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Post by Volktales on Sept 22, 2018 20:38:40 GMT -8
Yes it is. I had no intention of doing anything to this vehicle, other then basic maintenance. And just drive it for years to come as a cheap winter machine to preserve my VWs for future generations. Then everything changed... Yep. It is a boring 1991 Toyota Tercel. Toyota's cheapest model of the day; relatively inexpensive to buy and run. But boring to drive, especially automatic versions like this. So why would I want or even care about this? Because it has passed a certain threshold in this family. We tend to keep our cars for much longer than most, and if a car surpasses the 20 year mark with us, then it stays for life. At almost 23 years in the driveway, they do become part of the family. Others in the permanent collection include my '69 Chevy truck, my original '70 Beetle and '66 Beetle. My old '67 Cougar missed it by one year, traded away at 19 years in my ownership. The orange bus is coming up soon and won't ever leave either... Anyway back to the Tercel... The history behind why this car is here is somewhat interesting. When I first met Rebecca, she had one of those crappy old Pontiac Firefly's that were built for GM by Suzuki. The three cylinder engines in those models were problematic, and this is a good thing as that is how I met Rebecca who would later become my wife. (Yes I fixed her car and she took me out to dinner, and the rest is history...) Anyway I recommended she dump the Firefly and get something decent like a Toyota. As it happens her student friend was returning to Taiwan and would sell Rebecca her five year old Tercel for $5800 which was a fair price at the time for the 57,000 km car. Little did Rebecca know she would be driving it daily for the next 19 years! The car was a low level DX model, which was second cheapest in the model line. The base was the "S" model which should have stood for "stripped", because they were quite awful with Toyota penny-pinching every aspect to make them cheap as possible. Few of these now exist, and that was a good thing... Anyway Rebecca's Toyota has always been well looked after by me, and many upgrades were done over the years. The biggest was a full on repaint job done by Little Valley Restoration back in 2005. To give you an idea of how things have changed, a full colour change repaint inside and out cost us $2500 at the time. I did all the required disassemble for this which was extensive. I will try to find the photos of this... Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Sept 22, 2018 21:10:44 GMT -8
Sooo, why is this car after all a project??? Well Toyota may have a reputation for reliability, they have built their share of duds, too. And the engine design in this model is certainly one of them. Toyota built the Tercel for five generations, and each one of them was known for something. The first generation from '78-'82 featured rear trailing arms that rusted out and collapsed while driving! Nice. The 2nd gen models ('82-'86) were bulletproof mechanically but rusted to oblivion in an amazingly short time. Third generation models ('86-'90) were amazing ugly and featured impossible to repair "constant depression" carburetors which were aptly named. Indeed never mind Volkswagen's "Diesel-gate", Toyota got in trouble for these models by telling dealers to disable certain emission control features on the carburetors so they actually would run properly... Anyway this all changed when the fourth generation was introduced in 1991. Rebecca's car was one of the very first of these models with a low serial number too. Perhaps Toyota should have put more effort into the new fuel injected 1500 engine in this model... They quickly gained a very well deserved reputation for burning lots of oil, and happily burned out valves as well. And many met their doom when their engines seized due to oil loss... Despite careful maintenance, Rebecca's car happily started burning some oil (not possible to stop on this model), and went above and beyond the usual call by eating coolant as well...
