rider

I think the Rav 4 of the same era or Solara of the early 2000's looks very similar. Could be worth checking that out. Lead might be a different length but otherwise looks pretty much the same. Whether that helps though as once a part is discontinued it tends to be discontinued regardless of how many models are affected.

I asked them for a Blitz quote and they said, forget that - why not buy on of our own bespoke offerings. Because they have to source via Fensport who are the Blitz distributors for the UK they wouldn't be able to supply a Nur R till November, or December.

When you start putting money and time and effort into a car then it generally is either a pain, ready to be moved on, or something worthwhile preserving. I have driven the car for almost 90,000 miles so its not like it hasn't been driven but I see where you are coming from. I do think once the cars hit around the £50k level people will worry about taking them out knowing if some oik bashes into them its going to be hell tracking down replacement panels and plastic bits and most will end up locked away, rarely to see the light of day. That doesn't stop the long haul expeditions though. The e-type folk have a Swiss run every year, think thats to commemorate the first motor show launch event? Its got to be a lot safer going on events and tours than it is venturing the local roads 100 times a year. Most traffic accidents do occur within 5 miles from home.

Top tip. Talked to Edward Howells and they don't do the stripping stage but recommended Bevlyn for that. So now dropping off the frame to Bevlyn on Monday for a oven paint strip and Howells will collect from there and do the pickling and galvanizing. Total cost £120 plus VAT. I wonder how many Supras there are out there running on galvanized frames?

I'm sure the frame on my car would pass its MOT for at least another 20 years but whipping it off lets me tackle the rusting brake and fuel lines that won't last another 20 years and also to have a good poke around the bodywork under the car that you wouldn't normally get to with the fuel tank, exhaust and frame in place. Seeing the car only does 1,000 miles a year now and lives indoors in my dehumidified garage I'm hoping what gets done now stays done for pretty much ever as far as my lifetime is concerned.

You can buy the JDM 2JZ-GTE and Getrag 6 speed box from the US or Canada more readily than they appear over here. Costs these days around US$12k (they were $6k a couple of years ago). Probably best wait for a TT6 to come up for sale, there was a auto to TT6 for sale in the classifieds recently which could well still be available.

You did indeed. The front frame I bought at the same time is good, as you would expect seeing it sees less debris than the rear. I was planning on using the links, hubs and arms from the rear frame I bought off Mike but the ball joints on them are all bodged and the purple replacement bushes seem very soft. No wonder that car got scrapped, it looks like it could have been one massive bodge. Still, looking on the bright side of life it only appears at this stage to be a major dose of surface rust so I'm hoping the frame will come out the proper refurb side looking pretty close to new.

My original setup was a Blitz back box system and people did say they could hear me coming up the lanes from 2 miles away. Once went to the local pub and had a pint sitting on the bar waiting for me, the landlord had heard I was on my way. Never seemed to be that noisy actually inside the car though.

I must be a mug then because I've just placed an order for a Nur R at just shy of £700 with a October maybe November delivery from their sole official UK distributor.

People will have noted from my underneath what parts needed thread that this is an impending job on my Supra. I obtained a replacement frame last year that was supposed to have been treated and powder coated. Having stripped the hubs and arms off yesterday I tackled some bubbles with a grinder on the frame and found it is literally covered in surface rust. Thankfully nothing that is heavily pitted below the very thick layer (over 1mm) of high build primer and silver paint top coat. There are clearly parts on a rear frame that no grinder or sanding can reach so I'm taking it off to Surface Processing in Dudley on Monday to have it acid stripped and then an electro treated coating as its going to be virtually impossible to get a proper paint covering into the closed sections within the frame. I'll fill those with thinned down primer and finish up the closed sections with Dinitrol spray after I have applied the final spray paint cover to the frame. Cost of the treatment is £165 + VAT. I'll post up pics of the frame when I get it back from Surface Processing and the final ready to fit frame after I have finished paining it. It's extra cash I was hoping I wouldn't have to spend but at least I'll know its all be done properly which clearly didn't quite happen with this frame when it was last refurbished. I have employed a mechanic to double up on frame swap over with me pencilled in start time mid September with put back together planned for around November to give time for any replacement parts and bushes to be sourced and the underneath bodywork to be cleaned, primed and painted. also swapping at the same time the tank guard (with new), front to rear fuel and brake lines and the exhaust . Additional Material

My car has never so much as blown a bulb let alone had the alternator fail. The only non serviceable part ever changed in my 19 years with the car has been the ac condenser that was holed about 12 years ago now and the SMIC two years ago only because the fins had turned to powder. I struggle to believe the Jap mileage claims even if supported by a piece of paper unless my import was the only car to ever have been driven on Japanese roads to anything like normal usage with 18k miles in its first 2 years. A 'low mileage' example like this car should only see age related issues, like the fins turning to powder on the SMIC. A new alternator is not the end of the World but a catalogue of niggles is not normal in Supra World. though if the car runs strong and fine then the little things can be sorted and once sorted it will be a fantastic car. I think people sometimes forget Mk4 Supras are an old car. When I buy a classic car it takes normally a year or two to get to where I want it to be but I have the expectation that no one else will have looked after any car to a standard I strive to achieve. That way the car only ever improves and gets to where you want it to be eventually. Amongst the collection of classics, the oldest car is 52 years old and I have never had any running problems with any of them. Perseverance and the money available to spend on maintenance is key to a content ownership of any old car, which includes the in its dotage Mk4 Supra.

