Hi from Australia

[Petros]

But there is nothing to like about a 3ac and a glass gearbox and transfer, or soggy understeery front wheel drive handling characteristics.

I agree with you on every point here. Not to mention the way too undersized brakes! The 3ac was obsolete when it was new, and the head design is rather badly executed. There are other "A" series engines with much more modern head designs that can be fitted, with more power and better efficiency. the suspension can be modified to improve its shortcomings (and I am sure someone with your skills will know how to fix that ). The trans is another issue all together, it is not particularly bad if serviced regularly and not mistreated, though it will not likely tolerate taking 2 or 3 times the hp through it for very long. There appears to be certain year 4x4 truck transmissions that appear similar that may be able to make fit, but I have not looked into it.

Secondly, "ripping all the guts out" is a horrible way of saying what is essentially "upgrading"

I would consider it up grading if you could improve the 4x4 capability! It just seems what you want to build is such at odds to the original purpose of the a little 4x4 wagon. Improve brakes, handling, engine, drivetrain, but dump the 4x4 capability seems to ignore what this little wagon could be made to accomplish. Turning it into a fire breathing street machine is not how most would envision one of the 4wd wagons would end up, it would be like taking a jeep and turning into a RWD drift car.

I was not aware you never got the FWD wagons or sedans, this was Toyota's entry level car at the time, they imported lots of them in to North and south America. Most of those are all gone because they were not worth preserving, not quite so with the 4x4 wagons, in some parts of the United States they are sitll popular and common. Often when I drive into Seattle with mine I get people stopping me to ask if I want to sell mine.

[Mattel]

Hi Petros, I have to totally agree with driftke70 about the Tercel in Australia, It is a totally undervalued car over here really good examples get bought up by teens and trashed in paddocks as first cars. Due to Australias economy, cheap new cars and the practical older people who would have had needed and looked after tercels can now buy a forester or SUV for just a few thousand dollars more. There is no demand to keep them. I see perfectly good ones in the wreckers. we dont have the weather that needs 4wd. My first one I bought because I wanted a small wagon and my friends was selling his.. 4wd is a bonus and rarely needed for most people. We only had manual 4wd Tercel wagons. no other Tercel except for the al25 was sold here thankfully.

As part of my architectural work we often have to deal with heritage buildings and there is a big push for adaptive reuse of old buildings to new purposes. Where we try and sympathetically use the best parts of old buildings for new uses even if it means substantial changes and some internal demolition. It's better that the building gets used rather than derelict and it's features appreciated.

DriftKE please note you will find a lot of different views on this forum. Keep us updated on how you are going. I'm not mad on the slammed look myself but I know a lot of guys who are doing that with corolla 4wd's. If you wanted less work an easier car to upgrade you should definably look at one of those as they are super cheap, robust gearbox and upgradeable, in fact my friend is making a monster 7agze engine for his. Good luck mate!

[larry mcgrath]

I totaly like your idea ,looks like you have a lot of experance doing these cars. Keep us up dated, since I instaled a v20 black top in my al25 i've enjoyed the hell out of driveing it for the last 23,000 miles.This has shortened my comutes to my fishing water greatly. Like they say dont let them get you down. My son lives in Perth we were there 2yr ago GREAT people we had a wonderful time. Larry

[driftke70]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Petros I understand what you are saying, but I have a land cruiser. The 4x4 work I do is well beyond the little wagons capabilities, and the tercel is so clean that it would be a shame to take it offroad and trash it.
As Mattel said, we dont get snow or anything like that, its either bitumen and dirt roads that are easily done in rwd, or offroad destinations which my landcruiser does well.

Its not going to be ripped apart too much, I have just bought a house so everything is up in the air and I have no idea how much time or money I will have, I am enjoying driving it around, its a great little car. Does 125 on the highway in the pouring rain like its nothing!

I will probably chuck a 16v in there just to give it some pep while I get my house renovations sorted and stuff, I have to focus on my corolla and drifting a little more.
What was always in doubt in my mind was how strong the stock gear box is in regards to a 4age, do they just break after 5 months or do they actually last if you are kind to the box.

Mattel I am pretty much only interested in toyotas made between 1980 and 85. I have zero interest in other cars. I like the shape/materials/build style/colours etc
Like I think the interior in the tercel is just the best thing I have ever seen.

[driftke70]

Also im not too sure, I have been doing some research and it appears the aw11 share some front suspension?

It looks like a tercel hub with a blanking plate where the cv would ordinarily live.


Also whats the deal with a quick conversion to rwd, my front cvs are shagged and don't feel like replacing them. Can you pop the cvs out in these or are they oil bathing style so you loose gear box oil etc.
Are the hubs only held together by the cv stub or can you just take the cv out?

Sorry for the noob questions but its been raining since I picked the car up and I cant get it apart to look at it.

[driftke70]

this picture shows how you could potentially use mr2 hubs for tercel rwd conversion.



note the cv replacement parts.

[AndrewL]

I'm looking forward to your updates driftke70. I just picked up a rough 84 in need of a mechanical going-over but am more into using my Tercel as basic transport, that hopefully one day can maintain the speed limit while driving up hills. A 4age swap sounds good, but I have to figure out what my gearbox options are.

In my view, aside from those of us who like them, these cars have now become disposable in Australia. They are so cheap here that many non-enthusiasts will just scrap them when the first big repair bill comes along.

[irowiki]

yeah if you run without cv axles you'd lose gear lube out the front unless you found a way to plug those holes.

[driftke70]

whats the easiest way to plug these holes?

If you just ran part of the cv would it not fall out eventually? I kinda feel like the hub keeps a nice load on it to stop it coming out.

[AndrewL]

I've never considered this before, but you could probably use the outer end of the cv shaft to hold the hub together?

The inboard/gearbox side of the shaft has a circlip to keep some tension on the cv to keep it inside the gearbox but I don't think I'd want to rely on the circlip to hold it in on its own.

All that said, does the stock gearbox not only drive the rear wheel in extra low gear? To do a rwd conversion I think you'd want to look at something like a t50 gearbox, but I think the engine is mounted too high for that. Once you get a chance to get under the car and look how the stock gearbox sits in relation to the chassis and engine it will make more sense.

Here are some pics I took tonight, im starting to pull mine down. The more I look at it and think about it, the more I think of just rebuilding what I have and possibly using the 2wd struts (or something from a local corolla if it works) just to lower mine a bit for looks.

[AndrewL]

[AndrewL]

Sorry for the multiple posts, for some reason my phone that im posting from only lets me link one pic per post.

[irowiki]

All four wheels get power in EL!

[AndrewL]

So that's one gear that can be used with no front cv's.

[irowiki]

Yeah that'd make a very slow trip!