Restore & Restart - Steps & Specialists?

Hi Guys,

I popped down to see my Supe yesterday and on the surface she has held up well after 4-ish years of inactivity (UK / Auto / Stock). She has been covered, body work & door seals etc are in essentially the same condition, leather and interior all fine after a clean & polish. Engine is going to need some TLC but on the whole I'm reasonably pleased with how she looks.

I originally stopped using her as a daily car when the power steering pipes corroded and due to the nature of the work in accessing and replacing them (big job) I thought it would just dig up more problems and I didn't have funds slopping about. We also had real twins replacing the twin turbos so priorities were shifting.

Anyway, I want to get her back on the road now and would like to ask for a few tips.

I'm not a mechanic so by the power of the internet, I think the first thing to do is replace the oil and petrol then try and start her. After that I thought I would focus on reaching MOT standard and then taking it from there... on body work, alloys etc.

I also want to get her looked over by a decent specialist so, given that I would not trust my car mechanic skills on the Supe should I get the local guys (who have previously restored a Supra) to do the first step or would you just get her transported straight to a specialist?

Next question is about which specialists you would recommend?

The car is currently in Dorset and I live in Sussex so somewhere around those locations would be best but for the right care at the right quality / price trade-off I'd be willing to travel but preferably not too far because it would be best if whoever did the work was the person that would look after her on an on-going basis.

Any ideas? (on specialists and / or steps)

Thanks,

Ade

Is the power steering leaking from the solid metal pipes at the front, in front of the radiator?

Anyway, I'd be tempted to remove an efi fuse and then turn her over until the red oil pressure light went out, then pop the fuse back in and give her a go.

SRD is a well respected forum trader in Sussex so they may be a good first point of contact. They do a lot of tuned cars but will I'm sure assist you with yours and give you an indication of where/what needs attention the most. Once up together for general servicing you could always use someone more local.

whip some pictures up of the car please dont worry about it being rough etc

Yeah throw some pictures up bud, sounds like an interesting project

Hi - not too sure where the fluid was leaking from but I was told by the garage that the pipes had corroded so I presume that they were metal.

Here's a pic of the sad engine bay recently, I don't have many recent pics.

I found Austec on the web too in the area, any feedback on them?

I'll take a look for SRD.

... will reprocess a couple of shots to 200k a bit later of her in happier times.

and here are some from a little while back. Body and interior is pretty much as-is, wing mirrors have started to discolour but not sure if that is just a cleaning thing with them standing for so long.

I would want to respray anyway to colour match the panels, the red does tend to become mismatched over time particularly when you have repairs done.

Thanks for the SRD recommendation. They look good, local too. I'll give them a ring.

OMG, that engine bay pic

I found Austec on the web too in the area, any feedback on them?

Avoid! http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?333074-Stock-head-with-HKS-cams-for-sale-(scored)

Read from here onwards - http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?318887-6Speed-Aerotop-Single-Turbo-Project-Aurora-(PICS!)/page8

OMG, that engine bay pic

trebor69 - tell me about it.

Avoid! http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthr...-sale-(scored)

 

Read from here onwards - http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthr...-(PICS!)/page8

Whoa! - Thanks Frank. Lucky escape.

Srd

Thanks - yeah, Lee looks like "The man". I'll give him a bell.

That needs somebody to spend loads of time cleaning and changing/painting bits up.

If that's how bad the topside is I would hazard a guess the underside will be a mess have a look and report back.

Or bring it to me Il clean it up for you

Yup - reckon some proper love is needed....

I'll look at getting some rough estimates back, if it's too much then some serious thinking will be needed.

Fingers crossed!!

Get it jacked up and get a good look underneath to give you an idea of the condition.

If you weren't at the other end of the country I would have cleaned it up for you over a couple of weekends for fun and checked it over..

Maybe one of you southern lot can help him out??

Haha. Thanks Matt - It is a little far from Durham to Dorset isn't it!

So you think give it a look over and a clean up before giving SRD a shout? As I said I do know a couple of guys locally who would at least respect it and do have some Supe experience, they actually want to buy it.

If I were you the first thing I would do is get it up on a proper ramp and generally inspect the state of it.

My reasoning for this being you mention a power steering leak that you were told was corroded steering lines now it's pretty easy to swap them out but I would assume if they are that bad the brake lines etc etc probably need attention plus the front cross member where the radiator sits are notorious for rotting out on unprotected cars.

The engine/gearbox side of things should be relatively straight forward TBH I would be checking the plug wells for oil from cam covers and pulling the efi fuses then cold cranking to circulate the oil prior to startup.

They clean up easily it just takes time and patience.

Old timer, I think what Matt is saying and I agree, is that if you have a good look and maybe post some pictures you might get more of an idea of the issues/non issues. Part of this depends on how involved you want you get, right now I'm getting a vibe your about a 20:80 ratio re hands on diy vs handing it over to someone? Whereas Matt and I are nearer 95:5!

