Single Turbo 1UZ MKII Supra Project

[MKII_Supra]

As i have been wrapping up certain parts of the build on this car, i have been noticing a few issues here and there that i would like to address, and also a few cool projects I wanted to try out. With the covers for my Recaro seats nearly done and almost on my way, I have been focusing on the interior to try and button it up as much as possible so it is a nicely finished and cohesive unit whenever i do get around to trying to drive this thing for the first time. One issue in particular I had was with my center gauge and switch center, and alot of the other bits on the dash currently. I felt that my experience and tastes have changed so much since I finished the dash pieces, that I wanted to make some small subtle changes to the setup. One of my biggest gripes was how cheesy and cheap my Ebay starter switch appeared in the presence of everything else on the dash. I wouldn't have ever made the connection years ago, but I can now clearly see that it was simply a heavy duty machinery momentary button that has a terrible "Engine Start" screen printed graphic on its face. The chrome around the trim ring was overly and unevenly thick, and flaking off in some small spots. The screen printed lettering has worn off entirely in the center from my finger use, leaving the weird unreadable ends of the text the only things left on he face. The red back-lighting was very unevenly distributed around the red face, and has an almost bulls-eye effect when lit. It just felt cheap to the touch, like i would break it if i just breathed on it wrong, or just stared directly at it for too long. Another issue i had was becoming noticeable on a few pieces i made around the car. The 3M spray adhesive (from a can) that i had been using was beginning to loose its grip in certain areas where the vinyl was under alot of tension or has to be pushed into a concave surface. I always kind of worried that over time the store bought glue in a spray can wasn't going to have enough heat resistance and holding power to keep the vinyl bonded, and a few parts had vinyl lifting in some areas. The center switch and gauge panel had vinyl backing off from the tight crevices, and was coming undone from where it was glues behind the part at the very edge. I noticed my upper door trim on both doors had loose vinyl that you could sway around whenever I would clean it or apply protectant, and I could pull the vinyl away from the edges. Lastly, the panels i recovered that go under the rear quarter glass also has some lifting in the areas that required the glue to hold the vinyl to a complex shape.

I was bummed to see all that hard work start to come apart in some places, but this is what it's all about. Everything i do is a learning process, and an experiment. Alot of the things i do so well now are because I failed or screwed up so many times trying different approaches, I forced myself to research and find the correct way that will last and have a stellar final product. After doing alot of research and talking to some upholstery pros with alot of experience, i came to the answer i kind of knew all along. If i wanted my interior parts to last and work well, I needed to use a spray (from a gun) grade adhesive with an extremely high heat resistance and bond strength. The universal answer for the best glue to get a hold of for a weekend interior wizard is DAP Weldwood's HHR Landau Top and Trip Adhesive in the spray grade variety. It is relatively inexpensive by volume when bought in bulk, so I just ordered a gallon bucket of the stuff. After some more research online , I found a good gun to try out was the cheap external mix HVLP siphon gun from harbor freight. This gun mixes externally so its alot less prone to clog, and the much larger valve size makes it more ideal for spraying glue. At 15 bucks on sale, it can almost be considered disposable if the glue completely clogs it over time.

Before i could get to the vinyl work, i had to re-evaluate my switch layout and choose a new starter button. I decided to go with a larger diameter stainless steel momentary button with a red LED ring around its center. I still wanted a red activated light for the switch, but really wanted something that didn't seem cheap and that you could confidently push and feel some decent quality. I went with a 25mm red LED stainless button similar to AutoLoc's overpriced unit. Since the switch had no text on it to indicate what it was for, I also went on the lookout for a way to "label" the switch without looking too cheesy. I happened to stumble upon the enormous variety of 30mm "legend plates" used on industrial machinery buttons, and found that alot of them were really cool looking and gave a bit of an older look and style. I ordered a few different styles (MOTOR RUN, START, ENGINE), and chose the simple start plate to use. The only issue I had was the the switch was meant for a 25mm hole, and the plate I had was 30mm, allowing the switch to fall right in. I decided to get creative with some old black delrin pieces at work and make something that would work.

I designed a two piece trim ring that would allow the start button to sit a distance inset from the mounting surface of the switch panel, requiring you to reach your finger in to purposefully push it. a second ring behind the plate is used with the switch's nut to sandwich the entire assembly to the panel and secure it into place.

I turned the delrin on the hand lathe at work, and it turned out great. (Delrin turns like butter, so even inexperienced goofs like myself can achieve perfect finishes) My only problem now was that the total start button assembly size was much larger than my original setup, and i needed to move all the other 6 aircraft toggles over to even up real estate and make things looked balanced. I modeled all the switched and plotted the canvas size I had available for everything, and messed around with the orientations in SolidWorks until everything sat to my liking. Everything was looking good for the most part, but all the other switches looked out of place without the big legends like the one the starter button had. I decided to remedy that by incorporating the same style machinery legends onto the indicator lamps under the switches. It took some trial and error in SolidWorks to figure out something that might look nice since nothing was available that I wanted to use. I eventually designed my own legend plates for the indicators, which i will explain later. The only thing i will give away now is that I decided to use stainless precision washers as the legend plates, and used a size that fit the indicators well.

The problem before me now was that i had moved the mounting holes for the 6 toggle switched and indicators from where my previous holes were drilled into the fiberglass. Before I could start with any of the new setup, i had to fill all these holes and then re-drill for the new positions. I ripped all the old vinyl off the part (relatively easy since the glue wasn't even remotely trying to hold it on), and cleaned off all the old glue residue with paint thinner.

I started by chamfering the holes with a heavy bezel to allow the fiberglass some good surface area to grab onto, even after sanding everything flush again. I then used some 60 grit sandpaper to rough the holes for a decent amount of tooth for the fiberglass to grab.

I used some tape behind the holes to make a backing plate for the new glass and resin to terminate at, flush with the back of the original piece.

I wet the holes with resin, and proceeded to add pre-cut circles of fiberglass mat into the holes. I added enough to cause the new patched to bulge over the original face so i could sand everything back down perfectly flush.

One everything cured, i sanded down the new fiberglass to the surface , and finished everything down to 220 grit.

Knowing that my SolidWorks assembly of the switches was how i wanted everything positioned, I made a 1:1 scale printout of the new orientations so i could precisely locate each hole center. I ended up using the same hole center for the start switch, so I didn't need to close the hole. I merely had to open it with a step drill bit to the right size for the assembly to fit in.

