First Supra, Second Car

[chaoticentity]

Hey all.

 

Had this account for a while knowing full well I wanted to get a supra one day. A good offer came up ~6 weeks ago and I'm now a proud owner of a UK spec, TT auto baltic blue supra.

 

Thought I'd hold off for a bit on posting just to make sure I really was going to stick around and can firmly say I'm exceedingly happy with my purchase.

 

Firstly, the supra.

 

Secondly, the supra at Squires. Credit to Julian Bailey for this one.

 

Thirdly, a shot of a few other members on another meet.

 

Then my Celica ST205 GT4 and the supra together.

 

And finally just an additional picture of the celica.

 

Some background, the car appears to have been owned by another member here, Twinturbjay. He seems to have taken some input from the club as someone suggested in one of his threads to put a Tanabe Medallion exhaust on it, and Rota GTR wheels, other than this it's on BC coilovers. Twinturbjay apparently crashed the car into a bollard, and subsequently it was written off as a CAT D due to the insurance company not being able to source a bumper and such. Someone purchased it from the insurance company (Or however that works), and put it back on the road. Back in 2016 it was resprayed by Danny's custom paints in Meopham, as part of bringing the car back on the road. A jap facelift bumper was fitted, a jap bonnet had the UK spec scoop retrofitted and the passenger side headlight was replaced, alongside the passenger side sill. It was then sold on to the person whom I purchased it from. It's done approximately 700 miles in the last 2-3 years as the prior owner didn't use it much.

 

Since taking ownership, I've installed a new headunit. (Kenwood DMX8019DABS, same as I have in the Celica and is a direct fit, plug and play with an adapter harness)

 

Replaced the front door speakers (and sound dampened the doors), as I wasn't a fan of a previous owner's novel bottle lid mounting solution...

 

And changed the coolant as something was a little off about it...

 

Next steps, finish sound dampening and audio project, namely tweeters, crossovers, rear speakers, amplifier and a sub setup.

And continue going through standard service items to ensure a long happy supra life.

[rider]

Welcome and good luck with the car for years to come.

 

On the glass of brown coolant you might want to change the fluid at least once more seeing it is quite difficult to completely drain the Supra cooling system. You want to protect the heater matrix at all cost, including considering going to a waterless coolant. I haven't done that myself but my fluid gets changed every 2 years with a new dose of Toyota Red as per the manufacturers recommendation even though the car does very few miles. Maintained well, the cars do tend to run and run.

 

If your car is an original UK supply car then the underside is the area to consider spending most of your time and money on these days as rust, largely unseen, is starting to become a growing realisation. You can get a rough guide on how far that has likely gone by looking at the integrity of the tank guard condition, plus the rear and front hub shields and then the surface condition of the rear subframe and drive shafts (assuming these are all original). The front dust shields are one of the first parts to dissolve away with replacements often cut to fit the hub in situ as a quick fix compared to removing the hub to fit a unmodified new shield. If all these components are in good shape then chances are the bodywork is to.

[chaoticentity]

Welcome and good luck with the car for years to come.

 

On the glass of brown coolant you might want to change the fluid at least once more seeing it is quite difficult to completely drain the Supra cooling system. You want to protect the heater matrix at all cost, including considering going to a waterless coolant. I haven't done that myself but my fluid gets changed every 2 years with a new dose of Toyota Red as per the manufacturers recommendation even though the car does very few miles. Maintained well, the cars do tend to run and run.

 

If your car is an original UK supply car then the underside is the area to consider spending most of your time and money on these days as rust, largely unseen, is starting to become a growing realisation. You can get a rough guide on how far that has likely gone by looking at the integrity of the tank guard condition, plus the rear and front hub shields and then the surface condition of the rear subframe and drive shafts (assuming these are all original). The front dust shields are one of the first parts to dissolve away with replacements often cut to fit the hub in situ as a quick fix compared to removing the hub to fit a unmodified new shield. If all these components are in good shape then chances are the bodywork is to.

 

I spent several hours emptying, filling with a hose, running up till hot, and repeating till the water was clear to ensure everything was flushed yesterday. I've then filled it with Toyota red. Having only drained from the radiator (Can't get the car in the air right now) I got 6-7L of coolant into it alongside the remaining 2-3L of fresh water. Once I can get the car in the air I'll redrain and refill with more toyota red I think.

 

I will however go and check my dust shields and the like. Having looked under the car before it all looks like minor surface rust on various bits with nothing major. Really need to get it in the air, scrub and treat the underside with derust to ensure it's all happy. Thanks for the heads up about potential rust hotspots!

[hamzahkhan]

Congratulations, lovely car and welcome to the club. All the best with your plans and keep us posted along the way.

[rider]

There is also a coolant drain off the block. Seeing you are member you can get all the manuals in the tech section to see where the engine coolant drain is on the side of the engine.

[chaoticentity]

There is also a coolant drain off the block. Seeing you are member you can get all the manuals in the tech section to see where the engine coolant drain is on the side of the engine.

 

Am aware of this, can’t get to it with the car on the ground though, and can’t lift the car at the moment as it’s been lowered so my jack is too tall for it. I’ll look it up properly and do this fully drained and flushed later down the line when I’ve got the equipment to do so

[chaoticentity]

Congratulations, lovely car and welcome to the club. All the best with your plans and keep us posted along the way.

 

Thanks! Plan to put a build thread up once I’ve done a few more things I think!