Small Project; Evil S number 2

TuneR · October 14, 2012

So i got the Supra a couple of months ago, it is a Jspec RZ-S TTT (Tiptronic Twin Turbo). I posted up an intro thread sometime back but never got round to doing this until now. Due to the price of road tax here and it being winter when i got it i didn't get around to using it until this summer. So here she is after i got it:

Unfortunately the brakes were seized when i took it out for its maiden voyage after being parked up with the fronts smoking! Thanks to Chris Wilson i got front and rear rebuild kits, rear stainless pistons (rear only due to wanting to upgrade to LS400 fronts someday) and new pads all round too due to having worn rears. So after paying nearly €400 for three months tax, the car had to spend nearly a month off the road as i found time to do the brakes. I pulled them all off, cleaned them, did some electrolysis, used some Hammerite Kurust, rust primer and then painted them black. Ill get some Supra logo for them shortly, some bad pics of the work:

So finally i got her on the road for some driving and its good fun. The suspension is a bit too soft for me and needs a little tightening up for the bends imo, ill be sorting it in time. So far the plans for the car are engine wise: BPU, interior: S2000 front seats and leather rears, exterior: front lip, respray and maybe new alloys, suspension: coilovers, strut brace, etc and upgrade the diff to an LSD type one. Anyway here is the car as it stands after finally getting out for the first time:

Also the reason for Evil S number 2 is because Evil S the first is a JDM Grand Prix White Honda S2000:

TuneR · September 12, 2013

So i was just doing this to update my brother on the Supra as he loves em and is in Sydney atm. Anyway I drove it for those two months most weekends and tbh it was a nice drive, lots of power when you needed it and very comfortable even on 18's. I think its "wallowy" in the bends though in standard form and if the JDM setup is harder than the UK/US they must feel worse in the bends! I guess it is quiet a heavy car and i shouldn't compare it to my S2000. Small brakes are adequete, that is all. Open diff is crap you have to be careful overtaking in the wet as it would step out on kickdown. Luckily my foot TC would kick in just before the actual TC lol. I managed 26mpg which i feel was good as i was expecting it to be worse, obviously it is if you have a heavy foot.

I decided over the winter i would upgrade to BPU and get a bit of work done on the car. I got an Apexi 3" second decat, then a Toyosports 3" exhaust (cheap i know but its just metal and i dont believe BPU will be too picky) and finally got the rest for basic BPU off Whifbitz i.e. 2"RR, 2.5" first decat, HKS FCD and Walbro 255. I also decided id give it a full service, i got Motul engine, diff oils and Fuchs gearbox oil for a 2l change and full power steering change, a K&N drop in air filter, IK22 spark plugs all from Opie. Then I got a Toyota oil filter and 10l of 4life/redlife coolant from my Toyota main dealer.

I had an issue with the first decat but it was quickly resolved by Paul and while i had it in pieces on axle stands waiting to finish BPU i said id underseal it fully. So i quickly got carried away and stripped off the bumpers, side pods, front archs, all the lights, anything easy to bolt off underneath the car and the fuel tank. This is how she sat in my shed for quiet a few months awaiting a warmer day so i can wash it, airline it down and have it dry fully after.

I've found the underneath to be in rather good nick, just a small bit of surface rust is all. There has been one dent repaired on the front left arch and a few on the rear left arch. Nothing big though as there is no repair work inside the rear arch. The OEM tack welds need small attention in one or two places. The only rust issue i've found is inside the sills i could see it starting off. Now it probably wont come through for years but i treated all the inside with Dinitrol ML. It is a sticky fluid that doesn't dry and easily flows into cavities, cracks etc. I used Dinitrol 4941 on the underneath and archs, it is a stonechip protector finish. When putting the car back together the rear exhaust mounts on the Toyo sports snapped (probably due to doing it in the cold) so a small bit was cut off the mount so i could get the OEM ones in there instead. These were cable tied jic they moved too much. There is a lovely noise off the exhaust, its not too loud on normal driving, has a lovely burble on idle and sounds great on WOT. I also removed the sound deadening on the bonnet so the engine sounds nicer and you can hear the turbos and recirculation valve sound. I put the fuel pump in while the tank was off and it was easy to change the engine oil, oil/fuel/air filters and gearbox oil. I left the diff/power steering for another day.

And yes i ruined those trainers when doing the underseal, i had to use white spirits to clean them.

