My Supra story – the highs and lows of the past 18 months

Get yourselves a cuppa, this may take a while.

Around October 07 I had been toying with the idea of selling my N/A and buying a TT. At the time there were also a few people doing the whole N/A – TT conversion and thought this might be more up my street as I had spent a bit of money getting the car looking how I wanted and didn’t fancy starting that whole process again if I sold up. The other reason I considered the TT conversion was due to having the V161 gearbox already as my N/A was a 6 speed

What really clinched it for me was when Wayne (supradibbs) phoned me up and told me about a local TT6 Supra that had been written off and the guy was looking to get rid asap rather than stripping and selling off individual parts. So myself, Wayne and Jon (gzaerojon) acquired the car for all our benefits. I got the engine and associated conversion parts, Jon got the 6 speed gearbox and conversion parts and Wayne got the rest to sell etc. Everyone’s a winner

I had taken a bit of a gamble with the engine as the car had limited history with it and didn’t hear the engine running as there was a whole drilled into the fuel tank after the accident. As the money I had put in was only £1k I was unperturbed by this as the ODO read approx 65,000 miles and I was willing to take the risk and buy blind.

From mid November 07 through to mid Feb 08 the donor car and engine sat in a garage while I saved up the cash to get the conversion done and buy all the parts that had been destroyed in the accident, mainly a new radiator, FMIC, fan shroud and viscous fan. I also took this time to buy all the parts to go BPU and speak to Matt at AFR to see if he would be happy to take on the conversion as one of his first projects as a new business. It didn’t take much convincing and the car was booked in for mid Feb.

Matt and the guys did a really good job and I picked the car up a week later. All fluids had been changed and full service carried out on the donor engine, as far as Matt could tell all appeared to be well considering the amount of time the engine had been sat gathering dust - August 07 to Feb 08. We agreed the sensible thing to do would be to keep the boost level stockish at 0.9bar for a while to see if there were any issues with the engine and to let it run in. (Turns out the car was cutting at 0.9 anyway due to a dodgy HKS FCD)

Fast forward to May 08 and the car went back in, after covering 500 odd miles, to have a few other bits installed and to turn the power up to 1.2bar It wouldn’t boost above 1.1 despite having a 1bar restrictor ring and the boost controller set to 1bar low and 1.2 high, we didn’t think anything of this as the weather had been pretty warm. Now at this point I’m laughing, the gamble I had taken on the donor engine had paid off and all was well in N/A – TT land. Or so I had thought……

Between getting the car back from AFR and Japfest, I had an intermittent problem develop with the gearbox. At first the car would jump out of 1st gear every now and then when pulling off and then the rest of the gears were fine. Over the course of a month this just got worse and worse and soon I couldn’t even use 1st gear without it jumping out of gear.

So come the beginning of July the car went back in to AFR and Matt thought best to change the clutch etc. first and see if that makes a difference before assuming the gearbox had packed up. Now from what I remember Matt had informed me that there was some damage to the flywheel and the clutch had seen better days, so on went a new clutch and flywheel, clutch pressure cover, clutch friction plate and clutch release bearing. At this time the gearbox oil was also changed. Upon delivery the car was fine, and the 1st gear gearbox gremlins had gone, I was a happy Supra owner again, or so I had thought……

As mid July rolled by 1st gear started playing up again, various discussions with Matt about what could be causing it, and by the time August was upon us we had our answer. It had gotten worse and worse and soon I couldn’t even use 1st gear without it jumping out of gear, then I couldn’t change down from 3rd to 2nd without it sounding like I was grinding the gears. The only time I could change down from 3rd to 2nd was if I was travelling below 10 miles an hour. So this had now pretty much confirmed what I was dreading, a gearbox rebuild

So off she went back to AFR for the gearbox rebuild and an MOT.

I should point out that my gearbox issues were nothing to do with the work that Matt and AFR did, for the last year or so it had felt as if there was something not quite right and I guess with the extra power running through it it just made things worse.

Now this ladies and gentlemen is where I begin to wonder if it was all worth while and if in a previous life I was a VERY bad man to deserve such bad luck

Most of the parts arrived a few weeks after the order was made, except the most important part… 2nd gear. I was in no rush at this point as it gave me a chance to save more money while the car was off the road.

