herbiemercman

Hi Scooter, I struggled some weeks back when i tried to remove the crank pulley, so just some gentle heat applied around the center section and then a 25mm diam. bar 600mm long located in the chassis, then crank the engine, works a treat, but as you point out, disconnect the HT lead on the dizzy. Herbie.

Hello David, Noz told me not to take what you say personally and your a nice cuddle bunny. I have told Swampy where my mechanic put the trolley jack,and why, he also used two axle stands.

on the engine.

It is going onto a length of 4"x2" timber to spread the load along the floor pan.

Job completed today, took a couple of hours. Had to modify two spanners to access the rear turbo retaining studs, also the down pipe had to be removed.The failed gasket (see pic), had lasted a few weeks and you can see how the aluminium has burned away from the center outwards until it reached the last tiny bit, then it blew out. The replacement gasket is stainless steel laminates and has a swaged edge for extra strength, cost £6.50 from a top turbo supplier and refurbisher in Manchester. The big suprize for me was the improvement in performance and the much cleaner/sharper exhaust note. I realize that the MAP, (manifold absolute pressure), must have been compromised with the fairly large gas leakage and system pressure drop. Anyway all is well now with my bus and it is at it's best, perfect tick over, smooth cruising, and great acceleration, up to "silly" speeds. Herbie. 20200417_114422.jpg (956.1 KB) 20200417_114605.jpg (849.0 KB) 20200417_114441.jpg (553.2 KB) 20200417_122952.jpg (625.7 KB)

Hi Adam, See my reply to DavidP. Herbie.

Hi Guys, You must know that i like the MK4 Supra and i have tried to explain why, i just cannot handle the owners who think these cars are not still in the "Top Ten" on performance, in the arena they were designed for, and most of all still being developed by supporters of the breed who are keeping them in the "Top Ten" for several attributes of, speed, stability, good looks, comfort, and the credit going to them, NOT like the lease hire club dudes with the hot hatches. Herbie.

Hi MC92, If you are happy for your car just to look cool then that is your pleasure of ownership, in my home town of Wigan, with women who were trying to look the upper market part, we used to refer to them as "fair coat but no knickers", basically you may as well put an old taxi diesel engine under your hood. Sorry but we all have different needs and ambitions and there is nothing wrong with that. Herbie.

Well said Adam, but in the right situation on roads built for muscle cars the Supra will take some beating, and the power and performance has been kept in pace over the 27 years by people like us in this Club, not just a £45K snot box hot hatch on lease purchase. Most drivers i come into contact would never think my rocket ship was a touring car, in most cases they do not see me for long, on big roads, not twisty roads through villages. If a couple of hot hatches like the AMG and the Audo RS3 can out run us in some circumstances, then this is a tribute to 23 year old cars, which are not on a rental agreement, and most owners probably would not know where their engine was.Herbie.

Hi Style, I have to agree with your last paragraph at the end of your post, but all my comments were based on A roads and M/ways where the Supras come into their own, i know that "scratching" in bendy country roads is for the little snot boxes, especially the 4 wheeled drive cars. I bought my grandson a Subaru Impretsa running a 350 BHP Greedy turbo, i tried to keep with him but my car just did well on the straight bits, but its "horses for courses". I experienced the same situation on the big 1,000cc bikes, several of us from the BBC were returning from the IOM ferry and we came to a bikers dream road, but, when we passed through Killmarnock village about six guys joined us on off road/ sit up road bikes, we could not keep with them, their machines were designed for flying round corners and great manuverability. Anyway i like the way my Supra behaves where i want it to, the big roads where it can perform, with great stability, aerodynamics, speed and comfort and safe and stable in windy wet weather, which the hot hatches do not like. This is where my car operates for me most of the time and to date, it does it so well. I am not really a poser, but having said that a lot of people ask what the car is and how much they like it, these cars are old beasts and i try to ensure that it is not a myth and will always be sought after, if some members think it is a good looking chugging relic then they are not a true Supra owner, this is just, IMHO. Herbie.

Hi Raven, Your right, you don't need to prove them wrong, your just letting them think that we drive old hasbeens which is far from the truth. Many Supras which look good and are very fast are a match for most cars, that is why people love them. Yes the Supra is a good posing car, but that is not my bag. Herbie.

Hi Ben, Yes i know that, but with the Supra's aerodynamics and handling,and stability at the "silly" speeds, and circa 50 more BHP, the hot hatch drivers will have a lot on their hands, to even edge away, certainly we wood stand a good chance, not no chance as you put forward. Like the pub analogy, you may just about get knock down in a fight, but the other person will at least know they have been in a fight. Also the cars you refer to are silly money, and not all drivers can "read the road" safely at high speed. Herbie.

My machine has a LSD and and a fairly lowered axle ratio and accelerates very quickly up to the silly"speeds which even the new hot hatches fall back and most give up. There may be a few, IMHO who think i have the 800BHP as you mention, and give up, but nothing has left me to date. I cruise i would say 70% of the time and just have the odd spert, it is getting rare for the odd dual especially with congestion and the speed camera technology. Ben's comments re: "The Supras will strugle to keep up with hot hatches" and "Supras don't stand a chance" is no way with me, with a good NA-T, and certainly not my experience. I would have to agree with the NA Supra, but not the tuned TT's. Herbie.

