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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

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scotsmann1

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Hi guys was wondering im going to buy a NA hopefully in mid june was wondering what u guys thought

should I buy a cheap miv for about 2 to 3 grand and spend another 1 to 2 grand on fixing it up I know this

is a wee bit daft a question to pose but I build houses know feck all about cars. What I have noticed is that

NAs don't go for much more than 4 to 5 grand so don't want to invest to much in 1.

 

thanks any advise welcome know im going to get alittle slated on this thread lol

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I would save and buy the best I could afford. Plenty of very nice, clean, tidy NA's that pop up. Just a case of being patient and waiting for the right one.

 

Risk is buy too cheap and you may end up paying more to repair/upgrade than you would have just buying a decent one to start with.

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Buying any of these cars is a risk these days due to their age, even nice clean ones

will cost you money unless quite a few parts have been replaced

 

Words of wisdom right there :thumbs: Look beyond the paintwork at things like suspension, brakes and general rubber components as they will be nearing the end of their useful life.

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Through my experience these are a few things that get overlooked and are also

hard to inspect properly if not impossible when viewing a mkiv.

 

Brake calipers are prone to seizing due to the outer seals getting old

and splitting, this is on both the smaller (j spec sliding calipers) &

(larger uk spec opposed piston calipers)

 

Brake & fuel pipes corroding especially at the rear where their fairly difficult

to check properly

 

Radiators, heater matrix, ac rad, UK spec diff cooler, SMIC's on turbo cars

 

Seizing and or worn suspension bushes, can be costly to fix as they can be very difficult

to remove and OE parts are expensive. (rear upper arm = £450 each)

 

Dampers will be tired

 

Front cross member under the radiator is a common area to suffer from corrosion.

 

Front crank seals seem to be a common problem these days.

 

Crank pulleys splitting in two, there a bonded harmonic damper

 

Any rubber hoses will be very tired in the engine bay but not

to bad to replace with silicon or hose from local car spares shops

 

Valve stem seals, cam cover seals.

 

Coil pack connectors on turbo cars

Edited by Dnk (see edit history)
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Through my experience these are a few things that get overlooked and are also

hard to inspect properly if not impossible when viewing a mkiv.

 

Brake calipers are prone to seizing due to the outer seals getting old

and splitting, this is on both the smaller (j spec sliding calipers) &

(larger uk spec opposed piston calipers)

 

Brake & fuel pipes corroding especially at the rear where their fairly difficult

to check properly

 

Radiators, heater matrix, ac rad, UK spec diff cooler, SMIC's on turbo cars

 

Seizing and or worn suspension bushes, can be costly to fix as they can be very difficult

to remove and OE parts are expensive. (rear upper arm = £450 each)

 

Dampers will be tired

 

Front cross member under the radiator is a common area to suffer from corrosion.

 

Front crank seals seem to be a common problem these days.

 

Crank pulleys splitting in two, there a bonded harmonic damper

 

Any rubber hoses will be very tired in the engine bay but not

to bad to replace with silicon or hose from local car spares shops

 

Also valve stem seals

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Just being honest with you, all mkv's are between 11 & 20 yrs old now

so be careful and don't buy one just because its looks nice and seems

to drive ok.

 

To give you a scary scenario, if you bought a mkiv for £4k you'd spend more

just replacing the suspension arms if you bought new genuine parts from

Toyota !!

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I'm hoping there is somewhere in sunny Scotland where I can take it to get sorted out

 

Most jobs on a mkiv any good garage can deal with to be honest.

 

Finding the right car in the first place is the hard part and in my

opinion the biggest priority to save yourself money in the long term

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Well i wouldn't rely on luck, use the buying guide on here and the

other info thats posted and ask the relevant questions of the seller

 

If the cars say 15 yrs old and totally original then there's a pretty good chance

a few bits will be pretty tired and will need replacing in the near future, use this

knowledge to get a better deal.

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as said expencive cars to run now days always something that could be better ,but thats how you end up getting in the end when you have a couple of months you havent had to shell out ,you think what can i spend that money on it this month.

 

tyres could cost you £800 or greater

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Going to b honest here not looking to b the fastest on the block just want to drive something out of the ordinary and looks really gd I know all the hard core supra owners will shout at me lol but sick to feck of the cars I supposed to buy I'm 41 want to get something for myself for a change .

 

Sorry if I piss any1 off

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Unless you keep it garaged through the winter and don't ever drive in the rain! :)

 

Like I have done for the last couple of years and eventually got sick of trying to keep the car pristine.

 

I haven't used the cover since Christmas and to be fair, the body still looks mint. It's the underneath that takes the brunt of corrosion.

 

H.

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