Tuff Tercel Truck

[Rokkatansky]

Hello all.
I've been looking for a wagon to purchase then I started thinking how it would be good to get a 4x4, then I thought van, then one day while looking online I stumbled across this.

Soon as I saw the photo I knew I had to have it. It was the graphics that sold me, if they weren't there I most probably would not have looked twice.
Looked on the web and saw video's of the car and saw how tuff it was.
Went to inspect the vehicle and it turned out to be in pretty good condition with only 196,000 on the clock and an active 4x4 system.
Needed new CV joints and a bit of TLC.
Anyway, I bought it. The lil truck as I call it was pretty dirty and needed a good wash.

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The truck was so dirty it tore into the sponge and ripped it to shreads.
Got the seats steam cleaned and gave the motor a good service.
It overheated a bit at random times so I flushed the system with heavy duty cleaner and put coolant in, so far so good.

Afterclean up.

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Looking at it I felt it needed height and fatness and after looking at tercel4wd.com I had so much awesome inspiration to design.
I found out that the stud pattern was 4x100 and what other cars had the same size, found a honda civic ex racer rims for sale for $170 it was a pretty good price.
Then put some 195/60/15 shoes on them, that really fattened the stance up.

So within 2 weeks of purchase I have this, One funky fat tercel, the lil truck.
Tested the 4x4 system in deep gravel careful not to shred tires to much, 2wd got stuck, put it in 4x4 and el and it easily crawled out.
Looking forward to going off road into the Australian bush.

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All I need now is to know how to do a 2" raise with junk yard parts. We don't have those ford shocks to raise the rear with.
If anyone knows ways of a 2" lift in Australia that would be a big help.
Put in the CV joints. is this an easy job, be good to know?
The Tercel is a unique car and not many people even know about. I say its a corolla in a wagon with front and rear drive like a hybrid, a mad scientific experiment gone right.

Tuff Lil TRuck

[dlb]

man, you aussies and the euros really got the sweetest tercels. i love those graphics. you also got the lower profile bumpers, inclinometers, and composite headlights. looks really good with the new tires and wheels, too.

yes, replacing the front driveshafts is pretty straightforward. there are a number of write-ups here on how to do it. just use the search function and lots should come up. the search here doesn't turn up some things though, like 'CV,' so another way to search the forum is to go to google and enter 'site:www.tercel4wd.com' and then 'cv' or whatever you're looking for. it will recognize those words that our site search doesn't, and it will only search this forum, so you can often find things easier that way.

[Rokkatansky]

Thanks dlb, i'll do that. It's called a 'Custom' or at least thats what the graphics say. I don't know why it is though as far as I can see it looks normal besides the graphics.
One thing is for sure, as soon as I found out it was the same car as 'Breaking bad' I was psyched, always wondered what that strange looking dirty car he was driving was.

[Petros]

Welcome to the forum!

Great to have another member from Down Under. These are one of the best little 4x4 cars ever made, they just need a bit of tweaking to make "perfect". You should consider replacing your thermostat, if it is older than 2 years old, or questionable in any way, replace it with a good quality one (not a cheap ones from the orient). These engines do not tolerate overheating very much without damage to the head gasket. If you need to replace the head gasket use the procedure I wrote up in the 'repair guides' section.

One thing you should do is change the gear oil in the trans, make sure you get all 4 L worth of fresh gear oil in it (do a search in the "repair guilds" section for specific instructions to drain all three compartments and get them completely filled). The trans is reliable, but as they age and wear it becomes harder to find replacements since none were made since1987. So take good care of your trans, change the gear oil every two years and keep it topped up.

If you want to consider up grades go look at my brake up-grade where I put an MR2 booster and master, along with MR2 calipers and 25mm vented rotors in the front. All bolt up from junk yard Toyota parts. It is also over in the repair guides section. you will want the improved brakes.

It seems to me that if you take the length of shock absorber to the auto parts store (fully extended and fully collapsed), pllus the mount type at both ends, they should be able to find a a shock that would work from their listings. You can find Nissan pathfinder springs there for the rear, though I might consider cutting them down a bit since I want stiffer but not that much height (they will give yo 3" of lift without cutting).

Be careful with the front lift, too much and it puts a lot of angle on the CV joints and cause them to wear out. it is fairly simple to add an inch or so by making a plastic shims for the top of the strut tower out of heavy plastic (like the kind used in kitchen cutting boards). I would not go more than an inch and a half or you risk damaging your new CV joints.

