Flew to Seattle this weekend to buy Petros' 1986 project that he had rescued last spring or thereabouts. We had been emailing about it for the last couple of months and nothing was coming up locally that I had as much confidence in as getting one from someone who knows these things so well.
It was originally going to be a real quick trip, fly to Seattle Friday night, stay with my brother, meet Petros before noon on Saturday to pick up the car and head back home with my original intent to be skiing today. But as often happens things don't go exactly as planned and between a stop at the Pick 'N Pull, changing a belt, changing the tires and installing an aftermarket stereo plus enjoying learning a bunch about these cars it was pushing six before I knew it.
Not wanting to drive a unfamiliar car over the pass and across the state at night for my first trip with it I called my brother and arranged to spend a second night in Seattle, then called SWMBO and daughter and told them of the change in plans, the second call was far worse than the first but they understood.
Got on the road around 8:30 this morning and had a great drive back, a little slush going over Snoqualmie but from about Cle Elum on blue skies. One stop on the way in Ellensburg for gas and some food and I was back on the road. Arrived home shortly after 1. The Tercel performed flawlessly the whole way and got right around 30 mpg.
Now hoping that the sun will stick around for some spring skiing this upcoming week.
Petros took a picture of me with the car shortly before I left so he will probably post it up here soon.
Just got back...1986 from Petros
-
Petros
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 11934
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
Re: Just got back...1986 from Petros
I bought the car that Cayuse just bought last May, intending to do some quick repairs and use it as my daily driver as I did my engine swap in my yellow '84. And than sell it when I was done. Turns out it was more complicated than that (as usual when it comes to old cars). It was advertised on CL, but I do not remember in what category, it was one of those strangely worded ads with a lot of frustration built into it, and no price. I emailed the seller and started a dialog with him. It was a young collage age kid who owned it, he worked at Steven's pass ski area, but the rear differential was badly damaged somehow. He said it also needed a rebuilt carb and the brakes to be bled (sine he and a friend already "did the brakes"). It was advertised as an '87, which would have had the composite headlights that I like.
I started by offering to help him fix it so he could keep the car. I had a "spare" diff in the garage I was willing to sell him. but I think it was too much for him to consider replacing the diff. After a month of emails he offered to sell me the car for what a wrecking yard offered him. He said the carb needed to be rebuilt and the diff fixed, brakes bled, and other than that was in good mechanical condition. I had not even seen the car, but the price was right even for a parts car, so I agree sight unseen. So he had it towed to my house (he had Triple A) and I bought it. Turns out of course it needed more than that, and it was an '86, not an '87, the interior was trashed and smelled really bad (due to the mold, and the all the moldy dog food I found under the seats). At least there was no significant rust, and only a few minor dents, even if the paint was mostly gone. The paint was all peeling (typical) off the roof and hood.
This is the list of used parts from the wrecking yard or my own used parts supply, that I put into it: Used carb (that I took apart and clean up), battery, right front wheel bearing was very bad so I replaced the whole knuckle assembly (it was cheaper to buy the whole knuckle assembly from the wrecking yard), rear wheel bearing right side, rear diff (which I replaced twice), all of the interior carpets, and front and rear seats (I found some good seats in the right color at the local yard, great deal-had to sterilize the floor down to bare metal before installing the new interior), the rear brakes I had to rebuild, replaced the rear drums, the left front caliper was frozen and the right front brake rotor was badly warped (both of which I discovered and replaced after I got it on the road), rear shocks I replaced (shot, as are the front struts), rear muffler was missing and exhaust pipe was pinched almost closed, I replaced right window regulator, and the plastic liners behind the door panels (these are important for stopping cold drafts through the door). I lubricated all the locks and window tracks, tracked down and fixed 9 engine vacuum leaks, set the timing, replace the fan belt and a few other minor items. I also had to reinstall the whole radio console, lower dash panels, kick panels and the glove box, for some reason the previous owner had them all removed. Looks like he was trying to install a cheap radio, I got another factory am/fm cassette player to install from the yard, but the buyer brought his own modern stereo with a USB port (looks way too high tech for this old car!), but we got it in and working in short order on Saturday.
In addition to that, the new parts I installed are as follows: master cylinder and brake fluid (to complete the brake job I had to redo-I reused the new pads and shoes, and the new rear cylinders), re manufactured left and right cv axles, oil and air filter, new motor oil, trans gear oil (only 2 quarts drained out), and new diff oil with the replacement rear diff. new right steering boot.
