rider

Anyone wanting the Toyota part numbers for reference they are 68950-19895 and 68960-19585 for the right and left struts. Price in the USA is $320 a pair or in the UK £300 a pair which is a little bit more expensive than importing duty paid from the USA.

Have SGS moved away from the supply your own for refurb that they were a couple of years back? The ideal way to swap out struts is one at a time so you have a bit of support for the heavy tailgate resting on your head which isn't possible if they both have to be sent off for refurb together. You'd definitely need a strong friend or 2 to help out fitting a strut to a strutless tailgate. The missus just wouldn't cut it.

I'd probably go for a US import. If these are the real deal they could be DDP priced around £200 on a 2 day express post and be less if shipped over with other parts on anyone's wish list http://www.suprastore.com/tosumkrehast.html

I contacted SGS a couple of years back and they will only refurb your original struts rather than supply new or do an exchange meaning you have to add your postage cost to their web price. That tailgate is very heavy without any strut assist at all so I never bothered. Their price was high when you consider I bought 2 new ones for my daughters Corsa for £14.

Seeing it was imported in 2009 it should have some traceable UK history. MOT runs out in January and its not currently taxed or SORN.

Why not just ditch the plastic plate and put a registration vinyl on the bumper, under where the Toyota badge would normally sit?

Keron has a few recycled ones for sale on eBay. Give him a call and ask about one with white buttons. I've owned my supra from nearly new and I don't recall the buttons being white white.

I've just purchased a 2 post lift so I can tackle all my cars underneath as well as I can the on top parts. I have noticed the exhaust shields on my Supra are quite corroded. Might post some pictures if there is nothing there that'd give nightmares. There shouldn't be as the only corrosion that ever gets a mention at MOT time is brake pipes and I'm covering that with copper next year along with new hoses.

Its true, they only tend to fail when holed or pulled off on speed humps and bumps.

You can always seek out a farmer or a farmhouse owner with a well aired secure barn or two. I have a 0.4 acre barn that we stored a 280 Brooklands Capri for someone over the winter and it ended up being removed 17years later. The car was fully insured under our buildings insurance so all the owner ever did was SORN it. With a good set of cats on the prowl there was never any rodent problem and we only charged £40 a month. The way Supras are appreciating, you'd be quids in putting it away somewhere, anywhere so I'd recommend asking around.

I have an ancient Ford Mustang on its way over to me that has just landed in the country that has a chromed up engine bay with pulleys, rocker covers and filters. I thought all this polished steel and chrome bling thing was just something the Amercians like to do. I guess you are hoping to get something like this? http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?413960-Chrome-Won-t-Get-You-Home...../page4

There is a thread I have seen where someone stripped the belt mechanism and effectively retensioned the spring. Try searching google. Alternatively just buy new belts but then you will lose the date stamp on the belt which is a good way to backup age verify the car. There are also some 'tricks of the trade' applied to frozen belts of a certain age. The simplest is to remove it and put it into a hot tub of soapy water for 15 minutes. If that works then make sure you blow dry it afterwards and lightly talc up the belt

I've spent a small shed load of money with Inchcape Toyota in Oxford over the years but I'm finding its pretty hard to get anything out of them these days. Steve doesn't answer emails and the last three times I have tried to place phone orders there has been no call pickup in parts. On two occassions the receptionist took my info and promised a call back that never materialised. So I've, following the three in a row failed contact, been sourcing from Burrows instead who do tend to answer the phone and respond to email and will offer good discounts that have ranged from 10% to 25% dependent on if its fluids or parts as a price match or if you just ask for one. Its always good to have a couple of 'reliable' sources for bits. Especially when one doesn't seem to be bothered any longer. http://www.burrowstoyotaparts.co.uk/

I'd tend to agree but its possibly a factor in why after 110,000 miles the engine runs sweet and the oil level stays the same as when the engine is filled. Oil is after all one of the cheaper critical components within the engine and if you run a Supra properly, there's no point being cheap about it.

135C is too high for sump oil temperature so as many have said, an oil cooler is the way ahead. Once fitted your oil temperature shouldn't really ever go over 120C and be more around the 110C level on normal spirited driving. With a turbo, its not essential but its always good practice to use a fully synthetic oil which can, being a narrow cut, maintain its original properties for longer at higher temperatures. When I drain my oil which usually happens after around 2,000 to 3,000 miles it still looks and smells like new.

I used to disappear on tour for a month at a time and the Supra would fire up easily when I returned so a good battery isn't going to go flat in a couple of days without there being some other, non alternator, related fault. Have you checked the earth is OK?

Tom Harvey Cars Ltd only has one director and was founded in April this year. the other all seem to be sole trader non limited company Trade Names. Anyone can figure out why a trader has gone through a raft of identities and building on their reputation is invariably something they are trying to hide from.

Flesh and blood is always way more important than metal. Always sad to see another Supra lost to the breakers. Was the exhaust always right exit or did the accident do that?

That looks a keen price for the UK. Part number is 13407-46020 if you want to scout around. I can't remember the price I paid as its a year ago now but I saved about £60 over Toyota Oxford quote after the Duty Tax payment.

It is but I'd suggest only buying an OEM part as the crank pulley is a fairly critical component to your engine bottom end well being. Toyota UK charge nearer to £250 for the pulley, you can find it cheaper from Toyota abroad if you don't mind a few days for the part to be delivered. Took almost 2 weeks for my USA derived part to arrive via standard air mail and clear customs.

Just going on what Rob said about the crank pulley it has a grooved Bakelite type insert that on my 18 year old car had disintegrated allowing the belt to lose tension. Replacement aren't cheap as they are harmonic balancer. I ended up importing one from a Toyota dealer in the USA.

Your battery should give around a steady 12.5v across the terminals with the engine switched off. If it doesn't then you have a battery problem. When the engine is running you should see a rise in the voltage across the battery terminals to around 14.5V. If you don't then the alternator is not charging the system so its either an alternator fault or a wiring fault.

I do of course know the terminology, I'm just saying its wrong terminology which didn't matter until Supra values went on the rise. Now its just plain wrong terminology that will have a growing impact on value so maybe people should take note of that and start referring to their cars as 'originally J spec' or 'originally UK spec' because as I wrote, you can arrive at any modified Supra from any starting specification platform fairly easily.

All Surpas anywhere in the World outside of Japan and jap refugees. I'll take the free fuel though.

You are still struggling to work it out. That variant would be a modified J Spec and would fit in the 'modified Supra' class. It wouldn't be original spec as it left the factory. Neither is a modified UK spec, that isn't original spec as it left the factory. Its the word spec that has lost its meaning amongst owners. A spec cannot be changed, its fixed.