Bryan's Total Resto : 83' SR5 4WD

bryanthompson · Post by **bryanthompson** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:15 am

Hi Folks! Bryan here. I'm the guy that wrote that article on BravoTV.com last year about rescuing the Tercel from my childhood from the ditch it was abandoned in.

link: http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/ ... cars_1.php

Well, this week I pulled the car out of storge where it's been sitting for three years and it started right up. Man, I love that car.

I'm starting a total restoration of the car and am looking for parts. Do you fellas have leads on N.O.S Toyota parts? Right now I'm mostly looking for interior parts. Everything from carpet to seats and door panels. The color scheme is blue/grey plaid and the car was one of the very first off the assembly line in 1982, sold as an 83' model.

I'm excited to see the car alive again. Thanks for any leads or advice you can give me.

Bryan

jammin1911 · Post by **jammin1911** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:25 am

Great article! The story behind my tercel isn't nearly as dramatic but I searched for several months to find one of these babies because my parents had one from new til death when I was a youngster. They bought it new in 86 and since they don't take care of their vehicles, live in canada and put a lot of miles on their vehicles it was dead and scrapped about 8 years after with 200,000 klm on it, and whackload of rust and lots of good memories for me. When it came time to get a winter car this year, I knew what I needed to find.

As far as restoring your car - I don't have any magical advice for you but I've been passively researching completely restoring the suspension components and some parts are a HUGE pain in the butt to try to source.

I wish you the best of luck on your mission and I hope you keep us updated with lots of photos of your progress

Post by **ARCHINSTL** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:30 am

Welcome to the Club!
I'm sure we've all been wondering about your find!
I had one of the (if not the) first T4WDs in STL in late '82; what is your VIN # and date of manufacture? I do not recall the date of mfg of that car, but the VIN ended in ---15982. I had fond memories of that car, whence my purchase of Goldie in '05.
I have wondered about the fate of some of my cars, but I'm sure they wound up as part of a combine or a La-Z-Boy or...
Thanks for sharing - and good luck!
Tom M.

bryanthompsondesign.com · Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:35 am

Great stories, guys.

Tom, the VIN on my car is: JT2AL35W4D0024181

and I believe it was made in November of '82.

bt

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:02 pm

Oooohh... Number 24,181... Young'n
Nitrous Oxide Systems? NOS is what that is a TLA for....
I don't know of any restorative ones. I'd like to know if our seats can be re-upholstered and re-cushioned. I'd go a little tenser in the cushioning on the drivers seat. Definitely tenser in the back.. But better padded.
I'd fix the holes in my door-liner vinyl. And carpet...

Let us know if you find anything. I need it.

Whats the extent you want to go to? Engine? Tranny? Paint? Body? let us know.

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:10 pm

Bryan, I don't know how much it would help, but my car has the blue/grey interior. It's in pretty good shape, just needs a good cleaning. But the outer body is shot. The drivetrain is in pretty good shape, nothing broken, everything works. The rear brakes are a little iffy to the point that the e-brake doesn't really work.

The interior is missing the inside plastic panel for the hatch, and there never was a cargo cover. The center console has a rectangular hole (in one of the blanks by the 4WD shifter) where I installed a rocker switch for driving lights. The dash has no cracks in it, and even the carpeting is intact, if a little worn. All glass is intact and clear. All lights and lenses are intact and operational. I recently did a full ignition tune-up on it with Bosch Platinum 2 plugs and all Fram filters.

If you have some way of transporting a vehicle, I'm letting the whole thing go (minus the battery) for $100. The car is currently sitting on 14" Cooper Weathermaster tires ($380 new) with about 50% tread on them and I have the original 13" rims with bald tires on them in the shed. I would have no problem (reliability wise) driving it to San Diego, the only thing that would bother me is the comfort factor of that long of a drive.

If you're interested, please PM me here and we can discuss details. I have a half-decent digital camera and 100Mb hosting available if you need/want pics of anything specific.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:38 pm

Bosch plugs+Toyota engine=evil
NGK or Denso plugs+Toyota engine=happy

Mickey_D · Post by **Mickey_D** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:56 pm

Mine seemed happiest on the Bosch. ND I got on average 1-2mpg less and got some hesitation at higher RPM's.

The only NGK's I'll use are Copper Plus, and the local NAPA didn't have them in the right temp range for the Toyota.

I've always had good luck with Bosch plugs. I put 100,000 miles on one set (through three engines) on my Chevy Luv 4X4. They were still good when I sold the truck. And 60,000 of that was them being cooked by a Jacob's MSD ignition and in an engine that was pushing somewhere around 265bhp out of 2.0L N/A (which was used to its full potential almost every time it was ran), so they were getting a severe workout.

Now that you mention it, I've got Bosch Platinum 2's in the wife's Neon and it's running like crap. 21mpg and an unhealthy, rhythmic bumping at idle. Wonder if it's due to them or not. Have to try a different set in there and get back to you.

[EDIT] And now that I think about it, I've got a set of them in my Chevy pickup and I've noticed a few ignition related problems with it, too. Might have to strip them out and try a different set in there as well.

keith · Post by **keith** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:43 pm

I use the Bosch +4 and it is the only car that has responded positively to them. It doesn't run as good on the Denso's.

Post by **Petros** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:17 pm

I have a set of front seats in that color I saved from an '83 I junked. They are in pretty good shape. I am not sure the shipping cost would be worth it from Seattle to San Diego.

You are welcome to these seats cheap, I can not use them because I have the peanut butter color insides on my current yellow '84. I also may have a few other parts I saved (no inteiror I do not think). PM me with a list of used parts you need.

bryanthompsondesign.com · Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:13 pm

Hey guys-

Thanks for the tips. As to the extent of the resto, I'm going to tear it down to a shell and build it back up. The motor was rebuilt three years ago but hasn't been driven since.

Ideally, I'd like to find a source for old Toyota stock parts. I found a great wherehouse with Datsun parts for my Nissan/Datsun restorations and it would be great to do the same for this project.

My email address is ilikebryan@gmail.com . If you have pictures of the parts for sale, please send them to this address.

For the exterior, I'm looking for new poly-urthane bumpers, fenders, hatch and all trim pieces that look new.

The interior isn't that bad. I want to make it look new again so I'm looking for NOS or new looking parts.

I'd be willing to buy a very nice car with the blue plaid interior and use it as a donor car.

Bryan