Mont's 1995 Supra RZ-S

[Mont]

Hi everyone.

 

I'm pretty new here and thought I'd pay my membership and start a thread to document the hopefully ongoing progress of my 1995 Supra RZ-S.

 

I've always had a love for Japanese cars since my parents began owning Mitsubishis in the mid-80s. It was in a local Mitsubishi garage when I was around 8 or 9 years old that I first seen a red wide-arch Starion turbo and I think that's where my love of quick Japanese cars started. Over the years I've had a few Civics and an S2000 GT, but over the last 6 years or so I've ran a modified 2002 Audi S3.

 

The S3 has taken me to the Nurburgring the past couple of years but when I came back from my last trip I started to feel like I needed a change.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was in work and thought I'd do a quick Pistonheads search. The only search criteria I input was my budget and a 0-60 time under 6 seconds. A silver Supra appeared as the second result and even though I generally wouldn't be a big fan of silver cars I thought it looked fantastic. It originally looked like the car had sold, but the next day the owner contacted me to say the sale had fallen through so I took a trip out to see it. I was surprised to find that it was pretty much as clean in person as it looked in the pics. It had been Waxoyled underneath and everything worked as it should, even the active aero, electric folding mirrors and electric drivers seat. I really couldn't fault it at all, and so I had to have it.

 

I've never had any interest in owning an auto before based on almost zero experience, other than my head telling me that autos are bad and manuals are good. In fact I'd only driven an auto once before which was an old Mercedes S-class, so basically a leather armchair on floaty suspension. The Supra was a total surprise. It seems to be geared to always have enough torque available, and when I want to increase the pace it quickly kicks down a gear and revs to the redline. This was not what I expected in an auto, especially one from the 1990s! It probably suits 90% of my driving style. I've still to play with the manual setting but I'm quickly becoming an auto convert.

 

The car looks to be standard apart from a Blitz Nur Spec exhaust. I'd be keen to get it on a RR to find out what it is putting out. It's also my first car that has electric folding mirrors which I can't believe exists on a 23 year old car!

 

I've come in to ownership telling myself that I won't have any massive plans for the car other than keep on top of maintenance and keep it clean and dry, but I'm not sure if this will stay that way. Externally the car will probably stay as it is. I'm tempted by wheel spacers but a big part of me wants to leave it be.

 

Inside the Japanese double din will go in to storage so I'm on the lookout for something newer with bluetooth, and replacement speakers are needed as one of the front door ones has blown. While I'm doing that I'd like to replace all the front components but the standard tweeters in the dash beneath the windscreen look to be a proper pain to get out.

 

There's a heavy tint in the back window that I'd quite like to remove, however I'd need to find a boot blind first as mine didn't come with one. Next year I plan at some point to get it BPU'd but I'd probably have to sell the S3 first to finance all the bits n bobs.

 

 

I've a couple of small questions that I hope you can help me with then I'll add a few pics below

 

- Are there any good reference guides on removing and upgrading the tweeters in the dash? I've searched here and on a couple of other sites but any threads that I've found no longer have working images or links that take me to pages that no longer exist. I think I'd prefer to remove the dash than risk breaking anything by going in from the top and I suppose I'm going to have to remove part of it to replace the stereo anyway. Is it straight forward enough with a bit of patience? Any easier on a pre-facelift?

 

- Should the front Toyota badge be black/dark grey to match the rear? There's currently a silver one on the front. Would I be right in thinking this has a facelift bumper? Perhaps signs the car has been painted at the front at some point in its life.

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of pics with the S3 as well. Apologies in advance for the inclusion of VAG stuff [OOPS][/OOPS]

 

 

[Annabella]

you bought the correct colour! I don't mind the pics with the Supra next to the Audi, makes the Supra look even better! As you alluded to above keep it as is, stock is the way forward

 

Oh the search function, I usually use advanced then change to search titles only:

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?78907-stock-tweeter-removal&highlight=tweeter+removal

[Scooter]

Whifbitz do the bonnet badges brand new and not too expensive. It looks like a facelift bumper yes, but the thin bar can be retrofitted so not necessarily indicates previous damage/repair.

[Mont]

you bought the correct colour! I don't mind the pics with the Supra next to the Audi, makes the Supra look even better! As you alluded to above keep it as is, stock is the way forward

 

Oh the search function, I usually use advanced then change to search titles only:

 

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?78907-stock-tweeter-removal&highlight=tweeter+removal

 

Thanks for the welcome and that link. It’s a good start. At least I can see what the bracket looks like

 

Whifbitz do the bonnet badges brand new and not too expensive. It looks like a facelift bumper yes, but the thin bar can be retrofitted so not necessarily indicates previous damage/repair.

