Phattyduck's SV25/ST205 hybrid

phattyduck

New member
Just passed over 156k miles. Still running great. 24mpg on average so far with the 3s-gte! (I was getting around that with the 3s-fe auto)

Needs a few little things here and there, but I'm enjoying daily-driving it. :D

I've only been able keep up with oil changes, etc. Otherwise, the new house is taking up all of my time.

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
Minor updates...

Just past over 160k miles. Changed the rear diff fluid, swapped power steering pumps, got new tires (215/45-17 Michelin Pilot Super Sports) Did an oil change - a Fram PH8A equivalent (Purolator) fits with the relocation kit. It holds almost a quart of oil! With the relocation kit and hug filter, I think the engine holds about 6 quarts now.

RzFZkL3.jpg


Also in process is installing an EBC. Old school Greddy Profec-B - fits the age of the car/engine well and works well too. I still need to wire it in and run the vacuum lines. And yes, the engine bay needs a cleaning! Here are the main parts mounted:

vTPj8QG.jpg


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Otherwise, things are good...

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
Finished installing the boost controller. Woo! Nice to get an extra 30-40hp. :D

I also ran the wiring through the fender for the wideband O2, so that should be an easier install when I get to it (soon, hopefully!).

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
New gas mileage record!

7.35 MPG :twisted:

8.92 gallons burned in 65.6 miles - including 5.2 gallons of 100 octane at $9.50/gallon.

I took the Alltrac out to the Willow Springs Streets of Willow race track for a track day with a friend (he has a mildly modified '05 STi).

Cooling off after the first session:
iiqB0QM.jpg


I ran in the 'intermediate' group. Here's the view from the driver's seat in the pre-grid, so you can see the typical cars:
5YFNwwR.jpg


I ran about mid-pack through the day. Passing a few cars, getting passed by a few cars. Sadly, I broke my throttle cable on the second session, about halfway through - got to sit off the side of the track through the rest of the session with the car idling, ugh. I was able to bypass the cable (it was the secondary cruise cable that broke) and get back on the track for the afternoon sessions. The drive home was annoying without cruise control. :doh:

End of the day:
PSFNw2I.jpg


Turned the front brakes blue:
yzp0O3M.jpg


krnAant.jpg


Chunked the tires nicely:
R4DkKLQ.jpg


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The good:
- 17psi and about 94 (91/100 mix) octane is AWESOME!
- Engine ran perfect, aside from the throttle cable (the one I made/shortened)
- Transmission was perfect (missed one shift, it went to go into gear even without double-clutching on high RPM downshifts when I messed up)
- A few good 'whoa, that thing's fast!' comments. :D

The bad:
- Broken throttle cable (missed half of a session!)
- Suspension/chassis weaknesses
- Need more supportive/sticky seats (leather slides!)

The car understeers at the limit, at least in the dry on a track, though I did get a small touch of throttle-life oversteer. My rear swaybar is adjustable, looks like I will be adjusting it one level stiffer. If I was better at suspension tuning, I could probably improve the suspension response, but I'll keep it how it is for now because it's still comfortable on the street.

I have a few short videos that I'll be putting together and posting up in the thread soon...

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
Late pictures from Toyotafest. No awards this year - there were a number of nice supercharged V6 Camrys... Next year - painted front bumper/nose panel and painted/installed euro Camry GLi spoiler!:

FE8IApt.jpg


k7NJMus.jpg


While cleaning up the car and painting the brake calipers for Toyotafest, I found this:

e9jiBwL.jpg


2KzBdly.jpg


I thought the Camry (with its different ball joint design) had enough room to clear the ST205 disks... turns out I was wrong. I have since ordered new ball joints, the STi disks, new pads and the correct centering rings to get the disks on there... Hopefully I'll finish the install this week. That should be 6mm more clearance for the ball joint. Luckily, I have the clearance behind the wheels for everything to move out.

-Charlie
 

athousandleaves

New member
Yikes! Good thing you spotted that before it was too late!

Also, is that a SOARER beside your car?!?!? So much about the Camry reminds me of the Mk1 Soarer but with two doors less and more power! I'd buy an aerocabin soarer in a heartbeat if one came up near me... fortunately not a popular car with the importing crew around here so I may still get my chance at having one.
 

phattyduck

New member
athousandleaves":mvhwpt4c said:
Yikes! Good thing you spotted that before it was too late!

Also, is that a SOARER beside your car?!?!? So much about the Camry reminds me of the Mk1 Soarer but with two doors less and more power! I'd buy an aerocabin soarer in a heartbeat if one came up near me... fortunately not a popular car with the importing crew around here so I may still get my chance at having one.
Yeah, its an '87. US legal, registered in CA (and driven regularly - my friends have seen it around their area a few times). He had been judged in the Camry category for the last 4 years until this year they finally listened and put him with the SC's... so he took second over there. (I got second to him in the Camry/Solara category last year). For some reason, the person who categorized the cars thought that "Soarer" and "Solara" meant the same thing?!? The drivetrain is stock aside from a cat-back, so its pretty close to the factory 240-ish HP. So, faster than most/all stock Camrys, but not mine. :p The Soarer is for sale if anybody in California is interested...

