New Member with newly acquired 1987 Tercel!

[Petros]

BTW, any hydraulic line shop can make you new power steering hoses if you bring in your old fittings. they have the correct type high pressure hose, and a machine that will swag on new feruels. this is usually far cheaper than buying a new hose assembly.

[Kwaiin]

...just need to fix the steering knuckle as it was a little too short. Some quick welding and it will be good!

?????? how this that possible? I want know exactly what this means, the steering knuckle is the same on both power and manual steering, altering it will affect the steering geometry. Not a good plan, unless you can explain this in more detail.

the tie-rod ends I think are different for the power vs. manual rack, as is the steering shaft universal joint assembly, (the power steering shaft is shorter than the manual shaft). This is the assembly with the small universal joint on it. Is that what you mean? This is not called the steering knuckle.

something like this;

yes yes the steering shaft sorry, knuckle has nothing to do with it. i was exhausted last night and didnt realize what i said lol. The steering shaft is a little shorter yes, and what about the tie rod ends? could i just swap the ones from the power rack to the manual rack?

[rer233]

Inners yes, outers no.

[Petros]

verify that tie rod ends are indeed different, it seems from one year to the next, power vs. manual steering there were a number of slight differences (not all of them matter). So verify the tie rod ends, and the rack length, are actually different before you swap any thing out, the correct rod ends go with the correct manual vs. power rack (I do not recall what the detail differnaces were, or if it even mattered). It helps a lot of soak all of these parts in ATF or other penetrating oil, they always seem a big PIA to get broken loose.

Good luck

[Notmikeb]

I accidentally ordered a manual tie rod end for my power steering car. It was slightly longer. I did run into an issue installing it where I couldn't thread it any further on the inner tie rod and still had too much toe out. I was able to use a die on the inner tie rod to extend the threads another cm or so and that solved the problem. Don't know if that's the case across the board but it worked in my particular situation.

[Kwaiin]

Update as of today:

Positive things: Manual rack swap complete, made the extension for steering SHAFT (not knuckle this time lol), it fits, everything works perfect. Manual rack feels smooth as can be.
Also got the absolutely rotted back bumper off, gonna replace it with.... something im not sure of yet.
Fixed my window trim problem with a nice thick bead of clear silicone all the way around the windshield. looks pretty good and seals it nicely.

Now for the fun stuff. Clutch kit installed w/alignment tool properly. Trans went in smooth, but wait this is where it goes not so good. I go to put the input shaft in, nice and greased up. starts to go in smooth, I get to the point where i needed some taps with a rubber mallet. I tap it in, it seemed to go in slightly difficulty toward the end but nothing out of the ordinary, this didnt feel like i was forcing it at all.. I go to move the clutch to see how it feels, weird. Feels like its disengaged, like if you pushed the clutch arm with the bell housing out of the car. turn the motor with a ratchet to see if the shaft spins, nothing. Maybe the shaft is in wrong, i think "ill do it right, separate the motor/trans again and make sure its okay", input shaft doesnt want to come out.

My thoughts: Input shaft went in partially to clutch disk, got however far in and said im done, and instead of sliding in more, it put pressure on the disk, almost as if the clutch was being released. explaining why it feels like the clutch is disengaged and why the shaft doesnt spin when the motor does.

It got late, had to take a break. Back into it tomorrow to try to separate trans and motor again, we shall see how it goes

Anyone else care to chime in?

[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!

[dlb]

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

on one hand, that sucks, but on the bright side it's good that nothing is wrong or damaged.

good work on slugging through all this work in such short order.

[Kwaiin]

It's alive! Just backed it out of my garage!

Thank you to any and all that helped/gave advice.I'm very glad I had a community to help me out.

Other than a jacked alignment from the rack swap she's good. Got a little bit of toe in

[Kwaiin]

Took it up the street quick, the alignment is bad lol. Going to free up the tie rods and adjust them enough to safely drive it to a shop for an alignment. Trans felt smooooooth.

[Notmikeb]

Awesome job. Isn't it a great feeling when you knock out a big repair like that and everything works better than it did before?

Man vs Machine!

[Kwaiin]

Awesome job. Isn't it a great feeling when you knock out a big repair like that and everything works better than it did before?

Man vs Machine!

I was smiling ear to ear. I immediately called my brother (who is an actual mechanic, he doubted that it would drive/even work) and Simply said "I just backed it out of the garage under its own power" and he paused for a second in defeat before saying good job. sweet victory!

gonna work on the alignment issue tomorrow i thin, time to order some more parts!

[Gottolovem]

I immediately called my brother (who is an actual mechanic, he doubted that it would drive/even work) and Simply said "I just backed it out of the garage under its own power" and he paused for a second in defeat before saying good job. sweet victory!

Sounds to me like a "new school" mechanic that is clueless unless their is a computer handy to tell him what to do.

[Kwaiin]

I immediately called my brother (who is an actual mechanic, he doubted that it would drive/even work) and Simply said "I just backed it out of the garage under its own power" and he paused for a second in defeat before saying good job. sweet victory!

Sounds to me like a "new school" mechanic that is clueless unless their is a computer handy to tell him what to do.

Nah hes a good mechanic regardless of a computer, I think it was more him doubting my abilities. I've never actually done a trans swap 90% on my own before but here we are.

[Kwaiin]

Thought id post a quick update:

Couldnt get the tie rod ends freed up. I have a spare set of inners for a manual rack, just ordered a set of outers, (Love Rock auto wholesale closeout, got the right side end for $3 lol). Front rotors, pads, brake cable, all coming next week. Car will be on road very soon!

Any recommendations for a rear bumper? Mine is shot. You can poke it with your finger and it crumbles. The mounts are still intact though so ill save them.