Noob here!!!
 

hey guys, i'm finally reaching out for help.
My wife has a 1988 supra, and i know nothing about these cars, except that the kid next door keeps offering me a grand for it.
She's had the car parked for about 2 1/2 years, and i started it for the first time last nite.

The good:
body is straight
wheels and tires are in very good condition
interior is complete.
The bad:
everything else
head gasket is gone, tranny is gone. It's a non turbo (i guess a 7mge???) auto.

Every time i look at the car i get sad cuz i know it's a broken fast car.
so i'm planning on bringing it back to life, only thing is, we're saving up to buy a house, so i'm on a REAL tight budget. But with time i believe anything is possible.
any suggestions would be a great help!

maybe if there is a lot of problems with the mechanics you can go looking in some junkyards for some parts or buy a donor car. since your on a tight budget you should set up a list of what you should do first like getting the head gasket and trans done. what are you looking for in the car? daily driver? racing? drifting?

Its NOT a turbo, so I don't recommend putting a lot of $$$ into it.

Best to do a FULL evaluation ($$$) of everything it will need to be a dependable car.

Brakes
Steering Parts
Tires
Suspension
Electrical Stuff
ETC.........

NON turbo's are alittle more reliable then turbos not as much abuse on the engine the car should last longer then most turbo cars

I'd say sell it for that $1K and never look back. Shot tranny AND blown head gasket? Yeah, that car is not worth $1000. Besides its automatic and non-turbo, yuck!

Auto non-turbos are not known for being a "fast car". Realisticly, a stock 5 speed turbo supra is not really a "fast car" either. I know, I own one.

unfortunately my wife is too attached to the car, she wants me to fix it, and i think it might just be a fun little car.
i'm gonna keept it stock with a few mods, i was looking at some trannys on ebay and they're not too expensive, motor wise, i don't know too much about them, but hg are not that difficult.
I was reading one of the threads on rebuilding a motor and it seemed the most difficult job is that crank bolt.
The electrical seemed fine when i started the car two days ago, i checked for any kind of shortage, hooked up a volt meter to main electrical circuits and it everything seemed fine, it's just the motor that shot and the tranny. I dont think swaping trannys would be that hard being RWD.
there's alot of info in this forum, i just hope i get this thing running well.
thanx guys

Buy a front end clip. New engine, new tranny. Might have to find a wire harness, but the rest should all be there. You've got a few options then too, you could go back with the 7MGE, or go turbo and 7MGTE or go twin turbo and get a 1JZGTTE.

chances are your not going to find a 7mgte clip but 1jz is easier to find

If your fixing it for your wife then i wouldnt get a turbo motor.

If you do the headgasket/ tranny yourself you can save money, but having a mechanic fix just the headgasket could be easily $1,500.


I would check your tires also. they are probably in good condition except they sat 2 1/2 yrs didnt they? they might have flat spots.


I would suggest selling the car and waiting till after you find a house then go buy a nice supra for cheap.
Its just gonna be too much $$ to fix up. But hey, its up to you.

i hear you guys, for a long time i kept telling her to just sell it, but she won't. So now i just feel like keeping the car parked is just plain sad.
I really don't wanna turbo it, cuz i simply believe that it might just be too much for her. She really wants the car to handle though.
so i am gonna fix it my self and see how it goes. Thanx for all the suggestions guys, very much appriciated.