jagman

Battery arrived - got this one as it is very close to the size I need for the boot instal (I have the subwoofer in the rear and it fits width wise and can be laid flat - only 10 cm height ) 1100 amps (5sec) 500 cca amps despite its size still 45 AH . handy having the space upfront for WI tank /pump and power at the rear for charge cooler pump /fuel pumps and tein EDFC - no spare wheel so space in the wheel well . fitting and wiring tomorrow- windscreen and rear screens in today . managed to find a rear arch liner (mission impossible ) fronts are easy to get - fabricating my own LH rear liner

Boot carpet has the matching edging in leather but is the wrong previous colour for my car - so next up is to dye it in black to match my interior ie all cream and black . But I have also found a boot mat to go over the original in cream leatherette . So I will have two boot mats . Rear fog light arrived to go in the trial rear lower , it also has reversing lights ,brake light and indicators that strobe . I got it because it’s well suited to the angle the rear bumper lower drops below the car , and of course you need a fog light for MOT , I don’t like using a stock light as a fog and prefer a separate light

Started on the front today , cleaning and checking - all good , fitted new shock , removed the callipers for overhaul and painting - new arch liners arrived awaiting clipnuts . Closed up the gap on the side skirt lower edge

Side skirts are a weird fit , externally they are fine , but they are lower than the floor pan by about 1 1/2 inches or so and leave a weird gap . They have a rectangular cut out front and rear , for access to the jacking points . Even weirder as no jacks have rectangular pads , and a jack has to clear the skirt lower edge . so I have materials to close the gap and seal it , there is a nice factory straight edge seam weld to follow and then bond in 4 rubber jack pad adaptors permanently to the floor ,hopefully this should stop the knob ends at tyre places who seem to love buckling factory seams by jacking on them !! Pics when done !

Still fitting interior /wiring , moving to the front suspension/brakes ,and engine bay clean up , swapped headlining over (pic show mirror fit ) ,fitted some bonnet dampers and removed the strut . I need to relocate the oil cooler due to new front , fitted the mesh . Awaiting arrival of new arch liners and bits and bobs - new front /rear window seal ordered and window guy lined up to fit and seal windows - maybe Wednesday . So far no defects with the front suspension/steering at all , all bushes arms ,bearings etc good - so shocks and whifbitz ARB to fit on Monday .- zero rust !!!!

Battery relocation : If relocating the battery to the boot area ,you should also extend the sense cable : The alternator uses a sense (S) wire ,this wire comes from the alternator to the bottom of the fuse block and joins where the main alternator output connects . This is about 1 foot from the battery . As the name implies the sense cable “senses” the voltage close to the battery and it is used to control the voltage regulator in the alternator . The heavy duty cable from alternator to fuse block (near battery ) carries all the charge current and any voltage drop on this cable is sensed and the regulator increases the output , ie if the alternator put out 14volts at the alternator and this dropped to 13.9 at the fuse block (battery) the regulator senses this and ups it’s output back to 14 v . If you move the battery to the boot and add 3 meters of heavy duty cable and add any connections (each can drop volts) , the sense cable cannot sense this ….so you should also extend the sense wire with the new heavy duty cable to the rear as close as possible to the battery . Now any extra voltage drop due to the long heavy duty cable is again sensed and compensated for .

Clockspring /spiral cable : there are a few variations across Toyota/Lexus , each having slightly different connectors and wires . They are interchangeable to a point , most of them fit pretty much any steering wheel at the wheel end and relatively easy to fit at the column end . The main differences are the connectors - squib/s for airbag the connector at the wheel end and the outlet column end - this is due to the various steering wheel functions - cruise control are pretty much all 2 wires earth and ccs signal , the audio are either two wire or 3 wire , earth and vol/seek (au1) and mode (au2) , the tel wires are not really needed so spare (maybe used for flappy paddles . Horn is always an earth . The squib connector is usually a 4 pin separate connector PN 90980-121552 yellow colour - I am not using squibs as my wheel has a dummy airbag . But this connector allows 4 available wires . The main connector is usually a 12 way PN 90980-12552 ,some later cars have steering sensor inputs so more wires (not needed on supra ) the supra does not have the column wiring in enough wires - so you can use the 2 squib wires (if no airbag ) and cruise wires /horn with the existing clockspring . Some later cars have nav and rear cameras hence the extra pins in connectors . Connectors are around £2 so you can allocate pins to wires to suit your steering wheel and it’s functions and add cables to the column side to suit - it’s a minefield with so many different factory options and no plug and play option . But it is doable .some supra don’t have cruise but I think the connector is the same but no pins or wires - the later supra has extra for paddles I think - it’s not that hard to reach over and press the radio volume , for sure an easier solution ! But when you have buttons the urge to press them is strong !

