88st165's alltracs

Kcman91gts

New member
Thats just what i was wondering , because that is a very unique setup and was going to do the same thing with my 184 DIN cubby ... they have a set of DIN gauges on 935motorsports i dont 550 bucks for them or else i would try them out , and they dont list wether their mechanical or electric .. im not a fan of the mechanical ones..

also what kind of paint gun are you using , i was going to paint my car myself with my air compressor but its only a 17 gallon , 150psi max tank and no inline filter for moisture ..

i want a gravity feed spraygun but cant find if a pickup type would do just fine .
 

88st165

New member
GT4times2, ill try and get some up close shots for you next week. i do remember trying to take some but they didnt turn out good with my cheap point and shoot camera, though it could have been the wrong time of the day to get a good shot.

RedCelicaTRD, the radio is mounted where the ashtray used to be in the red car. the radio cage fit nicely into the opening and i used the two screws that used to hold the ashtray chassis to secure it. it is solid and you couldnt even take the radio out unless you took off that whole center panel with it.

Kcman91gts, im using a cheap harbor freight tools hvlp gravity feed gun. i did it with the bare minimum but i focused on the prepwork more than the equipment. i didnt have a water filter. i sprayed with the garage door wide open b/c urethane is some crazy strong stuff. i dont even think my air compressor is 17 gal but with a hvlp gun you arent using that much air, my compressor didnt cycle on and off that much.

i will say that white is harder to spray than you think. the first coat is easy but every coat after that is hard. because its white you can see where you painted as easily as other colors. i made that mistake and put some major runs on one side of the car. but painting solid colors makes it super easy to wetsand and do it again.

the whole paintjob prob cost me alittle over $300+ and thats everything from tape, paper, paint gun, plastic, sand paper, sanding blocks, mixing cups, hardeners, reducers, 3qts of paint (have alot leftover), 3qts of primer/sealer but it was already reduced, etc.
 

Kcman91gts

New member
Ahhh see thats where i would get caught , i dont know all that reducer and the real make ups of a paint job what to use and when .. i can do body work and thats not really an issue for me but i ended up pulling up some of my carpet when i was putting in the lumbar seat and that frikin foam shit they put under the carpet that after a while holds all moisture and my seams on my floor are starting to get surface rust ..

so i figure im going to try to get as much of my car done and painted as i can .. but i had no idea that much work was ever involved .. i thought it was basically just sand down the exterior paint , paper and tape everything off you dont want to get sprayed , mix your paint into the gun , spray , clear coat .. maybe ill leave it to a professional..
 

88st165

New member
Me and my friend Doug tackled this project in three days. Its a decent amount of fabrication and test fitting to do something like this. Plus it really suck when its cold outside!

We bought all the raw materials and fabricated the kit from scratch. All the piping and flanges and material for the manifold adapter is 304 stainless steel.

Turbo is a garrett to4e 57 trim turbo with a .63ar turbine housing.

The thing I didnt get a picture of was how Doug modified the pulse converter of the manifold. It looks really nice but its all for improvement of flow, after all he is an engine development engineer. Im just a mechanical engineering student so I have lots to learn still.


The car pulls so hard compared to the ct27. Taking it all the way to redline in 4th gear we were seeing a/f in the 12's and with the water injection engaged (200cc nozzle running alcohol/washer fluid mix) the a/f were in the 11's.
 

mx6er2587

New member
is that stainless adapter welded directly to the cast iron manifold? That's typically not recommended and can crack if not done properly. I'd watch that and check for cracks every now and then. Although it sounds like your friend knows what hes doing. Any particular reason you guy didn't just make it a bolt on adapter?

other then that the kit looks great. That downpipe makes me want to redo mine. Its currently a hacked up ebay downpipe and its mig welded. Doesn't even compare to those nice tig welds. It did only take 2 hours to build though.

Are you running an open dump pipe or do you have it plumbed back into the exhaust somewhere? Water cooled turbo or just oil?
 

88st165

New member
Yeah the manifold adapter is made of two pieces of stainless stock water jet cut to the t3 dimensions. He has done this to his car and he knows about the preheat/post-heat to avoid cracking of the welds but yes of course I will keep an eye on it haha. We decided not to make a bolt on adapter because the nuts always back out, cost more money, more weight, cause turbo to hit the oil line, etc. I was thinking about the ats machined adapter if we were to do otherwise but it was $$$$$$.

The downpipe was also done with no cheater bends so we were proud of that. Also utilizes a diffuser to reduce pressure drop which I havent seen featured on any turbo kit d/p available for the 3s.

