Project Thread Supercharged Supra

[cribbj]

On another subject, why don't you consider adding some of the soundproofing like I used? I used two different types...One was a tar based aluminum backed lining that is most excellent in absorbing sound, and the other is a neopprene like substance that is also aluminum backed. The neoprene type is exceptionally light weight.

Ryan

Ryan, it's already done. Somewhere around post 650/652 I mentioned the 140lbs of Cascade Audio Engineering (http://www.cascadeaudio.com/) deadening that went in. Wow, what a difference! A Supra that is as quiet as a Lexus. As you did, they used aluminum backed neoprene, a plus a lead/foam sandwich sheet for the console & floorboard, spray and more neoprene inside the doors, plus the spray and neoprene in the roof.

I still think there's a bit more to be gained by removing the inner fender liners and putting some spray or foam sheets in there, which we may do in the future.

 

[cribbj]

I decided to "moderate" my own thread, and just deleted several posts because they contained inaccurate information about this Gilmer pulley set. I discovered the crank pulley actually has 60 teeth (confirmed by counting - 3 times), not 64, as I was informed by Endevour. And I now have all the stock pulley diameters (thanks again for the assist, Scott!), which makes a side by side drive ratio comparison easier. So here's the final table of drive ratios:



All accessories are underdriven from the stock setup, but the A/C pulley is now underdriven about 86% from what it was, which is too much IMO. So I've asked Endevour if they can take the existing A/C pulley, and machine it down a bit and reduce the tooth count from 59 to 49, as I don't want to lose any A/C capacity here in Houston, TX.....

 

[cribbj]

Here's a couple shots of the P/S, A/C and dampner pulleys test fit on my mule/mockup motor. As soon as I figure out how to get the !@#$%^ pulley off the alternator, I'll put the new one on that too.

The A/C pulley is a perfect fit, close, but no rubbing at all, and I don't think there should be any problems reducing its OD. I'm going to reroute that A/C clutch cable just to be sure.

My camera is having an off day - the flash made the A/C pulley look yellow, which it's not:

 

[1uzvl]

Are you returning the a/c to the same ratio as factory??

Was just wondering how much margin there is in the slip sensor on the compressor if its ran too slow or is that not been used.

I havent read the whole thread it appears quite long so the answer may already be there.

 

[cribbj]

Yep, same ratio as factory. I think the slip sensor's purpose is to detect a frozen, or otherwise nonmoving compressor, and it tells the A/C amplifier to disengage the clutch. I think/hope it has nothing to do with the pulley ratio, but I'm no A/C expert, so I'd appreciate any advise from those who are.

 

[1uzvl]

they will trip out even if the belt is a little loose especialy on start up of the compressor.If you where to run the compressor slower than factory it may detect a fault as the compressor speed is checked against engine speed but how much tolerance there is i dont know.

If the ratio is the same it should change the speed and therefore wont cause issues.

 

[Peewee]

Depends on the ECU, not all will do it.
Late 90's cares will care, 80's and early 90's definitely don't care, not sure about mid 90's.

 

[cribbj]

Then on the mechanical side, I took the intake manifold over to my fabricator/machine shop buddy and had the recessed bosses for the mounting holes opened up a bit so I can now get flange nuts in there and a socket or box wrench to tighten them. When I switched from allen head cap screws to studs & nuts, I discovered the manifold mounting holes were drilled off center, and 1-2 were right up against the bosses, making it nearly impossible to get nuts on the studs and turn them. Dennis had to “make” some special thin wall nuts, and they were a real bear to get on & off:



Also had some holddown tabs welded on my SS fuel rails, so that system is finished now, and ready for leak checking:



Here, we’re rigged up on my little hydraulic pump and holding 100psi nicely; I didn’t want to go much higher with the pressure as I didn’t know how much the injectors would handle:

 

[cribbj]

Just a brief update on the carputer. After living with my relocated batteries, and the carputer for a short time (two weeks?) I decided I wasn’t happy with a few things, so I decided to reroute a cable or two. Next thing you know, the interior of the car looked like this:



To make a long story short, I pulled out, shortened, cleaned up, tightened or eliminated nearly every cable that was installed for the carputer & new audio system, except the speaker wiring, which was still the OEM wiring from Toyota. Seems wherever a 1 foot cable would have been optimum, a 6 footer was installed, and the excess was coiled up and stuck wherever it would fit. In several cases, where the original cable was plenty long enough, there was an extension cable installed too! So here’s the pile of excess cables I pulled out:



