85 Tercel 4WD Wagon - Where to start?

[brucepick]

Try replacing all the driveline lube with synthetic.
Transaxle and also the "rear end" or whatever it's called on that car.

I keep reading that the mechanical losses in 4wd systems are worse than in 2wd. So help yourself by giving it the best lube you can get. Might still have the original stuff in there now!

[ZugyNA]

Originally Posted by Snax

Toyota did the smart thing on gearing by installing an 'extra low' gear vs. gearing down the final drive, so it really isn't that bad with a 3.73 final and .83 OD. I doubt taller tires would do much for me around town.

Frankly, as far as aero goes, I'm thinking of just going totally the wrong way with it by fabricating two A-10 Warthog style engine nacelles to mount on the roof.

I think a large part of the rolling resistance problem is really the tires. The 155 width cheap snow tires on it right now seem to deform a fair bit radially even at 45 psi - which is their maximum rating. Likely the only way to see real improvement through the driveline however would be to remove the rear differential, but that's not really an option since I actually need the 4WD.

Regardless, I'm hoping to see considerable improvement in my FE soon, as I have a new carburetor to install. Right now the car just stinks of raw fuel if I get on it very hard.

The problem I see with these 4x4 wagons is that as soon as someone buys one they want to jack it up and make it look tough. Which means the car usually just gets trashed. I've put 50K on mine...and have had it off road camping enough to seriously test out the 4WD and trash the trans. Also squashed the exhaust tip and dented the floorpan and so forth.

I found more or less by being CHEAP that going with 14" steel wheels and sticky all season 60 series tires and boosting the coils that you can have a very good handling car on road and off...and in the snow.

All you need to do with the OEM carb rather than the Weber...is to remove all the vac crap and just go with ignit advance...canister...maybe EGR. One guy got very good mpg doing this.

These aren't impressive cars until you hit some snow or mud...need to carry something large...or fill it up at the gas pump. Then you start to realize what you have.

[McPatrick]

Ahhh, Tercel 4WD. I love those cars. Very rare to see them anymore....

[Snax]

It looks like the 155 width tires are actually 20mm narrower than stock. That makes them a nice choice for plowing through slush, but I really think they are a large part of the problem. I may just swap on my MR2 wheels and tires in the spring if they will fit (since it just sits sans-motor for lack of EV conversion funds). It currently has high performance 195/60-14s on it which should answer that question pretty well.

I'll definately be switching out my lubes to synthetic as I proceed along with taking care of all of the things the PO did not - though one of the reasons I bought this car two months ago was because they already had replaced a whole mess of stuff.

As for the carb, I just installed the Weber yesterday. I think I spent half the time just trying to figure out what half of that mess of vacuum lines was for. I still don't know what the majority of it was. It's just down to the EGR and ignition advance now, so now I can actually see where stuff goes. It seems to start much more cleanly now when cold without having to jab at the pedal to keep it going. A choke that works!

[ZugyNA]

Originally Posted by Snax

It looks like the 155 width tires are actually 20mm narrower than stock. That makes them a nice choice for plowing through slush, but I really think they are a large part of the problem. I may just swap on my MR2 wheels and tires in the spring if they will fit (since it just sits sans-motor for lack of EV conversion funds). It currently has high performance 195/60-14s on it which should answer that question pretty well.

I'll definately be switching out my lubes to synthetic as I proceed along with taking care of all of the things the PO did not - though one of the reasons I bought this car two months ago was because they already had replaced a whole mess of stuff.

As for the carb, I just installed the Weber yesterday. I think I spent half the time just trying to figure out what half of that mess of vacuum lines was for. I still don't know what the majority of it was. It's just down to the EGR and ignition advance now, so now I can actually see where stuff goes. It seems to start much more cleanly now when cold without having to jab at the pedal to keep it going. A choke that works!

I've got 195/60, but they are all season. Do real well offroad and in the snow. People using synthetic oil don't seem to get such good results...I use regular gear oil and some moly additive. You'll need to jet that carb down for mpg?

[Snax]

Actually I don't think jetting is off at all on the new carb. Cruising at 1500 rpm, I can get it to start misfiring just by leaning out the idle mixture. It'll dump a fair bit of fuel in when I step on it, but it seems to run toward the lean side at lower throttle, so I'm expecting to see some improvement.

[ZugyNA]

Will be interesting to see how you do with it.