My MKIII - My Project - Need a few answers

[Grandavi]

First of all, I put my initial questions in here:
http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/...questions.html

Now, I have pics too!

My new car...

[Grandavi]

The Interior...
(2 buttons bubbled on A/C)



shortened shifter...


No idea what the button on the far left does to the lights, I think the toggle on the right is for the driving lights...

Didnt realise the steering wheel telescoped. The appraisal guy told me : )




a close-up of the rim.. is this mfg by... LSR? (dont know make of rims).
I do have the stock rims as well, which I will have to repaint or recondition.. not sure what you do with the originals...

[Grandavi]

The Questions...

1. Anyone know what this is? The black "swing latch" on the door post...


2. Gotta replace the wipers... who would leave these on a nice car???


3. Got a dent in the targa top (pass side). Dont know if this is an easy fix or even if I should bother fixing it...


4. First pic... a. shows the middle support for the rear spoiler. Second pic b. shows that the "bushing/gasket/whateveritscalled" is not aligned correctly. Think that I can ignore this as there doesnt seem to be any water leakage.

a.

b. overhead view looking down on front part of spoiler.


5. I want to either take these off and recondition them, or get new ones...


6. Body work to do... (I think I may end up having to repaint the entire car if they cant match it properly... just to get it right... sigh)

a. Bondo... poor job... you can see the sanding scratches... poorly done!


b. above was top of wheel well, rear pass. side. This one is worse... above driver side rear wheel compartment.


c. Only rust spot on the outside. (*note - I said outside) Front of drivers side tire


d. 3 pics to show this... it never occured to me that I should open this door...


Rust right thru the wheel well. YIKES! Gotta fix that before going thru puddles or on dusty roads. Anyone know a quick way to fix this? I can poke right through the metal here.. haven't checked other side, but would assume same issue.


7. BOOM BOOM - sorry... these babies gotta go...


8. Driver's seat repair.. minor. Anyone know of a way to fix a cigarette burn hole (shown below)


Motor compartment shots in a new message... thats my biggie concern. Going to shoot now.

[mnewxv]

ok lookin good. Really never liked the years before they changed the taillights but that color, those wheels and spoiler, wow its sexy. Ok, now onto the good stuff. Nice short throw shifter, must help a decent ammount. Theres a little stain on the passanger seat, id like rent a steam cleaner and just go over everthing. but yeah, switches from left to right: foglamps, cruise, rear defrost, and the one on the right is custom. I noticed in the next pic you can see a red and blue wire coming from behind there going into the engine bay, follow it, might be what it goes to.

for the wipers, id take the arms off and sand/paint them. the dent on the top doesnt look too bad. for the spoiler 'gasket' i would be a stickler and not be able to keep it that way, but if it doesnt bug you and doesnt leak it seems ok.

side of the window things, id jus repaint em.

sucks about the body, rust, and paint. good luck, this isnt my area!

yeah, mtx subs, lot of kids like em cause they arent too expensive and make a lot of noise, to the untrained ear. id lose em.

for the cigarette burn go to an upholterer an see what they say.

waiting for engine pics!

edit: almost forgot! READ THE MANUAL! that should explain that door latch thing for you.

[Grandavi]

Woot.. this car is just too much fun. I hope that wears off after a while before I start killing the car by enjoying it.

Those wires you mentioned seem to be from the sub. I think he has it wired directly to the battery. Those go.. cause they bug me (the wires, amp and sub).

The wipers and side moldings by the windows definitely get painted. But I think I may hold off a bit to see if I repaint the car. If I do repaint the entire car, I will be going custom and I have a design for a monarch wing style side paint that I may use. (if i get the time, I will add it to the char via photoshop as that is what I do for a living... (digital imaging specialist).



And now.. the engine compartment (this is kinda the scary area)

First a little background. I am not sure if this is the original engine. Its hard to tell from the repair bills. In Jan. 04 he paid 5000+ for the engine replacement/rebuild and 5 months later paid 3000+ to rebuild that (they had to regrind the crank and redo the rods.. so I am assuming he ran it dry). At that time he also replaced the turbo. Following all those repairs, his dad found out about his tickets.. so from that point on, he was on his own. (therefore, couldnt afford to drive it).

The engine repairs were done 22k kms ago (not sure what that is in miles... 10k miles??). Who knows how much damage he did in that time. But I do know its seeping oil somewhere and it may be the turbo... ah well.. lets look at what I could show on camera as i try to plan upgrading/repairing it.

All the pictures come below the comments:

The engine compartment (my troubles seem to be mostly on this side)


Now.. what the heck is missing here???




