sMARTINside's Tercel

Hi to you all. I decided to make a thread about my "other" car. Since you are Toyota addicts and that I have another Toyota project, I thought that I should talk about it here.

I own a Toyota Tercel, since 2004, and through the years, I have modified it to get it to my taste. At first, the car started out as a daily driven econobox to go to school. It has become a Time Attack project car that can be driven on the road.



Here is a list of the modifications that I made to it:

Engine/Tranny: EP91 Starlet powerplant: 4E-FTE engine/ C56 gearbox
Brakes: Big Paseo brakes in front with Hawk Hp plus pads, Rear EP82 disc brake conversion
Suspension: Rear Whiteline sway bar, K-Sport Coilovers, 3.8 degrees of caster and 1 degree of camber in front, Front strut bar
Tires: Bridgestone RE-11 on the track 205/50R15
Looks: Wings West body kit

2004-2006: Daily driver, stock
2006: 4E-FTE installation
2008-2009: Lapping car: starting to love the track!
2010-2011: Local Quebec Time Attack competition (2nd and 3rd in my class)
2012: Time Attack, hoping to perform better!

Since 2008, I have learned a lot about driving a car fast, and this car has been the best school for me. It never let me down.

Here is the car, in July 2004, when I bought it:



And these are some pictures of the car, on different race tracks 2010-2011:

Quebec, Sanair:




Quebec, St-Eustache:





Quebec, ICAR:



Nova Scotia, Atlantic Motorsport Park:




This last track (AMP) is my favorite, in all the track that I have driven. It's got 11 curves and a lot of altitude variations.

Thats a Tercel?? Looks great

We only ever got one model of Tercel in Australia (the 80's wagony ugly 4WD thing).
Looks like a big car for the little 4E-FTE. I know the 4E-FTE can be strong (i had a EP82), but it must lack torque to get that car up and moving quickly?

I have not seen that body kit in a long time. If you hold you hand over the picture to hide the front fenders and bumper, the car looks like an older 3 series.

is this the BlackHawk Edition Tercel?

This body kit isn't the Tercel Blackhawk edition. The Blackhawk, called Tercel Sport in Canada, only has small sideskirts and a spoiler added. Here is a comparative between a Blackhawk and my Tercel:




This urethane kit is made by Wings West and simulates a E36 BMW M3. They made it for the Tercel, because this car has many aesthetics that comes close to the BMW. So Josh, you are right about the similitude.



About the 4E-FTE. It has a lot of torque and I don't run a stock setup. I made many mods to upgrade the engine without touching the internals.
- raised the boost to 9 psi.
- bored the wastegate to prevent boost creep
- upgraded the exhaust manifold to a better flowing one, and a downpipe + a 2.25" free flow exhaust
- installed a ACIS intake manifold from a 5E-FHE (like TVIS, opening at 5000 rpm), for better low-end torque
- relocated the air filter to the front bumper
- a secret intercooling system! previously a FMIC (WTA, since last week!)

On the dyno it gave this with my FMIC setup:



124.42 whp @ 6000 rpm
125.76 ft-lb @ 3000 rpm

My car weights 2160 lb, so yes, it is quite heavy, but that little 1.3 liter engine is enough to pull this little rocket fast around the tracks. On a drag race, it made 14.09 @ 96 mph. And YES it surprised a lot of better cars on the road!

So here is the 1.3l with it's SECRET intercooling system: I got this intercooler off klue, a while ago.





This is with my old FMIC setup:


The engine when I received it:


Heat exchanger with air filter:


The main reason why I chose to change my intercooling setup was that I wanted less lag. My older FMIC setup had too much volume, so the time it took to build pressure in the piping was too long to my taste. Also, I wanted to get some space in front for fog lamps and a windshield washer tank.

Here is a little video of me trail braking, last year.

That looks awesome! I almost bought a 4door tercel with a 4efte inside. This makes me regret not buying it!

Yes, they are awesome cars to learn, and very fun to drive. You should have bought one! :doh:

Nice ride, that guy Klue has some nice deals on parts LOL

cheers man

Yes, I tried the ST205 setup that I bought from you on that car, and I really like the loss in lag that it gave me. Thanks!

sweet bro glad you liked it. Its a great IC system as far and OEM stuff goes!

Here is a little video of the Tercel in action, last weekend, on a very short track: Montmagny Quebec!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfscnnj_sqQ

And here it is in the mighty Mosport track, close to Toronto:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KdquvAL1B8

Very nice!! Love the mighty Tercel.