My ST165 Build on alltrac.net

http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=329229

It needs alot of work but luckily I got the time, the know how, and the desire.
Check it out and let me know what you guys think.

 

Wow that sucks you have to be logged in to view. It's going to be a really really long build. It's gonna suck copying everything but here we go....

 

The purpose of this thread is to document from the very beginning everything that will be done to this 1988 Celica Alltrac.


I purchased it June 11, 2009 for $350 in Phoenix, AZ. The guy I bought it from told me he had bought it over a yr ago from someone who moved here from Idaho. The Alltrac had been sitting at least since 2007 judging by the tabs.

It's Red with black interior
It had no grill, no radiator, no condensor, no Ac compressor, the hood was off a GTS and was all bent up due to the hood not being latched at some point. The intercooler, couplers, Intake tube, Air Flow Meter, fans, and several other items were found in the back. #4 sparkplug was pulled.

The Previous owner told me that he didn't think it would run and might need a new engine. He didn't know who he was talking to

I got it home and unloaded it and didn't have time to mess with it until



June 14, 2009

Today I was determined to get it running. I put the sparkplug back in and put everything together and jumped the battery with my 4runner.
Engine just cranked but no fire. Loosened the banjo on the fuel filter and found no fuel while cranking. So I jumped 12v directly to the fuel pump and got a nice spark. So I knew the fuel pump was seized. I drained the bad nasty gas, and took the pump out. I found the pump had a thick crusty gas oxidation on it. I removed the pump, threw it away and took a fuel pump off a MR2 pickup I had laying around. Cleaned up the alltrac pickup to a nice shine and installed the MR2 pump. Took the gas tank to the car wash and pressure washed the outside of the tank real good.



Reinstalled the gas tank and after 45secs of cranking the engine started up and smoked a white/grey smoke real bad for about 2 minutes. Then it completely cleaned up. No more smoke. There was a real bad exhaust leak and I found that there was not one nut on the exhaust manifold or the turbo itself holding it together, nor on the turbo exhaust elbow. I dug around under the hatch and found a bag with all new Toyota Nuts in it. Score!!! These nuts are like $2.38 each I put them all on and exhaust leak fixed I hooked up the coolant hoses from the intercooler, and tightened up all the clamps. Found that the terminal for the oil pressure sender is missing, the entire AC fuse box is gone.

I ran a garden hose into the coolant neck to see what would flush out of the sytem and to my surprise it was pretty clean. I topped off the Intercooler and plugged the pump in and it works too. Then I filled the engine with water and decided to take a drive up the block and back.

The Clutch is a bit worn, as it engages real high and feels like it's slightly slipping. The transmission shifted pretty smoothly. I hate the Trucker shifter. Need to put in a short throw shifter ASAP.

The Engine needs some serious attention, every seal needs to be replaced on the entire engine, at least thats what I'm going to do. Plug wires are cheapos, plugs are autolites, Cap and rotor look cheap aftermarket. Looks like I'm spending about $800 in parts to freshen up the motor.

Needs every fluid flushed, I need to check the brakes and mounts and driveline etc.......

Running tally of all Costs associated with the repair and restoration of this Alltrac.

6/11/09 $350.00 Purchased Alltrac
6/11/09 $ 55.00 Rented Uhaul Transport Trailer to move Alltrac to my house.
6/14/09 $ 50.00 Took MR2 Turbo Pump and Installed in gas tank, replaced terminals on pump pickup.
7/3/09 $ 25.00 Sent to RedCelicaTRD for ST165 Radiator (THANKS)
7/12/09 $ 62.72 Installed 89428-15030 Temp switch in radiator
7/18/09 $59.99 Installed new battery
7/19/09 $20.79 Did Oil change with Mobil 1 5000 10W30 and YZZG1 Oil Filter
7/19/09 $24.38 Flushed system with Toyota Long Life Coolant (RED)

 

Unfortunately pics of my old alltrac are long gone. I lost a hard drive with all my pictures. I could care less about the car pictures but I lost 4 yrs of pictures with my kids. That hurts. I tried to have a recovery guy retreive them but all he could pull off the drive was about 200 pictures of a apartment I used to live in.

