A few cool j-yard finds/Q's

[danzo]

Yesterday I was wondering through a little-known yard close to home that I know had an old MR2. Scored a wheel w/center cap and stock front strut bar for $50. I also stumbled across two Longhorns (attached to large cows) apparently interested in one of those King Ranch Ford trucks.

The other day someone on CL gave me 2 MR2 alloys w/caps and serviceable skins for free! Of course I thanked him loudly for not melting them. I have two more wheels in storage (sans caps and tires) so I just need two tires and a cap to rock the whole set. I love how they look; they fit the angular-ness of a T4 perfectly. Right now the MR2's are on one side of the car and the bmw rims are on the other. Sly.

I measured the strut bar and recon it will fit a T4 if shortened by 2.25". Has anyone tried this? Later this week I plan to revisit an AE86 I discovered last week. Oddly it is completely intact, so I plan to grab the head and maybe the gearbox. Plan to slap said head on my 3A as I suspect my headgasket is seeping (burning a little coolant now), and this would give me an excuse to renew the manny gaskets to make sure there are no vac leaks. Plus I will try to insulate the intake from the exhaust manny since my carb is still getting too hot, about 140* if ambient temp is 70* or better. The fuel still boils, but not when the outside temp is cooler. This is driving me bananas, nobody else is having this problem?

Does anybody know of a thick intake gasket for our cars? The idea of course is to insulate the intake manny from the head heat.

[Petros]

how about wrapping the exhaust? should lower the temp around the carb some. The stock carb came with a plastic insulator plate, can you fit that under the weber adapter? Or is that too tall? you may have to make your own insulation gasket, use some high temp plastic, nylon perhaps, how about cork?

[ARCHINSTL]

Junque Yard - so - you checked out SynthDesign's thread on MR2 strut bars, huh? I'm jealous! https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ilit=strut He did make a note about the dizzy, though.

As mentioned previously, I used the stock phenolic plate under the Weber's adapter and am not aware of any boiling for these 3 years. I did have to modify the hood's X-bracing and the filter element eventually, though.
Tom M.

[danzo]

Tom I wasn't aware of Synth's writeup on the strut bars, and I can't remember if mine came off a sunroof car or not. I do remember that car had a near perfect interior/body, what a shame someone junked it. I test-fitted my MR2 bar and didn't see any clearance issues. Today I dropped 'er off at a local welding shop to have 2.25" cut out of the middle (I know Synth recommends 2 1/8") who will do it for $40. Funny that I never thought to undue the welds and cut the ends off. I was thinking of how a 4wd shop would shorten a driveshaft. I'll get it back Friday and hopefully it fits, then paint it hot pink. Settle down.

I plan to coat and/or wrap my exhaust manifold when the time comes, but I'm still baffled that none of the other weber peeps here have had the problems like I've had. I don't want to reinstall the factory carb spacer/heater due to hood clearance concerns and the fact that I already have a spacer installed. Cooling the intake manifold seems like the next logical step.

[ARCHINSTL]

After you install it - pix, please!
The next time you are at that yard - check the year and whether it has a sunroof. I wonder if the MR2 rear strut bar is similar?
It's possible - but dunno for sure - that the '80s Toys have dates on the taillight lenses as did (do?) American cars.

Synth's installation looks like it completely blocks the master cylinder cap, which might be awkward if a need arises to top off the reservoir. I also noted peter tuning's bar, which might be taller but have more clearance - https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 805#p47805
peter - if reading - could you post a closeup pix of the mounting plate and its dimensions? Thanks! I know you have a RHD car from Japan, but I would not think it would make a difference?
Tom M.

[Petros]

I made a Nissan Sentra strut bar work (found it in the wrecking yard for $4.50), though it took a lot of cutting and redrilling of the mounts. Looks cool though, anodized Aluminum, and has plenty of clearance.

[ARCHINSTL]

Which Gen Sentra? I had not realized there were so many Gens of it!
This looks really ideal - I presume it is an AM part?
Tom M.

[Petros]

Yes, it is an aftermarket "performance" brace for the Sentra. I do not know the year, but it was a lot newer than the Tercel, perhaps a 1994 or '98. I would not necessarily buy one for a Sentra, the tower mounts were full circles of a different dia than the Tercel, with a equalateral triangle bolt pattern (unlike the Tercel), and the distance between the strut towers is much longer (the Sentra towers are about 4 inches further apart). I cut off the strut mount so it was about one third of a circle, and drilled two holes so it mounted on two of the three Tercel tower bolt mounts, and cut off the brace mount to shorten it, and drilled a new hole in it too for the cross brace. With the cross brace adjusted all the way in I got to just fit without having to shorten the cross brace. There was also some cold forming of the strut tower mount too (IOW, beating on it with a hammer to reshape it). I spray painted it all satin black to hide the fact that it was completely redesigned to fit the Tercel. Looks good in the pic anyway.

