ST 165 IC resto

arj

New member
So I want to stick with the stock ST 165 IC, but it's turning out to be a bitch to restore. I had no problem with the gray housing.... I sanded it down and refinished it with Cast Iron color engine paint, and it looks like new. But the aluminum top plate seems to be unrestorable. I stripped the paint off of it, but I haven't found a way to repaint the stripes and lettering.

If Toyota had stamped the plate the opposite way, so that the lettering was recessed rather than raised, it would have been easy to spray the whole thing, and then polish out the field. But with the letters raised, I haven't found a way to do it. Especially since they're only slighty raised, so that the corners tend to round off and blend into the rest of the plate. I tried masking them off, but they're just too small.

So does anyone have any ideas on how to redo the stripes and lettering?

I would like to have it look original... My next-best idea is to sand them off completely, polish out the plate, and then come up with a combo of stick-on emblems or decals. Maybe something like a Toyota emblem and the 'turbo' lettering from the 93-98 Supra? It wouldn't be original, but it could turn out good.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
I have my same IC at the powdercoater now and he had a guy redo the top lettering with a decal ... I have the sticker but I didnt get the IC back or install the sticker on yet to see how it comes out .... thought i took a pic ... tomorrow i will ... hes making one for my brother too ... not really even sure what he charged me yet ... hehe ... oh well ... but If you like the pic i can forward you the info to get one made if you choose ....
 

88gt4DE

Active member
So here's the pic I promised ya ..... what ya think ?

27y2xyw.jpg
 

arj

New member
That looks cool. Is it all one peice, or are the letters and stripes all seperate? And how close are you to sticking it on your IC? The real test will be to see how it all matches up to the raised portions of the aluminum plate... Unless you've shaved them down flat. I hope you'll post a pic of how it turns out.
 

LegacyofDan

New member
sorry to thread jack a bit, but rob, dude prolly shuold create an interest thread and see if people are interested in getting those....since that came out REALLY nice!

i mean i prolly would not buy one since i like what i got on my tracs but i know a few of my spare IC's are wore to shit, so maybe you could sell that to the masses here since i'm sure there are others with worn out decals as well and you could make a few extra bucks :), just an idea :D
 

88gt4DE

Active member
arj":unwu037o said:
That looks cool. Is it all one peice, or are the letters and stripes all seperate? And how close are you to sticking it on your IC? The real test will be to see how it all matches up to the raised portions of the aluminum plate... Unless you've shaved them down flat. I hope you'll post a pic of how it turns out.

Well , the plan is hopefully I will get the intercooler back this week. All the old lettering was removed cause it was all jacked up and it was a spare anyway.The new decal is one whole piece unlike the individual old ones ... now the new one I have is fairly thin and im sure it will install just as other decals do ... also I did notice that it will need to be trimmed around the filler neck when installed .... Also want to get it on there and test out how it handles the heat before I get everyone interested in a crappy decal.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
LegacyofDan":1xcviyme said:
sorry to thread jack a bit, but rob, dude prolly shuold create an interest thread and see if people are interested in getting those....since that came out REALLY nice!

i mean i prolly would not buy one since i like what i got on my tracs but i know a few of my spare IC's are wore to shit, so maybe you could sell that to the masses here since i'm sure there are others with worn out decals as well and you could make a few extra bucks :), just an idea :D


Dewd , you can thread jack any time ! Well as i said above , kinda a proto type ... we will see how it handles the heat ... I'm not going to jack anybody that wants one ... Ill just handle it and they can give me a few bucks for gas and postage ... BUT ... Its gotta pass the heat test first ... and my brother is doing his too. His will be a better test since his will be a daily driver ...
 

88gt4DE

Active member
still waiting on the intercooler ... not really sure what the hold up is .. think he's backed up ... my brother dropped a bunch of stuff off too and he didnt get his stuff back on time either ... dont worry ... once its done i'll post results for sure :D
 

88gt4DE

Active member
I just got it back and ive been getting parts together for the leaking turbo ... they ended up only painting it and the plate ... im not very happy with it but it looks bettter ... once i get the sticker in place i will post some pics ..... will be soon ....
 

88gt4DE

Active member
As promised heres the pics of the intercooler resto completed ... not 100% happy with the decal but it may be changed down the road anyway. I decided to put the decal straight on the intercooler rather than on the plate. We ( my brother and I ) found slight differences in the font of some of the letters and didnt appear that it would look good straight on the plate ... Also I thought this was all one piece and did appear that way until I peeled the backing off ... It seems the words " toyota intercooler " and " turbo " were smaller cut parts under the main film. I didnt mess with them much and just dropped it on .... Heat test to come ...

n3q4no.jpg


1zwnqc9.jpg


ac7ts9.jpg


Now plan #2 is to chrome the original plate and have the lettering redone by a painter ... we will see how this works out first ... 8)
 

arj

New member
Thats too bad that it didn't work out. When I looked closely at mine, it sure doesn't look like a sticker... It looks like the factory painted it. But I can't see how anyone could re-paint it... At least not by hand.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
clouding went down a little today . Ill keep an eye on it and repost , looked great when i first got it done .... I think it may just be moisture under the decal , gonna try a little heat from a dryer later on. Did hit it with the hair dryer a little but i didnt heat it up alot so i didnt mess the sticker up ...
 

Rick89GTS

New member
I doubt Toyota had those intercoolers hand-painted, just way too time consuming and expensive. I'll take a closer look tomorrow, but I'll bet they were silk screened on.
 

arj

New member
That's what I was thinking; if it's not a decal, than Toyota must have had some process for quickly and uniformly applying the stripes and lettering... Maybe silk screening was how they did it.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
Sticker didnt really work out ... everytime its hot under the hood it starts
to curl and bubble up ... so plan b is chrome the plate and thats that :shoots:
 

arj

New member
That's unfortunate that the sticker didn't work out. The chrome will not look original, but it should look really good.

It's too bad that none of the so-called experts on this site have any knowledge or interest in this issue. I guess that we're all supposed to forget about our car's originality, and switch to FMIC's with homemade PVC ducting.
 

Rick89GTS

New member
There should be some high-temperature decals that can withstand the heat. I know 3M makes some high performance and high temperature adhesives.

There should be some high temp decal materials available, no?
 
Top