[Patrick94TT]

I was going to post this in my shop thread but a car like this deserves its own thread. I'll start off by saying initially I was hesitant to take the job because every moral fiber I had in my body told me not to molest an absolutely bone stock low mileage car but after talking to a couple guys who have bought and sold high-dollar Supras the consensus was if it's done right and with factory parts it will be more desirable to a buyer with the means to acquire a car on this level, and so the job was booked and the car was delivered. Dhar and I had already bought the two big ticket items; a very low mileage V160 and 3.13 rear end out of a stock twin car. The rest was all to be sourced brand new from Toyota. I was actually pleasantly surprised that almost everything needed to complete this job was available through the dealership.

On May 4, 2020, the nicest Supra I have ever seen in my 13 years of ownership/experience was delivered to my new shop.

After more cars started coming in, I moved Dhar's car to a lift and began the swap.

I couldn't help but admire the car on the lift. If you were to put a brand new Supra on a lift in 1994, this is what it would look like. I had never seen anything like it.

Removal of the automatic transmission components began and it was really an awesome experience. After having worked on so many Supras it was really surreal to be working on a car that hadn't been touched since being originally built by Toyota themselves. Every nut and bolt I removed was the first time coming apart since assembly. Some of the bolts still had the factory loctite on them.

 

[Patrick94TT]

 

[Patrick94TT]

Next came preparation of 6spd components. The transmission was already super clean so I just wiped it down and installed all of the new components on it like clutch fork support and spring, tripod with new bushings, shift rod with pin and clamp, transmission mount, etc. All of these parts were brand new from Toyota. The rear end was scrubbed clean and got a fresh coat of black paint and the rear cover was hot-tanked.

A brand new OEM clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel were used, along with brand new OEM flywheel and pressure plate bolts. These parts were sourced through Induction Performance. Huge shout out to Matt.

 

[Patrick94TT]

On to the most stressful part of this job - the manual tunnel conversion. Until this point everything was reversible. I'lll be honest, I lost sleep the night before coming in to shop knowing I had to remove the tunnel. It was nerve racking. I had done it a million times before but this car was different. It had to be perfect.

I started by removing the undercoating and marking the factory spot welds with a red paint pen so I knew exactly where to drill. The tunnel came out relatively easily. The new tunnel was trimmed on the RHD side and top was painted factory white to get as close to OEM as possible. New tunnel went in. I used seam sealer around the inside and a block of wood to push the tunnel up as far as possible (didn't need much but wanted a tight fit). I let it dry for 24 hours and then went in a spot welded the tunnel in. After that I coated it with OEM Toyota undercoating. Next step was to cover up the minimal flaws the paint had when installing and welding the tunnel. I used body sealer to cover the holes I had drilled and OEM paint to cover them so the inside cabin looked as close to OEM as possible.

After the tunnel was finished I drilled holes for the clutch master and installed the 3rd pedal and new 6spd tach assembly. I had hurt my wrist playing hockey the night before so it wasn't fun being under the dash trying to do multiple things at the same time but got through it.

Then the V160 went in.

 

[Patrick94TT]

At this point the only things left to do were wiring and serpentine belt tensioner (to make it true 6spd ya know). I couldn't bring myself to just cut the wires and splice together what I needed and leave that mess of auto trans wiring underneath so I decided to fully convert the harness to 6spd using factory connectors and split-loom.

Changed the ECU over to OBD1 6spd.

Installed the shifter and put the interior back together.

Changed the gas pedal stop from auto kick switch to 6spd dead stop.

 

[Piratetip]

Incredible!

 

[Patrick94TT]

And then I was left with the final product. Just checked back and I forgot to show pictures of the 3.13 rear end so here we go. Also OEM 3-piece clutch line. EVERYTHING was OEM Toyota.

