3tc swap

[shadowsun]

My '82 corolla is getting tired and is begging for an engine rebuild. Since this is my first full engine rebuild I'm planning, I figured the wisest course would be to get my hands on an already rebuild 3tc to drop in the car while I work on the one that it came with.

I'm in the Phoenix, AZ area. If anyone either has a good, solid 3TC engine or knows someone in the area to talk to, I'd be appreciative.

Anyway. This lets me take my time doing the rebuild, maybe get some better parts. Ideas and suggestions welcome, I am growing to love advice from those who know more then I XD

[Hemi3TC]

How do you know the 3TC is getting tired? How much mileage on the engine, was it well
maintained. How is the cylinder compression? Are you sure it just does not need a tuneup?
What has not been changed or checked? A malfunctioning vacuum advance, coil, wires, etc can all cause the engine to seem tired.



hemi3tc

[shadowsun]

Actually, someone mentioned that a malfunctioning vacuum advance or a vac leak could cause this problem after hearing how it ran. Somehow that answer feels correct.

So tomorrow I'm going to sit out in my works parking lot and replace vac lines around the carb, since I know those ones have a much higher then average tendancy to grow holes. I've had to trim them before.

I also observed the engine do something it's only done when there's a vacuum problem in the past, so I was already starting to wonder. To hear you say it boosts my confidence. As far as the coils go, the ignitor, distributor and such were called by a good Toyota dealership "Damn near perfect" less then 15k miles ago.

So far as overall maintenance, I have no idea. The person I got the car from I know did not do well, but she did not own the car long or drive it very much.

As far as total mileage... no one alive knows. It's possible the foreign legionarre who owned it knew, but I have no idea where that individual would be or how to find out.

The title marks the Odometer as inaccurate, although the dealer my friend bought it from didn't know more then that.

Odometer appears to be fairly accurate and reads at over 170k miles.

But the odd thing is, is that I know I've driven that car more then the odometer shows. So the engine itself may be at closer to 220k miles.

then again, it may have been rebuilt. I honestly don't know.

Um.
It doesn't need a tuneup. It needs a new valvetrain. and camshaft.
It's had its tuneup.

Also, to discredit the pure "tired engine" theory
As soon as the RPM's get up a little bit, she runs -perfect-. So when you're accellerating, she takes off. It's when you're cruising at 45 (or 65, or 75, whatever) that she starts to shudder. This also makes me think it might be related to the vacuum system.

As for the valvetrain... It sounds like a damn diesel valvetrain. You can hear them rattle. Not good for longevity.

I just need to get her running so I can get to work. then when I can and I have a place I'll do work on her.

Bah. I am tired of rewritting this post to make it more concise. I'm tired, had a full day at work, and my baby wouldn't start and I had to bum a ride home. Not a good day.

Later.

[shadowsun]

Hemi3TC, I apperantly qualify as an idiot.

The car has occasionally had problems. it has run better after I've fiddled with things on/around the distributor for a long time.

I always figured it was the distributor.

Guess what's butted up against the distributor?

If I'm reading things right, it's the damn vacuum advance.

I am such a moron.

Vac leak and/or old vacuum advance. Yeah. I can fix this in the parking lot tomorrow, well enough to get it home.

dear god.