[RedP85]

3 weeks now....

Overdue for an update!

 

[AF85]

You are far right on this lol

After dealing with some covid, and wrapping up the end of the school year (work), I have been a bit busy. Not to mention the hit and miss weather ruining the weekend.

Pretty much finishing off the gas tank, got the wheels off the tires for refinishing and pads and rotors are waiting to get put on. New tires are sitting on the car waiting on me to refinish the wheels.

This weekend, it will be updated

 

[AF85]

Short update:

Haven't had a lot of time to work on the Supra... end of the school year is hectic, covid bs, and of course the rain.

Anyways! The fuel tank is coming along VERY nicely. Going to apply a coat of self etching primer then coat it in flex seal ( i know... but try it out!). The inside will be cleaned out with muriatic acid then finished with a POR15 fuel tank sealer. Can't wait to get it bolted back in

The rims were this weekends project. I have never sandblasted before, and after this weekend I will likely never again. That was messy lol. To give a better picture, I thought just sticking the wheels in a plastic bin and laying out a tarp was good enough... I was wrong lol. They did come out very nice though. All the wheels were about the same as the one pictured. The rest of it I am getting by hand.

Priority is to get these finished before the end of this month.

 

[AF85]

Update:

Gas tank - almost done! Got the flex seal on it and smoke tested it... no leaks! I am going to pour some acid inside to clean out the rust, then Monday I will coat the inside with the POR15 sealant. I am VERY happy with how this turned out. All together I think it ran about $175 to restore the tank.

Primed:

Flex seal coating:

Got home and decided to work on the wheels. I am going to paint everything not shiny with gloss black. So the only machined surface below is staying that way (rim, lip and spokes). They are not perfect, and I think I will be okay with that. Maybe eventually I will send them out to get professionally redone. I am still wanting to get them CLEAR powder coated. As long as it does not affect the appearance, i think I will go with that option... just recently learned of clear powder coat lol

Weekend and following week should be all about the wheels. Hoping to have tires on them by next Friday

 

[AF85]

Well yesterday I finished up the wheels. They are not perfect, but I am very pleased with how they came out. I am thinking later on down the road I will get them professionally restored. Big shout out to RedP85 for talking me out of painting the wheels black between the spokes. I instead kept it the original silver. The taping was of course the most time consuming and tedious part yesterday.... 4 hours of taping, 45 mins of priming and painting. I am glad I took my time, lines came out really well for a back yard restoration

The paint I used for between the spokes, and inner wheel.

My sanding method was:

• Sand blasted all areas that were not going to be polished
• 80 grit for wheel weight areas
• 220 grit
• 400 grit
• 800 grit (wet)
• 1500 grit (wet)
• 2000 grit (wet)
• Mothers Aluminum polish

Prep method:

• Dawn dish soap bath in a large container. This was to remove excess polish and dirt.
• 99% Isopropyl alcohol. This was to dry the wheel quickly, and ensure a clean & paintable surface.
• Painters tape... next time I am going with the professional 3m stuff (yellow), works so much better.
• Self etching primer

I couldn't fit an orbital sander to get the spokes, so I only used it to get the lip of the rim with 220 grit. So all together 95% of this job was done by hand... and it feels that way too lol. Since my hands were pretty much shot after sanding all week, I asked the wife to help out on the black spoke lines. We got some gloss black wheel paint, sprayed it into a cup and used a fine small paint brush. She did an excellent job



Before:

After:

Please excuse the water marks... I forgot to dry them and left them in the sun. I am mounting the tires up this week. After that I will give the wheels a total of 7 days the paint cures completely, then a final polish. Again, they aren't perfect but I am pleased for now.



Gas tank also got some love and I can now say its 100% finished. POR15 sealer (silver stuff) inside. If I had to do it over again, I would have funneled it into where the fuel pump sits THEN shook it around. It was difficult to get the sealer in there.

Going forward....

