The Death Star '88 ST165

gingerkrum

New member
I currently have an ST165 Celica in my possession. The lady who owned it 2 oowners ago loved it enough to stop driving it after it started having problems. However, the kid she sold it to before I got my hands on it drove it with no clutch,vacuum leaks, and was even genius enough to fill the intercooler with motor oil. He also must have thought himself a wiring guru, because all speaker wire has been removed and replaced with a mess of aftermarket speaker wires all over. And he even put a home sound system speaker in the back. When I got there, the dude said no spark, no title, so it was going for cheap. However, despite these problems, $400 was too good to let go on one of my dream cars, no matter the condition. So, we haul it 3 hours home, and take another look. The EFI fuse is blown, so we replace it. And, man did it sound good! Even after 3 years of sitting, that Toyota 2 liter was happy. However between sitting that long, and having an idiot before me own it (I'm just grateful he never tried to put performance parts on) she has some issues. Every major air passage hps dried and cracked open. The block has a small crack in it. And that's. All I have off the top of my head. However, my plans for this beautiful piece of Rally History, have some holes so far. Such as;
1)V6 swap (if so which one) or 5S-GTE build?
2) Which parts are worth buying?
3) Does anybody have any rear driver quarter panels they are willing to let go of?
I'll have more questions later. Any feedback whatsoever is appreciated.
 

underscore

Well-known member
1) Depending on the state of the rest of the car I'd plop in an ST205 engine and drive it, then see what the cars lacks in terms of what you want to do with it. If you want a lot of power take your time and build a 5SGTE.
2) Depends completely on what you want to do with it, and what parts you're talking about.
3) Go find a FWD hatch in the junk yard and snip them off.
 

gingerkrum

New member
Got it. Definitely a smarter move than just jumping into the 5S-gte. The main things I planned on buying included injectors, turbo for the 5S, rods, pistons, crank, valves, clutch, head stud bolts, better head gasket, anything else to help reach my goal of ~400-450 whp. And parts from a fwd sounds like a plan.
 
Top