Merrily we roll along, roll a... AHHHHH!!!!

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:23 pm

Well, cruising along, I was going to return my friends key to him. I turned onto the old familiar Red Stone Canyon road entrance, going about 40. I turned and suddenly a mule deer buck jumps out in front of me. I turn and apply brake pressure to avoid hitting this rather large beastie, and lough and behold, a steep hillside is now looming. I look at the speedo- 35 MPH. I brace for impact... BOOM! SMASH!! CRUNCH!! POP!! SQUEEEEEEARCH!!!!
The buck bounds up into the brush and my baby slowly bumpity-bumps off the hillside. The lack of rolling motion let me know, this is not good. I try to open the door. Grand.. It'll only open enough to squeeze my thin butt thru. What else could go wrong.. OH SWELL! A thouroughly bent rim and gnashed tire.. Ungh... I get back in and limp around the corner to the turnaround where I./. turn around. I get back down to the bank of mailboxes and get out of my baby and stare into space. I hear a large vehicle revving and sliding around the dirt corners. Down whips my buddy in his Ford Explorer. He slows to a halt, pops in park and hops out.. "I got a feeling I needed to get down he... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?" he exclaimed as he saw car carnage and a very bruised hillside. I recount the tale and then in the headlights see that my left axle assembly is about 2 inches squished back from normal and see the extent of the gnaling on the tire/rim. I groan and we proceed in changing the tire. While off I see bent metal and indentations where they don't belong in the wheel-bay. Oh yeah, during my breif trip to turn around, the wheel was pulling to hard left that int took a full 180 degree turn of the wheel to go straight.
We call my folks and they rush down in the big red beastie truck, expecting to see a magnled son and smashed car. We assessed the situation, and determined it could make the 2 mile trip back to the driveway. I thanked my friend and gave him a grateful hug, then headed off... Feeling that thing told me many many things were not right.. Just F'in swell. I think I may have bonked my head somewhere in there, so now I'm going to go check my pupil diolation..
Enjoy the pics of carnage.

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:27 am

That sucks.

The first thing I'd check is the anti-roll (or sway) bar. Besides its anti-roll duties, it also keeps the wheel from moving like that on the Tercels. I'm guessing it's bent or broken off of the subframe.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:45 am

Doh!

I've had a couple nasty experiences with deer too. It really sucks. Does your insurance cover the damage?

When I first supercharged my AE86, I went out on a test drive and hit a deer at around 40mph. It wasn't pretty. Did a lot of damage, but I'm lucky that insurance covered it.

Hope everything works out for you.

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:29 pm

I've never heard of such damage. I'm glad you're okay. At least down here I don't have to worry about smashing into deers, well except in the mountains. I hope you fix your Tercel. Just think about it... it could've been worse.

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:04 pm

Dang, Typ.....sorry about the deer encounter. Had my first one about a year and a half ago in a Malibu that belonged to the dealership I was workin' for at the time.....the deer actually ran into the right front side of the car, just behind the headlight......took out the headlight assy, hood, grille, right front fender, and right front door skin.....and it didnt' even kill the damn thing. A couple years before that , an 8-point did the same thing to my wife's Tahoe......to the tune of $3700.....fender, hood, grille, headlight assy. Needless to say, I think there oughta be open season on deer year round.

Hope your insurance won't give you any hassle on takin' care of the damage, and above all, glad you made it through without any major injury. That's the most important thing.

MJ

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:44 pm

I'm glad I wasn't hurt. Unfortunatly, insurance is wanting to sign a tune of $500 deductables plus an addition $150 a month of insurance for a year. I hate being a teenager right now lol... As far as they were concerned, I could've avoided it. Sure, I'm going to use my telekinetic powers to make the deer decide not to jump in front of me.

I checked the sway.. Nothing appears to be busted off of it. It's probably bent, but its hard to tell with it like it is. God knows that there is at least a degree of body damage, and thats an area I am uneducated in. It makes me want to tear up. Just ready to get a job and the one thing allowing me that freedom is broken.
I dunno.. I've been thinking that if I get a nice paying job I may go buy an older (96 or so) VW TDI Golf or Passat to cruise around in (can't beat 50-60mpg.. I love diesel) while I fix baby up and make it into my project car. Just a fleeting thought. Who knows.. Well, I hope this doesn't cost me a go-zillion dollers.
We'll see

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:53 pm

Typrus wrote: I'm glad I wasn't hurt. Unfortunatly, insurance is wanting to sign a tune of $500 deductables plus an addition $150 a month of insurance for a year. I hate being a teenager right now lol... As far as they were concerned, I could've avoided it. Sure, I'm going to use my telekinetic powers to make the deer decide not to jump in front of me.