Using a pin drill, i started a pilot for each hole at its exact center, then progressively opened the holes up to the smallest size my step drill bits would fit. I then used the step bits to open each hole to the size i needed.


After everything was fixed on the fiberglass side of things, i test fit everything before committing to covering it again in vinyl. The new start button looked great with all its pieces, and i'm glad i took my time to drill each hole as perfectly as I could. All the switches and indicators aligned so much better than my previous job of just measuring the holes with a ruler.

You are probably wondering, "Dang, how did Mike make those trick little legend plates from stupid plain stainless steel washers." I had a couple plans for how I could do it and have it last, but my first and most hope full plan I tried worked like a charm. I had designed each of the legend plates in SolidWorks, then created a very high resolution drawing of them in 1:1. I transferred the drawing over to Photoshop, cleaned up some of the bits, and had my friend Chris (crazy ass designer at The Roadster Shop) change the background opacities so only the black and red parts of the legends were in the file. I went to my local hobby store and went to the modeling section, and picked up one of those "print your own water slide decal" paper kits for an inkjet printer, and bought both white background and clear background decal sheets to try. I first tried to use an inkjet printer to print the decals 1:1 first, but the ink the printer used was not being very compatible with the decal paper. After switching over to the laser printer at work and figuring out the 900 settings I needed for the small paper sheets to feed correctly, the laser printed the decals onto the clear decal paper beautifully. We got the settings just right, and they looked as good as the highly praised Cartograph water slide decals that modelers rave about. I sealed the decal paper with the recommended decal bonding spray, and let them cure for a day. I carefully cut each decal with a new exacto blade around the lines i provided on the decals for a template, and then dipped them in water and transferred them to the washers once they were ready to come off their backing paper. I was very careful to apply them as the ink can be fragile under the sealer. I used Micro Sol and Set to help the decals bond like any other model i would build, and carefully squeezed out any air bubbles while centering them on the washer. The end result was fantastic, they look like the stainless washers were professionally printed on, and the clear backing disappeared on the stainless metal. All that is left is to seal them with a good matte clear coat, and they should last for a long time.


I knew everything was fitting like it should, so I armed myself with my new glue supplies to recover the part.

I once again turned to Rochford Supply's All-Sport 4-way stretching vinyl, and bought a whole bunch to recover things with. It's very expensive as far as black vinyl goes, but the stretching capabilities it has and the high quality grain really make it worth it. The cheap "marine grade" vinyl that you buy at any hobby chain store doesn't hold a candle to this stuff.

It took me a while to fudge with the settings on the gun and find an air pressure that worked, but i got the glue to spray in a decent pattern from the gun. I sprayed both the fiberglass piece and the vinyl, let both tack up, then began forming the vinyl over the part.

My first and immediate impression once i started laying the vinyl over the part was, "Why on earth didn't i use these products before?" When the glue is tacked up just right, you can move it around and the bond between the two parts is very impressive, but you can still lift and realign the vinyl if you need to and didn't apply to much pressure to it. Once the pieces were pressed together and allowed to cure for just a short time, they really started to fuse together. I had to use wood clamps and other home made jigs before to hold everything together the first time i did this with the 3M spray bomb can, but i was able to simply finesse the parts by hand with no worry of the vinyl lifting. I was even able to dip the vinyl and stretch it to the extreme contours inside the gauge pod cups with no issues!

I assembled the entire panel again for (hopefully) the last time, and was really happy with the end result.

Being a bit nerdy, i also redid all the wiring behind the panel. I printed out labels for each wire on label stickers for envelopes, cut them out and wrapped them on each wire, and then sealed them on with clear heat shrink tubing. Since i used the same color for all the wires, it made life so much easier to route and check everything over.

I removed all the door panel parts from the car, and stripped both upper trim pieces and covered them in a similar fashion. The hardest part with just carefully removing all the old sticky glue sludge from the old parts with solvents before spraying any new glue on. Here are some mid-progress pics:

Both of my doors have these weird indents in the foams that i believe are from the shape of the metal underneath. I was hoping they wouldn't show thought once covered, but they are slightly noticeable if you are looking for them. One i put some 303 Aerospace on the parts after recovering, i could barely even tell they were there.

With the success of my indicator legend plates i made with the decal kit, i was itching to try it on something bigger scale. I decided that the glove box data sticker would be perfect for a resto-mod with the current specs for the car. Thanks to Jim for getting me some measurement as my car was 3 hours away, i designed a bolt on plate to add to the glove box and add some mechanical detail over just making a simple sticker. I designed everything in SolidWorks, since that is really the program i am the most well-versed in. It would have been more efficient to make a vector-based graphic in Illustrator or Photoshop, but I didn't really know how so I just did it the hard way in SolidWorks. Looking at some images online, i had an idea of what things i wanted the plate to say. I also wanted to add notes for the fuses I added to the glove box setup, and a quirky QR code and TEQ graphic. I went through a few different versions before deciding on this one. I wanted it to look a bit classic, but obviously have a newer flare. I added the QR code and TEC graphic later in photoshop, but i laid everything else out in SolidWorks. I did later end up removing the upper "TOYOTA" from this model as none of SolidWorks' texts very accurately produce the right look, so i hand drew the Toyota instead to look exactly like a stock 80's yota' tag. I used the 1:1 drawing to make the aluminum plate at work using 1/16" thick 6061 aluminum sheet, and an auto shear to cut it nicely.

Here you can see the decals after adding the graphics. I printed two on clear backing, and two on white. You can also see the mess of extra little legend labels i made for the switch panel (along with the brawl i had with the printer trying to figure out what way to feed it into the massive laser printer that runs on 220V!)


I tried printing this one on white backing paper in stead of clear, to make it a bit easier to read the very small text. The process to transfer a home made water slide decal at this scale was a big learning curve for me. I ended up destroying the first one trying to evenly remove it from the backing and position it on the aluminum plate I made. The decal stretched very easily, so you cant apply too much pressure when removing it and positioning it. I let the second decal sit in the water until it almost came entirely off the backing paper by itself, then very carefully positioned it on the aluminum plate. Although it didn't turn out perfect, it still looks really great.

You can tell in the overhead view how much the decal stretched just from squeezing all the air and water bubbles out from under it, and positioning it on the plate. The little black half circles around the border edges were originally concentric to the small 6-32 bolts, but they extend into them now. The top is also slightly wavy, but not too bad. The camera picks up the worse of the alignment in the decal, in person you would never notice unless someone pointed it out to you. I was really happy with how it turned out.


