The Tersailor (REBUILDING)

[Tersailor]

Greetings fellow Tersailors! I am only 17 years old and I have been waiting to share my tercel project for some time after several years being in the forum and working on my car. I would like to share my story on how I got my 1983 deluxe 4wd manual Tercel nicknamed "Tersail" but as of now I will talk about my current journey of rebuilding the engine so I can get some helpful tips on the way.

I currently have the engine out and it is not yet touched because I'm painting the engine bay right now, I already painted my overflow coolant tank, headlights frame, and the horn the color black. I will now cover those up and paint the engine bay with some rustoleum chestnut paint and primer.

After the engine bay is done, me and my dad will start rebuilding the engine with the master rebuild kit. The engine only has 170K miles, the clutch went out and I believe the ac compressor isn't working. Other than that it ran pretty good.

If anyone has any tips on rebuilding a engine or painting the engine would be great. This is my first time doing a major project. I will show more pictures later on...

[NWMO]

Nice work, keep it up!

[Tersailor]

I put some of the good old rustoleum paint and primer in the engine bay, so far it looking great. My dad said it looks like peanut butter. Hewanted the engine bay black, but I wanted to keep the tercel funkyness.

Ill show the full engine bay pic once i get the clear coat in.

[Tersailor]

Today I was able to put the clear coat. Here's how it looks!

[Tersailor]

So now that the engine bay looks much better. We have started disassembling the motor. This is the new parts that I have to buy


New water pump rock auto
Weber carb gasket
New Ac compressor
New exhaust and intake valves
New alternator rockauto
Clutch kit ebay
New battery, junkyard
Crankshaft pulley ebay
Thermostat stuff rockauto
Spark plug wires, tune up kit rockauto
Motor mounts
Ac receiver
Ac valve
Master rebuild kit ebay

I hope this is all i need to have a long lasting engine,

[Nordical25]

You will swap a lot of parts to that car. Remember to swap timing belt too.

[Tersailor]

Yeah, I believe that master rebuild kit will come with the belts. I wrap up the engine now since its going to be raining a whole week.

[Nordical25]

Great! Then you are good to go.

[Tersailor]

Since it will be raining for quite some time, I guess I can now tell my Tercel 4wd story how the car was stolen, beaten up, abandoned, and how the 1st owner droven it all the way across the US.
I had a AI make my story use more artistic word than it previously did...

As the rain continued to pour down, the perfect opportunity presented itself to indulge in the captivating tale of the Tercel 4wd. A vehicle that had been through a tumultuous journey of theft, abandonment, and neglect, yet had been miraculously resurrected from its dismal fate.

Little was known about the first few owners of the Tercel, who drove the Tercel from CA to NC. but the second owner, an African American residing in the scenic state of North Carolina, left quite an impression. He had installed new speakers and a radio, and even carved out two speaker holes in the rare cargo cover with awful precision. A smoker, he had unfortunately left behind some unsightly stains and an unpleasant odor that lingered long after his departure.

Tragedy befell the Tercel when it was stolen, resulting in a police pursuit that ended in Wilson, an hour away from its home. After the thief was caught, the tercel accumulated minor damages, the owner of the tercel left it at his brothers house to rust away at the mercy of time and nature.

It remained forgotten until an unexpected discovery was made by the former boss of the my father. After my father clean the property for his boss, Hidden under a pile of junk on a recently acquired land was the Tercel, gathering dust and rust over the years. Despite its dismal state, the title was found inside the vehicle and transferred over to the new owner, His boss...

For a brief moment, the Tercel had a purpose again, even if it was just to hold some granite countertops. But after its brief stint as a makeshift table, the car was once again abandoned and forgotten.

Years had passed, and the Tercel sat fat on the property, whom the second owner's brother still lived in. The narrator's father happened stumble upon it during a visit to his old friend, who happened to be homeless and staying in a shed on the property. The brother offered to sell the car for a mere $200, and while the father initially had little interest, he knew his son had a fascination for all things rusty and forgotten.

