Hi from Australia

[Petros]

you can make it rwd easiest by taking apart the cv axle at the cv joint and pop the stub into the sides of the front diff (they need to be there to keep from losing the gear oil, it is common to the trans, front diff and transfer case, do not even let it run low!), and you will need to outboard axle stub in the hub to keep it together. the front flanges are just interference fit and are held in by the front bearing, that is also pressed into the hub. It will work its way out unless the axle stub is there with the big nut to hold it all together.

replacement axles are only about $60 each in North Ameriac, it would be less work to just replace them (about 45 min per side with hand tools, if you have pneumatic shop tools even faster). To run without them means you have to disassemble both the inboard and outboard cv joint and use the stubs to keep it road able. BTW, the cv joints have to be pretty bad before they would fail, I had clunking cv joints and decided to see how long they would last. I drove it over a year until they were so bad in turns it was hard to hold the steering wheel, so I finally replaced them. Never did fail one despite the large amount of slop and play in the joints.

The stock transmission, if it good condition, should handle the older first gen 4age 16-v engine if you do not abuse it. I would just replace the seals on the trans (there are five: cv axles, rear, input and selector lever), and install a 50/50 mix of synthetic gear lube and conventional gear oil, and it should hold up fine if you do not abuse it. That means no childish "speed shifting", slamming into gear or lugging it, particularly in 5th gear. treat it nice, keep good quality gear oil in it, and will hold up fine as a daily driver. Also, be carefully when backing up, and than putting it in gear and driving forward, this sometimes causes, reverse, or first to fail, or the idler gear. most common type of failure, particularly if the gear oil is low since the input shaft and idler gear are lubed by splash.

Something strange about this funky little '80's econo-boxes, they have a way of grabbing on to your emotions and drivers soon become attached to them after driving them for a while. That is why everyone here want to preserve and make them better, fix their many short comings, and enjoy a long happy life with them. You may feel the same way soon too.

We have been recently looking for a newer AWD or 4wd car for my wife to drive (we get snow where we live most winters and have steep gravel roads to drive everyday), and looking at reliably, fuel economy and costs to operate on all of the smaller 4wd (many of which are not that small) made since about 2000 (as old as my wife wants to consider), the more I like my '84 Tercel 4wd with the 4ac engine. A fuel injected 4age would make it perfect, but all of the newer cars are not nearly as reliable, and always much more costly.

[ARCHINSTL]

Something strange about this funky little '80's econo-boxes, they have a way of grabbing on to your emotions and drivers soon become attached to them after driving them for a while. That is why everyone here want to preserve and make them better, fix their many short comings, and enjoy a long happy life with them. You may feel the same way soon too.

I am digressing a bit from the thread, but I must echo Petros' comment.
This is why they keep climbing in value. I bought Goldie in 2005 for USD1075. She had many issues, but no major probs and was rust-free, being from the South where there was no snow, which equalled no salt which equalled no rust. The issues were not major, but were legion. At the time, she probably was a USD750 car or less - but I wanted her (fond memories of my first T4WD in late '82).
I am quite confident that with all I've done to her - and judging from examples sold in the last couple of years - that I would have no prob getting at least USD2000-2500 for her were I to sell her. Mechanically she is pretty much a straight flush and cosmetically - she is a royal flush.
Tom M.

[driftke70]

surely it would drive all 4 wheels when its in 4wd not just 4wd and EL.
Kinda defeats the purpose of having the EL gear option? Wouldn't they just make it a really low speed 4wd gearing in the transfer?

I think you guys are tripping. If what you were saying is true, then it wouldn't be necessary to take it out of 4wd on the transfer lever.

I have been looking and i am almost certain mr2 stuff will fit.

[driftke70]

I know what you mean, the car is certainly growing on me,

I was thinking of using the mr2 hubs and brakes for a neater option with better brakes without the mass of the cv there. Then using the CV stub.

Just think for day to day usage rwd would give better fuel consumption and steering feel etc, no torque steer, no wheelspin on sharp turns etc.

Its either rwd convert the box and chuck a nice 16v in there and drive it for many years like that,
or beams and 6 speed and new diff etc.

I have been doing some research and have figured some things out.

Firstly the st141 corona front cross member MAY fit.
If it does they come form the factor with a 2s motor, so the 3s motor bolts to those engine mounts. Hopefully in a nice position in the bay, if not ill chop and change what ever I need to.
These have a different method of control arm mounting, which means you can run ae86 control arms and struts etc.

From what I have seen, mr2 or ae82 camber tops should fit, but I need to measure both.

Assuming the diff is an "s" series as found in the toyota sprinter, then 86 struts and springs should fit.

So if this is all the case it should be a fun little project.

The only flaw in my plan is that these cars have a rear mount castor brace and I am not sure how well that would work with 86 stuff, but techno toy tuning make a bar for kp60 starlets to alleviate this problem. I will either fit or make something simmilar.

[driftke70]

this link is for mr2 camber tops and stuff which would probably fit measurement pending
https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/aw11


this link is for the starlet castor rod mounting bar I was talking about
https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/kp61 ... 61-starlet

[AndrewL]

surely it would drive all 4 wheels when its in 4wd not just 4wd and EL.
Kinda defeats the purpose of having the EL gear option? Wouldn't they just make it a really low speed 4wd gearing in the transfer?

I think you guys are tripping. If what you were saying is true, then it wouldn't be necessary to take it out of 4wd on the transfer lever.

I have been looking and i am almost certain mr2 stuff will fit.

