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11-22-10... Changed front brake pads and rotors, added water to battery, tightened radiator plugs, transmission still slipping, put back stock bpv, replaced leak in vacuum hose near throttle body, lower transmission hose burst, had to replace air filter and wipe down everywhere the ATF hit, replaced hose
5-17-10... Changed out lower radiator hose. It was surprisingly still good after 10+ years. Then look under the car and saw that there was a leak from the radiator near the lower block of the radiator. I pushed it and coolant leaked out. It wasn't overheating but was losing coolant gradually. Bought new radiator, replaced it. Now it no longer sounds like it's having a heart attack after a drive on a hot day. The coolant reservoir used to shake violently after one of those drives. Now no more disappearing coolant... Grabbed new front lip spoiler and undertray from Borhor. I've always wanted an undertray but never found one at the junkyard. The car feels more stable on side to side turns and balanced through tunnels. I also got one more mpg according to the Supermonitor... I get the transmission code intermittently. Sometimes it's on and it'll rev all over the place. Not sure what causes it. The ATF is still red and doesn't smell burned...Added new battery post. Changed out the rubber ic pipe right at the 3000 pipe, it was cracking above the turbo shield. Now no more sudden engine dying at deceleration. Recrimped starter cable. The insides still looks good, no green anywhere. Re-tightened valve cover gaskets, was burning oil and getting smoke from engine bay. Relocated turbo timer to the ebrake handle so more kicking it accidentally with the driving foot.
12-08-09... Removed radiator, tightened down the bolts on the bottom where the ATF was leaking out. This considereably cut down on the amount of overheating, but I still get the same overheating when I go over the same two hills... Rewired CPS wires, filled battery with water, reattached new wire for starter, all of this to cure the hot start problems... Added more zip ties to battery hold down so it's now anchored in two places with zip ties and 6 thick zip ties... changed valve cover gaskets, tons of oil dropped into spark plug valleys, drove it nearly nonstop for one week before the car stopped smoking. It was awful for people behind me with their windows down... Somewhere I didn't tighten down the valve cover gaskets and it was smoking like from the center of the engine. After a week of trying everything else from cleaning out the metal pipes and hoses from the valve covers, I tightened down the valve covers since they were finger loose.... It turns out cleaning out the o2 sensor really does nothing, but it's good practice since it's so convenient to get to.... Still a lot of wind noise from the driver's side door not lining up correctly after all these years. It's really noticeable on the freeway.
4-17-09... After 7 years of ownership it finally happened, BHG. Shoutout to Boostaddctn for the labor, and parts. Shoutout to Suprastanger91 for the thermostat housing. It took two weeks, but it could have been finished in one night. I just got really sleepy after scraping the head. Afterwards the car wouldn't start. Turns out it was a combination of bad timing and the spark plug wires were in the wrong places. 500 miles later I retorqued the head, nothing was loose. After all was done, the only thing I replaced was, new Toyota HG, ARP Studs, thermostat housing, thermostat, thermostat gasket, exhaust gasket, CPS cover, the original one was smashed to pieces due to me dropping it onto the floor, rewired the ignition switch again, it was loose after 2 years of use, it was held on with one or two strands of wire. Surprisingly the head was very clean, but not because the water cleaned it off. I scrapped off the HG but I tried to avoid scraping the valves or cylinders of the caked on grime. I was losing coolant for a few months now before it became really bad. It was very gradual until the day I parked it and decided this was go time. Slight inclines and boosting would cause the temps to spike until I cooled down. Since I was there, I also replaced the oil hose behind the 3000 pipe.... I believe the car was sold to me with a newly done Hg change because I remember the oil filter being impossibly tight the first time I ever changed the oil on the Supra. When I changed the oil after the retorque, I also ran into the this problem because I tightened the filter from the top and had to get an oil filter cup from Kragen's which I will probably ever only use once. A lot of the down time between the HG being replaced was spent cleaning the car for dirt and the surrounding areas.... No head work, no machine work, used ARP studs without chasing the threads, used an OEM Toyota HG at 72 pounds, kept the stock bent up cat downpipe. We'll see how the next 7 years will look like.
