Project ST165-ST205 Swap

July 31st, 2015

Been a bit since the last update but more progress has been made. Everything has been essentially completed and I'm just waiting on a few bits to arrive:

- HKS T pipe from the UK to complete the intake.
- HKS replacement red 200mm filter.
- 5mm wheel spacers due to rubbing from the coilovers.
- More Toyota pink coolant to fill my WTA system.

I picked up a set of BFGoodrich 195/60R14 G Force Super Sport A/S mounted on the stock wheels. I couldn't decide on what wheels to get so I opted to use the stock ones for now. They fit nicely in my new 2015 Ford Edge .



Brake master cylinder replaced.



New endlinks installed. I'll admit that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to the coilover installation. Since they were custom from Ceika, they came with no installation instructions. I did my best to install them using similiar BC coilovers from the ST185. I still don't quite understand the camber plate orientation or adjustments so I just left them alone. I'm not even entirely sure I have them on the correct side as they weren't marked. I installed the rear wheels and lowered the car just to eyeball the camber before I take it to the alignment shop. Since the closest performance shop that can align coilovers is quite a distance from me, I'll have to rely on a chain shop to do a basic alignment so I don't destroy my wheels.

Any suggestions regarding adjustment or orientation here would be appreciated! Below picture is of the drivers side rear.

 

Car is on the ground for the first time on all four wheels since the swap. Still needs a few more things but she moves on her on power.

 

Awww yish!

August 29th, 2015

Another long time since I've updated but I've finally got everything dialed in and running. My first test run out of the garage resulted in a low 500 rpm idle after a short 2 mile journey. I let the car sit overnight and the following day it would die immediately after applying any throttle. I took the throttle body apart and discovered the idle air control valve was clogged with carbon and the little door wasn't moving. Cleaned the IACV and tested the door which worked great. Put it all back together and did another test drive with the new Antera 109 trispokes I found on craigslist. I don't have the coilovers at the ride height I wanted yet because I wanted to leave room for some adjustments without taking the wheels off as I made my measurements. Just enough to get to an alignment shop at least.

Clogged with carbon.



Stopped by an empty church parking lot to take some pictures.

 

September 27th, 2015

Few things have changed since the last update but not a whole lot. Long story short, I should of replaced the clutch while the engine was out because the clutch is slipping at WOT. No amount of pedal adjustment or bleeding seems to resolve it. That's what I get for being cheap! Now I have to pull the whole engine again (Why you ask? Because center diff). Before I discovered this little problem, I did do a few minor things to the car.

The factory boost gauge wouldn't work with the swap and I didn't want some gauge pod style boost gauge. I discovered an Omori boost gauge that the MR2 guys install in the factory location. Sounds like something I could do!




Works great. Matches (kinda) the factory 80's style green without being obnoxious.

Also picked up a Twos R Us manual boost controller to compliment the boost gauge. Disabled the TVSV and set the boost to 12psi.



Cleaned up the interior a bit as well.

 

October 3rd, 2015

Preparing to drop the motor for the clutch replacement. Ordered a Clutchmasters Stage III FX300 clutch + ARP Flywheel bolts from Xiiimotorsports. Also ordered an OEM throwout bearing/rear main seal, and new pressure plate bolts. I damaged the pricey vacuum nipples for the power steering pump in the process of removal.







Salvaging my fresh Redline trans oil. $17/quart ain't cheap.



Engine dropped.





Two hours wiggling that bastard off via the 'silo' method.





Well that explains why the car was slipping under any power..

 

Sadly no. It was a between the timing belt and the clutch due to funds. I gambled and lost so I'm paying for it now.

Lightweight flywheel to go with it.

 

Any 3S block will bolt in with your existing motor mount locations and everything else should mechanically fit. I believe you can use your existing axles but I would highly recommend going with the S54 as the amount of HP and torque is roughly doubled from the stock motor. All the existing hoses should fit as intended (power steering, heater core hoses, etc) with the exception of the radiator hoses which will be a bit too long and may need to be trimmed down as needed.

 

If your not planning on massive power, I would just do the following:

Timing belt
Water Pump
Cam Seals
Oil pump pulley seal
Front main seal
Valve cover gasket
Hoses from Hell
Clutch w/ OEM throwout bearing

 

Next time I have the cluster apart I'll take some pictures. All I did was dremel it out a bit to fit and used some hot glue to hold it in place behind the cluster. Fed the wires through a hole in the plastic. Really solid and it looks pretty good too.

 

October 10th, 2015

Stuff has arrived and stuff needs to be replaced.

Removing the rear main seal.


New OEM seal.


Resurfaced OEM flywheel. Opted against using the Fidanza one.


Sexy surface.


ARP Flywheel bolts and Loctite 242.


Installed and torqued to spec. What a PITA to hold the flywheel in place to do it.


Clutchmaster FX300 fitted.


New OEM pressure plate bolts.


Installed and torqued to spec. Torque specs was rather low in the manual (17-20 ft lb iirc) so I added some loctite.


Pricey moly paste and OEM throwout bearing.


Lubing the slave contact.


Lubing the bearing contact points.


Lubing the pivot.


Installed.


Close up. You can see the nice thin layer of moly lube on the shaft. I put a very slight layer of antiseize on the spline as well.


