[artbran]

Rebuilding my '97 6speed theft recovery **Vid on Pg 4**

I'm making this thread to show the steps I'm taking to rebuild the theft recovery 1997 Supra Twin Turbo 6 speed I just bought.

The pictures of the car when I found it on a salvage auction site showed very little information on the body of the car. You could not see if there was any damage, dents or anything really. I mean the outside looked good, however you just dont know when it comes to these things.

Anyway, engine pics (or where it used to be) showed a very dirty engine bay. Something that I would have to clean up before I took it to my house from my warehouse.

Wheels looked good and I thought to myself why someone would steal the car to take the motor, tranny, driveshaft, glovebox, dash panels, and gas cap and leave the wheels that were on the car. Either way, thats a + for me.

Interior looked OK with the regular wear in the seats. Rear seats looked great but what do you expect. You can barely fit a gnome in there.

Tails looked fine and so did the rear bumper.

Glass looked complete but was expecting the worse when it came to glass as it was a theft vehicle.

Either way, here are those auction pics:

So in other words, car looked OK, but dirty.

 

[artbran]

2 weeks later after some fighting with the shipping companies, I got the car to my warehouse.

Pics:

To say the least, I was lucky as hell with the car. There are no dents, and pretty much my first thoughts of the car were confirmed when it finally got to this coast





More Pics:

Tires have about 60-75% tread left on them
Spare tire has never been used
Engine bay was DIRTY as hell from oil leaking

Pretty much a dirty dirty Supra.

Plans were to repaint her but that changed when I buffed a portion of the car out and found that the paint is in ideal condition and doesnt need anything. Then again, what do you expect from a well cared for California car?

 

[Tres]

Wow! I'm surprised at how good a shape it's in given it's a theft recovery. Good luck

 

[roadkill5_0]

nice find man....gl with the build, lookin forward to seeing wat this turns into

 

[KEITH TA]

congrats on the purchase. if you dont mind me asking, how much did you end up paying for the car.

 

[artbran]

I got the car home on Sunday AFTER filling the tires with air and started to see what I got myself into. Not that it was bad, however its going to be a long couple of months before this girl is back on the road.

Anyway, after washing the whole car especially the bay, she came out a bit cleaner.

Turns out the pass side windows is shattered however, the carpets inside are in perfect condition. No Floormats, (I already ordered a set) however the carpet itself is in great condition.
All plastics in the trunk are still there. All of everything is pretty much still there other than the obvious dash panels, radio and the climate control stuff.

I already have purchased or am looking for cetain parts to complete her however here is what she looks like currently after I stripped the engine bay and the interior of the carpet (there was a lake under the carpet).

Since I'm cleaning and shaving the engine bay, the fuse box has to go. And so just like TROLL did in his, Its being put into the stock sub location along with a battery and some other things that I have planned. And so, to do this, the Fuse Box and wiring needed to come out to be extended.

And here is a quick shot of the rear bumper with how shiny the paint still is.

 

[artbran]

As for the parts that are needed for the front, they are coming from the JDM front clip I bought also.

It has the hood, the bumper, the headlights, the motor, the V161 and everything else I need other than the dash since its RHD and I am keeping this girl LHD.

Anyway, here is the clip:

 

[artbran]

I didn't like the compression numbers so I'm rebuilding the motor and that comes next on the list.

They were:
1: 150
2: 125
3: 150
4: 150
5: 145
6: 150

So piston 2 has something with it that needs to be corrected.
Leakdown came out to 2, 5, 3, 2, 3, 3 respectfully in the 6 pistons...

Mind you this is on a cold motor as I didnt start it, however I still want to rebuild the motor to refresh all the seals and so on.

I just dont trust the JDM motors as I have heard and seen many horror stories where they drop in the motor and its knocking or leaking bad or something stupid.

So, shes going to be refreshed.

As for the tranny, Its the V161. Ironically, both of my Supra's will be/are running V161's. It goes through the gears nicely and smoothly.

Pretty much seems perfect. Only has 97k kilometers on it or just around 50k miles so i didnt expect it to be in bad shape unless the guy didnt know how to shift it..




As for my price, I got it for $9,000 after shipping, and some other stupid expenses.

Either way, the more I work on her and get her where I want her, the more pictures there will be with the progress.



One thing I want to do is hide the ABS motor into the fender like i'm doing with everything else.
Anyone have any idea's what kind of fitting the brake lines are? Since I'm doing this, Stainless Steel lines will be used EVERYWHERE.

 

[TooJayZee]

In for an awesome build. Curious if you feel you got a good deal on price.

