the prep work begins.

i stopped by the autozone the other day and picked up some supplies to repaint the calipers. purchased some aircraft paint stripper, brakekleen, clear coat, black caliper paint, and sand paper. so after work i headed to my friend's shop (Rev'd Up Kustomz) to work on my brakes. we started with the brakes first. sprayed it with paint stripper and waiting a bit. at the first try the paint stripper didn't seem like it was working. but we tried again and waited a bit longer, and watered it down... and bamm! it works. using a wire brush, a rag, and some brake cleaner we were on our way. however, our wire brush was a bit worn out. so we had to stop.

the next day i was applying more brake cleaner and started sanding down the calipers. the original black color was almost gone and you can see the silver. while i sand the rear calipers down i applied paint stripper to the red front calipers. the red calipers were painted badly... but i was stoked to see the paint strip off. It was pretty awesome spraying them down and seeing the come off like it was nothing.

im still in the processs of preping them up... so ill keep you guys updated on the progress.

twin turbo brakes!

these past few days i've been collecting parts for my twin turbo brake swap... i've posted on both supraforums and club lexus. and i must admit i'm getting a bit lucky. well you might be surprised in terms of the money spent but still i'm getting a great deal. first off i was able to find a set of rears brakes at club lexus. luckily the guy lives in southern california. i called him up and asked a couple of questions. he bought the brakes from another member on the forums but ended up not using them, since he is selling his ride. so i decided to meet up on the weekend at laguna hills with my friend david.... so the rear brakes have been taken care of... next the front brakes...

i got a couple of responses to the front brakes. one guy i found up in washington state had a new and used set. he sent me picks and we spoke on phone. i was really interested at the time. but his price was a bit steep. so i continued my search.... PMed a couple of people and still nothing. finally i got a reply on supraforums from a member. i sent him a reply back and talked to him through AIM. he was a definitely cool dude. He had a set of front brakes that he was going to use on his MR2 but didn't end up using them. They were just sitting in his garage and decided to go another direction. so we talked about it and told me to through and offer. so i through out and a number of 230 shipped and he agreed. so the front brakes have been taken care of...

i placed an order from goodridge stainless steel brake lines and some Motul 5.1 Brake fluid...

brake power decreasing...

for the past few weeks since the new rear rotors and new pads have been placed. in addition to all the new rotors and pads i had my brakes bled. you would think that everything should be fine and dandy... but its not... my brakes seem like they are acting up again. there is still a noise coming from the rear passenger side and i have to stomp on the brake pedal to stop the car. the guy who bled my brakes informed me that my rear passenger caliper is going out. so i had a second opinion and took the supra to keith from Rev'd Up Kustomz to take a look at it... he sprayed it with some anti-squeek spray. in the beginning it worked a while but the noise came back. he told me to drive it for a week and hear if the noise comes back.

so i've been driving the car and i have to say enough is enough. i've decided to just invest my money on used twin turbo brake calipers, pads, rotors and new stainless steel brake lines. this is going to cost me some bucks but i know i can save money if i can find the right people :)

Appointment @ Elite Image

Originally i had an appointment to have my friend take a look on Saturday but decided to reschedule it today... So I emailed work that I'll be a tad bit late... So i get to the shop my friend take a look at it. Well actually he took it to a shop that specializes in auto repair. So I waited for a couple hours. But it seems like it took a while just to diagnosis the issue. They had to drive it around. Put it on a lift to listen to the noise. 3 hours past then 4 hours.... And i had to notify work that I couldn't make it. My day was pretty much shot from waiting. So my friend got my car back and told me issues not related to the noise. First, he told me that my differential is making noise ( not a good thing) , second my wheel is bent which might be rubbing on something, third my new rotors had to be resurfaced... I told my friend it might just be a wheel bearing. So we took it in the back of the shop and ran some more tests. I decided just to take the plunge and replace the wheel bearing. He placed the order and told me to come back tomorrow to get installed...

argh!

i'm a bit bummed right now. for a while know i've been having this squeeking noise coming from the rear of my car. at first the noise wasn't so bad. it was bearable. but ever since i swapped those new wheels it seems like it has gotten louder. so last month i had my friend listen to the sound. and he told me that my rear rotors were warped and rubbing against my brake pads. so i decided to purchase a set of new slotted rotors ($180) and set of brake pads ($40). I ordered the rotors which took about 2 weeks to get to me. by this time the sound is unbearable.... it'll drive you mad if you drive next to me during slow traffic with your windows down. fast forward to yesterday i got everything installed at my friends shop which cost me another $65. when the car was all done i drove it around and the freakin noise was still there. i was so bummed and disappointed... and the guy told me that my rotors were still in good shape and didn't need to switch them out.

i was quite puzzled. what was causing this loud and annoying noise. i had my friend, the owner of the shop listen to it. and he told me it could be either a loose bushing in the differential or my wheel hub bearings. i doubt its the differential but the wheel hub bearing seems more like a logical thing. the sound is definitely coming from the wheel. so, when i got home i did a search on supraforums and searched for wheel hub bearings.... and low and behold some people have been experiencing that seem loud noise.

i'm going to have a second opinion to be sure that it's the wheel hub bearing. i dont want to be spending more money on things i currently don't need. oh well. we live and learn and not assume things. i should've just had a professional take a look at it.

new wheels!

yeppie have new wheels... actually its not really new but it will work for now. a friend of mine who had a set of Supra TT 17" wheels on his MK3 wanted to see how my 16's look on his ride. So we swapped both our wheels. In the end we just decided to just keep it that way. So now i'm rollin 17" wheels. It feels a bit higher than my other wheels. But now i don't have to feel super paranoid going over bumps.

