1984 Toyota Tercel 4wd SR5 for sale on Ebay

[lucafusi]

Hey guys--I'm the purchaser here. I've been lurking these forums for a couple of weeks but found the eBay listing independently. When that bid locked in and I realized I was the new owner of a 4X4 SR5, I decided to head back here to make the rounds. Imagine my surprise to find the very auction being discussed in realtime!

Yup, $4,550. I know I overpaid, but at 32 years and most of my adult life managing via public transit in New York and Seattle, this is my first car.

I've been circling the drain on finding a vehicle that really spoke to me for a couple of years now. I love the look and feel of 80s sedans, have to drive manual, and have wanted something I could tinker with myself--something that'd force me to, actually. Thought about something economical like an old CRX or a Civic Hatchback for a while when I realized a wagon'd fit a lot of my Washington State outdoorsy needs really well, and that I don't need to hypermile it with how little I actually drive (basically just weekends at this point). So I was stuck in this grey area of wanting a thirty year old car that wasn't heavily used, whose condition I could vet with confidence even as my own mechanical skills are zero. Craigslist didn't feel like the way avenue for that, as most of the cars on there I'd want seemed like they'd been rusting in a driveway for years, and getting out to the boondocks of WA state to see the promising ones is incredibly tough when you don't have a car of your own!

Therefore, eBay. I saw this listing a week or so ago and thought I should do something stupid and go in on the car as the timer closed.. and here we are! I feel strangely good and excited about it. The premium I paid, I hope, buys me a little peace of mind that this guy won't break down in the super near future--I want to get under the hood, but I'm nowhere near confident enough to buy a rustbucket off the Craigslist lot and get it running from a standstill. But I'll get there over this thing's lifetime! The Tercel seems really well taken care of, and I'll continue to show it the same love and respect with everything I can learn from around here.

Anyways. That's a bit of a long-winded intro, but I'm super excited to have pulled the trigger on this guy and to join the community in general.

Hope to see you all around here!

[dlb]

welcome to the forum lucasfusi, and congrats on the purchase. you did pay a premium but excellent condition tercs do fetch such prices so it's not crazy or anything. here's hoping it's as good as it looks, and when the time comes that you need to do some work on it, this forum is an excellent resource.

[lucafusi]

Thanks dlb! Yeah, consider that my newcomer's tax. Will get it fully inspected once I get her back to around Seattle, and do a solid dive of the manual and a refresh of the FAQ you guys've got up here.

A decade or so back ago, I built my first PC from scratch, and it didn't go totally as planned. I bent a pin on my CPU out of place while trying to socket it the first time; $200 mistake right there. Had mismatched RAM, had overly aggressive timings, had an insufficient PSU, had weird BIOS issues--took me a little time, but when I finally got the thing booting up and into Windows and had this thing I'd built from the ground up working, what a feeling. There was never a tech support line I could call to get someone to come and fix it for me, or a Dell reinstallation CD I had on hand, but anytime something goes wrong with a computer now, I know I can get to the bottom of it, because I've been there.

Get the feeling buying a 30-year old Tercel 4X4 is going to feel much the same way. I'm weirdly excited about the first thing to spring loose and looking forward to the journey.

Cheers again for the warm welcome.

[ARCHINSTL]

Hey - it looks like you got a really great car - and Welcome!
Lots of very talented and friendly peeps here; no flaming or similar shenanigans, esp. compared to other clubs.
Tom M.

[Gottolovem]

Welcome!

IMO you picked a great car to "cut your teeth on"

[Petros]

that is a great deal for the car if it is mechanically sound and had a good body (I do not care for doing body work or painting much). I expect you can just drive it home, but have all of the fluids checked before you hit the road, particularly make sure the trans gear lube and rear diff is topped up, before you hit the road.

Consider I bought an '86 Tercel 4wd SR5 for only $160, that needed some work. The guy said it "only" needed a new rear diff (for some reason the diff was completely bundled up and it was not driveable), the brakes need to be bled out (since he and a buddy just put in new brakes), and a carb rebuild. The body was decent, but inteiror was a mess. Not a bad deal I though, if that is all it needs, I had most of the parts I needed for it already.

