Re: the Headgasket blowing.. I thought that was only with stock headgaskets torqued to factory spec (which is far too low). On a well maintained properly torqued OEM headgasket, it should last unless you bag it a lot. Is that correct?

The Metal head gasket, from what I understood is only necessary if your going to jump above 350 HP and only truly needed on the turbos with a turbo upgrade. I may be wrong, but that is what I gathered from reading.

shoot 350? I would of guessed more like 450 500 hp for a metal hg.. just a guess tho.

where can i find blue headlights for mk3?
same with exhaust
unless i can put any exhaust on?
idk haha let me know!

Your headgasket will blow
 

You guys always say BHG it's inevitable. I figure most of these cars have already had a head gasket replaced after 20 some odd years, so they can't all be ready to blow right? Toyota should have recalled them. Is it all years? You would think by 89 they would have known their mistake and corrected it on the assembly line.

From my research, there are 2 possible problems with the headgasket. The first was.. originally it was shy over 20 lbs of torque. After that, it was that the headbolts had a tendancy to stretch slightly (dont quote me on that.. its just whats I read.. never confirmed it).

The 7mGTE (not sure if the GE would suffer as badly) runs very hot compared to my other vehicles.. and thats another "bad" thing. However... I dont think a blown headgasket is inevitable.. Its just common. Once its been blown, if its done correctly, I think they are fine afterwards. Metal headgaskets are overkill for a stock engine.

Thats my understanding, but I am not a mechanic or an expert on it.

Bad Head gasket = more likely then on another vehicle.

Start with ebay. Find something your interested in.. come back.. ask questions.
Rinse.. repeat.. thats how I discovered most of everything I know about the MKIII so far. The people here are excellent resources to help push along your Supra edumacation.. just dont take everything you hear as gospel truth. Some people (like me occasionally) may have a false understanding.

Also.. search the forums. Most of the information you want is old information, but still relevant.. just buried.

I think that since the BHG happens at different times on different Supras, there probably weren't enough soon enough to issue a recall. Figure everyone drives around 10,000 miles a year, a 86.5 would only have about 60,000 miles on it when the MKIII was discontinued, and since most head gaskets blow later than that, I doubt there were many of them they dealt with.

But I do agree with you, batmmannn, they either get replaced already or they don't blow as easily as we all think. I've owned 3 supras (all of them with at least 150,000 miles on them, and one of them a turbo) and none of them showed signs of a BHG. I have a 89 Cressida (another 7MGE Toyota) with over 250,000 miles, engine runs excellent. And I have 2 friends, both with 2 Supras each (one has a turbo, the other 3 are N/A's) all around the 200,000 mile mark, the only one with a BHG is the Turbo model.

So, cliffnotes: Probably not enough BHG during production, so no recall. Boost+low gasket torque=BHG, N/A's probably not so much.

oops, looks like I was typing when Grandavi posted. Some of that now sounds repetetive lol

ive only owned one mk3 and guess what, you got it i blew the hg on my na with nohtin but headers...

thanks to color dyes i found it easily right away!