ALso, i can get my brakes upgraded as well! I can't really fit TT brakes on my 16's but with these 17's i can!

NA vs NA

Raced a buddy of mine last night. My 97 NA with TRD Exhaust vs his 95 NA with Intake. Haha He got me a couple of times but i got him back. I guess we're even.

vogtland lowering springs

decided to take a risk and purchase some vogtland springs from titan motorsports... im getting tired of looking at my wheel gap.

South San Diego Supra Meet

Well i finally did it. I finally set up a supra meet. I was able to get 8 MKIVs. It was a blast crusing to silver strand and to PQ area. Everybody had a great time. So I'll definitely continue to do this if i get the support from other supraforums members.

turbooooooo

so i have a smog test i need to schedule sometime soon when i register my supra this year. and after thinking about it, it might a great time to purchase parts for my engine swap. :)

booo piaa

so i got the piaa led wedge bulbs. two word... they suck. man such a disappointment. they don't light as bright. my damn stock bulbs are brighter! anybody wanting to buy piaa wedge bulbs?!

wrong bulbs!

the guy sent me the wrong bulbs... i contacted the guy today and he told me to keep the bulbs he sent me and is going to sent out the correct ones! thats what i call good customer service :)

update finally

its been a while since i've posted something on here. here are few things going on...

- its been a year since i purchased the supra... its hard to believe that ive had that car for that long.

- i had to pay for another year of car insurance. i had to modify some stuff on my policy. since money has been quite tight i had to decrease some of my policy. i definitely added the rental car just in case.

- i received my registration for this year. i need to mail that in may. and i found out that i need to get my smog test :( booo oh well, i didn't really do a lot of mods on my car excluding the exhaust and the open air intake. so i'm putting back my stock airbox for the visual part.

- i bought a nice chrome trd oil filer cap.

- i purchased some clear sidemarkers on ebay. but the amber lights make it look kinda tacky looking.

- i also purchased some LED wedge bulbs in white, which are suppose to come in a day or so.

I'll take some new pictures soon.

trd fuel cap sold...

i found somebody who wanted to buy the trd fuel cap, a fellow supraforums member. consider it sold!

trd fuel cap cover.

anybody looking to buy one. i have one for sale!

steering wheel update part 1...

well i just found out that I might have a little bit longer for the steering wheel. the guy told me that he will be needing it next week for his vehicle inspection. I guess in New York they check vehicles for safety, which includes all airbags. But we have agreed that he will sell the steering to me afterwards. I'm still waiting for him to provide me with high res images. But from what he says the steering wheel has 20k miles on it and is in excellent shape.

more updates to come.

new steering wheel coming soon!

i might be getting a new steering for a great value!! lets hope the deal works out. ill keep you all posted!

trd accessories...

today i placed an order for a trd fuel cap and a trd radiator cap from elmhurst toyota in chicago... i decided that i need to get some accessories for my car. i haven't gotten it any gifts lately except for gas and a nice detailing. upgrades are hard to come by when your budget is limited.

i'll have pics when i get them installed!

Mileage...

i can't believe i hit 100k already... time goes by so fast.

balding tire...

so i got home from work today and found out that driverside rear tire is balding :( Damn it, i dislike having to a freakin' tire. I'm heading to Discount Tire Co. first thing tomorrow morning to get a matching rear tire. Currently, I'm running two different brand name tired on the rears. Can anyone say "ghetto"? haha My last rear tire i replaced was back in august of last year... But that was a different story. Damn tire exploded in the freeway. This time I'm taking extra precautions and getting it replaced. I would hate to be standed in the freeway or caught running a spare tire. My car is too cool for that!

I wish i had the money to buy rims and tires right now. But no money for me.

just in! new hid bulbs!

i got my HID replacement bulbs in today! i was quite excited when i saw them on my desk at work. i thought they wouldn't arrive since its a holiday. i guess it was delivered saturday.

when i got home from work i started the install. it was pretty much a breeze. i'm quite familiar on how things work now. i did my thing and it took me about 10 minutes.

everything looks great now. both lights are matching. i'm glad that this HID kit i purchased comes with a nice 5 year warranty!

pictures on the way!

porter cable 7336...

just purchased a new toy! with the money my bro jose gave me for christmas and a little extra i decided to shell out the dough and invest in a porter cable 7336 from lowes.

i've read reviews that this is one of the best polishing machines out there for the price its worth. all i need to do is purchase some a backing plate, some pads, and polishing chemicals. i'm quite excited to see what i can do with this thing. i'll keep ya'll updated when i decide to detail the supra!