The redemption of Aoshi? My st165.

So, I think I'm technically jumping the gun here a bit, since I have not as of yet reacquired my car; but I'm going to start the thread just in case :p Be warned, I'm long-winded -this is me trying to be somewhat short-winded. :p

The history:
I originally bought Aoshi from a guy in Kansas City. I had searched around for awhile, and decided it was a pretty good deal. When the PO had purchased it in Colorado, the oil pump failed on his way back to Kansas City, and so he bought an st185 engine from Toysport. Before putting it in, his friend supposedly put in all new gaskets and whatnot to make sure it was in good shape. Also installed was a clutchmasters stage 2 clutch. This was all at around 105k. I bought the car with around 110k.

-Previous owner picture soon to come (I have those on another computer)

After becoming my own, I did a little modifying, but nothing major. I added an st185 RC intercooler, a whiteline rear strut bar, uk front signals and black tail vents, black 7th gen 15" wheels, a gt-four emblem, twm shortshifter with a trd knob, custom straight intake with apexi filter, sard catch can, turbo xs manual boost controller, greddy boost gauge, greddy turbo timer, relocated the battery to the hatch, and purchased a whiteline rear sway bar (but sold before i could install.)

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The only issue it ever gave me was an alternator problem that took me some time to diagnose. The problem though was caused by my own ignorance. When I relocated the battery, I had the new cable bolted through the fuse box, well that is, one of the holes on the fuse box that clamp it to the stock battery holder. Apparently electricity managed to get through to the system (it was bolted right by the ALT fuse) and was frying my regulators. After 3 alternators, I finally figured this out. :twisted:

Well anyway, I loved the car, it ran beautifully for me. I had winter tires on the stock rims, which of course made for some fun times in the snow (see my avatar.) I also took the car to a rallycross. It was my first time ever at any sort of event, even as a spectator. I was running some yokohama tires that really had no bite. I also did not want to push my daily driver too hard. That being said, I came in 10th (of about 25 or so, most of whom were regulars). I was disappointed at the time, but looking back...I think that was a decent result, all things considered. At any rate, people got to be confused by the Alltrac (but some of them at least had an idea what it was.)

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What happened? It's a convoluted story. Haha. No not really, my girlfriend and I broke up, and this had an effect on my thinking. I was moving to Nashville for school, and I decided I should be more responsible and not spend my money on my car. In fact, I should just sell the car, and save up money for moving/school. Like I said, my thinking was messed up. I sold the car in May of 2005. A month later I spent the money on a 94 Celica ST. I've been running from car to car since. (I think it's been 4 or 5 Celicas (including a few alltrac projects I didn't have money for...donteatbugs did a great job with one) I've owned since then, plus my MR2)


Modern Times:
I bought an MR2 in May. This was because my daily driver's clutch slipped a few times. Initially, I was looking for something real cheap, just to get me by. Somehow I decided to borrow money from my sister and buy an MR2. Don't get me wrong, the MR2 was fun to drive, but I felt bad about owing my sister money, and it wasn't the most ideal car for school and whatnot considering the lack of room. I decided to sell it, and just go with the original idea of the cheap DD. I bought a 91 Celica GT-S. It has a few issues.

A few days later I was talking to my mom, mentioning how I've realized that I probably will not be happy with another car until I find one like my '88 Alltrac. I then proceeded to come to alltrac.net just to look at what was for sale (with no intention of buying since I am broke.) There it was, posted a day or two earlier. My st165. The car I'd searched all over for a year earlier when I was trying to find an Alltrac. I decided the MR2 and GT-S needed to be sold, and the st165 needed to come home.


So what's the project?
The car currently overheats, and is a suspected headgasket issue. Also, a suspension component is damaged, and the driver's side wheel sits back ~2 inches. I also removed a lot of the mods I had done before selling, to cut my losses. The project is a) buy the car, and trailer it back b) fix the headgasket/suspension/any other issues...like removing that fram filter! c) return it to its former glory d) take it beyond its former glory.

