PLEASE HELP!

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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TempleRD
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 4:15 pm
My tercel:: 83 SR5 4x4

PLEASE HELP!

Post by TempleRD »

Hello community. I really need some guidance. I have an 83 sr5 manual tercel with a lot of rust, but good engine. Local shops (Maine) are quoting me ridiculous prices (probably because I'm female) and I don't know if it's worth it for me to keep it running. I don't know if things will start breaking soon and I don't have the skills to fix it myself.. or much time to learn. What should I do? Should I find someone to help me do the work for cheaper? Sell it for parts? .. which is also tricky because I'd have to learn how to disassemble it... (is it really hard? ) Sell the whole car as is to someone who can fix it? I keep going back and forth and I really need to do something with it asap and I really don't want to give it to a junk yard...

Thanks for reading.
timothygodden
Top Notch Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:45 am
My tercel:: 84 tercel 4wd sr5 lifted, modified head, delta cam, 2" exhaust
Location: seattle wa

Re: PLEASE HELP!

Post by timothygodden »

Are the ridiculous quotes just for dealing with the rust?
Are there other issues?
Taking it apart for parts is easy enough if you don't have to put it back together :D
My first instinct is to save it I hate seeing tercels in the graveyard.
But pictures of the rust damage would help.
Natejames1984
Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:05 pm
My tercel:: 1984 4wd wagon with a Webber carb

Re: PLEASE HELP!

Post by Natejames1984 »

If you're looking to sell it id like to take a look
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Gottolovem
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 1637
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:28 pm
My tercel:: 1985 SR5 with snow plow,1987 auto 1984 parts car,1987 FX-16 GTS
Location: Reno

Re: PLEASE HELP!

Post by Gottolovem »

timothygodden wrote:Are the ridiculous quotes just for dealing with the rust?
Are there other issues?
Taking it apart for parts is easy enough if you don't have to put it back together :D
My first instinct is to save it I hate seeing tercels in the graveyard.
But pictures of the rust damage would help.
What he said

We need to know more and picks speak volumes :oldgeek:
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splatterdog
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 1623
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: PLEASE HELP!

Post by splatterdog »

Sorry if I find some humor here. It likely has less to due with gender than being a 33 year old S***box.

Not sure what chloride death your D.O.T. is dropping, but around here 10-15 years can frequently be all done now. Currently working on a 10 year old cavalier with low miles. Needs all brake lines, fuel lines very soon and a front subframe. Also has weird intermittent comm codes in all modules, I'm hoping is only from the failed large body ground caused by 1/3 of the battery tray being gone.

This is also why I don't drive my wagons when they shine the most. Even thinking of putting T4's behind me unless I can "get out of town" and cut down on my salt bathing.

If it's structural repair, buying a welder and learning to use it will be the only cost effective way to deal with it. Best thing would be to find a less rusty car that needs your engine.
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: PLEASE HELP!

Post by Petros »

Welcome to the forum,

sorry about your troubles, but it is always difficult to keep any 30+ year old car on the road no matter how reliable. Even where I live we usually do not have rust issues, but many expensive parts just wear out, one after another. And a lot of less common problems develop as well, locks wear out, switches and blower fans fail, door hinges wear out, and so fourth.

I usually do not advocate owning an old car if you can not do your own maintenance, even doing light routine maintences, like oil and spark plug changes, replacing lights, etc, will save you a lot of money. Even more if you can do heavy maintenace like engine rebuilds or replacing clutches, bearings and brakes.

Repair shops, even if honest (which is not that common unforutuantly) have lots of overhead, regulations and taxes they have to cover to spend several hours doing easy routine maintaince on your car. If you can not do it yourself, or have a friend or husband or someone willing to do it for you, than it might be best to sell it.

You do not have to take the car apart yourself, just list in the add that the buyer needs to pull the parts themselves. But it is really far better to just sell the whole car to someone that can either fix it, or put it to good use. The extent of the repairs to the body would determine that, if not too bad and easy to fix, than it might be worth fixing to a new owner.

The problem with parting the car out, even if you have the buyers take it apart, is it will take you many months to sell a small number of parts. And than you have the rusty hulk with the best parts removed to have towed to a recycler. It is a lot of trouble, so just sell it as a fixer/parts car.

good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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