Yes the head gasket decided to fail; something these engines were NOT known for. Anyway I replaced that, and it was good for several more years when one day something went VERY wrong. Rebecca noticed that temperature gauge was reading high but naturally drove it home anyway. When i went out later and started it up, the whole yard became engulfed in a fog of burning smoke and anti-freeze. Well and truly cooked it was BUT it did get her home regardless. I guess that is Toyota's reliability. They will always get you home even when they are self destructing. Anyway I fully rebuilt the engine for her Christmas present that year, and it was thorough. It got so hot, even the block had distorted and had to be "decked" at the machine shop. The head was re-machined, and crack tested; everything else was measured and replaced as necessary and re-assembled. I always thought it never seemed quite as smooth as it once was, but ran well enough and was pressed back into service for several more years. Then Rebecca finally bought her FJ Cruiser and the Tercel was used less frequently and sat in storage. When I finally started using it regularly recently you could tell it was not as happy as it once was and things started going wrong. The previous two times the head gasket failed, the early warning was a misfire during the first start of the day and a gradual loss of coolant. Sure enough the signs were there, and once again I was not happy. Especially as I literally bought the black Civic the week before... Anyway the misfire quickly deteriorated this time as now two cylinders were affected, and each morning the car started on two cylinders, then after a few seconds the third would fire, and finally the fourth would kick in a minute or two later. At this point I realized the engine was no longer worth attempting to fix, as obviously the problems were deep. And the power level (marginal even in rude health), was falling away... But who would want to put another crappy engine like that back in???
Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Sept 22, 2018 21:44:01 GMT -8
So despite the problems with the fourth generation Tercels, Toyota sold boat loads of them, and they still are a fairly common site on the road today. Starting in 1995 was the final generation of the Tercel, and all of them came with a completely redesigned 1500 DOHC 16 V engine which proved to be very reliable and the final generation cars were very trouble-free. Then Toyota discontinued the model name and brought out the hideous first generation Echo in 2000 for this market, although the Tercel continued on in other world markets. In Asia they were even available fully loaded with leather and luxury goodies too! Anyway back to Rebecca's car. There was no way I was going to fix the original engine again, or replace it with the same version. Back in the day engine swaps were relatively common, and Japanese Domestic Market engines were a popular substitution. I once had a Tercel with a JDM 1300 twin-cam and it was great. The ultimate conversion is the 1300 Turbo engine with 130 HP, but these engines sell for far more than the car is worth... I could fit the later 1500 DOHC from a fifth generation model, but it turns out there was one more option available.... I had forgotten all about this model, the Toyota Paseo. They used an early version of the 1500 DOHC, that still used a proper distributor instead of individual coils. And they were rated at 100 HP, which was more than the later cars as well. This conversion is the simplest, and is basically a plug and play. So now all I needed to do was find a 27 year old "donor" car that was never popular in the first place. And preferably one with a perfectly running engine, five speed transmission, mint blue interior, and crappy everything else so I wouldn't feel guilty about "harvesting" it for parts. How hard could that be??? A trip to Victoria was all it took to find the "perfect" car. It really did run and shift perfectly, the interior is near mint, and the body is absolutely awful! Look at all that glorious rust! And sweet aftermarket corroded rims and bald tires. Brakes were low, lights were faulty, windshield leaks, rust holes throughout. But well maintained engine ran flawlessly back to Nanaimo and it barely used any fuel. As soon as the Acura vacates the garage, the Paseo will make its final drive into the basement and will be comprehensively stripped down. Knowing me, I will probably refresh the 220,000 km engine just because, but it will be installed with the five speed transaxle. Given that the Paseo is Tercel based under the outer skin, the majority of the higher quality interior is transferable as well. And different wheels are coming too, and maybe even some mild lowering. If you are going to do something stupid like this to a dull car, you might as well have some fun! I am hoping this will be a relatively quick project, and it will be detailed here. Yes I know it ain't a VW, but hopefully at least some of what you will see can relate to your own VW projects... Bye for now...
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Post by Volktales on Oct 14, 2018 19:54:11 GMT -8
It has begun... The Paseo has made its final drive into the basement, and is being dismembered. It has already come in handy, as I swiped the cooling fan out of it and installed it on my wife's friends Corrolla. Toyota, like all car companies, tries to use the same components over and over again for years if possible. The fan motor fits many models over many years of production, and was an easy fix. The front of the Paseo has been removed, and is going to help another car with front end damage to see the road again. A few extra bucks thrown my way will be re-invested, of course... Hoping to have this car stripped down ASAP and move on quickly to the meat of the project. I DID actually do a bit of VW fun today, and drove the orange Restfalia during this nice weather. Shame it reminded me that those shifter bushings really are on the way out and will have to be addressed soon...
