My new Supra/rebuilding Dude's drag car

The V8 install is still the target, but there are a couple of reasons why I've gone this route

sticking a NA engine in might want to go above that sentence mate; I had to read to the bottom before I understood what was going on!

You'll be using it as the daily drive before long!!

Good point Steve, forgot to mention the important part Edited

Sorted

How tricky was it go go 2->3 pedals? It never occured to me that it might be possible; I figured moutings would be different and the gearbox choice needed to be made before the chassis completed.

How tricky was it go go 2->3 pedals? It never occured to me that it might be possible; I figured moutings would be different and the gearbox choice needed to be made before the chassis completed.

It's not difficult to do. The chassis is identical, only the auto one doesn't have 3 of the clutch bracket mounting holes drilled out. The only other thing thats needed is the clutch mounting bracket as this isn't present on the auto. Provided you can get them from a donor it's pretty much a case of unbolting the old parts and installed the new ones.

It's not difficult to do. The chassis is identical, only the auto one doesn't have 3 of the clutch bracket mounting holes drilled out. The only other thing thats needed is the clutch mounting bracket as this isn't present on the auto. Provided you can get them from a donor it's pretty much a case of unbolting the old parts and installed the new ones.

That's pretty cool. I'd love to have your knowledge & skills Darryl. I love the theory of cars and ultimately want to build one myself or do some crazy project like this, but I just don't know enough/know what I'm doing.

Did you get the lump and box out of the Supra in my mates yard?

That's pretty cool. I'd love to have your knowledge & skills Darryl. I love the theory of cars and ultimately want to build one myself or do some crazy project like this, but I just don't know enough/know what I'm doing.

There's no skill in it believe me! Just a bit of research (this forum - especially PM's to the right people, mkiv.com and ePC are invaluable) and just applying a bit of common sense when it comes to installing is all thats needed. Christ, if I can do it, anyone can

Did you get the lump and box out of the Supra in my mates yard?

Yes, thanks very much for posting it up here. The engine and box were a bonus, all the other parts were the real target.

They're really good lads there, very helpful, prices are great, a very slick business!

Got some free hours over the past couple of days to get this job out of the way.

Here's the auto trans plate after the centre console, ABS censor and handbrake are removed:

The panel is spot welded in, so all the welds need to be drilled out and the centre panel cut around to make it easier to remove. The tunnel now looks a bit like swiss cheese!

It's also important to drill a couple of guide holes to be sure the new plate is fitted in exactly the right position (particularly the large one at the rear)

From underneath:

New plate new fitted. As recommended by others, this is just bolted and bonded in using a few of the holes created when drilling out the spot welds. Also make sure it was well sealed around the edges, both on top and below

One advantage of the aero top is it makes working in the cabin much easier!

Note to self... Do not remove the aero top when the car isn't level - it won't close again! Just shows how much the chassis flexes with the roof out The screen is about 1/2 inch lower than it used to be on this one corner!

So, it's ready now for the engine and box to be dropped it Just need to find an engine hoist now

Huge thanks to Johnd-mkiv, Jezz and Miko Supra for their help and advice on the tunnel mods, nice one guys you were spot on with the advice

Coming along nicely

The chassis flex is unreal

Very nice, how easy/difficult was the tunnel mod to do Darryl? im contemplating doing this as a project myself

Very nice, how easy/difficult was the tunnel mod to do Darryl? im contemplating doing this as a project myself

It's not too difficult to do Sandeep. The hardest part is getting to all the spot welds as some of them and 'behind' the centre of the dash. It was tricky getting the ones towards the front as there's limited space under the tunnel. It was easy enough to fit, as always the hard work goes into the preparation.

You only need a powerful drill, some large (8, 10 and 14mm) metal drill bits, a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, some good quality flexible bonding agent, some bolts and lock nuts and the usual spanners. Oh and a bit of common sense helps

Can always drop by and give you a hand if you're doing it DIY.

Nice one!! its getting there

Nice one, whats the score with that windscreen then? is it going to sort itself out and is that a common problem?

think if i had an areo id sort a rollcage that is welded to the screen pillars to strengthen it up:)

Nice one, whats the score with that windscreen then? is it going to sort itself out and is that a common problem?

think if i had an areo id sort a rollcage that is welded to the screen pillars to strengthen it up:)

It's still up on axle stands which is why it's not dropped back into place.

