My very first Tercel!

[jaydee911]

JD here I just bought a 87 tercel 4wd wagon!
240,000km and still running strong.

So far I have done the basic tune up as the previous owner seems to had only used it for winter driving and it had not had any servicing done since 2011.
Filters, plugs, router, fluids and a quick carb clean really woke her up.

Has some rust as you can see. Living in a snowy northern BC climate here in Canada. Future plans are to get some new fenders, and patch/fix the rust spots. I have left over black industrial primer from a diffrent toyota build I plan to splash on there and get her looking a bit nicer. I have 3 of the 4 what I'm assuming to be the original rims. Would like to find the 4th and get them cleaned up. (The rims in the photo are just some cheapies to hold me over for a while.)

Thinking about customizing the back a bit for better storage options as my carpentry skills well surpass my basic mechanical skills. Maybe a wood box for my tools to make things easier.

Shout out to the admins and all the people here for making my life much easier. Like I said I'm not much of a mechanic but with access to a community like this thers hope for me yet. Lol

[4doorVIP]

Nice ride I like the colour.
Typically wheel well rust, esp for BC cars.

My front and rear fenders are pretty well identical condition. My cars previous owners did not feel it necessary to check
drain tunnels, and/or never cleaned wheel wells out at all. You may find a ton of road scum building up behind the wheel
well plastic lining.

Keep a look out on kijiji/craigslist for mazda miata 'daisys'
They are a super cheap 14" upgrade wheel choice for these cars, and I've been able to find 2 sets w/tires for amazing prices used.


have fun keep us updated on build

[Petros]

welcome to the world of T4wd ownership,

looks like you can have some fun with a car like that, not be afraid of ruining it. not much left of the front fenders, it might be fun to cut out the rust and put some big rubber fender flairs on it like a monster truck, just for fun. put on tube and winch front bumper, big tires, and you will be good to go swamp whomping.

I might have a stock wheel you can have if you want it, needs to be cleaned up and painted. Where are you located? I am about 2 hours south of Vancouver Canada. Might be better to find one locally, unless you are coming down here to the Seattle area for some other reason.

[helipilot77]

Welcome. I like your idea of building some storage for the back. I made some drawers for my 4Runner and used some full extension slides for them each slide pair had a capacity 500 lbs. also made a nice flat top for sleeping on when I went camping.

Here are some photos for ideas.

[Mad_Marx]

Very nice, did you have to beef up the rear springs at all?

[helipilot77]

Very nice, did you have to beef up the rear springs at all?

Yeah. I got heavy duty springs so that I could load it down with gear.

[jaydee911]

Haven't touched the suspension... yet lol

More looking for a daily driver/road trip sort of rig this time around. All though Bush buggy did cross my mind... lol

Sweet ideas on the sliding storage thanks for the pics!

@petros - I'm located in Abbotsford. Sounds like your not to far away! Will be in touch. I plan to get them done by a buddy.

Thanks guys feeling welcome. Will keep posting progress.

[jaydee911]

Ok guys quick update for the records.
I found a donar car. It's an 85 2wd auto with a blown motor.

Picking it up cheap. Good body and and few new parts under the hood.

Got big plans to swap out the body and patch my rear fenders. Here's the paint scheme I'm basing mine off. Might do a darker colour instead of that light blue.

Might tint out rear windows.
Rain gaurd?

[Petros]

That is one of my favorite color combos.

Sounds like a good buy for the parts, you will not be sacrificing a good T4wd just for parts. Realize the 2wd and 4wd body pan is completely different because the 2wd does not have a rear drive train. almost no mechanical parts aft of the fire wall are not interchangeable. The front fenders, hood and sheet metal, as well as the forward mechanical parts (expect the trans) are all interchangeable, and many parts are worth saving.

you can possibly use the rear quarter panel if you are cutting and welding them, but do this carefully because the fuel filler is on the other side, so check for differences before you cut it up.

[jimcrazy]

did the window tint thing on mine,went with 55% was the lightest I could get,,not a fan of the super dark stuff

[jaydee911]

Nice! Looks good. And I like the boots!!

[jaydee911]

Nice! Looks good. And I like the boots!!

PETROS. I don't plan on taking the quorters. I will fix the rust around the rear wheel wells. Allot less work and don't have to mess with the gass fill stuffs.

My plan is to take the hood, fenders, and hatch off. Paint them. Then throw them on the running car. Will interchange the inner door panels to make everything on the inside match.

I also see value in the windshield as mine does have a small rock chip.

The alternator is new. Rad looks to be in better shape then mine. Not sure if the rad is aftermarket, it does look to be "thicker" then the one in my running wagon. And the master break cylinder is new.

So lots of value there. Not sure how long I can hold onto the parts car after I take what I want off. I might take the goods and junk the rest do to not having much space for more toys.

The auto trans would be worth saving?

Ideally I want to save the whole thing but it might come down to having to salvage what I can...

We will see. Going to pick it up some time this month and get started.

[Petros]

the auto trans is worth saving for another auto trans Tercel, even a 4wd. many of the parts are interchangeable, including many of the ones that fail, and are hard to find. It might allow someone to keep his auto trans T4wd on the road.

[jaydee911]

BAD NEWS BOYS!
Had an unpleasant encounter with a cop last week. Long story short I got ticketed a vehicle inspection. Some rust on the chassis is stopping me from passing. So im looking for a donar car with a clean tittle.

Looking for another 4wd tercel with a blown motor or something like that so i can swap parts over and get one back on the road.