Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

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duragauge
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My tercel:: 1986 Tercel 4WD SR5
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Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

I recently picked up a non-running 1986 SR5 manual for a couple hundred dollars. My hope is to fix it enough to run in the Oregon Gambler 500 this summer and learn a little along the way.

Image

From what I gather, the car lived in Idaho before moving to Washington in 2017 and then made its way to Oregon last summer and into my garage last week.

The body is straight, the interior is decent and here's the engine bay:

my engine bay.jpg

I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at, but it does appear to have the Weber carb. The fluids look good and spark plugs are clean.

I could crank the engine by hand but couldn't get the starter to turn the engine over, so I pulled that and sent it off for a rebuild.

After removing the starter I noticed the mystery part that has me stumped. It's about the size of a softball and located just next to the starter.

mystery part.jpg

A 1/2" pipe passes through it, runs under the oil filter and exits behind the alternator pointing toward the battery tray.

mystery tube.jpg

Does anyone know what this is/was? Would it hurt anything to take it off?

Thanks!
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by BaileySims »

If I can remember correctly, it is a pipe with a one way valve connected to the catalytic converter that sucks in air to help emissions.

Might be critical to keep for emissions requirements depending on the state on which you reside. I know I lopped mine off and welded the hole shut when I first got my car.
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duragauge
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My tercel:: 1986 Tercel 4WD SR5
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

Mystery solved. You were right on target, thanks!

I was expecting emissions equipment to be on the exhaust manifold side of the engine, but motivated by your comment I found this in Chilton about the "air suction system"

air suction system.jpg

And after a look underneath it sure seems someone deleted the cat a while ago.

cat delete.jpg

Good thing there's no DEQ testing in my part of the state!
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Petros »

Welcome to the forum,

Sounds like you made a good buy. that is a filter tank and a reed valve allows fresh air into the catalytic converter to allow oxygen to break down CO into CO2, and unburned hydro carbons to H20 and C02. if you have no cat you can remove it, it is always in the way when you have to work on that side of the engine or do a clutch change. these starters are fairly reliable and very long lasting, you perhaps should have checked out the rest of the starter circuit before you sent it off for a rebuild. you may have replaced a good starter and still have the issue. things to verify is the starter relay (cheap to replace if bad), the ground connections (clean them), of course the condition of the batter terminal (corrosion), and the contacts on the ignition switch. the ignition switch (on the steering column) can be taken apart and the contacts cleaned, and reassembled if they are corroded. in fact the starter is also designed to be field maintained, take apart and clean the contacts, and if necessary replace the brushes and internal contacts.

You have a weber, looks like some one removed the charcoal canister, and almost all of the emissions systems. no air conditioner, but you have power assisted steering. Remember to replace all of the fuilds, power steering, diff/trans gear oil, and of course engine oil and coolant, as well as flush the old brake fluid. You might do a compression test, "dry" and "wet" (oil into the spark plug holes), so see the condition of the rings, valves and head gasket. A bad head gasket is a reason they often get parked, if you replace it, there is a procedure I wrote up to improve the head gasket when you replace it in the Repair guilds section. other reasons are bad clutch, or blown trans, clutch is cheap and straight forward to replace, trans is best to find a good used one and replace it if yours is bad (you can not find rebuild parts for the trans).

The Body looks decent, if interior is in good shape and it is mostly rust free that car cleaned up and running well, a decent daily driver, will get $3500 or more. it would be a shame to trash it as a gambler500.

if you have a rust bucket or one that is beat up, that would be a good candidate to use a gambler racer. I have been lurking on a gambler forum, and the kind of measures people are going to to build a cheap racer is anything but cheap. seems to me it is getting away from the idea of a beater "run what you brung" citizen racer is now too costly to be competitive.

You might just fix and clean this one up, and flip the car and use the considerable profit to finance a good beater Tercel4wd into a competitive gambler with a nice engine swap, high lift and big wheels and tires, and you will not feel bad about stripping out a wasted interior to save weight. that would be a fun build, get an otherwise undesirable car and put it to good use as a Gambler. OTOH, the number of Tercel4wd with good bodies in decent condition is dwindling, make the few remaining ones worth even more.
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Mattel »

Welcome!. Like Petros says that almost looks to good for a gambler and worth a bit if not rusty! I'd flip it and look for a cheap crusty one for racing! Great to see you getting it going again but the nice ones are getting really rare now!
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duragauge
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

Thanks for the kind welcome and helpful tips! Petros, your guides are great and I'll go through the rest of the ignition system and fluids.

