herbiemercman

Hi Scooter, I said in a previous thread on this subject that i see the oil cooler as a "belt & brasses" item and i take your point re, why would you fit an oil temp gauge, there is a good logic there. He has offered to give me an oil cooler, but wants to sort the new gauge first, also some members say their oil goes dark after just a few hundred miles and they are just NA. My opinion of the look of my oil is qualatative. Hi downimpact, I agree with your point re brand stamping, the car industry do it all the time VW and SKODA, same kit one much cheaper, in engineering it is called FFP, fit for purpose, some members will only support branded stuff and that is up to them, and i don't mock them for it. My parts are fine, car performance is great, just need the new oil temp gauge, and may be a cooler, and almost certainly a fibre stronger sprung clutch, no panic on this last bit.

Hi Rob, We are not allowed to advertise so a nondeplume is what i have used, i bother asking the many club members as well as asking my "NA/T man" as there are many experiences and different views, and had mostly very good, technical help.

Hi Guys, Like tooquick i am out now, have to drive to a meeting in London tomorrow, will post my findings when the new oil gauge arrives, good club this is, beats watching the crap on TV. Herbiemercman.

Hi Scooter, I appreciate your comments but there is good oil in the engine and the high temp only occurred in the early days on my way home from the NA/T place. There are different opinions on this and i have been grateful for the help members have provided, i am confident that the oil temp gauge is faulty and at the same time am ready to fit an oil cooler anyway, i have to admit that in the summer months and in traffic jams etc, it can only be a good asset. In the meantime i am obliged to take the advice from my NA/T man, who has been 100% supportive and i have a 12 months guarantee, but knowing him as i now do, i would be ok without any guarantee, time will tell when the new gauges arirve.

Hi Tricky, I think you may be right, but you must appreciate i have to see what the new gauge brings ? You are helpful and positive as usual.

Hi rob, Good info especially the clutch bit, i do not agree with the NA/T man being a dribbler, he was a top footballer in his city, if you met him, you would not say that, he is part Portugese, big reputation in his city and well supported, now on several car clubs, there may be other politics from the past which i am not aware of, but i take people as i find them, i could not wish for more support that i have had and it is still coming. Chris Wilson and my man have their experience and have earned it, BUT, they can be out of date with some things, and it might well be the clutch is one of them, but they are broad shouldered enough to take it on board, Without us putting each other down.

Josh42, Many thanks, It is a big learning curve being on this site, amongst members who have thousands of postings etc, one of whom you just sited. There is an undercurrent of two camps here and i have only just started to sort of get to understand it, i know there is politics in most things, i have worked in many countries and i know the ropes. I have no issues from you and you have given me good information, which i may take up, BUT we all need to come together, there will always be different experiences, and different opinions, we are all Mk4 fans and the club is based on this. I will admit i can be agressive, but i do try to avoid this, where we step over the line, and as you know i have in the past, we get told, but it is difficult to not respond to certain comments when you are genuinely trying to put forward your experiences and looking for constructive comments. herbiemercman.

Hi tooquick, Which members ? and why are you out ? all you need to do is explain your comments? You support the oil cooler being fitted just as a principal, and you may be right, you are also "some member", i am just asking you to explain why you think i need an oil cooler, my expert, not sure if you are one ? says, i do not ? Anyway you have dropped out so you cannot explain. I have built boat engines, bike engines and car engines etc, and i am "some member". Good luck.

Hi tooquick and ripped, I am pleased when members try to provide comments based on their experience etc, i have stated lots of times that i may have just a faulty oil temp gauge, and i still think this is the case. It's just frustrating when you put forward what you think without ant actual experience of the very involved work my tuner has done. If you can outline your proposals, without going into cheapo and saving cost unfounded comments, then i am happy. This is a good club, with people like Chris Wilson who i know personally and my NA/T man, who incidently, is very technical and honest and i hope you can understand,we have to respond if members are making out we do not know what we are doing. A "red herring" is some thing which does not exist, but fishermen hope they will catch one, one day. Please don't regret getting involved, all comments are welcome, but this issue is posted in the technical department and you must see that if you say some thing is no good or not right, you must say why. Sorry if i got frustrated, but some times posts are not targetted at helping, and more it seems like winding you up. I have stated in previouse posts that if i need an oil cooler, i will fit one, just need to see what happens ? I realise that many members think the oil cooler is a no brainer. herbiemercman.