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/automotive-connectors/7201036?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-CSS_UK_EN_ePMax_Prio2-_--_-7201036&matchtype=&&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADkeWNPPaitgloVr40Tn5O_YTRmJD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwY2f7MLHiQMV2JtQBh2cFTEgEAQYBCABEgL36PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds this is the 12 pin female connector for the column side of the clockspring - some clock springs have 16 pin or 10 pin . So you have to cut off the original and put the pins in here plus the new cables along the column . The other side (steering wheel side ) is the same connector but the orientation sliders are opposite , so cut them off with a blade and add however many wires you need - flappy paddles audio cruise etc - pic is the plug you need for the head unit - cut off the connector and use two of the wires , connect to the two audio wires from steering wheel controls

I have some carbon mirrors to fit and match the rest of the interior ,basically cream leather / carbon . They are no supra specific carbon mirrors so I’m using these , pivot distance the same and very close to OEM shape . Original vs retrim vs carbon . I have to swap the leather on the roof liner as it’s lifted a small amount and the biscuit is a bit floppy - so a swap onto my original grey liner which is mint . If the mirrors don’t fit exactly or there is an issue , I can reshape the liner before recovering . But I think they will be OK as is - I will update later

The stock clockspring is limited , depending on what you want to add or lose . If you can lose the airbag then the 2 wires can be used for audio control - the loom runs down to the console by the hand brake - audio control only needs 2 wires - splice in a 3.5 jack plug and it goes into the head unit . If you want more , flappy paddles etc then you need a later clockspring with 12 pins plus 4 airbag pins - you need to get an out put connector and add wires along the column ( or a column loom from a breaker with a 12 pin connnector . And you need the wheel side connector 12 pin . Supra is a single shot airbag and later Toyotas are a twin shot airbag - you can just use a single shot or fire both

Steering wheel arrived , I have to mod the clock spring to allow all the buttons to work and fit the cruise lever and a bit of wiring to the column loom . But the new wheel will match all the interior panels . Should really add a supra transfer decal in place of the GR ! Still waiting on parts to arrive , new arch liners ,ARBs and all sorts ,so tomorrow some wiring install and fit mirrors

The brake light switch provides 12 volts to the brake lights direct … and then to earth . If the earth has been shared with another circuit (with relay added ) could be fog or antenna or fuel pump or subwoofer or whatever has been added with a relay . Then if the brake light earth is high resistance (loose or corroded ) the voltage can now go down the earth wire of whatever shares the earth backwards to the relay which may then click if the voltage is high enough - it would take less than 2 mins to find the relay . The only other thing is the bulb failure unit

Wheels ….I really want to keep the wheels as they are genuine JDM wheels but as the car is an inch or two wider they are a tad sunken in . They are the proper 50 offset so perfect . I don’t want to fit spacers ,so I can get new outers 40 hole , but with more lip . a bit limited to how much I can add without silly size tyres ! Maybe another 2 inches and squeeze on 315 tyres ? Outers are only available as flat rather than stepped outers

Started fitting rear brakes and shocks checked wheel bearings ,bushes and every small item - all good , coated the rear subframe and all surrounding areas ,boot floor and all the hidden areas with Dinitrol . Replacing the anti roll bars with stiffer ones and new bushes and drop links , that will take some of the roll force off the springs . For a 30 year old car it is remarkably good gotta love Toyota !

I think on the stock ECU there is little benefit , as the control strategy is fixed and cannot be altered but on an aftermarket ECU you can add further use strategies . Heat soak strategies and part of a det strategy and water injection strategy. Any delay I don’t think will make that much difference at stock power levels ,the delay won’t be that slow . The stock ECU will use fixed temps as points to intervene rather than a sliding scale that an aftermarket Ecu can alter at a finer level . I guess there are not many tuners fully understand the control strategies and have solid data but use what they have altered previously . Heat soak - for example ,if you know the sensor is going to heatsoak when car is at idle or after a power event , you can use other data points like throttle position or oil temp and factor those in ,I doubt the stock ECU has any ability to change these at all from factory program

You could replace the sensor , the Ecu has an internal fixed resistor and this is paired with the external resistance of a thermistor - sensor , this produces a voltage that equals the temp , very small voltage like 0.1 to 4 volts that equal the temp . It is non linear resistance ,I sure the numbers are in the manual . Quite a wide tolerance is considered serviceable . Fast reactance is considered to be below 0.5 seconds - don’t know what the stock sensor is , but sensors are available in a few ranges of resistance and seldom will be unique . Some are chip based now and tiny . I guess a durable one needed that matches the curve will work fine .

