[A70Addict]

This thread will serve as a story book for me to be able to share how a spot of rust the size of a pinhead would spiral into a snowball of money spending and 2 years worth of time nonstop with the end being at supras in vegas 2021. First we must start with a bit of background though, we will begin this thread in a Pre Covid 2019 world with a 1jz swapped Ma70 with some performance upgrades making around 350-400whp and living it's life being driven pretty regularly and enjoy quite a lot. Little did I know that this would all quickly change for the pursuit of one spec of rust.

This is the car in question, Built July 18th 1989 as a late production 89 it started its life as a white with grey body mouldings turbo 5 speed blue cloth interior targa car. It was delivered to the ST Paul Minneapolis area a few months later and was bought in early 1990. There it lived its life in Minneapolis where it suffered one front end collision requiring a front end respray (along with the body mouldings being sprayed white) and changed hands quite a few times in unrunning condition (this picture above was taken by the last owner in Minnesota) until my dad bought it and brought it to Kentucky in October of 2006 (the car showed up on my 7th birthday). He proceeded to rebuild a 7mgte for it and it was fine for many years at stock 7m 57 trim ct26 low boost levels. Then I became 16 and the cycle had begun.

 

[A70Addict]

After cleaning and lusting after the car for almost 10 years with only riding in it the whole time I was finally 16, and with supervision I could drive it. Did so for about 6 months or so and then I wanted to see what the 7m could do. With a limited 16 year old knowledge and the help of supramania it got 550s and a lexus afm along with an SAFC2. The car ran for about a half a year at 21-22psi of boost, until it happened. One night I was racing a buddy in his prelude on my way home. After beating him quite badly I pulled up to a stoplight and noticed that it was idling lower than normal. Didn't think anything major of it and continued to drive the car off and on for the next few days, but noticed that at times it would appear to have a light misfire. I was then told that the car would occasionally smoke white out of the exhaust while driving and I finally realized what had happened. A compression and leakdown test revealed a blown headgasket to the water jacket on cylinder #6. Later inspection revealed that the engine had been put together with the old style small diameter ARP head stud washers. While I cannot say this was the culprit I noticed that the 2 rear head stud nuts were loose and the washers had appeared to have dug into the head, which I have since read about being an issue on the smaller diameter washers as the head gets soft with age. At this point though, the car was a sitting duck, until I could figure out what to do.

 

[A70Addict]

After a few months of the car sitting I was browsing Facebook and found a 1990 original nonturbo automatic targa car that had been swapped to a 1990 jza70 1jz/r154 combo out of a front clip for sale. The car had huge leaks everywhere and didn't run very well (seller guessed the caps in the factory computer had finally died). The price was cheap for a running and driving 1jz a70 though (especially compared to current market prices) and so it was acquired, many problems it had and all.

This car wasn't in terrible shape overall, but as you can see from the underhood shot it had been around the block a few times with shade tree mechanics. Doing the best I could with 1jz research at the time along with having a neighbor that had a 1jz powered sc300 driftcar I was able to get the engine to stop leaking so terribly, converted it to a 2jz waterpump setup (saved all hydro parts though, this will be important later on) and upon seeing the damage to the engine computer board opted to just buy another computer. Got another jza70 engine computer late October of 2016 and proceeded to drive it quite a bit over the next few months, all the while this white one I had lusted after so long sat neglected. The red supra while I did like it, had quite a few major defects on both rear quarters, while the body and interior on the white one were exceptionally better condition, and I personally just prefer white supras, along with the fact that I felt the way I did towards the white one I always had in the back of my mind a plan to swap the 1jz into the white one. Early December of the same year I drove the car home and when I went to start it to move it in the driveway the engine computer had died. I knew that this was the time to make what I wanted to happen actually happen. It was time to bring the white one back to life.

 

[A70Addict]

With a very limited knowledge and zero engine swap experience let alone removal being only 17 I had decided it was time to learn. Over the course of the next week or so I had gotten the drivetrains from both supras ready for removal. My parents were going to a dinner party on a Saturday night and I was sure that I couldn't do it with their approval so I decided hey, I'll pull them while they're gone and they'll have no choice but to accept it when they get back. So I invited a buddy over pulled both cars side by side and in the time they were gone at the party we pulled both drivetrains and I had the white one back in the garage with both drivetrains before they got home.