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Post by PICTUP on Oct 15, 2018 8:39:51 GMT -8
Nice I was able to spot a Paseo with front end damage, eh? Took a few tries to get the owner's mum home for the owner's number, but it was worth it because I hate seeing parts go to waste....
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Post by Volktales on Oct 28, 2018 8:05:44 GMT -8
Sooo, I have been working away on this, and hopefully some new pics will be up later. I did make an interesting discovery on the old engine in the Tercel however. When the black Civic sprang that fuel leak the other week, I had to drive the Tercel to work for a couple of days. As usual, it ran terrible for the first minute or two, and then was fine. Had a bit of time at the end of the day to do a few checks on it including a compression test, just for my own interest. Given its lack of performance, I expected to see some low compression in a couple of cylinders. Imagine my surprise when they were all the same at 215-220 psi! This is much HIGHER then I expected and did not make much sense at first. Then after a re-think, I realized that the head had been machined at least twice before, and the block decked once. These operations combined removed enough material to raise the compression too high. The value when new should be no more than 185 psi for this engine. The ignition timing was also checked, and was found to be 2 degrees over advanced. You think this thing would have been pinging, but nope, that never happened. No knock sensor on this model, either... The exhaust was checked for blockage, and seems ok too. Once the old engine is out, an autopsy will be performed to see if we can see what actually went wrong. Hmmm.
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Post by Volktales on Nov 4, 2018 21:45:55 GMT -8
Sooo, been picking away at the corpse of the Paseo... For whatever reason, I decided to strip out the interior before pulling the drivetrain. And as always I got a bit carried away. The blue dash was in exceptionally nice shape, so it was removed. With the wiring harness too. ALL of it. Then the heater core was beckoning. I saved literally every part that would also fit the Tercel. When you plan on owning a car forever, it makes sense to stash away ANYTHING that might be of use in the future... For the conversion to standard transmission, the pedal cluster would have to be transferred over. I was surprised to find each component was completely separate from the others. The clutch pedal will be installed (obviously), in the Tercel, but the the smaller brake pedal must be swapped over too. Thing the throttle is the same, but was removed, just in case... I don't like to leave much meat on the bone! The brake and clutch master cylinders will be removed once the engine is out of the way to access all the lines easier. Too bad the glass is different, or I would figure out a way to remove that too! MMM, more tasty rust. This is from salty slush carried in off a previous owner's boots. This is why you should not buy a car from back East... In reality this Paseo had seen a lot of action in it's life. One quarter panel was completely replaced, including all the inner structure and B post. The right door was a brand new Toyota part, and is in nice condition. The left was actually re-skinned and repainted. It is a rusty mess. The "repaired" quarter panel was also poorly welded and sealed, and is very rotten as a result. I would never intentionally spend a lot of $$$ to buy a car that had previous serious accident damage, as it seems body shops just cannot return them to "like new" factory conditions... Now if you buy $100 specials like I do, then you have to accept a few issues... All that is currently left on the car is the drivetrain, barely bolted in place. Once outside, the suspension will be pulled too, and when the car leaves it will be a barren shell. Not even a usable fastener will remain...
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Post by magikbus on Nov 5, 2018 9:31:20 GMT -8
Converting an automatic vehicle to a standard transmission eh? Hmmmm, you'll have to keep me up on that transfer. Stan
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Post by Volktales on Nov 8, 2018 22:00:09 GMT -8
Paseo WILL be leaving the basement this weekend. Engine/trans dropping out the bottom tomorrow night. (My Friday nights are quite exciting...) After this I will determine if the fuel tank is worth saving, but that is about it for this car. The front suspension has all been loosened so will come apart quickly before the shell is dragged away...
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Post by PICTUP on Nov 10, 2018 18:09:23 GMT -8
Paseo WILL be leaving the basement this weekend. Engine/trans dropping out the bottom tomorrow night. (My Friday nights are quite exciting...) After this I will determine if the fuel tank is worth saving, but that is about it for this car. The front suspension has all been loosened so will come apart quickly before the shell is dragged away... Pics or it's not happening, lol! Anybody can say they're dismembering a Paseo in their basement, but are they really??