Since the OG Gambler is right here in Oregon I thought it would be a fun deadline to shoot for, I have no intention of turning this into the typical Gambler car or thrashing it along the way (or spending the $$$ that some builds require).

I was thinking more along the lines of a mild overland build that is reliable, easy to fix, and could handle Forest Service roads on the weekend.
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duragauge
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

At the same time, I'm certainly not opposed to flipping a car either, but this might take some work to get up to the $3500 range.

Here are some interior shots. The driver's seat is a little threadbare, some trim pieces are loose/missing and most of the carpet has been removed(?), but there doesn't appear to be any cancerous rust.

interior front.jpg
interior middle.jpg
interior rear.jpg

The body is straight but the front fenders are a slightly different shade and the hood is sprayed in black primer, so I think those are not original. And I've got a few spots of surface rust on the edges of the driver's door and the rear hatch.

But I've gotta get it running before I worry about any of that.
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Petros »

there are likely members on this forum, or on the Tercel4wd FaceBook group, that has the carpets you need, in the correct color.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Mattel »

I think member Bryan Thompson got his car carpet brand new here in Melbourne sent to the states from this company https://www.all-car-carpets.com.au/prod ... kato620frs
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

Thanks for that reference, Mattel. They do indeed have new molded flooring in several colors & materials, including a heavy-duty vinyl which is intriguing.

The basic set is about $220 USD after shipping to me, which isn't bad.

There are a couple of Tercels at some yards in Eugene that I'll rummage through this weekend.
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Mattel »

you'd want the drivers side insert changed over for the USA to LHD though haha.
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by duragauge »

Brief update. Got the starter back (Walt's in Salem does excellent work, BTW).

rebuilt starter.jpg

Once installed the engine would turn but no spark and no fuel. Since both are mechanically controlled by the camshaft the timing belt was the obvious thing to check next. Removing the cover showed a nasty mess--broken timing belt and bad/leaking water pump.

timing belt cover removed.jpg
water pump.jpg

I drained the coolant and the oil and didn't see any cross contamination, so I think the head gasket is fine.

So I'll be cleaning that up this week after I watch xirdneh's video again. Plan on using the rope trick for the crank pulley.

Will be doing radiator hoses, thermostat, belts, front cam & crank seals and fluids along with plugs, wires, cap & rotor and fuel filter. Anything else I should do at the same time?

Glad for the RockAuto discount code!
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by rer233 »

Thank God for our non-interference engines!!
if it aint there, there's a good chance it won't break!
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Introduction & mystery part

Post by Petros »

I would not put coolant in it for your test start and running, just filtered water. often the reason a car gets abandoned is the head gasket is blown, best getting it running first to see if the head gasket is good. after a week or so of driving without loosing water, than you can change to the coolant. it would just save you the trouble of having to waste the expensive coolant until you know you will only have to fill it once. if it does need a head gasket, it is not too bad a job (I can replaced a head gasket in 3-4 hours with hand tools), use the instructions on the link below in the repair guides section of this forum:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6059
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
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Re: Gambler SR5 - Finding Top Dead Center

Post by duragauge »

Time for a quick update.

Since the timing belt was broken when I bought the car, I had no idea where the crankshaft and camshaft were in relation to each other or how to put them back in the correct positions.

So I got a $30 endoscope (thank you Adam Savage!) and peeked inside of cylinder #1 while rotating the crank.

Image

Once I was certain the piston was at the top of its travel I turned the camshaft until the intake and exhaust valves for cylinder #1 were closed (both springs were expanded and the rocker arms were down).

Image
Image

That should mean everything is at top dead center. To double check, I removed the distributor cap and the rotor was pointed to #1, just like it should be.

Image

After installing the timing belt I finally noticed some marks that could have helped me if I'd seen them earlier. This one aligns with the camshaft sprocket

Image

and this one is on the crankshaft sprocket.

Image

I have to assume the factory put those there to line things up for top dead center.

When it came time to tighten everything down I put the endoscope down into the cylinder while doing the rope trick. I fed in about 4 feet of cotton rope

Image

which compressed so I could tighten/loosen the crankshaft bolt.

Image

Kinda fun to see that in action. At any rate, after a few broken/missing bolts, I just about have everything cleaned, replaced and back together. With any luck I'll be able to fire it up this week.

Image
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