What kind of **** steal a supra anyway. I didnt see you mention this, but you should leave it wingless ftw !

 

[shiftsk8r]

Nice find!

 

[artbran]

In for an awesome build. Curious if you feel you got a good deal on price.

What kind of **** steal a supra anyway. I didnt see you mention this, but you should leave it wingless ftw !

Actually, I think that for 9k I got an OK to good deal. I say that because the wheels are in excellent shape and I was planning on buying some of the same style anyway.

Now that I think of it, I was expecting worse. I mean the car still has a 6 speed dif in it which used they go for $1200 or so (I know, i'm lucky here too) and the dash along with everything else is in really good condition. Better than I was expecting.

I was thinking about keeping it wingless to tell you the truth. I'm going to plug the holes with those little plastic gromet things for now and see how I like it out on the street, and in parking lots where I can see the car from a distance and see if I like it or not. If not, then a RMM wing will be put on it or that short stock looking one that I think is made by GReddy?

 

[AlxRSPTT]

That's a sweet deal man! You should be in it for under $22k right? That's gonna be a good looking car! You can even rip stuff off that clip and sell it as well. Fender liners, master cylinder, brake booster, etc. If you need a stock radio I think I have one.

Alex

 

[GT45R Supra]

Very nice find; did you get this from iaai or copart? If you don't me asking off course!

 

[RWHP]

Looks great so far

 

[TooJayZee]

If not, then a RMM wing will be put on it or that short stock looking one that I think is made by GReddy?

If you do decide to go with a wing...RMM/TRD or replica FTW.

 

[Smaay]

wow, keep up the good work and keep posting pics

 

[artbran]

That's a sweet deal man! You should be in it for under $22k right? That's gonna be a good looking car! You can even rip stuff off that clip and sell it as well. Fender liners, master cylinder, brake booster, etc. If you need a stock radio I think I have one.

Alex

The things that I dont use I'll try to sell after an attempt at selling just the front clip.

If I cant sell the front clip as a whole, then I already have a few buyers set up for parts that they need.

Either way, I should have her on the road in anywhere from 1-6 months depending on if I go crazy and decide to change something drastic like color or something. As for total build cost tally, I think I should be hovering right under that mark and thats with a hiccup if something were to happen that is unforeseen.

Very nice find; did you get this from iaai or copart? If you don't me asking off course!

Copart actually. I dont mind disclosing info like this as those are pretty much the most looked at salvage car sites.

If you do decide to go with a wing...RMM/TRD or replica FTW.

Thats the one I'm leaning toward however the stubby stock looking one looks great IMO





Oh, I bought a parts washer today and am going to be cleaning everything from the dif to the pistons (that all depends on the condition of the motor).

Btw, I'm looking to make this into a daily so extra care will be taken in a lot of spots. She needs to be "new" when she hits the road finally. haha

 

[TROLL]

nice! looks like things are coming together... and your plans sound good.
since finishing my fuse box relocation i've seen two others that put the fuse box inside the glove box, i liked it and would consider that as well if i were to do it again, just another idea.
i have no idea how you'll fit the ABS motor anywhere aside from the engine bay... i'd think that you either keep the abs and cover it with a cover/box, or you delete it entirely. feel free to prove me wrong on that though, i'd like to see what you can come up with.

edit: i have plans in reading on fri night, if you happen to be playing cars earlier that day maybe i can swing by to check things out or lend a hand.

 

[artbran]

nice! looks like things are coming together... and your plans sound good.
since finishing my fuse box relocation i've seen two others that put the fuse box inside the glove box, i liked it and would consider that as well if i were to do it again, just another idea.
i have no idea how you'll fit the ABS motor anywhere aside from the engine bay... i'd think that you either keep the abs and cover it with a cover/box, or you delete it entirely. feel free to prove me wrong on that though, i'd like to see what you can come up with.

Some time I'll have to take a look at what I can of your wiring (if you dont mind) to see how you ran it. Pics are great, but actually viewing it is better for me at least. Would you by chance have a link to your build page where you showed how and where you mounted it?

The ABS motor is not going to be too hard. I already found a place for it where it will work well and all I have to do is making or modify a bracket and it SHOULD be fine. If not, then a cover will be in place and I'll just re-route all the lines with SS lines. The only thing I need is to figure out what fitting they have and so on...



BTW, Josh said that you are interested in a hatch?

 

[KEITH TA]

i think you got a great deal. i saw this car on cofind or whateva the website is for auctions. i considered bidding on it myself. im glad she got a great home. cant wait to sell the final product!