Mike's White Widearch N/A Supra Project

[Mike2JZ]

Picked up this HKS exhaust from LeeP a while back. Turned out to be an older style hi power exhaust made from mild steel pipework & stainless steel back box.

Back box and pipework needed a bit of a clean and there was a small tear on the rear pipework where it had hit/scraped over one too many bumps, which needed some welding up again.

 

 

Started by raising the car 10mm in the front and 5mm in the rear in preparation for the next track day, as I was scraping on front arches under tight corners/harsh bumps, thought it might help with exhaust clearance as well. Scraping was bad enough with the 3’’ toyosport exhaust I had previously, but the HKS pipework looks like it hangs lower.

 

 

From there I gave the back box a light sand followed by a polish and got 90% of the impurities out of the back box. Surprised how nicely it came out given it didn’t take me very long to reach this point.

 

 

Next up was the welding. Was a little tricky as some of the metal where the tear was really thin from being cheese grated across every bump in the country previously.

Have welded the tear till it’s sealed now, but have also ordered some mild steel plates to weld on top next week to give the welds some protection against bumps etc. Will grab some photos once that’s been done.

 

 

Fitment of the exhaust is really nice once bolted in and it sounds really nice, but a little drone @ 2k.

 

 

Only issue with it currently is how low the rear pipe section of the exhaust sits to the floor.

Might need to get a new second decat and cut/weld the flange slightly so I can twist the HKS exhaust so it sits closer to the chassis. Or leave it low and add the “spark plates/exhaust protection plates” to my list of 6-month service items: P

[Mike2JZ]

So the new exhaust is great. Even with the first cat in, it's bloody loud which was unexpected.

 

Anyway, I welded it previously where it had a hole just to get it on the car, but in the last 2 weeks I've been scraping it whilst flooring it over bumps etc

 

Was expected more damage to the welds but they held up, only 1 minor blow.

 

 

Cleaned up the area around the welds first and spent some time reinforcing the current welds.

 

Next was to tac weld a 1.5mm sheet of mild steel, then hammer it to shape before welding it on properly to provide an additional layer of "skin" to that area of the exhaust. Should also make some good sparks if it hits the ground

 

 

Not the sexiest welding ever but so long as it holds and does it job then I could care less. Put on some exhaust paint afterwards and spent some time re-doing the gaskets on the exhaust before putting back in.

 

 

To complement this I also dropped the front suspension by 5mm and raised the rear by 10mm. So far there has been zero exhaust scrapes or tyre rubbing whilst pushing the car on bumpy, so I think I've found the ideal height setup for daily driving for now.

 

My old radiator was also slowly dying, as the plastic mounts for the water hoses had disintegrated. Luckily had another supra member exchange me his auto radiator with trans cooler in exchange to help him fit a new one.

 

 

Grabbed some new hoses whilst I was at it just in case.

 

 

New radiator in. Managed to badly spray the wrinkle finish on the top as the can ran out, so need to go back and sort that out at a later date.

 

 

Removed the stock NA PS cooler, and ran some new power steering lines from the trans cooler.

 

 

Into the spare parts cave with you!

 

 

 

My powersteering woe's are almost complete. Just need to get a gasket rebuild kit for the pump to stop it leaking there and then all this will be done, can't wait.

[jim]

Car looks great Mike

Did you just say 'whilst flooring it over bumps'???

[marbleapple]

Car looks great Mike

Did you just say 'whilst flooring it over bumps'???

 

I spotted that too. Made me smile. Honesty is the best policy.

[Mike2JZ]

Car looks great Mike

Did you just say 'whilst flooring it over bumps'???

 

Yeah on the way to my unit there is lots of nice roads to go for it, but there are lots of dips/bumps. Normally if the car can handle those bumps without issue, then I'm good for 90% of whats out there on the road.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Mike2JZ (see edit history)

[Mike2JZ]

Well bit of a change of plans. Insurance told me to gtfo when I told them about my plans for full standalone NA-T build, but they did accept a 1J engine swap.

 

So fast forward to today and a cheeky 1JZ arrived, bought from pedrotwosixfour's track car.

 

 

Got most of the parts needed to swap it in, just waiting on a turbo elbow to arrive.

 

 

Can't wait for some turbo action

 

[The Raven]

Result dude

[Axl]

1jz's are awesome

[Mike2JZ]

1jz's are awesome

 

Yes can't wait

 

Need to update this thread, but I've got the 1J in the car. Just bolting on the propshaft as I type this, so hopefully out for it's first test drive later tonight

[Axl]

Yes can't wait

 

Need to update this thread, but I've got the 1J in the car. Just bolting on the propshaft as I type this, so hopefully out for it's first test drive later tonight

Tidy look forward to reading how it goes

[Supra.SZ-R]

1JZ'd her, that I wasn't expecting, but understandable with insurance being xxxxx. I'm inthe same boat tbh

Hopefully you get her running mint

[Mike2JZ]

Need to edit this post with more details of the swap. But I did manage to get everything and running for some test pulls the other night

 

[Axl]

nice sounds good

[Fitz]

Sounding good Mike, you'll have to change your username now

[Mike2JZ]

Been a bit crap at keeping on top of the build log lately so here's the recap.

 

The two main parts to this phase of the build was the 1J engine and a ridox widearch kit.

 

First off, before any work could commence. One last burnout with the GE engine and to kill off what was left of the 2016 tyres.

 

 

With the formalaties out of the way, the strip down begun.

