Lifting a Tercel!?!

Goatlad · Post by **Goatlad** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:45 am

yes.

cut/stretch frame to length.

put brackets on unibody to line up with chassis.

attatch with at least 8 large bolts.

run your linkages, lines, and cables.

It sounds so easy right? 4 little steps?

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:44 pm

Now for the 100 sub-steps. Lol.
You could customize a Tercel bed and make a Tercel crew-cab lol.

I was looking at the 4wd Truck and its IFS is wacky... It needs a frame to mount to for one thing. I'm sure I could think of something if given the time and a truck I could go measure and examine any time I pleased.
SFS would be pretty cool too, but would eat up your ride comfort.

coltarms · Post by **coltarms** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:30 pm

isn't the tracker and the x-90 on a unibody? I know that the Jeep Cherokee is. I believe that the Liberly and Grand Cherokee are also now IFS on a unibody.

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:48 pm

coltarms wrote:isn't the tracker and the x-90 on a unibody? I know that the Jeep Cherokee is. I believe that the Liberly and Grand Cherokee are also now IFS on a unibody.

No, the little Suzuki SUVs were body-on-frame construction until very recently. But they do have IFS with struts. The Samurai had a solid front axle.

Goatlad · Post by **Goatlad** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:52 pm

I postd this in the other forum as well, but i felt it would get more read here...

http://www.high-tec-retreading.com Makes a retreadded 14" tire that measures 195/75/14 and has an All Terrain tread. It is modeled after the Cooper AT/C. They make it primarily for the United Stated Postal Service, and since it is such an unpopular tire size, they do not list it on the site. I was assured, however, that they do in fact have them, and they cost a measley $42 per tire plus shipping. All in all you can get a set of super high quality retreads for about 200 bucks to your door.

DontFive · Post by **DontFive** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:32 pm

Hello,

This is my first post, and I would tend to shy away from sappy first posts like this one, but I am so relieved to find a site dedicated to the Tercel. I have loved the modest characteristics of this trusty car for a while now and the more I read into them the more I love them. I have yet to buy one of my own, because I want to research all I can before I decide on one. I am hoping to get my hands on a black 87 wagon, with the SR5 decals on the side

, and, living in Chicago, I hope it wont be too difficult to find one in my area. I am very interested in lifting it a little bit to squeeze the bigger tires on (like the ski-wagon) but instead of high mud treads I am hoping to put some all terrain tires on. Although light off-roading is going to be part of this cars agenda, it is not going to be beaten on or heavily modified for off-road use because it is going to become my daily driver. Any advice on what I should do is appreciated and I am so thankful to whoever created this site as it has been the compilation of all the google-searching I have done and more! I will probably post this in the general forum as well. I love these cars!

-Paul

Finder349 · Post by **Finder349** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:36 pm

Had a thought.

Lifting the front of the Tercel 2 inches may cause camber (?) problems? Ok even if I have it wrong. What about this, when we make the spacers that will go on top of the strut just build them in a way that compensates. Please forgive the poor description to come... Rather than build them like we are all thinking (like this) | | build them with an approprate angle like this / /

Wow that makes no sence.

Ok maybe this. Lifting the Tercel makes the front tires go \ / . So offset the spacer top and botom plates so that they hold the struts in toward the center of the car a little and that will straiten the tires out | | and make alignment easier? or at least possible.

Anyone follow that?

Calvin

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:20 pm

Thats essentially pointless. I see what you are aiming at, and yes, it is a good idea, but the limiting fact IS NOT the strut. The strut wants to point straight down. It doesn't like having to go \ / more than we like it. Well, why then, does it do \ /? Simple. The CV halfshafts, sway bar, main link, etc are not long enough. If you take a pen, and hold the pointed end in your fingers, loosely enough it can pivot, and lift it up from this single end off the table, what happens? It moves closer to the point of pivot. This is because it is a set length. In a triangle, the Hypotenuse (angled side) is equal to the square root of the base and height squared then added. H^2=B^2+H^2. If the hypotenuse is a set length, then increasing the height will quickly shrink the base, or vice versa.

The ultimate solution to our problrems would be longer half-shafts, set at a slightly wider than stock track (angled spacer-mounts might be handy here) to aid in the angle of the joints, combined with longer... Everything. Have fun figuring out the sway bar situation, as I'm sure a custom bar would be very much needed.
With something that starts off like that would we be able to attain over 2 inches of lift on the stock IFS setup... Though it'll hardly be stock when we're done lol.