Project Stormbringer

wakkjobb

New member
How's things up north? Much snow? Any trees land on your car during that last wind storm? The news was crazy about that stuff...
I'll check the boxes that came with the car and if they aren't fronts I'll get you the ones from my car. I'll find something else to work for speaker business. It's so far down the road... not concerned about audio stuff at all right now.

Quadraphonic sound
Dan
 

Rick89GTS

New member
How do you find the General Altimax Arctic so far? They are on clearance sale in my area for $85.49 each. Would you recommend them?

Alltracstudded.jpg
 

Dracov

Member
Re: Snow.

I hate Colorado weather. The very day I got the snows on, all the snow we had (about 1 inch packed) melted and has yet to return. :( I've been able to avoid the wind storms for the most part.

As for the tires...I really wish we were having the weather they were meant for. Their dry grip in cold weather is very good even with the studs on. Unfortunately that's about all I can comment on them so far. I went for 185/60R15 to keep the tread appreciably narrow so it can have the best combination of deep snow traction and ice grip

For the moment, waiting on that radiator to arrive. Hopefully on monday, based on when I sent payment.
 

Dracov

Member
Been a while since I've done anything... I've been saving! (regretably, not money...)

Colo Dan can probably guess this project since I sorta got the main parts off him.

When I got the Alltrac I noticed a rhythmic howling noise from the front wheels, my limited knowledge guessed wheel bearings. And, a year later it was confirmed, mostly in the form of the front right bearing becoming nice and loose so as to make left turns, um...interesting. While I was gathering parts I made a discovery; apparantly not ALL wheel bearings marked for ST16x's are actually the right freaking size :doh:

The first set I got were easily 2mm too small for the knuckle. Buggah. So after waiting on am RMA and a new set I was finally able to do something productive!

One of the knuckles wakkjobb was so gracious as to get for me :D
Wheelbearing006.jpg


El-cheapo deluxe model gear puller. I used a 1 1/16" socket to press the axle hub out
Wheelbearing007.jpg


Hub+inner race = grumbling
Wheelbearing008.jpg


Freshly modded gear puller so it has some grip on the race
Wheelbearing010.jpg


It's working! I didn't screw it up!
Wheelbearing011.jpg


Once the race got halfway up the dumb socket kept staggering around like a drunk, so I improvised:
Wheelbearing012.jpg


The Naked Hub
Wheelbearing013.jpg


Freshly removed snapring and dust covers and icky gelatenized grease
Wheelbearing014.jpg


Found this at Harbor Freight. Turns out it was PERFECT for pressing the bearings and hubs back in
Wheelbearing015.jpg


20ton press. Yeah yeah, I know it's not the safest setup but screw it, they shimmed up perfectly and I was running out of money/patience
Wheelbearing016.jpg


Where everything fell once the bearing popped out
Wheelbearing017.jpg


All cleaned up, ready for hydraulic raping
Wheelbearing018.jpg


Out with the old, in with the new
Wheelbearing019.jpg


In she goes!
Wheelbearing020.jpg


All gooped up with grease
Wheelbearing021.jpg


Big dust shield bolted back in...and "massaged" to fit the 185 rotors
Wheelbearing022.jpg


Hubbeth installeth
Wheelbearing023.jpg


And the pièce de résistance; brand new ball joint
Wheelbearing025.jpg


Gonna put these in later tonight...hopefully the damn camber bolts won't get in my way. And some other stuff will be going in too. :)
 

Dracov

Member
And a little more update.

The new-bearing knuckles were put in, as well as new tie rod ends since these ones are a bit...abused looking.

And also put in a little prettification that, erm, can't be seen unless the wheels are off;

Tierodend002.jpg


Ah well. Better than those impossible to deal with stock ones.
 

bridge47

New member
Nice improvising with the two jaw puller.

Have you installed your Torsen yet? Reason I asked, I was wondering if the axle stubs are longer/shorter different diameter than the non LSD ones. Was thinking about having some grooves cut in mine for the spring style snap rings if they were the same size. I've got a pumpkin only. Any ideas?

EDIT Just read pg5, so its in. Still any thoughts?
 

wakkjobb

New member
Congrats on progress, every bit helps! When it's all back together I bet you'll miss the clunking/grinding noises... :D Nice idea for the Ducati socket thinger, I didn't know you had a Duc! :razz: How much were the ball joints and tie rod ends? Those have been moved to the "after it's running" section of my 'Do List'. If you don't want your old hubs (with bad bearings) I'll take them off your hands, they have the adjustable camber, right?

Next Sunday I'm hoping to add another 165 pony to the corral... you should come and see! And pick up whatever parts I pulled from the yard last time I was there... forget exactly what though :doh: .

Grin and Bear-ing It
Dan
 

RedCelicaTRD

Moderator
Where did you get the swaybar endlinks? I know Two's r Us makes a set but was wondering if there was anything else out there. I did the same job a few weeks ago but also installed control arm busings. However, one stuck endlink is keeping me from installing the last bushing.
 

Dracov

Member
Those are the Twos R Us endlinks, yeah. They only listed them under 185, but 165 and 185 OEM endlinks are identical part numbers. Getting the old ones out was an exercise in frustration as the threaded rods kept spinning with the nuts...forceful use of vice grips eventually triumphed. I originally wanted to do bushings too, but I'm about out of money at the moment so I had to defer those until a later time.

My old knuckles do have camber adjustment, yes. :) The bearings FEEL fine, but I know they're both trashed and should be replaced if you want 'em. I remember something about an overflow tank for the radiator, but not anything else.
 

