Project Stormbringer

Well...

Replacement ECU off a JDM '92 185. Spent a few days building an adapter harness. Hooked it up and...exact same problem. Zero spark.

On a whim I decided to rule out the idiotically simple and checked the IGN fuse...it's intact :/
My only guess now is that the igniter itself is b0rked, but I really don't looking forward to paying through several unnamed orifices to get one new...then again, I need my car. I need to be able to retain my job and thus I have to get this working. If this doesn't do it my only remaining thought is replacing all of the wiring connecting every ignition component as that would be the absolutely only thing left

No junkyards to scavenge for the part(s)? Maybe someone local will let you guinea pig their known working items so you don't have to buy unneeded shit.

Stupid lesson for the day: Just because their is a nick on the crank pulley does NOT mean it's going to be the timing mark :bangshead:

It runs now. And once I finish putting the rest of the stuff back together she'll be on the road again!

I can understand that. The actual timing mark is little more than a nick.

That sucks!! But atleast it's fixed.

Agh, what a kick in the ass! Years ago I got in the habit of marking any timing marks with nice bright white-out; sure has helped!
Glad to see you're back in the groove; I was almost expecting to see you post a "for sale" ad just because it's been forever since we heard from you-or you got married and the wife said "NO PROJECTS!". I still have the bushings for that Whiteline swaybar if you need them; they're just hanging out on my shop wall... collecting dust.

>>Dan

Okay, another long idle streak... Project stuff with my DD fell by the wayside in favor of the mundanities of life. New significant other, new Yule feast, job stuff...you know the drill.

Anyway. At some point along the line my little 165 developed a gut-churning rattling noise inside the block. :/

So, she's sat for months while I worked on helping a buddy of mine get an AW11 he fell in love with. And now that little monster is down for a replacement of it's 180k mile original clutch. Sometimes I hate cars.

After hemming and hawing over what to do it was decided that I try and get another motor and shoehorn it in. Saw a for sale thread here and hopped on it, arranging a joint purchase of an engine and trans with CelicaGT4. After a lot of discussion back and forth I got up the money, and a week later I came home to a palette sitting in my driveway!



































95-99 ST205 3S-GTE
ECU P/N: 89661-2B841
The wiring harness has nothing cut on it that I could find anywhere. The ECU is intact, it appears to have all the sensors. The turbo has zero shaft play as well. All in all it's very nice and clean. The clutch also has "03 09 10" stamped on it as though it were a date stamp. The friction disc looks like it had only just finished break-in and that was it. The entire thing also rotates freely without any excessive force needed.

Now all I need to do is get the MR2 out, drag the Alltrac in and begin the fun project of swapping motor and gearbox!

That is the best looking 3rd gen motor i've ever seen! Where is the crack on the timing cover?

I actually didn't see one anywhere. Though going over the pictures again it looks like there might be one on the upper timing cover right where it meets the lower cover at the water pump. Regardless it's no big deal. This engine is just sexy

Nice!!!!! Glad she is getting a new motor!

Better document the hell out of the work you do during this swap/upgrade.

it indeed is very sexy i look forward to seeing further pictures of it resting in its rightful bay

I'll be taking my time with this one. I want to make sure I won't have to pull this motor again for any reason at all in the future. Plus I thoroughly burned myself out on applying "Do or Die" mentality of having to fix every car problem in a single weekend. I miss being able to enjoy my car.

Going to be getting a 185 gearbox as I'm tired of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th having syncros that have been shot to hell and back. Need to figure out clutch options as well and start acquiring parts for a harness extension...planning on a removable one rather than hacking up a perfectly good mess of wires. I likely won't have her on the road until the end of summer, but that means less to me than having all of this done right the first time around.

Great upgrade, what are you doing with all the 165 stuff? Engine, turbo, IC etc...

>>Dan

wakkjobb":5dqknrbk said:

Great upgrade, what are you doing with all the 165 stuff? Engine, turbo, IC etc...

>>Dan

Click to expand...

Umm... I hadn't thought that far ahead. I'll worry about what to do with the old engine, turbos and my other 205 intercooler after the Alltrac is working again. After that, probably rebuild the engine and sell it if there's a buyer by then. But once the Alltrac is running there's an MA70 that's been waiting patiently for three years to be resurrected so that will take priority then.

Well, with a bit of random, old fashioned stupid luck, I found a transmission on CL that was going for just $150. Seller said it's out of a '93 with 190k, minor grind in 3rd but no other issues. After waking the roommate with the SUV we went out to BFE and picked it up. It's all shiny!









Haven't had time to really test it much. But the input shaft spins without much resistant. No blood-curdling noises inside. And aside from a few dings to the rear snout dust shield it seems in good condition.

Now I just need more money for parts so I can rip the engine apart and actually make progress for a change. :/

Finally started to take the engine apart last night. Pulled off the intercooler, throttle body, all the cut coolant and vacuum hoses, alternator, a/c compressor and tensioner pulley.

I almost don't want to disassemble the engine because it's so nice and pretty...and not filthy. But, I refuse to trust a junkyard engine, now matter how pretty it is. Though there's a few broken VSVs and check valves, which I'll have to look up later. And the reverse light plug on the trans is broken. meh For now I'm just going to rip the engine apart and replace every single gasket, seal, hose and belt I can find

That should make it so when the motor is installed, you wont have to worry about it again. This will be a bad ass upgrade.

Always a great idea to refresh the seals gasket while it is out - so much easier.

-Terracar

That's the plan! I don't want to have to EVER drop a motor from this machine again.

Anyone happen to know where to get oil and water pumps for a gen 3 motor? Or are they completely interchangeable? *lazy*

So, I'm a good taker-aparter of engines it seems. This is what's left!





"Where's the rest of it?" you say? Well I...err wait, that stuff's IMPORTANT? ...crap.

Oh yeah, here it is!



And I played around with my micrometer and took some measurements of the cams and this is what I came up with:



And just for posterity...ST205 BGB sayeth thusly:



So according to that, the exhaust cam already needs replacing. Not sure about dropping yet another $600ish on cams...even though the idea of something aftermarket would be nice. I'll worry about it later.