It's taken damn near seven years and nine mkii's to get to this point. Everyone likes stories and pictures and you have to know where you came form to know where you're going, so let's have a quick run down to bring everyone up to speed.
The title of this thread is very appropriate - I don't anticipate having this car in my possession for another couple years. I'm using that time as a luxury; I have not made a decision of what's going to power this thing. It will likely be a JZ-motor of some variety, because that seems to be the new hot shit. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
Back in the present, Seamus has begun bodywork on the car - repairing every flaw he can find and prepping the car for paint. I intend to the mechanical and electrical myself, but I don't have the confidence or knowledge to tackle the pretty stuff. I will probably cave and stick to the stock colour, but I'm a huge sucker for two-tone schemes a la Dan McBoost and may go that direction instead. I'd like to try a few things - I'll be losing the power antenna and trying to fit/create some form of moonroof.
Wheels are a huge thing for me, and the F+R BBK throws me up a couple sizes than I'm used to. I would buy some work equip-01's in about 0.25 seconds if they were made in 16" or 17", but it's just not going to happen. Beyond that I love mesh and a deep dish. I've got some time here.
That's enough for an introductory post.
- Bought my first one in June 2003, an 82 L-type two-tone silver/grey out of Chilliwack for far too much money. It had to be push started and sounded very mean, but was in reality extremely tired. Took until 2007 to realize that amongst other things, one of the previous owners had decided removing the wiring harness when pulling the engine was too difficult and simply cut and it. His hackjob reassembly was the reason the car would never start with the key. While we're here, let's put up couple pictures! Car was sold in 2007 to another forum member after a marathon engine swap / repair session. Good times!
- It's actually backwards, because #2 arrived before #1. #2 was a parts car, so it doesn't really count. And what a parts car! Total piece of crap bagged 176k kms 84 with a super cheap paint job. Previous owner ran it out of oil and tossed a rod through the side of the block. Contributed many parts to virtually every mkii after. $250, stripped and scrapped.
- #3 is probably the most important one. Effectively forced to buy it out of a blackberry bush in some scary guys backyard with no title for $300. An SDR 85P automatic with an awesome sounding broken torque converter. Towed it home with the intention of stripping it for parts. Aside from some accident damage and rear-quarter rust it looked pretty good.
At some point my situation changed and I suddenly needed a car to drive. using ICBC's last-resort process I was able to obtain a title for the car. Cue Seamus (Suprafiend) and parts from cars #2 and #4. Together we spent 2 or 3 nights in the pouring rain, outside, pulling the broken automatic out and installing an 82-spec auto in it's place. We loaded up all the manual-conversion parts into the back (amongst other things) and drove 70kms to Seamus' house, where we promptly removed the automatic and set about getting the car roadworthy. I'll skip the part where the drain plug on the transmission came out on the drive and we put about 10L of ATF through the system before realizing we were just pouring it on the ground. I proceeded to drive this beast in one form or another for the next couple years. During that time I did plenty of stupid stuff in the car, including rear-ending someone. Some of you might recognize a calendar-like shot from a few years ago. I think this still holds some sort of record as the worst Supra to get into the CS calendar.
Probably my favourite car I've ever owned.
- No pictures exist of #4. It was a white 82L (or maybe it was a P?) auto that Seamus and I bought for, oh, $80 and owned for little more than a week. Thanks for the automatic transmission #4! Moving on...
- #5. Californian rust-free body and absolutely baked paint. Driven into the back of a womans taurus with no insurance coverage and bought via proxy for a very reasonable price. Anyways, not bad for a starting point.
Several busy weekends in Seamus' garage yielded a pretty presentable car:
A couple months later we struck gold at one of the local wreckers - a theft recovery 85P SDR with a black/grey cloth interior. So hot! By this point, we were becoming exceedingly good at taking these cars apart:
- #6 and #7 we're bought for an exceptionally low price. #6 was a somewhat respectable light-blue 84 P-type and was sold the next day. I believe the car is still driving around the lower mainland. #7 was an 83 P-type, and would not be missed:
- #8 was a very early (#3900 or so) 82 L-type hardtop silver/gray with a busted timing tensioner. Fixed it, cleaned it up a bit, and I believe it still lives with the same owner as my first silver/gray L-type. Was glad to save that one - it was on it's way to the crusher.
- And so we get to the end of the list. #3 (Stepchild) was exchanged for #5 (The Californian), and #5 was in turn exchanged for #9. #9 is, well, pretty much the same damn thing. 85 P-type, SDR. The car has been in storage for the last couple years waiting for me to get settled in to working life (mortgage FTW), and now seems to be the time to get the ball rolling. Here's what we're working with:
Not bad, not bad. An exceptional interior (and new leather to go along with it), a pretty decent, straight body, and the vast majority of suspension work is already done. I'm going to plead a bit of ignorance, as I have not driven the car in over two years, nor have I actually driven it while it's been 'mine'. I honestly don't remember what has been done to it already. Seamus will fill in those blanks, if he so chooses.
The title of this thread is very appropriate - I don't anticipate having this car in my possession for another couple years. I'm using that time as a luxury; I have not made a decision of what's going to power this thing. It will likely be a JZ-motor of some variety, because that seems to be the new hot shit. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
Back in the present, Seamus has begun bodywork on the car - repairing every flaw he can find and prepping the car for paint. I intend to the mechanical and electrical myself, but I don't have the confidence or knowledge to tackle the pretty stuff. I will probably cave and stick to the stock colour, but I'm a huge sucker for two-tone schemes a la Dan McBoost and may go that direction instead. I'd like to try a few things - I'll be losing the power antenna and trying to fit/create some form of moonroof.
Wheels are a huge thing for me, and the F+R BBK throws me up a couple sizes than I'm used to. I would buy some work equip-01's in about 0.25 seconds if they were made in 16" or 17", but it's just not going to happen. Beyond that I love mesh and a deep dish. I've got some time here.
That's enough for an introductory post.