Once i was back home, i grabbed the glove box out and took it all apart. The inner plastic skin comes off with a few screws, which made mounting the plate easy. I just aligned where i wanted the plate to go, transferred the holes, then drilled them in the plastic.

The original sticker:

Once I had the old sticker off and the new data plate on the plastic, i noticed how beat up and slightly browned the plastic was on the inner glove box liner. I decided to scotchbright it down, solvent clean it, and spray it with VHT wrinkle black using my "apply heat with a heat gun immediately after" technique to produce a really fine and closely packed wrinkle texture.

After 3 very wet coats in different directions, i let the paint flash for about ten minutes and then use my heat gun on low to heat the paint and promote the wrinkle to start. I constantly move the gun as to not heat one section too much or warp the plastic, and heat everything evenly. Once the wrinkling starts, I keep moving the heat around to force the wrinkles to tighten into this beautiful small grain texture.

Once assembled after a day of drying, it looks really rad. The best test was when i handed the newly done glove box to my brother and asked him what he thought. He looked it over, rotating it and staring at me blankly, and just kept saying, "I don't get it. Yup, that's a glove box door alright." It finally dawned on him that i repainted the the inside wrinkle black, which he agreed looked nice. The biggest compliment however was that he never even thought to notice the data plate in the center wasn't original. When I finally pointed it out to him, he was floored. He could have swore it was just a stock ID tag, and only glanced at it. That is the exact reaction i wanted. Something that looks stock, but has all the new nerdy details hidden inside.

As i was taking my doors apart, I was reminded of how terrible mt inner door handles look. The plastic on the handles had always looked chalky from oxidizing, and really looked misplaced in the car. At one point, I tried to clear coat just the handles to make the oxidation go away many years ago, but it only made things a bit less noticeable. I decided a good wrinkle coat on the levers should hide all the white oxidized crud.

I had to cut off the riveted pivot pin to get all the pieces apart. I replaced the pin with a long #6-32 bolt cut to size when everything went back together.

I scuffed the handles down with scotchbright, and then prepped them and sprayed them. The first couple coats of wrinkle seemed to have a weird reaction to the plastic. I'm sure the plastic is some weird "bakelite" hardened ceramic impregnated type of specialty formula to be strong enough to not shear off over years of use, but after a few more coats, the paint leveled out more and covered everything. Thankfully the wrinkle paint is so forgiving and hides most mistakes pretty well. The final product inst perfect, but looks 900 times better than the oxidized versions. I polished the lock buttons with some normal auto polish and wax and they cleaned up decently, but still with some deep scratches here and there.

That's is for now. I have plenty of other projects going on that i will hopefully get more time to finish soon. Thanks guys.


-Mike

 

[cribbj]

Mike, stunning work as always! Isn't it amazing how one's tastes can change during a project?

I found that to be true on the 1UZ that I was wiring and was using individual sensor leads that were contained in SS braided teflon hoses, with circular milspec connectors, all leading to centralised connection headers mounted up in the Vee. While it sounded good initially, and the individual sensor leads looked good individually, once assembled it looked like an octopus orgy Back to square one and a decision that "less is more".

 

[MKII_Supra]

Thanks man. The car life is certainly something else.


It's been about a month since i have added any updates, but i have been tinkering on the car here and there. I have all the details coming soon, but I have repaired and reshaped all the seat foams on my Recaro LS seats, and have received my new skins from Tim at Velocity Upholstery. I still have to steam shrink them in a few places and align the stitching better, but they fit the seats outstanding straight from the box. I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Here is a quick teaser:

I will try to post updates sometime soon.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

[JustenGT8]

Simply amazing attention to detail, I love all the little touches but no idea how you have the patience or time?

 

[MKII_Supra]

Thanks Justen.

I haven't posted any real updates in almost 2 months now, but i have been busy completing lots of small projects for the car. I have kind of made it my mission to get the entire interior sorted out and hopefully finished to the level I have always wanted while i wait for more parts to be made. Here are some shots of the seat sections after fiddling with the covers to fit as best as i could make them:

I have one wrinkle I am trying to work out in the upper corner on this one:

Those curves!

And a lousy shot of the seats in the car after applying 303 Aerospace protectant for the first time. I was hoping the shine would fade like it normally does after applying it, but i am going to have to clean it off or try to buff the shine off with a microfiber. I'm not a fan of how shiny they are with the protectant.

I'm thinking i need to have my center console lid refinished in a similar way now.

I will be finishing a few details and hopefully getting some time to take good photos over my X-mas vacation, so i can sit down and start writing the mega update this thread needs. My to do list is really winding down at this point. I am running out of excuses to not start the car....


-Mike

 

[MKII_Supra]

I installed my new lift in the garage for my week long holiday break. I have lots of bolt checking and buttoning things up i would like to get finished with the time off of work.

(bad joke)


Lifting the rear up high enough first, before the front, was a hairy adventure.

-Mike

 

[BlackUZZ31]

love this project personally would of liked to of seen something like:



http://www.motec.com.au/keypads/keypadoverview/

rather than missile switch covers just don't seem to suit the rest of the car?

 

[MKII_Supra]

Thanks black. I think the switches make more sense in the grand scheme of the entire interior as a whole. I thought about dialing back the look of the interior with some more subtle switches, but the current covered switches make a huge presence in the interior when you see it in person, and are one of the biggest compliments people point on when they see it up close.

I'm getting everything together for a giant update tonight guys. I'm happy to report that the car is 98% final assembled and ready to go, pending a new drive shaft and my axles arriving. Its been a while since iv'e seen the interior all together and ready to enjoy. I wont be starting it until spring since it is so cold here, but i have been buttoning things up and going over my checklist in triplicate.

(I forgot how to get the rubber boot and plate into the console hole)


-Mike

 

[MKII_Supra]

Ok gang, it's been another really long hump between updates in this thread. Between going to SEMA 2014 for work, the holidays, and spending time on other things, i have kind of neglected updated my progress through the last few months. None the less, i have been chipping away at several projects along the way. I'm going to back up a bit and delve a bit deeper into my Recaro seats resto, specifically looking at the foams. I bought my seats for a screaming deal on my local craigslist, due to the fact there were so many missing and broken plastics, and the seats had been left a bit tattered after passing through multiple hands. As i detailed out, fabricating the replacement parts and buying new skins wasn't a big issue. The biggest problem i faced was the lower bolster foams. Or really, what was left of them.

