My "Nothing Crazy" Project (Picture Dump Page 14)

mike325ci":14zwlf95 said:

btw, those engine mounts-- if you can, have someone else (i.e. a shop) press out the old bushings. i must have spent countless hours trying to get them out, time better spent doing something else and frustrations better spent elsewhere. trust me on this one-- you will not regret it. it's not as easy as "oh the old bushing/sleeve is slip right out!" as it says on the speedsource instruction sheet.

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Thanks for the heads up. I have access to a Ford dealership that I used to work at long ago and they are kind enough to let me use their shop on Saturdays if need be. The nice thing is if I get in over my head my mechanic friend is there to lend a hand or take over depending on how badly I get confused...lol

mike325ci":14zwlf95 said:

and oh, what kind of bribing did you have to do to get ripley/joe to make that bracket for you? it's freakin' sweeeeet...

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It's amazing what a lot of sincere flattery and money can do. Plus it doesn't hurt to ask.

Was the 40 extra HP only from the intake? Or did he decided to lean up a bit?

If the 205 ic isn't as restrictive as your 185rc, that might be a better fix.

1BADGT4":1ndl76vg said:

Was the 40 extra HP only from the intake? Or did he decided to lean up a bit?

If the 205 ic isn't as restrictive as your 185rc, that might be a better fix.

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The 40 extra HP appeared to come from just removing the intake. The tuner did correct the firing order and matched it to a previous ST185 that he had tuned. Those two things combined seemed to help out a lot. It was re-tuned at the same AFR as the first tune.

I have the new battery and intake sitting at home. All that is left is the tray from Darth Ripley/Just Joe, which is also completed and should be shipped out to me shortly.

I considered going up to the ST205 core and selling my current ST185RC...but decided against it. I'll see how I like the car as is once it's back on the road. If I end up wanting a bit more power then I'll do a custom hi-flow water/air core...but that's a big IF because it will again require more tuning and that will have to be done on my dime...and considering how often I drive the car now(probably 300-600 miles a year) I don't think it would be worth the money for the extra few ponies.

That is just incredible 40hp from just removing the intake? The battery tray is an elegant piece - I assume you will be running a smaller battery?

Is the house built yet?


-Terracar

Yup yup. I have a nice new PC680MJT sitting here waiting to go in.

I flew back from work yesterday and took a look at the new house. Making progress slowly, but not as quickly as I would like. Possession was supposed to have been May 10th but now we're looking at an early August date due to the whole process getting a slow start thanks to bad weather.

Today I hope to get my intake welded up. I should have it back on the road today or tomorrow and can finally see how the extra 40whp feels.

Good news and bad news!

The good news first! The extra power was really noticeable. She seemed to pull a lot harder all the way through the RPM range and was a lot of fun.

The bad news...something is now broken! A hideous amount of oil is passing from the valvecover breather tube, back into my new intake, through the turbo and is being burned up in the combustion process leading to a lot of smoke out the exhaust...not to mention my blowoff valve is now acting like an oil shotgun when it goes off.

Looks like the car will be parked until I decide what I'm to do with it. This is yet another pissoff that this car decides to throw my way. I'm now at a crossroads with what to do with the damn thing. Fix it and sell it, fix it and keep it, or fix it and rebuild the whole thing and aim for even higher power goals. For now I'm going to try and ignore the stupid car as I don't want to make any important decisions while the two of us are fighting and rage is still flowing in my blood. :shoots:

Do you have a catch can installed yet?


There a big pain in the ass arent they.... :bangshead:


GL

I would definately walk away for a day or 2. Dont even pop the hood to investigate till your not mad. I have sold a few cars, regrettably, cause I was angry with things that were breaking.

No catch can yet...it would have filled to the brim if I had one though. It was a LOT of oil!

I keep seeing it sitting there on the street and there is no way I can sell it. The shitty thing is our new house is almost done and we have a bunch of furniture and window coverings and expenses coming up...probably for the next year or two. The Trac won't see any love or repairs for two years or more...at least it'll give me a lot of time to think about how far I want to take this. As of now I'm leaning towards a fully built motor w/ 264 cams and switching to a front mount intercooler. Guess we'll see how I feel about the whole situation when the time comes.

Until then this project thread will sit dormant, but I'll still be snooping around here and there.

Thanks all for making me feel special by visiting this thread! Laters...

Let me know if you need a hand with moving. I can lend a few hours one day if you need it.

Thanks Jamie, I may take you up on that offer. I will be fair and let you know though that it's from southeast Edmonton to Leduc. I'll let ya know if I need any extra hands as we get closer to receiving an actual possession date.

Oh, and now my wife wants a "fun" car of her own and wants to share the Toyota with me as it's cheaper than buying a third vehicle(not to mention we only have a two car garage). This is good news as it means I can spend more money on the rebuild without getting any unfriendly glares from her. Haha. IT WILL LIVE AGAIN!!! I'm hoping to take her from 262awhp to 325-350awhp with a fully built motor. Unfortunately it'll still be quite some time...but at least I have a partner in the whole thing now!

So sorry to hear about the oil shooting all over the place - what a bummer!