In any case, with some effort you can make anything fit. If I had a proper machine shop it would have been a bit easier, but a drill press, a hack saw, big vise, a small sledge hammer, and a lot of elbow grease made it fit (hah! not'in to it! ). I only used the Sentra brace because I found in the J-yard cheap, there are others, like the MR2 brace, that would be a lot less work.

[danzo]

I tried to get my strut bar back yesterday afternoon but I guess the machine shop keeps banker's hours , so I won't get 'er until Monday (promise to post pics). In more positive news I did find out my local junque yard (as Tom says) is having a %fitty off sale this coming weekend. I plan to attack their AE86 and scarf the entire drivetrain if possible.

I did a little fact-finding and was dissapointed on how Toy designed the manifolds. There's really no way to effectively insulate the intake from the exhaust, it's as if all of these cars were earmarked for north of the Mason-Dixon line. Which is just peachy if you live there, but unpeachy for me.

[danzo]

Got the strut bar back from the welder and it fits well. Not pretty, the weld is schmack dab in the middle, but it should serve its purpose. May spraypaint it olive drab, silver or flat black since I have them laying around.

DSCF0749.JPG

DSCF0749.JPG

I grabbed a 4A head the other day, it appears to be in good shape as was the rest of the engine (clean oil/coolant, no blown headgasket).I may go back and grab the AE86 gearbox, front crossmember and block. Someone here said the crossmember may fit T4s so it may be fun to have it on hand to imagine rwd possibilities.

Right now my plan is to buy another stock ex manny and somehow permanently block the intake heater valve when I swap the heads. Should give me a small powerboost and will hopefully solve my ass-chapping fuel boiling problem.

BTW is replacing the rear axle's ring and pinion is a fairly easy job? Does anyone have a 3.73 they are willing to sell?

[ARCHINSTL]

Very interesting! Thanks for the pix!
It looks like there is enough clearance for the MC cap to be removed to add fluid - more than in Synth's application - true (dunno why - didn't he, in effect, lower his engine)?
It looks like the only time it would need to be removed would be to access the cam cover and the dizzy - true?
As far as the weld goes - you could build up layers of, say, JB Weld on either side of the weld center and then sand them down, thus creating sort of a high spot which tapers - kinda like a flattened ▲ .

OT, but - I note the AM filter between the pump and the regulator - is this in addition to the OE-type filter or as a replacement? Clever installation of the gauge (but I prefer mine, which is à la splatterdog's).
Tom M.

[danzo]

It shouldn't be a problem to access the brake reservoir or dizzy. Removal of the valve cover would require strut bar removal, no biggie. I won't grind or weld on the bar, just paint it, I'm not that proud. I haven't actually driven the car with the bar installed. I may autocross the car in a week and would do runs with and without the bar to measure the magic.

The glass fuel filter (AM?) is in addition to the stock pre-pump one. The cheapy gauge is almost useless since I don't think it's accurate, I just had it laying around. Happy Turkey Day....

[dlb]

AM = aftermarket

[Petros]

I do not think you can get the AE86 gear box with the cross member to fit in the Tercel. The Tercels unique trans put it lower than the engine so the front diff is under the engine. This means the main shaft is below the crank shaft, most rwd trans, including the AE86 if I am not mistaken, have the main shaft in line with the engine crank shaft. So to make it work you would have to lower the engine about 6 inchs in the engine compartment, or cut out the tunnel in the floor pan.

NO matter, I have an extra 3.73 rear end if you want it. I have no plans for it. How is $50 plus shipping? Or I can have my daughter bring it to Austin as luggage when she returns to school after Christmas break. BTW, she still has your jack stands too.

[danzo]

I just had a wild idea to make the car rwd by using the crossmember to lower whatever engine went in. I never thought of using the stock 3A with 4wd trans. Be cool to slap in a 1.8 miata engine/trans, but a 3.73 would work better with it. I've kinda given up on the idea since I don't think the AE86 crossmember will fit a T4, and the other complications don't help. If I had a garage/lift at my disposal then maybe I'd do it, but right now I'll leave it be. Though it would be alot of fun to have a dead-reliable 130hp EFI engine/trans with better mpg and handling. I know, I know it's a mortal sin to make our cars rwd....

At any rate Petros I'll pass on the 3.73 for now and you can keep the jack stands for future use, I have 200 sets at home.