My 1991 Toyota Supra

[Kai Robinson]

FINALLY! Yesterday in the mail, a parcel arrived from the UK - only a small jiffy bag, but containing the 1/2" to 3/8" adaptor that i desperately needed! All the nuts on the studs were torqued up in stages (30, 40, 50, 60, 70 lb) and finally 75lb/ft for the final pass. I was thinking about going to 80lb/ft *but* the socket i'm using runs the risk of shearing before the nuts do! So i'm going to call an end to head torquing proceedings. Oh, and i measured the valve clearances again.

*swearing*

I think this engine relies solely on the powers of voodoo sometimes - the clearances are marginally better than they were, but i have to get shims still. I can run the engine as is - but it will sound rattly and won't be as tuned as i like. But, the good thing is, i can do other stuff while i wait on those. I think i'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go to Toyota for them, i can't be bothered driving 120 miles round trip to go to a Yamaha dealer (the 7M uses 25mm diameter shims that can also be found in a load of bikes).

[Kai Robinson]

...I HATE THE TIMING BELT ON THIS F*CKING ENGINE! >_<

Seriously - it's bad enough that i have to take off the crank pulley and the lower timing cover, but honestly...this thing is just RIDICULOUS!

Looks so easy in the TSRM - just move the belt tensioner pulley over, bolt it up hand tight so it gives the belt slack...then stretch the belt over, right? The amount of swearing and scraped knuckles it's taken to achieve the end result is simply unreal!

Still, it's on.

I'm running out of things to do - i can't do anything more until i have the wiring loom back at the very least - and i *need* those parts from the UK so very badly



The one thing i guess i CAN do, is bolt up the fuel rail, pulsation dampers and all that faff...

[RAW-Raptor22]

Haha, good old American gear drive timing FTW. Timing chains and belts FTL...

[[XC] Lead Head]

@Kai:You had to import a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter? Are there no hardware stores in France!?

@Raw: Very very very few American engines have had gear driven camshafts. The only one I can think off the top of my head (not counting diesels) is the old Ford 4.9L/300 Straight 6.

Almost every American V8 uses some sort of timing chain. They're usually a very short chain being a cam-in-block engine, but they are still there none the less.

[RAW-Raptor22]

@Kai:You had to import a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter? Are there no hardware stores in France!?

@Raw: Very very very few American engines have had gear driven camshafts. The only one I can think off the top of my head (not counting diesels) is the old Ford 4.9L/300 Straight 6.

Almost every American V8 uses some sort of timing chain. They're usually a very short chain being a cam-in-block engine, but they are still there none the less.

I have seen kits to adapt them to Windsor engines, but the Ford FE series engines (331, 352, 360, 390, 410, 427, 428) all had gear drive timing. My had has a 390 that he is putting in his 1963 Thunderbird project car, and I have a Ford 4.9L/300 in my 89 F-150. So there are two examples right there that I have experience with.

[Nanometer]

wow really cool work you have been doing, can't wait to see it all up in running... or you telling us rather. I wanna see you dyno the car and see how well you did ;-D

[RAW-Raptor22]

wow really cool work you have been doing, can't wait to see it all up in running... or you telling us rather. I wanna see you dyno the car and see how well you did ;-D

Awesome thanks. The one in my signature is not mine, however that is precisely what we are going for. Its going to be awesome.

[[XC] gomeler]

Awesome thanks. The one in my signature is not mine, however that is precisely what we are going for. Its going to be awesome.

lol I think he was referring to the original poster

@Kai:You had to import a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter? Are there no hardware stores in France!?

Maybe the dominance of metric measurements in France vs imperial?

[Lethagized]

nice motor! Oldskool and still cool

[Kai Robinson]

Yeah - they only have 1/2" drive sockets here, or 3/4" sockets (for the big industrial stuff) - the 14mm 3/8" socket i have was deep enough (just)and thin walled enough to go into the head. The 14mm 1/2" one i had, wasn't.

99% of my sockets are 3/8" - trust me, i went to every hardware store within a 20 mile radius - had never heard of a 3/8" drive ANYTHING. So i had to get one sent over from the UK.

[[XC] Lead Head]

What kind of ratchets and sockets do they use over there in France then? I thought the 3/8" , 1/2" etc.. thing was supposed to be a world wide standard?

Your average home owner here has 3/8" and 1/4" drive stuff. More mechanically inclined people will get the big 1/4" 3/8" 1/2" sets.

Then the people who like to show off their tools but never work on anything will go for the 748,000 piece Snap-On set with everything from 1/4" drive to 1" drive as well as every single wrench known to man and several known to other species.