The years had not been kind to these high-bolstered seats, as over two decades of people sliding over them to get in and out of the car left them torn, deformed, and compressed.

While some of the foams were ruined, some were in slightly better shape. The foams that sat on the inside of the seat near the center console were saved from the direct abuse of getting in and out of the car. It was evident that at one time, it looks like someone swapped over the driver and passenger bottoms so the fresh passenger inside bolster then became the driver side outer, and vice versa. Sure enough, even these bolsters were beat down and torn in several places.

I had 3 realistic options to explore. Either i could buy new foams from Capitol Seating out of the UK for 75 bucks each, have the foams repaired by experts for probably near the same cost, or try my hand at repairing them myself. The option to buy them new was appealing at 75 bucks a pop, but taking into consideration that all 4 bolsters would total 300 bucks plus shipping, it wasn't a cheap solution. Also being me, I would have hated myself if I didn't try my hand at some foam work, which I have never done before. I purchased some high density closed cell foam from a local upholstery shop, a cheapo electric knife from wally world, and had plenty of Weldwood HHR solvent glue to use from my gallon i purchased earlier. An additional 50 bucks in supplies was a good investment to see if I could repair them myself.

I started by watching tons of tutorials and guides on youtube, and scouring over forum posts. after having a decent idea of what needed to be done, i started cutting into the beat up foams.

I cut out all of the torn sections, and distributed the cuts to where i thought would be the most durable repair. On the really bad bolsters, it meant cutting off over half the inside sections. I placed some small foam repair sections where it was unnecessary to cut away a majority of the original piece, but i tried to keep the large repairs as one giant piece of foam. I had to take in mind the inner channel inside the foam where the bolster is supported by a steel tube. I was constantly test fitting pieces, and making sure the foam fit snug back onto the seat frame with the right amount of support.

My first bolster attempt was done in a few sections, but by the time i got to the last bolster i could do it well with only a single piece of repair foam. Once the foam was glued into place, i roughed out the shape with the electric knife. I always kept my best condition bolster side by side with the repair piece, to constantly judge the cuts and keep the shapes as similar as possible. I always kept the repair a good 1/4 inch thicker than needed for the final shape. I didn't want to accidentally cut too much away and have to start the process over.

Once everything was roughed into basic shape, i used a very course 40 grit 3" Roloc dick on my pneumatic die grinder to start shaping the foam. I kept the air pressure down to control the speed of the disk; I didn't need to cut through the foam like butter. slowly i worked around the repair sections, taking long sweeping but very thin and deliberate paths over the foam. As the understatement of the year, it made a huge mess. Foam would fly everywhere and basically coat everything. Luckily i was doing it out side with the garage door shut, but the tiny foam particles clung to everything they touched. After a messy cleanup and some finish hand sanding, i was very pleased with how the bolstered turned out.

Not a perfect job, but i was really hoping they would do the trick and turn out well with the new covers.

Luckily my upper foams were in perfect shape. Maybe just a bit dried out and compressed from over the years.

To help support the repair work done, i covered each bolster with three layers of cheese cloth. I used the HHR glue to apply each layer and stretch the cloth as evenly as I could over the entire inner and outer surfaces of the foam. This should help distribute any pulling and distorting of the foam so that tearing doesn't propagate at the repair seams. It's also a plus that the cheese cloth stops any tiny specs of foam from floating down onto my carpet over the years.

The rest I have already somewhat detailed out. I installed the new skins as carefully as I could, taking into consideration to pull the covers as evenly and tight as possible. The results with the covers right out of the box were great, a huge improvement over the damaged originals.

The upper covers fit very well with only a few small sags to tighten up. The lower covers fit decent over my repaired foams, but there were a few spots where i felt i didn't make the foam thick enough to properly "puff out" and smooth the covers. While they look really good and are miles better than what I had before, I think that the fitment of the new covers would be near perfect if I had simply bought the new foams from Capitol Seating. I'm afraid that the foam I was able to buy locally was not a high enough density compared to the original foam, and the bolsters were just too generally damaged to repair well (by a beginner with no foam experience). I'm thinking I may purchase the new foams later in the year, after I address getting the other priorities sorted on the car. Once i have the new foams, I would also like to take the seats to a pro shop and have the covers properly steamed and shrink fit. Below you can see how the stitched seams on the lower bolsters aren't quite prefect. I may be asking for alot with replacement covers, but i know they could fit better.

The new rails were bolted back onto the seats, and everything was greased and checked.

The plastic bushings used with the clasps that lock the seats upright and disengages when the seats are folded forward were broken and nearly gone at all 4 points. I took my best guess at their original shape, and turned 4 test pieces on the lathe at work out of cheapo PVC to see if they worked on the seats. They ended up working great and fitting snug, and not being that visible, so i opted just to keep the white PVC pieces in place. It is a soft plastic, so i will see how they hold up over time. I will make them out of delrin if i need to in the future.

Here you can see how close the lever lock arm is to the seat. I made the brackets as low profile as I could to keep my driving position as low as it could possibly go.

Once in the car, everything fit as intended. The seat belt mount is a bit of a close squeeze on the outside of the car since it passes right over the new adjuster knob when the seat is all the way back, but other than that there are no complaints. I am able to just see the three-window design in the seat rail adapters i designed, which is a cool little touch.

As the interior was coming together, my sight kept falling back onto my rear seat delete sub box. Although its design and build quality was right where I wanted it, I rushed a bit on the fitment just to get it done and out of the way. This left a few gaps here and there where the enclosure met the original plastics on the car. These weren't large gaps by any means, but enough to drive an OCD guy like me up the wall. I wanted everything in the interior to look as OEM as possible, or at least with an OEM build quality. I also felt that the single small 10" square sub left a huge and open flat space across the enclosure, which seemed like it needed something else to break up all the flat boring space. I toyed with some ideas in my head, but decided the best thing I could do was to draw the enclosure in the computer and preview some design ideas. After a few different versions, I settled on a simple deign that added a speaker cover over the sub with some acoustic cloth. I tried to keep the profiles and shapes round as to not look like pieces of wood, but square enough to tie in with the box-i-ness of the car.

The small boxes on the front are covers that will hide L bracket mounts that secure the box to the original seat mount slots in the floor. Before I started with the new pieces, I tackled the gaps along the edges of the enclosure. I tore off the old covering from the enclosure, cleaned the old glue off the surface, and placed it back into the car. Inspecting the fitment, I was almost embarrassed. it wasn't even close to the finish level I had been giving everything else on the car.

