Barto's Ultimate Adventure Wagon Build-up (Update may 18)

[gretchen]

Barto, you mentioned that your hybrid front strut includes the tercel strut and camry spring and hat. I am looking to do the same thing but can't easily find camry struts of that gen. It appears the camry spring doesn't taper at the same place as the tercel spring but I was thinking the tercel hat might possibly fit on the camry spring. Did you notice, while building it, whether this might work?

Thanks,

Brad

[Barto]

I will Try to do a complete right up after the long weekend, and will answer as many of your questions as I can then Trying to get the heck out of town and into the woods as quickly as humanly possible need some time time away from "JOE BLOW PUBLIC"..............LOL

[HomeSkool]

I'm about to paint my second car this weekend or next. I was looking threw bartos paint prep pictures in this topic again to look for ideas or things I might miss when I paint. I noticed the front bumper was totally removed. I want to do this as well. I did'nt know how easy it was to remove the rear bumper untill I asked. When I look at the front bumper it does not look as easy. Any tips on removing it would be welcome!

[Petros]

I have removed several front bumpers, it is straightforward as I recall. There are several bolts on either side to access from under the hood, and the front bumper assembly, with the mounts attached, slides out of the ends of the front subframe. Two things can hinder this, even a minor collision or hard impact on the bumper can distort the mounts enough to make it difficult to get it out, and corrosion. I had to use a lot of pounding and pulling to get out one side that was slightly bent.

I would not attempt the unbolt the mount from the bumper, likely too much corrosion, and the access is much more difficult than unbolting the mounts from the subframe.

Good luck.

[SynthDesign]

So what's the final verdict on the lift? I've started gathering parts per your recommendation.
The main thing I want to do in addition to your lift is to reinforce the front control arm mounts on the unibody and drop them by 2 inches. This should put less valving load on the shocks but may mess with the spring rate up front. It will also give me a place to mount an undercarriage guard for the trans too.

Your thoughts or recommendations Barto?

Also looking at the T-bird shocks, which ones did you pick up? Rock Auto listed 4 different options depending on engine and what not.

[Petros]

lowering the control arm mounts would not have a lot affect on the shock rate, but it will change the geometry of the front suspension, the wheel will not move "out" as much as the suspension compresses. This is not a bad thing, but it may mess up your steering, creating bump steer. I have not studied the suspension for this, but I suspect you would be best to lower the rack a similar amount.

[SynthDesign]

Good point Pertros,
And yep, I was thinking bout dropping the engine cross-member a bit too.

[4wdchico]

Good point Pertros,
And yep, I was thinking bout dropping the engine cross-member a bit too.

Might it be a good idea to also set the trans x-menber and driveline center support bearing down an equal amount?

[Petros]

Might it be a good idea to also set the trans x-menber and driveline center support bearing down an equal amount?

I do not think the angle change there would be significant, the front u-joint does not have much angle on it anyway, so it seldom wears out. lowering both the trans and center support would loose you ground clearance, I would leave them the way they are, I do not think there would ever be an issue with it.

[Barto]

WOW life has been BUSY....... so to answer a few quick questions, final verdict on the front lift is everything works great. we now have over 10,000 combined km's on two set-ups and done the most hardcore 4x4ing I have ever done in a CAR the system is flawless. I would not lower the front mounts, it will take away from ground clearance and is not necessary IMHO.

I have also been really using the car for some fun things before i head east to ontario for the rest of the summer.

Went camping and decided I wanted to take the camper along. In these pics it was fully loaded with all of the gear for 4 days of camping also towed it up over a mountain pass (malahat) with no problem just can't be in a hurry.





So after the very successful "Tramper" towing it was only natural to try towing the boat. It trails even nicer then the "tramper" less wind resistance........LOL





Then last weekend we did the 60km trip from shawnigan lake to cowichan lake on old decommissioned logging roads. Very cool and somthing that has Never been done in a car as far as I know.
Here are the pics...... Some of them do no justice to how big or steep things are, but thats how it always is. Put it this way i have seen lifted trucks not make it through this stuff. hope you enjoy!



Cross ditches we had to negotiate



Got stuck here and had to winch my self out but it worked great. ended up stacking rocks for kevin to get through.






Then we hit the real TRAIL









This does this pit no justice but we made it though with ease



Kevin Getting It! this was coming out of that ^ pit, apparently mine did the same thing but was so smooth on the landing that i did not think it happened.











One of my favorite









And a nice Scenic shot

[ARCHINSTL]

WOW! The TransTercel guys from France have nuthin' on you guys!
I've never seen a camper like yours - is it peculiar to the PacNWST?
Tom M.

[dlb]

amazing stuff bart! pic #14 makes the terc look like a f***** SHARK! evil!

[Petros]

Great shots! you get a Tercel stuck there it would be along walk out.

[Tercel Marseille]

Great pics, congratulations !!!

[SynthDesign]

It's been said before, but great pics.

I just about gather up all the parts to do a "Barto" lift myself now.