Wheelynutz's Black Money Pit

[Wheelynutz]

So hi guys some of you may already know me, i'm james and work with lee at srd and have done so for nearly 6 years now (where the hell has the time gone) and thought i should actually do some form of write up of my supra.

 

I've had 3 supra's over the years but as some may know me i don't hold onto things for long until the next strange thing rears its head that i have to have.

 

I originally got a white top spec white na 5 speed for a grand back in 2014/5 that i sold on about 8 months later because at the time the insurance was horrendous and someone waved 3k under my nose when i was skint (the one i should never have sold)

 

 

Then a couple of years later Jamie P got offered a cheap early k reg silver na 5 speed that had been sat in a barn for at least 10 years and kindly offered it to me, so i took him up on the offer, but then a few months later i got offered a black na-t auto from a customer that had been sat a year or so and needed a bit of love, i remember seeing it when i went up to his to look at his other supra and always remembered it being quite nice, just needing some love, so i sold the rolls royce i had at the time (i'm not that posh, honest, i was given it from a distant relative that past away that was sat for years, got it running, took it up shelsley walsh hill climb at retro rides gathering, then never got used) to buy it, once i picked the supra up and got it next to the silver beast i realized how much nicer the black na-t was compared to the silver na 5 speed, i don't like the na auto box but even more hate silver supra's (well most of them), so i decided to sell the silver one and keep the black car as it was such a better base to start from (and not silver).

 

 

But before i sold the silver supra i had to burn the awful veilside (copy) spoiler

[Wheelynutz]

I do apologize for the pic heavy content, i am starting from the beginning and trying to summerise everything

 

 

So that has left me with what i have now, the black supra, it wasn't in too bad a shape tbh, just needed brake lines, a caliper, new oil feed and a few other bits i cant remember, got all that sorted, threw in for a mot and she was good as gold.

 

Then i got to use her a bit and fix all the niggles, the turbo kit was done by rocket dog racing back in 2014/15 or so and was obviously as cheap as you like but it did sort of work and make turbo noises, greddy e-manage blue, ebay turbo kit and 2.5 inch exhaust, that turbo died and a turbonetics 7868 was fitted, which was a bit pointless as it was a massive turbo on a setup it would never take, i soon fitted a trail exhaust which free'd up a lot of back pressure and put it on the dyno and turned the boost up from 3psi to 7psi as that was the limit that the fueling was happy with, took it to 313whp which was enough and better when i got it.

 

 

I fitted some PIAA wheels, cusco coilovers and a few other bits to tidy it up then used it daily through the snowy times and had fun with it

 

[tayr]

Hi James

 

You’ve worked on my car a few times too! Looking forward to the write up on the black car as you’ve done quite a bit iirc

 

Still have the MX5?

 

Edit: just seen above post! Looking awesome

[Wheelynutz]

Then took it to retro rides gathering in 2018 along with my mk1 transit and took it up the hill, it was pretty slow but i had a good time, the slush box survived but i was being kind to it and lifting through changes, and have a vid of going up the hill

 

 

 

And then this is when things started to get out of hand, i was bored of the power at about day 2 of owning it and thought i need to do something, i was planning on making a david p hybrid na auto box to take the power, and i bought a gte bottom end off a mate of mine and the plan as to throw that in with a tt head gasket, but i was then also offered a m3 manual conversion for cheap so i couldn't say no as it was a way out of auto life, then said mate i got the bottom end off convinced me to buy his gte head and loom also, and now we are starting to go balls deep, i ripped the car apart and sold the whole engine and turbo kit complete and started to build a new setup, i decided to keep the original turbo because on paper it would do good power and it didn't owe me anything so lets see what it'll do

 

I pulled the engine out and took off everything i needed for the new engine, i took the turbo apart and gave it a good sort out, someone very badly welded a 4 inch v band to the housing so i cut that off and machined the exhaust housing flat again, and took the awful hydrodip compressor housing back to bare metal ready for paint, and what a big compressor wheel is it (78mm)

 

Now i wont put your phone or pc though all the pics so ill leave them attached at the bottom

 

[Wheelynutz]

Hi James

 

You’ve worked on my car a few times too! Looking forward to the write up on the black car as you’ve done quite a bit iirc

 

Still have the MX5?