Anyways on to the goods.

Today I was waiting on a customer to show up with his MR2 Turbo, so I decided to put the radiator I got from RedCelicaTRD in my Alltrac. The previous owner had left brand new radiator hoses, hose clamps, brand new radiator fan and various other parts in the back. So I took the radiator, cleaned it up with simple green, attached the new radiator hoses, and new fan. Then I realized I didn't have a fan switch, I looked around the shop and didn't have any. Because my 91 MR2 Turbo is sitting without it's engine and with a brand new radiator and fan switch I decided to just pull the fan switch out of the MR2 and put it in the alltrac. They are exactly the same from the 91 MR2 Turbo to the 88 Alltrac. Same plug and everything. I installed the radiator and hooked the turbo hose up and filled it temporarily with a garden hose.

The positive battery terminal was missing it's bolt, so I found one and put it in and tried to start it. No dice, the battery was dead. So I jumped it once again with my 4runner and it was real slow turning over. So to diagnose that issue I moved the negative jump lead from the negative terminal on the battery to the main bolt holding the alternator on and now it turns over no problem, fired right up and ran great. No smoke at all, I revved it up and no smoke, I was happy. Idled great even with loose hose clamps on the intake couplers. Then I unhooked the jump leads, engine died. So either I have a dead alternator, or a bad ground to the battery causing the battery to discharge. The previous owner told me it had a new battery. The battery looks new too.

That's as far as I got today because my customer showed up and I did a proper coolant flush using distilled water and Toyota Red Coolant on his 93 Mr2 Turbo with Gen 3 swap, along with cap, rotor, wires, replaced some inner door handles, bezels, and window switch trims to complete his blue to black interior swap and I replaced his left front side moulding and parking light with a new one.

Pictures to come soon.

 

Well, I neglected to take any engine shots until now. My camera was loaned out to my mother in law and she was out of state with it.

The Radiators gotta come back out and get new seals and locks but for now the car is driveable if I have to drive it.
Here are the pics with Radiator in.




Notice the wires hanging everywhere over the timing cover. I need to repair those. They go to the AC Compressor. The Compressor Speed Sensor connector was melted.


AC Fuse box completely destroyed and gone. I think it was the AC fuse box. It's been awhile since I owned a ST165 and my last one was converted to ST185 engine and harness.


Bracket for the Heat exchanger is in the back. Looks like the fenders gotta come off and the headlight assembly needs to come off. So I can straighten the core support. Looks like it had a very minor hit there.

 

7/18/09

I took the battery to autozone so they could put it on their charger, my batt charger is out of commision. They charged it and tested it and the battery was no good so I put a new battery in the alltrac. It started right up and ran great. Smooth running, consistent idle, I was shocked. This car has pretty much sat since sometime in 2004 or 2005. I checked the oil, it was still full. So I decided to check the voltage at the battery while running only had 12.3v
Looks like I need a new alternator. I checked to make sure the field was energized and it was, but the alternator was only putting out 12.3v should be close to 14.5v . Looks like I need a alternator. I think I have one of my old 165 alternators floating around somewhere. Wish me luck on finding it.

So I drove it 3 blocks to the gas station put $10 worth of premium in it and drove it about 2miles to my Mother in Laws.

I found that I either have bad strut mounts or broken end links or completely trashed LCA bushings. Clunks over bumps and around corners hard.