Then I decided to move the carputer’s external interface jacks from the inside of my center console:



To the front dash:



The first cavity on the left has the pushbutton for my engine prelube system, and the jack next to it is for an iPod A/V input. The next cavity is a USB port, and the last cavity has an HDMI port. Not yet sure why, or to where I would output HDMI, but the only other possibility was an Ethernet jack, and that’s not needed ‘cause the carputer already has WiFi capability. I had a 3rd hole to fill, and although I was tempted to throw another USB port in, I opted for the HDMI. These jacks looked very inconspicuous and tidy inside the center console, but unfortunately they couldn’t be used unless the lid was left open, so they weren’t very practical.

Additionally, I’d been having visions of my two, 20lb Odyssey batteries flying off this back shelf and paying me a visit in the front seat during a panic stop so I had this battery bracket fabbed up, and I installed it yesterday:



I also eliminated some spare +12v power cabling I’d installed six years ago “for the future”, and rerouted my fuel pump power leads, and the Kenne Bell trigger cable. Put all this stuff in the right & left hand sill cavities where it should have gone years ago, instead of draped across the floor boards, under the carpet.

 

[cribbj]

Door & Dash Panel Refinishing

As I'm home from work for two months, recuperating from my little heart attack, I have more time on my hands than usual. So I started another little side project: refinishing the dash & door panels on my son's black car.

I don't know if the Lexi suffer from this problem, but the early MKIV Supras had a rubberised antiglare coating on their plastic dash & door panels, and while it may have looked OK initially, it doesn't wear well. Here's a photo of the driver's side door mounted switch panel that I just took out of the black car:



Pretty bad, and several of the dash panels aren't much better. So, a number of Supra owners have elected to refinish these panels, but the trick to a good refinishing job is getting the rubberised coating off, without destroying the plastic underneath.

There are a number of threads on SF about this, and people have used a number of different solvents and abrasives to get the stuff off, with varying degrees of success. Unfortunately, most of the solvents seem to attack the plastic if left on too long. There are a number of horror stories where people have left solvent on too long and melted their panels, and then tried to "fix" them with bondo, etc. Pretty sad. The abrasive approach isn't any better, as it gums up rapidly with the rubber coating and then becomes ineffective.

So I decided to try a lineup of different solvents to see what worked and what didn't. I had a selection of Acetone, MEK, Lacquer thinner, Brake Cleaner, Carb Cleaner, ATF, Brake Fluid, and Gunk Engine Degreaser.

To make a long story short, the first five solvents were too aggressive, and attacked the plastic, without really doing a superb job on the rubber coating. And of the last three, the ATF and Gunk were pretty ineffective.

However, the brake fluid was like magic in a bottle. No kidding; I simply poured some on a rag, wiped it on the rubberised coating, and could literally rub the stuff right off, and best of all, it didn't attack the plastic at all.

Here's a shot of the same piece, after the coating was removed. This represents "maybe" 10 minutes of work, with most of the time spent trying to get into the tight areas:



Next step, pull all the dash panels, clean them with brake fluid, then surface prep for the primer, and final paint.

 

[hungryforinfo]

Why is it so shiny? Get it repainted in the chrome paint... mmm...

 

[cribbj]

That's just what it looked like under the rubber coating. I'll be roughing it up a bit with some sandpaper, steel wool or scotch brite soon.

As I'm no paint expert, if anyone has experience prepping & painting plastics, feel free to jump in.

 

[stevechumo]

Brake fluid! I never thought it's a mild cleaner. For painting plastic, Pepboys has some spray to paint for plastic or soft/stretching material, but you'll be limited to the color option.

If you really want it to look good and to be durable, here's what I'd do as painting on car:

1) Sand the bare material smooth. Final sanding can be wet sand with 320 grit.
2) Spray primer. Spray can should be fine. Final sanding can be wet sand with 500 grit.
3) Color coat. Any color of choice with automotive spray can for a tri-stage painting. Don't sand at all.
4) Clear coat. Spray can is fine. 3 coats are what I prefer. Wet sand with 1500, 2000 grit. And rub it out with rubbing compound and then real fine polishing compound.

The end product will look as good as the car's exterior paint.

