I didn't find much on power steering so here's my situation:
When my foot is not on the accelerator (coasting) I don't have power steering, when I'm on the gas I do
What do you guys think is happening? and what should my course of action be to get power steering back full time?
my power steering fluid is at the proper level
thanks, Barbary

 

there is a power steering vacuum switch on the bottom of the power steering reservoir with a couple vacuum lines coming off of it.
check the lines have not cracked and the plastic nipples on the valve that they are connected to haven't cracked.
One hose should go to intake pipe, the other goes to the intake manifold. that basically gives you a boost to power steering at idle etc..
Could also be a pump issue, so check for leaks in general around that area.

 

Thank You Ali
Great diagnosis, will check it out
Barbary

 

This may help you Barbary

 

Thank you Maserati, very helpful
Barbary

 

Epilogue:
Thanks all, great advice here as usual
Took the Bullet into the shop and the verdict was I needed new pump. paid the going price about 5&1/2
Didn't really mind, the original gave 30 years of everyday service. The car has never been off the road. (Thank you Japanese)
The difference is noticeable. Very nice feel to it. The car is running Great!

Have 1 more pebble in my shoe. Want to drop the car about an inch to handle these mountain curves better. Don't need a fancy set-up that will last another 20 yrs, or cost me tons of money. I'd like a shop to cut off an inch on the coil springs I have now. Has anyone done this or are there any thoughts on it
Once again, thanks all Barbary

 

It is frowned upon in the toyota community, most use drop springs but you might end up with more drop than you want or you can use supra shocks and springs that give a slight drop if I remember right.
I used I think the tanabe nf210's before and it was only a slight drop. other springs have different drops usually more of a drop.

That being said some cars you don't have much of a choice, like my old vette without going coilovers you only have like 3 spring choices and depending on if you have a small block or big block or headers or aluminum heads etc... your car pretty much ends up at a random height until you install everything and let it settle and check.
I ended up cutting a coil off the 550lb springs in the front after much research it seemed people have been doing that since the 70's. It's now at the perfect height and haven't noticed any issues with it.
That car does have a different coil setup though it is in the lower A-arm pocket and not sitting on top of the shock.

So that experience changed my thinking on cutting coils, but your mileage may vary on the SC.
I would at the very least get new bilstein shocks meant for lowering cause I think any amount of lowering will blow the old stockers out in short time.

 

"It is frowned upon in the toyota community, most use drop springs"

"I ended up cutting a coil off the 550lb springs in the front after much research it seemed people have been doing that since the 70's. It's now at the perfect height and haven't noticed any issues with it.

Hi Ali; A little confused by the above so then
Is it possible to drop the car w just different shocks/struts without changing the coil springs. I'm not really interested in redoing my whole suspension for one inch, or the expense

from one former Mako Shark owner to a present day Mako Shark owner. I consider our year vettes to be the Mako Shark years, mine 69"
I Love the Bullet but I'm jealous
All the best

 

If you were to cut a coil off yours you might wear out the stock shocks sooner as it will increase the spring rate, similar to if you installed lowering springs on the stock shocks, they don't last very long before they blow out.
The aftermarket shocks are designed with lowering springs in mind which have stiffer spring rates, where the stock shocks aren't.
You might be able to get away with removing just one coil, but I haven't tried it on the SC or heard of anyone who has done it on the SC to say for sure.
Maybe if you can find a spare set of springs it might be worth a try, people usually just junk them after they install lowering springs or coilovers.

These days the fully adjustable coilovers have become more affordable, I would probably go that route but you will end up with something alot stiffer than stock.
I ran the tanabe nf210's lowering springs on KYB shocks for years, had a slight drop but not slammed.
Can always wait till your suspension needs a refresh and do something similar, all of these cars need lower control arm bushings at some point (every 150k more or less) so can do a full overhaul when the time comes.

That's cool you had a stingray previously also, they are amazing cars not much else like it.
I have probably spent 95% of my time wrenching on it, and 5% of my time driving it.
Hoping this year I can tilt the scale to more of a 50/50 relationship lol.

