Tercel4WD.com

i am on the verge of replicating the copier beatdown scene from the movie office space with my feedback carb. :x

my car: 1988 toyota tercel (automatic) w/ 3E engine.

my question: has anybody ever heard of/performed a weber conversion on this particular year/model?

all of the literature I can ...

well, after driving you guys crazy with questions for a week, i think i finally know my problem...

background: 1988 tercel, the timing is perfect, the gas is fine, the spark is good. compression leaves something to be desired, but it is also okay.

i noticed that i can start the car, but i cannot ...

it's official: i am an idiot.

i was looking at the #4 cylinder thinking it was the #1 (hence the rotor appearing 180 degrees out). ignore my last 4 posts.

my timing is actually perfect, but the car still wont start.... so now i guess it comes down to either something with the carb or a vaccum ...

is there any way to verify that the timing belt has not slipped teeth other than checking the timing mark on the crankshaft timing gear?

i have gotten everything removed in order to get the lower timing belt cover off, but cannot for the life of me get the crankshaft pulley off. is there some way ...

in an attempt to verify the timing i have found the following things:

while turning over the engine by hand via the socket on the pulley method, i can hear an audible hiss of air as i turn the engine over. like pressure being released (kind of like unplugging an air tool but quieter and less ...

so... its running.

i just advanced the timing to make it run, but now i am having trouble setting the timing.

my timing light is one of the ones that clips over the coil wire, but this car has no coil wire, so i just clipped it on the #1 wire.

the timing mark is reading ridiculously advanced ...

w/ the new cap/rotor/wires installed:

the spark is still not blue but it IS brighter, and it almost started, (it turned over on its own for a couple of seconds, then died). i have to turn it over w/ the starter for about 10 seconds before it will start to run on its own, though.

i thought it ...

coil tests good, so do the wires, but the cap shows 35,000 ohms of resistance between the coil and the top of the rotor... i think i found the problem.

i'll report back after i get a new cap.

timing is OK... but:

the spark is actually a dull yellow across all four cylinders, not bright blue, as i previously reported...

what does this suggest?

cool, i wont bug you guys again until i have exhausted every possibility brought up in this post so far. i really appreciate all of the help.

hopefully my next post will be to tell you all i have got her started.

there was one other thing that i noticed that i considered odd when i was checking to verify fuel delivery...

when looking down the mouth of the carb, the plate that covers the mouth of the carb, and opens when you pull the throttle cable, only opens about a quarter of an inch with the throttle ...

i have seafoam, but i am reluctant to use it until i actually get the engine started.

the last thing i need is another variable right now, and seafoam is intended to be used at full operating temperature...

i am beginning to think it is the compression again, because i have eliminated the other ...

update...

i found out that the (manual) fuel pump was bad, so i removed it, cleaned it out and put it back in and the flow seems fine. i replaced the plugs, primed the carb with starter fluid, and tried to start the car with the pedal to the floor. it acted like it wanted to turn over but it wouldn ...

all of the readings were with oil added.

i took a reading of the #4 cylinder (the one that reads good 185 pressure) before adding the oil and the pressure was lower. this may indicate worn rings, but #4 is not even the cylinder with low compression.

i will take a look at the valve clearances ...

really? according to the haynes manual, 185 PSI is normal, and 154 PSI is the minimum for each cylinder. I assumed that minimum meant the minimum for the car to still run...

it also says that the maximum deviation between cylinders is 14 PSI, and I am WAY higher than that!

i checked for spark, and ...