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Thanks for all of your reassuring posts, as I will sleep better now knowing I won't have to surrender my Supra and buy one of these new high tech gadgetry cars. My car only has 185K miles on it, and I've been told they're good for 300k miles or more.
If you can, start learning to work on the car yourself. A lot of old car "issues" are very difficult for a shop to address and still make money on the job. Stuff like cleaning grounds and plug together wiring connections.
"Cult" cars like your Supra and my Scirocco (not to mention the M) for all practical purposes have parts support forever. Not every FLAPS will have every part you may need in stock, you may have to mail order from specialist vendors like Moss Motors for MG cars, etc. Rock Auto and Autohaus AZ are a couple of go-to vendors. Interior parts, trim, and to some extent body parts you will end up going to boneyards, these are not available from the dealer network anymore. There is nothing wrong with used parts - the whole rest of your car is made out of used parts!
If your mechanic is reluctant to work on your car and do whatever you want done, you need to fire him and find another mechanic. I certainly have had mechanics ask me to get the part I want for older rigs, they don't want to go outside their usual suppliers, and, hey, I am cool with that. But I am a pretty good mechanic in my own right, I know who is good and who is a hack, my check never bounces, I don't quibble about the bill, I don't ask them to wait for my payday, so they can have their payday. I send the good guys business all the time, people who don't or can't do their own work. Anybody who does not want to work for me under those conditions, well, they certainly don't have to!
It is almost October. Not the time to worry about AC. If you still have the car in April, that's when you look into conversion kits. Sorry to sound pessimistic but wrecks happen.
Ditto on Rockauto!!!. My repair guy couldn't find my part anywhere. My brother told me to check them out online and sure enough they had my part. Give them a try. Good luck.
I had 270K on my Isuzu. It was really fun to drive. My commute was nearly 60mi/day. I did get the tranny rebuilt and had some mechanical stuff replaced that wow out but, in the long run it was a great car. Still is but I found a "low" mileage ('02) Towncar to drive across country when I relocated. I left the Isuzu ('01)with the guy as a second car in case his truck breaks down. I miss it!
I have been able to find parts for my 93 Nissan pickup on Ebay and through a Nissan dealer in AZ who has access to some warehouses with old Nissan parts.
You can also use a website called Row 52, where people will go to local wrecking yards to pull old parts for you:
I've been able to find almost all of the old parts I've needed from the above, brand new, including original parts and after-market parts. And I've found a used tailgate from a local wrecking yard.
This guy also makes kits for after market a/c kits:
I bought one of his kits for my 93 Nissan pickup, and it was stolen out of my truck before I could install it, argh! But, I got a good feeling about him and his product and his reviews are good:
It is almost October. Not the time to worry about AC. If you still have the car in April, that's when you look into conversion kits. Sorry to sound pessimistic but wrecks happen.
My ongoing worry is someone's going to steal my Supra one day. I went to Classic Auto In Las Vegas and I had it appraised for insurance purposes and they appraised it at $6700. So, if stolen, I'll at least get $6700 out of it, rather than Blue Book which would be Zero!
I just wonder how many other older car owners surrendered their cars without getting 2nd, 3rd, or 4th opinions.
I assume that even if you could get your hands on R-12, it would be prohibitively expensive.
It's all over Ebay for roughly $30/can shipped. Half the sellers don't even ask you for the required license or just ask you to fill out a waiver. Fairly easy to get it really.
My 80's 5.0 Mustang still uses R-12 so i'm always trying to stockpile cans if I see one listed cheap on Ebay. I have the EPA609 license, but nobody ever asks.
But you need to watch out when retrofitting a system to R-134a. The mineral oil used in R12 does not mix well into the R134a so it settles in a low part of the system and can cause issues . Just simply dumping 134a into a R12 system opens up a can of worms
Last edited by BostonMike7; 09-25-2018 at 09:24 AM..
You can always find parts or go the home made route! my 89 vette had a vacuum leak, they don't make the stupid connector piece anymore. I'm sure I could of found it at a junker, $5 of fittings, vacuum line and a lighter and I made my own connector. Problem solved. You have a 85 Supra its not a dusenberg, you will always be able to find parts.
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