I've gotten so mad at Vadar I really considered selling him too but a dumbass guy I knew said he would buy the car & that snapped me out of it real quick lol
I still get real pissed at Vadar & I kick his tires & cuss him up one side & down the other --- I thought he was just 'that way' b/c I named him after the pissiest Sith Lord evar but it seems yours has this same pissy trait :twisted:
Alltracs are just plain evil - they love to eat money & tools at the fastest pace known to man or woman :shoots:

Glad to hear that your wife will partner up with you on the rebuild
Now you'll get to utilize the most out of the turbo with a built motor - i think you'll be really suprised with what camshafts & adjustable cam gears can do to wake the car up a whole lot.

I'll get the installation pics & info to you very soon on the battery tray - i know it will be awhile before you mess with the car but I want to get it you anyhow.

So it's been a few months since I've last updated. I'll admit I tried updating on two previous occasions but one of the times I had a computer issue..more like user issue...and lost the whole thing and gave up. The other time my little boy came up and thought it was a good idea to press some buttons while daddy wasn't watching, and off went that version as well. So here is attempt number three...about one month later! The children are in bed so nothing can go wrong now right? Mind you the cat is looking at me funny. Anyways here goes.

I'm all moved into the new house and have a garage to use to work on the car. The mounting hardware that DarthRipley/JustJoe made for me is installed and works as advertised. In fact my buddy was over here today and mistook it for a stock piece and assumed the stock battery went in that location! Good job guys.

I crossed a new milestone today and did my own compression test thanks in part...well...mostly...to the BGB. When I first bought the car I had it done at Toyota and it scored a solid 175(if memory serves me right) on all four cylinders. This time around...not so lucky. Starting from the distributor and working towards the alternator side, the readings were 135-100-125-175. I poured a bit of oil in the plug holes and it improved the rating by about 20psi. So I now know that the rings are the issue.

The other issue is the horrible noise the turbo is making. There is a lot of shaft play up/down/left/right...probably 1/16th of an inch easily, but there isn't really play in and out. I'll be taking the turbo off this winter sometime and will have it inspected and rebuild as needed.

I'm still debating between just replacing what's broken, or going with a fully built motor. I'm pretty certain I will be sticking with an air/water setup as far as the intercooler goes. I am leaning towards selling the thermal barrier coated ST185RC core and picking up an ST205 core and coating it as well. I like how DarthRipley got the thing to fit on their car and I'd hope that it would line up a bit better to the SB46 as it's over to the driver's side a bit more than the stock turbo, not much mind you.

There's my quick update. Oh, and some more bad news I almost forgot about. The big Sold sign that was placed in front of our new home to stop people from driving on the freshly poured driveway...well...it fell over and fucked up my OTHER front fender. So that will need to be replaced. The whole front end bodywork on this car will be brand new...MONEYPIT!! Ugh.

Nice to have a garage to work on the car. I'm working on finishing my garage at the moment.

Glad the battery tray has worked out well for you
Our goal is always to make things look stock/OEM, so that was an awesome compliment

So sorry to hear the noise coming from your turbo
it almost sounds like one of the blades of the wheel is scraping something ... real shame it's already in need of a rebuild.

I would try to look around & see if anyone is selling a built motor -- you'd be suprised how many you can find over on mr2oc at any given time. might save you a bit of money & time if you can find something already to go that could just be swapped in without too much fanfare.

As far as the 205 WTA core, it should be fine for your turbo/hp goals. On getting it to line up there are lots of little tricks to get it to sit straight on top like the 185RC core. Cut off some of the portion that goes to the turbo and if you heat up that same area & get a long screwdriver or something like that & you can pull (Carefully!) & it will line up better with the turbo. The metal heats up quick and is relatively soft so just take your time, fit it & pull as needed.
Nitro (Mike) got his 205 core to line up really well also, check out his thread in Club Chat.

Super bummer on the sign landing on your good fender!!!!!!!

Good luck with everything - it's just got to get better for your 'trac!

Well it's been a while and figured I'd finally throw in an update. Engine is out, torn apart, forged goodies going in. 272 cams, adjustable cam gears, shimless buckets, new front mount intercooler. Hoping to be be in the neighborhood of 300-325awhp with the T3/T4 46-trim turbo. Should be all wrapped up just in time to hibernate for the winter and tease me until spring! One day...I will get to drive this thing again...I hope. Hah.

Nice!!! Glad to see this build being brought back

Good to see that you haven't lost faith! :wink:
Are the pictures around of the battery mounting?
I had a small one installed a few years ago in the trunk but when one thread broke and it was deep discharged I installed a normal one in the front again.
If someone has a good idea for mounting it in the trunk I might do that again to be able to do a straight intake.

The Nubkins... If I remember correctly you said that you were only going to keep it stock when you first posted on here. My my... Things do change. Looks great!
~James

Haha, it didn't stay stock for long....

I don't have any pics of the battery install, but I had Darth Ripley and Just Joe make me up a duplicate of their bracket for use with the Oddysee PC680 battery. They did an amazing job and everything fits perfectly. For pics I'd suggest you check their project thread. They have done a lot of great custom work on their Trac.

As things stand now the motor is being put back together and I'm waiting on some parts for the head. Still have to source a nice beefy front mount core and then everything should come together nicely....right in time for the snow to fall :shoots: . I'll get to drive it one day!