10-30-08... The front lip was sagging near the front middle so I took the biggest washers I could find to hold it down... Changed spark plugs, o2 sensor and air filter. Rode it hard on the freeway and am still a gross polluter... Did the tail light rewire after my tail light box would only work when I jiggled it. Weight reduction right there because I no longer have that box there... Found another ding in my door. Not exactly sure how that happened. There's also a scratch near the top of the door. Filled it in with paint, but it's still somewhat obvious... My back trim is peeling off. It was peeling off a bit but after some washing it is totally peeling off and sticking out a bit... There is still a water leak in the back somewhere. I'm thinking the rear side marker light is leaking... I stopped having my seat at the extreme racing angle with the front bottom raked as high as possible and the rear bottom as low as possible. That was comfortable for 5 minute trips but anything longer than that gave me some cramps. I also stopped putting the rear bolsters as hugging as possible. Now it's just like a Camry seat in supportiveness and surprisingly enough I am okay with that... The heat doesn't really work and the AC doesn't really work... Rewired the CPS again, the red plug connectors cracked open from the heat I guess, cracked and caused me the car to die everywhere. Jiggling the CPS wires on the freeway in dead traffic just about did me in. Everyone behind me was supportive when they drove past me refusing to stop and help. Not that I don't blame them.
9-12-08... Boostaddctn changed out the waterpump and timing belt. Timing belt looked somewhat scored, but still usable. Changed the radiator a week later when coolant bubbles started forming near the top of the radiator. With a new cap, everything is back to normal. Probably placed the radiator at a weird angle and caused a puncture Engine temp is still in the lowe 1/4 section... Added new small vacuum hoses everywhere. Still have the same gas mileage. Response is still the same... Tail lights go out randomly when using the parking lights. It's loose at the plug and I have three other tail light boxes which fit but don't light up when you step on the brake petal. I always end up just wiggling the wire... Used some heat absorbing wrap normally used for headers, wrapped that around the CPS and wires across the valve covers to prevent any heat going to the wires. I see no difference.
1-18-08... Replaced the coolant lines from the turbo to the thermostat, the straight piece and 90 degree bend. It was so old that i couldn't twist them off, so I started hitting it with my palm and it cracked into five pieces... Was leaking fluid from transmission pan, so had three new gaskets put in, while it was out also replaced rear main seal. Still have an oil leak from the oil pan which will be fixed eventually. Thought the leak was from my cracked front axle boot, turns out it's not, but it sure is an eyesore everytime I jack up the car... Also replaced the 90 degree bend "heater hose from hell" which I thought was the culprit of my three week long leak, but after splitting it up to take it out, turn out it wasn't it. Worst 6 hours of my life putting it on and taking it off. Bought some extra long needle nose and 90 degree bent needle nose pliers for the job... Replaced the battery because the terminal was ripping off the top causing raw eggs smell to come out. Thanks Boostaddctn for pointing it out... Tried to realign the doors to the body, but no real success yet. Still gets a rush of wind due to that, shoutout to luvmysilvermk3 and lilaznboy for pointing it out.... Replaced O2 sensor with a generic one from sparkplugs.com that I had to rewire. Was getting good gas mileage for a while then it dropped down to 15 mpg again... Found oil in 2nd sparkplug valley, not sure where it's coming from. Tried recirculating the Greddy bov for a while, but still threw up a code while cruising to a stop on an incline. Turns out even with a stock bpv it will still toss a code if I let off too fast up a hill... The o2 sensor wires came loose after a few months, so recrimped those. Rewired the CPS... Saw door handle was loose and tightened it. There's a rust crack near the key hole which will not look good in the future... Found out that if you angled the spare tire jack, it can fit under the wooden cover in the middle. It bulges out a bit, but better than keeping it on the driver's side rear... It stopped raining so repainted the rear wiper black. It's not silver anymore... Still have a leak from rear, but this time it's filling up the driver's side rear panel. Not sure what it could be... Spoiler light burnt out and replaced it. Thanks to Aston Martin guy who I thought was going to compliment my car, but turns out he was just pointing out my missing tail light. Good looking out moustache man.
4-23-07... Kept on dying out at stops again. Turns out one ground wire for the o2 sensor was exposed. Cleaned out throttle body. Wasn't as dirty, but response is better. Never going to seafoam the car. It's just something I don't believe in. Tail light sensor was on. Bulbs were good but the box's contacts were corroded so replaced it with another one from the junkyard and that fixed it. The thing with modifying your engine is that once something goes wrong, you immediately suspect it's the modified part, when a lot of times that part is ok, but it's the old age of the engine as a whole that's the problem. Everytime I fix something on the car, I vaguely remember someone telling me to fix that part because it's going to be a problem eventually. Problem is, I don't remember them telling me that until I'm fixing it then I realize what they mean... It's weird that Supra owners think about car items other people wouldn't even think of. Such as whether your idle sounds right, looking at the temp gauge every five stoplights, doing a test drive that lasts a whole day... Since installing the newer front lip, it's starting to sprout waves like Amanda Byne's hair. Maybe it's the wavy brackets or it's adjusting itself to the body. Either ways it's kind of sad.
