86 sr5 4wd tercel wagon 6spd manual for sale-St. Louis Area

[TominMO]

David, the front driver's seat knob does indeed control the rear part of the driver seat, heightwise. I tried it while not sitting in the seat, and it worked fine.

I've been working on body issues--addressing rust, bondo, primer and paint. Gonna take awhile, mainly because I have to let bondo, primer and paint dry before moving on to the next step. I try to do a few things on it every day, starting around 9 am, then quit around noonish or a bit later. I have a "before" pic, and will eventually post it along with some "after" pics.

[Mark]

I've been gradually doing the rust-treatment/bondo/primer/paint with mine as well over the last few years since I bought it. One thing I learned is that finishing with paint isn't good enough. The paint is porous and it starts to rust again within the year. Lately I've been adding a couple of coats of clearcoat over the paint and then putting some wax on it a few days later. Hopefully that will keep the moisture out and stop the rust for longer.

[dlb]

mark, in my experiences i have found that nothing can stop rust. i helped my friend semi-professionally paint my first terc, and the paint had clearcoat in it but even the minor rust we had ground and sanded away started to peak through the new paint within a year. here is that car.



forum member homeskool had his terc's body work and paint professionally done but every few years, he had to get the rear portion of the rear wheel well redone as it just kept repeatedly rotting. you can see his immaculate paint job here.



i also work with a few guys who are ex-body shop dudes and all the old stuff they paint looks great for a few years but then the bubbles of rust start to pop up, and the orange streaks start to show. i guess if you did a pro job and then garage kept the car after that, nice paint might last for a good long time. i'd love to have a garage to keep our cars but that's still a few years off so i currently have zero confidence in battling rust and am happy to have my cars wear it like badges of honour for valiant service. i just can't be bothered with such labour-intensive cosmetics anymore.

[Jarf]

Rust is insidious. Nearly impossible to get around but there are options.

First and foremost is cut out as much rust as possible and when you cut it out, cut well past where the visible rust is, make sure your into clean solid metal.
New clean metal should be welded in for replacement. Jury is out on butt-weld vs lapping, but I prefer butt-welding.
I have had enough bad experiences with the deficiencies of lap welds. Just one more place to hold moisture and cause future problems.

Anything that can't be cut out should get converted, ospho is about as good as it gets,but there are many other brands on the market as well.
Key is to wire wheel the stuff over and over until it is all converted, keep checking as often, there will be rust hiding under the converted stuff so keep going till there is no rust underneath.
Media blasting is also an option but that process also generates more than enough heat to severely damage panels, definitely requires talent to do without damage.
The convertors will take longer but less likely to do as much damage.
Also of note, most converters are acid base and most need to be neutralized prior to priming. Reading the labels is key to proper application.
Failure to follow manufacturers instructions WILL result in paint failure.

Once it is all cleaned up, epoxy primer is key to sealing it all up and eliminating future moisture ingress.
The body filler goes over top of the epoxy primer and once the filler is done another coat of epoxy primer over that. Then it is paint time.
Real auto paint will have a catalyst to mix in and create a proper barrier.
Rattle cans, unfortunately, don't measure up and are at best a temporary repair, without the catalyst, they will allow moisture to migrate through the paint.
While clear over top may slow the process a little, if it isn't "real" clear coat it still wont be a lasting repair.

Foam, while handy and easy, is also less than ideal, as it just make another place to hold water against the metal. (btdt too)

And if you don't epoxy prime the backside of all repairs, all your effort is just wasted time and money.

Wax should only be applied after the paint has cured (real auto paint with catalyst is generally considered to take 6 months to cure fully)
BB

[TominMO]

Wow, lots of great insights. Thanks Jarf. I see now that all my efforts will be in vain....eventually. But it'll look good for a while.

Wax and clearcoat are not an option for me, since it would make it shiny, and somewhat negate the whole camo thing....it will be interesting to see how soon, where and how much the rust comes back over the next few years.

[TominMO]

i'd love to have a garage to keep our cars but that's still a few years off so i currently have zero confidence in battling rust and am happy to have my cars wear it like badges of honour for valiant service. i just can't be bothered with such labour-intensive cosmetics anymore.

I'm kinda with you on this, not being crazy about doing bodywork myself; but being the highly pretentious person that I am, I at least don't want to be running around in something that looks like a piece of junk.

Homeskool's car looks great BTW.