At just thirteen years old, the I was thrilled at the idea of owning the Toyota Tercel. It appeared to be an ugly, decrepit relic, but my fascination with the high model 4wd wagon, for a small price was too alluring to ignore. With All my life savings in hand, I purchased the car and waited with glee as my father and his friend managed to start the car, whom everyone who lived in the property was astounded by the turn of a key and with a new battery, the tercel said "VROOM".

As they began the journey home, the Tercel proved to be quite a challenge. With no functioning brakes or lights, the vehicle constantly stalled when in idle due to its dirty fuel tank and carburetor. Nevertheless, the Tercel persevered, determined to bring himself back to life.

And thus ends part one of the captivating Tercel story, leaving the audience eager and curious on what part two may hold.

[Toyotise]

Tercel stories are the best. Good work.

[NWMO]

Looking forward to the next installment.

Chris

[Tersailor]

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Alright today it didn't rain so we had some time to remove and disassemble the whole head and engine block. A few scratches was found and couple of loose bolts. The head gasket looked like it was starting to fail since couple of small holes were slightly brunt and widened out. Overall its not too bad, rather pleasant for its age.

During my free time i had a chance to paint my starter, radiator, Fan, and what ever is shown in the photo. It was also a pain removing those mounts

[Tersailor]

I do not have much experience in this area, but I decided not to get oversized pistons because the machine shop cost more $$$. The engine only has 170k miles, it ran pretty well before and most of the engine problems it had were only because the engine part was dirty or it simply wither out in time...

[NWMO]

Tersailor,

I’m just a shade tree, hillbilly mechanic, but I think there is a spec for ring gap when you slide the pistons back in. For the life of me, I can’t remember how you would measure it? I would hone the cylinder walls and check cylinder dia. and possibly ring gap on the pistons. If it falls in spec or anywhere close, I’d be satisfied.

Chris

[Petros]

Hi Tercailor,

you should consider replacing the pistons and rings, the cylinders are prone to wear if the oil was not changed regularly, have the machine shop measure the bore dia and compare it to the piston, as I recall spec is 0.003" clearance. if it is more, you risk piston slap due to the poor fit and you may have to do the rebuild over again if this clearance causes damage to the piston. it may save money not to over bore it, but you waste a lot of money and time on a rebuild if you have too much wear in the cyclinder bores, and you have to rebuild it again. I know from experience. If they are within spec, you can reuse the pistons and not have to over bore the engine, though I would replace the piston rings, they do not cost much.

Also, replace the exhaust valves, they can suffer heat damage and are likely to fail later, so new ones are necessary (adn they to do not cost much). But the intake valves are usually good, they just need the face reground by the machine shop. the factory valve is high quality, and the intakes last a long time because they run much cooler than the exhaust. if they are damaged or bent, than replace the intakes, but if they are good I would reuse them. Also, replace the valve stem seals as well. do it carefully so you do not damage them when installing (perhaps search Youtube to see how that is done).

Go read up on my head gasket installation thread in the repair guilds section of this forum. It has important tips on getting a good head gasket installation. And it shows you how to save money on resurfacing the head and block by doing it yourself, and getting a better head gasket installation.

if you need a clutch, I would only replace it with an AISIAN brand (the kind the factory uses), there are other good ones but too many others are questionable quality. Only use USA or Japanese made throw out and pilot bearings, if the ones in a clutch kit are made in china, throw them out and buy quality bearings. if they fail too early it is a big job to pull the transmission to replace a $15 bearing, not worth the risk. Same thing with the thermostat, many junk communist made brands out there, only use USA or made in Japan thermostats (cost should be about $20-30 normal retail, those in the $12 range may cause damage to the engine when they fail)

Keep in mind the cheapest way to do this job is to do it once with quality parts. cutting corners or using Chinese made cheap parts is a fools job, because you are likely to have to do the job over again very soon when it fails.

good luck..