Dump is open to the atmosphere but you dont even hear it because I run open midpipe. I do still need to add a few inches to it so it extends closer to the ground. I might have to change it a bit and make it angle tighter to the downpipe b/c it might hit the ASI radiator I just got.

The turbo is also water cooled but I currently dont have the water lines hooked up. I needed to get it running asap so we can run the car and gather the information because we only had the testing equipment for a few hours.

Thanks, we are proud of the kit. We didnt cut any corners and the quality is on par (if not better, dare I say lol, than other kits out there) and we did it for less than a 1/3 for the cost. I still have to get it ceramic coated so the packaging will look better even though the funky color the stainless steel turned after a few hours of hard boosting looks pretty cool. I think the coating will make it look more professional plus the obvious benefits.
 

bloodMoney

Active member
hahaha on Doug's name...

I told you, I'd be the first in line to buy a Dougie turbo... :) The setup looks great though. Congrats on it! Hopefully by the time I come back home, I'll have a different turbo as well...

~Chris
 

88st165

New member
Figured I would bump my old project thread. I updated the first post to make it more of a summary. I still lurk around the forums every once in a while and throughout the past several years I see there are a decent amount of new owners. I'm glad to see people still have a passion for these cars. Whats even better are the old school owners still around and to see what amazing cars they have developed over the years. I'm proud to be part of this somewhat rare and obscure group. Its all worth it when that one person recognizes you car and car really appreciate its heritage. Unfortunately as an adult and now parent I find the necessity to have space for other items rather than car parts so I will be posting some of the parts I have been hoarding in the for sale section later this year. I will also be looking on here for some random parts to keep my cars on the road like many of us do almost far too often. BTW love all the build threads that have popped up in the last few years. Every time I decide to lurk around I find a new one with great content. Keep it up guys 8)
 

88st165

New member
IMG_2297.jpg



Mods: (pretty basic, keep in mind this car was slapped together when I was a broke college student haha)

-original 1g 3sgte
-ct27 (custom slapped together oil lines)
-mr2 bpv
-aussie 3" dp
-APEngineering mp
-open mp currently (had SSAC 3" twin tip, Aussie 3" twin tip, both never really fit right. Currently have another SSAC that I will modify with vband flanges and make to fit)
-devil's own WI
-larger h/e
-ASI rad
-spec stg3 clutch
-spec lw flywheel
-Mario rear subframe bushings
-st205 diff
-SS brake lines
-battery relocation
-FEAL 441 coilovers for 185
-whiteline bushings (anti-lift/caster)
-whiteline F?R swaybars
-whiteline F/R strut bars
-225/45/16 Star spec z2s

I think that's it, aside from some minor stuff here and there. Its been a while. Its currently under construction as you can see from the pic. Last time I ran it (last year) it was loosing 1qt of oil per lap around a 2 mile track. Oil was leaking (some say pouring) at a high rate right behind the crank pulley. I'm hoping that I just blew out the crank seal but I have yet to dig into it since then. My goal is to get it reliable enough to do a few track days a year and I will be a happy camper. Thinking of picking up a 4runner as a tow vehicle in the future but AAA has saved me plenty so far.
 

GT4times2

Moderator
Looking good. Wheels look good too.

Yikes!! 1 Quart/lap? :shock: That's bad.

Plans on rebuilding the engine? Or just resealing?

Who sells FEAL coilovers? I never heard of them (Just did a search on them). How do you like them?
 

88st165

New member
IMG_25202.jpg



Well I should clarify that the 1qt of oil that was exiting from my engine per lap was coming through the PCV tube and filling a make shift gatorade bottle catch can full each lap. My theory is that the lack of oil baffling was causing the oil to run up the timing belt side. Not sure what to do to remedy this. I was hoping maybe the Moroso oil pan would solve my issues. Perhaps a much better catch can system is in order as well. Oh also stock brakes not very good. I want to run 15" or 16" wheels max because tires are more affordable. Going to step up to 15" r888s once i get the car sorted out. So big brakes are out of the question. I am going to contact Carbotech to make a pad for the 165 calipers or maybe the 185 calipers. I use the carbotech xp12 compound on my SI and they were amazing.