A few more weeks go by and we’re now into September, still no 2nd gear……

Work has now started to get busy for me again and the long hours start, before I even know it we’re at the end of September, beginning of October, and Matt informs me that all the other bits and pieces from the order have arrived, but still no 2nd gear. The explanation from Mr T is that there has been some confusion with the order and 2nd gear has been lost in the order system. Matt offers to return all the parts that have been sent to him so far and start the order process again to try and speed things up. This isn’t acceptable and they inform Matt that they will look into it and get the part out to him as soon as possible.

To cheer myself up a little bit I decided that the engine was looking a little sorry for itself, although I had tried cleaning it up with engine cleaner the grime was pretty much set in, and seeing as the car was just sitting in the corner of the workshop I might as well have something done to it So I bought some polished bits from a member and asked Matt to get the cam covers, manifold and throttle body done for me and spray the spark plug cover.

This now takes us to November, the polished parts are almost done and Matt decides that seeing as the turbo pipes have been removed in preparation for the polished ones to go on, he will inspect the condition of the turbo’s. What he found was not good news. Both turbo’s had seen better days, I mean pretty much every blade had a chip on it and there was serious play. What to do now?

Oh, and still no 2nd gear……

I investigated how much a set of new stock tubbies would cost, and when I got the PM back from Nic I nearly spat my tea out onto the laptop! How much? Each! Now I have to admit that at this point the thought of going single did seriously cross my mind, I mean if you’re going to shell out that much money for a set of stockers why not just throw a few more hundred of your hard earned at it and get a PHR Street kit. But then the realisation sets in that it’s all the other supporting mods you need to get it running right that pushes the price up, and seeing as I’m the kind of person that believes that if you’re going to do something do it properly, I decided to walk away from this idea. After all, I still had no idea how much the gearbox was going to cost me.

It turns out this was the best decision I had made financially.

Matt had also been looking around for turbo options for me and mentioned that he had been in contact with Owen Developments about hybrid turbos and that he had sent a set off to them to see what they could do. This worked out a better option for me as I was quite happy to potentially run around 400BHP. The Supra is my daily runner and I work within 10 – 20 mins of home, never going above 30 mph if I’m lucky.

Another month goes by and we’re now into December, and yep you’ve guessed it…… 2nd gear has ARRIVED!

AFR now set to work on putting the gearbox back together, but there is one final twist to the saga, the 2nd gear despatched is for the V160… I have a V161… this will not do. Mr T UK does not have any in stock and this has to be ordered from Japan, places are starting to wind up for the Christmas and New Year period. To be fair the wait was only a few weeks and Matt had the correct part and the rebuild was back on. This brings us swiftly onto the start of January 09.

Finally there is light at the end of this long dark tunnel.

Mid January and I’ve gone snowboarding with Ian W, Juanchan and Max, feeling on top of the world knowing that there is progress being made on the car. This is made even better when I get a phone call toward the end of the holiday from Matt saying that the car should be ready for collection in a few days. The smile on my face is large, everything is right with the world once more, the Supra is coming home!

The next few days are endless and I arrange with Matt that once the MOT has been done my dad will pop up and collect the MOT certificate so I can get the car taxed and drive away legally on the Saturday. What happens next, on Wednesday 28th January, will stay with me for a little while yet.

08:50am

Me: “Hi Matt, it’s Jeff. What time is the car going in for the MOT today?”

Matt: “Hello matey, the technician is just taking it down now”

Me: “Brilliant, can you give me a call when it’s back and my dad will head up to get the certificate”

Matt: “Will do, should be around 10:30”

Me: “Cool, thanks mate, I’ll let my dad know. Speak to you later”

I’m feeling good now. The first 20 minutes of my working day had been pretty rubbish, the EDF takeover I was responsible for had thrown me a few curve balls, but it didn’t matter, another step closer to getting the Supra back had been achieved.

09:00am

Matt: “Hello matey, only me. Have you ever had an issue with the oil pressure light coming on?”

Me: “Nope, just the usual when I put the key in the ignition and the warning lights come on and then disappear after a second or two”

Matt: “Very strange, the MOT centre have turned the car back around as they will not carry out an inspection with any oil warning lights on.”

