Mike2JZ

Well I'm still waiting for the head stud tool to arrive so I can torque it down, hopefully here tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, I've been cleaning up some of the other components on the engine and giving them some test fitting. So much dirt on this fuel rail, not that you can really see it when the GE intake is on, but nice to know it's clean and the rubber seal holes aren't corroded. Couple more cleaned and painted bits on the front. Will be interesting to see if the wrinkle paint dulls at all with a few heat cycles, as it's quite shiny at the moment. Engine mounts and intake runner cleaned. I did want to change my engine mounts to TRD ones, but I have a feeling the vibrations I was feeling in the car was from incorrect prop install from last garage, or the wobbly diff. Will see once car is back together. Water pump & lines ready to go now, also got some new heater hoses so hopefully can route them in a more sneaky way compared to stock Still undecided if I should keep the intake piping & throttle body silver, or go black with them. I feel the silver won't look great unless it's polished and I'm too impatient to do that

You are forcing your turbo to breathe through a straw, I'd get rid of that asap

this car is begging for a trd spoiler, would suit the look imo

Now that is awesome, wish I had the skills to do that sort of job

Head on and rocker covers placed on for a quick photo, not to shabby Then had an issue with all my 13mm deep sockets not reaching arp fasteners in the head, which is annoying. new socket ordered now that will fit hopefully. will start re-assembling other parts of the engine till then. Decided to re-use waterpump as nothing wrong with it, aside from a small leak. Got new gaskets for it, if it still leaks after then I'll get a new one. New thermo, might as well whilst I'm here Water pump & piping all sorted Also cleaned up the oil filter housing & pulley tensioner for some test fitting.

Smoothing the mating surface of the lower block where oil pan #2 goes Same again with oil pump + gasket. also put in new front crank seal Torquing down to spec & removing excess gasket Same process again with rear crank seal + housing Oil pan #2 ready to go Bottom end all re-assembled. only excess gasket left to scrap off Final clean of the top block surface, followed by testing threads with quick head stud install. thankfully all went in by hand no problem Headgasket on, and head studs re-installed with arp lube ARP washers placed in head ready for head to be dropped on

thanks for the link blyth. i will get one asap

Got a link to one I can buy? Can only find socket sets online

Just put arp head studs on my engine, and the fastener size is 13mm. Thought the halfords 13mm bi-hex deep socket I had would be enough, but it dosen't clear the GE head as the wall is slightly too thick. Turned my workshop upside down trying to find something to fit, but no luck yet. Has anyone in the south east/london area got one I car borrow, or does anyone know where I can get one? Only one I've found online which looks like it will do is http://sg.rs-online.com/web/p/non-impact-sockets/0519759/ but it's dear. any suggestions?

Re-assembling my engine

Fuse box can be moved, but you will need to buy a lot of correct gauge cables to be able to extend it into the interior or boot. I've just tucked the chassis cables under the wings, so far I've only had to extend the ABS pump cables to be able to reach the loom. Last time I did a battery relocate it was quite easy, just ran large gauge wire into the back.

dear god

Got my head back today and happy with the results Loving the smooth finish, almost don't want to put it back on the car Head had a basic clean, with the valves cleaned and regrounded before being leak tested again. New valve stem seals are also in Once head is back on the car I will spend some more time cleaning the head, but looks a lot better than what it was already Also sprayed cleaned to cams back to metal before applying new cast iron vht paint Also got round to installing new fuel filter. No idea if the old one has ever been changed so will cut it open on the weekend and see what's inside So got the bank holiday weekend coming up, will focus on getting the engine fully rebuilt and hopefully ready to back into the car. can't wait!

Got some arp head studs for my ge that I'm putting back together. Been reading on the US forums that some people have had issues with the washers supplied with the kit eating into the head as they are smaller than the oem washers. Anyone here got an experiences with this, or advise on if I should stick with the oem ones or not? Edit: Just compared and the oem washers and arp are the same size, so I should be ok

is it a bolt or weld in cage?

TT conversion is cheaper. NA-T is a false economy

I used a guy local to me who you could try calling for a quote. He gave me fair prices and has done a few supra's down our way, and is a petrolhead himself (name is dave). Oh and he gave me a passenger ride back. Used him a few times now and always been very happy with his service

The price isn't that ridiculous, compared to the price of new cars which can be argued to have less of a driver experience. You better get on the supra train now, cause the prices are only going to go up. Running costs are completely dependent on how much you will drive it but it isn't cheap.

If you are confident that the wheels have been balanced properly then how confident are you in your front alignment?

Are the tyres rubbing on the arches?

TT is reliable from factory, main issues with it are the turbo seals going or valve stem seals need replacing. Especially with the age of most of these engines these days. NA-T can be reliable too, but make sure you have a good tuner as you will need a piggyback/standalone There are about a million threads on this issue if you care to search.

BPU can give you in the region of 400hp, maybe less maybe more depending on boost setting. Depending on your clutch setup and how you drive, your box could last 6 months+ or 5 minutes.

Seems like a toss up between wanting to stop corrosion/ease of removal and risking having a "soft joint" between mating surfaces. Surely if you are creating a soft joint, then just checking your wheel nut torque every now and then is all thats needed, especially on a road car. Sharing a workshop with some bmw fanatics, I get to see a lot of stock bmw's that need the wheels kicked properly to get them to come off the hub once wheel nuts are off.

GTE Engine: 2-3k V160 Gearbox: 3-4k [second hand] Labor: 2k? You will also need to worry about propshaft & diff. I'd probably budget around 10k to get it done unless you can do the work yourself