Refreshing and Reinserting the Diff

Cleaning and Reinserting the Differential in a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra

In a post a while back, I dropped the diff and it was 8 kinds of dirty.  It took a flat tip screw drive, brillo pads, scotch brite pads, a ton of Purple Power and some Rust-oleum, but it no longer looks horrible.

It terms of getting the differential back in its place; it just takes a couple of jack and A TON OF PATIENCE! I can’t stress that last part enough.  A few times I had to take a break and lay down in my tortoise’s room to collect myself, but I eventually got it back in there.  Once you have it in place it’s just a matter of reinserting the bolts you took out when you dropped it.

Problems With My Brand New Sway Bar

How to (Almost) Replace a Sway Bar on a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra

With the rebuilt driveshaft, cleaned diff, and new shocks and bushing installed; the next part of Project Rearend was to install the new sway bar.  I ordered the Whiteline sway bar the same time I had ordered the bushings for the shocks.

To remove the old sway bar, it’s pretty easy.  All you’ll need is a 12mm socket to take off the center sway bar links; and it’s also 12mm to remove the bolt and the bottom of the sway bar end links.  Once those are gone, it pretty much drops right out.

That’s when I noticed that the old sway bar and new sway bar looked NOTHING alike.  I put it under the car just to verify and nothing matched up.  This pissed me off because I had emailed Whiteline asking if their sway bar would fit before I even ordered it.  I was told it would fit an ’83 Toyota Celica Supra.  When I contacted them again they told me something different.  They said it wouldn’t fit an ’83 Celica Supra, it would only fit an ’83 Toyota MA61 Supra.  I tried to explain that those two vehicles were the exact same vehicle.

After different conversations with two different people at the company, I just gave up.  Luckily I didn’t buy the part directly from Whiteliine; I technically bought it from Motovicity.  After talking with the rep from there, she explained that her conversation with the company pretty much went the same way mine had, and I was able to return the part to Motovicity and get my money back.

It also looks like the whole event led Whiteline to change their website, but I think some damage had already been done.  After talking to a few people on Instagram, it was clear I wasn’t the only person who had purchased the part under false pretenses.  Hopefully, it won’t happen to anyone else, hopefully they’ll be able to get their money back, and hopefully I’ll be able to find an upgraded sway bar that actually does fit my car.

To be continued…

Shockingly Easy Shock Switch

How to Replace Rear Shocks on a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra

When my KYB rear shocks came in right after my Whiteline parts, I decided that would be the next step in Project Rearend.  The first thing I did was take out the KYB lower shock bushing.  A pair of pliers was all I needed for that.

Here you can see the difference between the Whiteline bushings on the left and the KYB bushings on the right.

I was forced to get a little creative to put the Whiteline bushings in.  I used a Gatorade cap, a C clamp, and piece of wood, and was able to press them in.

Once that was done, the next step was taking the old shocks out.  Since the rear was already jacked up, I got to skip that part.  The first thing I did was remove the bolt that connects the shock to the arm using an 11/16 socket and wrench.

There are two bolts at the top of the shock that connect it to the body.  The first bolt is easy to get off with a 14 mm socket.  To get the second bolt off you’ll need a 7 mm wrench to hold the shock steady while you use a 14 mm wrench to remove the last bolt.

Afterwards it pretty much fell out and you can see the huge difference.

I installed Whiteline’s upper shock bushing when installing the KYB shocks

Installation is just the reverse of removal, and you’re good to go.

Got A Lil Sidetracked

If I didn’t have so many jobs and hobbies, I’m sure the Supra would have been done by now.  The most recent hobby that side tracked me was beer brewing.

Me and my best friend brewed a big batch; and when you factor in recipe research and the time it took to find ingredients, it took up a bit more of my time than I figured.

But now that everything is primed and bottled (and I can’t drink it for another two weeks) my free time will now switch back to the Supra.

Upgraded Shocks and Upgraded Bushings

Shock install post to follow

Rock Star Car Show

Forgot to make this post about a car show a few weeks ago in Baton Rouge. There were a ton of shows that weekend. Apparently there was a much larger one  40 mins away, but there were still some awesome cars at this one.

Axing the Ol’ Axles

How to remove CV axles from a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra

At this point I figured, since they are already half disconnected, I may as well replace the rear axles.  The only thing connecting them to the wheel hub were four 14 mm bolts.  Once they were gone, the fell right to the ground.

I took them to Autozone for the core charge and ordered some new one.  Took two days to get the news in, and they look substantially better that the one I took off.

The Parts Are Rolling In

Everything I need to finish Project Rearend is finally coming in.

I ordered a Whiteline sway bar and all the rearend busings that Whiteline makes for the Celica Supra.

The rear shocks I ordered from KYB also came in.  I went with the Gas-A-Just model since it was the highest trim rear shock KYB makes for the Celica Supra. A lot more post to come.

Getting Shafted

How to Remove the Driveshaft on a  1983 Toyota Celica Supra

Seeing as how the main problem with the car was the rusted and broken rear u-joint and yolk, the next step was to pull the differential.  Which was surprising easy.  The center mount shield is held by some 14mm bolts.  With the diff already gone, all you have to do is pull it from the transmission.  Having said that, this would be 100 times easier if the exhaust was out of the way.

All you have to do though is a bunch of finagling and you can get it out.  I started from the back and pushed it over the exhaust and used the space from the missing differential.

Once it was out I took it to a driveshaft shop deep in Cajun country and they replaced the broken parts and pained it for me.