[Petros]

I have found for small spots can be fixed pretty reliably. I will sand blast the area with a small hand held type sand blaster, and than grind if necessary, clean the spot with chemicals, and than apply that clear primer that turns black when it goes over rust (some kind of reaction with the metal oxide), and than used several coats of Rustolium primer, than bondo if necessary, than several more coats of ruslolium primer, than the color coat. It must have a min. of 7 or more coats of paint. Usually holds up for a long time, consider that you are fixing an area that is rust prone anyway, so repairs will be necessary again some time.

Rustolium has sealers that is supposed to seal out both moisture and oxygen, but unless it is fully sealing the area it will not work, so it takes a number of coats.

[TominMO]

More good info, thanks.

[Jarf]

Petros method is a good second, but notice that he does spot blasting/grinding to get rid of the rust and converts the remainder.

A lot of this also depends on your climate, not sure what WA is like but up here they start salting the roads when the forecast says it might snow.
They even send out the trucks when there is a possibility of black ice forming or rain and near freezing temps are called for.
I find it disgusting how much salt and brine solution is used, aside from what it does do cars, there is the whole aspect of what it does to the plants and ground and surface water. Not at all uncommon to see the conifer trees next to roadways being all brown come springtime.

All that said, I have done lots of other repairs that didn't follow my own regime, it all depends on what you want/expect from the repair, the above outline was to produce a lasting repair (5+years under my climate conditions), that said, there are plenty of merits to justify something less than going whole hog.

The foam is probably the worst thing I have had to deal with though, while incredibly easy it makes for one of the shortest repairs, life-span wise.
I have found that for quicky stuff with low expectations, grinding back the rust and using fiberglass cloth with epoxy to rebuild the areas where the metal is missing, a little bit of wire can make a decent form to work to. Bondo over top, prime and paint with rattle can produce acceptable results in the "10ft range".
I will admit to doing just that 3 years ago, even in these harsh conditions, it looked decent for 2 years, that said, now I wish I had done it properly as things are much further gone now and require a great deal more for a proper lasting repair.

Just as long as you go in with eyes wide open and reasonable expectations, fully realizing that you get what you pay for, so to speak.

[TominMO]

No salt in WA, OR or CA(lifornia).

[Petros]

fortunately they do not use salt much around here, they prefer sand and gravel when we get ice. some winters we do not get any ice at the lower evelevations, but that is rare, usually not more than about 10 to 20 days with morning ice. Every five years or so we will get a long cold snap with snow and ice, and I can sympathize with the parts of the Continent that has long icy winters. So we are fortunate that salt is rarely used in our state. Most common source of rusting car bodies is when people park their cars under cedar trees, the natural caustic compounds that prevents cedar from rotting, drips on to he cars and is very corrosive, any nick in the paint, or worn areas, will corrode right though in less than a year.

There is an idiotic idea in the large cities in the Puget sound area that putting salt on the roads in icing conditions somehow harms the (salt water) Puget sound. So they will use it only rarely. apparently it did not occur to these geniuses where the salt originally came from.

[TominMO]

Walked into my local Advance Auto to pick up something. One of the counter guys whom I know slightly came in a few minutes later and asked how much I want for my T4. Which I just picked up five weeks ago. Not selling. I would not be surprised if this happens on a somewhat regular basis. I've been driving it around lately, and enjoying it for what it is. All three of my cars have very different feels and purposes.

Next week I will finish the bodywork and painting--it's 85% done--and replace the right rear axle bearing. Never done that before on this type of setup, and am looking forward to the new learning experience.

[keith]

Around here, they squirt potato juice on the roads when ice is in the forecast. It works or the initial ice, but in a prolonged ice storm, they have to revert to salt.

[TominMO]

Around here, they squirt potato juice on the roads when ice is in the forecast. It works or the initial ice, but in a prolonged ice storm, they have to revert to salt.

Lol, I'm picturing some guy in the back of a pickup squeezing potatoes over the road!
Salt in TN? I guess in the mountains mainly.

[ARCHINSTL]

Salt in TN? I guess in the mountains mainly.

Goldie was from Murfreesboro, just outside of Nashville, although originally sold in Nashville.
The only rust on her was in the traditional tool cubby and the inside bottom of the hatch.
Underneath, there was barely surface rust on the CV axles and of course the exhaust system. That's it!
Apparently it does hail a bit down there, though.
Tom M.