Life with Leonard

[dlb]

leonard is is really good shape. i see no rust at all. very nice!

i was going to suggest a carb rebuild but you beat me to it. just be sure to do it somewhere clean so that if any of the tiny pieces drop on the floor, you will be able to find them!

if you can't find a visible leak for your coolant, it is likely in the head gasket. used to seem like a huge job to me until i did one on my wife's truck last year. it's not that bad though.

[GLet71]

Someone is giving away an '85 Corolla here in Nelson; wonder if that comes equipped with the 4ac. I'll have to do some research. As for the paint, I think it has been painted over, but have not completed any thorough inspection to tell me for sure. I bought it off of a body repairman, and he repaired the front quarter panel, and added a strip of rock guard along the bottom. The interior is pretty awesome too, I'll post some more pics soon!

[Tercel__jon]

Mine grinds into 3rd if I shift too quick too. Double clutching solves all my problems and raises questions from passengers. Its fun and you get used to it. And it can be done quickly going uphill too. We've got some steep ones around here.

[dlb]

Someone is giving away an '85 Corolla here in Nelson; wonder if that comes equipped with the 4ac. I'll have to do some research.

according to this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_A_engine#4A

it looks like the ae71 corollas only had it till '84 but the ae82 and ae86 had it till '87. if you can't see the badge on the engine, just look at the serial # stamped in the engine bay and if it starts with ae82 or ae86, as long as the engine hasn't been swapped you should have a 4AC. they're quite common, actually. if you can drive the car and do a compression test before you buy it, that would be ideal.

I bought it off of a body repairman

i don't think there could be a better previous owner for a car. that's ridiculously lucky.

[Petros]

Sounds like a nice trip. YOu should be getting better economy than than, even hilly should be about 27 mpg or better.

check all your vac lines for condition and routing, check for vac leak, check the AAP diaphragm, check the timing.

[GLet71]

I do feel lucky about how nice of shape the car is in, but it does seem just too damn shiny; scared to ding it up, lol! I recently replaced my AAP diaphragm, and sprayed ether around all the lines (don't preach, I know the trouble ether brings!), and never noticed any increase in rpms. My shifting never did improve after all the tranny washes, etc, but someone in town sells Amsoil gear oil, so I will give that a try before I head on summer holidays.

As for the coolant leak, I will start with the last cheap option and replace my rad cap to eliminate any possibility of it being that. If it were the head gasket, would I not have milky white motor oil on my dipstick?

[dlb]

As for the coolant leak, I will start with the last cheap option and replace my rad cap to eliminate any possibility of it being that. If it were the head gasket, would I not have milky white motor oil on my dipstick?

not necessarily. there are a few other ways to check too: do a compression test and if two adjacent cylinders are lower, the head gasket between them has given way; start the car with the rad cap off and look for bubbles of exhaust coming up through the coolant...what else is there? not sure.

in regards to the lousy mileage, you could check all of the emissions stuff. none of it is hard to do and if, say, the TVSV is not operating properly, some systems might be operating as if they were cold even when the engine is hot.

a hidden vac leak to check for is the vacuum advance diaphragms on the dizzy. unplug the hoses from them, put a relatively clean hose on each port on the vac advance cans, suck on it, and put your tongue in the end of the hose to hold the vacuum. each one should make a 'pop' initially and then hold vacuum. if you can suck air, that means your engine is sucking air through it when it's running, which means it's a vacuum leak!

[Petros]

double check all the routing for the vac lines. Even mechanics will screw up the routing of the vac lines.

I just picked up a fixer just before it was going into the wrecking yard (saved another one from the crusher!), it has a nice body, but the previous owner was not too bright. Almost every vac line was miss routed, choke did not work due to someone dorking around with the linkage, and a number of other obvious problems engine problem. Someone installed an imported crate engine (3ASVC) swapped over the intake/exhaust system from the Tercel and was too much a dim wit to just look at the perfectly readable vac routing sticker on the hood.

Slowly fixing all the problems. Biggest one is there is no 5th gear in the trans, drives and shift okay, but when put into 5th it makes bad noises So I either have to find a replacement trans, or have this one rebuilt. Still worth it, body is almost perfect and all of the paint is excellent, factory two-tone blue. Must have been garaged, almost no signs of sun damage on either paint or interior. I might make it my daily driver.

[dlb]

glet, jarf just posted this and it sounds like something you might want to check out. it's a trans additive that seems to help with worn synchros.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7985

[GLet71]

Hey, I saw that too! I am waiting to see if any other ideas come to the thread as to the pros and cons of it. There was a thread earlier from 4WDChico about not installing anything with a friction modifier, and I wanted to wait and see what others think about this product before I go and dump it in my trans. I appreciate the heads up, let me know if you have any formed opinion on that particular product...

[Petros]

If your trans is already worn out and requires a rebuild with new parts, you will not harm it by putting in the additives. It is sometimes a great and inexpensive intrim measure.

I want to see if I can find that stuff around here, my trans is fine, but the syncros are a bit tired. That additive might slow the wear on the syncos since there would be less slip when they engage.

[dlb]

i've never looked for the stuff but looks like you can find sellers via their website:

http://www.molyslip.com/where-to-buy/

or you could go the ebay route:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Molyslip-G-Gear ... a4&vxp=mtr

looks like they're a canadian company judging by the contact info on their site. neat.

[GLet71]

I went looking for some 'Restore' today for my s**tbox Econoline, and of the 3 spots I went into, I'm sure I saw some Molyslip for sale in one of them. It would certainly be cheaper than 4 litres of of Amsoil.

[dlb]

sounds like things aren't going well with the project van!

[GLet71]

I believe I have found another old Econo-camper that is less...well, project-y. I just want get this one running a little better, then hopefully get $300 for it. If I want a project, it's gonna be a T4!