 

Thanks. Just found the badge of the Whifbitz site. I def think it needs to have the darker badge.

[rider]

An interesting side note is that Japanese cars pioneered folding mirrors for a practical reason so that as cars got themselves wider they could still navigate narrow streets in Japan. That's why the Japanese cars have switches to activate the mirrors whereas later European ones were automatic; ignition or entry activated. It looks like someone may have decided to refresh the exterior with later facelift parts including the front bumper and wheels, if you like the look then maybe add on the facelift rear lights that would be a nice touch to the facelift theme.

 

I'd keep a close eye on the waxoyl as that can be used to hide a lot of things, especially if its been recently applied. These cars are entering their vintage so rust, particularly underneath, is something that does occur.

 

I seem to recall the early Supras either had silver or on jspec white cars gold metal badges. These do fade with time, the originals are metal with the later ones and eBay specials inferior coated plastic. So, your black badge may well have been silver at one time. I have a black badge on the front of my supra that was once, gold.

 

Have fun and if you have bought a good one you will be amazed how dependable and reliable it is. I've had Audi's and they do great cabins but I've always had lots of issues with them by comparison to my Supra.

[mellonman]

trust me go bpu asap it can be done under 1k and is worth a 5k smile its the best investment for 1k that's for sure

bpu auto FTW

[blythmrk]

Congratulations on the new car although I have a soft spot for Audi rs and s models (I have a b7 rs4 too)

Is that Phillips old car off here?

[Mont]

I seem to recall the early Supras either had silver or on jspec white cars gold metal badges. These do fade with time, the originals are metal with the later ones and eBay specials inferior coated plastic. So, your black badge may well have been silver at one time. I have a black badge on the front of my supra that was once, gold.

 

Thanks for that. I just assumed as the 'Supra' writing on the rear was also black/dark grey that the rest of the badges should tie in but I'll check to see if plastic or metal

 

trust me go bpu asap it can be done under 1k and is worth a 5k smile its the best investment for 1k that's for sure

bpu auto FTW

 

haha thanks. Maybe I'm just getting older but I like the subtlety of a silver Supra.

 

Congratulations on the new car although I have a soft spot for Audi rs and s models (I have a b7 rs4 too)

Is that Phillips old car off here?

 

B7 RS4s are lovely. I had considered one a few years ago but prices on those have shot up now too and unfortunately now out of budget. Six cylinder and V8? You def have a lovely noisy sounding driveway haha

 

Yep, this was Philips car.

[Mont]

I wanted to replace the old Japanese stereo with a newer one with and initially started looking at CarPlay ones, but changed my mind and bought a used Kenwood one. I def prefer a stereo with a big knob on it (oooh-er!) rather than faffing around with touch screens. I also think the screen and buttons tie in better with the rest of the Supra dash and looks bit more OEM. It has bluetooth phone and music streaming so does all I need it to. I can't get the electric aerial to go up now even after trying a few different methods from searching here then gave up. Radio still gets decent enough reception so will do for now.

 

 

The car still seemed to have the original speakers in them and the rubber rurrounds had all worn away and just sounded terrible. New Audison 4" speakers and brackets from T B Developments fitted in the front.

 

 

 

Pioneers 6.5" in the rears.

 

[Mont]

I hadn't planned on doing this until after I'd left the car in for a health check but had some free time recently and took the car to a local rolling road

 

 

 

290bhp. 279lb/ft. Hit the limiter in 3rd at 135mph. From reading what other standard J-spec cars have got on a RR I was hoping for a liiiittle bit more but I didn't go with big expectations and I'm still happy enough with that given it's standard apart from a cat-back. A nice base figure for any future modifications and it still feels more powerful than my S3 which is around the same power as the Supra 'on paper' but I guess there's no replacement for displacement.

 

Do the OEM recirculation BOVs start to leak over time and are they expensive from Toyota?

 

I took this video as well of one of the runs but to be honest there isn't much exciting to see or hear. No flames or anything lol I did enjoy the active spoiler dropping around 9secs in. It's just a total novelty to me, especially on something that's 22 years old.

 

[nigelboyne]

Bpu will transform the car should see another 100hp.