Which way should I swap parts? Help!

[GTSSportCoupe]

As I mentioned earlier, I am buying a second tercel 4wd. The one I'm buying is an 86 SR5 manual transmission with A/C, and power sunroof along with all the other SR5 goodies. It has ~350,000kms on the chassis. It has many new parts as well as a recently rebuilt engine. The head gasket has gone on it however and the rear end howls.

My first (current) tercel 4wd is an 87 base model with manual transmission. It has ~250,000kms on it. It has a really nice black/grey cloth interior that I would like to keep. It also has lots of new parts on it.

The reason I've bought the second tercel is it has lots of new parts that I need as well as the A/C, sunroof and other miscellaneous SR5 parts I want.

My plan is to swap all the best parts possible to one chassis, and put all the other parts in the other chassis. I will fix the head gasket on the one engine. I will then sell the Tercel running decently with all the parts that I don't want. It will be in fine condition (except for the loud rear end), but will no longer be a loaded SR5 tercel.

The bodies are the same between the two rust wise. Both are silver. The 86 has fewer dents in the doors and hood though.

So I'm trying to figure out which way I should swap parts: from the 87 to the 86 (will get the sunroof and tilt this way), or from the 86 to the 87 (might be easier, but don't get the sunroof and tilt).

The parts I need to swap either way are numerous, but the ones that will really offset the labour one way or the other are chiefly as follows:

- from the 86 to the 87:
A/C

- from the 87 to the 86
Interior (dash, carpet)
Rear End

I'm thinking that it is probably easier to transfer parts from the 86 to the 87 than visa versa. But then I won't get the sunroof or tilt. What do you folks think; is the sunroof and tilt worth so much more work for keeping?

- The full list of parts that would go from the 86 to the 87 are:

SR5 front seats
Rear shocks
Clutch
Brake components - calipers, disks, pad, drums, shoes.
Steering knuckles
One tie rod
Cargo cover with rear speaker assemblies
Good doors x 5 (with interiors switched)
Hood
Possibly the rebuilt engine with the new head gasket I'm going to put in -
(shaved for raise in compression)
Front end (old style) with H4 head light enclosures
Radiator


- The full list of parts that would go from the 87 to the 86 are:

Front axles
Steering rack bellows
Full interior minus front seats -
(dash, full carpet, consoles, rear seats, steering wheel etc.)
Spark Plugs
Dist cap & rotor
Possibly full engine or just carb with new vacuum lines
Fuel filter
Air filter
Rear end
Front shocks

- I'm going to use my 14" alloy rims for my summer tires, and use my new 13" alloy rims from the 86 for my 13" winter tires. I'll put my old 13" steelies with decent all season tires onto the car I'll sell.

So after all that info, which way do you guys think I should go?

Also, the car I'll have left over will be in decent condition, it just won't be loaded or have tons of new parts. And the rear end might have problems. It will be put up for sale cheap if any of you people want it. It'll still be pretty nice as far as 4wd tercel wagons go, and have lots of good parts

Thanks for your thoughts. It scares me how much work this is going to be. I'm going to try to do it all in the space of a couple of weeks after work and on weekends. :blink: But I think I'll end up with one of the nicest tercel 4wd setups I can imagine. The fellow I'm buying the car from is a mechanic and said he would be willing to charge the A/C for me when I'm done too (for free).

[GTSSportCoupe]

For those of you who have done the work:

How hard is it to put A/C into a tercel that did not orginally come with it?

How hard will it be for me to trade rear ends? I've done it before on a Toyota Starlet, and it was a serious pain in the ass due to siezed bushings. I ended up wrecking the bushings trying to get everything apart.

Thanks.

[3A-C Power]

I would keep the 86 to get the sunroof. The tilt steering can be swapped as long as they both have the same steering rack (manual or power). A/C is not hard to swap but to do it cleanly you will want to separate the a/c harness from the main harness rather than cutting wires. If you're getting it charged for free, he is probably using R-134a coolant not the R12 that the Tercel came with. I would not use R134a because it operates at higher pressures and it's hard on the compressor. I used hydrocarbon r12 substitute which is available to the public. If you do the swap, change all the o-rings because they are what causes leaks. The dealer is the best place to get new ones.

[Thereminator]

I say up-grade the "86" hands-down and do some minor(lift)suspension mods wile your at it.Could be the nicest Tercel4x around when your done!

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!! I think I'll do as you suggest. I'm not looking forward to changing the interior and rear end, but I agree, it's probably the best way to go. I'll take some pics during the process and showing the final product.

Thanks!

[GTSSportCoupe]

Here's what my tercel will have when the swapping is done:

- 86 tercel SR5 4wd 6-spd silver, A/C, Power Sunroof, Power steering, Tilt, Clarion CD player w/ 4 JL Audio speakers in stock locations, rear cargo cover, black 87 vinyl/fabric interior, SR5 adjustable seats, tachometer, intermittent wipers, SR5 exterior molding, H4 enclosures and PIAA super white bulbs, 14" aluminum summer alloys w/ 185/55/R14 Kumho Ecsta Supra 712s, 13" aluminum winter alloys w/ 155/80/R13 winter tires, aftermarket fog lamps, inclinometer from 83/84 tercel 4wd. New shocks x 4, new clutch, new rebuilt front axles, synthetic oil all round, new air filter, new fuel filter, new cap and rotor, new plugs, replaced carb, new vacuum lines, new radiator, new muffler, new brake disks, rebuilt brake calipers, new brake pads, new e-brake cables, new steering rack bellows, new wheel bearings.

This car better last me for a while after all this work! <_< I can't wait to have all the work done. It'll look pretty sweet anyhow. After this I'll still have to do some rust work. I might also eventually put in a 4AFE or 7AFE engine.

[3A-C Power]

The interior and the rear end are not hard at all. The trick with the interior is just to get all those damn clips off by prying where the clips are, and not break the plastic. There aren't that many pieces with those clips, just mainly the door panels. Door panels never break though, and you can get new clips at a body supplier. Seats are easy, just 4 bolts each. Most other stuff just uses screws. The real pains in the ass are just the side trim like on the A-pillar and around the rear quarter windows, which you probably won't touch anyways because they're the same across all 4WD years and trim levels. The rear end is just 5 suspension bushing bolts and the brake lines and E-brake cables, I've done all this before, trust me it's not much of a headache with the kind of car experience you have.

[takza]

As I mentioned earlier, I am buying a second tercel 4wd. The one I'm buying is an 86 SR5 manual transmission with A/C, and power sunroof along with all the other SR5 goodies. It has ~350,000kms on the chassis. It has many new parts as well as a recently rebuilt engine. The head gasket has gone on it however and the rear end howls.

Sometimes that noise is caused by a pinion nut that has loosened...not sure about the Tercel, but with some cars the pinion nut is just a self-locking nut (nylon insert?). You can take it lose, clean up any grease, use some threadlock and torque it back to specs. Need to be sure that you don't overtorque it though. Can also "stake" the threads some if you think that's needed.

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thanks 3-AC Power. I've actually just realized that my best bet with the rear ends is probably to just switch the differential and axles and leave the axle housing attached to each car. This way I don't have to mess with possibly siezed bushings.

Takza, thanks for that bit of info. When I have the diff out I'll see if I can re-torque and lock any loose pinion nuts.