SirNik's 83 Tercel

[takza]

Like that blue. I've done a couple of those outdoor jobs...great if no wind or bugs and you don't drag the hose on the paint.

[SirNik83]

yeah it has a few bugs on the roof. but thats it. my friend who did the painting said when he hits it with the buffer the bugs will be gone. we should finish the car this weekend. I'm very excited.

[Chuck]

Nice Job Now wories about it beeing too cold your friend Must have roasted in that shed.

Chuck In Plymouth

[SirNik83]

it was actually perfect weather. little wind, hot as heck out in the drive way. but under the trees and in the shed it was kinda nice. this weekend is gonna be bad i bet. thankfully we only have the trim to paint.

[HomeSkool]

Love the car man.
I love it when people take the time to fix them up like that.
I wish I had my own paint booth.. heh

[SirNik83]

Paint is DONE!

HomeSkool, Your car was an inspiration to me. I love these cars, but you don't see a lot of CLEAN Tercels. your car is one the best examples of a truly CLEAN Tercel.

I hope you guys like the pics. I've got a lot of work ahead of me to make the interior as nice as the exterior. so there will be more pictures to come.















New windshield this week, then the trim around that can be painted to match the rest.

[ARCHINSTL]

Congratulations!
That was a LOT of work!
However, I'm glad we were not treated to P.B. in that fifth photo...
Tom M.

[Silver Bullet]

Holy crap! That's a lot of work and love for a car. The paint job looks really good!

[takza]

I liked the all blue version the best...just me. Your paint guys tats...standup comic? He does good body work...can't see any of those nasty waves and so forth I usually have a few (or more) of....no orange peel.

[terkill]

nice rock guards, did you make em or buy them? Also, that grill looks like its out of the factory assembly line man, did you restore it? Very nice work.

[TuffGong]

Bump...^

[SirNik83]

Sorry for the lag time in the replies.

I did restore the grill. just some black Krylon fusion plastic paint on the grill. I took off the 4WD emblem and painted it black. then masked off the 4WD letters and painted them with red Krylon fusion plastic paint. I went looking for model paint for the TOYOTA letters. but some how kids have stopped building models, so I found some appliance touch up paint in the hardware section at walmart. it was pretty much white-out. I then hand painted the TOYOTA letter. I let that dry for a couple of days. then painted it all with Krylon thick clear glaze. I tried to keep the brands the same and give long dry times between colors because I F'd up my Mercedes grill by painting it with an off brand clear. it melted the black paint. I think the appliance touch up paint was Rustoleum. thats why i let it dry for a long time.

Once the emblem was dry i screwed it back onto the grill.

I blacked out the headlight bezels. but the paint didn't stick to well. but well enough that no one has noticed but me.

the headlights are the cheapy ebay Chinese knock-off H4 conversions. they seem to be working well. they had blue tint light in them... i thought that looked bad, so i got some clear lights, and wired them up to the ignition so they are now day time running lights.

the rock guards over the headlight are also off ebay. my buddy has them on his toyota puckup, and i thought they looked cool. he found them at the parts store. but i couldn't find them, so i just ebay'd them.


The next step for the grille is to put swap the wires for the inner light that are between the grille and the headlights with the wires for the blinkers. install some amber bulbs in those lights so they become the blinkers. and then hook up the wires for those lights to some relays and install some fog lights that i found that are the same size as the current turn signals in the bumper.

[ARCHINSTL]

I had GREAT luck with RustOleum on the bumpers, grille, and the "chrome" headlight surrounds.
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... lit=+paint
I did use the R-O plastic primer first - maybe that's why it's sticking better?
If those fog lights are the exact size - please advise brand and sourcing. Thanks!
Tom M.

[SirNik83]

if all goes well I'll have the Tercel in the garage by Thursday night. so i should have pics up on Monday. I'll post what steps i had to take to make it work.