Project ST165-ST205 Swap

underscore

Well-known member
zaluss":m7po09fz said:
Haven't updated here in awhile (again) but I added new OZ decals courtesy of Veist otherwise not much as changed.

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I also updated and published my cost tracker on google docs for everyone. It's sort of mind blowing how much I've spent on this car.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Spread over 8+ years that's not too bad for a car that's also a hobby. I should really do the same for mine but I won't like the result lol.
 

Mateo

Member
GT4times2":2ix63e0h said:
Looking good!! How do you like BRD products? Who's blue ST165 is in the background? Any more pics from the car meet/show?

Ha, I'm the owner of the blue one now. Always come to this thread when I need good pictures, I forgot that's now my car in the back. I can recognize that missing bumper paint a mile away.
 

zaluss

Member
At the end of July I noticed that my ebay aluminum radiator has once again started leaking from the same place the last two leaked. In addition to that, it looks like my Berk DP bashed in the radiator. At first I thought engine movement and bad motor mounts caused it but it seems that my radiator fans are pressing against my oil/trans cooler and shifted the radiator out of alignment.

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I ordered another Ebay radiator which prompted arrived and no longer has an OPL logo stamped on it. It also seems nicer than the last two I have so that works.

I figured while I was there I would replace the downpipe with a nice BRD one. The Berk gen3 downpipe I've had installed for several years has been fine but the flex section has seen better days and it was already several years old when I bought it. Lou was kind enough to supply a new turbo gasket (at Toyota cost to save me some time).

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Downpipe removal wasn't too bad. The rear most nut against the oil cooler is the biggest issue but with some creative bending of a cheap harbor freight long 14mm, I was able to get it.

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Turbo looking good.

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Downpipe installed. The O2 sensor position shifted from the Berk DP and the metal shielding ontop interferes with the factory exhaust heat shield so I had to remove that.

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I didn't take any pictures but radiator installed, fans properly mounted, and I redid all the wiring I did for the fans from several years ago with marine grade heat-shrink butt connectors and tidied up the wiring. While I had the car in the air I also replaced the rear diff fluid.

Last thing to do is fill up the coolant and replace the air filter while I have the airbox apart.

I also managed to get a LHD set of grey metallic manual folding mirrors which plug and play with the US cars. I took them apart and will drop them off for paint next week.

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Also for those that are aware, Carbon Microsystems has finally completed and shipped our ST165 carbon fiber hoods after a nearly two year wait. Should be arriving in the next week or so. It uses the ST185 RC soop design laid over the ST165 hood and includes everything except the mesh so if any of you have a ST185 RC/CS center mesh screen to let go, let me know!

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I've since updated the cost tracker and it still hurts to look at. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0
 

zaluss

Member
Roreri":fgs7itgo said:
Seeing a 165 with a CS hood is gonna blow minds. I hope it arrives soon!

It arrived and it was such an interesting/terrible experience with the airport. I'll detail that another time but suffice to say it took several hours from arrival to actual collection of my hood due too poor communication from the airport cargo companies.

The package was VERY well packaged and it took me at least 20 minutes to remove the hood from the box. The box is so good infact that I kept it to store my original hood in.

The hood itself is really impressive and fitment is reasonably good. You can see in the pictures that it isn't absolutely perfect but it is very close. There are a few issues with the fitment that need to be pointed out:

The hole that accepts the rear latch is missing. I simply drilled this out with a small hole saw and cleaned up the edges with a dremel sander. Carbon cuts through like butter so it was easy. I've noted this to Carbon Microsystems to hopefully address with future production.