It took about another week of swapping items over for the mechanical part of the swap then I was ready to attempt to tackle the wiring portion of said swap. Having never done a wiring job anywhere remotely close to this task before I downloaded the 1JZ swap Bible onto my phone and got to work cutting and soldering to change from the 1990 Jza70 connectors to 1989 ma70 connectors. After about another week after work at night of doing that I was ready to put the engine back in, so out the car went and in the 1jz went.

After about another week and a half of putting it all back together I was able to hear it run with a 1jz for the first time and boy was it awesome. It was definitely nothing special, but I had successfully completed my first engine swap with just the help of the supra info on the internet, by the first of January 2017 I was now driving it under its own power on a 1jz.

 

[A70Addict]

I drove the car this way for about a month and then the very old extension job on the harness began causing issue. After working through those bugs and fixing that issue I then installed an SAFC2, and turned the boost up on the twins to see how they would do. I drove the car like this for a few months, using it for prom and taking it to the dragstrip and it was overall very fun to drive. Then, as it goes, I became bored with the power the stock injectors could support. I ordered a set of plug and play 550cc injectors and a driftmotion fuel pressure regulator setup and swapped them out.

With these new found mods I used the SAFC to be able to turn the boost up to around 20psi. The car was exponentially faster at this point than it had been on stock injectors. We all know how stock 1jz twins like 20psi though, and after about 2 months of that the rear turbo developed a whine when warm and it began to smoke quite bad from the twins when cruising around. So yet again I saved up for another crucial modification and in late July of 2017 I had recieved a Driftmotion 1jz 6262 turbo kit.

I decided to attempt and remove the twins and install the turbo kit in the car because that would save a lot of trouble and make it easier overall.

Got both turbos and manifolds off in a Friday night worth of work (easily the hardest part of the job was removing the y pipe to get to the rear turbo with siezed exhaust studs in the turbine housings). Then after some cleaning and removing of the lines for the twins I began reassembling.

In one solid weekend worth of work I had successfully removed the twins and all their smokiness. After getting it running I threw the intake on and went and drove around for a bit open downpipe and an exhaust was done for it the next weekend to fit the new turbo setup. After doing this the car was even more enjoyable than with the twins on it. Fall of 2017 I decided that the A80 twin turbo wheels weren't my style anymore and I ordered a set of Varrstoen ES9s for it. They came in a few weeks later and were mounted up.

At this point for the most part I was very content with the car and other than changing a few colors under the hood I drove it for the rest of 2017 as it was.

 

[A70Addict]

Since the car was now faster than it had been before and the Mercedes Brembo upgrade was now becoming quite popular I decided to attempt to do such myself. I bought a set of S550 calipers off Ebay from a wrecker in California. When they came in they had definitely seen better days, so I did another first for myself, rebuilt brake calipers. I disassembled them and completely sandblasted them, I also ordered a rebuild kit from brembo with all new seals and o rings.

This picture was taken after reassembling and before painting them. I opted to use a high temp ceramic based caliper paint that came in a kit (this kit ended up later peeling quite bad with fluid although being expensive), but once painted I matched them with some r350 rotors and on to the car they went.

I drove the car for about 2 months after this, and as you may have guessed reading this by now, I decided it was time to tear it apart again... lol...

To be fair, the valve stem seals were original and had begun leaking quite badly, along with the heater core hoses at the back of the engine beginning to leak, the stock wiring harness having now began to become really problematic and needing replacement, the stock clutch starting to slip, and the half moons on the back of the head starting to leak I decided it was about time to tear it apart and do some maintenancing. So out the drivetrain came again.

Upon removing the engine though the paint in the bay was original and very much so showing its age, so I decided to strip the bay to the best of my abilities and respray it. So I stripped the bay as well at this time.

I resprayed the bay using a Sherwin Williams auto single stage factory color matched paint out of cans. It wasn't perfect by any means, but much better than before.

With the car back together it was time to move back onto the drivetrain.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Wow, amazing the money and the time you have put into this shark!

