Door seals, rear speakers, opinions pls, and other unusual bits!

[SpaceyPuppy]

Hey all!

Well, my '84 DLX lives again! Pending insurance it'll even be out roaming the streets, but I've got big plans for it next year (Year 12 has taken too much of my time this year... ). I've got a few questions but not sure whether to make seperate threads, or just compile them all here.

Therefore, simple. I compiled them all here:

1. Rear speaker mounts seem insanely hard to find for this beast, especially within a non absurd price here in Australia (one seller on eBay has parts listed... Clinometer from an SR5 for over $400AUD - no thanks! - so what would be the best way to approach this. Would it be hard fabricating mounts of some sort, or is there somewhere I could perhaps source such mythical unicorns?
2. Ahh, rubber. Such a great material. Until it's shaped like a door-hole-sized weather seal for an '84 Tercel and can't be bought anywhere. I've noticed a lot of wind noise when the speeds get up a bit higher, and so I'm (possibly naively) assuming it's the seals around the door. I've bought a heap of generic seals but they don't have the little flappy bit that sticks out past the doors for extra rain protection I'm assuming... Would there be any way of maybe going overkill and adding the new seals in addition to the factory ones or would that be futile?
3. Any recommendations on some nice looking tacos? (Ahem... tachos is what I mean, autocorrect has other ideas it seems...) I've been looking for an SR5 instrument cluster but again, futile. Also, how difficult of an install are we looking at?
4. The suspension seems really soft in the back end of the car. I know this is kind of a really tricky question without actually seeing the car but do Tercels seem to have naturally a bit of a springiness to them?
5. I saw a post of someone who replaced the floor of the boot with wooden slats or the like but can't for the life of me find it again. I've been considering outfitting it as a micro-office/area/room though (which is a suitably crazy idea, but I am going to have a lot of free time after November. Perhaps the rear seats could become a rear seat and a desk with foot space perfectly moulded in to the body of the car? (Okay, I better wrap this up for now...)

If you've made it this far, thanks! Please go forth with any and all opinions, and if anyone has any ideas on the seals I'd love to hear them!

Thanks,
Chris, a really-really-passionately-about-the-tercel owner

[Ridlbox]

As far as rear speaker mounts the best thing to do would be to keep checking junkyards or maybe someone on here could mail you a set cheaper than you can find their the seals shouldn't be too hard to find possibly a Toyota factory dealer and the photos regarding the trunk you're looking for should be in the section Labeled gallery and projects

[Jonymoto]

SpaceyPuppy - You are right the stock Tercel suspension is a bit on the soft side. I'm about to change my springs to King Springs front and back. I paid $152 for the rear ones and $160 for the front on ebay (they were on special). If you look on gum tree there's a guy in Qld selling the rear ones for the Tercel for $80 (New Old Stock) and they are King Springs which is a good brand and made in Australia.
Yes, it's getting very hard getting parts for the T4 in Oz, I've had to buy them from the US myself, like engine mounts, EGR valve and second hand parts from another member on this site. Shipping charge from the US is a killer though.

[SpaceyPuppy]

As far as rear speaker mounts the best thing to do would be to keep checking junkyards or maybe someone on here could mail you a set cheaper than you can find their the seals shouldn't be too hard to find possibly a Toyota factory dealer and the photos regarding the trunk you're looking for should be in the section Labeled gallery and projects

Good points, I'll go around to the two dealerships closeish to me and see what I can find!

Thanks for that jonymoto, I'll keep an eye out for them - yeah, the dollar doesn't help but neither does living 4 hours from a capital city, so

[teranfirbt]

If you guys have a version of the Nissan pathfinder, the late 80's version has springs that drop in and raise rear ride height about 50mm, along with making it a bit stiffer. Stock dampers are a little on the short side, although I don't think I've ever topped mine out.

[Petros]

1. Rear speaker mounts seem insanely hard to find for this beast, [/i]
2. Ahh, rubber. Such a great material. Until it's shaped like a door-hole-sized weather seal for an '84 Tercel and can't be bought anywhere.
3. Any recommendations on some nice looking tacos? (Ahem... tachos is what I mean, autocorrect has other ideas it seems...) I've been looking for an SR5 instrument cluster but again, futile. Also, how difficult of an install are we looking at?
4. The suspension seems really soft in the back end of the car. I know this is kind of a really tricky question without actually seeing the car but do Tercels seem to have naturally a bit of a springiness to them?

