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Anything green, don't go for the red stuff as it eats out copper, brass and solder in older cars cooling systems, cheers!

So long of the short, what coolant for 78 KE30? New to this, but want to try to get it right. Any help much appreciated !

If i can make a suggestion, if you are going to spend the money and time setting up twins, you may as well do other engine mods like a reground cam, increased compression and cylinder head porting to make it worthwhile. twins on a stock motor wont yield a great deal of power increase

Hi Luke, Welcome aboard ! Good question. Really depends on the state of the inside of the engine. When these engines get old, they can have a lot of buildup in the water jackets. which really needs to be removed, for best thermal efficiency in removing heat. However, because the K series engines have a cast iron block & an aluminium head, they can suffer from electrolysis between dissimilar metals, so coolant leaks are not uncommon, to both the inside & outside of the engine. As well as that, as the aluminium gets old, it changes its composition, & breaks down, & corrodes more easily. A good automotive coolant, will help prevent this, but is not much good on an engine that already has got lots of crud & corrosion inside the water jackets. You could put a good cooling system flushing additive to the water, run it as per the instructions, then remove top & bottom hoses & thermostat, and wash all the loosened crud out of the engine. However, I've seen the results of this previously, with Welsh plugs all of a sudden becoming very thin & leaking, as all the crud on the back of them is really sealing as well. I recently stripped a 5K engine, I acquired, and in the strip down process removed all the Welsh plugs. On two of them, a light tap on the centre with a screwdriver, resulted in the screwdriver going right through. That's how thin they were. When old engines are reconditioned professionally, they usually have all Welsh plugs removed, & the whole block acid washed, then new "brass" Welsh plugs fitted, instead of the original pressed steel ones. The K series engines also have poor coolant circulation, at the rear of engine around no: 4 cylinder. This is primarily about the design of the engine, as coolant enters & leaves from the front of the engine. With less flow at the rear, crud builds up, and the results are not good in the long run. If a piston or rings are going to give you issues, it will quite often be number 4 cylinder. I've had a 3K & a 5K over the years, both have issues with no: 4 piston & rings. So it's up to you, & sometimes it is better to "let sleeping dogs lie", unless you want to take the risk of having to take the engine out and change welsh plugs, or maybe a head gasket. Others on here may have other suggestions, but mine would be to . . . . Remove top & bottom radiator hoses & flush the engine out with a hose, without adding a flushing agent before hand. Replace the thermostat & radiator cap. Refit hoses, if they are in good condition. Add a good automotive coolant. These actions will probably help, but are unlikely to result in any unwanted immediate leaks ! Cheers Banjo

Good one Taz now you remember you wrote that tutorial. Bit of dejavu. I still havent done my daughters yet. Trying to get the keys from her hot little socialising grip is proving difficult.

One of the more satisfying jobs on an engine in my opinion. That and twirling mixture / idle screws on carbs. I wonder if anything produced these days still has tappets?

https://www.rollaclub.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tech:Engine/K_Series/Valve_Clearances

Plastic welded together to make right shape start for fibre glassing job whole facia shaped and brackets made for radio and gauge cluster. switches fitted for air horn, driving lights and random stuff usb/aux panel fitted courtesy of my wrx. sound system and my new 7 inch monitor for rear seat passengers. It will be built into trans tunnel as it is running back to the rear seats

Full white wheels hey, had not considered that. will have to have a looksy. how about white centres and polished lips? I have achieved precisely zero on those wheels since last post:) Life is flipping upside down to be honest, work is psychotic, crazy work on house, baby on the way.....need some time to rest! Currently on the look out for a less intense job. Once the dust settles i might even get you around matt to have a bit of a discussion on cabinetry for the kitchen:) I actually purchased 2 second hand front e30 guards the other day. both in pretty good condition. Going to see what i can do with them to gain some extra room. A mate from university runs a small carbon fibre business, we are possible going to make some carbon fibre copes of them. He suggested to glue some forming foam to the guards, and shape it to look a bit more wide body, then just lay up over the foam. Realistically i only need another 15-20mm. Perhaps i can just add foam and "pump" the whole guard profile so to the untrained eye they will look stock. Although i need to ensure i don't go too agressive cause the rears will still be close to stock. The M3 guards look awesome, but they very agressive and would not suit oem rear guards. the M3 guards also suit the plastic bumpers, not the chrome bumpers. I still dive the e30 daily, gets about 50km most days, never misses a beat, i have litterally done nothing to it in months. Starts every time and just purs along gettin on average 11L/100km suburban driving .Time to change the oil soon, thats about as exciting as it gets. All of these projects are secondary to the house at the moment, but i just pick up parts when i can.