It doesn't have much power at all. Factory boost gauge was spotty, at first it didn't work at all, then magically started working out of nowhere. Found that I could barely build positive boost. I have a few things to check here. Probably due to these issues, Heard a vacuum leak around the intake manifold somewhere (probably at the PIM sensor, stock cat still in place, along with the original exhaust, plus there is still a exhaust leak at the manifold and the wastegate actuator isn't even bolted on, actuator is 90% of the problem. I'm probably gonna end up swapping on a ST185 Exhaust manifold and a CT20B with a downpipe and buying a Motoria exhaust. I didn't notice any smoke at all, but I did notice the practically 0 oil pressure on the gauge. Probably the sending unit is toast but I'm going to check that real soon.

So lots to do this weekend! Change out all the fluids, fix alternator, Degrease the engine bay, tear the hood off, change plugs, do compression test, perform leak down test, and the list goes on and on.

I have to drop the motor in my MR2 Turbo this week too.

 

7/19/09

Today I pulled the busted up hood off and tossed it in my driveway. Then for fun ran it over with my 4runner. Then I noticed it kinda straightened the hood out lol. With the fun over with, it was time to get dirty.

I pulled the alternator off noticed it's a NAPA Pro Series Remanufactured Alternator #30103-14611 With A UPC #80161901032.

Napa wasn't open so I took it to autozone. I was already 99% sure that Alternator was toast. But I took it in for a electronic test. Yep it was a failure. Autozone quoted me 89.99 for another Reman. I'm gonna try to get Napa to warranty it. I buy tons of R12 from my local Napa so I'm pretty sure he'll hook me up with a new alternator and warranty this one. I found the part # on http://www.napaonline.com/NOLPPSE/(S(umjf0i3zgk332qbxn2teh045))/Detail.aspx?R=NAE14611_0214164623

Looks like a limited Lifetime warranty.


I'm gonna take a NA MR2 Alternator and see if it'll fit for now.

It also looks like I'm gonna have to replace the upper timing cover cause it's kinda busted up. Good thing I have several more hanging around.

 

7/19/2009

I went ahead and tried fitting my 100amp MR2 Turbo Alternator. Nope it wouldn't fit the Housing was physically too big. So I grabbed the MR2 NA alternator off a engine I have laying around. It fits, has the same connectors, but the + terminal is placed about 3" away from where the Alltrac alternator's was. SO I had to extend the wires. I just took a bolt and nut and new terminals and connected a extension to the wires and made sure to cover up the bolt real good with electrical tape then wiring loom then another loom placed 180 degrees to cover the seem and more electrical tape. This got me through the rest of the day messing with the car. I had 13.9V now.

I also started tracking down the issue with the boost response. I replaced the hoses on the wastegate actuator and bolted the actuator back to the turbo. I noticed a odd hose clamp around the wastegate actuator. Turns out the bracket is no longer welded to the actuator. One of the 3 PO's must have broken it and hose clamped it back together to hold it.

Then I did a half ass degrease on the engine bay. Then I washed the car, temporarily reattached the front bumper cover with 8 zip ties, I need to build 2 brackets to replace the ones that were all rusted and bolts snapped off in. I straightened out the fog lights. Cleaned up the interior.

I also noticed today after the degrease that there is some #'s on the top of the compressor housing that's been stamped into it. So I pulled the intake tube and took a good look at the compressor wheel, SCORE. It's got what looks like a 50 trim, I checked the shaft play again, and there is 0 shaft play, spun it by hand the damn thing spun like a ball bearing turbo. Too bad it's probably gonna get ditched for either a Supra hybrid or a GT3082.

Then I decided since it was semi-cool out (105 degrees). I would dig into the 4 corners. SCORE practically new tires with hardly any wear whatsoever. They're Nankangs but hell they're decent. Then I found someone went a little Fast N Furious with cross drilled rotors. I can see slotted rotors (rain use), but cross drilled are completely useless. Ohh well they are practically new so I'm not gonna replace them until I slap a 10 piston caliper setup with 330MM rotors. The front brake pads were pretty worn and in need of replacement soon. The rear brake pads are brand new.

