Borozinski's Terc "Tina"

[borozinski]

I tried making this post on saturday, but I fat fingered something and it deleted everything! So I took a long break from it.

This is how she looked when we rolled up to her abusive home.




She started up pretty well, second time. I used 4wd to make it up the ramps, made it easier for sure.






This is her all safe and sound, in her new home J She will be in her hole for a long time I think… lots of stuff to work on.

[borozinski]

Once she was home I was able to take a good look her. Not any horrible rust, only one dent that should pop out easily… and all those freaking bullet holes, poor car. Here are some shots of the battle scars.







Got around to checking some other things, like a missing strut and muffler. The exhaust is torn off up to about the front passenger side’s door.



Then I went under the hood. Had oil, needs changed. Has tranny fluid, not to much though. It “used” to have AC, somebody tore it out though. I’ll be taking out the rest of the AC system.



Found a few vac lines that I’ll need to figure out where exactly they go. Replaced one hose, one with the unclipped zipties, it wasn’t connected to the valve cover. Seemed to idle a little better after doing so.




Also found a few wires that are broken. One looks like it goes to a temp sensor of some sort to the coolant. there’s also another one I found later underneath the carb right by the one I just listed. Didn’t snap a pic of it yet.



There was another electrical plug not connected. This one is located towards the front of the motor.



I wasn’t able to find my compression tester. I think I let someone from work borrow a while ago and I don’t remember who?! That was the first thing I wanted to figure out on this. So I really didn’t do to much else on it yet. It definitely leaks oil, no idea where from yet.

[larry mcgrath]

The political sticker in the rear window, kinda says It ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[borozinski]

The political sticker in the rear window, kinda says It ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahahahaha, yeah. Might just leave it there lol Not really, I don't like stickers much.

[larry mcgrath]

Advice is free, replae all the vacume lines !/4" with new OEM lines sold in bulk from Toyota. most all the problems with this car related to drive ability are related to vacume leaks. The electeical connector under dizzy can be researched in the fsm using the color code (looksl like the tac lead) these cars all have the same wireing harness so there are plugs that are open. makes this car a plug and play when up grading accessorys.more pix of interiour and your plans , good luck. lots of good folks here and some good advice .Larry

[ARCHINSTL]

Lordie, Lordie - there really are bullet holes; when I first read the ad, I thought it was some sort of backwoods hyperbole to generate interest.
What did they do to the inside of the car?

Dang! larry mcgrath beat me to the juxtaposition of the window sticker to the bullet holes; apparently the seller is part of the 53%, huh?
This was just from his country estate, right?
Tom M.

[Mattel]

Tom you just made me snort a little chanti out of my nose onto my pizza laughing at that.. umm. thanks!

[dlb]

haha:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3z4l1ylMcs

i'll have to double check but i believe the unused plug on the driver side of the block, underneath the spark plug leads, is a diagnostic plug so it is left unused. again, i will have to look at my car to confirm that.

ditto on what larry said about replacing vac lines. look up the colour-coded vac diagrams here and redo them. it's common to find that someone has mixed them up in the past, as well as cracked, broken, and disconnected lines. also, test all diaphragms (choke breaker, choke opener, throttle positioner, vacuum advance, any others i missed) to make sure they hold vacuum. if they don't, you will need to either replace them or plug the lines going to them.

because your car had AC, there is an extra diaphragm component on the front passenger side corner of the carb, on the underside. it was used to kick up the idle when the AC was on but you won't need it anymore if you're ripping all the AC out.

[ARCHINSTL]

Try to find an "intermediate" duct from a non-AC car; this is installed between the blower and the heater core case.
It makes all the difference in the world for air flow - no more AC condenser to blow through. It will also give you a chance to cleanout/vac the condenser. Use Simple Green - or even Windex - on the core; especially valuable if any of the previous owners were smokers.
All of the Gen II Tercs, regardless of the body style, used the same HVAC system - possibly even Corollas of similar vintage.
Don't forget to block the holes in the firewall for the now-vacated AC tubing or, better yet, grab the oval rubber plug for that tubing and the plug for the AC drainage tubing - all of the non-AC cars will have them and they are a perfect fit.
Perhaps someone parting out a Terc can help?
I did this back in '06 or thereabouts and have been quite pleased.
Tom M.