Basically, the rear tyre's are on the driveway, the front of the car jacked up nearly 2 foot. I dropped the car down onto the axle stands on the front, but due to the driveway being at a slight angle only the drivers side rested frimly on that sides axle stand. The one on the passenger side still had about 1/2 inch gap between the frame and stand, so essentially it only had one axle stand holding it up.

Removed the roof and within a minute the passenger side was sat on the axle stand - I did wonder why I fitted under the car yesterday, but didn't fit under it today!

And I agree Jamie, with flex like this (even though the car is missing the much larger aero rear trans tunnel support bracket), it's going to need a full weld in cage before it sees a track.

It's not too difficult to do Sandeep. The hardest part is getting to all the spot welds as some of them and 'behind' the centre of the dash. It was tricky getting the ones towards the front as there's limited space under the tunnel. It was easy enough to fit, as always the hard work goes into the preparation.

 

You only need a powerful drill, some large (8, 10 and 14mm) metal drill bits, a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, some good quality flexible bonding agent, some bolts and lock nuts and the usual spanners. Oh and a bit of common sense helps

 

Can always drop by and give you a hand if you're doing it DIY.

Awesome very kind of you mate, will be collecting the parts over the year and then probably doing it next spring. Keep up the good work!!

This is a great thread. I love DIY projects

So what is the theory behind not spot welding that new panel on the tranmission tunnel back in? How is bolting and bonding as strong as spot welding?

(p.s. I'm not criticising , I'm just interested in knowing)

Darryl, is this the same trans tunnel mod needed for a Getrag 6-Speed conversion?

Cheers,

Brian.

So what is the theory behind not spot welding that new panel on the tranmission tunnel back in? How is bolting and bonding as strong as spot welding?

 

(p.s. I'm not criticising , I'm just interested in knowing)

It's not as strong, for obvious reasons, but it's more than enough, especially with all the extra bonding that the stock plate does not have.

Although I expect it does lend a tiny amount of strength to the trans tunnel and floorpan, the panel itself is only there to hold the shifter mount roughly in position.

Plus - spot welding would be very tricky for anyone doing this outside of a fully equiped garage, even the best garages will not have the tools to recreate the welds the factory can - mostly due to the awkward positions needed

Darryl, is this the same trans tunnel mod needed for a Getrag 6-Speed conversion?

 

Cheers,

 

Brian.

Yep, it's exactly the same

It's not as strong, for obvious reasons, but it's more than enough, especially with all the extra bonding that the stock car plate does not have.

 

Although I expect it does lend a tiny amount of strength to the trans tunnel and floorpan, the panel itself is only there to hold the shifter mount roughly in position.

 

Plus - spot welding would be very tricky for anyone doing this outside of a fully equiped garage, even the best garages will not have the tools to recreate the welds the factory can.

Thanks for the explanation.

I guess it's a case of doing a job which is 98% of what *could* be achieved but that 2% wont make any discernable difference.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

I guess it's a case of doing a job which is 98% of what *could* be achieved but that 2% wont make any discernable difference.

Thats pretty much it, yes.

Or, from a cost perspective, spend £5 getting it to work 98%, or several hundred getting it to a workshop which has the equipment to do it, pay them for the welding then get it home and have it 100% They'd also need to re-fill/plate all the drilled out parts which is more cost. The trans tunnel change is not very elegant whichever route you take

Not so bad when you see the pics then - I had images in my head of hacking away half the trans tunnel and bashing it to bits to widen it enough for the Getrag!!

It doesn't seem to change much - can the stock panel not be 'modified' to accept the Getrag? What are the differences room wise with the new panel?

It doesn't seem to change much - can the stock panel not be 'modified' to accept the Getrag? What are the differences room wise with the new panel?

After seeing it, no, there's no way you could easily modify the auto panel to get the shifter to work. It'd be FAR easier to just do the plate change.

The entire panel is higher and has different mount point. The front is about 1/4inch higher, backing up the to rear which is about 1.25 inchs above the auto panel.

If you had the full dash out then you could cut the centre section out and fabricate a plate to weld on top, but I'd have thought this would be much more work that sticking in a ready made one.

Quite honestly, it should only be a 2 hour job to someone who knows where to hit the weld spots It did cost £65 in parts though!

It sounds like you did it in the easiest and most cost effective way. Nice one.