With new front struts and a replacement wind shield, the car will be mechanically perfect as far as I could get it.
Last summer I discovered after I got it running and drivable that the reason the rear diff was destroyed was someone had replaced the trans and apparently did not know there were different diff ratios. So I after I had installed a new 4.1:1 diff (which is what came out), it has a 3.73:1 front diff. Since it is easier to swap out the rear diff than change the trans out, I removed the 4.1:1 diff I just installed and put in a 3:73 rear diff, and replaced the gear oil again. Finally it shifted in and out of 4wd without issue, and it did not lock up the drive train. The people that changed the trans also had managed to break off the 4wd and reveres light connectors, so we picked up some more at the wrecking yard when I picked up Cayuse from the bus stop.
At the last minute after I got the car ready for Cayuse I discovered one the last problem, the intermittent position on the wipers did not work. The mid and high speed position worked, but not the intermittent. I had a spare wiper motor, and according the wire diagram the intermittent relay is within the motor assembly, so I went to swap it out but it would not fit! From '84 to '86 they switched connectors and motor wiring, the '86 only had a 4 wire connector and the '84 had a 5 wire connector. So we also grabbed another wiper motor at the yard out of an '86 on Saturday moring. It turns out however it was the multi-switch at the steering column, because the replacement motor acted exactly the same. At least the contact points in the switch can be cleaned, but we did not have enough time to do it before he had to leave to head back to Spokane. But at least the wipers worked in mid and high range for the trip back. I also learned that the rear wiper did not work, likely it was the wiring since it appears the rear hatch was replaced.
Cayuse also decided to buy my MR2 triangle wheels from me, so he can use the steel wheels for winter tires. It really improved the looks of the car, I installed them the last thing before he hit the road back to Spokane.
So satisfied, Cayuse was on his way. With another Tercel I rescued from going to the wrecking yard. Hopefully he will get the windshield replaced, and get some gas filled struts for the front. And considering how much the price has gone up on these cars since we first started discussing price, he got quite a good deal (I will let Cayuse tell you how much he paid if he wants). The engine runs strong and has good compression, no apparent leaks. It appears to be a replacement engine since it has the earlier style valve cover. the odometer shows about 206k miles, but the engine must have much less than that. So hopefully it should give him many years of good reliable driving.
Here are the pictures:
The car after first roll-out from my garage (I repainted the steel wheels to look nice from the ugly flat black).
view from the rear
Picture with the MR2 wheels installed
There he is, proud new owner and list member Cayuse with his Tercel4wd.
and he is off, on his way back to Spokane. My wife is sure happy to finally see this project car out of our yard!
I started by offering to help him fix it so he could keep the car. I had a "spare" diff in the garage I was willing to sell him. but I think it was too much for him to consider replacing the diff. After a month of emails he offered to sell me the car for what a wrecking yard offered him. He said the carb needed to be rebuilt and the diff fixed, brakes bled, and other than that was in good mechanical condition. I had not even seen the car, but the price was right even for a parts car, so I agree sight unseen. So he had it towed to my house (he had Triple A) and I bought it. Turns out of course it needed more than that, and it was an '86, not an '87, the interior was trashed and smelled really bad (due to the mold, and the all the moldy dog food I found under the seats). At least there was no significant rust, and only a few minor dents, even if the paint was mostly gone. The paint was all peeling (typical) off the roof and hood.
This is the list of used parts from the wrecking yard or my own used parts supply, that I put into it: Used carb (that I took apart and clean up), battery, right front wheel bearing was very bad so I replaced the whole knuckle assembly (it was cheaper to buy the whole knuckle assembly from the wrecking yard), rear wheel bearing right side, rear diff (which I replaced twice), all of the interior carpets, and front and rear seats (I found some good seats in the right color at the local yard, great deal-had to sterilize the floor down to bare metal before installing the new interior), the rear brakes I had to rebuild, replaced the rear drums, the left front caliper was frozen and the right front brake rotor was badly warped (both of which I discovered and replaced after I got it on the road), rear shocks I replaced (shot, as are the front struts), rear muffler was missing and exhaust pipe was pinched almost closed, I replaced right window regulator, and the plastic liners behind the door panels (these are important for stopping cold drafts through the door). I lubricated all the locks and window tracks, tracked down and fixed 9 engine vacuum leaks, set the timing, replace the fan belt and a few other minor items. I also had to reinstall the whole radio console, lower dash panels, kick panels and the glove box, for some reason the previous owner had them all removed. Looks like he was trying to install a cheap radio, I got another factory am/fm cassette player to install from the yard, but the buyer brought his own modern stereo with a USB port (looks way too high tech for this old car!), but we got it in and working in short order on Saturday.
