84 4wd in Portland $250 w/replacement motor

[rocketscience]

Just saw this one

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/5426771373.html

[Petros]

Some one should save that Tercel4wd!

that looks like a great deal, but needs some work. har har, did you see the side listing 2016 Toyota Tercel? Title says 1984, which it appears to be, and SR5 as well.

The bad engine may just need a new exhaust valve, might be worth pulling the head and take a look. Fixing the head is easier than pulling and swapping the engine. You can than sell the good engine for $200. such a deal.

[Mad_Marx]

$250 is cheap, I'd jump on it if it weren't so far away. Beaverton would be an expensive tow from here :/

[Petros]

if I was not up to my eyeballs in work and other responsibilities I would consider it.

It would be fun to bring a rebuilt head, swap it out in the guys driveway, and than drive it home, with the new engine in the back.

[Mad_Marx]

I hope deals like this are around when the Shitbox rally makes it to the states

[marlinh]

Could be something simple like a bad plug or wire.

[Petros]

perhaps, but before I bought an engine I would want to know what is wrong. It seems foolish to replace an whole engine without knowing what is actually wrong. Though it is possible, I have seen it before. A frustrating problem someone can not track down, the owner will "give up" and say "lets just replace the whole engine". There has even been a few newbie forum members that acted this way. These older cars tend to intimidate people who have only worked on modern cars where they plug in their analyzer and it tells them what is wrong with it. With older cars you actually have to learn how it operates to be able to diagnose problems.

In this case, a compression test would tell you real quick if it a broke valve. If the compression is all good, than I would look at spark plugs, wires, even a bad vacuum leak could make it act like it is not running on all 4 cylinders. The sellers comment "Couldn't ever figure out how to fix it" I would presume that he check spark plugs, wires, and similar external components. Perhaps not, a compression test would have told him something too.

I got a free lawn mower once because the clueless owner pulled it out from his shed in the spring to mow the lawn, pulled the cord a bunch of times, than he went to Home Depot and bought another one. He gave it to me, I took it home and had it running about 6 or 8 min after I unloaded it. Used it for many years, than gave it away still running after we moved on to acreage. When I pulled the cord it had no compression and could hear air getting sucked in and out of the exhaust. I took the side cover off the valve chamber, the exhaust valve was stuck in the open position from sitting and not running all winter. I pushed it back and forth by hand to loosen it, sprayed some penetrating oil on it, put the cover back and pulled the cord and it started.

[rocketscience]

Well I emailed the guy, I have enough spare time to work on it and am about to sell my first Tercel to my neighbor so I'll have room in the drive. Just need to figure out how to tow it, I really need to install a hitch on my vw diesel. I love the idea of swapping the head in the driveway but I don't have the skills for that yet.

[xirdneh]

Borrow a truck and rent a towing dolly. Wish I could get it, have to got rid of one first, or two.

[Petros]

manual transmission can be flat towed on its wheels with a tow bar. those can be rented, or I made one from some angle iron, a few big nuts and bolts, and a drill, custom bent to attach to the front tie down rings under the bumper on the Tercel. I has since used it on several hondas, two MR2s and a corolla.

[bryanthompson]

Well I emailed the guy, I have enough spare time to work on it and am about to sell my first Tercel to my neighbor so I'll have room in the drive. Just need to figure out how to tow it, I really need to install a hitch on my vw diesel. I love the idea of swapping the head in the driveway but I don't have the skills for that yet.

I hope you get it! We can do our restorations, simultaneously.

[rocketscience]

Eh I never heard back from him, somebody probably snagged it already

[Bdeal223]

I was in Portland this weekend for a conference, drove my truck hoping to get a hold of the guy, emailed him twice and never heard back. I really wanted to tow that thing back home. Better luck next time I suppose.