87 Supra Maintanance

[rakib1981]

i am planing to change the headgasket on my supra 87 non-turbo. now my question is that besides the headgasket wht other gasket would i need to change since i am taking the head off. plus what new nuts and bolts should i get before even starting to take the head out. and also any tip on how to do the whole of changing the head gasket will be very helpful and appreciated.

[LORD_ED]

welcome to the club mate

karma supra will prob tell u how to do all this he does them well and thouroughly so its worth taking his advice on what/ how to do it

[MarkMcQ]

Getting a set of good head bolts is recommended. Something like ARP or similar.

Also, when re-torqueing the head, you want to go to about 75lbs on each bolt, rather than the 50 or so Toyota say you should. That's the reason Mk3's have the notorious tendency to blow the head gaskets so often.

The head gasket is really the only one you'll need to change, but since you'll have the top end stripped down, it's worth checking the other gaskets on it too, to see if they're still in good nick or if they need replaced.

Also, take note of where all the hoses go on the induction unit and the coolant ones that run alongside. It's very easy to grab the wrong one and stick it on the wrong place sometimes, when putting it all back together.

[Karma Supra]

Has the gasket blown or are you just doing it as maintenance???

If it has blown has the car over heated???

AS said above, I would at least get new toyota head bolts, preferable ARP uprated ones. I aould also flush the coolant to get and junk out, remove the overflow bottle and pour and gunk out... Replace the rad cap and thermostat. (failure in the cooling system isa regular cause).

Clean out any water hoses and check for blockages. -be carefull with the heater matrix on that comes out the back top of the head, they usualy break.

make sure the gasket surfaces are totally clean and smoth, poor preperation there will cause it to blow again... scrape off any remains of old gasket, etc...

When torquing up the head bolts you must get the order right! start in the middle and work up. I torqued mine down to 75 pound feet. start off by doing them all at 50, wait a while (hour or so) then 60, wait for a while, then 75. torquing it up gradulally and letting it settles helps hugely, and is rarely done... after a 1000 miles of taking it easy, RETORQUE to 75 pound feet. this will ensure any settling of the gasket is taken into account, (another regular cause of re blowing!).

Other things you might like to look at are;

REplacing stem seals, - the old ones go rock hard... only use toyota ones, my car has blueprint ones, and they are rubbish, My engine is perfect, but I get a BIG puff of blue smoke every time I fire up after its been sitting.

Remove the EGR. - The EGR sends very hot exhaust gasses through the back of the head, around cylinder no.6. not good for headgaskets... removal kits are about £15 fora stinless set, £8 for a mild steal kit.

I would use a genuine toyota headgasket... but the cheapo eBay gasket kts are good for all other gaskets (I beleive in replacing every single one that is removed...)

Anything I have missed???

Edit:

Head stud torquing order!

[Twincam.GTi]

Karma Supra Posted Yesterday, 09:22 PM

REplacing stem seals, - the old ones go rock hard... only use toyota ones, my car has blueprint ones, and they are rubbish,

As a side note your coment on the firm 'Blueprint' is correct. They appear to do a lot of pattern parts for Jap cars and originally when they started out they had a very good reputation, in fact they were an OE supplier for some items for Subaru (Pre Imprezza days ) in the same way that Nippon Denso are for Toyota. Yet in recent years blueprint have really dropped standards, also they are no longer a supplier to Subaru

[Karma Supra]

You can imagine how mucxh it makes me cringe every time I start my car after its been sitting.. I get a BIG puff of blue stinking smoke... its from the stem seals, and is !Removed! embarasing!!! The engine kis perfect, and its not worth taking the head off at the expense of a new headgasket, bolts, turib gaskets and more skinned knuckles just to sort a problem that is purely "cosmetic"... but it makes my car look like a clapped out old shed (as many mkiis are these days I'm afraid) every time I start it up!!!!

Oh well the other one is being rebuilt with a full TOYOTA engine gasket set!!! lets hope its worth the £500+ its costing me!!!

[Karma Supra]

Nice to see after all the effort I put into a reply the guy read it and thanked us!!!

[Twincam.GTi]

Karma Supra Posted Jul 16 2005, 01:09 AM

  Nice to see after all the effort I put into a reply the guy read it and thanked us!!!

Yes you did (and have done before with other people), I to have been finding this with a minority on the Corolla section, a person 'appears' with a problem and you try to help (Pictures, Part numbers and past experiance etc.) then they never 'appear' again and you wonder if everything is alright!