The Project Pad

On October 1st, 2013 I was up at a buddies shop (Salisbury Motorcar) and noticed this:


Hmm, this is not Art's standard car. The previous owner wasnt driving it much since it had a boost problem. I asked about it, he took it on trade and the original owner recently had the engine and trans rebuilt by toyota to the sum of $12,000. I told Art I was interested if he sells it and put me first in line.

A year goes by (I do talk to him often) and during a phone call in early October 2014 he tells me he is going to let it go. He checked for boost leaks and a few other things and will not be able to find time to fix the issue. We agree on price and I pick her up on October 3rd, 2014:


Parked it in the garage for the winter (we JUST closed on another house, renovations we under way. We did not even move in until 10/30/2014):

Came up with a new way to keep track of plans and progess of my topics. So things do not get buried I will edit this post with all of the info and will be to easy to find.

To do:

• Reinstall rear factory suspension so I can actually roll the fenders.
• Install as many as the have items as possible, heh.

Need/Want:

• 550 injectors
• Fuel Pump
• flex section add in

Ordered:

• nothing currently

Have:

• Apexi Intake
• HKS VPC (with 550 injector chip).
• HKS EVC4
• HKS TT & celica harness
• A new clip for the cupholder.
• Cap & rotor
• Plugs & wires
• Black caliper epoxy
• Front pads and rotors
• Rear pads and rotors
• Front and rear slide pins and seals
• HKS badges
• alpine SEC-8063 alarm (same as on my mk3)
• 52mm gauge pod (for mounting to top of steering wheel column cover).

Fixed/Bought/Mods:

• 10/01/2013 - First saw it when traded in and expressed interest to the owner.
• 10/03/2014 - Car was bought and brought home.
• 10/11/2014 - Installed JDM Blinkers (bought on 10/5/14).
• Winter - Picked up exhaust, downpipe, midpipe, wheels, coilovers, clear blinkers, JDM tails, etc.
• 07/27/2015 - Tires installed on the wheels
• 09/07/2015 - Installed aussie downpipe (fixed the boost issue!).
• 09/12/2015 - Installed clear blinkers
• 09/13/2015 - Replaced fog light bulbs (both were just blown).
• 09/18/2015 - Exhaust and midpipe installed.
• 09/20/2015 - Installed the JDM tails and the rear wiper delete.
• 09/21/2015 - Installed the front coilovers.
• 09/22/2015 - Installed the rear coilovers (had to destroy a rear sway bar link).
• 09/25/2015 - Test fit wheels to determine rear spacers needed.
• 09/28/2015 - Car was aligned
• 09/30/2015 - Bought a used genuine HKS BOV locally!
• 10/02/2015 - BOV Mounted to the intercooler.
• 10/03/2015 - Installed the rear spacers (what a bitch pulling in the longer studs, wow).
• 10/04/2015 - Wheels finally installed for use.
• 10/11/2015 - Made a custom harness to use the factory system 10 stereo with an alpine
• 06/12/2016 - Polished the bumbers, replaced power antenna, installs shifter surround and the new cup holder clip

Yes, I can't wait to see more of this. New wheels??

I plan on updating this as a post, by post method as I did on my private local forum.

On: Feb 26 2015:
Downpipe paid and shipped. 3" Aussie unit. Pretty rare and highly sought after. It was used, but enthusiast owned. He had it re-coated ceramic before selling. This is it:


Brand new HKS Exhaust ordered and shipped:


Tried to order the wheels, but they need to be special ordered and the wheel manufacturer was closed. I will have to talk to them during work hours instead of after work.

Once I get it up and start pulling the exhaust apart, I will get the test pipe made.

Fantastic cars! Very nice!

Love these cars. Looking forward to updates and, of course, vids!

Original Post on 3/6/2015:

Also found another part that are quite hard to come by; the aussie MID pipe. So once everything else comes in, the whole exhaust will be 3".

From doing a lot of reading about the downpipes, they are extremely prone to car clogging with anything over 100k. So with the whole exhaust replaced and upgraded, I do hope to have boost, as well as much more power.

The aussie midpipes came with either no cat, or with a missing section for where one would go. This is the latter. I will need to get a 1-2 foot section of 3" SS to weld in.

Back to the DP. I am always shocked at the effort toyota put into killing power in their turbo cars. Here is an aussie downpipe, vs the stock one (w/ cat built in):

I love when we get random awesome build threads here. These cars, for example, I love but probably wouldn't otherwise really look at build threads so I'm really glad you're posting. I almost bought an ST165 a few times.

3/5/15 the coilovers came in:



3/7/15, the exhaust came in, fully polished stainless unlike the photo they used for the listing:





3/11/15, the wheels showed up.

Early April the JDM tail lights showed up:



Most of the parts for "spring" 2015 have showed up.

Have always lusted over these, love it!

All before the boost issue was fixed on 9/7/15

Well the first cat was sure plugged.



The exhaust is all off (some will be used for my truck project)


We got those studs out the easy way:




My daughter Molly likes turbos


Aussie DP in:


The boost issue is fixed!


Took it for a ride, DP only just to be sure:D

9/18/2015 was a very productive day. She sure sounds amazing now. So great with full 3" from the turbo all the way back.

My buddy adding the pipe where the cat was meant to go:


Finished product:


Also installed the yellow fog bulbs:

Gorgeous car. Nice work Dan!

Love these

Me too, always wanted one when they came out. Cool car!

Thanks guys.

On 9/20/2015:

Took her to cars n coffee this morning then took the long way home.

Took the rear wiper out.


Put a plug in:


Nice and flush replacement:


Then swapped the rear tails
Before:



After:



On 9/22/2015:

Rear struts came apart fine other than the fucking rear sway bar links. Fuck those fucking fuckers.

Cut them off, then had to remove the rear sway bar (not easy) to beat the shit out of the bar, drill, beat more, cut, beat more to remove the left over stud/link.

This stuff:


Came out of here:


On 9/24/2015:
Anywho, the car is lowered and needs an alignment. I will have to raise up the rear (want to before the alignment). Also need to roll the rear fenders. I plan on raising up and rolling the rear tomorrow after work.

Feels much more nimble and is very smooth. Currently pulls to the left tho.





On 9/28/2015:
Anywho. From today.
Had some trouble getting it in the place, heh:




Once the rear spacers and longer wheel studs (H&R DRS) show up on Wednesday, I should be able to get them on so I can put the aftermarket wheels on for good.

On 10/12/2015:

Finished up the stereo for the year. Just getting the factory amp to play nice with an aftermarket deck (alpine) wasnt easy. I did not want to cut the harness and there are NO aftermarket harnesses for the "system 10" system.

So I butchered up the factory radio (that didnt work anyway) and removed the factory plug, to retrofit an alpine harness.



CDA-7998R installed.


Tossed in a toyota pocket

(yes it was dirty and the cup holder does not close all the way...YET).

At the end of last year, before I put her in storage I went out to the back yard for a little shoot and some drone video (video sometime in the spring).


Big: http://gallery.mcboost.com/albums/userpics/10002/IMG_7541_copy-0.jpg


Big: http://gallery.mcboost.com/albums/userpics...G_7539_copy.jpg

Side shot:

Looks amazing. Love your cars

Thanks

A couple weekends ago, wrenched a bit on it.

• The top of the front and back bumpers were quite dull and gray. Polished those and they match the rest of the car now.
• Remove the broken power antenna and replace it with an all black one
• Install the better shifter surround
• Install the new cup holder spring clip

Not much, but until I dig deep, the car does not need much.