Just bought a JDM Carib sprinter

[Mattel]

So the steel factory sunroof on my Corolla all-trac (Corolla 4wd in Australia) developed some bad rust and perforated through where a previous owner had badly patched it up and used a bitumen paste on the underside which trapped moisture and corroded through.

My wife puts up with my car as long as it doesnt leave flaky red metal peices in her hair and water on her when it rains.A friend who has the same sunroof in his parts corolla 4wd with the rust had the same issue so we started pulling apart his so we could work out how to build our replacements. the design has some flaws where the top steel peice and the inner subframe that moves on the track into the roof cavity are tack welded along a seam around the edge of the sunroof that sits in the undrained rubber seal which is a fundamental design flaw. I think this is also true of the Tercel wagon sunroof. I would advise some small drainage holes being drilled into the rubber seal.





set of photos on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... a13dce65dc

So I was looking at getting a yacht builder to build me a new fiberglass sunroof panel for about $500 that would take the place of the rusted steel top plate. Even then I knew it might not work but as the sunroof cars are so rare I though I would have no luck finding a replacement one.

Two days before I was going to drive the 150km round trip to the fiberglass fabricator I saw an advert for this car on gumtree (australia's craigslist)

f9e00957-0787-4d1c-95b8-cba9abdffe16.png

OK, I thought, I have to get this sunroof! so I started talking to the seller. seems he was ok in the accident and the car is a personal import from Japan. It has height control, climate control AC, electric windows, retractable electric mirrors, velour interior and of course a sunroof. However, it was in Queensland which is 1,000 miles away. I thought about going up there on a cheap flight some weekend and pulling the sunroof. but then the owner told me it was glass! damn. but I knew there was a guy with a glass sunroofed JDM carib sprinter in Melbourne where I live and he worked just 20 minutes away from me so I met him there and traced his sunroof and it fitted where my steel one would go! Of course it would have been to expensive for Toyota to change the sunroof tooling in the factory so it was the same size hole. good news!

My red SR5 and Chaturas Carib Sprinter



Anyway, as the replacement sunroof was glass I was really unsure how to get it down here. either i would have to use a specialised glass transporter or drive it down myself as I could not imagine flying it down here. so I was in a bind.

I started to talk to Chatura - with the carib sprinter in Melbourne. His height control suspension needed some parts. Another guy from Melbourne needed a new SR5 interior and electric windows. Another guy wanted the rare JDM side strips, rear bumper, leather steering wheel.

So I gave the owner a call and he sold us the car for $500. I then found a transporter that would bring it half way across australia for only $660 and it arrived today to an acquaintance's garage. This weekend we can start dismantling the car and have had offers from others for the luggage cover, wheels and other parts already. The auto transmission has only 10,000 kms on it so we should be able to sell that as well. we can take our time to pick clean this car. A good win in the end. we will also end up with a plethora of parts that we can use between us such as starters, alternators etc. I would recommend this idea to forum regulars that live near others. saves a lot of money even if you have to bring from interstate!

1/I'm grabbing these monsoon guards!

2/Dashboard with a picture of the Tercel on the height control!

3/Arrived in Melbourne

[Petros]

how does the ride height adjustment work? air bags combined with the front and rear shocks/struts? those front struts should be able to be adapted to the Tercel4wd, I would love adjustable ride height for my tercel!

[Mattel]

Hi Petros,

It seems to be a complicated hydraulic system. we will have fun removing it this weekend

consisting of reservoir, electronic brain, hydraulic piping and shocks.

The car was owned by a motorbike fork specialist so he recently serviced it before the accident.

[dlb]

in theory, i love the push button height control, but in practice, they sound pretty unreliable. on most of the ae95's i've seen with the height control, it hasn't worked. too bad because it's obviously super cool.

fantastic score, matt. even though i have a basement of ae95 parts, i'm now kicking myself for various things i failed to pull off my parts car that i could use now. strip it bare!

[Mattel]

I have installed air shocks in the rear of my corolla that work off a schraeder valve and can give me 150mm of extra clearance in the rear. They were for a really popular GM car in australia called the Holden Commodore and also fit the Tercel.

[Petros]

I have a 12 volt air pump I got off an MPV with automatic load lever (I bought it as a spare for our aging MPV 4wd mini van), from the wrecking yard. The original is still working fine, so I thought of using it in my tercel if I ever get air shocks for the rear and find some kind of air bags for the front struts. In the MPV it is set up with a processor and a level sensor, in the Tercel I would just use it push button, one to go up, and one to release the air pressure and go back down to normal ride height.

These same 12v air pumps are used in Lincolns, Mercedes, as well as the Mazda MPVs with the load leveler option (came with the tow package). They likely come in other cars as well, the wrecking yards are full of them. Curious that the pump is actually made in the USA.

likely this would be a more reliable and lighter set up than the hydraulic ride height adjustment.

[Petros]

something like this on the front would be awsome...very costly however, the manufacturer makes them to order specifically to fit your model of car. A pair of these would cost as much as the whole rest of the car. I wonder if I can get them to just sell me the rubber spring.

[larry mcgrath]

Saw on of these cars with a Rue bar on it when we visited my son in Perth 3 yrs ago cool car Larry

[lannvouivre]

I wonder if I can get them to just sell me the rubber spring.

$900 please, sir. Thankyou.

[Mattel]

These are a lot simpler.

they just replace the original rear shock

I have a remote valve that has a T peice and tubing

I got mine NOS for $50 now I think about it

http://www.monroe.com.au/products/gas-riser.html

[Mark]

I've always been paranoid about these things. Maybe I just don't understand how they work. I picture a seal failing in the cylinder when you're driving down the highway and that side suddenly drops. I must be missing something though, since I've never heard of a fiery accident caused by them.

[Petros]

those are great for the rear, there are lots of options there such as the air shock. What I am looking for is a simple solution, like that, for the front struts. If there were some kind of shapped airbag, like they make for the rear springs, but with a hole or channel down the middle, to put in the front strut that would be perfect.

Mark, these kind of air shocks have been around a long time. there are a lot of cars that come stock with them. our '92 Mazda MPV 4wd van has them stock in the rear, after 320k they still work. Yes the bladders can eventually leak, the factory replacement shock is likr $400, but these Monroe shown above work just as well for much less money. Most MPV owners with the tow package option will replace them with the Monroe air shock.

Even if they fail there is no hazard, they are designed to augment the rear spring, not replace it. If the air bladder fails, all of the air goes out both shocks and it returns to normal ride height, the shock will behave as a regular dampener. So it is not a good idea to depend on them to keep fenders off of over-sized tires, because you will be stuck if you lose air. But to temporarily compensate for a heavy load, or more ground clearance, than they work great. Which is what I want them for on the Tercel. With an on-board 12v air pump, I would use it at normal ride height for most driving, but when on deep rutted roads, mud, stream crossings, and deep snow, raise it up to get past the difficult terrain, and than return it back to normal ride height.

Most newer high end 4wd SUV have a similar system, I was in one once in deep snow, it worked remarkably well to get us much further up the road on a backcountry ski trip. It would be a simple and very cool way to update the Tercel4wd.

[lannvouivre]

Land Rovers often use something similar. There was one near my home that had the air ride go out. It sat with one side bottomed out and the other fine for a few months.

[Mattel]

Land Rovers often use something similar. There was one near my home that had the air ride go out. It sat with one side bottomed out and the other fine for a few months.

no - range rovers have a complicated airbag spring system with inbuilt compressors. This is simply a pneumatically adjusted damper that works with the existing springs. I've had mine on for 30,000 kms now. Not a problem at all - good firm ride and great clearance for the few times I really need it.