Dracov

Member
So, after getting my ears blasted half to death by Funker Vogt, I ended up sleeping all day and missing the chance to see wakkjobb's latest acqusition in person. To make up for it, I checked the mail and instantly saw I needed to work on my own 165. :D

Part number N44061 :)
Noltecmounts.jpg


Things were fun, in the oh-so-not-fun way, since my Ground Control kit doesn't -quite- fit these wonky struts of mine. So I ended up improvising. And in the middle of it all I decided a new set of bellows and bumpers was in order...didn't relish the idea of crap getting on the strut shafts.

Here's a Before:
Strutupgrades005.jpg


And After:
Strutupgrades006.jpg


And a shot of the other side
Strutupgrades002.jpg


Ride height stayed roughly the same afterward
Strutupgrades004.jpg


And in closing, a gratuitous engine bay shot with the new mounts installed
Strutupgrades007.jpg
 

wakkjobb

New member
Oooooh.... Funker Vogt, eh? How was that show? My girl loves them but didn't go, the schedule was kinda wonky and they only played for an hour? But yeah, 'We Came To Kill' is GREAT welding music :D.

Congrats on new parts installed! What's next on the list?

Dan
 

Dracov

Member
I didn't like the venue to be honest. And while doors were at 8 (which meant 8:30 of course), they didn't start until freaking 11:30. They played for an hour and a half, which was okay. The vocalist though was obviously not used to being at altitude. He was running out of energy about halfway through but kept forcing himself through it. :)

Next on my list...a crapload of engine maintenance, and fixing that bloody vacuum leak when I get time to. Courtesy of:

Vacuumupgrade005.jpg
 

LegacyofDan

New member
are those the cusco top mounts that widefnopen was selling :p...how do u like them?

thats a good deal of vac hose, is that stuff silicone? i hope it doesn't compress/collapse on you like my silicone shit did to me under vacuum

keep up the good work bro!


/\ lol sex with a fat chick...hahaha
 

Dracov

Member
Noltec, but yes those were his. ;) I'm still waiting to get a proper alignment done (Damned Easter holiday!) After that I'll toy around with their settings

And yes, those are silicone. Thick walled so they won't collapse. Hose Techniques stuff is pretty popular in the Supra world and they make a metric asston more power than I'm planning to. I have no idea how much of what size I need, so I just bought a bunch; 10ft of 3.5mm, 10ft of 4.0mm, 10ft of 6mm, 5ft of 10mm and 2ft of 1/2 inch.

And, since zip ties are worthless for holding vacuum hoses, and I hate the clips the hardware stores have, I bought a bunch of the nice ones from Toyota, with the large clip so I won't tear up my hands trying to get them on:
Vacuumupgrade002.jpg


And to make things easier on me, I picked up a nice looking vacuum manifold off of eBay. CNC'd aluminum with tapped ports so I can use whatever size hosebarbs I need
Vacuumupgrade004.jpg
 

wakkjobb

New member
Yay, new parts! How much did that vacuum deal set you back? You up for a trip down south sometime? I'd like those camber adjustable hubs... still got an overflow and stuff for you.

Dan
 

Dracov

Member
I paid about $65 for the hoses all together...probably way more than I actually need. The clips are like 85 cents each from 1sttoyotaparts.

I'm going to be doing some traveling this week, but I might be able to drop by this weekend. I'll have to see how things look and let you know
 

Dracov

Member
It's been a solid three months...didn't do anything I initially planned to, then found out I had to do other things which took an extra month to dredge up the motivation for...

This is everything I had intended to do;
Alltracfrontend001.jpg

Front main seal, cam seals, accessory belt, timing belt, timing tensioner, ATS upgraded oil pump and gaskets, water pump, valve cover cap screw conversion, valve cover seals, some other gaskets I don't remember, and an alternator.

Pulled into the garage, ready to undergo minor surgery
Alltracfrontend002.jpg


Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. I was somewhat concerned about the crank bolt because it has been about ten years since the last timing belt job was done and it was very likely siezed in place nice and good. I had no idea... Myself and several of the roomies all did what they could, using our biggest breaker bar to try and loosen it. Penetrating oils were of course useless because of the huge flange on the bolt. Heating it would only damage the rubber. We had tried so hard that we completely destroyed two sockets. One split in half, and the other flowered in a rather appealing design, but nonetheless still rendered the damn thing useless. As a last resort, I dug out a small floor jack and used THAT to turn the bar. That managed to do the trick, but the bar was very severely bent. I took this picture right after it broke loose. You can still see the tension on it;
Alltracfrontend003.jpg

80ft/lbs my ass!!!

Not only did the old timing belt have more cracks than a plumbers convention, it was also apparently NOT TENSIONED PROPERLY AT ALL
Alltracfrontend004.jpg


And another cute surprise that explained why at FULL advance I only got 10 BTDC on the distributor; someone retarded the freaking intake cam by a full tooth
Alltracfrontend005.jpg


The last picture I took before exhaustion and heat made me permanently delerious. This was the midpoint where everything was finally removed and I could begin reassembling with new and shiny parts
Alltracfrontend007.jpg


I didn't do the alternator project as I was getting too tired to care. I also intended on doing the injector o-rings, but screw it. It didn't matter anymore at that point. Her exhaust note has lost some of its harshness and sounds very nicely smooth now. And yes I made sure to prime the oil pump before firing her up. Pressure is up a decent bit but doesn't seem to go into unsafe areas.

I also replaced the front left axle shaft as one of the CV joints crapped out on me. That was infinitely easier by comparison

For now though, I am done working on the blasted thing. My entire right arm is useless from sprains, mysterious cuts that let me bleed a cup or more before I noticed them, and general exhaustion. I let her idle up to full temperature and saw no leaks or drips anywhere, so I am happy.
 
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