 

ALI, Thanks
Yeh, the Bullet is not a show car. Its a hard driving GT "Long Distances @ High Speeds" (Often) which I have done since I owned It. Which is a Long Long time
The ride I have with this tire and wheel set up and the cars unmodified suspension is pretty hard as it is. You said lowering it will make it "alot stiffer than stock"
I don't need a harder ride on these long trips. There are many warnings on the net about lowering a car. So right now I don't know what I'm going to do. I do know I would like the car to lean a lot less in the curves

 

have you considered getting a strut bar? I just got a cusco strut bar and i love it, handles better with a bit less lean

 

Swaybars will take care of that lean. A set of stock Supra TT bars make a world of difference on these cars. The front is a slight improvement over stock SC, while the rear conversion is like a 50% improvement over the stock SC

 

Big News (at least for me), found a shop that does this and I pulled the trigger. Actually advertises it. Its going to be an inch and 1/4. But as most of you can tell I have about 3 inches now and the price is OK, nicely under a grand. I don't know what the set up is exactly. It doesn't really matter because there isn't another shop around for hundreds of miles where I live. Its whatever he does or nothing But the shop has a lot of work (mostly lifts on monster trucks) and is pretty impressive. I'll check w him on sway bar / strut bar thing also. I need a lot less lean.
The problem is I don't know what any of this means, coil overs and stuff. I just drive these things I don't work on them. Wish I knew.. Didn't need to, The Bullet never broke and in California you really couldn't do much to your car.

So hopefully by this time next week I'll be "lowered"
Thanks everyone Great advice

 

^^ They really do make a big difference. Also taking some inspiration from the well known Supra "Lance Alignment" specs can help but also getting *close* to standard Supra Turbo alignment specs is similar enough.

To note, however:

--The Supra MKIV front sway bar (NA or TT) will only work with SC300's or xJZ engine swapped SC's. If I recall correctly there is a clearance issue with the 1UZ engine when attempting to fit it into an SC400. The main shape difference is the angle of the middle section of the bar.

--The 93-98 Supra MKIV NA rear swaybar is 20mm, the 93-96 Supra MKIV TT rear swaybar is 22mm and the 97-98 Supra MKIV TT rear swaybar goes back to the 20mm of the NA's.

--All rear swaybars from any Supra MKIV require a subframe mount swap (OEM Toyota or aftermarket solid) and the end-links for the Supra MKIV rear swaybar have to be used (I think). Also there are different clamp bushings for 20mm spec and 22mm spec bars. The clamps are the same for all MKIV rear bars.

--The front MKIV swaybar does compliment the MKIV rear swaybar in a subtle way even though the only shape difference is a slightly different angle to the middle section to allow for the behind-radiator OEM TT intercooler pipe to clear. There is probably some difference in internal thickness between the MKIV front sway bar and the SC300 the SC400 front sway bars respectively. In the rear it is the drastic change in shape, thickness (external diameter and internal diameter) and mounting geometry that give the pronounced effect on improving an SC's handling.

--Having tried just the OEM MKIV TT 22mm rear bar upgrade only and later on adding in an OEM front swaybar from a Supra TT I can attest that while the largest difference comes from the rear swaybar I did notice a slightly more dialed in balance after having both MKIV TT sway bars equipped.

--Even with the 20mm MKIV NA/TT rear sway bar I suspect that there will still be a pronounced handling difference (though maybe not quite as much as with the 93-96 22mm TT rear sway bar) compared to an SC's stock rear sway bar which is also 20mm but is center anchored to the floor of the trunk (under the spare tire area) with very different bends... compared to all MKIV rear sway bars which are anchored directly to either side of the rear subframe.

--The increasingly rare Supra MKIV TRD rear sway bar will have an even more pronounced effect but I'm not sure it would be needed on most street driven vehicles. These SC's are already very solid handlers for GT cars and their long wheelbases and ability to ride on fairly wide rubber makes them very stable at high speeds. An LSD of some kind will add to the fine tuning of the handling after the shocks, springs or coilovers plus sway bars and alignment are dialed in. This is also where the alignment specs come into play-- with a TT rear sway bar and an LSD I found that getting closer to (not exact) MKIV TT or "Lance" alignment specs made for a more dialed in and stable ride that wasn't as tail-happy.

I've wanted to get myself a front strut bar as well but I have always heard that it is not needed as much on cars with a front double wishbone suspension as compared to those with front strut suspensions.

 

Thank you Kahn for your wealth of knowledge
Looking forward seeing the Bullet lowered