New Tercs in the stable

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
Post Reply
Dirtmagnet
Advanced Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 8:37 pm
My tercel:: Two 1983 4wd SR5's, One Lifted; 1986 Deluxe Auto, All with Webers
Location: Northwest Georgia

New Tercs in the stable

Post by Dirtmagnet »

If you are reading this, we have something in common....the love of the Tercel....while I was working on my sons car (the Rover) over the holidays, he and a friend went out and rescued another 1983, SR5. It has been sitting for approx 7 years but it is in decent shape. It is a 6 speed and has 289,000 miles, a southern car with no rust. Has a factory roof rack and hood emblem. It has all service records from 1989-on. A little tinkering and we had it running...runs pretty good. Just needs some routine maintenance and tires. It will be our friends daily driver soon.

The next day I ran across one less than 20 miles away. It is a 1986 DLX with an automatic. There is good and bad to this one. The good is it has been basically garaged all its life (in the south). The interior is in awesome condition. It only has 120,400 original miles and even the AC works...woo-hoo. The paint is shiny & wheels look great. It runs very well, I only need to adjust the carb(Weber later) and install a new camshaft and crankshaft seal because it is leaking a bit of oil.

Now the bad. Last April a tornado came through our area and yes, the carport that it was parked under was lifted up and it beat the car up. It has a few dents mostly around the rear hatch area. The drivers door has a big dent and its window is gone. The hatch glass was broken and the right rear quarter glass is busted. He did an excellent job of installing plexiglass so it has not leaked. I can live with dings and dents until I can get some spare parts. I am tickled with this one. It is now my daily driver. I am going to run it a while and check mileage etc.

In about 2 months we will begin a project to "refresh" the Redneck Rover....we have big plans. I will keep updates as we progress.

Here is a photo of the 3 Tercs all in a row.
Image

Talk to y'all later,
Dirtmagnet
Once your over the hill, you just pick up speed. <><
danzo
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 537
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:01 am
My tercel:: '86 SR5 6 speed
Location: The Colony, TX

Re: New Tercs in the stable

Post by danzo »

Good finds, DM, hopefully you and yours weren't hurt by the twister. It almost looks like one of them has a roof mounted propane tank - Hank Hill would be proud. Can't wait to see what the Red Rover becomes. I suspect it will culminate in one of those "here's me jumping over a mountain of Bud bottles" youtube videos, which is just as well. Cheers.
It's a scientific fact that in a twin engine aircraft, when one engine fails there is always enough power in the remaining engine to make it all the way to the crash site.
User avatar
dlb
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 7443
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: New Tercs in the stable

Post by dlb »

haha, i thought the same thing about the propane tank, danzo! you were brave enough to make the comment first though.

DM, what wheels are on the terc in your profile pic?
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11941
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: New Tercs in the stable

Post by Petros »

Ha, I just bought a used propane tank for a vehicle installation for 25 cents today! with valves and meter, and several gallons of propane in it too. I have been considering switching to propane, I can have it delivered to my house's 500 gal tank for about $2.16 a gallon, way cheaper than gasoline (no road tax either! but stay quiet about that). I will never have to buy gasoline again! Propane also has an octane rating of 116! Can run 13:1 compression ratio without knocking! I can strip out all of the emission crap, and never worry about buying crappy federal ethanol blend gasoline again.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
Dirtmagnet
Advanced Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 8:37 pm
My tercel:: Two 1983 4wd SR5's, One Lifted; 1986 Deluxe Auto, All with Webers
Location: Northwest Georgia

Re: New Tercs in the stable

Post by Dirtmagnet »

Oh yeah, the propane tank...we really had to boost the springs to get it to hold the extra weight...you don't have to fill up but twice a year though.

Petro's sound like you have a good idea going there with the conversion.

I checked the first tankful of gas through the DLX auto, got 28mpg. Not too bad. I think I will still put a Weber on it based on the improvements we had on the Rover.
DM, hopefully you and yours weren't hurt by the twister
The twister went about 4 miles north of us, as the crow flies. It was the same storm that tore up Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was still strong when it crossed the GA/AL line near us. Luckily we were missed.
DM, what wheels are on the terc in your profile pic?
The wheels are 14" and made by Pacer I believe. They have 205/75-14 tires. My son blacked them out with a spray can.
Once your over the hill, you just pick up speed. <><
Post Reply