Now... I am assuming there is a trick to servicing this air filter (is that what it is?) Also, I read in other posts that this may not be the most efficient air filter to run, and if so, I would like to upgrade it. My main concern in this engine is longevity and fuel economy and power (in that order). (pic below)

Also, in the pic above... I have read about changing that pipe on the left side I think... but am not familiar enough with this engine yet. I understand downpipes and turbo cutoff valves etc... in my head, but when looking at the engine, I feel I have to identify each component/hose before I start anything. I remember seeing some diagrams of this engine so I will hunt those down. Any upgrade suggestions are appreciated!

Oil is below.. cant tell if its leaking or from someone missing when filling the engine with oil (this is the top of the motor towards the back of the engine compartment). Should I be concerned?

close up of above picture below:


YIKES... look at the engine pic below.. who could love their car and leave it like this??? (I plan to replace the hose, unless there is a nifty fix somewhere that is better than factory)


After an hour run with the car, smoke (not lots) was coming from the area that you see this wet hose at... Im not sure what the hose is for yet, but again.. how can people leave the hose alone when its that obvious? (pic is below)


close up of the above area in the picture below:


Oil Dipstick - now I see why that post is stickied... I have no idea how much oil is in the car!! (this dipstick is dry btw...)


Wet...


Finally... there is some oil (I think) in here.. but may be spillage from filling the engine with oil.. hard to tell without ripping off everything on top of the motor...


So, any suggestions will be considered seriously. I plan to perfect this car over a 1 year period.. step by step as I can afford. Overall, I want to keep the engine modifications/repairs under 4k.

Oh yeah... I have the original warranty book and drivers manual that came with the car in excellent condition. Was happy about that!

Thanks for reading!

[Grandavi]

I read the manual entirely, cover to cover and still cant find what that black swing thingy on the door post is...



I also was reading thru the "Drifting" area. lol! Why would anyone want to drift one of these, I mean... I believe it can be done easily (I did one "burn-out" to see how well it can do them... I would say... it does it very well) but the car is so damn heavy, if you get swung back its likely gonna go the other way..

I also have a previous post here:http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/...questions.html
as well my Show & Tell post was here: (just was my first post) http://www.toyota-supra.info/forums/...ew-forums.html

[mnewxv]

not sure about the latch but we all have it.

[Chambers]

I think the latch is for the seat belts, so they wind back up when the door is opened, the one on my car never worked, it was broken. I even replaced it and it broke again, so I find my self guiding the seat belt back up every time I leave my car.

You have a nice car there, rust and dents in all. If you plan to pull the door louvers you will have to pull some of the interior panels off to get the bolts holding them on, as for the rust in the rear, check under your spare tire as well, for now just get some WD-40 and hose every metal surface down in the rear, and in the valleys on the outside of the hatch weather stripping on the car side.

Good luck.

[Grandavi]

Originally Posted by Chambers

I think the latch is for the seat belts, so they wind back up when the door is opened, the one on my car never worked, it was broken. I even replaced it and it broke again, so I find my self guiding the seat belt back up every time I leave my car.

You have a nice car there, rust and dents in all. If you plan to pull the door louvers you will have to pull some of the interior panels off to get the bolts holding them on, as for the rust in the rear, check under your spare tire as well, for now just get some WD-40 and hose every metal surface down in the rear, and in the valleys on the outside of the hatch weather stripping on the car side.

Good luck.

Yeah, I think you may be right about the latch being for the seat belts. It gets pushed sideways everytime the door closes. Probably just releases the seat belt lock.

Found no rust anywhere except that one wheelwell (other is perfectly fine) and the one small spot on the front of the driver's side fender. Hoping that the paint can get matched relatively close once that is repaired.

Really wound this baby out this afternoon... it sure can move... but afterwards I got that smell of burning oil. I got some repairs to do on this motor without a doubt, so I think its probably smart to start purchasing all the parts I will need before I start replacing them (do it all in one shot). I am definitely doing a turbo timer, and will probably mod that downpipe (still dont totally understand what's what under the hood, but I'll get it all down pat soon... ). Now I sit and ponder... did they just throw a 5th gear in this puppy just for those that want to attempt 200 MPH? lol. Im having trouble keeping it at 100kph (60 MPH) in 5th...

[Scionguy]

haha very nice. after i get my 89 n/a all restored im selling it and buying a turbo model instead lol. if you wd-40 those rust spots, make sure to tell the painter, or he'll hate you for it, i work at a piant shop, wd-40,wax,oil is not our friend lol. the more you spool that turbo, the warmer its guna be, so that lil bit of oil on things is just burning off, you prob stop smelling it soon or if their are leaks keep an eye on your oil level then, dont wana burn that turbo up lol. i hear that replacing that downpipe makes you spool quit a bit quicker and pull alot harder, if you do the downipe youll probably want a boost controller to prevent spike too, im sure someone will back this up or correct me lol.