  • The hood latch on the hood side seems misaligned and when you try to close the hood, it overlaps the drivers side headlight and fender no matter how much adjustment is made. I fitted the hood without the hood latch, and it fits well so I elongated the holes on the hood latch to shift it over slightly to the left which allows the hood to close properly. I'm not entirely sure if this can be addressed at least until I see the others receive their hoods and note their experiences.
  • There are some minor finish issues with the clear but it's in places that aren't really visible. The hood latch catch is rough but acceptable give it's use, at least to me.
  • The grill for the center hood scoop is not provided and unavailable but it was designed to fit the OEM ST185 CS/RC one but good luck finding it.
  • The windshield washer nozzles are also for the ST185 and seem specific to the RC. Too large to fit the ST165 ones.

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Roreri

Active member
Lots of pics!

Your airport experience is typical, I think. It was a multi-day “wait do you have the papers?” then an all morning ordeal for me too. Standard 2022 bureaucracy, I deem.

For the front hood latch, you might consider a strip of black Gorilla tape or similar, because the metal to carbon fiber contact will cut the carbon fiber, eventually. I’m seeing it start, after a couple of months.

For the center vent grill, you might find a CS grill. But you might also encounter a unicorn on your daily walkabouts. I’d recommend sourcing some diamond hole punched thin stainless steel sheet, cutting it to pattern, maybe tacking on a frame about the outside edge with some tabs to attach it to the underside of the hood in the holes, and high temp painting it (before install).

The windshield washer nozzles for the CS/RC are high to get the stream over the hood spoiler along the windshield side. I have something from some other model, and I just set them in not all the way but angled up so they arc correctly. You’ll figure something out.

I hope your clear coat stays solid.
 

zaluss

Member
Roreri":7qcnbin0 said:
Lots of pics!

Your airport experience is typical, I think. It was a multi-day “wait do you have the papers?” then an all morning ordeal for me too. Standard 2022 bureaucracy, I deem.

For the front hood latch, you might consider a strip of black Gorilla tape or similar, because the metal to carbon fiber contact will cut the carbon fiber, eventually. I’m seeing it start, after a couple of months.

For the center vent grill, you might find a CS grill. But you might also encounter a unicorn on your daily walkabouts. I’d recommend sourcing some diamond hole punched thin stainless steel sheet, cutting it to pattern, maybe tacking on a frame about the outside edge with some tabs to attach it to the underside of the hood in the holes, and high temp painting it (before install).

The windshield washer nozzles for the CS/RC are high to get the stream over the hood spoiler along the windshield side. I have something from some other model, and I just set them in not all the way but angled up so they arc correctly. You’ll figure something out.

I hope your clear coat stays solid.

Yeah I expect it will cut into it as well given how easy it was to drill out. I do expect to have to fabricate a grill sadly however Daniel is saying he is working on getting it replicated so we'll see.

I do see the hood spoiler in the RC/CS pictures https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukuser ... C_1619.JPG however since the 165 does not have a hood spoiler (and neither does the carbon hood), I should be able to get away with a normal windshield nozzle. Daniel suggested 85381-AA042 which is still available and inexpensive.
 

zaluss

Member
So looks like the ST185 front strut brace does not clear the hood ironically enough despite clearing on the stock hood. Also I broke the hood release cable. That 30 year old plastic finally gave in :doh:
 

simple

Member
Hey Mike since you are actively posting can you do me a favor and share a photo of how you mounted your intercooler pump? Also the heat exchanger? Thanks for sharing the hood info!
 

zaluss

Member
simple":3us1k8hn said:
Hey Mike since you are actively posting can you do me a favor and share a photo of how you mounted your intercooler pump? Also the heat exchanger? Thanks for sharing the hood info!

Time to go back in timeeeee....

The bosch cobra pump fits quite nicely in the stock location using the stock mounting. I just used a boost hose clamp to secure it.

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Heat exchanger is secured with threaded rods on the radiator support. I did this mostly because the existing holes on the frozen boost heat exchanger were not placed ideally without having to fabcriate some brackets. This worked perfectly.

I used some rubber standoffs to keep it upright against the radiator mount frame and used an old Focus ST intercooler shroud to force air around it.

