Looking for your Supra advice.

[Guest derek argyle]

I am Derek Argyle and am seeking your top tips in buying my first Supra........................ Twin Turbo.

[Chris Bailey]

Manual or Auto?

J-spec or UK spec?

Budget?

Colour?

Modifications?

 

What's your ideal supra?

[Dnk]

This is as good a place to start as any

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?67644-What-to-check-when-buying-a-Supra

 

 

Do lots of research before parting with your cash, there seems to be a quite a few dodgy dealers selling

them these days. Look for a cherished car with a folder full of history, have a read through it too, don't be conned

its been looked after because it has lots of paperwork. I've attached photos of the paperwork my car had to give you an idea

on what you should be looking for with a loved car

 

HPI check etc is also a wise thing to do, also pop the reg into https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ which

should bring up the cars mot history back to 2005

 

Look beyond the paint and bling, its all the things you can't easily see that could cost you if you get the wrong

one.

The mkiv has worn well but remember the youngest ones are 14 yrs old and more than likely in the

near future will need parts that fail with age so beware the low mileage cars, they could still have plenty

of parts on their way out

 

Look for rust round the tailgate glass seal, also the front cross member the rad sits on and beware of whats

behind bodykits, look underneath, a lot of these cars don't get jacked up correctly and the seam where the red arrows are ends up getting bent over and starts to corrode, get a car on ramp if at all possible, ive seen plenty of horror stories once a cars up in the air, including low mileage imports.

I've also added a photo of the crossmember rad support that was on my car, that was 5 years ago

 

Dashes are also suffering issues around the de mist vent and separating

 

 

Parts that have issues with age are

 

Intercoolers, water rads, rad caps, heater cores, ac rads, any rubber seals or hoses, crank pulleys are a 2 piece bonded

item and fall apart, beware one with a solid aluminium crank pulley, they're a cheap incorrect replacement that shouldn't be used. valve stem seals dry out so look for oil smoke on start up from cold, suspension bushes seize and

can be very hard to remove, if a ball joint fails on one of the arms its a new arm. Brake calipers seize up do to the seals

drying out and splitting, there's two types of caliper from OE 4 piston 2 piston referred to as UK spec with opposed pistons

and 2 piston 1 piston J spec with sliding carriers, these fail around the slide pins and the piston seals where as the UK's onlt suffer around the piston seals, the J specs also suffer cracking around the bleed nipple casting due to being over tightened

 

I could go on and on

 

Take someone else with you to view, preferably someone with knowledge of the mkiv

Edited October 2, 2016 by Dnk (see edit history)

[Axl]

What dunk said