88 Supra Turbo with t-top possibly in my future

[dusthead]

Hey everyone, i've come to ask your advice, i'm not new to the forum world - i used to frequent and contribute to club9g for the galant back in the day but i've sold that car since...and i've come here for much help with my beater 93 tercel. but tomorrow i'm going to take a look at an 88 Supra Turbo. Here's the description given:

"1988 Toyota Supra Turbo with Targa Top. New Paint, only 125,000 miles on it. New powersteering components, new altenator belt, new battery and new fog lights. Inside is in good shape. The car runs and drives good.

Kelly blue book only goes to 1989 I entered it in as an 89 and it said it was worth about $5500 and we are asking $4000!"



and thats the only picture. a friend of mine gave me a price of 2500 and no more for it...but hasn't told me yet how i would justify the difference from their asking price. the ad i found was posted on the 22nd of July...so it's been out there for a while - may make the sellers motivated. anyone have comments or advice? if you happen to see this before tomorrow afternoon i'll get to read it before i go see it. once i check it out i'll update this thread with it's condition before i make them an offer.

i'm REALLY interested in a RWD coupe that has 4 seats and is under $5k, this is the only one within 200 miles of me that i could find other than some BMWs...so i'm a pretty motivated buyer to find such a specimen. later people.

UPDATE: so i checked it out today, turned out to be automatic...but that can be fixed. it was pushin lots of white smoke out the exhaust and it was dissapating quickly so...fuck...coolant leak. it was very apparent that the head gasket needed to be replaced....not sure now if it was just a cover like on my tercel. anyways - he said he's going to take it for a compression check and find out if it's a gasket or the head...cracked head - don't think i'm interested...depends on the price of a new one, anyone have an idea? also it wouldn't stay running without pushing the gas...he says thats new - and thinks its the alternator. so he's taking the alternator to get a load test tonight and if it is - he'll replace it...sweet. he says whether i buy it or not he wants it in a stable running condition.

the paint was brand new, he's a body repair guy so - of course the body was perfect, painted it a slight candy red all around except for the targa top was black and the area around the license plate was black. and his wife is a car detailer...hah what a combo right? so the interior and engine bay were both really cleaned up. for the most part it's basically stock...no clue on the brakes but no noises...hard to see them with the stock alloys on there, but the rotors were in good shape...not deep at all. springs looked great, no chipping or thick rust. it was missing the hood latch lever, the seatbelt holders on the seats were broken, missing the triangle piece for one of the side mirrors, missing the lock plastic cover pieces for both doors, old aftermarket head unit, knockoff greddy blowoff valve cause he said he's "vain" and wanted the sound, and when we opened the back hatch a good amount of water came out of the plastic piece on the rear-most part of the hatch....nice.

he came down on the price by a grand in total today...so it's at 3k. he also showed me some falken rims that fit the car...may include those in my offer.

[bgrieger]

If it is in good condition and it is what you want, hit it. You should spend some time reviewing the various forums (supraforums, supramania, here) to see what you should be looking for before dropping your hard earned cash. That said, if it is in good shape, offer what you think you can get away with. Remember if it is worth it and you offer half the price, someone else stands a good chance of walking with it.

[Jeeves]

Auto's (in the real world) go for less, and that head gasket plummets the price. The price to repair one of those I've seen can go (at a shop) from $1600 to (I saw one guy get taken on a $3500 ride). To do it yourself requires time and pulling the engine which will dirty up that engine bay and will put that pretty body in jeopardy (not a guarantee, just a chance).

I'm usually a fan of Edmunds.com when it comes to the real value of a car. KBB can be ehhh sometimes.

[img]http://xd.**********s.com/uploads/c748e9b571.jpg[/img]

It looks like Edmunds may be undervaluing the Supra though :-/ but 4K is definitely high for a stock, 125K '89 Auto Turbo. Nevermind the blown HG. That's its own issues. :-(

[SupraTuned]

Well, to be very truthful, its not even really worth 3k. I think that the car is nice looking from the pic......but it also begs the question; what did the paint and body look like before the paint job? Is he trying to hide something? Maybe thats just me, but I would ask if he has any pics of the car before paint. You don't want to buy a bondo factory. In any event, the head gasket itself warrents the price to be about 2800 to 2500, since you will have to use the extra money to get it fixed right. If the car is generally clean, and seems to only need the head gasket job, then it could be worth it. But yes, the automatics are generally not as desirable as a manual supra. I also severly doubt that the KBB rates that car as 5500, becasue my bank went by kbb for the loan and they said that my car with with all of the highest options chose and excellent condition was only rated at 4,400. Which really pissed me off, but they gave me the 5,000 anyway. I am not sure if you intend to to the head gasket yourself, if not, you definantly want to let him know its going to be about 2,000 to have it fixed. Supra's are fun cars for the right price. There is a lot you can do to them with money, and all your really need is a generally clean platform. But as long as the head gasket is fixed properly (arp bolts or studs with metal or stock head gasket, shaved head and block and then tourque fastners to 75-80 ft-lbs.) you will have a nice car on your hands it looks like. The problem is not the bolts or the head gasket itself, rather the tourque from the factory. As you can tell these guys taught me well about these cars. After that, it is just minor things. All in all, the paint is a big thing thats done. Now its all engine.










