'85 T4WD "Zombie"

[1985-SR5]

It's nice to see that i'm not the only one who still uses duct tape.I find Electrical tape can also be used for a wide range of applications.. And i love that Red Green quote: "Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!" makes me laugh everytime!

[ARCHINSTL]

Taking a cue from Red Green's Handyman Corner*
(*Look whats sitting in the background behind Red...)

WOW - of all the years I watched Red Green, I NEVER noticed a T4WD! Was it an "active participant" in some of the programs?
Tom M.

[Petros]

I used to catch the Red Green show as well, and never noticed the Tercel4wd in any episode. Likely it was put there as a prop as an example of a strange old car that someone like Red would have laying around. It would be fun to see if it was actually used in any of the skits, but I never remember seeing it before.

[MR2Di4]

Hello from Alaska-land! No, I didn't freeze to death over winter. In fact last year's winter was WEAK so I didn't have much chance to show off my T4WD's prowess. But nevertheless it did make it through in one piece with only a few minor problems that needed fixing.

First one that cropped up since I wrote last was my fuel pump. While attempting to troubleshoot a coolant leak (It's my bypass pipe, ugh!) I noticed that, with the engine running, my hand was getting coated with tiny fuel droplets spitting out the vent hole on my pump. Fearing the worst I also smelled the dipstick to see if any had been getting into the oil pan. It reeked of fuel and the oil felt much less viscous in my fingers so I got a new fuel pump and installed it. Oh my God, what a difference! I was impressed how well it ran before, but now it was so much smoother and more powerful.



Next up to be fixed was my custom Panhard bracket that I was quite proud of until I began to notice some extra creaking going on in the back and a lot more lateral play. Sure enough my lousy welding had failed but in addition to that the left upper axle link bracket had snapped off too! I did a lot better welding job this time around re-enforcing my earlier Panhard bar axle mount welds and rebuilding the upper link bracket at the same time. A friend came over and helped me do a much better job getting my custom body side bracket rewelded to the frame and it feels much better now. So I figured since the car didn't fail me that I would turn my attention to getting it more comfortable. And that meant addressing some drafty problems caused by the dreaded rust monster...



Heh heh heh, I love it when things I've had lying around for years come in handy! I took to fixing some holes in my left rear wheel wells in my usual creative and elegant fashion. Who knew that a couple of old license plates and a can of spray foam to fill in all the nasty gaps could make my car less chilly and more quiet on the road? I read dlb's MICE post and thought it was funny that we were both working in the same part of our cars with the same panels removed, so I figured I'd better post an update myself. Of course this was just one side, I'll do the other next weekend...



MR2Di4

[MR2Di4]

Hello all from Alaska-land!

Time for an update on my T4WD's status. I've been busy with summer activities and work but somehow have found the means to do some major repairs on the Zombie. First up is my most recent accomplishment: My rear axle. Ever since I started driving it I've been battling the rust monster and years of neglect that weakened key points that keep the axle assembly in place. My second attempt at a body Panhard mount failed, prompting me to drastically change my approach. I came up with a homebrew solution that is significantly stronger and hasn't shown any signs of failing as yet.



While the new bracket has held up beautifully it also revealed weaker points on the axle side that were far more serious. The bracket holding the mounting shaft for the Panhard bar snapped off completely and decided to take the left side upper link bracket with it. I was already missing my sway bar mount on that side and my previous posts show my solution, but I clearly needed to take drastic measures. Shortly after posting on the parts forum, my brother tipped me off about a Tercel wagon at the recycled metal yard where he worked. Even though the top half was crushed, upon flipping the car over we found that the axle, gas tank and rear bumper were still completely intact. I also grabbed the springs and rear axle shafts w/ carrier bearing. Even though the car was an '84 I knew that I had just put new axle bearings in last year and swapping the third member to maintain the correct drive ratio wouldn't be difficult.