TuneR · September 12, 2013

On the exterior front i've gotten a WW replica lip that fits nicely which i cut the ears off of, i might get it painted after but we shall see. Afterwards i lowered the car on a second hand KYB adjustable shocks with Eibach springs on here and it sits and handles very nicely now. A front strut brace might tighten it up a bit more to my liking though. Im taking the current wheels off it as i've a nice set of SSRs (18*10", 18*9, ET34) for it. They have just been fully refurbished, i had a lad polish the lips, then a friend sprayed them an awesome gunmetal colour and i polished the nuts and put them back together using some red Loctite for good measure. Below is the finish first, then after the refurb and the light hitting off the wheels showing the metallic colour.

While being parked up the car suffered an alternator failure, this could've been due to a faulty solar panel charger or a grounding of the positive cable or just bearing failure. Anyway that didn't help it getting over to a friends at night for him to touch up the paint in areas (smoothed front and a door). A spare battery got me back and a quick charge starter nearly got me home on the return leg. Unforunately it died about 1km from my house and we had to tow it from there. Very annoying. I tested the car and then took the alternator off when i found out that was it from this site and a handy how to as well. I had issues with trying to get it rebuilt as the fella i was using couldn't get the parts. Anyway after a month of waiting i took it back. Bought a GS300 alternator for €50 and replaced the part he thought was ruined. It didn't work so i swapped the full good alternator in (only difference was a bolted on bracket) and it started and ran perfect.

Tbh the car sits like this atm. To make use of full BPU i have picked up a second hand Blitz SBC-R ID3 boost controller and a AEM AFR from here. Ill fit these along with the FCD shortly to get it to full BPU, ill probably run 1 bar constant boost with 1.2 on occasions. I also changed the spark plugs last week before the trip up the country. In preparation i got replacement valve cover seals, coil pack clips and valve cover breather pipes all of which i needed and annoyingly it took me ages to do!

As it is i taxed it for 3 months (our minimum here in Ireland) to use it. Drove up to Belfast to do the touristy stuff before the MKIV 20th Anniversary meet. The car performed flawlessly over the 1k+ km and i realised it is a brilliant GT car, very comfortable cruising along and good on average roads (we visited the Dark Hedges through various back roads). We only made it to the start of the meet due to unforeseen circumstances and returned home. On the return journey i experienced the first backfire when letting off throttle, sounded class and I wondered if it let a little flame out....

Edited October 24, 2014 by TuneR (see edit history)

TuneR · September 12, 2013

I want to refurb the facelift lights i have and replace the UK ones and take apart the rear lights to get rid of the dead Japanese bugs in there. Future plans would include a new head unit (old one has died), an autobox cooler, upgrade the speakers, LSD diff, LS400 front brakes and put in black leather Honda S2000 heated seats (like i have in my S2000) with a leather rear. That to me would be perfect. Id probably like a manual gearbox, although id have to try one to see first tbh. Although it may go for sale as im planning on travelling a bit and id need the funds.

Edited September 12, 2013 by TuneR (see edit history)

TuneR · September 18, 2013

Few pics from the IFOS '13 earlier this year.

http://www.good-luggage.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_3674.jpg

TuneR · September 5, 2014

Sooo not much done with it this year except for using it as it should, BPU works fine and is great fun. It needed a double decat again at one point (we were hungover at my friends house and i threw em up there for the pun:d).

I bought some new speakers as the OEM ones are just plain crap with a good Sony head unit.

Aaand the fitting, i printed off/cut out the template and cut it out of 10mm mdf. I bought the mdf rings on ebay as i wasn't arsed making them too.

The sound is a lot better now. Some friends called over on their new bikes, haven't had a run against them but i know ill lose until we're over 150/160 when the Supe will slowly claw back some of the gap if on a massive road.

Also as i said i've been using the car quiet a bit i popped a boost pipe (intake manifold pipe) while on the way to my girlfriends house. There is a little "touge" section that i like to drive quick as its nice and bendy, halfway up on full boost (about 1.19) the pipe went and i rolled to a pull in area where i was able to pop it back on. I said i wouldn't use boost til i got it sorted but overtaking a slow car (not quickly) i boosted to .4 and it went again. Stopped outside some old lads house and asked for a screwdriver. Even better i got a 10mm socket and ratchet and got it lovely and tight. Pics after i stopped to check again.

TuneR · November 6, 2014

Bought an inspection camera from Aldi for €80 there, i think CW said it'd be a good idea. Already saved me circa €50 if id went and bought all 3 turbo link pipes, turned out all but the first (closest to the front) were in good condition. When checking the plugs some other day i might drop the camera in there too. Really need to clean my engine bay one of these days. Also installed a HKS SLD2 and gave her a quick test to make sure she worked. It did do some weird thing (like it changed into 4th then dropped gear) after i left off near the changeover to 4th but it needs another test to make sure as it happened right as i lifted. Might record it next time to diagnose easier.