In addition to that, the new parts I installed are as follows: master cylinder and brake fluid (to complete the brake job I had to redo-I reused the new pads and shoes, and the new rear cylinders), re manufactured left and right cv axles, oil and air filter, new motor oil, trans gear oil (only 2 quarts drained out), and new diff oil with the replacement rear diff. new right steering boot.
With new front struts and a replacement wind shield, the car will be mechanically perfect as far as I could get it.
Last summer I discovered after I got it running and drivable that the reason the rear diff was destroyed was someone had replaced the trans and apparently did not know there were different diff ratios. So I after I had installed a new 4.1:1 diff (which is what came out), it has a 3.73:1 front diff. Since it is easier to swap out the rear diff than change the trans out, I removed the 4.1:1 diff I just installed and put in a 3:73 rear diff, and replaced the gear oil again. Finally it shifted in and out of 4wd without issue, and it did not lock up the drive train. The people that changed the trans also had managed to break off the 4wd and reveres light connectors, so we picked up some more at the wrecking yard when I picked up Cayuse from the bus stop.
At the last minute after I got the car ready for Cayuse I discovered one the last problem, the intermittent position on the wipers did not work. The mid and high speed position worked, but not the intermittent. I had a spare wiper motor, and according the wire diagram the intermittent relay is within the motor assembly, so I went to swap it out but it would not fit! From '84 to '86 they switched connectors and motor wiring, the '86 only had a 4 wire connector and the '84 had a 5 wire connector. So we also grabbed another wiper motor at the yard out of an '86 on Saturday moring. It turns out however it was the multi-switch at the steering column, because the replacement motor acted exactly the same. At least the contact points in the switch can be cleaned, but we did not have enough time to do it before he had to leave to head back to Spokane. But at least the wipers worked in mid and high range for the trip back. I also learned that the rear wiper did not work, likely it was the wiring since it appears the rear hatch was replaced.
Cayuse also decided to buy my MR2 triangle wheels from me, so he can use the steel wheels for winter tires. It really improved the looks of the car, I installed them the last thing before he hit the road back to Spokane.
So satisfied, Cayuse was on his way. With another Tercel I rescued from going to the wrecking yard. Hopefully he will get the windshield replaced, and get some gas filled struts for the front. And considering how much the price has gone up on these cars since we first started discussing price, he got quite a good deal (I will let Cayuse tell you how much he paid if he wants). The engine runs strong and has good compression, no apparent leaks. It appears to be a replacement engine since it has the earlier style valve cover. the odometer shows about 206k miles, but the engine must have much less than that. So hopefully it should give him many years of good reliable driving.
Here are the pictures:
The car after first roll-out from my garage (I repainted the steel wheels to look nice from the ugly flat black).
view from the rear
Picture with the MR2 wheels installed
There he is, proud new owner and list member Cayuse with his Tercel4wd.
and he is off, on his way back to Spokane. My wife is sure happy to finally see this project car out of our yard!
'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)
'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)
Re: Just got back...1986 from Petros
Windshield got replaced today. Roof racks and cargo box are on it. The rest of the week it will be headed up to the ski area to squeeze in those last few days before they quit spinning the lifts.
Next items that will be upgraded/fixed will be the struts, and the rear window wiper (the washer works), an upgrade to the headlight harness with relays and some e-code headlights from either Cibie or Hella and probably some fog lights as well. Also a thermostat and lower radiator hose before next winter.
The intent of this car is that it will be used mostly for skiing and some summer camping so the ability to light up the road in the morning and at night in the dead of winter is important.
It was great to spend the day with Petros, felt bad that I was feeling somewhat rushed to get on the road as I was enjoying learning about these great little cars.
Next items that will be upgraded/fixed will be the struts, and the rear window wiper (the washer works), an upgrade to the headlight harness with relays and some e-code headlights from either Cibie or Hella and probably some fog lights as well. Also a thermostat and lower radiator hose before next winter.
The intent of this car is that it will be used mostly for skiing and some summer camping so the ability to light up the road in the morning and at night in the dead of winter is important.
It was great to spend the day with Petros, felt bad that I was feeling somewhat rushed to get on the road as I was enjoying learning about these great little cars.