"The Bolo" B18 '93 Import TT

I thought I might as well post something up as I've been updating this on the ZSOC forum since buying the supra. It's kind of hashed together from some of posts on there.

The Bolo is the name given to it by a spotter mate of mine, who upon seeing the B18 in the reg identified it as the model name of an old bomber plane, and it kind of stuck?

Progress is a lot slower on this as I'd like, but as is the problem with working away from home, I only get to work on her a month or so a year. So here goes.

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always thought highly of the Supra. I can't put my finger on why. I think they just look gorgeous. I was never interested in the motor, or the scene behind them, I just thought that the outline was just breathtaking. Since I was 16, I've just endlessly researched and drooled since then.

So at age 23, after a long boring weekend in camp earlier this year, I went to test drive a local one as something to do.

After viewing it and taking out a test drive, I was suitably happy that everything mechanically was sorted.

The exterior was in a poor state, with cracks on the fibreglass bumper, rust and paint flaking off, which is probably one of the reasons that led me to buying this.

I spent the next week hooing and humming at the thought of buying my own supra, and eventually decided I couldn't let her sit and just get worse.

It's a '93 TT Auto, Was imported into the country in 2007.

So, onto the photos!

Took delivery on the following Tuesday night. Wednesday morning she wouldn't turn over. Battery had drained.

It came with the most hideous alloys and cheap wheel nuts, But they'll be replaced in due time.

Some of the rust coming through on the tailgate

nasty paint flaking on the bonnet

Front bumper fitment issues, and a slightly foggy headlight.

The first task was trying to clean up those foggy headlights.

Here's the N/S headlight once I'd removed it from the car. In a right sorry state.

Splitting was a pain, as it was the first time I've tried it. But it came apart eventually.

As you can see, it's horribly yellow and foggy.

I picked up some megs headlight restoration plus. This stuff cleaned up the plastic lense really well, comes with some really fine sanding pads that cleaned up the outside lovely.

That's after one go over.

Here's a comparison of the O/S and N/S lights, now that the N/S had the once over.

While she was sat on camp, I ordered up an intercooler from Nengun and sat waiting patiently for it to arrive. The old intercooler was pretty beat up, and with that DL Copy bumper I wanted an intercooler to fill the gap.

Once it arrived I waited till the weekend and had it on in a couple of hours.

While I was away enjoying 6 months of sun, sand and explosions this summer I got the car up to the house, and into the garage. Space was made, grudgingly as it's a "German only" garage. My guess is they're just scared of some jap power.

I'd ordered up some bits for me arriving back, including BPU kit from Paul at Whifbitz and set about installing stuff slowly over my leave. I also ordered up a cheap and nasty ebay strut brace, which I have no shame in! We tinkered with it a bit though...

Old filter was a right state!

Lovely shiney 3 inch decat pipes. mmmmmm.

While the car was in the air I got all four wheels on. I'd swapped a set of mondeo calipers, pads and discs for some Team Impul Racing Aura SR-08s. I just had to get rid of those wheels.

Give me an impression of what she'll look like with them on.

I reckon I need to space the rears out a bit, But I'm happy with the way things are now.

When it came time to change the plugs, the coil pack connectors disintegrated. And the cam cover seals were leaking, so I decided to fire the covers off and replace the plugs.

So first things first, with some help from Al in return for help on his GTR, we got the bonnet off to give us room to move.

So much room for activities now!

We removed the air box and piping to give us room for the boost controller install, and then had a lot of fiddling to do.

The rear four cam cover bolts were quite a pain to get to, so we cracked out the repair manual to see what it said.

It was about as clear as a muddy puddle unfortuantly, so after some sausage rolls and head scratching we figured out what needed moving. This was so painful that I forgot to take a photo, but it took us around 20 minutes as it's all stuck on solid from years of running.

Eventually the exhaust cam cover came free and we were greeted with a nice camshaft as a reward.

The next one came off with ease once the first was off.

And the old seals. One looks a lot newer than the other, but no worries. Replacement seals, washers and coil pack clips cost me 50 quid from Toyota, Due to arrive on Saturday. It was nice to know I could walk in and still order most parts if need be. And for cheap too!