Hi ripped, I never rag my cars, but i know what you mean, i was just going quickly, like i did when i brought the car back from its transplant. Like most things there are different experiences on development cars, my car is fantastic, i just want to know if i have a faulty oil temp gauge ? i am sure i have, and this will confirm that my NA/T man is correct, as usual. I will post the results when i have fitted the new gauge. Just a reminder, the exhaust from good testing, which only the dedicated would do proved that this was a "red herring". The turbo is a "garret" copy and performing well in lots of cars, why do you think it is a cheapo ? Where is your experience coming from ? You need to explain to all members as i have posted honest stuff, just like my NA/T man does. He is not one for fitting parts which he thinks, from experience, are not required, he is not trying to save money, there is no shortage of that, how do you know he is trying to save money, where do you get your info from ? I have a few cars and not short of money, but i am not fitting things which the expert says is not required. Can you explain technically why the actual conversion i have needs an oil cooler ? Have you converted 35 NA's or are you just spouting off ? Don,t want to get nasty, but to me and my NA/T man you are posting comments you cannot back up ? if you can, i will hold my hand up. Can you post explaining what you base your comments on ? Many members will look forward to your reply. Thanks for your response. herbiemercman.

Hi ripped, I never rag my cars, but i know what you mean, i was just going quickly, like i did when i brought the car back from its transplant. Like most things there are different experiences on development cars, my car is fantastic, i just want to know if i have a faulty oil temp gauge ? i am sure i have, and this will confirm that my NA/T man is correct, as usual. I will post the results when i have fitted the new gauge. Just a reminder, the exhaust from good testing, which only the dedicated would do proved that this was a "red herring". The turbo is a "garret" copy and performing well in lots of cars, why do you think it is a cheapo ? Where is your experience coming from ? You need to explain to all members as i have posted honest stuff, just like my NA/T man does. I have a few cars and not short of money, but i am not fitting things which the expert says is not required. Can you explain technically why the actual conversion i have needs an oil cooler ? Have you converted 35 NA's or are you just spouting off ? Don,t want to get nasty, but to me and my NA/T man you are posting comments you cannot back up ? if you can, i will hold my hand up. herbiemercman.

Hi tooquick, My NA/T man has done over 35 NA/T conversions and does not fit oil coolers, so we must eliminate the possibility of a faulty gauge , not much point fitting an oil cooler, if 10 years of experience and 35 cars converted, show that you do not need one. Also unless you have a too hot oil situation, track events etc, then an oil cooler can be counter productive and not required, and too cold oil is more damaging, than too hot oil.

Hi Scottc, You have given me some good info in the past, I just felt that i would start a new thread on the current situation, i must admit i am not sure why you find this so irritating ? You could just ignore it, or just send me a pm. What is your technical opinion of the situation on my oil temp issue, not me being a nuptule with too many threads. lol.? Thanks tricky and mike for your comments.

Hi Dudes, Just been on my Sunday morning drive, i am blessed with three motorways, the m6, m65, and m61, when it is early morning i used to stretch the legs on my big bikes, but now the replacement is my NA/T rocket ship. The way it delivers the power in 5 th gear from a "oner" up to a oner and thiry, is amazing, some of the big BMW's, where you can tell they are trying a bit and fascinated with your black rocket ship, sort of just get left for dead. Now some thing more technical and sensible, my oil temperature, some of you will have seen my previous postings on this, when i picked my car up down south i had a 200 mile journey and my oil temp gauge was registering 135 deg.C. The diagnocis is i need a replacement gauge and my NA/T man is sending me a better quality one, however today the ambient temperature is only 8 deg.C, and my oil temp on quite a long high speed run did not exceed 100 deg.C. Considering the ambient temp when i had the higher oil temp was circa 20deg.C., then i think i am right in thinking that the colder air is having this effect ? Incidently, i do not have an oil cooler fitted. What do you think. herbiemercman.

Good links and very interesting, this takes me further along the road of me changing my agressive clutch, i am learning to live with the ergonomics but as an engineer i worry about the accelerated ware on my gearbox. If the "price" is me experiencing a bit of clutch slipping, then this may have to be ? there are mixed views and experiences from members on whether slipping will happen on certain organic clutches. Also the cost of gearbox repairs is extortionate.

Hi Chris, This is meant to be a compliment, you are a know all.

This IMHO is a bargain, members are paying out close to this asking price now for a second hand autobox ! !

I just bought a bathroom suite that was wrapped, took me ages to peel the crap off, we are all different in how we look at our lives and the cars we drive, car wrapping was introduced for storing cars which they could not sell, also used for transporting luxury cars etc. I would not get involved with anyone in buying their car, if they had had it wrapped, IMHO, it's not real, its fake, plastically and cheap. But everyone to their own. A good spray job can make a car and increase the value and has integrity.

Hard to see if anyone would try running without a thermostat ? In the colder weather the engine needs to warm up as quickly as possible, oil especially, and goes without saying a good heater output. The thermostat also acts as a flow controller and optimises the degree of cavitation and surface errosion and ecconomy etc, inside the engine etc. Also complete combustion and everything supporting the engine relies on the design optimum running temperature, if you are above this to any degree, or, below it, you will eventually have problems. I have cars and a boat with big twin diesel engines and i know from experience that the engine thermostats are a very important piece of kit. Finally, if you live in the south were the water is quite hard, (high PH value), and you have been using a water based coolant, then you can expect on an old car where the heater element and the cooling radiator will be well calcified with dissolved salts, the salts are a good insulator and increase the pressure drop across them, and reduce the coolant flow, so overheating of the engine's cooling system and with the heater element, little heat being extracted from the element. I bought my daughter a 1.7 tdi vauxhall from Essex some time back, it was 6 yers old and had 75k on the clock, good little bus, but the heater was very poor, after trying all the usual stuff, thermostat, air locks, etc, i changed the heater matrix, problem solved, out of interest i cut open the old matrix and was amazed at the 80% restriction caused by calcification etc. I have just spent £40 on Toyota "Forlife" coolant 10 litres,now called 4life, this avoids all what i have said, for 10 years. herbiemercman.