I am putting the gas tank back together (pump, sender...etc) then throwing a coat of paint on the "new" tank straps and getting that put back in. It will be nice knowing that the car will be running on its own, without auxiliary devices lol
Got a bunch of parts still piled up waiting to get replaced. I am thinking on getting the brakes and rotors done next. Hopefully the calipers aren't seized but I am expecting the worst. I am off the next 10 weeks from work....so I expect to have a bunch more stuff done

 

[RedP85]

I feel your fingers and hands pain, BTDT!
What a difference it makes, outstanding results. And since a car overall looks depends 50‰ on wheels looks, you're off of a good start!

 

[Zoe]

The rims, just wow, wow WOW! UN. BE. LIE. VA. BLE!
I had my (aftermarket) rims done by a professional company specialised on alloy rims, but your home-made ones turned out perfect, at least for my eyes!

 

[AF85]

Tire mounted and balanced Just have to hit up the letters with some cleaner/bleach

 

[Zoe]

Gorgeous!

Now the task is to keep the white letters white!

(the whitewalls on my Cad have become yellow walls by now 😢 )

 

[AF85]

Thanks... its so nice to be done with them and letting my hands recover.

I've seen a few faded wheel letters that were repainted, and held up pretty nice. A bit tedious but it seems to work.

 

[RedP85]

Use sone SOS kitchen pads on the white.
I would have mounted black letters, as the Dunlop and Yoko were back in the days.
The white letters looks US muscle cars, and
black letters looks foreign sports cars.
Look A-MA-ZING either way!
👍

 

[AF85]

Ughh... your really making me remount and rebalance lol. I thought the white would break up an all black car. That is a interesting fact on the brands though, I thought it was Dunlop and Goodrich.

The cool thing is it only takes me 20 minutes or so to mount and balance, plus come fall I have access to two shops. As always, we shall see 😀

American muscle... RedP85, are you suggesting a LS swap?? Joking of course

 

[Zoe]

The cool thing is it only takes me 20 minutes or so to mount and balance, plus come fall I have access to two shops. As always, we shall see 😀

My envy is growing with every post of yours

I - as a furriner - always thought that white letters on the tires were a US thingie - regardless on which mount they are mounted (now did I get the pun right)...

 

[AF85]

Nothing picture worthy for now. I did manage to figure out why my HVAC levers would not move. The doors that open and close (mode/recirc) are made of metal, and were rusted in place. After manually moving the doors a few times and squirting some PB Blaster, they are now working like they should.

Got all tires back on the car... so nice having the height to get under the car since they aren't flat lol

I also removed the cowl, and cleaned out that area.

Ordered more screws for all of the fuel tank parts. Have to drill and extract one screw that broke off. Have to figure out what to do with the fuel send line. When dropping the tank The flare broke with little effort. My guess that it was already rotted away. I am thinking of removing the rubber line, cutting it off with a grinder and just double clamping on either side a new rubber line from the bracket assy to the vehicles hard line. I searched high and low for just the hose and the entire bracket assy... no luck. Very excited to get this baby running on her own, without my intervention.

I think after that I will finish up putting the rest of the interior back in, to include taking apart the front seats for cleaning/paint. I would love to buy the leather covers but I just cannot justify the price right now. It would look awesome though...

 

[AF85]

So when I found the last critter condo in the cowl and when I fixed the mode doors, I decided to give the ozone generator one last go.

Good news: There is literally NO type of smell whatsoever. No musty smell, no air freshener smell.... just nothing.

Bad news: I just ruined a brand new tire

I cannot believe it happened. I have never seen it do this damage to rubber before! I have used this countless times in other vehicle and never had any issue. Well I am going to rack this one up as a slightly pricy lesson learned. Funny how the almost 40 year old interior that has been left to the elements for 20 years was completely unaffected.

