Spud is going on another adventure!

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
Post Reply
User avatar
MrWrench
Top Notch Member
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:10 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5. aka Spud
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Spud is going on another adventure!

Post by MrWrench »

For those of you who are unaware.
I took my Tercel4wd on a long road trip with an organization called Lemons Rally. "Spud" (as the previous owners named it) went on a 3,000+ mile road trip from Bangor Michigan to Bangor Maine and back over the course of 6 days. It was a long and brutal trip for this old car with temps near the 90's and the long and steep inclines and declines of Mount Washington but this car kept on ticking and was unstoppable!
Now this coming year I am super excited to announce that Spud going out to Colorado for another Lemons Rally! It will be likely well over a 3,000 mile trip again. But I won't know until I hit the driveway again!

I am super excited to road trip again with this car. It's an absolute blast!

Have you guys ever taken your Tercels on big road trips before?


Feel free to follow and catch up with the trip from July earlier this year!
@Lemonsblockheads

Copy-pasted from my Instagram.

"Excited to announce that Spud is signed up for a 2020 Lemons Rally called The Rocky Mountain Breakdown!
It's a shorter lemons rally than the previous one we went on. This trip is going from Denver, CO to Craig, CO to Basalt, CO and ending in Colorado Springs, CO
Roughly is 2,978 from driveway to driveway if following only the highway. But if there's anything I learned from last years Lemons Rally is that it's definitely going to be a lot more miles than that.

I have a lot of work to do to spud before the trip starts. I am going to replace all the noisy and blown out suspension bushings, run a wide band oxygen sensor to help adjust the carb at the various elevations, swap the brakes out with MR2 brakes (booster, master cylinder, calipers and vented rotors) reflush the trans gear oil and probably a few other things I can't remember off hand.

I can't wait to visit Colorado for my first time and enjoy some mountain views like we saw on the last Lemons Rally during the Mount Washington trip!
Does anybody have any recommendations for cool things to see and do in Colorado? "
Image
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1984 SR5. Lifted offroader with a snorkel. Aka "Thunderbucket"
1985 SR5. Daily driver. Aka "Spud"
1986 SR5. Dakar Rally clone build.
User avatar
NWMO
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 1615
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 1:08 pm

Re: Spud is going on another adventure!

Post by NWMO »

Sounds great,

The best I’ve done is an 800 mile weekend. But I do drive her daily 100 miles or so.

Chris
Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart"

In remembrance of my friend ARCHINSTL:

T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
User avatar
MrWrench
Top Notch Member
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:10 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5. aka Spud
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Spud is going on another adventure!

Post by MrWrench »

I'll definitely update this thread when the trip happens with a few pictures!
That's definitely a lot of daily driving though! How many miles does your Tercel have?
I have heard about a member having one with over 600,000 miles?
1984 SR5. Lifted offroader with a snorkel. Aka "Thunderbucket"
1985 SR5. Daily driver. Aka "Spud"
1986 SR5. Dakar Rally clone build.
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Spud is going on another adventure!

Post by Petros »

I have driven various Tercel4wd on trips over 3000 miles. Many I bought sight unseen, and than took my chances. I would find them in other states, usually not running. I would arrange to bring my tools and work it over, get it running and drive it back home. where I would complete the mechanical work over, clean up and than put them on craig's list to sell for a great price. I always managed to get them home, but twice I had to leave them and come back with parts (once was because I hit a deer half way home). though I have had my share of major repairs to do along the way sometimes. you just have to take it as an adventure where you do not know what will happen next. and plan extra travels days just in case. you can avoid the worst of it by giving it a good check out and repair before you hit the road.

Some of the road trips stories are in the archives of this forum.
'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)
User avatar
MrWrench
Top Notch Member
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:10 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5. aka Spud
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: Spud is going on another adventure!

Post by MrWrench »

That's awesome!
Thanks to your help, that is what I did to get spud home! It was an amazing experience and I can't wait to have more road trip stories with this car. I'm going to plan on doing a little body work on it this spring to keep it from rotting away.
1984 SR5. Lifted offroader with a snorkel. Aka "Thunderbucket"
1985 SR5. Daily driver. Aka "Spud"
1986 SR5. Dakar Rally clone build.
Post Reply