abeans st185 - Kill 1 Save Another

abeans

Member
Hello all, i've jumped into a Toyota. I originate from Ford/Mazda land.... Particularly had a soft spot for oddball cars and the alltrac was one of them. A local one came up for sale, i had to see it. I literally have never seen a st185 in person before looking at this car.

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I bought it. It had rust like I've never seen before... Apologies to the previous owners , but this could not be saved. at 239k miles.. as much as i wanted too, this was a pig with lipstick. The underside was completely rotted There was fiberglass holding the floor pans together, on the fuel lines which leaked.. And the rust.
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I thought maybe it was just isolated to the rear subframe, but when i went to swap it...

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Yes, that is the bolt still attached to the subframe, and the frame.

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abeans

Member
So yes, it turned into a parts car. Me and my buddy plasma cut the front end off so we wouldn't have to drop the engine trans assembly. I saved EVERYTHING from it. *worth saving

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So after working on this car, let me begin my rant. WHAT IN SATANS HELL IS THIS DASHBOARD MOUNTING?! It has to be the most difficult dashboard in any car of this age. It took me a couple days to remove. :bangshead: (wiring behind it isn't much better. :twisted: )

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After that nonsense was out. I was going to pull the pump out and realized some nice Japanese engineer made a service hole for the fuel level but not the fuel pump.

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Gee, thanks. I ended up leaving it with the tank as it was a crusty pile of trash.
 

abeans

Member
So i send it to the Toyota heavens. RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b_uZ2qzybI


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Now to the (hopefully) good part. Picked up another car from the Forums. It's mostly rust free. But molested... Alot of questions about this one i hope some can answer.

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It has low miles 70k~ It has some T3/T4 turbo kit with a vband downpipe. AEM ECU. Completely hacked hacked apart wiring harness. Interior is gutted... HVAC is in the boot. Doesn't run. Clutch pedal is stuck up, i believe the clutch or throw out bearing must have had a mechanical failure, thats where i'll dig in first

I'm hoping this thread can document the "build" of the car, and hopefully get some help along the way. I'll post more photos as it moves along.
 

underscore

Well-known member
That rust is on a whole other level. I'm amazed something could be that rotten underneath but still look good up top.
 

abeans

Member
oh hey there is people active on the boards!

It’s honestly worse than pictures do justice, took a bunch. a lot of the underside was patched with expanding foam. It was so soft undeside i was scared to be under it with 4 jack stands. Best guess it may have been parked over tall grass at some point of its life.

I’ll show more of the maroon color car. (Not sure the oem color name)
 
Good luck with the restoration. Hopefully there was a lot of salvageable stuff from your rusted-out parts car that can reverse some of the mods your new one has. We in this forum can help. I've gone through one restoration in 100% stock form already, and there are a lot more in this forum that have done many more than I have who have a lot of knowledge and are fairly active in this forum to help you out.
 

abeans

Member
I guess i'll start with my first question.

What am i doing wrong trying to seperate the gearbox from the engine? This is as far as i can get it. I don't need to remove the tcase from the trans before pulling the two apart? (this is the parts setup btw, im struggling out of the car.)

I found all the bolts holding the two together, and the transfer case brackets on the back side.


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mx6er2587

New member
Transfer case don't need to be removed but it will interfere on the on the block if you try to pull it straight out. needs a bit of a twist as it goes.
 

abeans

Member
Ah! Thanks.. so i need to clock it. That makes sense.

It doesn't seem like i got 2-3" maybe 1" tops. Think thats still it? Holy smokes is that trans heavy.
 
The key is to clear the rib on the block on the exhaust side of the engine from the transfer case - if you can get it far enough out and with the "clocking" move clear that rib, you'll be fine. You should be able to see that rib with the amount of separation you got, based upon the pic you previously shared.
 

underscore

Well-known member
Since it's out of the car you probably got this, but make sure all the bolts are out for the filler plate things that goes between the engine and trans and fills in the gaps. I missed on on my GTS and it caused a lot of head scratching.
 

FC Zach

Active member
abeans":3kwb57nj said:
So after working on this car, let me begin my rant. WHAT IN SATANS HELL IS THIS DASHBOARD MOUNTING?! It has to be the most difficult dashboard in any car of this age. It took me a couple days to remove. :bangshead: (wiring behind it isn't much better. :twisted: )
Ha Ha, been there! I had to repair my heater core when I first got my car and I remember it taking me a while to remove everything to get to it.

abeans":3kwb57nj said:
I was going to pull the pump out and realized some nice Japanese engineer made a service hole for the fuel level but not the fuel pump.
Yep, definitely a PITA! !

I also had to fight with removing my trans. . I fought with it for hours and when I least expected it (and really not even trying) it separated like some secret combination had been entered. When the time came to reassemble, I avoided all the nonsense and did the missile-silo-method. . .

Example:
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from this thread: https://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=23761
 

abeans

Member
Me too. I don't like killing rare cars, trust me. But this other car wouldn't be saved otherwise.

So here is some more pics of the car, and the mess inside. Apologies for the poor pics, it makes the car look much worse (although there is plenty of dated, poor modifications).

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Engine bay
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Anyone recognize this turbo "kit"

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And the mess inside. This is the real fun.

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abeans

Member
Alot of original boxes. - BNIB headgasket. New Greddy turbo timer. AEM box is still there, misc bolts and hoses. Meth injection pump from a brand I've never heard of.
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Spare lamps

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Spare crank... ? :shrug:

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Intake plumbing and such

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The poor wiring harness, some of it is just straight lopped off from under the dash.. No idea why. :doh: I'm sure glad i saved ALL the harnesses from the other car.

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Battery relocation with some other nonsense going on back here?

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