New guy.

[thermos]

Hey all, Long time lurker, new to posting here.

I haven't owned many toyotas, buuut this spring will be swapping a 4ac into a friend's 87 T4. The donor car was an AE86 SR5 and the motor had been meticulously maintained by it's previous owner who swapped to a 20v blacktop. After much reading I feel it should be a fairly direct swap aside from swapping the upper and lower oil pans/front diff onto the new motor. There are some very detailed walkthroughs here which have helped a ton, however they have all been completed with 4a's that were originally mounted transversely, so bonus for us, I suppose.

I also plan to grab a T4 to throw a 20v 4a into once I have the time/money. My daily is a 1980 Corolla, 3tc, header, weber 38, TRD springs 8/6k, shortened MR2 strut housings etc etc. It looks like pooh, but meh, it's coming along.



Anyways, happy to be here, hope I'll learn some neat stuff!

[Petros]

welcome to the forum!

nice looking corolla, that model reminds me of my old Datsun 510, lots of fun stuff than can be done to it.

the 4ac is an easy swap, going to any of the EFI engines is much more of a challenge (and costly!).

[thermos]

Thanks Petros. I'm actually really excited about the EFI swap and it's complexities, just not the induced costs. The 4ac swap is actually happening on 4doorvip's car, and I couldn't be more excited to get going on it.

The main issue for me will be sourcing a suitable shell. Ideally blown motor, with as little rust as possible obv. Problem is the motors rarely die unless they've been excessively mistreated with little to no oil...

The corolla is a lot like a 510 except I wish it had IRS like a 510. The 3tc is suuuper torquey and keeps me happy for the time being. Hoping to fix the rust and paint it before the rust gets too excessive. Swapped it to manual last summer and it's a blast to drive.

[dlb]

welcome, thermos. i've been emailing recently with another guy in nanaimo who has a 4wd terc...seems like you guys have a growing contingent there.

it will be tough to find a terc with a nice body and blown engine. it's hard enough to find one with a nice body and good engine but they do come up in vancouver a few times a year, usually for way more than i'd be willing to spend. there is an automatic t4 in sooke right now and the body looks good in it. just covered in algae. might be worth investigating, although i have no love for the automatics.

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified- ... 4_21476471

[thermos]

Yeah there's a good few of us! 4doorvip actually forwarded me that one in spoke yesterday.. Like you however, I have no love for the autos either. I may, just may buy one out of Arizona or California if the price is right, since I wouldn't be chasing rust demons I could concentrate on more*ahem* important things. because like you said, they're fetching more and more these days.

[GotToyota?]

Love your car! Hurrah from another slammed guy!

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1540x ... 6/gte8.jpg

[thermos]

Thanks dude! And holy craps that looks fantastic. Specs on lowering job? Engine work? This is essentially exactly what I want to do but in a different colour... Something like this, different wheels mind you


And another pic of sir heaps a lot..

[Gottolovem]

Even if you don't want this car i bet there is alot of stuff you can use or learn what to do for your upcoming project ( engine adventure)!
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9891

[thermos]

Gottolovem, thanks man! That's a really neat swap. Bummer it's bedlinered mind you, I actually like the look but not necessarily my plan or I'd consider buying it! haha. The swap is very similar to putting a 4a into my corolla oddly enough, the only difference is that with the tercel it has to be an A series so the 4wd bits can bolt to the lower block (I considered 1uz for the corolla since they're so cheap and fit well)

[GotToyota?]

Specs aren't anything exciting, KYB GR-2 struts with cut springs. There were no lowering parts I could find for this generation Tercel. I know there are options for your car though!

[thermos]

There are some for my car but coil overs are way overpriced. So I stuck with the shocks the previous owner installed (shorter) and some heavy trd springs.

I remember the t4 having a fairly long stroke by comparison, I'd prefer cut stock springs over cut down springs that are too heavy (been there) I wonder if 86 trod springs would work for the low low on tercel though?

[GotToyota?]

Hmm, I'm curious about the TRD springs too. You mean the ones from the 86 Corolla?

It'd be nice to have some springs that are a little stiffer.

[Petros]

When altering a Tercel you are basically on your own, no one ever attempted to get better performance out of a Tercel. Toyota discouraged it because it did not fit their "marketing" image for this car (and often why it is overlooked, unlike Honda, Nissan, Mazda and others, who promoted performance on all their cars including their entry level cars).

However, there have been lots of experimenters on this forum. Some with good results, some not so good.

A lot of the rear suspension parts, including the springs, for the RWD corolla will fit in the Tercel4wd since this is the same axle and mounted the same way. The front struts and suspension is unique to this second generation Tercel, but many of the individual parts can be interchanged with the MR2 (upper strut mount, ball joints, steering rack, perhaps even doughnut radius rod lower arm mounts too). You might also want to go see my MR2 to Tercel4wd front brake upgrade over in the repair guides section. If you want to improve performance, this brake up grade is essential (and can be done inexpensively with wrecking yard parts from an MR2 as well!).

[GotToyota?]

The AE86 springs are a direct fit to the Tercel struts?!

I know what's next on my list!

[thermos]

Nice! Also, if an aw11 mr2 rack fits, so does ae86 rack.