FIRE! Pics! Racecar Build. Video Added Jan 31 2013

yota 3.0

New member
Hey Guys,

Long story short. I bought a 90 all-trac from another forum member here and worked with a shipping company to get it shipped to me. Well when I went to pick it up today, expecting to drive it home, it was not good! Car caught fire on the back of the car hauler.

Looks like some speaker wires were open under the glove box and well, I'll let the pic do the talking

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It is not a good day!

That being said, I am going to repair it. Does anyone have, heater box, dash wiring, I assume the ECU is damaged as well but I could not see where it was. I left it for today but I will start tearing into it tomorrow.

Does a fwd celica have the same dash/body wiring? I know the ECU is different but I am hoping everything else is the same.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

James
 

underscore

Well-known member
Oh wow, you're lucky that it was contained to that area! I believe everything but the ECU and engine wiring harness are the same as a FWD Celica so you should be okay grabbing nearly everything from a wreckers.
 

fussellbug

New member
The EPC shows unique part numbers for each year of the ST185 "Cowl Wire" harness and these numbers don't match any other submodel of the 5th Gen celicas. That doesn't mean that the wiring changed significantly from year to year or that the differences between submodels will always be significant. If you can find a same year ST185 harness to replace yours, that would be guaranteed plug and play. If you use a harness from another ST185, you have the best chance of only minor differences. If you end up using a harness from a non-Alltrac, you'll want a car with as much in common with yours as possible to have the minimum amount of rewiring to make it work.

From the pictures, it's very possible the heat did not damage your ECU which is up underneath the climate control unit. You may have damage to other electronics in the center console and right side of the dash. I would do a very close inspection of your engine harness (inside car) and if there's any visible exterior damage, unwrap it to see how severe the damage really is.
 

yota 3.0

New member
Thank you very very much for the info, I appreciate it!
The ECU isn't in the kick panel? This is good news!

James
 

toayoztan

Moderator
ECU is essentially behind your radio, under your heater unit.

That sucks that happened, but like they have said, you're lucky it was contained to just that.

Dash, compatible with non alltrac.

Can't tell, but looks like you have a system 10 unit. So most likely, your harness going to the amp located under the passenger seat is toast. This isn't too bad to replace, it is its own separate harness from the cowl harness.

Your best luck at replacing the harness with a non-alltrac one would be to find a GTS harness that had system 10, auto AC, etc, particularly in your year (90-91 or 92-93).

Bryan
 

yota 3.0

New member
Thanks everyone for the info. I am going to try my luck at one of the local scrap yards in hopes of finding a fwd, then hope it's similar wiring.

I got the ECU out and it looks fine, the engine harness got hot and some wires stuck together so I will probably take 8" out of it then mount the ECU behind the glove box.

At this point I just want to get the car running a go from there, pushing it around isn't the easiest.

I just need to find a pinout on the ECU so I can trace each wire, make sure everything is good before I put the battery back in..

Here is what I got done today

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Thanks again everyone,

James
 

yota 3.0

New member
Well everyone,

I managed to save it!!!

I gutted it and found a 1990 fwd in the local junk yard. Took everything from the interior out of it and put it in my all-trac. And it didn't start, so I went over some diagrams and changed one pin in the harness and the car fired right up! So I am currently in the process of putting it all back together and finishing my Ice Racer build :) the cage is going in next week, I am just waiting for my seats to show up.

Stay tuned

Old harness
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Almost back together with new harness
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New harness in old burnt area
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Blower motor all buckled in
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wakkjobb

New member
Kick ass, but how can speaker wires cause a fire if there's no power to them; ignition off? :shrug: Even with it on I can't imagine there being enough voltage/spark passing through speaker wires to cause a fire, unless there's another part of the equation I am missing; rodent nest, old papers stuffed there, leaves or something... just curious.

Still glad to see you're getting it back together; where are you that you can go ice racing??
 

yota 3.0

New member
Yes that is exactly what I thought as well. The car was a complete wiring mess! There was melted harness everywhere (not from the fire), even under the steering column. That being said there was a bunch of wires connected right to the battery!!! No fuse, no relay. Also who ever installed the alarm did the biggest hack job I've ever seen. Luckily the harness from the junk yard is untouched and only had 120,000km on it! (74,500 miles)

I live in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada.

The previous ice racer was a 87 AE86 with a black top 20 valve 4age :D

Hope that clears things up

~James
 

88gt4DE

Active member
Wow ... great work and good luck .... Sucks you got it in that condition to start with. What a bummer but at least you had to drive to get her running ... :notworthy:
 

underscore

Well-known member
In the end it seems to have turned out for the best, at least you were able to clear out all the crap wiring and get it fixed relatively easily. Nice work!
 

yota 3.0

New member
Thanks Guys!

Small update.

The cage is almost done, ill take pics within the next few days.

Did some more wiring and made a panel
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Wheels showed up - 11.5 lbs each!!!!
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Steering wheel on
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Seats in
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Seat belts
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Cusco under brace
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Whiteline rear sway bar
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Solid sub frame and diff bushing kit from Klue, AMAZING QUALITY
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I picked up an ST205 rear diff but i dont have a pick

When i took apart the rear sub frame, the rear toe adjust arm bushings were toast. Made some from oilite bronze for both sides.. should be nice and tight.
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Current state of the car, removed the fenders to move the wire harness becasue the studded tire would rip it apart.
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More coming!

~James
 

phattyduck

New member
yota 3.0":3uwhhkln said:
When i took apart the rear sub frame, the rear toe adjust arm bushings were toast. Made some from oilite bronze for both sides.. should be nice and tight.
FC9A1306-2472-4358-9525-4A55CDE0D611-6571-000002D5BAA06A4E.jpg

165B1349-1609-43AB-B5E3-DCA7B6AFC4A0-6571-000002D5B6071312.jpg


More coming!

~James
Solid bushings for the suspension scare me. You'll need to allow for some small amount of movement in the directions other than the standard rotation of that bushing... If you want solid, figure out a good way to do a pillow-ball/heim joint there.

-Charlie
 

yota 3.0

New member
It is just the toe adjust side that will be solid.. I'll let everyone know how it holds up!

I don't think it will be an issue

~James
Mechanical Engineer ;)
 
If you dont need A/C don't put back the original HVAC. Use this instead.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flex-a-lite-640 ... 6d&vxp=mtr

This is a Flex-a-lite Mojave heater. It is a size of a shoe box. You can hange it on the fire wall with simple brackets. They have a hardware kit to attach it to defroster ports in dash board. Very popular with professional rally car builders here and in UK. I believe JEGS has something very simular under their own house brand. Plumbs into OEM heater plumbing. Comes with a heater valve and a fan speed selector switch.

You will have more room to mount all the computers etc. on the fire wall. Very clean install.
 
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