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zaluss

Member
zaluss":172qtczl said:
So looks like the ST185 front strut brace does not clear the hood ironically enough despite clearing on the stock hood. Also I broke the hood release cable. That 30 year old plastic finally gave in :doh:

Dorman 912-100 is just the right length to replace any worn or broken hood release cables for the ST16x. I couldn't find any alternatives locally or online but it seems fine. The new cable slips right into the factory hood release on both sides.

It measures about half an inch longer than the stock cable.

The mid 90s Tacoma this was intended for seems to have a very similar hood latch system.

https://www.amazon.com/Dorman-912-100-R ... 159&sr=8-1

OEM part number for the Tacoma is 53630-04020 which should be identical if you want OEM. Pricing seems the same but I went with the Dorman due to local availability and the exact length was specified.
 

zaluss

Member
Just got these manual folding mirrors back from paint and they look gorgeous.

Note for us in the US the original stock mirror overlaps quite a bit more than the folding mirror does as you can see in the last picture. It does mostly clean up but of course I have a small chip. I'm sure with some clay and polish it should be good.

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zaluss

Member
Finally sourced a ST185 RC grill from the UK. Cleaned it up, sanded, and painted.

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Also met up with a couple of ST205's at a local show.

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simple

Member
It looks so small compared to that generation. If I recall correctly it is slightly heavier somehow. Feel free to correct me
 

Roreri

Active member
That’s such a unique look. Kudos to your success in pulling it off—took patience that’s for sure!

Also, need an ST185 with RC hood in the middle!
 

zaluss

Member
simple":3ntrr82m said:
It looks so small compared to that generation. If I recall correctly it is slightly heavier somehow. Feel free to correct me

Yep I think the ST205 is a few lbs lighter despite being a lot larger lol. However between the carbon hood and driveshaft, I think I have a bit of an edge lol.

Roreri":3ntrr82m said:
That’s such a unique look. Kudos to your success in pulling it off—took patience that’s for sure!

Also, need an ST185 with RC hood in the middle!

I know we just need a ST185 around here!

I picked up this laser etched license plate on ebay. I think it looks a bit better than just a couple of black holes.

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zaluss

Member
Carbon Microsystems ST165 sunroof installed and I almost broke the sunroof rails doing so.

My 4th carbon piece from CMS and this time it's a sunroof replace my crusty/rusty sunroof. Arrived well packaged and prepolished as expected. The sunroof is significantly lighter than the OEM sunroof but I didn't weigh the difference.

First immediate issue was upon comparing the OEM sunroof to the new sunroof was the lack of mounting points for the sunroof seal retainers. This required a bit of measuring and drilling but it was mostly painless.

Second issue may vary depending on your shims (don't mix them up!) is that the length of OEM bolts are not long enough to reach the threaded holes in the sunroof. I did try with one spacer on each side but this did not work so instead I took some M8 bolts just a few mm longer from my Toyota OEM bolt pile (so it's still OEM, of course) and that worked perfectly.

Aside from having to scoop out piles of rust from my original seals, the seal itself was in pretty good condition so you can transfer yours if it's salvagable. With the seal retainers in place, I added a small amount of silicone caulk to hold the seal in place opposite the retainers which works just fine

While you are there, make sure to grease up the sunroof rails with the appropriate MP grease. So far the only small issue is that on tilt down from up, it doesn't quite close. It might be the seal itself not quite aligned (though it may be due to the weight difference) but a simple open/close fixes this nicely.

Highly recommended if your sunroof is rusting like almost all of them are for the ST165.

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8OcPl8bQTJE

Carbon headlight covers. The only issue is that you may have to slightly drill out pretty much all the holes to accommodate not only the plastic clips but also the mounting holes to allow for enough movement to adjust with the hood line. Other than that, it's just playing with the adjustment until it lines up correctly.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fgydosa3U4

Here's the latest pic of her.

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