I cleaned the enclosure entirely, and then took note of where the problem areas were. Anywhere i saw a need for a fix, i serrated the top, bottom and sides with a saws-all.

I started by cutting out cardboard templates that would rest on top of the enclosure faces, and fit perfectly against the features on the original interior. With lots of trimming, modifying, starting over, and finalizing, i had patterns that I traced onto Masonite board and cut with a jigsaw.

I covered the side of teh masonite facing the enclosure with inexpensive masking tape. This will be explained later.

I then used a pneumatic stapler to staple the patterns onto the enclosure while it was installed in the car. This way i knew that everything would fit as tight and perfect as possible.

Once all the gaps were fixed with templates, i carefully removed the enclosure from the car and set it upside down. Everywhere a template had been added, I glued strips of a "For Sale" sign 90 degrees to the pieces, with a layer of tape on the inside.

Gap city.

Once i had created small channels where all the gaps were located, i slowly added layer by layer of fiberglass strips and resign to fill the voids. The serrations i cut into the sides of the wood with the saws-all help give the wood some "tooth" for the resin to grab onto.

When the resin cured, I pulled off the plastic side strips to reveal a perfect edge.

I then pulled off the Masonite templates to reveal all of the repair sections.

Once the resin had fully cured for a day, i brought the box outside and started to sand the repair faces smooth. Since i stapled the Masonite pieces flush to the flat faces of the enclosure, it took very little effort to sand the areas to a uniform and smooth finish. I used an electric orbital sander with 60 grit paper to make quick work of it.

The new templates were so tight to everything, i had to create a little half moon in the corner of this driver side lower section to clear my remote mount battery cable that bulged the carpet up.

The bottom sides didn't need alot of attention, just quickly knock off any fiberglass stringers and sharp peaks.

There were a few very tiny air pockets here are there to fill at a later time with a tiny bit of resin, but overall the repairs turned out well.

Moving to the new pieces of the enclosure, I used my solid model to figure out exactly what size pieces of wood I needed, what angle to miter cut them, and how long each piece needed to be. I bought some nice straight pieces of hobby poplar at my local hardware store, and cut them at work on a miter saw. The wood is going to be covered, so i didn't mind using a cheaper (but lighter) wood. I did a quick test fit to make sure everything made sense.

I started by dowel pinning at the joints together, and then gluing and clamping them.

I wanted to secure the pieces with T nuts, but couldn't let the hardware be visible. I attached a few T-nuts to lengths of bolts and used them as make shift router bits, and cut clearance holes into the wood sections at measured points.

Using a C-clamp, I pressed the t-nuts into the wood.

When I designed the two trim rings, i took in account the thickness of the vinyl and speaker cloth they would be covered with. This combined width was added as a clearance between the two rings. I used some cut pieces of junk CD's and tape to get the exact measurement, and used them as shims during construction.

The exposed hole sections on top of the t-nuts were covered with masking tape, and I poured fiberglass resin over the tops to cover each hardware hole. The bolts to secure the rings come from underneath, so I needed to hide the blind holes on top so they didn't show on the coverings. A bit of sanding magic, and they disappear to the touch. I also traced out some curves for the pieces using random circular objects around my house until i found a radius I liked.

I cut the curves with a band saw and sanded them down smooth. I then used more plastic strips that were the same thickness i had calculated for my material coverings, and placed them around the inside curve. I used masking tape underneath and around the void to keep any fiberglass resin from bonding to anything but the outside trim ring.

I then filled the void with chopped fiberglass mat and resin.

The three top mounting points for the box were to be secured with bolts, but i didn't want the heads of the bolts to show. I used 10 gauge steel plates and 4 bolts on each mount, and oversized the hole in the wood enough to fit the head of the bolt and a socket inside. The steel plate is bolted to the wood, and the mounting bolts for the enclosure sit under the top face of the wood. A plastic trim cap will be used to then cover the hole after the bolt is installed.

After everything checked out, the bolts for the plates were fiberglass resined into place, leaving the bolts (studs) permanently in place.

The two outer mounts for the top of the enclosure piggy back off the rear seat pivot mounts in the car. I made some brackets from 10 gauge steel scrap at work to use with them.

The covers for the front mounts were also designed in the computer, cut out, and welded at work.

The outer trim piece was routed with a 1/2 inch radius on its outside edge, and the both trim pieces were final sanded and smoothed.

The inside ring was given a few coats of satin black in case the wood would show through the acoustically transparent speaker cloth.

I then stretched the speaker cloth over the inside ring, keeping the weave even across both planes as I stapled the fabric taught.

A quick test fit confirms we are in business.

The entire enclosure is final sanded and cleaned, and then i glued on a very thin high density sheet of trim foam to all the outside faces. This will give the enclose a much more uniform and supple feel, much more like an OEM interior piece.

Then for the next few hours, I proceeded to cover the entire enclosure and outside trim ring with my Rochford Supply Allsport vinyl. The enclosure was easy as there was no complicated stretching, but the trim ring needed a tiny bit of massaging to cover perfectly. After both were covered, I bolted the outside trim ring on and enjoyed the final assembly steps. The sub was wired back into the box, and sealed with RTV as it was bolted back in.

Finally the inside trim ring was bolted on, and it was finished. Gray plastic caps are shown covering the top mount holes, but i replaced them with black caps after i found some locally.

I unfortunately don't have any good pictures of the enclosure installed. I need to thoroughly clean the inside of the car and get it into some decent lighting when it warms up. Here is a picture of the front mounting "L" bracket that the steel covers hide. The slot in the sheet metal was used for the original lower seats.

I also tossed in a set of new 5.25" rear speakers while I was in back. I picked up the best ones they had in stock at my local Best Buy.

I also recovered a few interior pieces with the new HHR glue and Rochford vinyl while I was attacking things.

Moving to the mechanical side of things, i have been slowly compiling parts and finding the time to install eveything as I go. The long holiday break gave me a nice chunk of time to get underneath the car, and attack everything I could. I decided that to make my life easier, i would raise my car off the floor using some "poor man's lifts" made from wood 2x4's. We use these alot at work, and they are a real life saver. I can violently tug and jostle my transmission and other bits around under the car, and confidently know the car is securely planted and not going to fall on me.