 

[stevechumo]

During any stage, make sure you wipe the material clean with a tack cloth so it can be free of any dust or unwanted things on it.

 

[cyberdiamond]

General consensus was goo-off (or goo-gone) stuff for removing the sticky mess left from removing adhesive stickers.
I was going to try citroclean or citra-gel (sp?) orange/citrus based cleaner.

Good info on the brake cleaner (haven't heard that one before) just be sure you clean it VERY well before painting or the paint will bubble.

I have to cut one of my panels to fit the proefi dispay gauge where the stock clock goes and may have to do this if I mess up the coating and need to repaint. My dash panels haven't suffered much yet but the car does reasonably low k's

As for paint I would use plastic primer after roughing up the surface with 600 grit and see, maybe a bumper paint and not clear it. Or just leave it in the plastic primer which almost gives the same sort of look as factory.
I'm guessing that you don't really want a shiny finish on the dash but maybe you do, if so a gloss clear after your colour choice is fine.

Hoping you make a full recovery.

 

[cyberdiamond]

Can't edit my post but use wax and grease remover prior to painting.

 

[cribbj]

Thanks Steve, I'm good with all that except the clear coat, as I don't want a glossy finish.

The guys over on SF have been using DupliColor brand, Bumper paint. It's intended for urethane bumpers, but it apparently works on plastic dash panels, and they say the color is spot on.

A couple have used professional bumper paint, available only at automotive paint stores, and they say it works well too.

Cyber, the brake CLEANER was too aggressive, and attacked the plastic. It was actually brake FLUID that worked so well in the end.

 

[stevechumo]

Pepboys now has matte clear coat, so you don't have to worry about gloss. Clear coat helps protecting the paint.

 

[SC400TT]

John,

As ususal, your attention to the small details is not only mind-bogggling, but also most understood and appreciated . Nice work on the re-wiring, the new battery case, and the rails.

Brake fluid to clean the plastic...Great idea, and I will most definitely keep that one filed away for the future. The only "rubberized" pieces we SC guys seem to deal with are the upper center console trim, and the two cupholders. Besides that, all the rest of the plastic is finished in a matte, slightly orange peel state. It is easy to re-paint the non-rubberized pieces and match the stock look spot on with high quality plastic paint. I used the SEM plastic paint to re-paint my AC control, ash tray and the custom plate for my new Pioneer touch screen stereo head unit, and they definitely look stock. Be sure to paint with light sweeping strokes of the paint can, and allow each coat to dry thoroughly before adding the next quote. SEM also makes a nice matte clear as well. Most good plastic paint lines also make a good plastic "prep" that also acts as a good paint bonding material to plastic. I would definitely use that material.

Sorry to hear about your recent heart attack...If you mentioned it earlier in this thread, I missed it. I am glad to hear about your recovery, and may you fully recover and not experience another one.

Take care John.

Ryan

 

[cribbj]

Thanks Ryan, that means a lot coming from another AR hotrodder.

The brake fluid trick continues to amaze me. In less than 2 hours I was able to clean all of the dash panels, the shifter console, ashtray and both of the switch panels for the doors. And that 2 hours also included dismounting all the electrical pods, modules and the A/C eyeballs. The hardest to figure out how to dismount was the cigarette lighter, and I must have spent 15-20 minutes just on that......go figure.



I found that using an old, nearly worn out Scotchbrite pad, soaked in brake fluid really accelerated the removal of the rubberised coating, and as a bonus, it prepared the surface for painting.

Edit: Another bonus I've found with using this brake fluid is the cleanup. I just hit the pieces with Simple Green, sponge them down really good, and that seems to emulsify the brake fluid, and reduces it where the whole mess just washes right off. Same with cleanup of my hands.

I've tried the DupliColor Bumper coating and their Vinyl and Fabric paint now, and both look good, but don't have any "fill" qualities for the deep fingernail scratches, like in the door switch panels. (The 1st owner of this Supra was an exotic dancer from California who moved to Houston and married a rich oil man. No, her name wasn't Anna Nicole Smith, but she must have taken lessons from her! And more to the point, she must have had talons instead of fingernails with the scratches she left.) So I'm thinking I need something like a "high build" primer to fill these in; that or really get after them with some sandpaper. Any suggestions?

Here's the driver side switch panel with one coat of the bumper paint, and with the scratches still pretty evident: