New member from Portland, OR - '86 Tercel Wagon DLX

[Gottolovem]

One of my first t4 flips was a 4a conversion my buddy still has the car and i can't tell the difference either for everyday driving!
I'm sure there is more power for pulling mountain passes and crawling around in low gear though.

[GotToyota?]

Well that's a bummer. Oh well, it's good to know I have a never motor that has slightly more power. Plus I got it for a good deal.

[Gottolovem]

I'm sure there is a number of ways to pep up the motor like a"hotter"cam maby.

Petros

[GotToyota?]

I am currently looking at cam choices from Schneider.

http://schneidercams.com/naturallyaspirated.aspx

Here's a 300F in action. It's their most aggressive cam, I've heard 260 is mild enough for daily driver use while giving it's peak power in the mid range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c91YaWEe_QM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOPrmxfmAUU

[dlb]

if you are concerned about fuel economy, be cautious about which performance cams you go with. i know synthdesign used some performance cam (i think it was a schneider) and said it was lots of fun but really affected his fuel economy. maybe do a search to see which one it was if that's a concern to you.

[irowiki]

Also, you'll find with more performance mods you tend to have a heavier foot and there goes more fuel economy!

[GotToyota?]

Yeah I read that the 300 cam killed gas mileage pretty bad but the 260 is supposed to not reduce it very much.

I sent Schneider an email about what I'm looking for and my concerns about economy.

[thermos]

Header, 260 and a weber 32/36 feels really nice and really wakes up a 4a. Light weight flywheels also apparently really wake these motors up and you're not losing a ton of economy as long as you're jetted properly.

[Petros]

Synth did use the Schinder cam on his built up 3ac, but not only did it give poor economy, it had the power range much too high for this 8 valve engine. the engine can not breath very well up where this cam wants to make more power, it is mismatched to the obsolete and underpowered engine. It made it idle poorly, typical performance cam, not really good for street use.

A much better cam, and lots cheaper, is the Delta Cams performance regrind. It is only about $40 exchange as I recall. they are in Tacoma WA, yo send them your old cam and they send you an excellent quality regrind. More power, it does not affect fuel economy, idles good yet has the power in the mid rpm range where you want on a 4wd and daily street driver.

This engine really needs a lighter flywheel, as much weight you can take off the better. It is a whopping 19 lbs, more than the larger engines in the Celica and Corolla. I cut mine down to 16 lb, and than did another one at 14 lbs. It makes it more responsive, saves weight, accelerates better. but it does not make more power. over in the 4age swap thread there are cross section drawings of where to take the weight off the flywheel.

[thermos]

Ohhh neat info on the cam.

[tercel4wdrules]

I paid almost $100 for the 260 grind from Delta cams without a core return. I have it on my '84 SR5 and I was averaging between 27-29 MPG with it. It does shift the power band a slight bit higher, but with this cam the engine keeps making power past 4,800 rpm, whereas the stock cam the power drops noticeably after peak hp rpm, which comes in handy when you need to wind it out in 2nd/3rd gear to merge onto the hwy. It would be best matched I think with a higher compression ratio and perhaps the Weber carb. Schneider has a regrind cam below the 260F which improves torque, but it's not listed on their site.

[GotToyota?]

Thanks for that, I'll look into it.

[GotToyota?]

I finally have a tach. Thanks irowiki for the cluster.

[GotToyota?]

Poor pic but showing off the white LEDs.

[Petros]

looks like it has bright white light, rather than the soft green created by a plastic green cap on the tiny lights. that is the style for the '83-84 SR5 cluster. For the '86 like yours it should have different graphics, does the speed show accurate? did you get a chance to compare the speed to a GPS?