 

Veilside skirts off and engine out

 

 

The new 1J was pretty straightforward. I didn't really take much photos of the process but the rough list of things I had to do:

 

- Clean up rocker covers/paint/new gaskets

- Check valve clearances (all came back within spec)

- Previous owner used the 1J on the track and had a number of the water ports blocked off, so had to get some new hoses and a block outlet from toyota before the oil cooler and heater hoses could be done

- Attatch turbo's, connect oil lines etc.

- Install new engine mounts that would fit the 1J mounts.

- New 02 Sensor

- New turbo Y pipe

- New alternator

- Full service

- Oil pressure block adapter

- Install SMIC + piping

 

Quick test fit

 

With everything fitting like it was meant to be, the engine came back out ( i had some time to kill in between ordering parts )

 

Wasn't feeling confident that my old clutch was going handle the 1J, so get a new competition clutch stage 3 kit and a new braided clutch line from master to slave cylinder.

 

 

 

The the gearbox could go back on. I think I was still waiting for the turbo elbow to arrive at this point, so turbo's back off and engine got a basic clean as I had two weeks to kill waiting for the bloody thing to arrive.

 

[Mike2JZ]

Whilst waiting I also started to tackle the loom. Last owner had made a mess of the loom, plugs missing, weird splices etc etc

 

Don't think I have any photos of the mess, but I stripped the whole loom back, isolated each wire, checked continuity & redone a load of splices according to translated japanese wiring diagrams. Thank god for Wilbro666

 

Wrapped the whole loom in tesa automotive high temp tape as it worked really well when I did it on my 2JGE. Means I can also remove the whole loom without removing the 1J inlet manifold which came in handy as I had to remove to loom twice already to sort out little niggles.

 

 

Loom test fit & connector test pre-wrap.

 

Again I've got a lack of photos. But eventually I got the bits I was waiting on and had sorted out the loom for the final time and everything went back in. Plumbed everything back in as it should and was left with

 

 

Fits nice! Engine is running nicely now, just need an air filter to finish off the engine bay for the moment.

 

With the engine and drivetrain pretty much sorted at the moment, I moved onto preparing the chassis and bodywork.

 

First I stripped out the carpet from the interior to see what was hiding underneath.

 

Driverside

 

Passenger

 

 

Both sides were ok, nothing shocking that I could find or that a quick clean wont get rid of.

Bit of old coolant on passengerside from where I guess the heater matrix let go before. Suprised it didn't rust that whole area, got lucky I guess.

 

Aside from being interested what was sitting under the carpets, I also had to sort out a bent floor pan on the driverside where some muppet decided to jack the car up from. (may or may not have been me)

 

Had to break some of the stock spot welds to get enough leverage on the floor in order to get it bent back to follow the floors normal shape, before welding it back.

 

 

Not super pretty, but that pan is sealed again

 

Went a bit OTT with the seam sealer above and below, but rather have more then less!

 

 

 

Just waiting on that sealer to dry properly before I can paint it back and start cleaning it up.

 

Whilst I was under the car and dealing with annoying chassis bits, I thought now would be a good time to sort out the sills, as they had been bent in several places.

 

Was dreading the worst, but it was a suprisingly easy job. Good old adjustable spanner followed by metal block + hammer got everything sorted in no time.

[Mike2JZ]

So with the sills straight, I figured I might as well strip them down and primer/paint/seal as they were looking a bit tired.

 

Really need to invest in some ear covers as that bloody wire wheel grinder has made me deaf again getting the sills back to bare metal.

 

From bare metal, I applied anti rust treatment, followed by zinc etch primer, one coats of black base paint, finished with one layer of underseal. End result is like this on each corner of the car now

 

 

 

Ran out of time this weekend, just need to finish off the middle sections of the sills, tidy up/repaint the interior floor pan area and then it's bodywork/paint time (yaaaaaay)

[Annabella]

Excellent stuff, 1/3 way through sills on mine, tbc next year when warmer and drier.

[TheTurtleshead]

You're doing a good job here Mike, doing it by the book it would seem! Pleased you're changing to a more classy bodykit aswell.

[Kendo11]

Excellent work on your sills Mike, doing a great job there.

[Mike2JZ]

Cheers guys.

 

Had some time to finish off the job last night.

 

Loving these super quality photos

 

Got a HKS mushroom filter for the intake. Held on with cable ties for the moment, need to make a bracket to attach it to strut tower next.

 

 

Driverside sills straightened, stripped, undercoated, painted & undersealed. If I even see someone try to jack up off the sills now I'm going to go berserk.

 

 

Floor pan is welded, sealed, undercoated & painted now. Not the worsts best paint job, but it's going under a carpet so meh. Can clean up the floor from all the crap on it and stick the carpet back in now.

 

[The Raven]

nice work dude.

[d-_-b]

Looking great dude!

Just wondering, Does it require a lot of work to fit the 1J ?

[Annabella]

Did I not read on here the mushroom intake filters disintegrate and end up in the engine intake manifold and worse? Not trying to p on your bonfire! Just seen it on here.

 

Edit think its the green ones that break up.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Annabella (see edit history)

[Sheefa]

Did I not read on here the mushroom intake filters disintegrate and end up in the engine intake manifold and worse? Not trying to p on your bonfire! Just seen it on here.

 

Edit think its the green ones that break up.

 

Not sure about that but they are known to be absolutely useless in comparison to stock and a proper uprated panel filter.