MK3 (Mark 3) Supras were made from 1986 until 1992, then after that they switched to the MK4 Supras, which is the version most people will recognize as the one in the fast and furious movie. The ones sold in our half of the world, North America, are MA70's, and came with the 7M motors. My previous Supra was one of these, they're great cars, just unreliable (as you can expect from a 20 year old sports car). My current Supra is a JZA70, which comes with the 1JZ-GTE, a twin turbo 2.5 liter engine. These were only sold in Japan, although it's pretty popular to swap this motor into the MA70 chassis, so you can have it in left hand drive.
So onto the story. On Friday morning I was sitting in my Aircraft Systems Maintenance class, and decided to search Kijiji for "Supra" on my iPhone, as I tend to do a couple times a day just to see what's out there. This time I happened to come across an ad titled "1992 Toyota Supra 1JZ 280 HP Stock". This sparked my interest, hoping that it would be an original JZA70 Supra. Much to my pleasure when I opened it, it was. Mileage read 141,000, and the price was more than reasonable for what it was. Looked down to see the usual "car runs mint with no rust", but you never really know what you can believe in these ads on Kijiji. It also said that it needed the lower control arm and hub replaced, which would be the reason for the low price.
So I responded to the ad through Kijiji, asking if it would be sold with safety and e-test, and if the car was registered in Canada. I received a reply back explaining that it would not, and that it was indeed Canadian registered, but it still has it's Japanese VIN. I replied to that asking some regular questions about things like the differential, what the lower control arm issues were, timing belt and some other generic stuff. I didn't get a proper reply back so I just sent my phone number, and was soon called back by the seller, and we arranged that I would come and check out the car on Monday.
Later in the day a friend (Sina) and I were at the junkyard pulling some parts for his 5th gen Accord, and I decided I'd try and see if we could get up to see the Supra the same day. That ended up working out, so we drove for about an hour and a half up to Barrie in terrible blowing snow and high winds, and checked the car out for half an hour or so. I made my decision on the way back home that I would like to buy it, and went back up the next day with my friend Sue to check it out in the daylight, and drop off a deposit, and we agreed I would show up on Monday with a flatbed to bring the car back home. All worked well, and it is Sunday now, and I have everything prepared to bring it home tomorrow, I'm just hoping for some decent weather so I can get some pictures of my new Supra on a flatbed making it's way down Highway 400!
Anyways, my car is a 1992 (last model year for the MK3 Supra) Twin Turbo R Supra. The "R" spec Supra is built a little differently, with stuff like a Torsen type differential with more braces, a full Recaro interior, better suspension and more. It's the lightest of the MK3 Supras, it is also quite rare, as I've heard only 500 were produced. It's also a hardtop model, which means it doesn't have the removable (targa) roof which was nice in my previous Supra, but not having it reduces weight, and Supras are known for being very heavy to begin with. It's also got an R154, the same 5 speed manual transmission as was in my previous Supra.
Now onto specifics. The one I've purchased isn't in the greatest condition. Currently it doesn't drive, because it has a broken rear lower control arm and hub, and no intercooler. The control arm was due to the previous owner towing it improperly, which kind of sucks, but it's the reason I got the car at such a good price. The stock intercooler on the car was causing a boost leak, so the previous owner removed it and just stuck a pipe in there, which gives me a great opportunity/excuse to upgrade to a nicer aftermarket intercooler. As for modifications, it's got a 3" turbo-back exhaust, aftermarket blowoff valve, and an intake. I'm not sure on specific brands of these, as I haven't actually picked up the car yet, but I'll be tearing into it to figure this out tomorrow. It also has Tein SS coilovers, a very high end suspension setup, which I'm very happy about, as they appear to be in pristine condition.
The car definitely needs some body work. It's got a kicked in fender, dented roof from shipping, and lots of paint imperfections. I can swap better condition body parts onto it from some other donor Supras I've found on Kijiji, but it will more than likely need a paintjob at some point in it's life. It's going to be stored until spring time so I have all kinds of time to get it together. Here's the picture from the ad on Kijiji, you can't see much, but you can see the damaged driver side fender and chipped paint on the front bumper.
The interior of this car is another story. The Twin Turbo R models came with a full Recaro interior. Recaro is a company that makes high end racing seats, and the seats in the Supra are no exception. They're very nice...when they're actually in the car. This car has no interior beyond the front seats. It has a full dashboard and everything (which, being Japanese, is right hand drive), and the front seats are there. They aren't in very good condition, especially the passenger side (remember that means the left side for this car), but that's something that can be fixed up down the road. They are still safe, which is all that is important to me for the time being.
