correctly (ft/ins not lbs) and invariably leak into the galley when done incorrectly or not retightened. Some people have a lot of good suggestions regarding that. There is also a technique for sealing the spark plug galley to prevent oil from pooling in it if they do leak.

Not trying to scare ya or frustrate you, but if you do have the time, I would plan it all out first. Its not like a typical rebuild that I have done in the past. If you cant find the information, I can see if I can find all the links I have found in the past discussing the various areas of interest.

to me, the key is .. do it once.

you could not be more right, i do only want to do it once. i have worked on other motors mainly chevy's but the more i read about this engine the more i realize that its a whole different game. but what i have decided to do is to send the top end of the block to a michine shot so they can check the pistons and rod get hks gasket with the apr studs, and see where that takes me. but in the future i want to be pushing 400 plus horse power. so i thinkink im just going to do it once and right.

and granavi u have been extremely helpfuli can not thank u enough and i also plan on doing everything that u did with your clutch.

np, I am not a mechanic, just someone who loves the car enough to find out whats right and wrong (and hopefully spread the CORRECT information.. lol).

If you are sending it to a machine shop, make sure you get the measurement for how much they take off if they shave it (the exact measurement). Its critical for the compression because that will tell you the size of head gasket to use. You can get away with just lapping the block and the head (RTCS near me has a machine that does it perfectly), and then going with a OEM headgasket. That is supposed to be able to handle up to 12 psi boost without any issues. Its when you are shooting for highter than 400-450 HP that you want to go with the metal headgasket.

As I said before, knowing your power goals with the car is very critical at the stage you are in. Be patient and get all the information down pat, so you know exactly what your going to do prior to doing anything costly.

You should plan to get a 3" catback exhaust, possibly upgrade your turbo and if your going to shoot for higher HP goals, you will need to upgrade your injectors and depending on how high, also get a lexus AFM upgrade followed by a fuel pump upgrade. You dont really have to worry about the internals too much (pistons/crank/cam) unless your going to really get serious about the power. Getting 800-1000 HP out of the engine is possible but very costly.

For my car, I am going with a Walbro fuel pump, Lexus AFM, 550 cc injectors (stock are 440 cc and you wont get enough fuel at higher HP levels) and a 57 trim CT26 upgrade along with 3" catback exhaust. I may upgrade the intercooler, but that would be more for show than function, I believe the stock intercooler is sufficient for the upgrade I listed. I also have alread put in a larger radiator because I found that the car would overheat at speeds of over 150 KPH for over 3-4 minutes. (probably because the turbo is engaged at those speeds on my car currently.. it would shoot the heat into the red range). Then the other upgrades are just candy, already replaced 80% of the hoses on the car with new and will be hardpiping the rad just for show (not necessary, but pretty).

Then the body will get sideskirts, rear bumper addons and I am considering going with a 90 nose and taillight setup. I may also pop a 90 rear spoiler on it in place of the 88 one.

I plan on doing my car over 2-3 years so that I am not hit with a large $$ impact immediately. just saving up for each stage and then doing it. The body is the most expensive portion because in the end I will have about 10,000 into the body alone. Worth it to me, although if I was practical, I never would have walked this road.. lol.