And the car was finished. I don't hesitate at all when I say this is the nicest Supra I have ever driven, worked on, or even seen in person. The car is flawless and it was my honor to work on it. Being able to drive a Supra the way Toyota had originally built it is something I may not ever experience again and being a diehard enthusiast it really meant a lot to me. Thanks again Dhar for bringing my the job.

 

[Speedislife]

Very clean car & Awesome write up!

I thought the 6speed axles were discontinued

 

[Mark 2JZ]

Everything is impeccable. Seeing everything so fresh and new oem parts being used is also so OCD calming....lmao

excellent work !

 

[Patrick94TT]

Very clean car & Awesome write up!

I thought the 6speed axles were discontinued

Thank you. They might be but I sourced the axle from the same guy I bought the 3.13 rear end from.

 

[Patrick94TT]

Everything is impeccable. Seeing everything so fresh and new oem parts being used is also so OCD calming....lmao

excellent work !

Thank you, very much appreciated.

 

[Lagtime]

Beautiful car and super clean factory-level work by Patrick. Isn’t it nice to work on an original, non-hacked up Supra?

 

[Patrick94TT]

Beautiful car and super clean factory-level work by Patrick. Isn’t it nice to work on an original, non-hacked up Supra?

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. Yes it was really a different experience. Pretty much every car I get has been worked on in some way. There's always something you find. This was not like that. This was a Toyota built car. The only modification I found was a set of battery leads for a trickle charger.

It brought me back to the days when I didn't even have a driver license, was watching videos of Supras on AOL dial up, looking at all the cars on to4R.com, and building Tamiya 1/18 scale models of Supras in my parents' living room. Felt like I was building a car from the ground up. It was unreal. I've built some really fast Supras but I don't think anything was as gratifying to me as working on this car.

 

[KenHenderson]

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. Yes it was really a different experience. Pretty much every car I get has been worked on in some way. There's always something you find. This was not like that. This was a Toyota built car. The only modification I found was a set of battery leads for a trickle charger.

It brought me back to the days when I didn't even have a driver license, was watching videos of Supras on AOL dial up, looking at all the cars on to4R.com, and building Tamiya 1/18 scale models of Supras in my parents' living room. Felt like I was building a car from the ground up. It was unreal. I've built some really fast Supras but I don't think anything was as gratifying to me as working on this car.

Fantastic work, Patrick. Your reminiscing about building Tamiya models and to4r.com took me all the way back to when we met on the way to the WOTM Invitational way back in 2007.

Your work in this thread, and @DaveT's 6-speed conversion in his thread, are head and shoulders above most others I've seen.


Ken.

 

[FastTurbo]

Phenomenal work man, thanks for taking me along for the ride on this project early on. You killed it, no shortcuts, no bullshit. Great job and shop you're running.

Matt

 

[Patrick94TT]

Fantastic work, Patrick. Your reminiscing about building Tamiya models and to4r.com took me all the way back to when we met on the way to the WOTM Invitational way back in 2007.

Your work in this thread, and @DaveT's 6-speed conversion in his thread, are head and shoulders above most others I've seen.


Ken.

Ken thanks for the kind words. Drop by when the COVID settles down.

 

[Patrick94TT]

Phenomenal work man, thanks for taking me along for the ride on this project early on. You killed it, no shortcuts, no bullshit. Great job and shop you're running.

Matt

Thanks Matt, really appreciate your help along the way.

 

[signalpuke]

Been looking at different AWD conversions for Honda FWD chassis. Tunnels get murdered. Nice to see the excellent work you did on this one, and in my opinion, I think you greatly increased the value of this car.
I hope the owner will appreciate the instant equity, and enjoy the car a little more frequently on the weekends

 

[ajgibson528]

That's exactly how you treat a low mileage original car. Hopefully someone gets to enjoy it rather than remaining museum status. Fantastic job and thanks for sharing.

 

[Strokercharged95GT]

Looks great. I think a professionally swapped V160 car will always be worth more then a low mileage original A340E car.