I started by lifting the rear of the car high enough to place it on the stands, and had a decent tolerance to the ground with the front of the car.

Then the front was lifted and the car was a very accessible distance off the ground. There is nothing like being able to roll around under the car with a creeper and reach every single thing comfortably.

A small issue i needed to address with the new IRS subframe was the rear connecting bolts. The bolts are mounted in the chassis to allow a huge amount of play in their degrees of freedom, and so you can angle and position the bolts just with your fingers. Since the bolts are a weird taper design to align the subframe when installing, I was left with the connecting bolts never wanting to perfectly center on their own into the inner steel sleeve of my new bushings. On the factory subframe, the lower retaining washer is coned to center the assembly. I ended up designing an insert steel plug to center the bolt in my assembly.

I cut them on the lathe at work from 1020 mild steel scrap.

While I could freely wheel around under the car, I measured all the new brake soft lines I would need, and ordered them with the needed adapters. M10-1.0 inverted flare to 3an adapters at all the chassis hard lines (one for the clutch line too), 1/8 NPT to 3an at all 4 calipers, a pair of 10" 3an pre-made lines at each front wheel, and single 24" 3an pre-made lines for each rear wheel. I decided to just purchase pre-made brake rated stainless braided lines instead of making my own, as I like the added insurance of a tested and pro crimped line for the brakes.

The Earls metric adapters have a convenient step groove in them that comes in handy when using the factory retaining clips to hold them in place on the chassis.

The two ten inch lines are used of the front between the bulkhead fitting on the coilover. the steering was cycled to make sure nothing was in bind, and everything cleared the wheels and tires. there is pleanty of slack on the inside 10 inch line for suspension travel also.

The factory retaining clip isn't an exact fit, but holds the adapter fitting with a perfect amount of tension.

I was going to use teflon tape on the NPT adapters on the calipers, but switched to loctite thread paste after researching online.

I decided to go with Wilwood's more street friendly BP-10 compound pads to start out with. I didn't want a high-heat effective racing pad, and something people said is generally more quiet and dustless.

In hopes of measuring for a final drive-shaft, i decided to finally get everything together and installed for the transmission and clutch setup. I went with the Howe Racing concentric throw out bearing to see how it does. It gets alot of bad rap online for leaking but i took a few measures to help it out (and i generally don't believe anything on the internet until it blows up for myslef, because i'm stubborn like that).

Positioning the bearing at the correct orientation with the correct spacer, i drilled the holes in the bellhousing for the pressure and bleeder lines.

With the bearing clocked, i made a cardboard template to the input cover on the trans of a bracket to keep the bearing clocked correctly. I then took the cardboard template, and made a steel version at work.

I welded the two piece bracket together, being mindful to weld on the opposite side of the joint where the bolt head clearance was tight so the weld bead didn't interfere. I intentionally made the bracket a bit longer than what i measured in the off chance i had to space the TOB differently.

From some preemptive measurements of the flywheel, clutch, and TOB, i determined the spacer i was given with my W58 1UZ kit placed the TOB exactly at the clutch fingers when at rest. Since HOWE recommends .060"-.125" clearance, I decided to shave .125" off the spacer while i was at work. It would be better to have it a bit too short, and just use some of the shims in the HOWE kit to space it properly than to have it too long and no way to modify the spacer at home.

Once installed, it positioned the TOB correctly and left enough room for the AN fitting to not interfere. It was however too long after measuring where the bearing needed to be.

I marked where the end of the travel was for the TOB, so I could then bend the excess of the bracket out of the way of the pressure plate.

Triple checking my measurements to be sure the bracket has a good amount of clearance to the clutch, it would let the TOB travel freely with no interference.

The lines were ran through the bellhousing and tightened on the TOB.

Where the braided lines came through the bellhousing, I attached some small bits of split rubber hose, secured with zip ties. this should help keep the lines from fraying and rupturing from the travel of the lines.

For the bleeder, I just ordered a 1/8" NPT bleeder from Wilwood, and a 1/8" NPT female to 3an adapter.

I made an offset bracket from a spare washer and secured the bleeder to the side of the transmission.

I again went with SPEC for my clutch this time around, opting for a sprung hub 6 puck for a 90's MR2 turbo. This is their stage 3 kit rated at 490 ft-lbs. The entire clutch kit for the MR2 works for the W58 setup as the flywheel I am using from Brandon at 1uzfeswapkit.com uses a 3sgte bolt circle for the pressure plate, and the clutch disk has the same spline profile for a W58.

Even the included pilot bearing for the MR2 is exactly correct for the 1UZ crank bore and the input of the W58. It seems Toyota is pretty good about somewhat standardizing these.

The clutch disk for the MR2 Turbo is a nice and perfect fit on the W58

At this point, the entire trans assembly is ready to install. Getting the trans under the car and lifted up on a jack is no problem thanks to the car being so high up. The annoyance was that the new poly mounts i made are so stiff, they wouldn't allow the back of the motor to drop low enough for me to easily slip the trans on. I had to loosen the engine mount bolts to allow the engine to tilt back, bolt the transmission up, and then tighten everything back into the right drive-train angle.

At this point, the car is very close to being finished. I already have my current exhaust which bolts to the v-bands on my new downpipe, but i would like to replace it in the future with a full stainless setup. All i have now is to measure for the driveshaft, and wait on my axles.

I sent our contacts at work this drawing that denotes my setup, and am still waiting on info for a price to have the shafts cut and splined.

It's exciting to see things so close to the end. I'm hoping to actually keep my promise this year of "starting it in the spring." There really isn't anything else left in the means of fabricated parts. Just a few do-dads and bits here and there to sort out.

Thanks
-Mike

 

[Lexus94]

Looks good

My only concern is that it's a 1995 so be careful with how much Hp you go for as it has the smaller conrods in it .

 

[MKII_Supra]

I have been tinkering here and there on small projects with the car, but am more or less still waiting for the last pieces of the puzzle to come so I can get the thing running once the weather turns around.

To entertain myself in the meantime, I bought a tig welder for the home shop and have been working on a really cool and challenging project. Here are a few teasers, more will come later:

-Mike

 

[MKII_Supra]

It's been a while since i have been tinkering on the supra, but this is a good thing. Most all of the larger projects are complete on the car, and now i am just waiting on a few custom parts to arrive. With the warmer weather also starting to come in, I am getting more and more excited about starting the car, going over my small checklist and boning up on Megasquirt again in preparation. In these slower months, I became somewhat restless not being able to do anything in the garage. I decided to start a smaller project to keep me busy and out of trouble, and make a purchase I have wanted since i first started working at The Roadster Shop.