- - - Updated - - -

Next, we started to fit the boost controller. There was no real mounting point available for it, and we didn't want to have it just lying about in the engine bay, cable tied to something. Until Al noticed a possible mounting point between the brake master cylinder and strut tower. I believe it's for a fuse box if the car is for the USDM market, as that's what most USDM pictures show.

Personally I think it looks like it was meant to be there.

Once it was mounted up, we routed the no 3 and no 2 hoses to the no 1 wastegate actuator, and no 2 hose to the turbo compressor pressure outlet. Was a tad tricky as they're tucked in the engine bay, but they went on. After that it was just a job of blocking off the old VSV valve with some 6mm caps. Voila!

The no 1 input on the boost controller was to be mounted to a boost source post throttle body, so we used a T piece to connect it to one of the boost hoses on the throttle body. Then ran that pipe along the firewall and to the controller. Another T piece was used to join up the boost gauge sensor, and then the electronics were wired through the firewall and a grommet was put in to seal them up.

I'm still trying to sort the back box angle out on the exhaust. A degree out and it's either touching the bumper and asking to melt it, or hanging so low I'll rip it off I'm sure. So it's just a case of me getting that right angle, and then the V-Band can be welded solid, welds tidied up and It's on the car.

It won't be to most folks taste, but it's 3 inch decat with a 4 inch to back box. It sounds meaty, and when I go single turbo upgrade in the future, I just need to sort a nice 4 inch down pipe and replace the second decat with 4 inch to have a full 4 inch system.

Oh, I also refurbed the inserts of the headlights the other day too.

I've spent more hours than I can count on them trying to polish them up as best I can, But i've given up knowing I won't get a perfect finish.

Much better than the old yellowing lenses that came on the car!

After that I was back to work, and won't be back till Christmas for a fortnight. Waiting for me at home I've a half carbon TRD replica spoiler and some other bits to tinker with.

Looking good that mate, Where abouts are ya? Im in Hohne building the Fortune.

Nice project, following with interest

Couldn't find your thread on zsoc car looks nice though mate!

Couldn't find your thread on zsoc car looks nice though mate!

Scoots dirty dirty Auto. I got some amount of abuse from the scottish lads when I bought the Supra.

They've all went quiet now.

Quick update to the thread while the paint dries

Got a set of bilsteins with springs delivered, after a complete mess about with the courier. They'll do me nicely as mine don't look as healthy from first glance.

Also picked up the TRD half carbon that I got delivered to my mates. Given the sides a spray with primer and keyed the surface ready for some paint. Will be getting a full car respray at some point so going to give them a few coats from a can and some TLC till they're nice and smooth then fit either later today or Tomorrow.

Feels good to be back working on the car!

Where did you get the caps? I've been looking, but they seem extortionately expensive for what they are on eBay.

Liking the progress so far! Keep it up :-)

Alright, so a cheeky Christmas Eve update for all.

I got round to painting and fitting the replica TRD spoiler I picked up a month ago. The guy I bought it off sold me it at a decent price, had a few dings and such but he was certain it wasn't a cheap copy. Turns out it was...

Anyway, I painted it from spray cans, which should have me taken outside and shot. But I'm pleased with the results, Got a great colour match and put plenty of prep work in to get a decent finish.

When we fitted it today, we found the mounting points on the sides were in the wrong place, so it's an inch or so too far back on the boot. And I'm not too sure of the fit of the carbon. It looks like it sits too low, Anyone got any close up shots to compare to?

This photo shows what I'm talking about. See how much flat surface there is on the inside? Not sure if that's correct.

Anyway, That's all for today. Waiting on a bit of better weather to get the car out the garage and bolt the bilsteins on. Still trying to decide wether to run harnesses with stock seats or the bucket seats I picked up a while back.

Cheers for reading, and Merry Christmas to all!

Scoot

Can someone help my car wont rev over 3000 rpm its 95 2jz twin turbo also noticed 2 small hoses disconected from passenger side close to oil stick hard place to put yr hand in what do i need to do pls anyone

Can someone help my car wont rev over 3000 rpm its 95 2jz twin turbo also noticed 2 small hoses disconected from passenger side close to oil stick hard place to put yr hand in what do i need to do pls anyone

Try technical mate. Post up with some photos if you can get any.

Update to the car.

I'm now over working in Northern Ireland, and the car is still in the garage in Glasgow so progress isn't going anywhere fast. I did take this time off from major work to do some minor details that I think will freshen up the car though.