Current Pics:

celica20003.jpg


celica20016.jpg



So where exactly do I stand right now?
At the moment, I'm hoping to deliver my MR2 to a buyer either today or tomorrow. After that I'll be able to put the deposit on this car, and go pick it up maybe next week (I'd like to say this week, but that'd probably be a little optomistic. After I have it, it will probably be slow going, as I don't have much money at all. It'll take most of my MR2 money just to buy the car and get it back here...then I've got bills to pay back. I just figure I'm not likely to get another chance at "the car that got away."

More info and pics here:
http://www.cardomain.com/id/squall_ishida it's the red st165 :p
 

Sifu

New member
Damn... That's one hell of a story. Glad that you got her back though.
Plus another note about GF's or SO. I went through 2 ex-fiancee's. They both hated my car but the car was already family. The current GF loves all my cars and enjoys slaving away at them just as much as I do.

Keep the girl happy, she won't complain about the car. If she does then yeah you know what's gotta' go first...
 
yeah. if i pick it back up, this is it. i'm finished bouncing all over with cars. this was the car i was happy with, so i just need to put it back in shape, and stick to it.

i may keep my 87 gt as a daily, but past that....no more buying and selling like a mad fool :doh:

haha.

seriously though man, you did a great job with the st185 :) i didn't have the $$ to get it into that kind of shape, so it's in the right hands!

edit: i suppose i could throw in an update. the mr2 is sold. now i just have to figure out a way to trailer the alltrac back. unfortunately i don't know of anyone i can borrow a truck/trailer from, and it'll cost an arm and a leg to rent both of them for the trip. :( i'll figure something out though.
 

Sifu

New member
There is someone on this site that gets discounts through UHaul. Post in the general forum or chat. I think it's a regular poster...
 

alltracshoak

Active member
Sifu":2brzongr said:
There is someone on this site that gets discounts through UHaul. Post in the general forum or chat. I think it's a regular poster...

yeah,dustin (maxaud)iirc :wink:
 
well guys, right now i'm thinking this probably won't happen after all.


for what it would cost me to haul the car back, and of course taking into account that since it's not exactly driveable, it's hard to diagnose any other problems the car might have, i don't think i am in the place to be able to take this project on.

i'm trying to make the smart decision for once...before i lay down money, instead of buying and deciding that i really can't afford to do something. for what it would cost just to haul it back, i could probably have a reasonably nice st165 that is running...instead of something where i might find out that when it overheated it also killed a piston ring or something, and have a $3k+ project on my hands with no job.


so, my personal feelings for the car aside :p i think i should probably pass....i just hope whoever does wind up with the car does the job right.
 
ok, so i continued checking rentals and whatnot, and think i've got a reasonable price worked out.

so....HOPEFULLY maybe this week sometime i can get it.


anyone got a spare gasket set i can borrow?? haha
 
In case it isn't obvious, this never happened. LOL.

I wish I had done the irresponsible thing and just taken whatever actions necessary to get the car back. I can't imagine renting a truck and trailer could've been THAT expensive. But maybe I just was that broke. I honestly don't remember what happened.

I bought a 2000 Celica GT-S later that year. I drove it for over 13 years. I also bought a 2013 FR-S in 2018 as my fun car. I had to sell the FR-S this past May to provide a down payment for a house after my wife & were forced to move on extremely short notice in a terrible market.

I traded the GT-S in towards a ... 2006 Scion xA automatic ... a month or so ago. The idea being that it would be a work/winter car (a role I didn't want to leave to the GT-S), leaving me open to hopefully get an '80s Toyota again.

The search is on for another st165 (or even an st162), or something fun...we'll see what the future holds.

Sorry this post doesn't really belong in the Project forum, but it sort of belongs to this thread.
 
Bump.

Last time around I found what would have been a very good replacement of my old st165. A great condition red one. Unfortunately the timing didn't work out well and I didn't buy it. Unfortunately I bought a 7th gen with a crap 6th gear. At least it isn't rusty though. But...try as I might, my heart doesn't seem to be in it for the 7th gen.

I'm not exactly all-in on a new search, but I did want to update this thread with the VIN. Just in case.

The VIN of my old car was JT2ST68MXJ0005842 (the registry still has my info, so it doesn't help me).
 
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