My New '86 SR5 + Trip to Reno, NV

[tercel4wdrules]

I'm a proud new owner of a gold '86 SR5, which I drove to Nevada to get. Some people say that I'm nuts, I say I'm just looking for a good car. It has 162k miles on the odometer, but I don't trust odometers anymore after a sour experience about 2 weeks ago.

ARCHINSTL: Maybe you should introduce this one to Goldie...




Can anyone spot something that is not supposed to be in this Terc?


Sunrise on the US 395












Watch out...









Too bad I didn't take anymore at this point but it was a great trip overall. I drove all 8 hrs back from Reno, 480 miles through all sorts of elevation up to 8000 ft, which I missed the sign for. The timing was far too advance at 22 degrees and I had to bring it down to 6 degrees for smog. I got it to pass with really low emissions, since I had to buy a cat for it. Would you check under the car for a cat converter? I sure didn't and I was surprised when I looked down and there was just a pipe in place of the cat. The engine burns oil and smokes quite a bit on start up. Oh yeah, and I think I paid too much for it at $1,400. Now I'm flat broke. But it runs better than when I got it on Thursday. I will post some more pictures once I get it cleaned up.

[m1marty]

Nice rig! For a quick second I thought to look out in the driveway and make sure mine was still there- almost the exact same car (mine is not an SR5)
Beautiful pics BTW.

[ARCHINSTL]

Goldie beeps "Hi."
This is a Fed car, I presume? I figured you just could not bring in an old Fed car to CA - guess it's OK, as long as it passes smog? I thought there were some counties where old cars were exempt?
You got me on the non-standard interior item. I'm embarrassed to say that the only thing I noted was the lower dash panel looked kinda non-beige. Bet that's not it, though, huh?

GREAT pix ! I love MO - but boy, those mountains are shore purty!

The car looks pretty sweet i/s and o/s - no rust? Pretty brave trip of 500 miles in an unknown vehicle, especially at those heights!
Tom M.

[tercel4wdrules]

Thanks for introducing Goldie to my new vehicle. Haven't assigned it a name or gender yet.

Yes, it's a Fed car, bought from a Toy dealer in Carson City, NV. I passed that dealership on my way up there. It's OK to bring a Fed car, but there are some restrictions, I think it has to have a specific mileage (which applies to newer cars). The guy at the smog place revved the crap outta of it though. Kept it revved at 4.5k for a while with spikes up to 6k. I just had the cat converter installed, so it wasn't as hot as it should've been. The numbers though are surprising.

I thought someone would catch it, but it's the instrument cluster. If you look closely, it's an 85 MPH speedometer, where it should have the 110 MPH one.

It looks pretty good except for the hatch area and left fender where the paint has faded. It has some rust on the fenders in the usual places, mostly just rust spots and a bit of paint bubbling. The last owner had it up in Lake Tahoe, where I presume it saw plenty of snow in the winter. It was pretty brave on my part to drive that many miles on an unknown vehicle, but I trusted it from the start. The only thing that really annoyed me was the loud humming from the snow tires which got worse as I increased speed. Most of my speed was at 50-60 mph, with it closer to 65 mph during the last 100 miles. I think it's the tires that produce the noise, as if the wheel bearings need replacement it would be a different pitch and more like a growling hum instead of a lighter hum. This one rides a lot smoother and without vibration and ominous clunking noises from the front end. It has power steering, but no A/C. I'm considering trying to grab the components of a car at the junkyard.

I already had my first experience with it bucking/surging out of nowhere. I just revved it hard and knocked the fuel filter and it stopped doing it. I drove it home, then to AZ to get a new fuel filter. Then I realized I was going to have to cut the rubber lines as they were stuck. I did the same thing with the '84.

Does anyone have a spare right mud flap '85-'88 style?

[takza]

If I read those pics right...you went over the Sierras and up the Owens Valley? Took the scenic route instead of up the central valley and then over?

Too bad it smokes. Maybe it's just the valve seals. Might try the carbon cleaning and oil flushing with kerosene and see if it shapes up? Looks like a good low mileage car.