Whilst the engine bay is untouched/unclean an engine knows not what it looks like and may be in fine shape, the aluminium parts are just oxidised and clips and brackets rusted it's a lot of work to tidy up but as it is it isn't harming anything.

I'd try and get it up in the air a bit and get some snaps. Is the rear fuel tank cover (just stand behind the car and below the bumper is the cover) rusted badly? The brake lines can be seen up and behind that cover. With it in neutral and the handbrake off can you roll it back and forth? If so the brakes aren't badly seized.

I had a uk spec car many years ago that had a pin hole leak in the power steering pipes, it is the low pressure side of the system so as a stop gap you could replace with a rubber hose plus clips.

I'm not saying don't do things properly in the long run I'm just trying to give you ideas to get it up together and road worthy, then you can move onto the, proper fix items, cosmetics etc. Don't give up without a fight!

Thanks guys. That's great. I'll do that.

You're right re: my reluctance to tinker... My car mechanic skills are not at Supra restoration level. The bits you suggest to get started though are things even I could cope with so thanks.

I read that the best thing to do to check that the engine can turn over is to remove the plugs and drain the oil (then refill), is this something that can be done easily i.e. with just a jack for access on a Supe?

Also, is draining the fuel easy too?

If you know of any good youtube channels / vids to show me the way that would be handy too.

Have you parked it on grass over the years ? looks like a lot of moisture has got to everything in there

As said before I would check to see what the rest of the car is like underneath, brake pipes, rust etc .. might need a few £££ to get it sorted.. If that was me I would be stripping most parts off the engine and given them a good scrub ... but I like shiny things lol

UK TT auto though ? .. its worth spending the money on it !

If you have an adjustable spanner (ideally a 22mm spanner but it's a bit of an odd size to just have lying about) you can reach down to the crank pulley (lowest pulley) and try and turn it by hand clockwise (will take a bit of a shove depending on the part of the stroke it's at) If it moves but hand then remove that efi fuse and try with the/a battery to get the oil circulated.

Draining the fuel could be done in a number of ways, but could also give you issues or be a little too involved for your comfort? A cheap ebay syphon might be the best bet?

Saying that I got the following statement from a car site that discusses older layups.

I have only "anecdata" to provide, but I have resurrected a few old cars that sat with old gas in the 5-10 year range and I've always been able to bring them back to life merely by diluting the old gas. They may not run that great at first as they burn off the old stuff, but you just keep topping it off with fresh gas and it'll eventually be golden. I will say that the symptoms you describe don't exactly sound like what old gas does in my experience. What I usually find happens is that the car will be very hard-starting and will tend to cut out a lot when you stomp on the gas.

How old is this old gas? If it's just a few years old, it shouldn't have caused any problems that won't work themselves out with fresh gas-- the real nasty varnish issues usually don't arise until the cars' been sitting for a decade at least.

so you could add some fresh and perhaps try and start it as is?

Hiya - Nope not stored on grass, stored on stone chip drive way... we have had some pretty wet winters though... and one cover died and had to be replaced.

It would be good to get it back to a better condition than when I was driving it daily i.e. nice and shiny... as we said, not confident or time rich enough doing it myself though so I'm guessing as you say it will be big $$$s to get it to that place.

Probably best make sure I can get it running first then think about the shiny-ness

 

As said before I would check to see what the rest of the car is like underneath, brake pipes, rust etc .. might need a few £££ to get it sorted.. If that was me I would be stripping most parts off the engine and given them a good scrub ... but I like shiny things lol

 

I can imagine, I'm pretty OCD free but even I'm wincing at the white powder build up on the ali turbo pipes, but to be fair it can wait til the basic solidity or not has been established.

Thanks Scooter - I understood some of that... I'll get googling the rest later!

Good to know I shouldn't have to drain all the fuel, there is about 1/2 a tank though so I might try to get some of it out so that there is less to dilute.

... I did have a quick look underneath BTW, Exhaust and surrounding area seemed okay from round the back but don't want to speak too soon.

Hiya - Nope not stored on grass, stored on stone chip drive way... we have had some pretty wet winters though... and one cover died and had to be replaced.

 

It would be good to get it back to a better condition than when I was driving it daily i.e. nice and shiny... as we said, not confident or time rich enough doing it myself though so I'm guessing as you say it will be big $$$s to get it to that place.

 

Probably best make sure I can get it running first then think about the shiny-ness

Don't panic yet, if it up and runs all ok (and tbh there is absolutely no reason why it won't after some minor fettling) then the things mentioned so far are pretty much par for the course for a UK spec car of that age. The brake and fuel line hard pipes and a general oil and filters service aren't going to be that bad initially and that might be all it needs to be operational. Have you looked closely at the tyres?

Thanks.

Good point, not checked them too closely, they aren't flat though but some have deflated more than others.

There is some rust on the discs and callipers not checked if they are seized.