Somebody also took a pic of her at a recent cars and coffee meet in Limerick.

Pudsey · November 6, 2014

Great write up, nice pictures too.

Some great work done so far, looks really nice especially with the new wheels.

jim · November 6, 2014

Love your car bud

Chris Wilson · November 6, 2014

Lovely looking car, please don't be tempted to "add stuff" bodywork wise

TuneR · November 13, 2014

Lovely looking car, please don't be tempted to "add stuff" bodywork wise

No its pretty much to how i like it externally bar maybe bigger tyres, the bigger brakes and a few touch ups to the paint. I had considered getting new facelift headlights as well but im not sure on that yet. The UK ones seem to suit the colour better, i have the old ones at home so i might try them on some day although the rings are rusting on them.

TuneR · November 14, 2014

Found a vid my friend took one day, sounds lovely.

TuneR · May 8, 2015

So bit of an update, i got a nice interior, Mines strut brace, some brakes and a few other things in February. They all came off an NA Supra that I bought whose owner had upgraded as he was going to stick a Whifbitz NA-turbo kit on but had to sell the car due to family reasons. It was up for sale for quiet awhile and came with a few extra bits and i went to see it, found it drove fine so we came to an agreement and i gave him a deposit for it. Here she is (which is also FS) next to mine before brake surgery.

The brakes were swapped with mine which included 6pot A&Z front brakes with 335mm floating disks which weighed less than the J spec 2 pots! There was also OEM two pot rears and Goodridge braided brake lines, i used Motul RBF600 i had for my S2000 as new fluid as well. Here is the setup now (dont mind the wheels as they're just temporary as i polish the wheels again).

I also took the re-trimmed leather interior including prefacelift front/rear seats, door cards and handbrake gaiter. I also took the upgraded rear speakers and Sony bluetooth head unit.

I also did a trackday after i got the brakes swapped which was a washout, the tyres are crap Sunnys that came with the car and had no grip on the track (more grip on the road!) and the open LSD meant she would break traction as soon as the throttle was touched. I dont have much drifting skills so i was just trying the power over type by the end. The car just needs an LSD and tyres and she'll be perfect. Im thinking of the Federal 595RSR tyres for her which seem to have a good price/traction ratio. The only worry is the de-laminating that i've read about. After that i might spoil her and do the AMG flappy paddles like in j_jza80's Snoopy thread and an gearbox oil cooler maybe.

TuneR · January 23, 2023

Well long time no use, i wrote an update 3 years ago and ended up not posting it cause i lost track of time. Marriage, Covid and 2 kids later and the car hasn't been in use since 2018. I did start my motorcycling journey in 2018 too so my cars took a back seat for that reason too. 4 bikes in and im having a hard time taking the keys for anything over them for a spin much to my wifes ("you're a father now") annoyance. Prior to 2018 I had done some work to the Supra as well as creating problems and sorting said problems so will try to update this to keep a diary of the cars journey.

In late 2015 I decided to tidy up the engine bay because it was starting to look a little tired so i started taking off things i wanted to paint. I was also replacing the vacuum hoses with the Gates ones that someone linked to on here as different ones were starting to go brittle/break. I got the OEM turbo pipes too along with some Frost aluminium spray (also seen on here) paint to tidy up the turbo pipes, intake manifold and TB (of course i got a reaction with the last part i did). I also decided to have the injectors cleaned (bad idea) since i had the intake manifold off. You know, that whole "while you're in there" thinking. I sent them off up the country and got them back some time later with a report that 5 were good and one was a little poor. It took me a few weeks back and forth doing the different jobs between waiting on parts, painting bits before i got around to re-assembly. After getting it all back together, the car would struggle to start and if it did it wouldn't restart when hot, even using the WOT flooded procedure. It would be fine if left sit overnight. I tried numerous things but checking spark and air was all fine. Fuel was the issue so i put back in the old OEM fuel pump, got a secondhand fuel pump ECU, new Denso coil packs and leads, disconnected the FCD and was at a loss. I didn't even consider the injectors as they were recently cleaned/tested.

