Project Panda ST185

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alltrac801

New member
After owning my car for almost 5 years I've decided to talk about my "project"

STORY
I work at a car lot / gas station with my dad. One of the other dealers we work with wanted to do a trade with us because the local police station needed a new sting vehicle to find drug houses. All the dealer said to us was it is an older Toyota Celica. I was intrigued because I always liked older Toyotas. We traded the dealer a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire and they brought us a 1991 Toyota All-trac that had been sitting for about 10 years! We were in that Sunfire a whopping $300 bucks! The interior was completely trashed when I got the car. The leather seats are completely ruined. A mouse had gotten into the engine bay and ate parts of the hood sound suppresser stuff luckily no wiring! The police dented both rear fenders to make the car look less suspicious and more like a beater! On top of that the car had 230,000 miles on it and a lot of rust but I didn't car I thought it was bad ass and was so excited to learn more about the car. I'll up load some pictures from my phone later on about what the car looked like when I got it and why my wife named it Panda!

I'll also post some updates on what im planning and doing on my car soon. Thanks everyone!
 
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alltrac801

New member
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This is what she looked like when I got her! That tribal tattoo is something else!

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Then I got a little over excited about plasti dip and that's how she got the nickname Panda lol

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This is how she currently sits before I install coilovers!
 
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alltrac801

New member
Its really a funny story with people not knowing what this car is. So the dealership that we work with took the car in on trade 15 plus years ago. His partner at the time also worked for the police station. The police station needed a different car to put a radio in and have a tracking device on the radio. When the radio is stolen out of the car they would track the stolen radio to a drug house or something else hoping to make a big bust. For whatever stupid reason the police officer thought it was a good idea to use an All-trac (they had no idea what the car was just thought it was a Celica lol) for the next "sting" vehicle. They used this All-trac for about 10 years but needed a new car because criminals were becoming suspicious with this car. That's when I traded the Pontiac for my All-trac! About a week after I had it the original owner that traded it in wanted to car back. I was already in love and wasn't letting it go lol!
 
underscore

underscore

Well-known member
That's definitely a wild history, pretty funny that they were able to use it for a decade before people started to catch on.
 
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alltrac801

New member
Yeah its pretty samn crazy but I guess they moved it between a few different cities but still pretty wild. I'm just happy I ended up with it!
 
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alltrac801

New member
Last year my factory turbo stopped making any boost. Took the intake off to check the turbo and noticed all the fins were cracked and one fin was broken. Really wanted to keep the factory turbo and rebuild it but we couldn't get turbo and factory manifold apart. So I didnt feel like fighting the old turbo and ordered a gt28 EBAY turbo and EBAY manifold just to get the car back on the road so I could decide what I wanted to do with the rest of the car. I think the new set up looks good but not completely satisfied with the intercooler piping. I got a sidefeed intake manifold from another member on here and will get that installed later this year.
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Also moved battery to trunk and took out rear seats, spare, and carpet because they were all trashed. Plus I never used the rear seats.
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alltrac801

New member
You'll notice on the engine bay picture that I have a LOT of cleaning up to do still but I'm slowly working on that lol. I also deleted Cruise (didn't work anyway), EGR, and the charcoal canister. I just installed a shiny new alternator too!
 
FC Zach

FC Zach

Active member
Thay's a neat background on the car! It's definitely not the most incognito vehicle choice.

alltrac801":1o00ssb6 said:
I also deleted Cruise (didn't work anyway), EGR, and the charcoal canister. . .
Click to expand...
Would you sell your charcoal canister (if not broken), jet, and check valve (as well as the grommet for the valve)? Shipping would be to TN, 37060.
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9

93celicaconv

Member
FC Zach":2ebok3dt said:
Would you sell your charcoal canister (if not broken), jet, and check valve (as well as the grommet for the valve)? Shipping would be to TN, 37060.
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Click to expand...
Maybe this will also help you.

Jet No. 1: 90925-04036: Found on 3S-GTE engines only for 88-93 ST185's and 91-94 MR2's
Charcoal Canister Assy: 77704-20270: Found on any 90-93 5th Gen Celica (ST, GT, GT-S, All-Trac)
Check Valve: 90917-10079: Found on:
- any 90-93 5th Gen Celica (ST, GT, GT-S, All-Trac)
- any 91-95 Camry w/5SFE or 1MZFE engine
- any 92-94 Lexus ES300 w/1MZFE or 3VZFE engine
- any 92-93 Lexus SC300/400 w/2JZGE or 1UZFE engine
- any 95-99 Avalon w/1MZFE engine

Might want to check a dealer for availability of new parts. Except for the Jet, the other 2 parts should be readily available in salvage yards.
 
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alltrac801

New member
FC Zach":20soxdug said:
Would you sell your charcoal canister (if not broken), jet, and check valve (as well as the grommet for the valve)? Shipping would be to TN, 37060.
31216263327_8d29df4b6f_z.jpg
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I kept everything in a box in my garage so let me check tonight.
 
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alltrac801

New member
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Bad news. The nipple on the bottom of my canister is broken and I cant seem to find where I put the check valve. I do however have the Jet.
 
FC Zach

FC Zach

Active member
alltrac801":6hyqccl6 said:
Bad news. The nipple on the bottom of my canister is broken and I cant seem to find where I put the check valve. I do however have the Jet.
Click to expand...

Ha ha, mine is the same. . I glued it back together :) I'll take whatever you have available.
 
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alltrac801

New member
Got the CX Coilovers installed yesterday. The fronts turned out good but the rear is a little to low and rubbing. I have 2 inch wheel adapters on the rear and I'm running 215/50/17 size tires. So I'm going to make some strut adapters to lift the rear about an inch. Cant really drive it like it is so I can't say how good the coils are yet either.
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But my old ones were definitely in need of an upgrade.
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underscore

underscore

Well-known member
Looking at the pictures of the coilovers in the other thread they look to be height adjustable at the lower mount that attaches to the knuckle. Loosen off the locking collar (the red one that's on its own) and you should be able to turn the whole strut assembly by hand to adjust the height. Use something to measure the height so you can set both sides the same. I ran into the same issue with my BC's, out of the box I don't think the car would've even been able to move.
 
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alltrac801

New member
underscore":wxttzsit said:
Looking at the pictures of the coilovers in the other thread they look to be height adjustable at the lower mount that attaches to the knuckle. Loosen off the locking collar (the red one that's on its own) and you should be able to turn the whole strut assembly by hand to adjust the height. Use something to measure the height so you can set both sides the same. I ran into the same issue with my BC's, out of the box I don't think the car would've even been able to move.
Click to expand...

Damn! I had no idea! this is going to save a lot of headache. Thank you. This is the first set of coilovers I have ever installed so I didn't know.
 
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