3-20-07... Took some IC pipes from a 89+ Supra, installed it where the turbo gets really hot. Noticed that there was some electrical tape wrapped around the old pipe. One, that's dangerous, two, I remember Boostaddctn telling me to change that years ago. Three, I'm getting better mileage now and throttle response at low speeds is better. Before, I would have to plan to preboost before I can cut off traffic, now I can just smash it anytime and the turbo will spool when I set it down. And it's not the phantom boost where you see the gauge go up but you're not going any faster, you now hear the turbo plus you're speeding up. Not sure if it was cracked while still attached because I had to chip it off with a screwdriver in order to get it off. Thanks to Striker for the idea about replacement pipes. However, the turbo response after 60 mph and up is like service at a restaurant, they hear you, but they'll get to you when they feel like it. Found a 86.5 Supra and took the climate control console, the ones that have black font and green overlay over the grey buttons. The old ones still work, it's just that the mounting tabs broke a while ago. Rewired the CPS wires again, this time with better crimps and real thick wires, it's starting to feel like a bi-annual maintenance. Still have no idea if the windshield or headlight squirters work because I never filled it up with fluid. Passed up on the 89+ tail lights and spoiler and I'm still questioning whether that was a good idea.
1-20-07...Replaced the broken front lip with another one from the pick and pull. It has waves like most lips on Supras, but it wasn't broken in three places like the old one. Since I was there, replaced the grey non-tems coin-holder with a burgundy one. The proudest achievement was replacing the cracked driver's side door handle. Originally I had a light blue one in my hands, but ended up cracking it trying to ease it out of the bar, if you've ever installed one, you'd get the reference, looked 20 rows down and saw a white NA. This time it didn't snap. The handle is a pale flat white as opposed to the current pearl white setup but it's a minor sniggle. There was an early 90's model Lexus with similar mirrors and door handles if the time ever times again, that's what's going to be stripped. Didn't get pat down this time, turns out if you buy stuff from them they're less likely to be suspicious of you... Repainted the top of the windshield black instead of the chrome it was, shoutout to drifternoob, up close it's a mess with swirl marks and is pretty shiny compared to the rest of the trim, which isn't as flat black as the front wipers repainted years ago, but it apppears more seamless instead of having an aluminum foil tinge,
12-10-06... Before it started raining, used black silicone on the back window seams, where the glass meets the body. Seems to be working. Tail light bulbs stopped looking marbelized from water. Only trouble spot might be the rear wiper motor I tried to silicone but apparently didn't tighten hard enough. It looks like my trim has razor bumps, and is ugly from close up and far away, but it's better than having a waterfall descend onto the carpet everytime I open the trunk.
10-4-06... Just passed smog. The first time was a disaster, I only wiped down the O2 sensor and installed new spark plug wires. The second time installed Coolant Temperature Sensor and new o2 sensor from a group buy on Supramania.com that I had for years but was saving for a special occasion. Barely missed. The third and final time, I hardwired the o2 sensor all the way to the timing belt cover, where previously there was a jumper wire that had a bad connection. Changed spark plugs, soaked up the spark plug galley dirt on the bottom with tampons (waste of money. Don't believe the hype), cleaned throttle body and PCV valve with throttle body cleaner, toothbrush and rag, reset ecu and was good to go. The Supra didn't pass as clean as hoped, I was getting 27 mpg according to the supermonitor, but a win is still a win. What ultimately caused it to pass? It was definately the o2 hardwire and probably resetting the ecu. The second time, I don't think the ecu was learning it's fuel map correctly and was probably running on the curve from when the Greddy Type S bov was still in there. There wasn't much dirt on the throttle body, but it did create a quicker response and start up. And the long 30 minute drive on the freeway with hills and dips warmed up the cat nice and hot. There's still an intermediate backfire from when it tries to idle at 650 rpm, but it's still better mileage than I've ever gotten... Plus on the smog dyno, the car weighs 3873 or maybe that's just the stock Supra weight... Shoutout to Vin, Timothy, Vic Hubbard because standing in line takes a while but it's worth it, Autozone in San Lorenzo that has no people but is always stocked with goodies. Shoutout to the people at the post office who didn't park next to me when I was out changing my tire. I was wondering why all of sudden I was taking turns so slow. Darn nail or screw.
7-21-06... Car shut down after taking a slight right turn so just coasted into the red zone on the street. There was no power coming from the battery, the door lights didn't even turn on. Nothing worked until I unhooked all the connections to the battery terminals and just hooked up the basic connections to the car; ground and starter. Then it started up like nothing ever was wrong. Big shoutout to the 50 or so people who passed me by in the 15 minute span without offering to help or say any encouraging words like, "nice car".... There was a coolant leak along the passenger side of the block, where one of the pipes (I'm guessing) to the turbo was capped off sprung a leak. It was leaking on the passenger side dripped along the transmission bump to where the bell housing was. Took me forever to find it. Felt around, hoped that this stupid 5/8 inch cap was the problem and looks like it was. Shoutout to everyoone that pointed to my car in horror when it was leaking puddles in the parking lot, but when I opened up the radiator and jumped back from all the steam, no one was willing to offer me any water... Rewired CPS again because there was a slight backfire while at a stop, but then again that could have just been the Autolite sparkplugs acting normally.