Anyways... yeah. I think the interference with the ball joint happened mostly during the track day. It was never obvious, especially over the sound of a little tire rub (heavy braking + bumps = max suspension compression). I put 20k+ miles on the brakes the way they were, so its very good that nothing bad happened. I'll be glad to have it all fixed and running again.

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
Its been a long time since any updates...

Well, the rear brakes finally wore out. I accidentally let the backing plate hit one of the disks, so I figured I should bite the bullet and get all new parts back there. New OEM discs and pads, shipped from Japan (Amayama). $300 in parts, $200 in shipping... :doh:

Old stuff:
P4UcqKA.jpg


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New stuff:
el1SJBJ.jpg


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Otherwise, the car has been running great. Just oil changes and gas, pretty much.

-Charlie
 
Weird I never saw this thread before... I didn't see the spoiler in any of those pictures. Also do you have more pics of the interior? What kind of bumper is that? Every Camry I have seen has a solid bumper... does that thing vent through? It also has different turn signal lights... interesting. Where did you get the side marker lights? Thanks for the info on the resistor for the tac also. The hood looks sweet.
 

phattyduck

New member
CTechBlueDragon":dl7wpwi5 said:
Weird I never saw this thread before... I didn't see the spoiler in any of those pictures. Also do you have more pics of the interior? What kind of bumper is that? Every Camry I have seen has a solid bumper... does that thing vent through? It also has different turn signal lights... interesting. Where did you get the side marker lights? Thanks for the info on the resistor for the tac also. The hood looks sweet.
The spoiler has never been installed, though I have all the hardware... You can probably find pictures of what it looks like by searching for a Camry GLi though. Pretty much all of the pictures of the interior should be on this thread, I think. Aside from the seats, steering wheel and all the gauges, it looks mostly stock.

The bumper is a JDM Camry Vista bumper, the headlights, corner lights, grill and nose panel are Australian Camry (must all be installed together, you can go for the Euro version too). The lower valence is from a '91. The hood is carbon fiber, though it is covered by a vinyl wrap at the moment to reduce sun damage and oxidation.

-Charlie
 
Wow man where did you source those parts? I have been looking for a while and I can't find anything. I am not looking to do the front conversion you did, I hate to say it but I think the car looked a lot cleaner when you first got it. The bumper would be fine if it were painted to match. I guess the other stuff is up to your taste. I have been looking at pictures of the GLI and GXI and they have a really nice looking rear valance piece(s) we never got, any idea where I could source one? I would also like a GLi or GXi badge for the rear but I cannot even find that. lol It also looks like they had some sort of stock side skirts also... I am going to be working on fitting some Boomer skirts from ST205 on mine this summer, the hard part is going to be integrating and keeping the front mud guards which I really want to do. If the engine isn't ruined completely I should probably get a few pics of things to post up soon if all is solved by some new bearings. Hoping its only rod bearings so I do not have to remove the entire engine and trans and take the trans off to do the mains also.... sigh Atleast I have a spare crank if that is jacked up too so minimal down time I hope.
Any chance you want to sell the spoiler since your not EVER going to put it on!? lol jk
 

phattyduck

New member
CSAlltrac":26g4e4ur said:
What hose did you use for the remote filter? The blue stuff.
Its -12AN Aeroquip push-loc hose. It comes in black or blue. Actually, that reminds me that I should probably replace that hose in the near future... After around 8 years now (two different engine bays), it is starting to crack a bit around the outside. I'll probably go black when I replace it.

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
CTechBlueDragon":2zk1jbuo said:
Wow man where did you source those parts? I have been looking for a while and I can't find anything. I am not looking to do the front conversion you did, I hate to say it but I think the car looked a lot cleaner when you first got it. The bumper would be fine if it were painted to match. I guess the other stuff is up to your taste. I have been looking at pictures of the GLI and GXI and they have a really nice looking rear valance piece(s) we never got, any idea where I could source one? I would also like a GLi or GXi badge for the rear but I cannot even find that. lol It also looks like they had some sort of stock side skirts also...
The spoiler will definitely go on at some point. I don't want to do that before its painted though - I don't want to deal with mounting it a second time. The whole front end (including the hood) will get painted at some point. It should tie it together much better than it currently is. I pretty much need to run the JDM bumper to get any airflow to the intercooler, so it has to stay.

I'm not sure if the Euro/Aussie/JDM rear valence pieces would fit - the F/R bumpers are different in countries that didn't have the 5-mph bumper rules.

As for where I got the parts - almost all of them were bought from other guys that imported them and never installed them... I have been on the Camry forums collected parts for 15+ years now.

-Charlie
 

phattyduck

New member
de_engineered":2vdobt4d said:
I'm otherwise curious where the CF hood came from :D
There was a group-buy done around maybe 2001 for a set of 10... only 6 got made and the company that did them went out of business... I got the hood used from the guy that organized the group-buy years later. Not sure what happened to the rest of them.

-Charlie
 

de_engineered

New member
Copy that. I've looked at DIY and shop options, they're all pretty pricey in small, or well, any quantity. The stock hood is so darn heavy though (there's aluminum, not without its own cost if less than CF).
 
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