I clean out the rear diff housing of metal shavings and installed a new diff. In the process I found the rear wheel bearings were shot, so I replaced those. The brake cylinders were leaky, so I bought new ones (so much for "new" brakes, it only had new shoes). The inteior was all moldly becasue he left a window open while it sat in the rain and snow for several years, I bought all new carpet, seats and seat belts at a wrecking yard because I got lucky there was one in and got it at a Pick-n-pull 50% off day, so I ripped everything out of the inside (found about 3 lbs of moldly dog food under the seats too), cleaned it, bleached it and installed the new carpet and seats. I also discovered the front bearings were completely shot, so I replaced them too, as well as the front ball joints while I was there. I looked over the engine since it was barely running, and found nine vacuum leaks, once I sorted and adjusted everything on the engine and got it to run good without rebuilding the carb. I also had to replace the brake master cylinder since it was shot and why the brakes were mushy (it was not air in the system, it was a bad master cylinder). finally when it was drivable I was able to find out what else was wrong: the seller told me he had "new" transmission put in it when the clutch was replaced. Turns out they put the wrong year trans in it, and it had front and rear diff mismatch, which explained why the rear diff got trashed. So I pulled out the rear diff (which was the correct ratio for that year), and installed the earlier rear diff (which I pick up at the wrecking yard), and put it in so the front and rear diff would be the same ratio. Than finally I had a decent running T4wd where everything was working properly. The paint was still bad, so I cleaned it up as best I could and than sold it, and it has been a decent car since to several owners.

The point is if you had to take it to a repair shop, even if they knew anything about these cars, you would have likely spent in excess of $3000 in repairs. likely they would have been learning on the car and you also get to pay for their time finding all the problems and fixing them. Many of the problems, like the diff damage and the mixed up vac lines, were caused by a mechanic that was not familiar with these cars, so you risk them doing more damage even as you pay them to fix their last mistake. AS it was I had about $800 into the car in parts alone, and WAY more time than I expected. I did okay on it as far as a profitable fixer, but I do not want to think about what my equivalent "pay" would have been, likely less than a bugger flipper gets at the local fast food joint.

So it is better to buy one that is in good condition, from someone that knows how to maintain and repair them. It is also best to learn to do your own maintenance, that way you can make your own mistakes for free, and learn about the car you own and know how to fix it properly.

[lucafusi]

Hey y'all!

As listed, the car comes with a set of the factory original wheels. I'm not going to be able to ship these alongside the vehicle as it makes its way cross-country, and am investigating getting this stuff sent along by a carrier on the ground after the fact. Just to confirm--it's worth holding onto to any and all factory original parts for models like these (assuming sound working order), even if it's for nothing more than future resale / aesthetics? Or should I leave the tires where they lay?

Sorry for the newcomer questions; you can expect lots of these until I've cut my teeth properly!

Luca

[irowiki]

Why not put them in the back hatch of the car put the seats down

If they are the steel wheels don't bother they are a dime a dozen if they are the alloy wheels those are more rare

[Petros]

I do not have have a high opinion of factory wheels or radio (the optional factory alloy wheels are decent). Some restoring fanatics want all the "matching" factory parts to make it "show room new". truth is I doubt a fully restored Tercel would bring enough money to justify keeping the wheels, though if these cars actually do become collectable some time they might.

Even new the factory wheels were too flimsy, when you switch to alloy wheels you can actually feel the difference in how much more responsive the steering becomes. The optional upgrade factory alloy wheels are decent, though a bit heavy, and those would be worth keeping if you want to do a "show room stock" restoration.

OTOH, if they have decent studded snow tires on them, and where you live you need studded snow tires, they are worth bringing home, but shipping is pretty costly (they are after all used tires on them). But I would find a way to carry them in the car (I have driven two full sets of extra wheels and tires, plus spare parts, back from New Mexico to Washington, just pack light). If you need to sleep in the back, you just unload the tires each night, and load them back. but a hotel is much more comfortable, or perhaps a stop at a fellow forum member's place if anyone is willing (it is always fun to meet other forum members).