New Member with newly acquired 1987 Tercel!

[Petros]

if you are replacing the front brakes, do not waste your money with OEM factory brakes. Way too light and will likely warp with a few hard stops.

Go see my brake up-grade thread (in the repair guilds section), you can use off the shelf parts that costs about the same and make the front brakes much more durable and safer.

[Notmikeb]

I second the brake upgrade. Worth the effort.

[Kwaiin]

if you are replacing the front brakes, do not waste your money with OEM factory brakes. Way too light and will likely warp with a few hard stops.

Go see my brake up-grade thread (in the repair guilds section), you can use off the shelf parts that costs about the same and make the front brakes much more durable and safer.

I may have to go check my local scrap yard then, maybe an old mr2 is hiding there. But i already had pads/ 1 rotor, the kid gave me them. I got another one for $5 on rock auto so i figured ill do this for now just to get the car rolling.

[dlb]

FWIW, i've never had any problems with the stock brakes, even when driving the car totally overloaded and sagging, over numerous mountain passes in hot weather. nothing wrong with better braking but i'm sure you'll be fine with the stock stuff.

[Petros]

twice I overheated the front brakes and warped both rotors coming down a long steep mountain pass. I only had one other person with me and ski gear, the car was not overloaded. I also knew the brakes were prone to overheating and was doing by best to use engine braking and not over use the brakes. It happened anyway. When I removed the rotors they were blue, and full of tiny cracks. I had some good used ones in my garage that I installed (which also warped again comeing down the same pass 2 months later). That is when I decided I was going to come up with a permanent fix, and spent a whole day swaping parts around on a Tercel in the pick-n-yard, seeing what larger brakes can be made to fit.

The stock brakes are inadequate no matter how you look at it, they should be upgraded. Toyota should have known better, they put larger rear brakes, but used the same undersized front brakes as they used on the 2 do hatch back FWD version of this car. The 11mm solid front rotors are the same ones that are used on the rear of the 2 seat MR2, yet this is a 5 seat 4wd wagon!

you do not need to install the MR2 master and booster, just installing the front rotors will give you brakes less prone to overheating. you do not need to do the whole upgrade, just rotors and calipers will be good enough to make it more solid. You can use the same brake pads (they are the same part number in fact), you only need rotors and the larger calipers, and the spacer (I made mine with hand tools), or you can order the VW rotors that have the correct offset.

There may even be some cool grooved and cross drilled rotors available for the VW, some day I will up grade to those rotors and eliminate the spacer.

You will not regret ever having better brakes.

[irowiki]

FWIW, i've never had any problems with the stock brakes, even when driving the car totally overloaded and sagging, over numerous mountain passes in hot weather. nothing wrong with better braking but i'm sure you'll be fine with the stock stuff.

Yeah, after I replaced the "pre warped" front rotors on Buck, between Buck, Pokey and Party (auto on the last two so not as much engine braking), I've never had a warping issue going over three mountain passes while fully loaded down with some scary steep hills. But I drive pretty conservatively down the hills...

I have the spacers, and I may try doing the upgrade someday, but the lack of pick and pulls and older cars in general in the scrap yards around here make me lazier.

[Petros]

you can always order the parts new from Rock auto. they do not cost much more than the OEM parts.

it is not just a matter for overheating, the complete system has better stopping performance, less pedal effort, and lasts longer since it does not run as hot.

[Kwaiin]

I will for sure look into this. A little more stopping power is always nice. Ill have to see how i the car drives first, never driven one of these before!

On a side note, scored some brand new (not even 200 miles on them) 175/70/13 General Altimax Arctics on steelies for $140 this weekend! The last of my parts come tomorrow, well, the parts she needs to be road ready. Aiming to have it driving straight by tomorrow night!

[Kwaiin]

Well on a recent trip to Long Island to visit my SO in college, i found a parts 1983 tercel, no longer road worthy due to rust. A lot of rust. The thing was rough, the roof had a few good holes in it, letting water into the rear cargo area. He also had a window left down, and 2 of the doors didnt close all the way, more water. Apparently it has a good transmission though. Guy wants the whole car gone, Id love just the trans and some other bits but he wont separate parts. He was also claiming he had all these new parts for it, but i looked and they WERE ALL IN THE CARGO AREA. Soaked, sopping wet boxes, rusted. Brand new parts they were too, along with his tools.. how sad.

