[barelymkIII]

I had a Supra briefly but I had to get rid of it (it was a MkIII and I didn't have a place to work on it/no money), so now I'm sidelined with just contemplating owning one. I'm beginning a list of mods I'd like to do when I do have the means for another MkIII. I'm planning to start with a blown engine car (or shell, depending what I find) and do a mild build from there. My goal is somewhere in the 300hp range. If anyone's doing any work in the SoCal area I'd love to come and help out (especially if it's a bhg). The best way to learn is by doing :rockon:

 

[myothersupra]

Hey dude,

I hope your sig's meant as a joke?

The 7M is NOT prone to rod knocks unless someone's dumb enough to not bother keeping up with the oil level and/or trying to be a 1k+whp 2JZ with their 7M...

A stock, or even a stock-ish 7M is an incredibly reliable engine no matter what some people try to say about it. Get the factory BHG issue dealt with right the first time, keep up with the fluids regularly, and they just keep on going.
Cut corners when modding or ignore the fluid levels and they will break but that's the case with any engine. With decent mods and a mild CT-26 upgrade you can easily get BPU MkIV type power out of a stock 7M-GTE engine as a daily driver just as reliably as the BPU 2JZ does and with a slightly bigger turbo upgrade you can beat the BPU MkIV's and still be reliable too...

I've had several MkIII's both NA and T over the past 15 years, have driven one of them as my daily for well over 120k more miles since I bought it, I rarely have to work on any of 'em, I'm the opposite of gentle on 'em, I check the fluids about once every other fuel-stop, and not once have I ever spun/stacked a bearing on a 7M.
I've seen two friends do it, one local guy even did it twice in 2 years, and it was always their fault, not the car's. I've even seen a few people throw rods on mostly stock 7M's but again, in every case I've seen it was the owner's fault, not the car's.

My 92T had 101,500 miles on it and a thrown #5 rod when I bought it because the kid I got it from didn't ever bother to check the oil the entire time he owned it and 6 months after he bought it during a road trip he got about 150 miles from home and stuffed the #5 rod out the side of the block on the interstate...

A friend is the original owner of his 89T, it's always been his daily driver, it was his only car for almost 15 years, he's got just under 200k miles on it now, and he still drives it 500 miles a week for his work commute these days...

The 2JZ-GTE puts up with a little more stupidity and neglect than the 7M will, but not that much more.

Thomas

 

[barelymkIII]

Yes actually it is a joke. Knock knock jokes tend to be. I know that the 7m series is a good motor. It just has a bad rap cause they're usually abused all their lives (BHGs aside), but I was under the impression that they were more susceptible to bearing failure then most other engines, if only because they're easy to get power without supporting mods/maintenance.

 

[domoMKIV]

:lol::lol:

SOMEONE read into that signature a little too much.

 

[myothersupra]

I'm planning to start with a blown engine car (or shell, depending what I find) and do a mild build from there. My goal is somewhere in the 300hp range.

I'd strongly recommend that when you do get one and build your motor, go ahead and do whatever internals you've got planned but set the car up as if it was otherwise basically stock and get it running with stock fuel and boost on the factory ecu for a little while just to make sure everything's behaving properly, then bolt on your external mods once it's fully broken in and you're satisfied that all is well. It'll save you a lot of headaches when it won't start, won't idle, runs like crap, etc, etc... If you can get it started and running right on stock fuel/boost with the stock ecu and it holds up through the break-in then you know you're off to a good start.
I've seen so many people buy a non-running MkIII Supra, tear it apart, do all sorts of big mods, drop it in, and they give up on it out of total frustration when it either won't run worth a crap or won't even start even after they screw with it for weeks or months.
Back in 2007 I saved a friend's MkIII from getting parted out or sold as-is after a major rebuild by helping him get everything he needed to put it back to totally stock externals and finally get it running after helping him get past his total frustration with it all modded up and fubar.
After the break in and a few thousand new miles of enjoying his low 14's "stock" MkIII Supra the modding went back on successfully and he still loves the car.
Doing that's not necessary but it saves a lot of frustration, especially if you've never done it before, and especially when you're new to modding Supras.

:lol::lol:

SOMEONE read into that signature a little too much.

I was just sayin'...
From what I read of the post itself, considering he was a MkIII owner who no longer has it, I was making an observation and passing on some long-term personal experience that contradicts his sig.

Keep in mind that if that's the only MkIII he's ever owned and that's the problem he happened to have with it, he may think that's a common problem with the 7M powered Supras even though it's not.

Also, others who don't know may see that sig and draw the conclusion that 7M's in general tend to have bearing issues, which they don't.

So for those who don't know and happen to see his sig or stumble onto this thread there's a bit more of a real-world reference now.

Plus although it's a little more involved than just bolting on an intercooler, full exhaust, and boost-cut controller like you can with the 2JZ, with the right mods you can also make MkIV BPU power levels out of a stock 7M-GTE reliably even on a high mileage daily driver MkIII with no big problems most of the time as long as you do decent maintenance and monitoring.

 

[barelymkIII]

Thanks myothersupra that sounds like solid advice. I'd just assumed that 7m's were more susceptible to rod knock because I've seen a few of them for sale on Craiglist that had it, and the "rod knock" sticky in the MkIII FAQ section. Then one 7m I had I suspect had rod knock, because someone had adjusted the throttlebody to a high rpm to mask the problem. When I bought it there were massive vacuum leaks (the accordion hose was more tape than rubber) and I assumed that was the source of the high idle, but it never went away when I replaced the hose and fixed the other leaks. After some research I found the idle adjust screw plug had been drilled out and adjusted so I left it at that and sold it.

 

[myothersupra]

It sucks when someone raises the idle to mask problems and sell a used car.
That's why I tend to either avoid buying cars that are idling rough or high or try to see if I can get them to tach down before I ever agree to buy it. You can usually put a little more pressure on the throttle linkage and get it to idle down 'till you let go unless it's totally misadjusted.

The earlier years of MkIII had an accessible idle set screw, no drilling needed.
I actually prefer the late 89 and newer throttle body because unlike the earlier years' version with the removable cap, the idle set screw on the newer ones is NOT accessible, which makes it easier to know when you finally get everything else right because then you know noone has screwed with it.
I replaced the throttle body on the stock early 89T I had because the throttle linkage screws and lots of other stuff had all been played with before I got the car and it still wouldn't idle any lower than 1,100 rpms no matter how much I adjusted the throttle body's idle set screw or anything else. Once I got the newer throttle body and swapped it out I finally found all the other issues and got that car running right and all its' stalling problems also disappeared.

A rod knock will also become apparent at a higher rpm's so although it's not good to do you can still tach it up slowly to around 3k and at some point it'll show up if there's a rod knock in a 7M.

To get around 300whp isn't all that hard from a 7M-GTE, even a stock 7M, but you're gonna need to get past stock fuel cut to do it...
NEVER put a HKS Fuel Cut Defencer on a MkIII! It seems like an easy/cheap way to raise fuel cut but it's really just an excellent way to roast a piston really quick. Unfortunately you can't use a GReddy Boost Cut Controller on a MkIII because the MkIII doesn't actually have Boost Cut.