Yeah, dang insurance companies want to take advantage of us teenage drivers. I think I have been quoted for $125 a month for liability insurance. That doesn't count the broker fee or whatever. I'm going to learn some advanced maneuvers off-road and skid control. I want to be a 'safe driver' when I become one. I will probably have to get a weekend job to pay for that and gas, as well as any unexpected repairs. Sorry for the sort of off-topic reply. I was also arguing with the insurance agent that the frigg'in car only has 62 hp. How fast do they expect you to go with that much power?

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:25 pm

115mph? (looks around slyly)
Take that Denver police! (maybe they just were stunned motionless when they saw me going that fast back in... I think December?)
$125? Do you use State Farm? Thats the exact same price I WOULD pay, except for my good student and driver safety home course discounts.. I'll prbably take a defensive driving course one of these days.
The insurance company only knows about the blown tire and bent rim.. They don't "need" to know any more.. I refuse to pay for a complete accident!!! BLAST YOU INSURANCE!
lol...
I could get into that spiel, but We don't need that.

Isn't that rim just beautiful?

I wonder if this would be the time to think about a tubular chassis revamp...
If I don't work in crumple points, I can just imagine driving down the road and ramming into Honda's, watching them fly into CF and FG splinters.. J.K.

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:20 pm

I was conveniently ignoring the fact that you can go 105 MPH with a 3spd auto and 115 with a manual transmission like you said. The insurance agent of course doesn't 'need' to know any more that my car 'coincidentally' doesn't go faster than 80 mph, which of course is not good. I guess I won't be able to go in the carpool lane when I am able to transport passengers.

I need a newer Tercel to get the 4.10:1 gear ratios. Or maybe my transmission is simply jacked up? I guess I won't be having any fun doing desert runs faster than that. How long did it take you to go that fast?

I think the premium is $120-150 a month for 10 months, but the initial payment is like two-hundred something. I'm going to check the real price in a few months. The company we have is Infinity insurance. <a href='http://www.infinity-insurance.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.infinity-insurance.com/</a>. I don't know if they have any discounts, but I think GEICO offers discounts for good students and such. This sucks. When my dad used to own the Tercel 4WD by itself he had Farmers Insurance. It was like $60 a month, until they gave him the good driver's discount. I asked when the insurance premium prices were going to go down and the insurance agent told me that it goes down after three years with a driver's license and a good record I guess. This is a sad state of affairs; they are deliberately taking advantage of us.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:29 pm

I know.. It's a biatch any way you put it. Punish those who are learning? Since when is that good policy.... lol
It took a GOOD while of a slow downhill grade. Potentially a tailwind as well. Not sure. All I know is that it was fun hehehe...

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:54 pm

Yikes! Glad to hear that you're OK, hopefully it won't be too much of a PITA to get your car back on the road, dude!

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:58 pm

It's looking likely I may just steal the body of the 84 Terc. I'll keep you guys posted.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:11 pm

To assess the frame damage I would look at the place where the front control arm mounts and that stiffening bar that runs from that place to the crossmember. It looks like you sustained a sideways impact to the wheel which would stress the control arm rather than the swaybar. The control arm won't break because it's so thick, but the sheet metal in the frame will give way instead. If that stiffening bar is bent or buckled, that's a sure sign. My first Tercel was wrecked this way when it hit a curb sideways and seperated the sheet metal around the control arm mount. It was the impact combined with rust that did it. I hope you get it back on the road soon.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:02 am

I'm afraid of the worst. The bar is at about a 120 degree angle. I have pics, but my home hardrive shorted somehow, so I'm stuck with the school comps for the moment. Its not pretty. I took off the quarter panel/fender and no appart upper frame damage, but the control arm mount is pretty well fried. I mean, you look at it itself and see no obvious bendage, but the stiffening bar has shown a beauty of damage.
Looks like I need to know about the engine swap process! I'll be going from a 86 with 3A-C to a 84 with 3A-C (swap to my 3A-C). What am I going to run into that will be problematic? I have heard about the "hidden bolts" that keep the tranny from popping the rest of the way out, but what else might surprise me? How the heck do I "remove the A/C compressor without disconnecting the hoses"?? What will I have to do for the power steering? I didn't get to reading that before my HDD fried.

Did I mention the control arm itself is flexing???!? Can you say odd torsional forces? Sigh... What a life this is..

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:13 pm

Alright. Few things. What all is different in the carburator setup on a 84 versus a 86? Or anything else for that matter? Thus far I have found a vacuum-linked.... thing on the front of the filter housing that leads down to the manifold. What else is changed? So far I have removed the radiator, disconnected the downpipe, disconnected the P/S pump, disconnected various wiring connections, drained he oil, and removed the alternator from the 84. It has an exterior regulator where mine does not. How big of an alternator will that regulator take? It says 12v on it but the rest is just parts coding. The alternator is about 1.5 times the size of mine and has a square vs round connector.
I am going to go get some PB Blaster later tonight to break apart the bellhousing bolts. How many are there? What sizes are they?

If the 85 has 3.73 diffs... what can I expect different in performance from my 4.11s?