I might have to delay the whole process. Stripped back the sub frame of the attached hubs and started to tackle the 'bubbles'. The sub frame was bought of a stripped car last year, low mileage recent import with a fettled and powder coated sub frame. Turns out its all high build primer and a good amount of rust. I'm going to have to send it off for pickling and maybe galvanizing as its probably no better than the one currently on the car in its current condition. If anyone knows of a good pickling house near to Shrewsbury please let me know.

My insurer charges has a call out fee on screens. Anyway, never done it before so wanted to try it out. There are plenty of tube videos on chip repair and I just followed one of those rather than reading the instructions which I couldn't read anyway as there were in about 4 point font. Maybe 30 years ago but not these days.

Do you need to remove the rear seat or not to get to the clips or grommet location? Or can you just lift the boot side panels and squeeze a hand in? We do need to take care of the ABS sensors as they are discontinued from Toyota apart from one of the four last I checked. Though I did come across a USA site offering compatible ones, still around £200 each. I did read a US forum thread where one commentator mentioned removing the two 10mm bolts holding the ABS sensor onto the hub and wiggling until it moved. Even forcing a small screwdriver down alongside the sensor to break the seal. Sounded drastic. Has anyone ever tried tapping or punching them out from the hub spleen side to gain a reusable sensor?

Done a search and nothing popping up. Looking at removal of the rear hubs and anticipating the ABS sensors may well not want to part from the hub. So what is the procedure to get at the clips inside the car so the sensor can come off with the hub?

I bought one of the Chinese eBay chip repair kits for about £4, took a while to arrive but applied it to my new run around that had, coincidentally, a big chip on the front screen. Results are really good, the very deep chip is now all but invisible and the screen surface perfectly smooth. I always like it when a cheap product outperforms expectations, reminds me of when I bought headlight lens cleaner from an eBay seller that turned out to smell and look just like Brasso, that worked a treat to. Shows you don't always have to spend big for top results.

Induction heaters for tricky nut and bolt removal are coming down in price and you can now get entry ones as cheap as £150. For the home mechanic it makes sense to have this in their toolbox rather than a gas torch. Has anyone bought and used the cheaper offerings from in particular INDUCTION INNOVATIONS INC? Most systems are still around the £500 mark and I guess you get more resistors for your money but for only occasional use £150 sounds a lot better than £500.

Not so much a stupid idea more a why would you bother, seriously? The climate control module isn't even rectangular to fit, neatly, a touch screen. Dug up a thread on this from 2011, seems it never got off the ideas board. Maybe it didn't work out? Maybe it just became too much trouble or a low priority thing? How about a decent HUD instead?

I'm not planning on doing the front canister end as all looks good to the front of the car, the rear is visibly where the bulk of the wear and tear occurs. I'm getting replacements for the hose couplings from the lines to the tank.

Just had SM come back and he recons he has scoured the Earth and sourced me a complete set of the 4 main fuel and brake lines. So I won't get to try my bending skills beyond the smaller brake pipe across the rear that I'll replace. Anyone thinking of doing this job sometime soon with OE pipework better look at ordering just about now.

When I get them off I'll have a look see if its something I will tackle or get one of the local garages to fabricate the pipes. If I do them myself and they look decent I'll take a picture or two. If they look shit, of course I won't . I re-veneered an entire dash, how hard can measuring up and bending a few pipes be? Still looking out for the fuel pipe sizes, the main fuel line seems to be 3/8th (AN6) but haven't found anything on the od of the return fuel line. Guess I'll put up all the measurements on the 15 year old lines corroded sticky when its all done because lots of people are going to have to end up making their own.

I've found out its 3/16 tubing. Question on the flares, single, double or bubble? Anyone know which?

I have had a quote for the lines from SM and asked that he verify all the parts are available before I pay money over as I cannot see the point in mix match self fabricated to OE, that'd just look not quite right so I'd rather fabricate the lot or none. I haven't heard back from Steve so I'm assuming he is too busy or its an no go. I checked US sites where one of the brake pipes was listed as discontinued and Amayama yesterday where three were down as no longer available. Pipe bending is a skill, I have lots of time and fine sand to fill the pipes with so you never know. Could become a cottage industry.