[ARCHINSTL]

borozinski -
This is a photo I stole from dlb's treatise on installing an inclinometer - an XLNT view of the "intermediate" piece in a non-AC car.
Tom M.

[borozinski]

Thanks guys, for all the replies... I feel the love I'm sure I'll miss a few questions from you, but I'm only on my phone now and have been busy with other stuff.

I will look into finding that intermediate duct, sounds very useful. And yea, wasn't joking about the bullet holes lol. Hahah at the 53%!

My plans with her are to take my time, basically try my hand at a mini restoration. Won't be anything spectacular, but way better than now. I'll have around $2500 to play with. So that should get me pretty far. I'm really thinking of keeping the 3AC in it and rebuilding it if it needs it, if not drive it til it dies. I'll be getting the weber carb, reground cam, new exhaust. And a whole bunch of new stuff hopefully. I like the idea of keeping the stock motor in it for now though. I'll basically be redoing the whole interior also, not much to salvage out of it. The dash is good though, besides that not sure.

That's about it for now though. Gotta get back to work. Again thanks for all the replies, loving this forum already.

[Petros]

what a shame that they did not appreciate the car enough to take care of it, good thing you rescued it or before it became little more than a target for future buba sessions. With that much budget you can build it into a great little 4wd wagon with lots of custom parts.

I have been in and out of these little underpowered engines trying to tweak more power out of them. Other than the weber, the cam and a good exhaust, there is not much more you can do with it to get reliably more power. Rather than rebuild it I would recommend getting a 4ac to rebuild and than just swap it out in one day when you are ready. Otherwise if it is running good, just keep the 3a in it as it is. Even if underpowered and obsolete with the 8-valve head, they are pretty durable little engines.

[TURTCEL]

This is a common thing for rednecks I'm sure. It surprises me that with a sticker for Romney in the back window that there wasn't an NRA stcker right next to it. Haha.

Simple math story problem:

What does 2 rednecks plus 2 bottles of whiskey plus 2 loaded guns equal? Well, in this case a real headache of body repairs.

Too bad that idiots like the previous owners had to take such a cool rig and swiss cheese the hell out of it. Thanks for saving this Terc borozinski, sounds like she has found a good home. That is quite the buget you have, should help in getting that Terc rockin and rollin.

I agree with leaving the 3AC in there for now and just start looking for a 4age donor. A really easy swap in comparrison to the 3AC build up that still will only get a little more out of it.I found an '84 Corolla on craigslist about 3 months ago in the Dalles for $750. The dad was selling it because his daughter moved away to college and it just sat there...ran and drove. Woud have been the perfect 4age swap car for me but didn't have the budget at the time. Keep your eye out, they are out there.


Peace

[dlb]

I agree with leaving the 3AC in there for now and just start looking for a 4age donor. A really easy swap in comparrison to the 3AC build up that still will only get a little more out of it.I found an '84 Corolla on craigslist about 3 months ago in the Dalles for $750. The dad was selling it because his daughter moved away to college and it just sat there...ran and drove. Woud have been the perfect 4age swap car for me but didn't have the budget at the time. Keep your eye out, they are out there.

do you mean a 4ac? it's a direct bolt-in swap (for a mere .1 L increase), whereas the 4ag is a labour intensive swap requiring many mods. both the 4ac and 4ag came in the 80s corollas, depending on year and badging.

personally, borozinski, i would do a compression test and if it checks out, i would stick with the 3a. an engine swap or rebuild is a lot of work and a rebuilt 3a or even a rebuilt 4ac are not going to give you any noticeable power increase over a healthy 3a. however, if the 3a is badly worn, you may as well replace it with the 4ac since the 3a would have to be pulled anyway. the weber is the single easiest, cheapest swap that garners the biggest performance increase, but i'm not a big fan of the weber either. the webers are prone to icing while they warm up in cold weather and that was really annoying for me. i put both a 4ac and weber in my first terc and it was neat at first but not worth the cost IMO. now i prefer to just fix what is already in the car and make that work. i never tried the reground cam or bigger exhaust. advancing the timing to 10* BTDC is another good move, super easy and improves performance and economy a little bit.

[TURTCEL]

Yep, I meant 4AC. Thanks for the correction DLB. I have been rereading Larry Mcgraths swap post and threw in the wrong numbers.

Peace