[Kai Robinson]

They tend to use 1/2" basic sets, if any. Most of the time, doing your own work is discouraged, because it would take away work from others who are 'qualified' in the eyes of the state (aaah, socialism) - it's why there are no auto parts stores here, and buying parts from a dealership is almost unheard of.

All my stuff, i bought in the UK - and for the most part, the 3/8" and 1/4" stuff i have is enough, but there are those few jobs that require the bigger stuff. The big issue, is going to be the crank pulley - needs 195lb/ft of torque on it, and even my 1/2" torque wrench only goes to 120lb/ft :/

I mean, check the garage tools thread, and you'll see what i have...

[RAW-Raptor22]

lol I think he was referring to the original poster

I know, I was messing with him. Your sarcasm detector must be malfunctioning...

[Kai Robinson]

Fuel rail is all sorted now. Woot. But....i really need to sort out what bolts go where on the lower timing cover, i've already got to take the crank pulley off, because i seem to have forgotten one of the bolts...

[Kai Robinson]

Here's what i need to finish everything off:

Part No.	Item Description				Price		Qty	Line Price

90119-06485	Thermostat Housing Bolt				€0.98 ea	2	€1.96
16341-35010	Thermostat Housing Gasket			€2.48		1	€2.48
16124-42020	Water Pump Gasket				€3.39		1	€3.39
16185-70010	Water Pump Dowel				€2.44 ea	2	€4.88

25628-42020	EGR Inlet Gasket (Upper Manifold) x 1
25627-42030	EGR Inlet Gasket (Head) x 1

96732-31070	Oil Filter Bracket Gasket			€4.61		1	€4.61
90430-12023	Oil Cooler Return Feed Gasket			€1.11 ea	2	€2.22
90430-12005	Turbo Oil Feed Gasket				€0.72 ea	2	€1.44

17118-42020	Exhaust Manifold Stay				€8.94		1	€8.94
91611-61014	Exhaust Manifold Stay Lower Bolt		€1.04 ea	1	€1.04
90119-08683	Exhaust Manifold Stay Upper Bolt		€0.92 ea	2	€1.84
90116-08068	Exhaust Manifold Heat Shield Stud		€1.76 ea	5	€8.80
90179-08059	Exhaust Manifold Heat Shield Bolt		€1.01 ea	5	€5.05
90116-10025	Exhaust Manifold Stud				€1.31 ea	7	€9.17
90179-10128	Exhaust Manifold Nut				€1.56 ea	7	€10.92
90119-10062	Intake Manifold Stay Bolt			€2.48 ea	1	€2.48
90179-10028	Turbo to Manifold Nut				€2.66 ea	4	€10.64
90116-10125	Turbo to Elbow Stud				€1.37 ea	4	€5.48
90179-10029	Turbo to Elbow Nut				€2.66 ea	4	€10.64
90116-08068	Turbo Elbow Heatshield Stud			€1.76 ea	1	€1.76
90179-08101	Turbo Elbow Heatshield Nut			€0.92 ea	2	€1.84

90119-08753	Bolt for 3000 pipe				€1.24 ea	2	€2.48

90179-10016	Alternator Securing Nut				€1.04		1	€1.04

16401-72090	Radiator Cap					€14.82		1	€14.82

91651-40820	FPD Return bracket bolt				€1.31 ea	2	€2.62

44327-12010	PS Pump Pressure Port Gasket			€3.51 ea	2	€7.02

										Total	€127.56

[Kai Robinson]

My wiring harness is done!

Just to recap - this is what it used to look like:





And this is what it looks like now:









SO SHINY!

[dengyong]

Update please...

[Kai Robinson]

Well the loom is through the bulkhead, thanks to my girlfriends teeny tiny hands, and i'm sorting out 'what goes where' now i have the proper plugs on things. There is a slight problem with forum updates however, my phone and internet got cut off at the end of June, and i don't know if/when/how i'll get it back again - so at the moment i'm stuck using internet cafe's (right now i'm pretending to be a tourist and looking pathetic )

Anyway, once the wiring is sorted out on the intake side, the manifold can go back on, and i can start getting a move on. Oh and i'm STILL waiting for parts from the UK

[dengyong]

Well the loom is through the bulkhead, thanks to my girlfriends teeny tiny hands, and i'm sorting out 'what goes where' now i have the proper plugs on things. There is a slight problem with forum updates however, my phone and internet got cut off at the end of June, and i don't know if/when/how i'll get it back again - so at the moment i'm stuck using internet cafe's (right now i'm pretending to be a tourist and looking pathetic )

Anyway, once the wiring is sorted out on the intake side, the manifold can go back on, and i can start getting a move on. Oh and i'm STILL waiting for parts from the UK

I thought you still had substantial inheritance and were in the land development business now ?

