Project Daily Driver ST165

Here we go, another ST165 being revived from certain death.
The previous owner brought this car to Colorado on a flatbed. It languished in a field for at least a year from what he knew. I got this car for a comically low dollar amount.
My goal here was to daily drive this car. I knew she would break down, and parts would be hard to find...
But I was ready! This is not my first rodeo with fun, unreliable cars with unavailable parts.
I used to DD a 1988 Mazda 323 GTX, what a blast she was... right up until a rod exited the engine through the block.
Then it was a 1980 Fiat X 1/9, 1500cc 5 speed, water and vacuum operated chokes. Tuned by ancient black magic, and rusted through because it's a fiat.
I was ready for this.

My goals for this car...
I want it to be daily driveable. That is primary.
I want a solid 250 AWHP.
I want this car to handle at it's utmost!

Not unreasonable it would seem, but the triangle of fun cars is always in effect.
...........Fast
........../....\
......../.......\
Cheap ------- Reliable
You can only have two.
So when I bought her she ran. She ran a little odd though.
Hemorrhaging oil, very little boost, low oil pressure, overheating when run really hard, clunking the the suspension, riding like a 17 foot long cadillac on the ocean, and a slight smoke in the exhaust.

First things first, I got her into the garage and started looking her over.
No clamps on the turbo to intercooler hose.
Strange wiring everywhere. Seriously home made trash.
Only 3 nuts holding on the exhaust manifold, and missing nuts all over the exhaust and turbo.
Home made boost controller.
Home made heat shield for the straight turbo intake.
It goes on and on.
But the interior, it's glorious. It's the most 80's thing I have ever sat in.
BLUE. SO BLUE. EVERYTHING IS BLUE. The electric seat, sunroof, and windows work perfectly. I am straight shocked.
Works begins. I fail to take pictures. I fail to start a build thread until I am part way through a head gasket.
Thats where we are today.
Enjoy some pictures. Updates to flow for a good long while.
Here is a link the the start of my album (high res): http://imgur.com/a/KrfbD
After resizing these pictures 3 times, the forum is still cutting a chunk of these pictures. :shoots:

Good luck!!! With some tlc and planning for breaking or wear, she should make a good DD. Just address whatever starts acting weird, when it acts weird.

I am in a similar spot. Bought an alltrac for cheap, maybe not as cheap, and found things poorly done all over the place. That ended with finding out a previous rebuild was done poorly when a rod started knocking right as I got it idling smooth lol.

When I got my st185, oh man! wiring! wiring! wiring! :shoots: It was a mess on the engine bay, not to mention whoever installed the alarm didn't know about cable management, it was a damn jungle bellow the steering wheel.

But little by little I'm bringing her back up, good luck with your project!

They all start with problems... I bought mine for the clean interior and realized everything else was toast. Little by little, we keep working at it. I have a blue on blue parts car too (ST162) so let me know if you need anything.

I love the '80s Toyota blue interiors. I've owned 2 Camrys with that interior so far (another was grey and another is red/maroon)

As long as the car isn't a rust bucket, it should be an easy project compared to a 323 GTX or a Fiat X1/9...

-Charlie

r-town":3gtgynmy said:

When I got my st185, oh man! wiring! wiring! wiring! :shoots: It was a mess on the engine bay, not to mention whoever installed the alarm didn't know about cable management, it was a damn jungle bellow the steering wheel.

Click to expand...

I am right there. Old crusty harnesses and mystery wires galore!

soarinhigh":3gtgynmy said:

They all start with problems... I bought mine for the clean interior and realized everything else was toast. Little by little, we keep working at it. I have a blue on blue parts car too (ST162) so let me know if you need anything.

Click to expand...

I think I am ok on extras right now, but I am missing the trim around all of my windows. Problems are the best way to get to know the cars!

phattyduck":3gtgynmy said:

I love the '80s Toyota blue interiors. I've owned 2 Camrys with that interior so far (another was grey and another is red/maroon)
As long as the car isn't a rust bucket, it should be an easy project compared to a 323 GTX or a Fiat X1/9...
-Charlie

Click to expand...

This has been much easier than either so far! At lease I don't have to send off to Japan for a new distrubter, or Italy for a new carburetor cooling fan! Not having holes in the floor pan is nice too! I do miss taing the top off and throwing it under the hood though!

Pics of 323 please!!!! I love those cars just like the alltrac. Such an under appreciated car!!! Good luck with your alltrac endeavor!!!!

GL on the daily drive thing and I'm not trying to be mean either, I daily mine everyday which sucks when something goes wrong but overall a blast

ALLensTRAC":1m3r1uhc said:

Pics of 323 please!!!! I love those cars just like the alltrac. Such an under appreciated car!!! Good luck with your alltrac endeavor!!!!

Click to expand...

Ill track some down asap! I know I have some on an old hard drive somewhere. Ill throw some up of the Fiat while I am at it! I loved that 323. I went through a few engines including a BPD i found in a yard here in Colorado! Amazing find, monstrous power when she was running on E85 and a full standalone. Helped that she weighed nothing!

Awesome-Trac":1m3r1uhc said:

GL on the daily drive thing and I'm not trying to be mean either, I daily mine everyday which sucks when something goes wrong but overall a blast

Click to expand...

Thanks! I know the pain of using a car like this as a DD. When it works, it's wonderful, when it breaks it takes your heart down with it.

Now for an update on the car. My wife told me to get it back on the road, but to make sure it's not going to blow up again soon. To that end, I think this is about to become another ST205 swap. I can't seem to find any builds that really document the process, or have that great "how to" feel to them. That is what I am going to be shooting for. A proper build documentation. I am going to be doing this entire swap in a garage that is an oversized one car, but it is what it is. I only have two questions at this point.
1, Do the st165 drivelines fit in the 205 tranny? I cant find any definitive answer on this.
2, How well does the stock st205 ECU run on American pump gas?

I am looking at getting the engine, wiring harness, transmission, and all that from someone like JDM engines corp down in Texas. There are a few I am looking at. I should be able to get one to my house around 1,600$ and that is pretty reasonable. Comes with a compression test video, so hopefully the engine wont need a full rebuild.
While the engine is out though, at the very least itll be new rings, timing kit, oil pump, water pump, head gasket, rear main seal, and any other gaskets that are best done while its not in the car.

Any other sagely advice anyone wants to offer?

Make sure that ST205 setup comes with the MAP sensor, complete wiring and the coil/igniter. All those parts are necessary, expensive and hard to find. You can 'fake' the wiring for the intercooler pump (some of it goes through the fender and you'll need a clip to get that stuff - its in the extra relay box that mounts to the radiator).

Mechanically, its 100% compatible. You will probably want to use as much of the ST205 wiring in the engine bay, as it will be newer and in better shape.

I run a stock ST205 ECU on California 91 octane gas. It runs fine, with only minor hesitation here and there. It runs AWESOME mixed 50/50 with 100 octane pump gas though!

-Charlie

I used st165 axles and driveshaft with my 205 tranny. Also I run Oregon premium (93 octane I think) and it runs awesome. My WTA level sensor is actually unhooked since the wiring is in the body harness and not the engine harness.
My swap was done with all 205 stuff except the alternator, starter, and fuse block. I bought a harness new from tweaked performance and it was a nice clean install. (I even have the 205 air box installed... Go ahead, ask me how lol). I'll try to help with any info I can. Good luck and you will totally enjoy it when it's done