3A-C's Project

hornett22 · Post by **hornett22** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 12:50 am

nice looking car 3AC.let us know when you get it.glad you found what you were looking for.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:03 am

Thanks! Yeah, it's not as nice as yours I know.
I wasted $30 US on the Carfax report for some instant gratification, and found out the car is from Idaho and then it moved to BC. MootsMan's new wagon is also from Idaho and has an excellent body. I guess it's a pretty car-friendly state. Carfax sucks by the way, it does not even tell you about changes of ownership. I should have went to the Ontario license office and paid $25 for their history. I don't know if it tells you out of province or out of country information but they should transfer all that when the car is imported. Carfax tells you when it's first registered and when it passes emissions and random stuff, but it didn't even say when it was imported, or how who owned it when. Don't waste your money there.

hornett22 · Post by **hornett22** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:45 pm

i don't know.it looks pretty nice.i'm sure it is as nice as mine.remember,they are only tercels.i have heard alot of people complaining about carfax.i guess i am just adventurous,i just take folks for their word.

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:08 pm

Sacwac's mint 87 SR5 is also from Idaho. I don't have a clue about car fax, but at least now I took the work of memorizing my VIN number.

takza · Post by **takza** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 4:28 am

I think Carfax is mostly good to rule out serious accidents (salvage title) and speedometer rollback.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:20 pm

I got the car today and.... It's a piece of crap! There's all kinds of rust and a huge dent in the left quarter panel. I can't complain because whenever you take a chance on a used car, you're always going against the odds. So rather than waste time and more money restoring it, I'm going to start over and do it right for once: Save money and get my proof of citizenship and then import a car from the southern states. I might fix the front differential on this one and try to sell it. Or maybe I will do the 20 valve swap into this car the way it is, because it's going to take 8 months to get my proof of citizenship and be able to import a car. I'll put up pictures of the damage so everyone here understands what 'no rust' really means in the world of used car sales!

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 7:46 pm

DOH!!!!!!! :blink:

You must be feeling something like this:

. Really sorry to hear that man. That must extremly frustrating.

hornett22 · Post by **hornett22** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 10:48 pm

that sucks! what are these people thinking? there was one here for sale,the add said excellent condition.i called and he reassured me there was no rust.as soon as i pulled in the driveway i saw nothing but rust.tailgate,rockers,bottom of doors,rear fenders.do they expect you to accept this kind of shit? they cannot honestly think you won't see it.i wish i ha driven mine there.then i could have said;"this is what NO RUST looks like!" the world has gone mad! i still have the teal one if you ever get in the market.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 12:08 am

No rust usually means that at an initial glance from 20 feet away or more, no rust is apparent on the outer edges of the body. It also means that there's sloppy bondo work on the fenders and/or thin layers of spray paint underneath blatant rust spots. Little rust means that you can expect serious rot and holes, but it is doesn't cover much of the outer panels. I guess most peoples' standards in the general car-buying public are much lower than ours. I should try as an experiment advertising my new car as having no rust, and gauge peoples' reactions. Being 19 years old and in Ontario, this car may actually look impressive. The metal is all solid with no rot, giving it an advantage over 99% of similar cars in this region.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:59 pm

What your Tercel should not look like:

On an unrelated note, anyone want a reasonably solid Tercel with the automatic? It has a special custom differential mod that makes it functionally RWD, so you can drift it!!

I found that out today while trying to determine if the 4WD servo is working. While driving back and forth on the snow trying to induce wheelspin while turning 4WD on and off, the diff completely let go and in FWD it only grinds what's left of the gear teeth, and 4WD is now RWD.

Driving it 60 miles with broken gear teeth jamming the front diff was scary. I'd be surprised if the casing isn't cracked when I take it off. It clunked violently under turning and acceleration causing a pull to one side or the other. I can see why the seller didn't want to drive it across town to the shipping yard, but me, I'd rather save the $100. I should just take the ring gear out (to stop the grinding) and sell it as a unique RWD Tercel.

clbolt · Post by **clbolt** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:43 pm

It amazes me what some sellers consider "no rust". I live in the south (Arkansas), so I know what the term really means. I once called about a Saab 900 that was advertised cheap, and went to look at it. Nobody came out when I walked around the car, and with heavy rust scale showing at the bottom of every body panel, I knew I didn't want the car at any price. Several days later I got a call back from the girl selling the car, wanting to know why I never called her back. I explained that I didn't want it, it was rusty. She was angry with that comment, and insisted that her car was totally rust free. I asked if it was the silver 900 with a sticker from New Rochelle, NY on the back. She said yes. I explained that the rust-colored areas on the body were, well... RUST. She hung up on me.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:15 pm

Flat-out denial of obvious rust is amusing. What's worse is the retort that goes something like "Oh, well what do you expect, it's (x) years old, of course there's going to be some rust". Age is one factor but care and maintenance is equally important.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:34 pm

I see a lot of tercels in Victoria that truly are entirely rust free. The problem is, the owners know how unique it is and thus ask lots of money for them when they sell them. (which is why I have a rusty tercel - there is no way I'm paying $2-3k for a 20 year old tercel; theres other cars I'd rather have for that sort of money).

I hope you get your money back out of it 3ac.

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:40 am

Those pics really don't show serious rust.....show us some RUST HOLES!

Might start at that SEAM you can see at the top of the rear wheelwell....everyone should clean and seal these seams on both sides. Water goes UP thru them and inside to rust out the "frame" suspension area.

addenum....I've heard quite a few stories about cars bought online without seeing them...usually have bad endings...though sometimes people find some good deals.

I have problems buying a car that I can see and drive due to concerns about the condition of the car...so I probably don't have to worry about trying it.

If you can't find any serious rust throughs on that car...might still go with it?

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:07 pm

I am amazed at what people come up with. Mine has some rust on the surface of the gas tank, and around the bumper. It also has rust on the left and right door pillars thanks to leaving the keys stuck in the ignition and using a coat hanger to open the doors. Windshield wiper arms have their deal of rustiness and the body has numerous stratches and a few minor DENTS (kids playing in the parking lot with baseballs!). There was one kid that deliberately started throwing rocks at it when he learned that the car was mine! What the hell is wrong with that kid??? I felt like picking him up and banging his head on my hood. Then some guy in a Ford Expedition backed up into it nearly messing up my new radiator and losing my grille as well as the driver's side front end components. Its still bent now. Oh yeah I got even with him (a kid that made a small dent on my driver's door with a baseball by dislocating his dad's Oldsmobile radio antenna with a soccer ball unintentionally. It doesn't matter because that car was junk. So there, I'm not denying that my car has no rust even though it from California. I think some of the underside rust came from when it was in Santa Rosa, where I believe the car was purchased close to the ocean, so I guess it got some salt treatment.