Tercel Pr0n! *pics* (Also Wal-Mart wrangling)

[St6fan]

Well,

I refinished the factory steelies yesterday - sand and paint. Quick job in semi-matte. Also managed to get round to most of the detailing. Allowing the dog in the car did NOT help this process. Stupid shedding-in-the-winter dog!

Pretty much everything is back to factory condition now - I also gave the engine bay a good scrub which I forgot to photograph. I'm going to try and win the Tercel category at next year's Puget Sound Toyota Owners' Festival.

I'm going to make a parcel shelf for the rear later today and clean the dog nose off the windows, then install my subs, amp and speakers. I still don't know where to put an aftermarket stereo. I want to keep the original one in its place but secrete a head-unit somewhere inconspicuous. Any advice appreciated.

Pics:

[St6fan]

For some reason, the forum software is chopping off the right portion of each pic. Open in a new tab to see the whole thing, should you care.

[Petros]

Amazing Tercel! you will have the list members from the rust belt drooling over your car. Better keep an eye out for east coasters hanging around Port Townsend. I love Pt. Townsend, I get over there several times a year for the wood boat fest and sea kayaking. I will pay you a visit next time I come to town.

[dcn]

Nice work! If you _really_ wanna do a great job on the dark parts of the seat fabric, give them a wipe with a latex gloved hand. That sounded weird when I read it, but it works wonders.

[ARCHINSTL]

Oh, just - drool...
I see a post by dcn - Danger, Will Robinson...Do not release your actual location...
Tom M.

[St6fan]

Amazing Tercel! you will have the list members from the rust belt drooling over your car. Better keep an eye out for east coasters hanging around Port Townsend. I love Pt. Townsend, I get over there several times a year for the wood boat fest and sea kayaking. I will pay you a visit next time I come to town.

Hey Petros, any time! Bring me a parcel shelf! I think there's four T4WDs in town. I know where three live, simply because of my five-year obsession with this weird little car! Took a run out to Sequim today and opened it up to 70 - Pulls strong and the motor clearly is loving being driven. I increased the revs over the last week slowly (after cleaning the carb and fuel lines) and today took it to 6K a couple of times. The engine's singing and has now got almost factory compression!

Nice work! If you _really_ wanna do a great job on the dark parts of the seat fabric, give them a wipe with a latex gloved hand. That sounded weird when I read it, but it works wonders.

That's a great tip, thanks! I was using a microfiber towel to try and remove the evidence of my goddamned dog!

I just bought some Back to Black this evening and I'm going to give it a good once over tomorrow. I'll also be respraying and resurfacing the wiper arms and, hopefully, the exterior sills which are chipping.

Any idea how to remove the exterior sill trim that runs alongside the bottom of each window?

[ARCHINSTL]

Re trim painting - I masked the trim at the base of the windows, the drip rails, windshield surround, bumpers, and headlight bezels. I also scraped/peeled the "coating" from the drip rails and used - a roller - (on all save the grill and bezels)... It was one of those dense little foam rollers. I used Rust-Oleum Satin black. The paint has been on for four years with NO signs of peeling. I also used 600-grit wet paper as a prep on the bumpers.
There is a thread on this in the Repair Guides section.
Honestly - use one of those foam rollers - much better results than you can imagine, and INFINITELY easier than spraying the window trim stuff. Oh, yes - roll down the windows before doing their trim...
Tom M.

[St6fan]

Re trim painting - I masked the trim at the base of the windows, the drip rails, windshield surround, bumpers, and headlight bezels. I also scraped/peeled the "coating" from the drip rails and used - a roller - (on all save the grill and bezels)... It was one of those dense little foam rollers. I used Rust-Oleum Satin black. The paint has been on for four years with NO signs of peeling. I also used 600-grit wet paper as a prep on the bumpers.
There is a thread on this in the Repair Guides section.
Honestly - use one of those foam rollers - much better results than you can imagine, and INFINITELY easier than spraying the window trim stuff. Oh, yes - roll down the windows befor doing their trim...
Tom M.

Thanks for the advice Tom!

[hberdan]

That car is nearly perfect! Wowza!

[dlb]

MINT.

[Petros]

Those window trim pieces come out by rolling the window all the way down, and than prying them strait up from the inside with a large flat tool like a putty knife. There rear door ones have to be lifted from the front and than carefully slid forward.

But do not do it unless you are replacing them. There is always a risk of damaging them, so I suggest painting them in place like Tom recommends.

[St6fan]

Those window trim pieces come out by rolling the window all the way down, and than prying them strait up from the inside with a large flat tool like a putty knife. There rear door ones have to be lifted from the front and than carefully slid forward.

But do not do it unless you are replacing them. There is always a risk of damaging them, so I suggest painting them in place like Tom recommends.

Well, I want to remove them to give that area a good clean too - there's a little green goop in and around them I want to expunge! So, the fronts go straight up and the rears need to be lifted at the front, then slid forward, and they pop out, right?

[ARCHINSTL]

This is the foam roller I mentioned. The link is to Home Depot, but any hardware store should sell them - or similar. Just make sure you get something labeled "ultra dense" or "ultra fine" - and then check with the paint department guy to see if its the densest. Obviously 4" is the optimal size for all - even the bumpers. I got mine with a kit including the handle thingie.
http://www.homedepot.com/Paint-Brushes- ... ogId=10053
I'd also heed Petros' advice on removing the strips - they are kinda brittle after all of these years. Maybe you could lift them slightly with a putty knife or similar to remove the goo... I considered this when I removed the inside panel for lubing the workings - but decided against it for the brittleness reason.
Tom M.
P.S. You sure did an XLNT job on painting those wheels!

[St6fan]

This is the foam roller I mentioned. The link is to Home Depot, but any hardware store should sell them - or similar. Just make sure you get something labeled "ultra dense" or "ultra fine" - and then check with the paint department guy to see if its the densest. Obviously 4" is the optimal size for all - even the bumpers. I got mine with a kit including the handle thingie.
http://www.homedepot.com/Paint-Brushes- ... ogId=10053
I'd also heed Petros' advice on removing the strips - they are kinda brittle after all of these years. Maybe you could lift them slightly with a putty knife or similar to remove the goo... I considered this when I removed the inside panel for lubing the workings - but decided against it for the brittleness reason.
Tom M.
P.S. You sure did an XLNT job on painting those wheels!

Thanks for the advice! The wheels look GREAT from six feet away. Close-up - not so much...

I'm not going to paint the bumper, buck Back to Black it, But I do have a bunch of metal exterior trim that is chipping and flaking - all around the windows. I plan on:

Chipping off any flaking parts
Sanding it down somewhat
Masking it off
Using a roller as you outline above

This will be good for all of it, right?

I'll post more snaps tomorrow once it's done.

The silver on my 4WD emblem on my grille is also chipping off. I was thinking of repainting that, but colouring the 4 in red. Thoughts? I like a shot of red on the grille - has a certain Euro/Jap hot-hatch cool.

[Mattel]

beautiful looking car man, If you can keep it looking original with aftermarket wheels perhaps I think that would be awesome but mechanically improve it that would be my personal way to go. But your the guy thats going to drive it. Maybe get an old hack the same colour that you can swap the plates over and use when you want to go to an offroading spot?