Due to being in mid-west Ireland with little Supras around not to mind VVti i went and bought the only JZS161 Aristo that was for sale to help me sort the problem. Sounds extreme but i didn't want to be beaten and i had room for another car, always room for another car....until you get married that is. So with the exact same engine/gearbox in both cars it was time to start troubleshooting as the Aristo was running sweet. I think the only difference is the ECU but i think the engine part on it is fine so ill sort that when if i come to it. I swapped coil packs/leads again in case new ones were faulty, nope. Swapped full TB, nope. Swapped the fuel regulator, nope .Swapped the fuel rail, injectors attached, BINGO fired right up! Tested it for awhile and no issues at all so it was a dodgy injector/s. Perhaps some crud had gotten into them when i installed them or the bench test broke one or more. I bought a second hand Aristo fuel rail with injectors/regulator from the USA and it was all working perfectly again. I did try to narrow down the bad injector/injectors but couldn't seem to find the right combo of my old "cleaned" injectors and other second hand ones. Just stuck with the second hand set and put my old ones in storage.

After that i decided to use the Aristo for a year or so before it was time to move it on. Below are some pictures of the Aristo when i had it for sale, did a few jobs to it like tidy the engine bay, remove the mods, polish it, rebuild the front brakes, new front disks & pads, full service, new compliance bushes, new rad, new coil pack connectors and valve cover seals. Tbh it was a bit of a crap drive with the dodgy brakes and vague handling but once the brakes were sorted and the compliance bushes were changed it totally transformed it. The RWS issue that they all eventually have wasn't an issue but there was wear there. It was a great cruising machine that saw better MPG than the Supra, due to the cruise control really but still a great achievement for a heavier car. Downside of that cruise control was that it was limited to 112kmph, some JDM thing so it didn't work on our motorways here. Ideal daily though for anyone who didn't care how much it drank.

Whilst i was battling the starting issue i also bought an IS250 automatic steering wheel (two actually), these have the flappy paddles as stock and are a direct fit to the Supra. The only difference is the airbag. I never actually bought the IS250 airbag, just the rest of the wheel. I took off the old wheel, sorted the connectors for the paddles which is very basic, just a wire for up and down. I could sort the radio connections to work by buying an IS250 radio adapter but i said i'd leave that for another time. Took it for a spin and they work great, its a little cheap feeling/plasticy but the action is class.

Another member on here was breaking his track Supra so i bought his Miami GT side mount intercooler to replace my old OEM unit which is fairly battered. Its still sitting on a shelf in my shed waiting to be fitted ha. I also got his old OEM LSD and had him fit it as well. Traction is way better, now all i need is a good set of tyres. Those Sunnys that were new when i bought the car were junk when new and were falling apart now. So I threw on my S2000 wheels which were 17's 9"/8" with 245/215 Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres and tbh they're great in the wet. Still more traction needed though so i think ill try the RSRs or NS2R's for the 18's when i get a chance.

Another issue popped up when the Supra was parked outside as i worked on getting the Aristo ready for sale (it stayed in the shed until it sold). It was a hot summer and the windscreen cracked either due to heat or someone/some animal, which ill never know. Anyway got a local enough (25min away) crowd to sort it with a new OEM windscreen, they didn't have the OEM seal though but i was ok with the alternative given i needed the car. Can sort that some other time i thought, anyway after using the car on a rainy day something leaked. Owning a convertible as well i thought it might be the doors but eventually found it to be the recently fitted windscreen! I checked it over with a hose/airline and the two beads bonding the screen never fully joined at the bottom so just stuck in a bit of sealant. All sorted. Also came across a boot full of water, did loads of testing then sealing the wiper unit but that wasn't it. Turned out to be at the end of the water tracks on one side of the boot, the body sealant had a very slight crack in it from W&T. Small bit of clear sealant over that sorted it but if i was doing any bodywork i'd try and get that all re-done.

When i went to NCT (Irish MOT) my car i found the rear tracking was out so went to get it done and one of the rear toe arm bolts were seized. Yay! I just got a pair of Powerflex polybushes to get me through it, cut off the old bush and got it back together. Test past and she was back on the road, i painted the valve covers and spark plug cover while i was at it and cleaned the VVTi oil control valve too. Whilst on another car forum i found out about the Car VX report so i did if for both my imports and it confirms there was no accident damage in Japan and it had over 105k km the year before leaving the land of the rising sun. Last year i got a quote for classic insurance and thought i'd stick it on the road. She was washed, waxed, oil changed and drained the old fuel for my lawnmower. Baby no. 2 likes to eat money so this never saw the road. Instead i started making a list and collecting parts to give her a bit of a refurb. This is where she stands currently and tbh i thought of selling it due to impending house works for the growing family. I'd be happy to keep it as if i get to build a garage at my place i could happily tinker away with it in my spare time.