 

[Suprabruhh]

This is a dope build, you pretty much grew up with the car lmao the first car my dad took me to test drive at 16 was a white 91 supra turbo. Within the first 2 mins of driving, he said fuck no lmao. That's a journey making it to SIV, my goal is to drive it there next year, but we'll see. May end up trailering it the first 7 hours and drive it from seven magic mountains onto the strip

 

[88supratuner]

well done! I started out similar to you with an 88 turbo/auto......except I torn mine apart at 17 and then let it sit like that for the next 8 years. Way to stay motivated and dedicated to it! Super clean car and impressive build!! 👏👏👏

 

[A70Addict]

All the while I was doing all the work to the engine bay I was acquiring parts for the drivetrain I needed. I got a tweakd engine harness, a new southbend clutch, BC 272 cams with springs and retainers, converted it to shimless buckets, and resealed the engine in the process.

Old clutch pictures, you can see where it was slipping, I ended up finding a new in box 1jzgte/r154 flywheel on Facebook so I bought that and happily replaced the old unit that was surface cracking heavily due to slipping.

I also found a Mines Jza70 engine computer for sale that had had the caps replaced

With all of these modifications done I put in back in the car in the middle of March and proceeded to reliably drive it for the rest of the summer and into the fall. Car sounded great with the new cams and felt like it pulled good with the new engine computer. In fall of 2018 a local shop was having a dyno day, so I figured hey why not, let's see what it makes on the dyno, gotta be fast after all these upgrades right?!

Put the car on the dyno and on 14-15psi with all these modifications it made...

298whp and 298wtq...

To say I was upset was a severe understatement, all of this time and money to make the same power as a stock car on twins with the boost turned up? It was at that moment reading that dyno graph that I realized I was done playing with old school electronics and it time to quit playing and run big boy modern electronics. So again at the end of 2018 I began saving for a standalone.

 

[Suprabruhh]

Clean build , I'd be juiced with those numbers

 

[A70Addict]

The snowball has just started everyone. This is late 2018, and let's just say it only goes crazier from here

 

[te72]

Car looks fantastic, and well documented, thanks for sharing. I have a hunch we might have been parked next to you at SIV during the show and shine, white Mk4 from Wyoming.

So, do we also get any details on the fate of the red car and the blue one that mysteriously seems to have appeared in the garage?

 

[KenHenderson]

Great thread. Moved to Builds & Projects Subforum.


Ken.

 

[Kris9884]

Following, good work so far!

 

[A70Addict]

So at the end of 2018 the neighbor that lived down the street with the sc300 had went from the aviation industry to working for a small Australian engine management company, and after seeing the features and price, along with their main US headquarters being around 10 minutes from my house I decided to pull the trigger black Friday 2018 on a Haltech Elite 2000. I wanted a 2000 due to all the extra inputs and outputs compared to the lower end Elite models, and I didn't feel the need for a 2500 personally due to the only main difference being Drive by wire capability (which I never plan on running due to personal preference). So I pulled the trigger and drove the car for the rest of the season.

In January I undertook another big task which was to convert the stock engine computer to the Elite. It was quite a learning curve attempting to convert the toyota language for wiring designations to the Haltech names for the same things, all the while learning the haltech language for just inputs and outputs. It took quite a lot of reading and going back and forth but I eventually did it after about a week doing so after work and finally powered it up, I also took this time to convert the car to sequential injection since I was already in the harness and it would allow for single cylinder fuel correction which would help with cylinders 5&6. Powering it up was a very stressful time as it was the first time I had undertook an ECM conversion, but it all worked great first try! I next loaded up a 2jz basemap and made a few tweaks to the settings to accommodate the 1jz and injectors and it was ready to go. So I rolled it out, locked the timing and started it, the first start went successful and I was able to set base timing on the engine and computer.

You'll also notice in this time I picked up a used set of Enkei PF01s wrapped in 255/40r18 RE71s (this was the beginning of my sticky tire addiction). Once the weather was better it would be time to make the first test drive! (Should also note at this time the intercooler piping had been removed to allow for new piping to be made and the battery had been converted to the passenger side of the engine bay.