What happened ? If you'd rather not talk about it just ignore my post.

[Kai Robinson]

Nah it's okay you can ask

It's the last few months i've been ripped off by someone (details earlier on in this thread), and people that owe me money aren't massively forthcoming in paying it back to me when they promise, so i'm short on liquid assets, after having the roof, windows and gardening sorted in the last year, funds are insanely low - which is causing a ballache all round.

I'll be back on my feet in a month or so, but it always hits hard and takes a while to get back to square one :/

[Kai Robinson]

Got the parts from Toyota, will update thread in the next week or so, but i have fiancee to take care of first and foremost!

[wdrzal]

people that owe me money aren't massively forthcoming in paying it back to me when they promise, :/

You must have a Sister too.

[dengyong]

Got the parts from Toyota, will update thread in the next week or so, but i have fiancee to take care of first and foremost!

Lets have it old man...

[Kai Robinson]

Your wish is my command - mainly as I'm back online at home again - woohoo!

So - time to update you as to what's been happening on the Supra front...

I decided to investigate the odd problem of the rough idle on first starting, which i figured would be related to the cold start injector. Turns out i was right. When i pulled the injector out - it was COVERED in oil & carbon in an almost centimeter thick layer - so no fuel was getting out at all, therefore causing the crappy idle. The biggest build up was on the aft side of it - that points straight to the EGR inlet on the manifold. Good thing i've ditched the EGR then!

The other thing i figured out, is that the full engine gasket kit *does* include a thermostat gasket - a bonus, because i was going to get another one for about $6 as the existing one was...how shall i say, baked? Yep, baked is a good word for it. Cracked, brittle, and about as useful as a rich tea biscuit at repelling water.

I also figured out the new and improved vacuum routing, as due to the EGR removal, i have a Vacuum Switching Valve that needs to be removed, and a load of vacuum piping that needs to be arranged properly, if i'm to avoid any vacuum leaks.

I considered cleaning the manifold even further, but honestly, as it's a stock rebuild, i don't see the point in spending hours with a toothbrush, scrubbing away like crazy - it's clean enough!

I'm missing just two parts now (my own fault on one of them, admittedly); the O2 sensor gasket (i thought i had a spare, i clearly don't!), and the bolt that holds the Power Steering Pump Bracket Stay in position on the block side of things. Technically i only need a standard 14mm headed 10mmx1.25 bolt that's 16mm long, but the hardware store won't stock them in that size, as 1.25mm pitch is a little odd for a 10mm thread. I'd rather get the proper thing from Toyota, than bodge it. I've already had to use two 13mm headed 8mmx1.25 nuts that were used for holding the fan onto the water pump pulley, to hold the power steering bracket in place. I'm basically trying to make sure that the engine is built properly as can be. Hence why i used a proper Toyota gasket, ARP head studs and new fixings where possible.

The exhaust manifold finally went back on, after i replaced 4 of the 7 studs in the head. The 3 that remained in there stayed very much in place, as i know just how soft the alloy is that the head is made up of, and really didn't want to get into the hassle of drilling/tapping the threads in the head or helicoiling things. I did however, run a die down each of the exhaust studs in the head to make sure they were clean of crap, and used ARP assembly lube on each of the threads to ensure that they wouldn't sieze.

Bolting the turbocharger back up went pretty well for the most part, locating is is fscking fiddly though, not on the manifold or the elbow, but the oil feed and drain. For those of you unfamiliar with the CT26 - the drain is a solid piece of metal, with a 90 degree bend in it, that locates on two studs on the block. Locating it is fiddly, but can i get in there to tighten the nuts? Probably, but i got a headache after an hour of working on it. I managed to get the nuts located though, thank feck, the ballache is going to be getting a torque wrench in there, probably via a series of adaptors, extensions and spatial geometry, testing just how far my arms, wrists & fingers can be contorted before breaking bones & tearing ligaments!

The oil feed is also being a bastard. See, with the manifold heat shield on, the oil feed is about 1cm away from the hole, and of course i have to contend with two copper crush washers on either side of the bolt & banjo fitting. I'm going to hold off on that for the time being. This evening, i've been concentrating on a few things, the PS pump is finally reconnected to the fluid cooler, thanks to the double sided copper crush washer i bought, and now only lacks the fluid reservoir - something that gets connected last i think.

