LIttleMissAllTrac's ST185 (1992)

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N8wrx

New member
Well its time to start going balls to the walls!

I figured id refresh the thread a bit as im about to be in for a long long summer of work. I purchased a brand new welder and all the needed fixings for gas mig welding. Ive hopefully also got some body panels coming in from a GT4 in England and if not im going to make them myself. Ive started to strip down the suspension arms and subframe again from the horrible job I had done before with spray can paint, I will likely have these powder coated or repaint them myself but to a higher quality standard.

Goal for this summer is to have all the body work completed, all the suspension arms and items reattached and the car in a least an epoxy primer.
 
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N8wrx

New member
Started to strip down and clean the suspension arms. Im thinking powdercoat on these but that will cost $ and I wont be able to do that myself (looked into making something but the parts are far too large for a home setup). So im thinking maybe some kind of paint on them instead? Has anyone else redone these an what have you guys used? Im also worried powdercoat will add a lot of weight to the suspension vs paint? Any recommendations?

And I know everyone likes pics, not much but heres the first arm (aircraft stripper next step)'

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MWP

New member
Powder coat.
Its the only thing that will last under the car.

POR15 doesn't really deserve the reputation it has for these kinds of jobs.
As soon as the surface is broken by a stone hit or similar, it flakes off.
 
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N8wrx

New member
Yea im not using POR15, I agree its not what its said to be really. I can get free powdercoating so I was leaning that way but I have to make sure everything is 100% off these so the PC can stick properly. I get it free but its also kinda a hit or miss on quality (my dad does it and hes not a car guy, its meant for folding chairs and stuff). I was thinking aircraft remover to get all the old original paint/pc or whatever they use off. I attempted a homemade soda blaster which MIGHT work but I have no way to contain the soda so it makes one HUGE mess.
 
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N8wrx

New member
Got some work done tonight in prep to separate the engine and tranny.

Can I claim this as "weight reduction" ? Pile of junk is about 5 times larger after i finished.
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Engine harness out of the car, going to re-wrap it
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Fuel rail, PS pump, bunch of misc brackets and stuff off the engine
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N8wrx

New member
Before and after shot before I cleaned the other arm. There going to get a bath in a few different things then a nice coat of paint. I think im going to go with paint because its going to be impossible for me to clean these 100% without a chem bath or a sandblaster.

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N8wrx

New member
Engine and tranny are separated! I didn't even have to pull it off silo method! When pulling we noticed some signs that make me believe the transmission was taken out and worked on sometime in the past, when that was I have no idea as the car has almost 170k miles. The casing was definitely cracked as it had all new sealer and Loctite on some bolts (not to mention some were not torqued down correctly and I unscrewed them with my hand, no breaking required, yes bolts that connected the block to the transmission LOL). Engine is also now on the stand and slightly worked on a bit, we ran into a snag on the head bolts as I don't have the 12 spline hex socket to take them off (will be grabbing one hopefully today).

MOAR PICS!

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N8wrx

New member
Does anyone have any or can take any images of the rear quarter panel infront of the wheel well and behind the doors without any side skirts on or the little plastic stock skirt thing on? I have nothing left on this thing to reference to rebuild the new metal. Thanks in advance!
 
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N8wrx

New member
The celica will live! Just finalized a deal for a rust free body to use all our parts in (with a st205 rear end)! Will be picking it up next weekend and the parts swap over will begin.

That pretty much makes the need to do list:
Rebuild engine
Rebuild Transmission
Rebuild calipers
Reassemble the whole car

Still alot of man hours but with the body taken care of I can safely say im saving myself probably over 200+ man hours on the body repair alone. I will be keeping the 92 as a parts car so we can make sure this one (its a 93!) stays on the road for a very very long time.
 
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alltracman78

Active member
Congrats man, that must make you feel a whole lot better. It's definitely much easier to start with a good body.
Now you just have to make sure it doesn't get rusty. Lots of oil inside. :p
 
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N8wrx

New member
it will be getting a nice full under coat to protect and an oiling after EVERYWHERE! I dont plan on driving it in the snow / salt / or maybe even rain once its all completed so shouldnt have to worry too much. Also will be getting a garage spot all to its own.
 
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N8wrx

New member
had to man handle it but the turbo finally came off the exhaust manifold with a little persuasion. So thats all ready to be rebuilt, considering looking into aftermarket exhaust manifolds to replace the stock one or I might just get this one ceramic coated or something. Anyone know of any decent aftermarket options that dont cost a arm and a leg and are also not ebay junkers?
 
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N8wrx

New member
Cleaned up all the engine mounts/ tranny mounts and got some 3M urethane to do a solid mount fill. Lots of updates and work to come after this weekend when I get the shell.

Also picking up a RC transmission, full nearly mint condition interior from the Mr.Towels himself. Tons of other small bits an parts, I will make sure to post all the progress.
 
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N8wrx

New member
Did 1/2 the reconditioning on the engine bay wiring harness. Re-wrapped everything with new tape. Only found 1 break in wires so far that I will have to fix, looks like i may have damaged it coming out or something. They are really small cuts and not all the way but ill be soldering and shrink wrapping it to make sure.
 
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Overtriped

New member
If I end up getting rid of all my gen 2 stuff I have a really nice cast iron toyomoto t3/4 manifold with a 2 bolt 38mm external port. It's the same shape as stock for the most part. Congrats on the car, it looked realllllllllly clean!'
 
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