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Post by Volktales on Nov 12, 2018 21:27:21 GMT -8
Don came over and helped with the dragging outside bit. Amazing how light cars are and easy to push when they are missing pretty much everything... Now all I have to do is clean out the crapola from the garage in order to get the Tercel in there. It is amazing how much room is taken up by parts when you strip down a vehicle... Tercel will be in this weekend for sure...
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Post by Volktales on Nov 18, 2018 21:42:01 GMT -8
Well a slight change of plan... Tercel did not get into the basement yet. Due to the usual lack of space, I have decided the way forward is to clean/rebuild/paint all the necessary parts that are going onto the Tercel before it comes into the garage. That means that once it does come into the basement, the conversion should be very quick as everything will be ready to install... And it begins... The first thing to take care of, is something that is not actually needed on the Tercel. The Paseo featured a newer looking master cylinder, so this was removed, disassembled, and cleaned up well. It will go onto the shelf as a spare part if needed in the future. It needed to be cleaned to remove all traces of brake fluid, which would go bad in long term storage. All done now... The same thing was next done to the complete hydraulic clutch system, including stripping down of the master and slave cylinder. Everything was cleaned and repainted as necessary. Note that Toyota slave cylinders of this era, were painted a light blue, and this was replicated. Lordco had a good colour match spray bomb, but the Krylon branded paint was absolutely terrible and will be returned. Despite shaking it for several minutes, it would only spray out a watery dark blue colour; nothing at all like the light "bahama" cap. Later used some Rustoleum from Rona, and that worked just fine. And this is why I was at Lordco earlier. I have been contemplating trying this rust remover for a long time, but didn't because I assumed it was stupidly expensive. Lordco has carried it forever, but never bothered to put the price on it on the shelf. At Lordco this usually means it is excessively expensive, and nobody would buy it. Today I finally asked, and it was about $35 for one US gallon. Well, if Frank from American Pickers endorses it, it must be great, right? Well lets see... Thought I would try it out on the pedal assembly. This is bare metal from the factory, with only a slight oily coating for protection. Given this car leaked water, and lived in a salty environment, the pedal housings had a lot of surface rust. So I filled a plastic container with the chemical (which is used straight from the jug without adding water). And this is the result... You could actually see it start to work in a few minutes, but I left it there for a couple of hours. Parts came out with no rust at all! And this solution is completely non-toxic, so you don't need any safety precautions. even gloves are not necessary. It won't harm rubber or plastic either, which was nice... It remains to be seen how long the solution lasts, but the jug says it has the capability to remove 1/2 pound of rust before its strength is lost. We will see about that, but so far I am impressed...
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Post by Volktales on Nov 22, 2018 22:21:54 GMT -8
Just discovered a new website today. "toyotapartsdirect.ca" Gonna get me some NOS stuff, direct from Toyota's warehouse in Ontario. If it was only this easy for VW parts... Sigh.
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Post by PICTUP on Nov 24, 2018 14:41:49 GMT -8
That Metal Rescue looks interesting. Faster than molasses and less stinky. Plus it works in the cold, no? Perhaps I should use it on my Saab block's surface rust... I feel as though this project is becoming more"fun" than "reluctant"
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Post by Volktales on Nov 24, 2018 18:55:08 GMT -8
Metal Rescue only works at room temperature or above. This is stated very clearly on the label, so it probably doesn't work at all at cold temperatures. The "reluctant project" is kind of fun in some ways. It is very nice to be able to buy factory parts if I want to. And I do want to. Have well over $1000 worth of stuff on my "wish" list already. Some of the pricing at Toyota ranges from "not too bad" to "absolutely ridiculous". Given that these cars have pretty much no value, who is going to pay like $600 for a carpet set? Or $300 for a clock? You have to wonder how much it costs to store all these parts that no one will likely ever buy... It is truly amazing what is still actually available through the dealer however... I will be getting that new shift knob and boot assembly in Eisen Blue...
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