Hi Dudes, When the first Supras appeared on our roads they stunned everybody with their fantastic looks and performance, it was in the same "ball park" as the E-types created. Many years have passed for me, twenty three of them, since i bought my beast, but IMHO the aesthetics have not degraded like it has done for 99% of other sports cars. During this time i suffered light hearted abuse from my Brother Adrian who bought a Mk4 TT and used to refer to my 5 speed 220 BHP car as "the slow one"in Pub conversations etc., his car was auto and circa 330BHP, both cars black and looked the same. Anyway i never thought a day would come , which came for me 3 years ago, where i got my NA-T conversion, my brother, (God Rest His Sole),tried to be nice about me now having the 100 BHP edge, he tried it out and also commented on the gear changing he liked. So that is the background to my threads title in that in recent times traveling on the faster roads i find that many motorists, including the ones in hot Audies, Mercs, Jags, and the tuned smaller cars, have a may be, honest but wrong belief, that the Supras were no match for them. I know some of them would be a match for even the tuned Supras, but they back off, this to me is like you being in a pub in an altercation and you know the other party involved does martial arts, and metaphorically speaking, wares the badge, as in my thread's title. There have been times in the past where i felt like setting fire to my machine when it was an NA, after being blown away with a Golf GTI etc. Many of us want to "be the fastest" or beat your contender at arm wrestling etc, i was Chairman of a Baxi bikers club, all "knee down nutters", BBC (Baxi Bike's Club), 42 members and i think this way of thinking developed there for me. What do you think? Herbie.

Thanks Noz, I was aware that David could be a bit critical where members had made silly mistakes with their engineering knowledge etc, however he helped me when i was looking for a good engine Tuner/Mapper, he told me some good ones he knew, he also told me "They are Tuners" NOT Mappers. Herbie.

Hi David, I fitted the extra torque bush you recommended in your really well outlined sticky, but i did not start a thread titled, "MY Mk4 Suspension And Drive Train", to tell other members about it. If i titled all my issues on my NAT Conversion with "My MK4 Engine" it would be a mile long, it can't be much trouble for members to read my threads, and i think it works fine,and stands out more. I do not bodge things, if you are referring to my turbo exhaust gasket, i explained i thought the aluminium one i made would be ok, there were also pressure circumstances to get the job completed. Herbie.

Hi Style, It was members in the Club that told me about the NA gaskets being poor, and i cannot be sure if that is the case, all i do know is it would be folly IMHO, with the expence and difficulty of replacing a head gasket, not to fit the much more robust gasket, the reduction in CR is minimal. Herbie.

Hi Dunk, No not the shops, my wife sees to that, i have to spray her when she gets back and wash the bananas, tins etc. I was rushing to help my younger brother Gareth, who had broken down in his car at a dangerous location, i did see a red flash on the hard shoulder before i started lowering my under carrage to join the slip road. Herbie.

Cheers mellonman, My wastegate was stuck open so i lost all the boost, this was hard on the heels of me 3 days earlier loosing all my boost from a silicon rubber boost pipe elbow splitting wide open. With reference to the head gasket, i think the OEM knew what they were doing with the 1.3mm gasket against the NA one at 0.6mm. I have also fitted the extra diff torque bush for the same reason. I hope my exhaust manifold which may be an XS holds out. Herbie.

Hi Mellonman, My turbo is a XS.Power, T61, Garrett copy i think and one third of the cost. With reference to the higher market Tuners, would they have included an oil cooler? or an AFR Gauge? The only two performance failures i have experienced in the past 3 years with my NAT build is the head gasket, which are renowned for failure on the NA's, and a sticking open waste gate/ dump valve. Herbie.

Hi Swampy, I would agree with you in general re, "You Get What You Pay For", but as others have said you have to have that money, also i have enjoyed the learning curve and the actual improvements i have made myself, several things, need for oil cooler, need for AFR gauge wideband, thicker more robust head gasket, etc, yes a lot more money and work and frustration, and most of all lots of help from certain members of this club, this journey was well posted by me to educate the less uninitiated members. I also agree that "anybody with a bit of experience" could spot a rogue gasket and may not have the experience to know the quality parts. I have an HND in mechanical engineering and i do know what is quality and FFP (fit for purpose), i have also carried out FMEA's, (failure mode and effect analysis) on high cost engineering projects etc. The gasket failure was the use of aluminium sheeting and i made it, i could not source the correct part and i was under pressure to get the car back on the road. Herbie.

Hi Guys, Last week i took advantage of pushing my car to the limit, the acceleration and max speed achieved was fantastic, the actual time the car reaches the high speeds is to me what is so impressive, at the time i only needed three of the gears to get to a "oner". Anyway i paid the price in that when i reached home the car sounded good and loud, and on investigation i found the turbo to exhaust manifold gasket had blown out and melted! When i called my mechanic friend who helped me replace the head gasket some weeks back he reminded me that we did not have a replacement gasket at the time, and he made me remember that i made one in 1.5mm sheet aluminium. So i have checked the melting point of this material and it is circa 650C, so with the exhaust gasses being around 950C it is easy to see what happened.The ali lasted for quite a time and may have lasted longer on a standard road car. Anyway i have ordered a new gasket following a major investigation of knowing what make and model of turbo i have, thanks to "sidewaysdan" who has the same conversion kit by Dr J, told me this info, it is XS Power, a USA company, two weeks delivery and $16 P&P and the gasket $12, they can "F" off. So i called up Craig, (Dr Jekle. Rocket Dog Racing) who has stood by me for the last 3 years, he told me i needed a T4 single scroll gasket. A turbo recon company in Manchester had the exact gasket SS laminates and only £6.80 and P&p express del. £9. So all the bits have to be removed to replace this simple thing that i Fu-ked up on when we replaced the head gasket, if you want to own these cars you have to learn a lot and be able to repair them, but they are worth it. What do you think? Herbie.