6-8-06... Brakes were replaced at a shop after 3 years of use. Paying someone to replace them instead of me coughing for one week is worth it to me... Driver sun visor light and dome lights have stopped working. It's not the bulb so maybe it's a ground somewhere... Got tired of sanding down the contacts on the passenger door so that the window will go up and down so replaced it with one from a junkyard. It's more faded than other interior pieces, but it's still working. Also realized Celica window switches will work for the Mk3's, but looks way uglier... The passenger mirror on the model Supra fell off from the sun so used some blue silicone on it and somehow it's still holding on... One brake light bulb keeps on burning out because the white plastic on top of it has cracks, coupled with the leak from the hatch from places unknown, so everytime it rains, the bulb comes in contact with water and ends up looking like a marble counter... Been playing Tokyo Extreme Racer: Drift on the PS2. I never realized the Supra sounded so asthmatic.
4-30-06... Always wondered about the O2 sensor, so finally took it out and wiped it clean with two paper towels after one year of not checking it out. Went from 13 mpg to 17 mpg... Wiped CSI plug on intake side as clean as possible. Felt no difference.
Added a car phone
Thanksgiving 2010 Supra Meet
The Supra at Egypt apparently from Fall 2007
If you look closely you can see the 1/24 Tamiya model Supra on the dash.
Dziggy's car also at Egypt at Fall 2007.
Judging from the hassle I got from the cops that year, this is from the San Leandro Marina 2007, far right again.
The Mk4 owners were embarrassed and couldn't wait until I left.
Supra on the far left again.
San Leandro Marina Supra meet 2006
This was before some Camry backed into me when we were at a red light
I had to chase him down two blocks hitting full boost before catching him due to him trying to run away.
Only thing he broke was my license plate frame.
Changed to the 1986.5 Supra center console. Looks better than faded 88 or fade into background 89+.
Euro side markers again.
Tried to get a better shot of the uncracked front spoiler. Foiled again
There was a part of Dawson's Creek that really struck a chord with me. What Rich is saying about Pacey's 1966 Ford Mustang can be applied to anyone who drives an old school car on purpose, not because they can't do better; such as Vince Vaughn driving a late 90's Pontiac Firebird, Sean Penn an 87 Grand National, or anyone with a MK3 Supra.
Pacey: Hey, I happen to like my car, thank you very much.
Rich: Yeah. You've got a way to get around town, but it's all about what your car says about you.
Pacey: Ok, I'll bite. What does my car say about me?
Rich: That you're a sentimental fool of a man-child. You're too weak for a real car, so you tinker with your little medium-cool vintage one. You surround yourself with all things good, but not good enough. You don't want to grow up, so you don't go to school and you borrow your suits and you let your facial hair run amuck. That's fine, but then why bother getting in the ring at all if you're not even gonna throw a frigging punch?
Pacey: What?
Rich: Are you gonna go in that office every day and watch guys collect their money so you can write a thoughtful piece about it in your memoirs?
Pacey: Well, maybe I don't care about any of that stuff. Maybe I'm just trying to pay my rent.
Rich: Come on, Pacey. I see something going on in there. You're not subjecting yourself to me because you like my tie. You're hungry. So quit effing around and go for it already.
Hearing this makes me wonder if it applies to me or anyone else I see rolling in a Supra or CRX for that matter. Maybe it means nothing, maybe it means everything. There are times I feel that way. Other times I feel like that 50 Cent lyric, "Sometimes I can't find the words to say how I feel, so I take a quote from Menace, 'Look at the wheels.'"
Juhanis' engine bay
What I tried to capture here was the Euro side markers sticking out like the side ponytails of Tenma from School Rumble as seen below.
Obviously, I didn't get it right
Better picture of the custom armrest. Surprisingly there's no loose stitching since the two yeras when I first made it. However the ebrake handle didn't come out so good, but you can still barely see how bad it is.
Even restitched the lining on the bottom of the coinholder to match.
Changed to a different color Greddy oil cap
I took these pictures when I thought the light was hitting the Supra at an extremely flattering angle. Now that I look at it, maybe it's because the mk3 has the Mischa Barton effect. If you see any of Mischa's pictures you don't see why people would think that she's all that special. But when you watch The O.C, then you start to understand. Videos and real life compliment the Supra, while pictures, especially pictures on the internet, not so much.
Honesty.com