My car at way over 200K doesn't smoke except occasionally in summer after sitting (valve seals?)...engine must have been replaced at some point or taken care of.

[ESI-RStarion]

That's the first T4WD I've seen with tilt steering, might just be me though.

[tercel4wdrules]

That's the first T4WD I've seen with tilt steering, might just be me though.

I would say that's because you haven't owned a '85-'88. It looks like you've only had '83-'84 Tercels. This is the first Tercel I have with tilt steering and power steering.

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nice car tercel4wdrules! Hope that it treats you well. What did you do with your old one? Going to save it for parts?

Very nice pics too.

[keith]

Mine had a tilt steering wheel, I thought they were standard.

Did you cross a dry lake bed? Some of those pictures looked familiar. I got my Saturn up to 100 mph on a dry lake bed when I went from Yosemite to Reno. That was scarry, Saturns aren't made for 100 mph, they get real light.

[tercel4wdrules]

Nice car tercel4wdrules! Hope that it treats you well. What did you do with your old one? Going to save it for parts?

Very nice pics too.

Thank you. I hope it treats me well... I just put some new tires and I went to the junkyard and got some wheels and painted them white. I thought it was the snow tires that were making this howling noise, but it didn't go away with the new tires so it's got to be the bearings. Great! More money...

As for the '84, I'm going to leave it at home. It still needs a left CV joint and bushings replaced. Still runs ok, but I really just want to keep both running. I ordered the left CV joint from Rockauto but the GSP axle was temporarily out of stock. I guess I'll wait. I get vibration once I pass 45 mph.

[tercel4wdrules]

Mine had a tilt steering wheel, I thought they were standard.

Did you cross a dry lake bed? Some of those pictures looked familiar. I got my Saturn up to 100 mph on a dry lake bed when I went from Yosemite to Reno. That was scarry, Saturns aren't made for 100 mph, they get real light.

I think I did, there was a place called Mono Lake that I passed, not sure if that's what you are referring to. My friend got his car up to 100 mph on one of the straightaways. I didn't pass 70 mph with the Tercel, most of the time I was going 60 mph or so.

[takza]

Mine had a tilt steering wheel, I thought they were standard.

Did you cross a dry lake bed? Some of those pictures looked familiar. I got my Saturn up to 100 mph on a dry lake bed when I went from Yosemite to Reno. That was scarry, Saturns aren't made for 100 mph, they get real light.

I've been out on a few of those...didn't they tell you about the sinkholes or whatever out on them? There are spots where there is brackish water (holes). The first lake bed I saw up close was at Bonneville...good thing they had it fenced off?

[toughtercel]

it a beautiful car even it a year old by now $1,300 is not bad only if you must've spend alot on mechanic and parts too ! i just bought my few months ago at North of Washington , i paid $900 us ($1,200 CAD) for 83 4WD non-SR5 and yes i check the CAT CONVERTER and it is FED CAR too BUT when i ship to Canada , i can not insurance the car until it pass the whole vehciel inspection so before i take it in for inspection ,I fixed the car and parts (less than $100) but the inspection did'nt pass my car because of both tie rod ends are bad oh welll extra $800 cad more then pass as for smog test , B.C. auto plan rule who ever bought new /used car have first year with out smog test so have to wait till insurance are due next year so any way it turn out ($2,300 include taxes) i am happy with the car because (95% rust free) and more than 25 years old i can order anquie licence plate one day.

[SRfive]

Nice little goldie you got there! Almost looks like mine haha...good luck with her.

[tercel4wdrules]

Nice little goldie you got there! Almost looks like mine haha...good luck with her.

Thank you...

toughtercel:

I've spent way too much on it, and it has been sitting for half the time I have owned it so far. It is getting harder to find T4WD's that are in somewhat decent shape, but I haven't been excited about it so far. Although compared to several Tercels that I have seen since I bought this one, it isn't too bad. There are many things that are wrong with it and I can't afford, nor have the time to fix them right now. I really don't know what the actual mileage is either, probably off by a bit, since I do not know when the speedometer/odometer were replaced. I am patiently waiting for the day in which I come across a nice fully optioned one, but until then, I have to work with what I have.