Me: “Oh right, what could be causing that if I haven’t seen any warning lights before?”

Matt: “Leave it with me, we’ll investigate and I’ll get back to you”

Me: “No worries”

Now normally I try and stay very positive about things that are going on in my life, even if I can see a storm brewing I try and look on the bright side. If I think bad things are going to happen then I’ll just be encouraging them to actually happen.

But right after that conversation I just knew staying positive wasn’t going to cut it. I had a bad feeling about this one. Come the end of the day the verdict was out.

There was an oil starvation issue which had only now reared its ugly head. AFR continued on the Thursday to diagnose the extent of the damage to the block. This would also more than likely explain why the damage to the stock turbos was so bad and possibly why the car wouldn’t boost above 1.1bar.

Remember I said I thought my gamble had paid off? Guess again, it had now bitten me hard.

I took the next few days to think about the cards I had been dealt. I had paid out all that money on the conversion – engine, BPU parts, labour etc. Let’s not forget that I had the gearbox rebuild and hybrids to pay for now. The savings account would be low after that expense and I was two months away from paying off the loan I took out to get the car back in 2005. Everything I did to the car came from hard work and savings and it was so close to all coming together.

What had I done to deserve this?

These are the options I thought I had:

1. Pay Matt for the work they had done so far, sell the car as it was as a project shell with only an engine required and call it a day? I probably wouldn’t have seen very much cash from the sale.

2. Put an N/A engine back in, sell the various BPU bits I had bought and keep it as a non-turbo?

3. Source another second hand TT engine and hope the same thing doesn’t happen again?

4. Let Matt and the guys finish stripping the block to see exactly how much damage had been caused, and if it was salvageable rebuild it? This could have been a major expense.

In the end I decided to keep the car and two weeks later I paid a visit to Matt to talk things through and decided my best option would be to buy a brand new short block and have the head refurbed.

So with the new short block delivered and work in progress we fast forward to the beginning of March and I receive a PM from Matt. More bad news - Come on, you didn’t actually think my luck was changing did you

Due to the low oil pressure causing the bottom end failure, this had also affected the head. As their was a lack of oil at the camshafts, the cams themselves were scoured on the bearings and journals, meaning the head and cams were no good.

Now as Toyota do not sell complete brand new heads anymore, you would pay a fortune buying all the individual parts brand new. I put up a wanted post and also started searching the internet for any options. For a week nothing was available, and then I got a PM out of the blue from TRD Dan saying he had a complete, virtually brand new UK head for sale and would I be interest? You damn right I would be! So off I go to have a look and 20 minutes later the cash is handed over and I’m on my way home with a new head – I need to say thanks to Jon for coming with me to look at the condition of the head and Dan for being genuine and fair. We noticed there were a few marks that he hadn’t seen and he was willing to knock a bit of money off the price.

So with that little hiccup overcome the new parts are delivered to AFR so work can continue. This brings us neatly to the middle of March, and lets be honest, what else could I possible have to replace? I’ve now got a brand new short block, almost brand new complete head, whole new engine gasket set, new hybrid turbos and a rebuilt gearbox.

We roll into April, it’s the week leading up to AFR’s open day and Matt very much wants the car completed in time for the event. But alas she still has another gremlin that both Matt and John (Dude) did not expect… Friday afternoon and the alarm is now playing up. I suspect that where it has been disconnected from main battery power for so long, the backup battery has more than likely died.

We step out of April and into May, and a few more issues turn up. Coil pack clips, an odd oil leak and a car that just refuses to pass MOT! I believe in the last 2 weeks it has been to 4 MOT’s and failed on emissions despite having both cats in and a new O2 sensor.

Finally on Thursday this week it passed MOT! Dude spent yesterday giving it a really good clean and I think by the end of the day wished he hadn’t started

On the drive up to AFR this morning I still didn’t know whether or not to be excited. Every time Matt and I had a discussion about picking the car up something had gone wrong the day before, was this going to be the same?