The wiring harness has been connected up, with the exception of the thermostat housing (i need to bolt up the upper timing cover first), and i've discovered a potential worry, in that the green, single pin sensor on the thermostat housing, won't tally with the wiring harness. See, previously, my harness had been missing the correct connector, and someone had used a spade terminal as a bodge. Not knowing that, Jonny, who redid my wiring harness, put a brand new, gold plated spade terminal in its place. No biggie i thought, until i realised it was bigger than the one he replaced, and voila, it will no longer fit in the connector. So, i'm going to have to sort that out, otherwise i'll get a thrown code. Everything else is plugged in, barring the stuff on the upper intake, even the knock sensors are plumbed in, and far better looking than the bell wire that was in there.

I also discovered that i had a load more Samco silicone hoses in a box, although, i had no idea what they were for, initially. Turns out that Samco went as far as to make the hoses to & from the throttle body in silicone, which is nice, as the ones that were there were starting to look a little tired, worn and threadbare around the connecting ends - which is a bit of a relief. I'll take the opportunity to plumb in the lower rad hose this time, but i'll still need a load of red silicone hose for the vacuum lines, and i'll need a longer section of silicone hose for the rear elbow on the head. See on the '90 spec, the water pipe that runs around the block, connecting the thermostat housing/water pump, to the intake side of things, is made of crappy steel, that corrodes and has a 60' bend in the pipe that connects to the elbow via a hose. Of course, the pipework i had needed to be replaced, but i got it off a '92, by which point the pipe was made of stainless steel and has a 90' bend in the pipe that connects to the rear coolant elbow, meaning the silicone section of pipe that i have, will no longer fit. Grrrrr.

However, I had something of a revelation that has helped push my tinkering & improvising to a new level! Remember that section of pipe that i needed? Well, no more! Thanks to finding those Samco hoses, the short one that goes from the heater matrix to the VSV on the bulkhead was replaced, but thankfully, that short hose was the same internal diameter as the hose i needed. Some trimming with a kitchen knife, and i have a 90' bend that *just* clears the cylinder head, and only barely rests against the rear lifting hook. There is a very slight kink/ovalling where the bend is, due to the angle of the hose not being exact, but, it's not going to impede flow at all. Wierdly however, in the EPC, the bypass hose listed, is the same part number from 05/1990 to 05/1993 (yes, the Supra WAS still made in '93, although in Japan only). I might just have to get a generic length of samco hose in red at a later date. In the meantime, this should hold.

The upper timing cover has been bolted up, as has the thermostat housing, and i'm starting to tie up all the loose ends, i was considering slinging the upper intake manifold & throttle body on this evening/morning, but it's gone 5am and i'm starting to get lazy and tired, so sod it, it's been 6 months, another 6 hours isn't going to hurt. Realistically, once i get the turbocharger oil feed banjo bolt in, i can start plumbing crap in with regards to the intercooler, but that'll be a ballache, no doubt taking me several hours to just do one single bolt. The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely starting to appear, and after the engine is back together, the interior should only take an hour or two to bolt back together, and voila, fingers crossed, the bastard thing will start. I have a mental list of everything that needs to be done, what bolts are just hand tight and need torquing up, so i'm going to do a big push. New coolant, 4.7 litres of Generic 10w40 to run it through for 30 mins, another 4.7 litres of 10w40 and another filter for the first 500 miles, and then i can get a wix filter, and some 5w30 in there for the next 5000 miles, assuming i don't throw a bearing first....no, wait, i take that back, fate, don't curse me now!!!

*mumbles to self* think positive man, think positive...!

You'll also notice in the photo's below, that the cam covers that were sat on there, have been substituted for the GTE ones, simply as i no longer have the funds for the IS300 coil packs, so the stock GTE ones will have to stay for a little while longer. I will admit though, that tarting up the GTE covers took about 2 hours for both, as opposed to 6 hours each for the N/A ones - mostly due to the lack of any embossed lettering! Some 3/4 coats of primer and 2/3 coats of proper 3E5 spraypaint from Toyota sorted them out rather nicely - even if they are meant to be temporary.





Look - the manifold fits! Thanks to the new studs & nuts:





A wonderful happy time installing the wiring harness (not!):



And with the GTE cam covers, 90% of the wiring plugged in:

[Kai Robinson]

Well, thanks to Grimjack, i managed to get the upper inlet manifold on, bolted up, all vacuum & water lines connected, TPS and ISCV plugged in and aside from the turbo oil feed, i'm almost ready to go. Of course, i need 4 pairs of hands all about the size of a toddlers, with the strength of superman in order to sort that f****** thing out. I might just wait til the end of the month and get a CT26 softline kit, and save the ballache. Oh, i STILL need some outsize valve shims. If anyone has some 3mm+ shims, PLEASE let me know - i'm desperate!

Anyway - this is how things stand at the moment;



LOOK EVERYONE! IT'S A 7M!