As for the back of the car, there are no rear seats or anything. It's just metal behind the front seats all the way to the back of the car, as these Supras don't have a seperate trunk, since they are a hatch. This is something I'm going to have to make a decision on. I could go with finding an entire Recaro rear interior, which would be very difficult, or just go for a standard Supra rear. Or my other option is just finding some carpet and going right from the back to the front with it, which would look nice in my opinion, and be the cheapest option, but I still haven't decided so it will stay as metal for now. I have no solid reason to put seats back there, since rear seats in a Supra are next to useless when you see the leg room.
Now for the important part...what's under the hood. The 1JZ-GTE motor in the car sounds incredible. When Sina and I went to check the car out on Friday night, as soon as the key was turned, it fired right up with no issues, and had a very smooth idle. We let it warm up a bit (which took a little while, being so cold and the motor being cooled well) and then gave it a rev. We revved it up to 4000 and the sound of the turbos spooling and blowing off was an amazing sound. Sina rowed it through the gears and checked that each one engaged properly as well as he could, considering that with the broken lower control arm and insane snowstorm we couldn't take it out for a test drive. As far as we could tell from this and checking it over, everything seemed to be solid.
Differentials are a problem on the Supras, and I had a big failure of mine on my previous Supra, but this Twin Turbo R model has a Torsen type differential, which some would argue is a bit stronger, but some say it's weaker. I'm not very well versed on how it works yet so I can't argue either way, but it is supposedly given stronger braces to help support it better, which helps out the integrity of the diff on the R models. Once I get the control arm done, I'll be taking the car out for a spin to really check everything over in a drive. But the motor as far as we could tell seemed very strong and well cared for, which was what really made it all worth it for me. The 1JZ is a very well made motor. There's a picture of it below, also from the Kijiji ad.
Well tomorrow I'm off to Springwater with a CAA flatbed to pick up the Supra and bring it home. Once it gets here it will sit in my garage for a couple days until I find a suitable storage facility for it for about a month. After the month I'll be taking it up to store it somewhere that I have set up and can work on it, I'd just rather not say where on the internet, because you never know.
First thing that will be addressed is the lower control arm and hub issue, then likely getting the intercooler in there. Then it's all body work from there, and come spring time, when all the salt is gone from the road, this JZA70 will be ready for action!
As for the back of the car, there are no rear seats or anything. It's just metal behind the front seats all the way to the back of the car, as these Supras don't have a seperate trunk, since they are a hatch. This is something I'm going to have to make a decision on. I could go with finding an entire Recaro rear interior, which would be very difficult, or just go for a standard Supra rear. Or my other option is just finding some carpet and going right from the back to the front with it, which would look nice in my opinion, and be the cheapest option, but I still haven't decided so it will stay as metal for now. I have no solid reason to put seats back there, since rear seats in a Supra are next to useless when you see the leg room.
Now for the important part...what's under the hood. The 1JZ-GTE motor in the car sounds incredible. When Sina and I went to check the car out on Friday night, as soon as the key was turned, it fired right up with no issues, and had a very smooth idle. We let it warm up a bit (which took a little while, being so cold and the motor being cooled well) and then gave it a rev. We revved it up to 4000 and the sound of the turbos spooling and blowing off was an amazing sound. Sina rowed it through the gears and checked that each one engaged properly as well as he could, considering that with the broken lower control arm and insane snowstorm we couldn't take it out for a test drive. As far as we could tell from this and checking it over, everything seemed to be solid.
Differentials are a problem on the Supras, and I had a big failure of mine on my previous Supra, but this Twin Turbo R model has a Torsen type differential, which some would argue is a bit stronger, but some say it's weaker. I'm not very well versed on how it works yet so I can't argue either way, but it is supposedly given stronger braces to help support it better, which helps out the integrity of the diff on the R models. Once I get the control arm done, I'll be taking the car out for a spin to really check everything over in a drive. But the motor as far as we could tell seemed very strong and well cared for, which was what really made it all worth it for me. The 1JZ is a very well made motor. There's a picture of it below, also from the Kijiji ad.
Well tomorrow I'm off to Springwater with a CAA flatbed to pick up the Supra and bring it home. Once it gets here it will sit in my garage for a couple days until I find a suitable storage facility for it for about a month. After the month I'll be taking it up to store it somewhere that I have set up and can work on it, I'd just rather not say where on the internet, because you never know.
First thing that will be addressed is the lower control arm and hub issue, then likely getting the intercooler in there. Then it's all body work from there, and come spring time, when all the salt is gone from the road, this JZA70 will be ready for action!
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