Got a new old 1987 tercel :)

[burtonridr]

I just picked up a 1987 Tercel for $200! Its freakin awesome! I dont know what the lady was thinking!

This was the condition I bought it:

Interior - Dirty (but not ripped or stained anywhere), nothing a vacuum
and armor all couldnt fix up
Exterior - Shinny except a few spots where the clear coat is faded, no
rust anywhere.
Engine - Not running
Brakes - Totally shot
Suspension - Seems good
Tires - front like new, rear need to be replaced soon
Electronics - Awesome after market CD player and speakers, oil pressure
guage, amp meter.

To be honest the car didnt run when I bought it from her, but I figured for $200 you cant go wrong. The car only had 140k miles on it and the engine looked like it had been well taken care of for most of its life. Most toyotas I see get up into 200k miles easily, so I figured I would give it a shot.

First thing I did was pull all the spark plugs and check the compression on all the cylinders to make sure it didnt have major problems.

Cylinder #1 = 120+ psi
Cylinder #2 = 120+ psi
Cylinder #3 = 120+ psi
Cylinder #4 = 120+ psi (but it seemed to take a few more cranks?)

The plugs were really dirty and black, so I cleaned them off with a wire brush and re-installed them.

Turned the key and it fire right up!

Then I used about half a can of carb cleaner in the carb while running the engine to clean the carb up.

I order some parts and replaced the following for the engine:

Air filter
Fuel filter
Spark plugs
Distributor and spark plug wires
Oil filter
Engine oil

Now the brakes were TOTALLY shot, OMG the brakes are just gone! Front pads and rear shoes are pretty much non-existent. So I have to replace the following this week.

Master cylinder
Both rear wheel cylinders
Rear shoes
Rear hardware
Rear wheel bearings

Front pads
Front hardware
Front wheel bearings

Grand total for parts = $250
Grand total for car = $200

Total price paid for a great car that gets 35mpg = $450

I will try to post up some pics in a few days

[burtonridr]

Alright, so I worked on the car again last night. I replaced the Master cylinder, I used the one off an 87 sedan model instead of the 3door hatchback(which is what I have). It fit! That saved my butt $100

Can you believe the price for the 3-door hatchback is $150, the one for the sedan is $60 and the one for the 5-door hatchback is $40...

The master cylinder on the 5-door hatchback is different than the other two because 1 of the 2 brake lines attaches to the master cylinder on the driver side.... The sedan and 3-door hatchback attach on the passenger side.

While working on the car I discovered a few things on the motor that were disconnected. Reconnecting them has made a big difference in the way it runs. Also the thing that helps keep the engine from stalling after you let off the gas from wide open throttle was out of adjustment. Its the thing that catches the throttle as it closes and lets it close slowly instead of slamming shut.

I reconnected the following last night;

Vacuum line from the HIC valve to the HAI diaphram

Plug into the VSV

and the vacuum line from the EGR Vacuum Modulator to the carb.