New ST165 owner saying hello

2jzn54

New member
couple buddies and i picked up a white/blue interior 88 ST165 all trac from a friend the other day. just saying hello

we were not looking for one when we came across it, but it seemed like it was worth throwin a few bucks away in the worst case scenario lol

has it's fair share of rust, but drives pretty well.

car has a broken speedometer/odometer
rear diff mount seems to be bad
clutch sorta sticks closer to the floor.. intermittently.. but seem strong otherwise
check engine light is on.. no i haven't checked the black box yet lol
needs some tlc on the panels (bumpers have separated from the body a little bit
tranny is quite notchy, though some of it is to be expected lol. not easy to slam gears.. easy miss/grind lol. reverse grinds a fair bit.. hopefully a fluid change helps
everything in the car appears to be oem with the exception of a head unit and two tweeters that were added :lol:
sunroof is rusted through
the car did overheat the other day after some fooling around on the highway. after letting it cool down the car seemed fine at certain speeds and at lower speeds seemed to heat up again. topped it off witih coolant and it has been fine since (though i haven't really beaten on it)
there is a nasty squeak that seems to come from the trunk when the car is moving.

i might get scolded, but i'm planning to use it as a lemons/chump car.. needs too much attention to restore it for now.. perhaps it will get restored down the road.

while the purpose of my post isn't to seek help.. any tips/advice is more than welcome! (we're going into this one blind)
i have a general idea of what is going on with some of it, but i'm open ears.
 

puppet623

New member
Well, just saying these are getting rarer and rarer and finding parts will be a huge hassle. In order to get her more lemons ready you will prob need parts, at least driveline ones. Sounds like that car has some bad cancer however and will need all the skinned torn off and por 15ed to save anything left XD. Sooooooo have fun XD. shes great in dirt no matter. Check the fans are turning on to see about your overheat issue.
 

2jzn54

New member
lol tbh it isn't that bad! car runs pretty well and the suspension is fresh. i know parts will be hard to find and this is our first foray into anything with rust significant enough to bother fixing.. (Por 15ed i had to look up lol). we'll see how it goes.
 

GT4times2

Moderator
Hmmm. 24 hour of Lemons? :x ...... :cry: ........ :rofl:

My emotions after reading this. I don't know if I'd use that for a Lemons car. I've seen the car, and it did have some rust. How bad is the undercarriage? I know he used it in NYC for a while. However, if worthy of a resto-mod, i'd kindly suggest a few things.

Swap out that 1st gen motor/transmission set up. It'll cost you more to bring that old engine back to life versus swapping in a 3rd or 4th gen engine and wiring. Just the wiring alone, will save you headaches (no more AFM, and less wiring period). Trust me that engine is anemic. Once you get in a stock 3rd gen or 4th gen powered car, you'll never look back. Unless you want to dump money in the first Gen for big power numbers, i say swap.

You can also run management, and intake/downpipe/exhaust and a few mods too. It'll wake it up, but as it is, that car is slow... Ask me how i know. :D

Source a newer gearbox, preferably from an ST205 or even ST185.

Get a fiberglass sunroof plug from the guys in Europe. At this point, that might be your best bet, unless you know someone that's really good with a welder and can work magic on your old one. I've seen it. It needs serious help. Or if you can find a glass roof plug, get it. I remember seeing a Celica All-Trac down here years ago with one. I'm sure there is something out there for it.

I remember him swapping out shocks etc, but that car needs springs, bushings etc. You can find those easily.
 

2jzn54

New member
haven't really gotten under the car yet, but enough to tell its nice and rusty down there.. lots of surface rust for sure. i don't think we have the time/effort to truly restore the car, but hopefully clean it up a bit.. it has some rust, not nearly enough to deter someone determined enough to do a resto tho.

where do i get this roof from and how much does it run?

so that motor is that useless huh? i figured it was just a slightly lower compression motor with a single channel exhaust turbine. i had hope as the motor/turbo seems pretty strong (despite being so slow)

for oil is rotella 5w40 a good bet with these cars? big fan of it.. use it on my 700whp daily lol
 
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