 

Edit: just seen above post! Looking awesome

 

Yes mate i believe i have indeed, im gunna try and smash through as much of the progress as i can as yes i have done quite a bit now

 

And yep still got the mx5, that gets driven and not much attention thrown at it because it just always works and never breaks (somehow), where as the supra takes my life up because it is forever sucking money from me and i keep breaking it

 

Have a bad pic and vid of it while im here

 

[Wheelynutz]

Now unlike most supra owners i dont have a spare 10-20k to throw at their cars as i just dont have the pockets for it, but with lots of good friends ive managed to get lots of stuff for very good prices and in some cases free which has made this whole car possible, i bought the car for 4k originally from the money i got for selling the rolls, so it didnt owe me loads at the beginning, even though it stretched me dry, but unlike every other supra i wanted to keep this one and prove everyone else wrong about them saying i'm just going to sell it on again.

 

My plan for this car and what allows my head to plow my life into it is never put in more than i could get back, ive had loads of crazy projects in the past and lost loads from selling them on which crippled me, and if i ever want a house, this is my house deposit, but having fun along the way and not spunking thousands in the bin.

 

So for now unlike most builds you wont see these levels of animal

 

Now the gte bottom end i got was out of a doms supra to those who know it (ricky49's old car) after he just went vvti and 3.4 so i ended up with his old bottom end and head, the bottom end was down on compression which as down to cracked pistons, hard abuse and 750hp caused it which is common to see on stock pistons these days, i was just planning on throwing some stock rods and pistons in there but a month or two earlier we rebuilt lux luc's car at srd and two of the pistons had caught up, so because i cant see anything thown in the bin luc said i could have them and out came the needle file and shot blasted the tops and back up like new they came, nothing we'd ever do to a customers car but my own, meh it doesn't matter.

 

So in went some 86.5 Mahle's, and it seemed wrong putting them on stock rods, so as i couldn't afford to buy good rods i bought a set of maxspeedingrods off ebay for £275 (FOR THE 6) and threw them in there too, when i got them they all weighed up near on exact and tbh i was quite impressed, i never heard anybody running them in a car with good power so i thought ill see if i can throw them out the block and see what they take, so i gave the block to the machinists to bore it for the pistons and deck the block, got it back and throw the bottom end together, gave the crank a polish myself to save a bit more funds and used the oil pump from jamie p's m3 after that only covered 5k before getting a new one, gave the sumps and block and paint and everything looked nice and shiny

[Wheelynutz]

Now was time to get the rest of it all bolted up, the head was in good shape but was given a light skim, the valve seats where cut back in and i re shimmed it back to stock myself, the cams are Tomei 264 Pon Cams from hemanheads old setup, cam covers and all timing covers also from lux luc after he went vvti, turbo kit is a virtual works racing manifold and tial 50mm wastegate from mario's old build, ati superdamper from steve m's old wangan, coil packs where some in a giant box that where laying around and i would keep swapping them out until i got a good set, stock inlet setup because i didn't want to move the fusebox or battery in the bay, fuel system is asnu 1100 injectors, twin an-6 feeds on the rail from budz's car after he crashed it along with his syvecs s6 and fuel flex setup, everything was painted black or crackle black as i don't like shiny things and was starting to really come together.

[ben_harmer32]

Look forward to reading everything you've done to yours.

[Andrew K]

Hi James

 

Great write up on the work you have done on your supra so far and look forward to reading more.

The black supra looked like a good base to start with and you have certainly been enjoying it well

 

You have also worked on my supra quite a bit and I see it in the background of the first picture you posted