Replacing the CV axles is fairly easy, the difficult part is getting the large axle nut off the hub. I use a large socket with a breaker bar and a cheater pipe on it to extend the leverage (after soaking overnight in AFT or penetrating oil).

Good luck!

[4doorVIP]

hey man are you able to upload larger versions of those pictures? I need new wallpaper

[Rokkatansky]

Thanks for the advices Petros, i'll make sure I look at those things, Like a car that can go the distance.
How do I know if the head is gone? cause its run hot.
also when I put the heater on it has a moldy smell and the temp goes up a bit.

[HalpinHavok]

Those graphics are the best!!!

[dlb]

How do I know if the head is gone? cause its run hot.

you can tell a head gasket is going if it blows a lot of white smoke out the exhaust all the time (some on cold starts is normal, that's just condensation in the combustion chamber burning off), if it consumes a lot of coolant and there are no visible leaks, if you see oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil, if exhaust bubbles come up through the coolant while idling with the rad cap off, if compression is low on two neighboring cylinders...those are a few telltales signs of a bad HG.

do you mean it runs above half way on the temp gauge all the time? that would be running hot. anything under half is good, and going above halfway when idling and then cooling down when the rad fan comes on is normal.

also when I put the heater on it has a moldy smell and the temp goes up a bit.

heat going up a bit when the heater is on is normal. moldy smell is not. may be some damned mice nests or something similar in your heater fan. i would wait and see if it goes away with use over time, and if it doesn't, i believe there is a guide in the repair guides section on how to remove the blower motor to clean everything out.

[Rokkatansky]

Worked on front end and upon taking the brake pads out and trying to get pads in without clips I'm hearing a scrapping sound its not good, only drove it 20 km's. Will try to put clips back in before driving it again, there very hard to get back in. any one got a solution?

[dlb]

the clips are absolutely necessary for proper front brake functioning. they are a tight fit but it should not be that difficult. the spot in the caliper bracket in which the clips sit often get dirty and corroded over time so remove the calipers, pads, and then the bracket. use s small screwdriver or something similar to initially scrape all the corrosion and crap away, then use either a coarse sand paper or emery cloth to finish cleaning it up. after that, the clips should pop in much easier.

also, make sure you're putting them in the correct way. i know when i first did some tercel brakes i was confused as to which was the clips went in. it should be clear if you think about it though, or check the FSM.

[Rokkatansky]

Worked on front end and upon taking the brake pads out and trying to get pads in without clips I'm hearing a scrapping sound its not good, only drove it 20 km's. Will try to put clips back in before driving it again, there very hard to get back in. any one got a solution?

Found out the problem is wheel bearing on passenger side.
Easy fix.

[Rokkatansky]

First real run of the truck to see how she goes on long distances. Went to the bush in search of a 4x4 track on the out skirts of city, found nothing to awesome so i took her off road on some dirt. It's amazing how these things handle in 4x4 mode. Felt strong especially after a full service, tune up,new CV's, wheel bearing and machined disks. Runs like a new car.
As you can see there is a shrine (As my friends call it) on the 4x4 metrage thing, found a hawaiian lay on the street after I bought a hawaiian dancing girl air freshener smells good looks good pure styling.

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I'll upload as I go, just got a bullbar looking for spotties,roof racks, 2"lift and 205/70's. just wondering if i'd need spacers for wider tires. The 195 have a very light touch scrape at the moment.

[dlb]

that is one incredibly clean terc. even the door jambs look clean! the interior looks great in the first pic. you really scored with this one.

[peculiarodor]

awesome looking tercel! so is it possible to put 15's on the stock tercel 4x4 without any mods? what is the ideal tire size to eliminate rub if acurate speedo is not a concern? Is there a link to do the "cutting board lift" on this forum? is a shock compressor necessary? should the amount of lift be the same front and rear? thanks guys!

[Rokkatansky]

awesome looking tercel! so is it possible to put 15's on the stock tercel 4x4 without any mods? what is the ideal tire size to eliminate rub if acurate speedo is not a concern?

The 15" are perfect 195/60 is like a semi low pro street tyre and they scrape very very little, like a touch at full lock.
The 205/70" desert duelers i'll get will rub for sure. Im thinking when I do that to put 10-20 mill spacers on, If they go out side the guards due to tyre regulations about sticking outside the guards i'll put rubber moulds around the guards, That will also make it 10% tougher.

Put it up for sale just to see what happens. Actually hope it doesn't sell.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/south-pe ... 1019966735