1. rear speaker mounts, shipping from the USA would likely be costly, but there are plenty here. what color (or is it colour?) do you need? You might also consider making some simple sheet metal mounts, could trim them out with wood, or just matching paint.

2. door seals: I have a few extra sets I got used as spares, though again shipping would be costly from the States. Might try rebuilding the old door seals with after market generic weather stripping and perhaps silicone sealant to build up the correct shape. Otherwise you have wrecking yards there, which means the door seals are the same age, or see if your dealers can do a nation wide inventory search and find a set for you within Aus.

3. wrecking yards are your best bet to find a factory one, usually these are reliable and a used one is a good bet. You may also consider an after market tachometer that would fit within the stock dash some where.

4. stock suspension is fairly soft, after market springs, booster springs (after market) or the rear Pathfinder springs are your best bet. the early 2 door pathfinder is the correct spring, the later 4 doors are heavier and the spring is very stiff.

good luck.

[rer233]

"Easiest" way to install a tach is to install an SR5 cluster- it's strictly plug n play. If I remember correctly, the speedo cable has to be re-routed to the other side of the pedal support- the electrical connectors just plug in. Plus- you get a digital clock as a bonus!

As for the speakers, when I added them to my '87 FWD, I just cut the bottoms out of the little "trays" that are installed where the SR5 speakers would be and installed a pair of 6" round Pioneer speakers I had laying around. Came out pretty decent and I didn't have to butcher the stock side panels (in case I ever decide to install "stock" speakers.) I assume you DO still have the side panels?

Good luck with the door seals- don't think you're going to find any new old stock. Like Petros, I've got used ones, but shipping would be a killer.

As for the rear springs, I've found the stock ones to be adequate but then again, I don't use my Tercs for hauling concrete blocks (got an old Suburban for that.)

Hope this helps.

[SpaceyPuppy]

If you guys have a version of the Nissan pathfinder, the late 80's version has springs that drop in and raise rear ride height about 50mm, along with making it a bit stiffer. Stock dampers are a little on the short side, although I don't think I've ever topped mine out.

Thanks for that, I'll keep an eye out! It's hard living on a small border town (1500 people between two towns on both sides of the Murray River here) where the nearest significant car scrapyard would be about an hour+ away haha!

1. what color (or is it colour?) do you need?
2. door seals
3. wrecking yards are your best bet to find a factory one
4. stock suspension is fairly soft

good luck.

Thanks heaps for the detail Petros!

1. brown is the interior colour of my Terc, amazing to hear they're common over in the States, they seem rare as anything! If you know of any, perhaps we could work with a shipping forwarder if you could/are willing to help me out?
2. I'm going to try out the ones I have here some time next week when I have no last minute assignment tasks to complete, if they don't work out I might PM you about them if that's okay and you'd be willing to help out!
3. I'll have to contact a few or see if I can put out a request through a network
4. Thanks for that, glad to know it's normal.

"Easiest" way to install a tach is to install an SR5 cluster.

[...]cut the bottoms out of the little "trays" that are installed where the SR5 speakers would be [...] I assume you DO still have the side panels?

Good luck with the door seals

Cheers rer233! Very useful. As I said above I'll have to keep an eye out as that seemed very simple to swap but glad that's confirmed my suspicions.
Speakers: I'm not sure I get what you mean by the trays unless you mean the speaker mounts that line up with the window and the backs of the seats (which I don't have). The side trim panels if you're referring to them, I do indeed have them still - I haven't torn the car up that much yet
Door Seals: Yeah, unfortunately I think that just comes with living in Australia, the dollar isn't going to fix itself any time soon. Works out well for you folks though!

Thanks for the help! Now back I go to technically analysing Citizen Kane...
Chris

[Mattel]

Not sure where in Australia you are but..

http://120.150.69.218/fmi/webd?homeurl= ... 20Vehicles

perhaps they will sell you parts and ship them to you though? looks like an SR5

I haven't seen any in wreckers for a couple of years

I can vouch that Victorian parts do not suffer so much from sun damage.