Anyways he let me have the warped cargo cover (had good metal rails/mounts) and a trim piece i needed since i came and looked at it. I brought cash to buy more but he wouldnt let me "because the guy coming tomorrow to look at it might be looking for those parts" . Guess first come first serve isnt a thing. His son even kept saying "dad just let him take what he needs".

So, i decided to rebuild the cover seeing as i dont have one. Its 95% done as of right now, just need to get some fabric and wrap it up! http://imgur.com/a/EKarh


Also, alignment corrected with the help of new tie rod ends! New parking brake cables, and some other parts put on. Shes ready for the road!

[lannvouivre]

Removed trans again, popped input shaft out. There was the end of a zip tie stuck. All that, because of a zip tie.

Im on my phone right now in the middle of the trans install. Bolting it in now!

Instantly reminded of this.

[dlb]

wow, sounds like my dad. he's a hoarder and has about 10 vehicles on his property. none of them run, they're all mouldy from sitting forever, but he's still convinced they're worth big money. and when he's actually willing to part with stuff and people come over to buy it, he gets paranoid that they're scoping out the rest of his stuff and planning on coming back later to steal it all. it absolutely kills me. but recent studies have shown that hoarding is an addiction like any other -- drugs, alcohol, smoking -- and you can't reason with an addict, so it's not really surprising.

such a shame about the car and the 'new' parts. oh well, save what you can from it. fantastic work on the new cargo cover, mad props.

[Kwaiin]

Removed trans again, popped input shaft out. There was the end of a zip tie stuck. All that, because of a zip tie.

Im on my phone right now in the middle of the trans install. Bolting it in now!

Instantly reminded of this.

This happens to me almost every time i work on something. I sweep, but somehow always miss one zip tie.

wow, sounds like my dad. he's a hoarder and has about 10 vehicles on his property. none of them run, they're all mouldy from sitting forever, but he's still convinced they're worth big money. and when he's actually willing to part with stuff and people come over to buy it, he gets paranoid that they're scoping out the rest of his stuff and planning on coming back later to steal it all. it absolutely kills me. but recent studies have shown that hoarding is an addiction like any other -- drugs, alcohol, smoking -- and you can't reason with an addict, so it's not really surprising.

such a shame about the car and the 'new' parts. oh well, save what you can from it. fantastic work on the new cargo cover, mad props.

Thank you thank you. Finishing it up today!

It is sad though, Id love to go get more parts, or take the entire thing but im not entirely sure what he would do for price since he thinks he has "so much money in new parts". Getting it home would be a good chunk of change, it was also blocked in by other vehicles that dont run so getting it out would be a pain. Im going to look into it, id love to save what i can, but if not, he mentioned putting it in a slavage yard so maybe i could rescue parts from there if it comes to it.

[ARCHINSTL]

Props on the plywood! I don't think anyone here has tried to duplicate a cover.
I was about to try that a few years ago, but member rer233 came through with a pre-86 intact cover that I just had to modify for the 3rd light.
If not covered already - could you make a full-sized paper pattern for each of the pieces and post it here? I'm sure others would appreciate it.
What type of hinge did you use?
Thanks,
Tom M.

Edit - found the link where member walkersimpson made a pattern!
See viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10681&p=79223&hilit ... ent#p79223

[Kwaiin]

Props on the plywood! I don't think anyone here has tried to duplicate a cover.
I was about to try that a few years ago, but member rer233 came through with a pre-86 intact cover that I just had to modify for the 3rd light.
If not covered already - could you make a full-sized paper pattern for each of the pieces and post it here? I'm sure others would appreciate it.
What type of hinge did you use?
Thanks,
Tom M.

Edit - found the link where member walkersimpson made a pattern!
See viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10681&p=79223&hilit ... ent#p79223

Thanks! I actually didnt use a hinge! Its 2 pieces still. Not sure if i will put a hinge or if ill leave them separate so i can do like a "half cover/shelf" kind of thing.

Also, anyone, im not familiar with the models of these T4's. Is mine a DLX? I know it doesnt have SR5 badges so it cant be that. Nothing important, just rather curious.

[ARCHINSTL]

Interesting - your car has DLX side trim, but the SR5 instrument cluster - and also the rear wiper set up (admittedly optional on DLX's).
But - SR5's of 1987-8 had remote fuel filler and rear hatch releases while the DLX did not even have that as an option. Pre '87's did not offer that as an option in North American cars. Does yours have those?
Tom M.