New ST165 Owner in the US

[Jason88AllTrac]

Hello everyone. I was pointed over here for a little help on my new project. I've been searching for another AWD Turbo car since I sold my 323GTX about five years ago. After a long search for a "hot deal" I recently purchased a dark blue 88 ST165. It's pretty rusty, but according to the dash and title it only has 95K miles on it. Probably typical rust for a Michigan car. It came with almost an entire car in spare parts, but has the engine and trasnmission removed as the previous owner was half way though a clutch replacement. unfortunately, I've never worked on a ST165, and the only other toyota I've owned was an 88 Supra Turbo. This car is a jigsaw puzzle to me right now, and with the FSM in hand along with a little extra help from you guys I hope to figure it out.

I have a lot of experience working on 80's imports, but have tended to specialize in Nissan vehicles. I'm very active in the first generation 300ZX (Z31) community, and currently own 5 of them with various purposes and stages of modification. My 'flagship' Z31, an 84 2+2 turbo conversion, is currently making about 450rwhp on 93 octane and 500-520rwhp on race gas. You can check out my personal website here: www.redz31.com

I'll probably have a lot of stupid questions at first just like any newbie; so bear with me. I'm glad there's a community here to help out with these outstanding cars!

[paul_gt4]

well first of all welcome to the club Jason, i lived over there in the states for a while but it was WAY down south in louisiana, the thing i noticed is you don't seem to see alot of fours over there...... in relation to your car, its going to be hard to find a good 165 these days and especially if you bought it up north, do you guys salt roads in the winter like we do here in ireland and the uk to rid of snow and ice, cause thats a killer..... i think you should get the body work all sorted 1st considering you have the engine and all out and this could make it that little bit easier replacing panels and sorting out all the rust prevention, then get the lump put in or modded before you drop it in and you'l have a spectacular car funds permitting...... jap cars as you know go on forever but the 80's bodywork wasn't the best at fighting the rust, well you are a datsun owner haha so you would know that...... well wishing you all the best and keep us posted of how it all goes

[madgaz]

Glad to see another 165 been saved from doom

There are many 165 enthusiasts on here who are more than willing to dish out advice when needed and I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here

[ChrisW]

Welcome to the club mate. Sounds like after several projects, this one could be another success. Plenty of bods on here to help out in the advice area, but as you probably guessed, hands-on help may be a little tricky, good luck with it and post some pics up

Cheers