Moving on from that, I was able to start getting the tank reassembled. I started by cleaning, priming and painting the straps I got from ebay. Realized that the level unit and evap parts have smaller screw diameters... ordered more. Also had to reorder the sender gasket, was still sitting in my cart lol. For some reason the filler neck looks upside down to me... Is this right? Please excuse yet ANOTHER momentary lapse of reason

Tonight I disassembled the level unit... just for the hell of it. Glad I did, ribbon was completely shot. It would have never worked. I managed to find one new from McGregor Toyota, $128.00. Not bad I guess, and I will likely never have to deal with that part again.

I did give it a go regarding the center caps. I painted the "inside" with the same silver paint I used on the wheels, and did the outer portion with chrome paint. I was thinking of wet sanding to get a mirrored finish... but I doubt I will get it to that OE look. Wife hand painted up the TOYOTA letters and I really think they came out acceptable.

At this point I am waiting on the rest of the gas tank stuff to get here, then its just a matter of reinstallation. I think after that (or while I wait) I may get the carpet in. Its a massive heavy box, and I want to start getting rid of the parts I have been piling up before taking on additional endeavors.

Once the carpet is in, the seats can be restored and put back in.

 

[RedP85]

I think with the breader tube sticking out of the tank flange, the filler tube can only go one way (not sure about this) anyhow, here is a pic of mine couple years ago for ref, as it went in ok!

 

[Jeremy R.]

Here's a picture of my tank:

Green goo on the screws and hose fittings is RustCheck rust proofing.

 

[AF85]

Well, it has been a most productive last few days!

Got the seats apart and power washed again. I will likely be painting them tomorrow. Seat backs were dipped in evaporust to handle the tracks, then wire wheeled the upper portion. After that I threw on a coat of flat black to keep it protected. Seat backs were painted with the same stuff for the rear seats. And on THAT note: 82-83 seats are not the same as 84-85! The mounts and brackets are completely different, and the latches are welded to the seat! Thankfully the guy I got the seats from was super cool and is letting me exchange them for another seat he has. Hat is off to him for the kindness!


Dipped in a makeshift basin of evaporust. I had to add three more gallons after this pic was taken to it to completely submerge the bottom.

Current state of the front seats. Wire wheeled the seat back frame and painted. I will be painting the bottom and bolsters tomorrow, and hopefully getting them put back together.

Current state of the front seat bottoms and bolsters. This is after a hour long power wash session, bissle vacuumed the excess and have them drying with a fan.

Carpet got put in, cut a majority of holes for seats and stuff. I layed it out in the car for 2 days so the heat did some of the work as far as reshaping. Pic doesn't show, but back seat is also in.
Note: For the price, I was very surprised this carpet came so "dirty". there are fibers and strings everywhere. It's not that big of a deal, but still a little disappointing.

After a very sweaty day, had to chill out with the pupper in the hammock.

Next day (Today): Gas tank screws and gaskets came in. Installed the fuel pump and all the rest of the stuff... ready to go in!

After a few up and downs, the tank was bolted in with the "new" painted straps. Fired right up. Soooooo excited that there is one less piece of project cluttering the shed and that the car runs so strong! I am also very pleased with the results of the restoration of the tank. I will likely never have to worry about this item again. Vid below

As I said the next item will be to complete the seats. I still have to make up door cards new vapor barriers. Got a lot of stuff "completed" on the spreadsheet... very happy and very tired!

 

[Zoe]

Speaking of seats; is there a possibility to get a bit of a higher seat position? I seem to shrink with age, or I am less used to the seating position in the Supra. Last time I took Lil Blue out for a spin it felt like sitting on the tarmac, just peeping over the steering wheel

 

[AF85]

Speaking of seats; is there a possibility to get a bit of a higher seat position? I seem to shrink with age, or I am less used to the seating position in the Supra. Last time I took Lil Blue out for a spin it felt like sitting on the tarmac, just peeping over the steering wheel

It's all a matter of imagination... while still trying to remain safe! I'm sure you could weld extensions to the mounting points, or make a Frankenstein seat bottom from another type of car. My biggest concern would be safety though.