7M-GTE, should read 7M-BHG

So fitting a sturdy metal head gasket and having the head skimmed is pretty common stuff for a dedicated 7M owner, and all of them will tell you 

"Don't both machining just the head, if your gasket is bad, the block will probably be bad as well. Do both."

I thought I was the exception.

Bolted it all back together and had all the same symptoms within two months. >:(

Time to do it properly!

Into the garage my Supra went again. This time, for a long time...

Out came the engine, and off it went to Phillip for a complete rebuild.

They guys at the shop confirmed that I had indeed blown a metal head gasket...

They replaced the rings, the bearings and all the valve gear. 

They milled down the block 2 thou (!), bolted it back together and gave it a nice coat of paint for me.

It looked fantastic!

Working weekends for several months we finally got the car back together and onto the road.

It had never run as well! It's purred and was generally very reliable for a good 6-12 months (apart from the starter needing an extra solenoid to engage properly and consistently)

Finally though, the symptoms returned...

7M blown head gasket? No Way!

After a couple of months of cruising around in the Supra things started to go wrong.

The first sign of trouble was the overflow bottle filling up over each drive.
Then a watery noise through the heater core heard from the cabin.
Finally, the last straw was the car overheating driving on the Hume highway at 120kph at night time!

For a few weeks, I didn't want to believe it was the head gasket.
I checked every other thing and was convinced for a while that I just hadn't bled up the cooling system properly.
There was no emulsion in the water and I didn't seem to be losing any power or anything.

After enough time, and enough exposure to www.supraforums.com.au, I came to admit my mistake and park the car ready for a head gasket change.
Firstly I did a leak down test. Connected an air compressor to a connector that screws into the spark plug hole. Cylinders 1 - 5 seemed fine. But when we connected it to cylinder 6, the overflow bottle went crazy!

Sure enough.

Cylinder 6 was leaking exhaust gas into the coolant gallery immediately next to it.
If only I had checked the head bolts torque as soon as I got the car, this may not have happened for a decent while longer!

So off came it's head! Off the head went to the shop to get skimmed and ready for a Cometic Metal head gasket and ARP head bolts.
Several hundred dollars later and a bit of time taken to learn about how an engine is taken apart and put back together, and it was ready to rock!

A month later I was back at square one...

In the Beginning

In the beginning, I had a Toyota Tercel. Cool little car, great to learn in, only busted the motor once.
It met the front of a Holden in Tasmania and that was the end of it.

Next, my mum bought us a 4 cylinder Magna to drive. What a dog, but it worked (and still is with 330000km on the clock)
It was about this time that the original fast and furious came out.
Needless to say, the supra instantly became one of the coolest cars I knew.

More specifically this line:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKXZT70gwNg

Anyway, after moving on from the Magna to a Saab 900 turbo, I really began to see the advantages and fun or a turbo.
So the saab shat itself after a year or so and still sits in my parents driveway unable to get out as reverse gear is stuck. I was back in the Magna.

My mate got an R32 GTR and showed me what a performance car really meant.

So a while later my friend told me
"Mate, there is a Supra for sale, he's gonna sell it for cheap as"
So I rushed over there and had a look.

Wasn't quite what I expected.
But I got it anyway.

7MGTE, MA70 Mk3 Supra with Digi Dash, TEMS and Targa top.


With a bit of help from my friends, we got it running.

I had a supra. It was awesome!