I also found my knocking in the front end. RF sway bar bushing is missing. The strut mount is cracked too, but I beleive the sound is 100% the sway bar. These sway bars are HUGE. Much bigger than even the biggest of Upgraded bars for the MR2's. I don't recall my last ST165 having bars this big.

I discovered the E-Brake is useless, I don't know whether it's the cable or if it needs to just be adjusted. Found that the car does have ABS.

I drove it around a little bit today. It boosts now but the ignition was breaking up, I still need to do Cap,rotor,wires, and plugs plus I think a bit of water got down on the plugs after degreasing it today. I'll probably be throwing some BKR7E's in it with a .030" gap. I also need to check the timing on it. The wires have a date stamp of 1993.

I also found why the oil pressure gauge is not working. There is no connector, just a bare wire wrapped around the sending unit lol. I also found out that my gas gauge doesn't appear to work. I put $10 of premium the other night and it's ALL THE WAY ON E with only about 8 miles on it. That bad gas and sitting for a couple years probably left a crusty crap on the fuel sender.

I also installed a rubber shiftboot and took my TRD shift knob out of my MR2 and put it in the celica. That shift nob is not suited for the Alltrac at all. It's a very rare TRD shift knob that was discontinued 10 yrs ago. It'll probably go back in the MR2. I have a racerboy shift knob somewhere around here.

I did a oilchange today with a factory Toyota Filter and Mobil 1 Clean 5000 10W30, noticed a minor PS leak and probably cam seal leak.

Performed a coolant flush and installed Toyota Red Long Life Coolant.

Tomorrow it's time to change the Tranny, Center Diff, and the Rear end fluid. Redline MT90 to the rescue!

 

Had to get all this done before this storm rolled in. Yea that's all dust in the air from the high winds rolling across cropless farmland that surrounds the small town I live in. Looks like a Scene out of Independence Day. I was awaiting the alien space ship to come out of the dust cloud lol.

 

I've been apart of the club since 2000. I used to be the moderator of the 4th gen celica forum on the old celica.net. Then I started the original 4gcelica.net website which became this one, when I lost interest a few years ago.

7/20/2009

I didn't get everything I wanted to get done today. Was a pretty busy day at the shop. But I did get the E-brake adjusted and cleaned. Measured the rear rotors 10mm and 10.2 mm thick. 8.85mm is the minimum thickness according to Alldata. Greased up the hardware and the caliper's sliders. Put everything back together and now I have a e-brake.

 

7/20/09

Performed the Constant run mod, tested it, it worked. Then I got to work fixing those exhaust leaks. Remember how I said it looked like a 50 trim rebuild. Looks like it's the Supra CT26 Hybrid!!!!!!! The Turbo has 42010 on it. T4-12 stamped on the top of the compressor. That probably explains why it doesn't spool quite as fast as I'm used to.. Oh yea exhaust leaks lol. So I got a brand new 350AWHP capable turbo I can't wait to take if for a spin after I cure the exhaust leaks and boost leaks. This ST165 is pleasantly surprising me every nut and bolt I turn.

I'm putting together a big powdercoating job! I need to pickup another valve cover, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, all engine brackets. I'm gonna do a group buy on 2 colors of powdercoated parts with the locals. Black and Aluminum. I'm gonna do all my brackets black, all the heatsheilds ceramic aluminum. The transmission will get powdercoated aluminum. Probably will be a christmas time job to get everything powdercoated, Now I have to go get some aluminum sheet and lexan to make myself a very nice intake box and relocate the battery.

I haven't been this into a build since my last Alltrac back in 2004.
I never thought I'd have another ST165, but the fever has hit again.
Pics to come soon.

 

7/20/2009

Yep I did more work to it today. I literally just got done with a test drive. It's 1AM lol.

