14" wheels and rear lift

[yodasrus]

Time for an update with the latest from Prescott, AZ

Current number of Tercels has increased even though I sold one.
Now there are 10 of them. Addictive personality? Naaaah.........

After a lot of trials and errors, looking at the forum and junkyards in regards of getting a bit more ground clearance and
better wheels this is what I came up with so far:
Using our first Tercel, the "Yoda", 84 SR5 4WD Wagon without Power Steering, now reading 390 000 miles as the guinea pig, I tried the
BMW BBS/Lemmerz 14x6.5 inch "Basketweave" style wheels. ET is 30 and the tire size ended up being 195/70-14.

The rear is lifted slightly (about 2 1/4" or 40mm) with the use of 1995 Nissan Pathfinder rear coil springs and 1980 Ford Thunderbird rear shocks.
The info on the forum about this lift was very helpful but I may add some details to it:
The year of the Pathfinder needs to be 1995 or older, 96 will not fit and I found out the hard way.
My parking brake cable retainers are still attached and had to be removed only during installation.
Also the lower shock rubber bushings from the Tercel need to be pressed into the Thunderbird shocks.
The angle of the rear axle changed a bit and the u-joint does sometimes vibrate slightly.
That, however, could be taken care of with a replacement of the u-joint.
This one was just not happy with the changed angle after so many years of being a "low-rider".

The increase in gound clearance is obvious and will be helpful.
The ride is perfectly fine with no interferance of the tires anywhere.
This will be the case WITHOUT the rear lift as well since there is plenty of room.

The speedometer is of course a little bit off and I established some numbers for that with the GPS, but basically no more than 5 mph.
Driving is very good and the "loss of power" seems to be bearable. (This car has a fairly fresh, balanced and blueprinted, rebuilt 3AC in it)
The Flowmaster muffler and NO Powersteering gives it a little more power to deal with the bigger wheels.
Shifting is now more "lazy" because the engine needs more time for each gear before needing the next one and it still pulls
OK in 5th on the highway, not making that gear a true "overdrive".

So far, so good, already got a set of the BMW bottlecap wheels for my friends Tercel.

Photos attached, looks like a tercel which has "grown up" now

WELL, BEFORE I CAN ADD PHOTOS, COULD SOMEBOY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW TO DO SO ON THIS BOARD BECAUSE IT IS NOT WORKING
FOR ME. I AM TRYING TO SEND FROM I-PHOTO, DECENT SIZED FILES AND I ALSO WONDER ABOUT HOW MY OPTION SETTINGS SHOULD BE FOR DOING SO.
I MIGHT BE A TERCEL FAN, BUT CERTAINLY NOT A COMPUTER GUY. THANKS FOR THE HELP !!

Enjoy

Thilo

[dlb]

nice post, thilo. i had forgotten about swapping the lower shock bushing so i will add that to the FAQ now. also good to know about the park cable mounts so i will add that as well. do you still have the anti-sway bar in place too? that was something else barto originally thought needed to be deleted but another member here confirmed that it does not.

speaking of the FAQ, there are instructions there on how to post pics. here's the link, it's question #17.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7442

[yodasrus]

Thanks for the thumbs up and here are a few more answers:

Sway bar is fully functional and in place just like the brake cable retainers.

Swar bar (all mounts) and parking brake retainers were only removed for the installation of the Nissan springs.
Again 95 and OLDER Springs, don't know how much older though, will work.
Lower shock rubber bushings and spring rubber spacers are all re used from the Tercel.

Drove on Highway today with very heavy winds.
All good but on a long uphill grade with heave headwinds 5th gear becomes obsolete.
Downhill is another story: "Cruising in Overdrive" ....

Put the right front wheel on a boulder until the right rear wheel was about 1" off the ground to see about articulation and clearance.
All Good. Even with the back wheel all the way tucked in there is still about one inch clearance all around it.
Pretty much the same in the front.

I just tried to send photos either way and also joined photobucket.
Absolutely none of those things work for me.
I might be an idiot when it comes to computers but none of that stuff makes sense, is user friendly or even works.
Sorry about that but I would rather cut a Tercel in half and weld it back together with no trace then dealing with this nonsense.
Way too many options for everything. Nothing as simple as a Tercel (maybe not the carb but you know)

So I have had it for today with this and ask if anybody would be willing to post the photos for me if I e-mail them, which is something I can do without
any problems.

Sorry about that

Cheers

Thilo