So I set about removing the old and preparing the salvaged axle for use. It took a lot of scraping, brushing and rather nasty chemicals to get everything ready for rebuilding. I painted all the parts with a coat of self-etching primer and two coats of flat black. It was tedious work trying to get into all the crannies to both clean and coat hidden areas but I think I did pretty well. I also grabbed as many suspension bars off the 84 as I could and prepared them for painting as well. I kept my car's springs, which curiously were about a half-inch higher than the crushed ones, and cleaned and painted them as well. My original Panhard bar really showed it's degradation when set next to the salvaged one.



Finally after hours of work I was ready to start reassembly, which took all day Sunday but went very well. I took the opportunity to clean and coat some areas underneath the car and especially the suspension mounts to hopefully stave off future problems. In getting the axle in place I found that putting the springs back in was a bit tricky, requiring me to first attach the shocks, positioning the springs so they would seat correctly, then gently raising the axle until the upper links could be bolted up. Once that was done, jacking up towards the front of the third member (not on the flange, but close as possible) allowed the axle to pivot up into position where I could swing the lower links back up, bolt them into place and then reattach the sway and Panhard bars.



I decided that new rear brake shoes and hardware were needed, so they are currently on order and I'm considering doing a full exhaust rebuild before winter sets in. I've also got some floor pan repairs to make, some coolant leaks to track down and hopefully figure out why my heater doesn't move air very well. Plus, I've got another little surprise too...



I'll update again when I do the exhaust and get some nice wheels fitted...

MR2Di4

[ARCHINSTL]

Are you certain that you are not Red Green's son, moved from Possum Lake to Ketchikan?
You take, as we used to say in the Army, field expediency to a whole new level!
Tom M.

[dlb]

Are you certain that you are not Red Green's son, moved from Possum Lake to Ketchikan?
You take, as we used to say in the Army, field expediency to a whole new level!
Tom M.

agreed! that's some excellent work, and your documentation is incredible. your car is lucky to have such a meticulous and caring owner.

those are nice wheels. are they 14 or 15"?

looking forward to seeing what your 'little surprise' is going to be.

[marlinh]

Just curious about your panhard rod repair. How did you get that lined up? How and where does it attach to the body? It looks like the rod sits lower than the original, how does that affect everything.

Great work by the way. Such creativity and dedication.

[MR2Di4]

agreed! that's some excellent work, and your documentation is incredible. your car is lucky to have such a meticulous and caring owner.

those are nice wheels. are they 14 or 15"?

looking forward to seeing what your 'little surprise' is going to be.

The wheels are the 'surprise' . They're 14" but the tires are shot; I may have a line on some 15" 5-spoke alloys with good tires so stay tuned.

Just curious about your panhard rod repair. How did you get that lined up? How and where does it attach to the body? It looks like the rod sits lower than the original, how does that affect everything.

Great work by the way. Such creativity and dedication.

Look closely at the pictures and you'll see where I had to carve out the remains of the old body bracket completely and shoved the vertical strut up into the metal unibody rail that crosses above the front of the gas tank. The diagonal welds to the same rail for strength. There was enough metal left over to bolt the uni-strut onto it and allow a solid base to weld the rest of it to the frame rail and whatever else was solid. I think it does hang a little bit lower than stock, but I can trim and adjust the vertical section if I need to. I wanted it to have a failure point away from the body welds so that's why I haven't welded the lower brackets the Panhard rod bolts to. It's on there pretty tight via both lock washers and thread-locker using 1/2" bolts. No problems to report and it rides great thus far.

Thanks for the kudos guys, without this forum and it's specialized knowledge base I wouldn't have had the courage to do a lot of my repairs.

MR2Di4

[marlinh]

Very well done. I had a car break in the same location and the thought of trying to repair it was daunting to say the least. Were you able to work on a hoist or did you do all the repairs on the ground? How did you set up the rear axle to line it up with the front wheels?