So First thing I did was install all the studs and nuts on the exhaust manifold, turbo, and exhaust elbow. Then I replaced the plugs with some plugs I found in the back of the car. (TEMPORARY) They were Bosch plugs :shrug:
I gapped them to .030" put some anti-seize on the threads and some di-electrical grease on the tips. When I pulled the old plugs they were completely loose in the head, was probably leaking combustion. They plug wires weren't even clicked into place on 1-3. I put 4 back in when I bought it so it was the only tight one and had a positive connection. I put a new Throttle body coupler on and played with fitting my ST185RC W2A IC. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen without clocking the turbo and Cutting the neck on the IC down. I don't know that I want to chop up a ST185RC IC. Might just get a ebay W2A core.

I found that my o2 Sensor wiring was all broken inside the loom and shot. So I Soldered and shrink wrapped new wires in all the way back in the loom where the wires were soft and flexible and soldered the other end right to the terminals in the connector.

Then I installed a K&N Filter kit, removed the factory airbox. Put all the heat sheilds back on. I know they are nasty but they're gonna get powdercoated soon enough.

Took it for a test drive. It was pretty quick, until I hit fuel cut. lol.
So I cycled the key and boosted again this time it blew the coupler off the turbo LMFAO. I put it back on and found that the pressure broke the hose clamp lol. Looks like time for T-Bolts.

I beleive the wastegate actuator is shot. I'm gonna have to test it with a blowgun tomorrow.

I also can't pull codes. I think the TPS isn't set correctly. IDL needs to have continuity with E1 before the ECU will go into diagnostic mode. My idle is also kinda high at 1800rpms.

Still got a bit of work before I'm happy with it but it's coming along

Here's some more pics.

 

7/21/2009

I replaced the hose clamps on the turbo to IC coupler. Found the coupler is now cracked. So I used a T-bolt clamp on the turbo side to try to get some serious clamping force.

Took it out and drove it and it was quicker and had decent response. I still have a little bit of hesitation. Then the turbo started spooling with no change in throttle. Boost leak lol. I push the gas and it didn't accelerate just leaked air. So I am going to get a new coupler and 3 T-bolt clamps and see if I can fix that. I was keeping a eagle eye on the coolant gauge and on the way back it started rising. Pulled up and I see steam. I blew a hose. I beleive one of the hoses to the oil cooler. Since it was under the intake tube.

So I'm ordering up all new hoses. yay. lol

I forgot how useless the stock boost gauge is lol
Just pegs out over 8psi Have no idea what it's boosting.

 

Normally when I buy a car like this I spend a ton of $ to get it back into great shape.

I'm going to order up the hose tomorrow from toyota. I was going to order every hose on the engine including the intake hose but I may be swapping a ST185RC engine in it.

I am gonna try to put off the swap for awhile because I know once I drop the motor, I'm going to replace everything. Then I'll be sleeping in the office for the following couple weeks. Wife hates my love for cars.

 

7/23/09

I got the Coolant leak fixed today with a new toyota hose. Topped it off with Toyota Red again. Then I bolted up my top bracket on the Heat exchanger, Reinstalled the horns Straightened up a few things on the front end.

Burped the cooling system and found out of nowhere oil starts dripping pretty bad on the back side of the block. I also noticed my oil pressure at idle is halfway on the gauge. Might have blown the oil pump o-ring. I'm gonna have to tear it all apart, Might be a good time to put a new timing belt and HKS cam gears on it.

 

7/23/2009

I just rolled out from underneath the 165. Oil Leak is from the oil pump. In addition to the Oil pump, we have the valve cover, cam seals, front main, Distributor, oil pan, PS pump, and rear main is all seaping. The Turbo Drain hose has seen better days also.

Tomorrow you may just see the engine being dropped from the 165. I haven't decided yet to either build the ST185 motor I got laying on the floor with a spun bearing. Or just refresh everything on the 165 engine and wait on the 185 engine. Choices, Choices.....

I did get this for the 165 tho.



ACT Xtreme Pressure Plate with a Modified Street Disc. I might sell the street disc to buy a 6 puck. I'm almost afraid to use the pressure plate too. Look at the date of manufacture on the Pressure Plate.