Seriously. I've been a tercel fanatic since I first got my license 9 years ago and got my first one. All 3A...all the way. Owned at least 10 since then...all 83-86. Only 2 4wd ones though.
Over the past 4 years I have driven a nice little celica for the summer and have bought a tercel every winter for a beater and parked the celi. I also have an 86 hatchback that teh wifey drives year-round. He goes by "Dr. Bruce Banner (for no apparent reason)"...I've put plenty of work into that one......I'll host some pics of it at the bottom
My first 4wd was "the green machine" I went crazy with the paint and it turned out pretty good for a bunch of spray bombs and some sheet metal
little fiberglass and some plywood goes a long ways...I didn't need that spare anyways
I eventually got pulled over for the green on the headlights....it was just transparent paint but I had to scrape it off on the side of the road...lolz
I fit a leather celica steering wheel in there too...it said "twin cam" on it...confused some people
ALso had one of those old school AOOOOGGGGGAAAAA horns...it was awesome...and the front springs were both shot so if I pumped the brakes when I pulled up to stop signs the front of the car would bounce like it was on hydraulics....hee hee that car got me some funnylooks
Sadly I sold that one for $400 more than I got it + a parts car for
The next winter I bought yet another 4wd cuz I loved how they performed in the snow (we get lots of it up here) I wanted to do a crazy paint scheme on that one as well but winter hit before I got a chance to do it and I was forced to put the celi away and bring out the reserves.....it ended up staying plain old white
That one I also sold for a few hundred more than I paid for it
This winter I had an 81 that I also modified so it looked ridiculous
I called that one the tank......I cut the rust holes out and riveted panels on....then I painted the car silver and intended to make the entire car look like riveted panels kind of like an aircraft skin but apparently I can't airbrush for shit and it just ended up looking like bricks....but I did put about 300 rivets in there so up close it just looked hilarious. BTW those are fender flares and spoiler off a celica/supra.
But sadly that one bit the dust and I really didn't have any parts for that generation so I let her go and bough a rolla for the rest of the winter.
I fully intend to pick another 4wd wagon up for next winter though.....I've got some big plans for that one as well. You see the baja lights from the tank? well I also have two pop-up headlight motors from my celi parts car and I'm hoping to mount those lights inside the bumper....and have them pop-up.....like all 4 just on a rack.......would that not kick all ass? I also have a paint theme in mind but I can't tell anyone for fear of losing its originality...I was also considering lifting it but after reading the forums for the last few days I think its more trouble then it is worth....and besides I can always just cut 5 or 6 inches off the fenders and mount my flares on there and just see how big of tires I can stuff under there.
ANyways as promised I have some pics of my current tercel......dr. bruce
some of the modifications:
wheels (I had to cut the back fenders to fit them in there)
hood vents (cut off some old hood for a pontiac or something I found)
front grille (Kenworth exhaust shield cut up)
paint (of course....I can't resist)
tint and sunroof (gotta have the sunroof...even if its wasn't there to begin with)
some custom taillight tinting/painting (lovin the brake light cutout)
Upholstery work in interior (gotta have the shag baby)
and rear tray
I've also got sr5 front seats and gauges and dead pedal. And I installed power door locks and an alarm. Savin up for a carb eventually.....unless I can successfully rebuild one of the ones in my shed.
I think thats about it. I don't know too much about the 4wd stuffs but I do know my 3A tercels...inside and out.
I have more pics detailing the work done to all the cars above if anybody is really interested.
This looks like a great forum and a very in depth knowledge base...I found this site cuz I've been having carb/fuel/idle issues lately and my search brought me here...hopefully I can get it worked out because this is the only tercel problem I have ever had that I can't get to the bottom of...and I will not let it beat me......