Back together. Probably throw it back in the car tomorrow or next weekend.

 

I really haven't updated this since last year? Oops. Well here is like 7 months worth of updates:

November 22nd 2015

So after burning through all the oil in the exhaust, I took an angle grinder to cut out the sections and disconnect it from the down pipe. The muffler was already rusted through and disconnected so it simply fell off once removed from the exhaust hangers. Still had a Toyota part number stamped on it so it could of been original. Probably was.

It was starting to show its love.



I had a few choices at this point: 1) HKS ST185 Catback+Trackforge midpipe. Pricey as it would put me over $1500. 2) Custom exhaust. 3) Ebay Exhaust for $250...

I went with the Ebay option.

Arrived in good condition. Seems high quality.



I was anticipating having to mange this thing in there with some hammerlike persuasion but much to my surprise, it fit really well.





The most difficult part to bolt together.







One of the exhaust hangers doesn't reach. I'll need to get a longer one.







Autozone exhaust clamp. Leaked so I'll need to get a better quality one.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3zrl569pIw

Overall I'm satisfied with the fit and finish. I'll have to do a proper test once I get a new exhaust clamp.

Pulled the passenger hub off and discovered whoever was there before me crossthreaded and mushroomed the axle. As soon as I broke the nut loose, it was a struggle to get it off. What a mess. The hub is getting a fresh bearing and seal. The bushings look pretty good so I'll leave those alone for now (plus I really don't want to do the other side). Since I'm already under here, I decided to crack open the torsen diff to make sure everything looks good on the inside before I swap it out with the factory open diff. It was very gooey inside.



The hell...













This bushing isn't looking too hot. Seems a bit leaky as well.





January 17th, 2016

ST205 torsen diff is prepped with new seals and Toyota red FIPG. BRD diff mount ordered so its time to drop the factory diff.

Dropping the diff was a bigger pain than I anticipated but it came off after about an hour of wrestling.



Cruddy factory differential.



Cracked open after draining. It had a bit less than a quart of fluid. Factory calls for 1.1 quarts.



Factory open diff vs torsen LSD.



ST165 vs ST205 diff cover.



Long time no update. I've been driving the car on the weekends only for the past few months, ironing a few issues here and there.

Forgot to post the pictures of the diff installation in January.

ST205 Torsen diff installed. Not a terrible job. Also picked up a poly diff and replaced the factory rubber.



BRD poly mount installed.



Diff installed.



Now to yesterday.

I started overboosting and hitting 20-22 PSI then my CEL came on for fuel cut. I spent the whole day trying to figure out why until I found that the nipple cap on the wastegate to the turbo VSV blew off. Guess I forgot to secure it :laugh:



Other than that, here is how she sits for now. I'm about at the 400 mile mark since the swap to give you an idea of how much i've driven her. One or two shows in that time as well. At around 500 I'll be sending an oil analysis to Blackstone to see how the engine looks.





Last weekend I pulled into the garage after a short drive and noticed only one of the fans working. I took a peak at the wiring and saw one of the spade connectors had been pulled out of the fuse holder. Instead of reconnecting it, I decided to redo them entirely with room for expansion as it was just a bunch of wires I stuffed behind the battery :banghead:.

Taking some inspiration from here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvFHA1xY10w.

First I wired it up.


Then had my fiance wire it to the fans and the battery. She also stole my celica shirt for this :laugh:



Temporary place until I get a smaller Odyssey battery.


In-cabin relays for future gauge expansion in the passenger footwell.


And of course a quick rear end shot.


Picked up a PLX wideband and oil temp/pressure sensors. More pics to come!





Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Due to the lack of room between the oil pressure sensor and the intercooler, I have to remotely mount the sensor. I stumbled upon this thread on the MR2OC forums and went ahead and bought the parts. http://www.mr2oc.com/58-3sgte-mk1-5/466641-oil-pressure-sensor-issues.html.

Parts ordered:



Order received from Jegs (Summit was OOS on the brake line).



Installed into the head.



Remote installed using some galvanized hanger brackets I had laying around.



Installing the oil temp sensor was a breeze. The Gen3 3SGTE block conveniently leaves three open 3/8 BSPT ports above the oil filter housing. May have been used/leftover for racing use. Who knows? Either way, I removed the threaded insert with an allen wrench. I had the worse time looking for a 3/8 BSPT to 1/8 NPT adapter until I stumbled across 42 Draft designs EVO adapter. Since it was the only one available, I went ahead and ordered that one.





Better reference.



Installed.



Wired up.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR_bKmXjZ7A

On the 4th of July I was cruising along with my buddy when all of a sudden the car started to loose power. I glance at my AFR and its pegged at 10, even at idle. Giving it ANY power made it nearly die, along with a sputter of backfires. Essentially dumping fuel. I pulled into a parking lot and code 31 popped up, which is a vacuum sensor fault for gen3. I unplugged the battery, blew out the MAP sensor, and babied the car home.

Thanks to PrimeMR2, I acquired a brand new gen3 map sensor which included the MR2 bracket. The bracket allowed me to mount the boost sensor to the firewall instead of being zip tied under the power steering high pressure hose.











I also needed an alignment so I took it to Meisterwerks in Renton, WA. They opened up a new shop with a fancy alignment machine so I took the car down.