 

[A70Addict]

About 2 weeks later with no intercooler piping I made the drive down to the gas station about 1/2 a mile from home, wasn't very eventful in a good way and after making it back home it was time to sit and wait for it to go get intercooler piping made.

At the end of January 2019 it went to the neighbors shop to have the intercooler piping made for it. Having a stock intake setup and an intercooler with side exit end tanks made fabrication a bit tricky thanks to having the koyo race radiator taking up all the real-estate in front of the engine, so he had to get creative.

The intercooler piping went down and through where the stock battery location was on the driver side and on the passenger side It went in a somewhat stock direction. It killed me having the car drilled into, but at the time it was a necessary evil and something that could be undone if so desired. After about 2 weeks I got the car back from him and I had arranged for a tune day at haltech at the end of February. So the car sat for about a month waiting to be tuned. Then the day came, it was time to let all this work after making 298whp show its worth.

I showed up with the car after work and it was loaded up on the dyno to be tuned. After not too long he began making power pulls and after the first pull it thankfully cracked 300whp! After a few pulls it was now making around 400whp. A bit more tweaking and it sat at around 420whp at 20psi of boost. We decided to call it quits there due to the car being only having a .58 exhaust housing for spool and off the dyno it came. It was time to finally drive it at 420whp!

 

[A70Addict]

So, the first drive being tuned. Hindsight being 20/20 now with more wisdom, I may have expected too much out of the setup, and a lot of it had to do with the tune at the time. Let's just say it was a bit lackluster. It felt nothing like 400+whp, and definitely didn't feel 100whp faster than 298whp. Looking back now I can contribute it to a multitude of things coming together to make it the way it was. It had a set of 272 cams which weren't built for midrange, but the big thing was the lack of timing in the tune to aid spo (let's just say it had almost none), and the driftmotion 6262. Don't get me wrong, for what the kit is and what it cost it served a great purpose and I wouldn't knock it, but being a realist it was a 6262 with a bit older turbo tech and it showed in spool time. The car was very lazy out of boost and it came into boost in a very lazy manner as well, but this being said I was happy to have the car making more power and it was time to drive it some more, so into 2019 I went.

 

[A70Addict]

After running the Enkei PF01 wheels for a few months the tires ran down and without them being the exact spec I wanted I decided to order another set of wheels, so I placed an order for a square set of 18x9.5+38 work emotion T5R wheels. Sold the PF01s and after a few months the Works came in, after running the RE71s I had realized how much I liked a low compound tire, so for these new wheels I ordered a square set of 275/35R18 Bridgestone Potenza S007As which were a 240 treadwear tire one step below the RE71s. I got them mounted on the wheels then installed onto the car.

Now that I had a fresh set of tires on, it was time to begin doing something I had been eyeing and wanting to try for a while. Being in the middle of Kentucky there's not a ton motorsport related to do, there's dragstrips, but going in a straight line didn't really peak my interest, and I became interested in the local autocross group that would run events multiple times a month during the summer about 10 minutes from home. So I saw autocross as an easy and accessible way to get into some form of motorsport.

 

[A70Addict]

I was a bit late into starting the autocross season for 2019 but after becoming an SCCA member the year before it was quite easy to jump into the autocrossing. Just had to pre-register online for upcoming events and show up to drive. I had originally had some issue with tech due to them not wanting to pass the car on the seat belts due to them not locking while sitting still. The A70 seat belts lock using a mechanism that locks when G force is applied to them when you slam on the brakes. After some showing of that and convincing them I was finally good to go at the events. Autocross is a very hard item for an a70 to be competitive in due to them not being competitive stock and the mods you need to make it quick it has to be pretty heavily modified which pushed me into the highest road tire class called RTU (road tire unlimited). This class allows for any modifications using a 200TW DOT rated tire. The issue with this class was that the car was relatively stock at the time other than coilovers and the front brakes so being in the highest street tire class I was competing with gutted AE86s and engine swapped Miatas. While the car was doing good for what it was it was struggling to compete and it quickly became obvious of some of its weak points. I should backtrack here briefly because while it may seem this was an experience that was not fun due to the car not being competitive I was having a hugely fun time. I actually had something to do with the car now and something where I could drive the car and look for improvement in myself and the car as well. The A70 may not be competitive but it sure was fun.