Considering Purchasing old rusty tercel

[Mustakrakesh]

Hi, first time posting here, I'm currently an automotive tech student, and I've been considering buying a tercel that has been sitting for at least 6 months since it's been brought to my attention. The owner (he is a scrapper/used parts dude) wanted 800$, but the car is super rusted and I'm wondering if anyone here has done any body/frame work and I was wondering whats the tipping point here, how can I tell if its too far gone?
I can post some pictures this week.

Also on a side note: has anyone had any luck swapping a diesel engine into these tercels?
I was thinking either the CD17 from nissan
Or any 1.9 VW engine,

[Petros]

welcome to the list!

Sounds like a high price by about double if it is rusty, I would keep looking. Mechanically this car is one of the easiest to work on, almost everything is accessible and parts are cheap. As far as fixing rust, it should be no worse than any other uni-body, but of course it just depends on how severe and where it is located. If the rocker panels are gone, not likely it is worth fixing. There are others on the list that would have a lot more experience with badly rusted Tercels, I avoid buying them with too much rust.

Where are you from? You might have to travel to a state further south to find one that is not a rust bucket.

[splatterdog]

Unless it has very low mileage that is way too much for what could be a parts car. Front lower control arm area of the frame seems to be the worst area for critical rust. If the rockers are gone that can be the death of it too. Why was it parked? Put away broken?

Instead of giving the scrapper 800, suggest he get a real job. This guy sounds sketchy.

[dlb]

Instead of giving the scrapper 800, suggest he get a real job.

LOL

agreed with the above posts, way too much for serious rust. personally, a bad frame turns a terc into a parts car for me. i don't have the equipment or patience to fix something like that. however, superficial rust is nothing, and i think it's a waste of time to deal with it. cars rust and get dinged up over time, i can't be bothered to fight that natural progression. as long as it is clean and fully functional, that's all that matters to me. so if the rust is superficial, make him an offer, but if it's bad, keep looking. depending on where you are, you should be able to find a very good tercel for $800.

yes, forum member cathoderaytube is in the middle of a diesel engine swap. it's a huge job though and he's had a lot of setbacks. just seach disel engine swap on here and you'll find it.

[Mustakrakesh]

I live near Ottawa Ontario, On the Quebec side.
Lots of salt here,
Only willing to travel to like NY, PA, VA, anything within 500 km.
Although I'll be in Florida for two week this winter, maybe I could find something there :\

Like I said, going to go get a better look sometime this week,
Its not going to be fun, pretty sure the car has at least two flat tires.
And we just got enough snow to make it annoying.

The guy claims the car is rare (Which over here it is,)
The reason I'm actually considering it because the car is plated in Quebec already which means I wouldn't have to get it inspected.

[splatterdog]

They are rare around here too. I recently acquired #6 nevertheless, okay that last one fell in my lap thanks to this site. Just gotta keep your nose in the wind, you'll find one.

Maybe your connection is related to this guy. Anyone need a front seat handle for more than a whole seat usually goes for? http://stores.ebay.com/Lennysshop-Toyot ... 34.c0.m322

You could always take some underside pics and submit them for our approval.

[dlb]

others have imported these cars from the US with no problems but one friend of mine did it this year and it was a 100% balls out nightmare. i recommend against it. if inspections decides to be really anal, they can find lots of needless work that will then need to be done before you can insure the car. i don't think it's worth the risk and the hassle.

i've been to ottawa a bit. had some family in brockville for a while. experienced some wild blizzards there, very cool. yes, i imagine they use a ton of salt in the winter.

SD, how is the free car? you should post some pics of the gem.

[splatterdog]

Had to part it out the "gem". It was nowhere near roadworthy. Both control arms getting close to letting go, seized alt, rusted brakes,front door latches/outside handles broken and seized, engine compression was 0,50,180,50 probably just due to stuck valves, oil looked moist too. Lots of other misc little things too. A shame, it had a factory sunroof(rusted out), a first for me. EHF wanted me to cut it out! haha Roof transplant sounds like a project waiting to never happen. That's why I sold my otherwise minimum rust 76 F250 crewcab.

Well worth the $110 tow bill though. But it came apart way harder than the previous two rusted partouts.

[toughtercel]

( Surrey / Vancouver, B.C. Canada ) don't use much salt on the road but It getting harder to fine T4WD for sale these day .

[MR2Di4]

$800 sounds a little on the steep side, depending on how bad the rust is that we're talking about I'd walk up with 5 $100 bills and say take it or leave it. Around here, just about anything that runs and drives can sell for that much, if nothing else you can part it out to folks in this forum. How bad a rig is rusted depends on who you talk to, my bumper fell off when I put my weight on it getting up from checking the underside, but the price was right. You should take other factors in as well, like driveability, mileage, condition of bearings, CV axles, gas tank and other parts. A few rust holes is nothing, but major support brackets being eaten away is another matter. See my Zombie thread in the gallery for an idea of what I got for free and go from there, knowing that you can anticipate additional repair costs...

Post some pics if you can!

MR2Di4

[toughtercel]

supraviphbao , Beat it