My first car...

[Psionic]

Hello Supra people!

(I'm from Sweden so my english isn't all that great)
I have bought a Supra P-type -85 just recently. It has been standing all alone in a garage for about 2 years.
It has some fixing though, a little rust and the paint has oxidated pretty much so it needs a paint job at some point, when i can afford it :)
Two big rust holes in the "trunk" over the wheels, don't know the exact word for it. And it has no muffler at all heh :) But the car runs fairly good as is. (Muffler is on the way) :)
The interior is pretty much in perfect shape.
It's a 5M-E

I may note this is my first car so i'm not a expirienced mechanic either lol, but i have friends to help me out with the more complicated stuff.

I guess the engine has some parts that needs to get replaced after it has been standing quite some time.
So I thought i'd ask some questions about a few things...

To get the car a light tune without spending a years salary on it - what parts can I buy to just boost it a bit?

What parts should I take a bigger look at, often worn out parts..?
Timing etc, from what i read it seems like people are adjusting that themselves... how? Sounds a tud complicated.
I've been thinking of leaving the car at toyota for a look though.

I've been reading a whole lot since i got the celica supra, kinda got supra-fever :D Very interesting what people have done with their mk2's :)

Even though the engine seems to be in good shape I guess there is some things worth looking on, i just don't know where to start :)
Any advice is appriciated..

Thanks,
Matthew

[Square]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

The normal things to check/replace on a car that has been sitting are:

Plugs
Plug wires
Rotor
Cap
Radiator hoses
Heater hoses
Coolant flush/refill
Brake fluid flush/refill
Brake lines
windshield wipers
Battery cables
Vacuum lines
Air filter
Oil change & oil filter

As for setting the timing, I will get some photo's up and reply again.

[Square]

ok,

As for setting you timing. These instruction for a 5m-GE, so I don't know how usefull they will be to your motor.

There are 5 elements to setting your timing.

1)Timing marks
http://sailfish.exis.net/~sfsound/supra_page/Supra_pics/Sup_timeMk1.jpg

2)Timing notch on your crankshaft pully
http://sailfish.exis.net/~sfsound/supra_page/Supra_pics/timing_notch.jpg

3)Distributor adjustment bolt
http://sailfish.exis.net/~sfsound/supra_page/Supra_pics/Sup_dist01.jpg

4)Timing check connector (sorry, no picture)

5)Timing light. (sorry, no picture)

Ok, here is the basic run down.

The engine should be warmed up before you begin (I think).

1)Take a short piece of wire (5-10cm) and strip both ends. Find the timing check connector and remove the cover. )It is helpful to buy a repair manual for your car as it will help you to find/understand a lot of things, one of which is where the timing check connector is on your car.) Use the wire to short the 2 points on the timing check connector. This tells the computer that you want to set the timing.

2) Hook up the timing light. The timing light looks like a pistol and has 3 wires attached to it. Two of the wires attach to the battery posts (+ & -) and the 3rd wire has a "hook" which goes around the #1 spark plug wire.

3)loosen the distributor adjustment bolt. Do not remove it and do not loosen it a lot, and do not move the distributor until you are ready to adjust the timing.

4)Mark the timing notch with a white grease pencil or similar and make sure your timing marks are clearly visible (they are usually coverd in oily dirt if the engine hasn't been cleaned recently).

5) Make sure the timing light wires are not near any moving parts and start the engine. With the engine running, you should be able to point the timing light at the timing marks and pull the trigger and see what the current timing of your engine is. The timing light will only flash when the #1 cylinder is firing, so it will look like a fast strobe light. You should be able to see the timing notch sitting next to a degree mark when the light flashes. The timing notch will look like it is not moving. Remember that there is a timing notch on both sides of the crankshaft pully and you will want to use the grease pencil on the engine side mark, not the fan side mark (the fan side mark is the obvious mark in the photo above). Use one hand to hold the timing light, and with your other hand SLOWLY turn the entire distributor without pulling on it and you will see the timing notch move in relation to the timing marks. Stock setting for the 5m-GE is 10 degrees before Top Dead Center (TDC), but I do not know what it is for the 5m-E (The manual will have that info). Once you have the distributor in a position where the notch is sitting next to the 10 degree mark, stop the engine, tighten the distributor adjustment botl and remove the timing light and the timing check connector wire and replace the connector cover.

That should be about it.

If I am wrong about any of this, please correct me, and if you have any questions I will try to answer them as best I can (I am also NOT a mechanic).

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

You got it right on Square! I'd only do the last step differently, and that's to tighten the distributor bolt before turning the engine off, and check that the timing hasn't changed from tightening the bolt!
And Psionic, I'm not sure if this will be correct for your model of Supra, but it should be very similar:
http://killerworld.com/~james/supra/
Chris

[Psionic]

Thanks for the replys!
I'll check those things out before any longer run with the car heh :)
For now it's mostly standing. Tryin' to get some better rubbing. Now i'm using Turtle rubbing, pretty much worthless even though it says "heavy duty" :mad: