HOYS' ST185 Res-Q

hoys

Member
Making a thread for this car as there was a good bit of interest in following it.

Vehicle picked up from member gab on 8/21/2017 and trailered to TGA Performance in Colorado Springs, CO. I live in SW Ohio. One way flight booked to CO this Friday 8/25/2017 to meet up with the car and get it road worthy again.

Some pictures from gab and initial pickup:

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To-do list:

* Battery
* Tires
* Fuel pump and drain gas tank
* Replace all fluids
* Inspect all wearable parts
* Clean rodents
* Drive back to Ohio
 

underscore

Well-known member
* rinse it off

That interior looks amazing, and the rest of it looks unmolested. Definitely keep us posted on how things go with it.
 

FC Zach

Active member
underscore":2itet4u8 said:
* rinse it off

That interior looks amazing, and the rest of it looks unmolested. Definitely keep us posted on how things go with it.
LOL

and it still has the ABS actuator cover!
 

FC Zach

Active member
underscore":cqyca0h3 said:
FC Zach":cqyca0h3 said:
and it still has the ABS actuator cover!

I didn't even know they came with covers :lol:

It's the little things in life :)

With that said. . if you ever feel like parting with anything, I'd love to have that :|
 

hoys

Member
Finally saw the car in person today. The car is in even better shape in person.

Took the intercooler off, pulled the plugs, scoped the bores, looked at the turbo. Everything looks decent. Car has wheels locks so I have to figure that out. No keys in sight.

Tomorrow trying to get the car to turn over and run. Most likely will have to replace the fuel pump before it runs.
 

hoys

Member
Got the car up and running! All we needed to do was drop the gas tank, drain the old gasoline, and put a new fuel pump in as the unit in the car wasn't responding. Once out of the car and connected directly to a fresh 12v source, the old pump jumped back to life. We put the new unit in for good measure.

After running the old gas out of the system we idled the car for 30 minutes. The coolant system held pressure and the coolant fans worked, the A/C still blew cold and all the lights worked. Who knows how to reset the SEC (urity?) error on the radio?

Either the timing idler or tensioner made noise when the engine speed was around 1,500 RPM. Not inspiring for me to drive the car 1,100 miles home. Ended up getting plane tickets back to Ohio and contacting a transporter to bring the car here to finish the rehabilitation of the vehicle. Timing set, new tires, new fluids, we will be good to go!

Here are some pictures of it cleaned up:

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f3ared

New member
Man that looks clean under all that dust!

Am I seeing things or did the US model ST185s have a different bumper to the rest of the world?
 

hoys

Member
Update!

I haven't had much time to work on the car, but I've been doing small things.

Put my 7th gen wheels on. Its nearly impossible to find the proper size tire for 15"s any more. These wheels fit the look but not the right offset in the rear. They will work for now.

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(full rez: https://i.imgur.com/4EfXJbE.jpg)

Gave the car an even better bath and clay bar. I'm trying different waxes and sealants to see what the paint likes. The car will surely need a good buff as there are a few scratches here and there.

Bled the brakes, car stops well.

I bought all of the timing components and will be changing all of those over next week. Can't wait to drive this going into fall!
 

FC Zach

Active member
The car looks great!

hoys":3ve035jb said:
Its nearly impossible to find the proper size tire for 15"s any more.
This very reason is why I almost considered replacing the wheels on my RX7, luckily I was able to order the size I needed. I was under the impression from the tire dealer I go to that the size I needed wasn't made by anyone, later I found that there were plenty of options but they had to be ordered.
 

hoys

Member
FC Zach":1n26agyp said:
The car looks great!

hoys":1n26agyp said:
Its nearly impossible to find the proper size tire for 15"s any more.
This very reason is why I almost considered replacing the wheels on my RX7, luckily I was able to order the size I needed. I was under the impression from the tire dealer I go to that the size I needed wasn't made by anyone, later I found that there were plenty of options but they had to be ordered.

I've searched just about every tire distributor out there. I think they don't exist :(
 

hoys

Member
Changed the timing belt and all related components except oil pump last night. The noise around 1500 RPM was the tensioner smacking against the hydraulic tensioner. Hydraulic tensioner half failed while sitting for so long. All of the idler bearings were also trash.

Boy I've changed timing belts on a lot of cars and had a lot of pain with ones like Subaru DOHC twin AVCS cars, but the 3S is certainly the worst I've ever had to do. Absolutely no wiggle room. Ended up using the intake cam to tighten the belt two teeth, put the belt on the exhaust cam, then leveraged the lower idler to provide the final tension and then tighten the bolt.

Flushed the cooling system and changed the oil. The water pump had no signs of corrosion so the coolant that was in the car hadn't gone too bad. Oil looked fine. Will most likely change the oil again in 100 miles or so.

Only issues that persist now are the seatbelt won't retract fully, I need some rear trunk lift struts, and then fix the tear in the drivers seat cushion.
 

hoys

Member
Vehicle is inspected, titled, and on the road!

A few little issues remain. The car most definitely needs some suspension work. I'll be putting on new tires to evaluate what needs to be done as the tires currently on the car are rather old already.

The AdvanceAutoParts branded battery (35-2) was an improper fit for the battery hold down bracket because of the fill holes on the top. While driving I noticed sparks coming from the drivers headlight area. This was caused by the battery cable touching the bracket. Friend at the parts store helped me exchange for an AGM battery. Perfect fit and no fill ports! :)
 
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