Have you tried looking for an MR2 turbo? Fun cars. Celica altracs are as well. Both utilize the 3sgte, a fairly potent little engine. Altracs are fairly hard to find though. I know if I could find either one in good shape I would have went that route instead of the supra. But I am happy with the soup. The only problem is I don't think the MR2 has a rear seat, and the altrac is all wheel drive if that is an issue at all. Good luck in the search.

[dusthead]

Thanks guys for the replies.

thankfully...it is NOT a BHG. compression test went perfectly...well within toyota specs. he replaced the alternator because it was shot...put in a better thermostat, flushed the coolant, oil change and a coat of wax on it. lol. purrs like a kitten...no more white smoke anymore after running it for a bit...must have been the cat doin it's job after sitting for a while.

and they figured out why they kept killing the battery...the little lever that actually lets you turn the key to OFF. hah. they key is a old so it's worn a bit and lets you take it out before you get to OFF so the car would sit in ACC.

so i'm pickin it up as soon as i get my friggin loan check from my bank...i'm excited as hell.

[dusthead]

so i went to the bank and said "i've waited too long...just print a new one here" and they did. went up and test drove it:

felt pretty good...was a little jumpy getting into 2nd gear. the biggest thing that concerned me was with the pedal down half way - 1st and 2nd gear were pushing the car well but it shifted into 3rd really soon after and slowed the acceleration...haven't got it on the highway yet...i will sunday when i drive it home.

some little things were messed up that i didn't notice before - the environment control box isn't secured...neither are the NORM/SPORT buttons. the ashtray cover doesn't popup on its own (guess spring related...but i'll probably replace it with something useful, there will be no smoking).

the speedometer wobbles up and down averaging the actual speed i'm guessing....and the thermostat reading will sit on C until you give it gas and then it starts going up...then falls back down when you come to a stop. is that normal? it was a cool evening today...

any ideas on these issues?

[bgrieger]

Can't comment on automagics...in 20 years of playing with cars I still have yet to work on one or have to deal with a problem one. I have one sitting in my garage however from my old parts car...

Climate control box: the centre console has to be removed in order to access the bolts that secure it. Not hard to do, just a little tricky.

That's a coin tray...not an ash tray. The ash tray is just below the climate control. That coin tray slso serves as a pretty effective cup holder for your coffee, and I believe pepsi/coke cans fit fairly well too.

Speedo bounce could be the gauge, the cable's (there are 2) or the gear in the transmission.

The temp gauge normally sits pretty steady and tends to move quite slowly in response to temp changes. It could be the coolant level if it is very low, the sensor on the thermostat housing or like the speedo, the gauge or cluster. Funny enough, I've seen this type of thing from as little as a bad wiring connection at the sensor. Then the engine torques, the movement is engouh to reconnect the worn connector. Or of course, it could be as bad the instrument cluster failing/very real problem.

Electrical gremlins are tough to trace, but there is a process so like any auto repair, they aren't rocket science. Given noted problems, use them to negotiate a better price.

[Jeeves]

Originally Posted by dusthead

so i went to the bank and said "i've waited too long...just print a new one here" and they did. went up and test drove it:

felt pretty good...was a little jumpy getting into 2nd gear. the biggest thing that concerned me was with the pedal down half way - 1st and 2nd gear were pushing the car well but it shifted into 3rd really soon after and slowed the acceleration...haven't got it on the highway yet...i will sunday when i drive it home.

some little things were messed up that i didn't notice before - the environment control box isn't secured...neither are the NORM/SPORT buttons. the ashtray cover doesn't popup on its own (guess spring related...but i'll probably replace it with something useful, there will be no smoking).

the speedometer wobbles up and down averaging the actual speed i'm guessing....and the thermostat reading will sit on C until you give it gas and then it starts going up...then falls back down when you come to a stop. is that normal? it was a cool evening today...

any ideas on these issues?

The speedometer is a common issue and I've seen in no less than ~10 supras in my city. The lubrication in the spedometer cable has dried up and it's jerking/hanging up slightly as it spins. This will typically end in either the cable breaking or it doing this for another 10 years. I tried several fixes for it but in the end the only 'fix' was replacing the cable (which as mentioned) is a two piece cable in the '88s.

The temp gauge could be a number of things, but it sounds far more like an air bubble or low coolant to me. The engine reving will spin the coolant faster pushing it past the sensor, then as it settles the pocket forms. You may want to burp the radiator.