Not this time! Dude took me through some of the niggles they had been having and explained what I needed to do to run the car in over the next 500 miles. I thought the first thing he would have done is strangled me for having a car that just refused to play along

The first part of the drive home was a little cautious but soon settled in and slowly the realisation was setting in… I was actually taking my car home!

At this point I need to thank Matt for the continuous updates, knowing all the issues I’ve gone through and still having to tell me more bad news can’t have been easy.

I also need to say thank you to Dude for all the work he has done and getting the car back on the road.

Thank you to both of you for putting up with a car that just fought you the whole way

Matt is a top bloke.

I hope you get to enjoy your car fully soon. Its a good feeling having it back. Even when i got my old NA back from the bodyshop

Top stuff Jeff, glad you've finnally got to take it home! It's been at AFR ever since I bought mine and that was 10 months ago! At least you've got it for the summer

Top work Matt and John for getting it sorted, can't have been easy but persistance has paid off! Bet you're both glad to have the ramp back!

Matt is a top bloke.

I hope you get to enjoy your car fully soon. Its a good feeling having it back. Even when i got my old NA back from the bodyshop

Top stuff Jeff, glad you've finnally got to take it home! It's been at AFR ever since I bought mine and that was 10 months ago! At least you've got it for the summer

Really am looking forward to getting passed the running in miles and enjoying it for the summer

Thats great news and top job by AFR

Cant wait for us to be able to enjoy both our cars bud wont be long now, you getting the skirts fitted soon?

Oh and get some pics up

Wow Jeff..... what a story!!!

And if anyone is contemplating an engine transplant with an unknown engine then I have oil analysis kits that will tell you if the engine is ok or not Good insurance for a tenner

Was thinking of trading my n/a for tt till i read this,what a horror story,:(glad you got through it bud nobody deserves bad luck like that,enjoy your car

It's been ..... emotional to say the least !

Those that know Jeff will confirm he is one of the nicest lads you'll meet, and we've tried to do our best for him. But if he didn't have bad luck he'd have none at all !!!

One thing I have learnt though is if your J-Spec turbos are knackered, don't presume it's due to age, check the oil pressure. The stock pressure warning light must come on at a very low level. And if you are thinking of what gauges to put in the car, Oil Pressure should be right up on the list !!!

Anyway, the car looked lovely this morning and save for the 1st oil change and social events, I hope not to see Jeff for a while

Oh, and White is definitely the new black

Thats great news and top job by AFR

 

 

Cant wait for us to be able to enjoy both our cars bud wont be long now, you getting the skirts fitted soon?

Thanks bud, you got an ETA on yours yet?

Skirts are definately toward the top of the list along with some new brakes, but I gotta start saving again to get it done.

I'll get some new pics up when the weather sorts itself out.

Wow Jeff..... what a story!!!

 

And if anyone is contemplating an engine transplant with an unknown engine then I have oil analysis kits that will tell you if the engine is ok or not Good insurance for a tenner

You know what Steve, I'm kicking myself for not sending off that kit you gave me

Even if it was diagnosed earlier I still wouldn't have been able to afford to get it sorted until around now.

It's been ..... emotional to say the least !

 

Those that know Jeff will confirm he is one of the nicest lads you'll meet, and we've tried to do our best for him. But if he didn't have bad luck he'd have none at all !!!

 

One thing I have learnt though is if your J-Spec turbos are knackered, don't presume it's due to age, check the oil pressure. The stock pressure warning light must come on at a very low level. And if you are thinking of what gauges to put in the car, Oil Pressure should be right up on the list !!!

 

Anyway, the car looked lovely this morning and save for the 1st oil change and social events, I hope not to see Jeff for a while

 

Oh, and White is definitely the new black

Thanks Matt Managed to cover off almost 100 miles today, have no idea how.

I'll see you guys in a few weeks.

Was thinking of trading my n/a for tt till i read this,what a horror story,:(glad you got through it bud nobody deserves bad luck like that,enjoy your car

Thanks dude Don't be put off by my story, there are many happy TT owners out there.

Wow! Just read this thread Jeff!

I remember you receiving that phone call from Matt in January saying she was ready to be collected. I had no idea you'd had so many troubles before and after that! Really glad to hear that she's back on the road; not so glad to hear you've now got more power than me