Ever since I started watching all the insanely talented sheet metal and chassis fabricators here at the shop welding, i knew i wanted to get into TIG welding. Watching and learning from some of the absolute best welders in the industry, I started some of my own small projects to get some experience with a TIG torch. My IRS setup was one of the first things I TIG welded, after hours of practice on scrap material at the shop. I wasn't by any means good in terms of laying down beautiful beads, but i could confidently weld things together knowing they wouldn't fail. I tired all sorts of different welds, on weird angles and in difficult positions. It became clear early on that I was highly addicted to it, always trying to improve my consistency and technique. After quite a few different projects, I knew that I needed a welder at home for the projects that I couldn't bring in to work. With taxes coming my way and a cool project in my head, I bought a welder and fired up the computer.

I have always wanted to make a shifter kart or bar stool racer, but wanted to go over the top with the suspension design. This meant adding more weight where it wasn't necessary, which isn't ideal when looking at a racing kart. I have had ideas kicking around for a few different cantilever suspension setups, but had to find something to apply them to. The answer was right in front of me. The first thing you make when you get a new welder without built in mobility, is a welding cart. Is it necessary to have a welding kart with suspension? No. Do you need to spend a huge amount of time and resources in a design that is incredibly over-complicated and unnecessary? Absolutely not. But in my typical fashion, I wanted to make something over the top that no one else could compare to anything existing.

The basic idea was to make something to obviously hold the welder on top and secure an argon tank to the back, but everything else was open canvas. I played with dimensions and angles for the frame until i found something that works well with the entire envelope of the cart. From there, i scoured Ebay and Amazon looking for the right wheels and tires, mini coilovers, what to do for bushings and hardware, and how these things might package together. Committing to some components, I designed everything around a "car" with a SLA double wishbone front suspension, and a parallel rear 4-bar live axle. I thought this look would most compliment the muscle car look i was kind of going for. From there, i toyed with different cantilever designs until I has a setup that could articulate well and certainly looked the part. I originally wanted the fatty tires all the way around, but in the interest of actually being able to maneuver the large cart around, opted to use casters instead up front. Adding some wood to help break up the heavy steel theme, and some interesting bracketry, the main design was complete in a few days of after hours work.

Things like filler rod tube holders were worked into the design, along with ways to secure the welder and tank in place. Random weld nuts were added in ares in case i wanted to bolt on additions in the future, and then i was ready to break down the design and start cutting some metal.

Everything was laid out and flattened in the computer if bent, and once the steel and time were paid for we let the parts fly on our CNC plasma. It took a while to clean the slag the plasma left behind on all the small intricate parts, but clean smooth metal is always the best to weld to. I also cut sections of DOM tube to use for the various mounting point and 4-bars. Bending what needed to be bent, all the parts were boxed up and sent home to the shop. I laid everything out and made sure everything was accounted for and easy to see.

For the coilovers, It was convenient to use some cheap generic mountain bike coilovers from Amazon. You have to love Amazon Prime! I had chosen these from the beginning, and their free length and stroke were taken into account when designing the suspension. The springs that came with them were a massive 450lb/in, the smallest i could find in a coilover that worked well with the design. I decided to also purchase a 36" long spring from McMaster with a spring rate closer to 150 lbs/in when cut to length. You can see a piece i made on the far right coilover below.

For wheels and tires, I knew i wanted kart slicks on the rear no matter what. I would have liked to put massive 9" wide slicks on it, but decided the extra width was going to make is harder and harder to maneuver around the shop. I looked around ebay and found a used set of aluminum wheels, and new Dunlop tires that were a good fit. The diameter of the tires were important as they play a big role in the setup and stance of the cart, so it was pre-determined from the beginning. Also, I found out first hand how hard it is to mount these tires to the rims. After wrestling the tire around the rim for a half hour, i found a way to get the tires over the rims without special tools. When it came to airing them up and seating the bead, I could not get the top bead to seat for the life of me. It took nearly 60 psi just to seat the lower bead, and the top would not budge. In all of the pictures below, you can see that i never have the outside beaded on the tires. We finally did get them beaded at work the other day, using a steel outer compression sleeve around the diameter, ratchet clamped tight to it. Using a blow gun with a rubber tip, it took the entire 90 PSI in the shop's air line to finally pop the bead. Talk about scary!

With the welder, i also needed some basic welding tools to be productive. I purchased a Stronghand Tools Nomad portable welding table to make life easier, and quite a few different magnets and clamps to secure my work.

Starting with the front control arms, i positioned everything together and used the magnets to true the axis of the tubes.

Once everything measured out, they were tacked together and then welded.

These were the first parts i welded with the new welder, so it was a bit of a new learning curve. It had been a while since i welded anything, and I didn't practice at all on anything with the new welder. It took me a while of screwing with the pre and post flow settings, and the slope settings on the machine to get comfortable. My first welds were "ok" considering my rush to start welding.

A majority of the parts interlock into each other which makes life easier, and i made sure i could use the new frame and other metal parts as jigs for tacking everything together.

To do the rear 4-bar tubes, i bought another tool I always wanted: a tubing notcher. Watching some videos online and looking for a decent basic unit that would work in my large standing drill press, i went with Eastwood's notcher when it went on sale. I knew it wouldn't be the best thing in the world out of the box, but among the sea of Chinese tube notchers, it seems the best. Not too surprisingly, as soon as I clamped my first piece of pipe into the saddle, the saddle broke as i applied enough tension to keep the tube from moving while being cut. The strap for the saddle had been MIG welded to a piece of flat stock, but the weld was ground down to nearly nothing before painting in I assume an attempt to make it look prettier. it didn't take much for one side to give.

I cleaned both welded joints of paint, and TIG welded over them to really get some decent penetration. I then welded some gusset strips over the joint and really burned them in to give it all the strength it would ever need. Once I made this modification, the system worked flawlessly. I used a good steady spray of oil now and then to cool the blade and clear the chips, and let the hole saw slowly do the work. I spent some more money on a nice hole saw, since it would make a big difference on the cut.

I made all 4 tubes with ease once i had a process down, being careful to keep them all the same length as designed. The chips removed were nice and uniform. A good indication that my speed, feed rate and oiling were a good combo.

The 4-bar tubes were welded in a similar method to the front control arms, and i couldn't have been happier with the saddle joint fitment on the ends.