I've started work on the LED conversion on the dash with white LEDS. Following the guide heckler put up on his site I've started on the hardest part.

So far, I'm getting there. I've left the red LEDs at home so I've ordered some more for the rear windscreen button and the 30 Temp side of things. Tested it all with a 12v source and it's working so once the red LEDs are in it'll be sorted.

I've also ordered replacement buttons from Amayama for £40 all in. Better than the £100 Toyota want. Fingers crossed they get here soon.

I think I've sorted the issue with the Apexi boost gauge I had. I've always really liked the style and I got one only to find out it wasn't registering boost. I tried a different sensor that I know is working and still nothing.

Split the gauge down and cleaned up all the old soldering seems to have done something, as it now lights up and the needle is moving so fingers crossed this works.

I'll be taking a fortnight in May off from work, where I hope to fit the bilsteins and seats, sort the brakes and then she'll be on the road.

I found a photo on the internet that pretty much sums up what the car will look like when done, minus the wheels.

Apologies as I don't know who's supra it is.

DamanC's Supra (not sure if he still owns it)

Love this car

DamanC's Supra (not sure if he still owns it)

 

 

Love this car

It's gorgeous. I'm still torn between kits. I've been tempted by a stock front with lip for a while. The DL came with the car though.

It's been a good few months since I've updated any of this. Work's been manic and whenever I've had time at home I've done little bits and not much else.

Hoping to get the car over here at some point to actually get some time to work on bits.

Anyway, I finished up the exhaust system. I think my SSQV is leaking boost though, so that'll be going in the bin If I can't fix it.

The interior was stripped out in preperation for the black carpet and headliner. While I was in there I mounted a Chris Wilson FCD. Top piece of kit and very well made. Happy with the results.

The rear seats came out too as I'll never use them. Trying to work out a solution for a rear seat delete. I'm not a big fan of ICE but I thought of making a sub box over the top, Or just covering the floor with carpet between the boot and main carpet and sticking it down. Managed to get a set of Facelift rears from Mobeen on the facebook group. I know he's not popular on here but I've had a few transactions with him previously, Both selling and buying. Great service and a brilliant price too.

I thought I'd give carbon wrapping the dash a go, as the bright red paint work wasn't up to scratch. I'm quite happy with the end result, although there's some fiddly bits that'll have to be going over again soon. I've spoke to Noz about some heater ring surrounds that I'm going to paint in gloss black to finish the panels off. The heater controls have had the LED mod done to them, In the end I went for white with red and blue the AC and windscreen heater respectively. The new buttons arrived and they're much better than old yellowing ones. The rest of the dash has also been done in White, and I've installed a heckler red line tacho.

I also picked up a set of LS400 front brakes which I'm going to fit at some point. Slowly cleaning them up as they've miles upon miles of brake dust on them.

The Front bumper had a lot of wear and tear. Plenty of cracks in the fibreglass and was generally in a poor condition. So I started by sanding back the damaged areas and reinforcing with small strips of fibreglass and finishing with filler. Then we sanded the whole thing back ready for paint. Whilst I had the bumper off I test fitted the facelift indicators. I need to get a hold of two looms for them and splice them in, and ideally split them to remove the orange cap. The rest of the body work wasn't great either so a few spots were sanded down and filled in preparation for a bit of a tidy up.

That's progress so far. I'm back at work now so the next lot of updates will probably be over christmas. The rad has sprung a leak so I'm sourcing a new one and some autobox coolers. The battery and fuse box will be relocated to the boot to tidy up the engine bay and I'm debating a loom tuck too.

So last night after updating the thread I was chatting with a mate. We were discussing interiors and how he wants his to be done on his ST205 Celica. We got onto the supra and how I wasn't sure of how the interior should be, and he started pinging ideas off me. So I've settled with this look for now. Topgaiters on eBay do plenty of covers for the interior so I've bought the centre lid piece off them to give it a looksie. If all goes well I'm looking at a full dash kit off them with orange stitching, like this.

Teaming it with a set of Corbeau RS1 seats, also trimmed in orange.

The only dramas I'm having is with the seats. Corbeau don't seem to supply a frame for the seats to bolt into the Supra. Cobra do however. Has anyone had any experience with bolting up a Corbeau seat to a Cobra frame?

Cheers

Scoot.