FEAL coilovers are sold by a well known guy named Odi. When I was searching for coilovers a couple years back I wanted something different from the BC/Ksport/Megan/D2 choices. I contacted other companies like AME, Fortune auto, etc. No one was willing to make a 165 or even 185 application. Odi at FEAL was more than willing to make an alltrac application and even had a decent turn around time. Very professional and knowledgeable guy. I was supposed to do a review on them but I have not had a chance to post it. These feel great on the track and I am comparing them to my SI which has a ground control/koni sport type setup. I love konis so much I wanted to run them on my red celica for the track but I wanted more of a complete system vs a put together type, just my preference this time around. I am very satisfied on how they feel on the street and track.

http://www.rallyracingsuspension.com/page16.php
 

88st165

New member
More on the oil leak. The crank seal is still leaking really bad so maybe it was a combination of both blow by and the crank seal. Whenever I move my car it leaves a nice trail of oil and a large puddle where it sits. I need to seek the advice of those who successfully tracked their cars and hear what they have done to avoid these issues. Alwayzsidwayz is one whom I remember did a lot of lapping days with his 165, though he appears to not be active anymore.
 

88st165

New member
IMG_2561%203.jpg


You can see my support rig on the left of my car.... ha jk my support vehicle is my buddy's tacoma seen behind my car. Some of these hobbyist type weekend racers have some serious setups.





Anyway did some searching and found these threads. Wish I would have found them before I attempted to beat the crap out of my car on the track. I admit now that I was a bit foolish to think it would have been ok. Its still a 27yr old car, albeit with only 50k, that has never seen that type of abuse before. You live and you learn. Everything else was fine so I will focus my efforts on engine reliability. Even if I only make 250hp Ill still have a blast.

So I've been thinking about my engine issue every since last year. I am torn between just doing a reseal on my original 165 engine (and hoping thats all that is wrong) or doing a st215 swap. I do not know much about the st215 engine in regards to "racing" (track days) durability. Does it suffer from the same oil baffling issues as the 165/185 motors? I dont know much about what has been improved upon on those motors specifically in regards to the oil system/pan.

If my original engine isn't hurt then I would at the very least buy the moroso oil pan and 1.3 bar rad cap. Maybe even evans coolant once I refresh the coolant system.

Good info:
http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=250505#250505
http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36270&start=15
 

UtahSleeper

Active member
I would say if the motor is not toast, reseal and do all the cheap shit. Get the most you can out of that block.

The st215 is a nice, modern engine. Coil on plug and a better ECU should make it a worth update....
 

88st165

New member
UtahSleeper":261q2d0q said:
I would say if the motor is not toast, reseal and do all the cheap shit. Get the most you can out of that block.

The st215 is a nice, modern engine. Coil on plug and a better ECU should make it a worth update....

A reseal is what I would prefer as well since it is potentially the cheapest and easiest option. I do really want to go with the 215 engine from all the good things that people who have done the swap (mr2 and alltrac) have said. My main fears for going straight for the 215 swap was that I will end up with the same oil issues on the track as the 165 engine. I personally don't know of anyone who has done the 215 swap and goes to the track.
 

GT4times2

Moderator
Both valid points. The ST215 is a very nice set up. Coil on plug, side feed intake manifold, less wiring, strong block, fast spooling turbo, decent after market and the list goes on.

However, I see where going for a simple reseal/rebuild would be a quicker way to get back on the road/track. Look into the oil pan upgrade, larger coolers, radiator, water/methanol injection kit, etc to make it more reliable on the track.
 

88st165

New member
Ultimately that is what I am hoping for. I have AAA plus so I got towed 98 miles from the track to back to the city of Chicago where I had my apartment at the time. From there I drove the car, leak and all, 15 miles off boost to where it is stored (was a very slow drive). Had to stop every mile maybe to fill up on oil most of which was at some pretty sketchy gas stations in Chicago . It drove normal aside from the leaking but it was smoking a bit (nothing crazy) which made me think there could be some potential for more labor intensive repairs. I'll have to do a comp and leak down test when I get a chance, new borns take up ALL of your time haha.
 

88st165

New member
Oh yea forgot to mention I did an ice racing event in WI with my pristine 56k mi rust free chassis last year :doh: . Not really sure what motivated me to do that but since my white 165 was not currently running so I took the red one. Don't think I'll be doing that again with the red car. Hit an ice berm a bit and bend in the pass fender at the bottom, broke the side marker trim piece, and damaged the paint on my front bumper. Wasn't really that bad and I got over it fairly quickly. I'm blaming the fact that I had a broken hand during the event which slowed down my steering inputs lol :p . Honestly I don't mind minor damage as long as it was during a driving event and not just tooling around. Its battle damage so I'm ok with that. Next time though I'll take the white car and stud my tires. Regular snow tires just didn't cut it.



IMG_0919.jpg


IMG_0921.jpg


IMG_0929.jpg
 
Top