On ramps today for inspection - looked at every nook and cranny - basically zero rust - dusty for sure ! All the factory under seal is good . I noted that Toyota dont under seal the whole bottom ,or maybe it’s just Jspec cars ? There is a line just 3 inch inside the sill join where factory under seal stops , I took off the exhaust heat shields as they don’t do anything with my exhaust fitted . Again under these no under seal , boot floor and into wheel arches same . I have zero rust in any of these areas but tomorrow I will mask up and spray a coat of Raptor 2k under seal . I’m not doing the whole car as it kinda looks like you are hiding something . The front under radiator x member was mint not a rust mark - understatement to say I was happy ! While underneath I fabricated a brace for the rear bumper and edged the lip with a door seal rubber - it now joins with the tank cover perfectly has no gap and an amount of give to stop cracking . The side sills also have a gap to the floor of about 2 inches - looks shit ! So I will fabricate a joiner to blend to the floor nicely - so happy no restoration needed underneath - dry storage for the win !

I found the charge cooler tank , just need a polish , I have a rad and pump somewhere . This needs to go in the boot , so I need to run wires for the pump . I might relocate the battery to the boot , this will give space for a WI tank up front with pump . I am trying to run all new looms while the trim is out , all made harder as I have a double din head unit ,speakers and sub to fit and a carbon steering wheel which needs looms for stereo control ,cruise , clock spring ,paddle shift and so on . Underneath tomorrow for a close inspection and clean up

Got the car on ramps today and took a preliminary look - pretty good after such a long time - just surface rust on heat shields and suspension arms etc - nothing that wont scotch brite off - then dinitrol and alodine the aluminium parts . Interior fed with Connolly hide food ,some fitted and then taken off again - due underneath needs doing - wires etc need running - unwrapped bits I forgot I had and now need to work out where and how to fit . The dash needs to come out to swap for the cream one (I now have 2 sets of interior trim ) so I will fit a new heater core just in case . Pic of interior as it was originally . I am doing all the red in carbon and some of the cream bits - I may have carbon sunvisors - arrive this week ,so I can check fitment .

I don’t think I would class a booster removal an upgrade - looks like they just remove the booster ,which adds a force of whatever the area is 9.5 inch diameter x the vacuum pressure - as an assistance and add some lever length to the pedal input multiplying your leg force - the master piston diameter dictates the amount of fluid moved , the force and distance of the pedal travel . There are 2 OE sizes 1 inch jspec and 1 1/8 inch on later cars (due the extra pistons in callipers) larger or more pistons (area ) move less distance so more fluid needs to be moved . So the chase bays master is smaller than the late supra stock one . Jspec less pedal force and longer travel vs late (U.K.) more force needed bit less travel . The brakes will all lock up or hit abs and stop exactly the same but with different force and travel - after market callipers will alter again the pad travel depending on their piston area . More about preference than an upgrade and very little difference between U.K./jap - personally chuck norris braking is not for me - servo please !

If it’s a servo fail , cars are getting on a bit now , you may have a few options : new OE available from Japan circa £500 , not 100 % sure if the jap spec/U.K. spec are the same , but people have swapped front callipers and not had issues . The LS 400 booster looks the same , 9.5 inch but not 100% sure on the travel distance ,but 4 bolt fit and 2 bolt master with vent at the same position - these available under £200 new reman . All sorts of part numbers around and diagrams sometimes show 3 bolt master (may be a generic pic) my guess is the Lexus 400 one is as close to identical as needed ? Similar callipers set up as supra so pad movement vs hydraulic movement will be very close

Sounds like the master cylinder seals gone , fluid just going round . Usually you get some sort of braking with the servo gone - much rarer for a servo to fail but possible

The engine bay looking very sad ! Covered in dust ! Huge clean up required and some bling added . Looking at other bays put me to shame . You can just see an extra charge cooler I fitted going into the throttle intake behind the rad . I have not seen this done before , but twin cooling ,fmic then charge cooler . I tested this and it does work . IAT much more stable and allows higher boost .

Rear brake callipers - Dinitrol AV8 coated , one done the other as new for comparison. The factory casting is slightly rough hence when coated you get a smoother shiny finish . this will reduce any build up of brake dust sticking to the calliper and wash off with ease , wheel cleaners won’t effect the coating and it will withstand the temps - so last years and look the same as when fitted - the coating is resistant to most things - best using a hose rather than a jet wash - should never need a high pressure wash to clean .

No - there are no brake light relays and none in the rear of the car - there is a bulb failure unit but it is transistor operated and silent . Probably someone has added a relay for rear fog lights or such and it’s being operated by the brake voltage - bad shared earth or such . I can only post a couple of times a day for some reason so help will take some time - lol Page 114 of the electrical diagrams