I like your idea for a seal remover tool. Why buy something you don't need? Nice to hear you're almost there. on the extra grounds and the NEW hoses. Sucks that you have extra parts though. (Eh, it happens to the best of us.) Sooner or later you will find where it goes. I usually have a video cam just for this reason, if it's a job I haven't done before, so I can video it while it comes apart so it all goes back together in the right order. Used to use a Poloroid 25 years ago. You mentioned Halloween, you got kids, how many?

 

no kids. but lots of the neighbors do. we like decorating the house and stuff for halloween and my neices will prolly come to my neighborhood to trick or treat etc... didnt close on the house in time last year. closed nov 20th.

as for the extra bracket. im not worried about it. on my supras i remove al lthe crap that inst needed the day i get them etc... lol. cleans them up alot. for this car though, i want to keep it stock pretty much. to be honest, that bracket could have come from a car in the junkyard, idk. tool box was full of bolts and i told my gf to take the bolts out and put in a coffee can for me since she wanted to help. she may have thrown the brackets in the box. the more i think of it t hey cam from a cressida with a 7m to hold the crosover intake pipe in place as the n/a valve covers dont have the bolt holes for them. i prolly grabbed them as i went coil on plug and plan to install some n/a valve covers when i polish them. i honestly didnt see anything missing on the engine other then the power steering pump.

whats gonna suck though is after the engine is bolted to the trans and we lift it back up(dropped the crossmember so we could lower the engine to get the top bolts easier) and i go to install the a/c compressor. it was a huge PITA to even find the bolts to remove it, so putting it back wont be fun. oh, and i still need to soldier the new alt plug into the harness. i can do that later though. harness is laying under the car. unbolted it from the crossmember when we lowered it.

as for the seal remover, i bought one from autozone, kinda like hooks on the end of a flat bar. didnt want to slide between the front main and crank, and i wasnt gonna force it. so tried the slide hammer, it worked perfect. cant beleive i never tried it before. it was a big DUH!!!!!!!!! moment. lol. ill use it from now on though, thats for sure. dont use self tapping screws, they will leave metal shavings. used a sheet rock screw as it is a needle point. no shavings at all. just took longer before it finally screwed into the seal.

 

well, busy weekend. soldiered the alt plug into the harness. found out why it was hacked, p.o. had an alt from a diff car in there, had an oval plug instead of round. luckily i had 2 correct lats laying around as well. also ran a 4awg from the alt to the + on the battery. it is ziptied to the stock alt harness and runs along the crossmember. got the engine back in. everything is hooked up except the ecu under the dash and the battery. kids were starting to show up trick or treating yesterday when i was finishing up, so ill hook the ecu up today and buy a new battery for it. im trying to go over everything in my head and make sure i didnt forget anything. engine has a new oil filter, full of oil, trans is full of trans fluid, engine is full of coolant, power steering is full. all hoses are hooked up, including fuel lines. exhaust is bolted up, intake pipes, maf, etc... the only cover not on is the one on the tb over the cables. its like 2 bolts though so easy. i changed the trans pan gasket before filling it with fluid, and i changed the rear main seal(it was actually leaking), and front trans seal before the engine went in.

only seal not changed yet is the rear trans seal, and upon closer inspection, looks like it is leaking some. so first chance i have to put it on my friends lift itll get changed. new seal is already sitting in the house. new motor mounts and trans mount is installed. i removed the vacuum modulator from the power steering pump and plugged it with a oil drain plug. m14x1.5, and capped the 2 vac nipples that go to it. so the car should be running tonight. im staying at work late for ot so itll prolly be dark by the time i have it going but at least itll be done. thank god!!!!!!!!!! lol.

edit: forgot to mention that i went to the junkyard yesterday morning to find a heater control valve. lexus wants $145 and napa/autozone/discount cant get them. i found 2. bought both. $7.50 each. 1 was like brand new, no discoloration at all so had prolly been recently installed. i put that one in but kept the other for just in case. lol. also got a fuel level sending unit as my gas gauge still doesnt work even after changing the caps in the cluster. so we will see if this solves it.

 

Awesome!!! Good that you found those leaking seals now and not next week after having it all together. That used to happen to me alot until I started fixing things while they were out in the open. Too bad you had to stop for Halloween, glad that came and went. Now, I can't wait til this stupid election day is done with. (Too many ads)

 

yeah, the election ads are annoying. another reason i stopped is im trying to think of what i forgot(always forget something). so far all i can think of is i cant remember if i tightened the banjo bolt on the power steering pressure line or not. need to check that when i get home, i think i did, but gonna double check. i know i tightened the fuel lines, the coolant lines are all clamped, vac lines too. all connectors are plugged in. intake pipe is all connected. exhaust is on, grounds are on, all trans bolts are in. etc....

as for the seals, thats one of the reasons i pulled the engine. wanted to just get them done. turns out the rear main was leaking. cleaned the oil out of the bellhousing when i pulled the convertor to change the front seal. btw, that seal puller i bought worked perfect for the front trans seal.