Why are Gearboxes only an issue on Toyota Mk4 Supras ?, I have lots of friends who have several makes of cars, they tune them and hammer them, BUT, no mention of any gearbox failures ? I just find it difficult to see why a company who over 24 years back built a car which was 20 years ahead of it's time, and in more recent times been tuned to modern day and above levels of BHP, why would the gearbox not be like the other cars ? I think i can see Chris's point about Toyota designing for what was FFP ( Fit For Purpose) at the time, but there is a qualatative bit which asks the question, what is high mileage and what is gearbox abuse ? The torque bit is easy to understand, but if the driver wants to avoid the sudden torque impacts, then the box, IMHO, should cope with it ? If some of the owners are dropping the clutch and floorboarding in gear changes etc, then the failure is understandable, especially if the design spec was for 250 lbs/ft torque and then we increase this to 400 lbs/ft. In the USA a indestructable replacement box would be designed, IF, enough punters wanted this,many mk4 supra upgrades are available and very good and cost effective, IMHO, in the days we live in, we should not be tolerating broken basic transmission parts and repair costs being a complete joke, that is , if you can get a repair.? for this car, other makes of recon boxes are readilly available for all cars, at reasonable cost. May be iam forgetting, the mk4's are very old now ? herbiemercman.

Hi Guys this thread is quite alarming, mega bucks, much more expensive than exchange auto boxes and used boxes for mercedes cars etc. What sort of mileage have you on the clock ? if it is less than 100k, then are you hammering the car ? I have a 5 speed box with 42k on the clock, and i change gears properly, BUT i have a vicious clutch which is grabby and must put unavoidable stress on the box which i did not have pre NA/T. I was under the impression it is high torque which causes the most damage ? Finally, what the hell do you do if the box returns from USA and the box does not operate properly, what is the guarante ?

I lived with this exact same problem on my NA, i owned the car from new and it had 42,000 miles on the clock, i had the speed delimiter kph/mph unit fitted when i bought the car. In the past couple of months, prior to me taking the NA/T conversion, the speedo stopped working, at first it was intermitant, but soon became a permanent problem. Then the engine cut outs started, some times the rpm just dropped from the 700 rpm to 400 rpm, only just holding the tick over before stalling, and other times a complete stall, little braking power and no power steering. So i stripped down and cleaned the ICV, (idler control valve), and for a few days it seemed ok, the stalling was intermitant so at that stage i could not know i had cured the problem. I found out that the delimiters / kph / mph converters were known to cause this very problem. When my car went for it's NA/T conversion my NA/T man replaced the delimiter unit and the problem was solved. Hope this helps. herbiemercman.

I just had an airlock this week, i ran engine on tick over and then took off the heater matrix flow pipe and placed a funnel in the pipe and added coolant, when it was full i reconnected the pipe, problem solved.

Hi Josh42, thanks for comments, if i do have to throw the towel in with my current metalic clutch i will look at your suggestion, i have recorded your info, just need to go a bit further with what i have, also it would be nice to get my NA/T man on board with your proposal ? Hi Kendoskeg, Yep you are right, he is great, does not take prisoners as per my way, and does what he knows is right. Hi HarleyFDMD, My NA/T man has been developing the conversions for over 10 years and he knows them inside out, he has over 35 cars to his credit, all working well, he does not fit oil coolers and is confident that my 135 deg. C, oilm temp, is a faulty gauge, i am just running with him and giving other club members the benefit of the information, i do not advertise for him, he does not need it, and is a help and a credit to the mk 4 supra, and this club, for me in the same street as Chris Wilson, another guy who gives a lot for nothing. herbiemercman.

Hi Guys, Just to complete the clutch story, my NA/T man says he will gladly change my clutch to an organic fibre type, but it would have to be on my head, he has based this on lots of experience and testing. He is posting me replacement up market gauges for boost and the oil temperature, hopefully the latter will sort out my hot oil concern, i am confident that the gauge is the problem, time will tell. I am reflecting what Chris Wison told me that the NA/T conversion is major surgery and some issues are bound to arise and one cannot expect a stock smooth driving experience with the doubling of the engines power output. I also know that my NA?T man had to go into uncharted territory to map my car with the stock exhaust and extra back pressure etc. So i am wiser now and soldiering on, i have no regrets and have found this club and its support excellent. herbiemercman.