Door handle upgrades

[CathodeRayTube]

I was at the U pull it place 2 days ago and i saw 2 sets of chrome door handles on a 1st gen 4runner and a toyota van...would these be plug & play replacements for the tercels? my car is going to be black when its all said and done so i think chrome handles all around would be neet..

[ARCHINSTL]

Check the EPC Sticky in the Parts Forum - that should give the part numbers - although they would be different as one is Metal (?) and the other is plastick-y.
Tom M.

[dlb]

cathode, that would look pretty slick to have some shiny chrome handles, almost mad max-ish in an 80's futuristic sort of way. if you don't get them you should just paint the original handles along with the rest of the car. i'm doing that on my VW van right now and i really like the look of it. final coat goes on tonight and i'll put some pics up in the next few weeks so you can see what it looks like if your curious. i'm just doing a gloss black rattle can job with purple accents. steep learning curve to make spray paint look decent but it's coming along.

[Neu]

cathode, that would look pretty slick to have some shiny chrome handles, almost mad max-ish in an 80's futuristic sort of way. if you don't get them you should just paint the original handles along with the rest of the car. i'm doing that on my VW van right now and i really like the look of it. final coat goes on tonight and i'll put some pics up in the next few weeks so you can see what it looks like if your curious. i'm just doing a gloss black rattle can job with purple accents. steep learning curve to make spray paint look decent but it's coming along.

Paint is 90% prep work. The more prep you do, the better ANY paint job will turn out. Even rattle can.

[CathodeRayTube]

i was planning to do the painting all myself and actually buy real car paint and an hvlp gun etc...but if i have enough money saved by the time its ready to paint then i may just have it done professionally..as mom suggested. yeah itd be neat to see your van pics when you get them. thisevening i just got done F'ing with our 81 VW rabbit diesel...i put a new-ish radio in it ($20 from junkyard) and attempted to turn up the fuel on it so it smokes...it does slightly more than it used to but not what i wanted.

i believe i will go and get the door handles anyway and if they dont fit just sell them...and also get some other crap for the tercel from the same junkyard...the intermittent wiper switch from an old 4runner , and the brake booster from the MR2...and a bunch of other stuff that has been mentioned for various mods to the car.

[dlb]

i know, prep... the van is both mine and my fiancee's project and i said that she could sand down any of the blobs left from the hippy paint job with 400 grit and then just scuff the rest up but she went super hard on it with 60 grit sandpaper because it was faster. i'm a reformed control freak so i tried not to give her shit over it. anyway, some spots are rough as shit while others are pretty and smooth. then when i did the first coat a LOT of fish eyes popped up, and i learned about degreasing before painting. so i sanded down and degreased all the fish eye areas. next coat took fine but i went a little heavy in a few spots and got drips. only a few though, so i sanded those down and did the third coat and it's looking much better. i've improved a lot at painting thoroughly without over-doing it so i'm sure my next paint project will go smoother and look better but this job will be fine for this vehicle. the van has a few big dents so i have no illusions of pimping it out, i just want to protect it from rust and not look like a hippy while driving it. my fiancee insists on keeping the rainbow triangle sticker in the back window and boy oh boy, i've never received so many middle fingers while driving! took a few of those before we clued in as to why people felt so strongly about the vehicle.

i've got an appointment to get my terc professionally painted in a few weeks and you can bet your balls i'll post some before and after shots of that.

anyway. cathode, in regards to your stereo in the rabbit, does it still have stock speakers? i put together a great sound system (2 x 4"s, 2 x 6.5"s, 1 x 12" sub w/ CD/mp3/1/8th" ipod input stereo) for my terc and it was super easy to install and cost a total of $250. well worth it, IMO.

[CathodeRayTube]

is it best to hand-sand it to prep it or use an electric or air sander? i thought you would use a powered sander to strip all the old paint off, then wet hand sand between coats.

if im not mistaken, the rainbow triangle is a gay symbol. so the previous owners probably were. how long were you driving it before you figured it out? (not that i care, i have several gay friends/family members)

IDK if the old stereo/speakers in the rabbit was stock or not...but if not it was still ANCIENT and almost unbearable to listen to. im guessing it was an early aftermarket setup, old pioneer cassette player with manual tuning & 3 mechanical presets...the front speakers are just Delco tweeters sitting in the holes...not even screwed in and no holes line up...and the rear speakers probably are stock...the front and rear speakers were and still are wired in paralell...so theres no front/rear designation. all i did was tightened up the wiring that was already jerry-rigged probably 20 years ago and replaced the crumby radio/tape player with a crumby radio/cd player (it doesnt play BURNED CDs >:( ). the rabbit is actually my fathers car...and he doesnt really care much about the audio system, any music louder than a whisper or newer than 1990, he hates. but now i can tolerate driving the car on the rare occasion i do drive it...

the tercel is going to get a bitchin stereo...(not even a stereo, custom in dash computer), and high end J&L amps/woofers...i also plan to restore/pimp the rabbit completely, including the stereo, after i inherit it from dad or he gets sick of it and just gives it to me..

[dlb]

ha, that's wicked. board member oldskool has an amazing stereo computer set-up, i peeped it when i first saw his car parked somewhere and scoped it out. i'd love to see the system you eventually put in your terc.

yep, the rainbow is a gay symbol. i knew it when i first saw it and the PO was a man-hating raging lesbian and was super rude to me (she even commented to jenn about how stubborn i was) so it was clear but jenn loves rainbows and i picked the paint scheme so she got to keep the hatred-attracting sticker. we just didn't think anyone would care but apparently some people do!

i'm not sure about hand sanding. we have a little electric one that i love and used on the van. for a home job, i'm fine with just scuffing up the existing paint. i'm not sure if pros strip all the original paint off but i don't think they do. i know that for serious painting, sanding between coats is necessary but i think i would snap if i had to do that. it's so time consuming and monotonous... no, the next vehicle i do i will just scuff the paint up nice and evenly, degrease it like crazy, and take care to spray it evenly and not too heavy. not too bloody soon, i hope.

[dlb]

cathode, i posted some pics of the van here:

http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... 2&start=15

it was raining when i took the photos so they're not great quality but it might give you an idea about the same colour door handles anyway.

[CathodeRayTube]

Yesterday i went and harvested the chrome door handles from the 4runner and the toyota-van, they look like they will fit...they are the same lenth but i havent fitted them yet. I also got the column switches out of both the runner and the van, both have variable intermittent wipers and the van one also has cruise control. my question is, for the variable int wipers to work in the tercel to i need another relay box or controller or somthing? or if i just swap out the column switch will it all work?


PS @ david. checked the pics out, the van looks very cool with the all black/purple scheme.

[dlb]

from what i remember in DCN's thread about the intermittent wipers, i don't think any other stuff needed to be swapped. the only mod required was to cut a larger hole in the steering column plastic housing because the 4runner wiper arm moved down further than the stock tercel one. i think.

and thanks!