I've re-checked and suspect you are right and 4wd is available in all gears when you select 4wd. I'm a n00b and am on a steep learning curve about these cars. Sorry!

[driftke70]

No need to apologise, im learning too!

It is certainly a unique little car.



I was going to ask too, the little tercel thing on the back tail gate, mines all warped and gross, is this common? Can i find a nice one from the wreckers?
Does anyone on here have one?

The black surround is fine, just the clear thing over the red thing.
Thing...

[Petros]

if you made it run without the front axles installed, you would have to keep it in 4wd all the time (even though you would be running it as a rwd car, the simple transfer case is just spline shaft and sleeve that engages the rear drive shaft), and than it would only power the rear wheels. You would have six forward speeds in that mode, EL and 1 thru 5.

I do not think the MR2 steering knuckle will work in a tercel. I have had both out and looked at them side by side (I have had two first gen MR2s), and the steering arm is a different length and in a different place, it would seriously screw up the steering geometry I suspect if you could make it work.

the MR2 steering rack will fit in the Tercel, as well as the polyurethane bushings to support it to make it more responsive. the front strut/spring assembly out of an AE88 all-track or GTS celica will also bolt in with some modification, giving you both a stiffer spring and a much larger strut dia and piston. search the archives on these toppics.

the strut upper mount however from an MR2 will fit in the Tercel, but it is about 12mm less in height (not a big deal but will lower the car that much in front). Also, there are polyurethane bushings made for the MR2 radius arms than should work on the Tercel sway bar ends. but to improve the handling you really need to go so something like that starlet set-up where it has a separate radius arm and sway bar mount, but I am not sure that starlet one would fit at all in a tercel without some modification. Again watch for changes in the steering geometry. There cars can also benefit from some chassis stiffening as well, a strut tower brace makes a noticeable difference, but no one makes one the right size, so you either have to alter a larger one or make your own. The MR2 strut brace can be made to fit by shortening it about 4 inches or so.

[driftke70]

Hi guys just thought I would update you on whats going on.

I ended up buying a new troop carrier to replace my aging 60 series so I have been a bit distracted from my little turkey.

Anyhoo I fitted a 4ac and a 32/36 weber.
Goes a fair bit better, I actually managed to get a 4ac that had 24 thousand original ks on it so its pretty tight and I maintained the air conditioning etc.

I put new cv outers on the car (bought them on ebay thinking it would be full in and out replacements but only came with outers for some god forsaken reason. Who the hell would only replace 3/4 of the shafts or want to?)
Anyways it fixed about 3/4 of my cv noise and shudders and still has me peeved about it.

The car is running really well, I get about 7L/100k if i drive it hard, I fitted new tires all round and bled everything and did all the oils etc and it drives really well save for the whole front wheel drive thing.

Once I have my shed built on my new house I will have it up in the air and go over it all and drop in a new cross member with a beams 3sge and 6 speed manual box and f series rear end.

My corolla is now all finished and I have been doing a lot of driving to the point I think I might want to take bit of a break!
I have been getting back into trail riding and forgotten how much I love a good trail ride with good friends. Use about 8 dollars in fuel and short trips etc as opposed the hundreds I spend getting out to a drift day and what not.

Anyways Ill try and take some recent pics tonight. I also steam cleaned the whole interior and took the seats out and cleaned them with a wet vac etc and they came up a million bucks.

here is my corolla all finished



and a video
https://youtu.be/7OHqWscXY6k

I have also made a carrier for my landcruiser to hold my motorbike which makes things really easy compared to owning
a ute (i had a ute and I hate them) or using a trailer.


a bit of touring in the tercel


new heart

working hard getting all my stuff ready for a drift day, a lot fits in these things and nothing slides around which is awesome



a "new" tercel i saw on a trip to japan recently
known as the succeed



my jzx90 in japan (maybe some broader toyota enthusiast in here?) sorry for spam if not

the facility where i drive it with 7 race tracks and a zoo in the middle


my 86 with a black top 20v cage, trd suspension, 2 way diff with 4.8 gears etc.



anyways sorry for the waffling

[dlb]

i've never seen this thread till now. lots to catch up on here.

you have my late welcome to the forum, driftke70. i'm personally into keeping my cars stock but i enjoy watching people with a clear vision pull off clean, impressive work (like larry did, swapping the 4age in to his terc, and you have obviously done with your other cars) so i look forward to your updates. never mind the nay sayers, different strokes for different folks.

i just looked up the toyota succeed. what a weird looking car. something about it makes it look more like a minivan than a station wagon to me, maybe the boxy back end.

[lannvouivre]

I'd rock that ugly green thing for trips, definitely! Looks more like a Citroen, though.

[Mattel]

when i lived in the snow in Japan in 2011 we had Suceed/Proboxes for work they had a constant 4wd system and snow tyres could go almost anywhere.

[driftke70]

I can see myself in a probox!

Anyone know why my 4ac would blow smoke only at highway speeds and never at any other speeds/loads.

Heaps too.

I cant put my finger on it.
The motor is super low ks at 24 original thousand ks but obviously that means it has sat for a while.

Would valve stem seals not smoke in other circumstances?

Is there an oil return that could be blocked and sustained revs pool too much oil?

Anyone able to shed any info, possible solutions or help in techniques for valve stem seals or quick way to check blocked return.

[dlb]

i don't think it would be valve stem seals. generally with them, you will see a big puff of blue smoke on startup because of the oil dripping down into the combustion chamber while the engine was off, so i can't imagine why they would only leak at highway speeds. i don't have any other good suggestions for you though.

[driftke70]

Could it be caused by too much oil in the motor