 

well, found what i forgot to reconnect. though i didnt disconnect it knowingly so thats why. i have no steering. i guess when i had the rack lowered to take the compressor off/on, the steering column and the shaft on the rack separated, and when we lifted the rack back up, they didnt slide back together. so i am gonna try to take it off the rack, slide it together, then reattach to the rack, without dropping the crossmember again, but will if i have to.

other then that, only problem is a slight miss. it revs pretty good, but i can tell it "isnt quite right". so im gonna just replace the plugs. my guess is i pinched one of the gaps shut when rebuilding the heads. didnt even think to check them after putting the heads back on. oh well. anyway, no leaks that i could see, cooling system is full. it idled for ~20min and never went over like the 3rd bar up, which is lower then it sat before i did all this work. wierd. also, still smoking from around the engine. guess i got more oil on the manifolds and exhaust from my greasy hands then i realised. lol.

also, it is MUCH quieter. so that egr pipe prolly was my exhaust leak all along. idle is a bit low though. i think its cause of the miss. occasionally while holding the gas it smooths out for a couple seconds then goes back to missing, but it isnt a full miss. 1 cylinder being unplugged would make it run much worse then this. so im sure its prolly just the plugs. anyway, ill update this again when i have time to fix the issues i found.

 

as an update, i changed the front 2 o2 sensors. still crap gas mileage, so idk. gonna do the rears later, but had other more pressing concerns to deal with first.after i started driving it, i got a funny clunking when starting/stopping and have the "pulsing" when braking and my rotors arnt warped. turns out my rear suspension bushings are shot. today i ordered the ADUS 505's and 5056's. gonna change these first. hopefully it solves the issue. if not, then ill get the 583 kits next paycheck.

 

Wow, pretty soon everything in the car will be knew. I need to do them bushings also. I was gonna do them in a couple weeks but, now there's more important problems with it, no start. I'm sure your car will feel so much better when you're done.

 

well, it also needs all new shocks and springs. i have a set of eibach springs for a gs400 that came with it. im going to see if they will work. My guess is they will but will be stiffer, which is fine by me, the car rides too soft anyhow.

but yeah, itll all be new soon anyway. im almost ready to hook up a ms2 standalone to control the engine and leave the stock ecu in place so that the auto will still work. tired of this crappy gas mileage.

 

got the bushings yesterday. i cant believe these tiny things are $30 each. I got all 4 of the control arm bushings as 1 set for my supra for ~$40 total. they are poly as well. the lexus, you have to buy each individual one, and its $30. crazy. anyhow, ill install them this weekend and also need to take the solenoid off the rack and clean it out. ps pump is howling like crazy when completely full and the fluid is very aerated.

 

well, i installed the bushings saturday. was alot more trouble then i had planned on since i forgot my brothr has my puller and he was at work so couldnt get it back. had to torch the bushings out of the arms themselves, then cut a slit in the sleeves to pop them out. had to do this to the sleeves in the knuckle as well. though 1 slit was enough to pop them out. didnt have to do 2 as mentioned in other threads here.

well, the bushings on the knuckles didnt exist at all. there was NO RUBBER at all. just the metal pin banging around in the sleeve. well, got the 505's and 5056's in. car rides sooooooooo much better. no more clunking from the rear end, and no more pulsing when hitting the brakes easy, and also, it just seems to coast alot better too. i will do the 583 bushings next. they arnt bad, but getting a lil soft.


also, i pulled the solenoid off the power steering rack and cleaned the screen. it was pretty much totally blocked off. power steering would whine like it was empty even when full. put it back on, filled it up with fluid, turned lock to lock several times, it quieted down but still had a lil whine. went for a drive, came back, sound is gone. so thats fixed as well now.

i was going to swap in the gs400 eibach springs i have, but after looking at the rear, i know they will not work at all. so looks like i just have to wait till they are sold and buy the correct ones for the car.

 

Good to hear ya got it done, and that it was easy enough b/c I need to do this in the spring. (When it's warmer) It would have been easier with the puller but, ya make do with what you have.

 

actually, idk. i tried putting a socket on it then hitting it with a hammer. the sleeve never budged, and the sawzall cut the sleeve in less then a min so either way it worked out. i will warn you. those bolts are TIGHT!!!!!!!!!! impact wouldnt budge them, and i had to use a breaker bar and make several passes with that before i could use a ratchet to just undo it. and i put them back just as tight. man were my arms sore after that ordeal. did not expect them to be so tight.