I kept the first tacked together bar as a "master", and used it to make sure all the other pieces were the same length and aligned properly.

I moved on to the front spindles, and once they were fully welded I was able to test fit the front suspension together. All the front and rear pivot points use bronze flange bushings, and grade 8 1/2" bolts to secure them. Certainly not necessary, but i wanted the over-designed theme to carry into the hardware also.

Before I could start on the other sections of the rear suspension, I had to finish weld the frame together. I had cut the 1.5" x 1.5" tubes sections for the frame at work using our accurate auto-saw, so the angles would work out spot on. I also tacked it together at work on one of our very nice flat welding tables, since I wouldn't have access to anything as calibrated at home.

There was mill scale on the square tubes, which i had to knock off or grind away to produce nicer welds. Slowly I moved around the frame, trying to heat the joints in a cross fashion to keep everything as square as i could without any special fixture.

On large surfaces like the top and the tank base, i measured out even increments to stitch weld the pieces together. This keeps the amount of unneeded heat and welding down, plus I think it looks cool.

After welding for a while, I was really starting to get the hand of this little welder. It helps that these are some of the easier fillet welds to do, but i was becoming more and more confident with it.

I also stitch welded the panel supports that wood hold the wood paneling. I picked up this style from alot of the cars we do here at work, using carbon fiber or access panels instead of wood.

With the frame fully welded, I could also final weld the front suspension in place.

After a full day of welding, I had made quite a bit of progress on things.

Due to no access to our lathe at work (motor failure), I had to improvise on a few components that I had planned to turn at work. The axles required me to find just the right reducer sleeve so I could fit the 5/8" bolt I was using as an axle in place. i was careful to remove all the zinc plating on the bolt where i would be welding, as the fumes from burning zinc are deadly. I also knew from the beginning that the kart hubs i got from my boss were american pattern, and the wheels i bought were metric. With no lathe, i couldn't turn down the OD of the hub to fit into the smaller bore of the metric wheels. Something that will have to wait until the lathe is up and running again.

Once the threaded studs were welded to the main axle, I could assemble the entire rear suspension and true the parts together. Then I was able to tack everything in place once things measured out square and even.

A baby little panhard bar!

At this point, i started moving all over the cart and welding things together. The bellcranks, front panel supports, pushrod mounts and filler rod holders were welded in place.

To hold the tank and welder in place, i added slots to use a ratchet strap or some type of nice wide strap on both.

All the main suspension pieces were welded in place at this point, so I took a minute to check everything over. I couldn't bolt the rear wheels on due to the hub interference, but i could prop the rear up with a 2x4 and take a look at everything.

I also took it off the table and set it up on the ground, and checked everything over.

This is also the first chance I had to mount the bottle and welder onto the cart, and take a look at it. Everything is accessible and works well together, and I was really happy with results so far.

And that is where i stand so far with it. All that is left is to finish and weld the handle into place, and get a few things turned on the lathe. The plan is to powder coat the entire thing white or a plain silver, but i haven't made up my mind yet. I'm not sure what kind of wood I will use for the panels, but most likely just some generic 1/4" plywood from a big box store.


I haven't said anything about the welder yet, because I wanted to leave it for last. I spent a long time researching what welder i wanted to get, and what my budget should be before i committed. I watched lots of YouTube reviews, and scoured forums to help make a choice. In the end, it was a friend at work who purchased a brand new digital higher end AC/DC Everlast with a cooler who helped me make up my mind. He absolutely loves his machine, and it works really well for him. After seeing how his welder worked, i started looking into them a bit more. After some videos online and comparing the features, i decided the Everlast I-TIG 200 was a good fit for what i wanted. I was looking for a good beginners welder that had a solid warranty, and could work with the material i had. It is a DC only machine, so no aluminum, which i am still kind of kicking myself for. I told myself "if I want to do aluminum, i can always come to work and use one of the big and very expensive machines". I did have to buy a footpedal for it, and I went with a USA made SSC Controls pedal. Expensive, but certainly worth it. I also had to factor in that I had to purchase an argon tank for the first time (i didn't want to lease), and starter tungsten and filler rod. Overall, I am very happy with it. Its a great first welder and I am getting very confident with it. I see myself maybe upgrading to a better AC/DC machine in a few years, but this guy is perfect for what i want right now.

Thanks guys,
-Mike

 

[cribbj]

Mike, you're out of control.......

 

[stevieg]

I recently purchased both an everlast powertig 200dx-d and their powerplasma 80 plasma cutter and I'm very impressed, I swapped out to a better 25ft flex head #17 torch but other than that they're easily as good as the 4x price miller units

 

[JustenGT8]

That's just showing off

I can't get that quality on my car FFS

 

[MKII_Supra]

lol, thanks guys.

Stevie, I really like this little machine. The big money Millers and Lincolns we use at work are certainly more efficient, but this little 200 is perfect for an at home enthusiast's garage or shop. A smaller flex head torch is certainly my next upgrade, along with a gas lens kit. The bulky #26 that comes with it does work well for most easier jobs though.


Handle is ready to rock. The plan is to hang my drops (ground and torch) on the ends of the handle between the disks, so i will see how well the smaller disks on the end work before committing to fully welding them.

-Mike

 

[stevieg]

For sure about the gas lens kit, my suggestion is get a Furick cup over the toxic#14, I've gone through a few toxic cups as they get pretty brittle after a couple months and the furik Pyrex ones are less than half the price and being able to see through the lens is nice. In the meantime even just get something like a #8 gas diffuser setup for your higher amperage stuff. Turn the gas flow up to 20-25 and you'll never look back

 

[MKII_Supra]

Thanks Stevie, I have my eye on a few gas lens kits and a new torch I think i am going to grab this month.


I have some big updates on the Supra that I will post as soon as i get a little more progress to make a big post, but until then here is the welding cart back from powdercoating in beautiful glossy "surgical white":

I will try to get some better pictures of it tomorrow.



Thanks guys and gals,

-Mike

 

[MKII_Supra]

She's a screamer.

4 years in the making to this point, I am a very happy parent this evening. It sounds brutal (3" straight turbo back with a Magnaflow Race series muffler, also pretty much straight through)

More details later. Thanks to everyone for the help and support over the past 4 years, the day has finally come!

-Mike

 

[MKII_Supra]

A quick video of just getting it to turn over for the first few times.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mmpmTvQGtU


-Mike