Leaderboard

G'day everyone, New to the forum and thought id share my KE70 that I inherited from my Wifes late Aunty. She purchased it brand new from the local Toyota dealer and daily drove it during the 80's and 90's. Towards the end of her driving career she had a few accidents in it and gave up her license 10yrs ago. It sat in her garage up until I was lucky enough to be given it. I've owned it for 3yrs and daily drove it for 12months before parking it up and forgetting about it. After a couple years of not using it, it got a little neglected and the usual rust etc has got worse and its time to give it some TLC. I'll keep this thread updated when I do more work to it and use this as a diary of getting it back on the road. Here are some photos of when I got it.

Looks like old mate lives in QLD so all that engineer stuff doesn't apply. Just get a mod plate and follow adrs when you build it, and you'll be fine. Thankfully QLD motor trades are deregulated and there's even 6 shires where you dont ever require a roadworthy. My mod plate for 2az86 was about 200 bucks, and it covered engine, suspension and diff, cage and seats.

if you have a look around at all the available parts for RWD k24/k20 convesions its really quite amazing. most of them are US based, but theyve basically thought of everything. RWD intake manifolds off the shelf, conversion kits to BMW 6 speeds or rx8, and i think some ford gearbox, tremec also. And the k24 is from a honda accord euro. $1000 or so from a ausi wreckers any day of the week. You do have to pay to play though, heres some examples. https://www.drifthq.com/products/pmc-motorsport-adapter-kit-honda-k-k20-k24-mazda-rx8 https://kpower.industries/products/kmiata-rwd-intake-manifold The BMW N20 is an interesting proposition. I was looking at that for my e30 at some stage but they have some crazy electronics in those cars so making the oem ecu work in another platform i don't believe has been accomplished (security complexities). Not sure it could be run on aftermarket ecu either - easily. double vanos (variable timing on both cams) , variable lift intake cam (neat setup that uses an electric motor to drive some variable length rocker arms) AND direct injection. Complex beast. also had some some serious issues with cams wearing prematurely i think. updated in 2015 or so.

Well, as far as I know you can't buy the layshaft bearings for a K40 or K50, so you just can't rebuild them now. That's them finished unless you can grind the shaft down to fit some other bearing. Then T50s will be next, some shortage of parts in a few years means we will be looking at J160s to use. Really, the whole 4AGE/T50 is 40years old and we need some current-ish lightweight revvy 1.6 or 2L motor that is still useable in RWD and has gearboxes to suit. The Hondas are definitely a start, the F20 from the S2000 and the newer K motors if they can go RWD. Mazda MX5 motors and gearboxes run right up to now, and the BMW N20 pulls 240bhp from 1.6L in RWD. They will all take as much work as Littleredspirit put into the 2AZFE, just in different areas, but we need something to give us a decade of running into the future.

I took "ITBS" to mean carbies, as he said "instead of going EFI powered". i assume dellortos simliar. are you in QLD? perhaps i could assist wtih your wiring woes. i have made a new loom for my aftermarket ecu and spent the last few years learning how to tune it on my e30. if you can jump to a proper ecu straight away, and willing to wire it properly first time around, it will be a significant improvement to your engine. (assuming you still go the quad throttle route). the ability to make minor changes is fantastic, but also aftermarket ecu is the best diagnosis tool you can get. no more guessing:) carbies are cool, but A) i dont belive will actually be legal in QLD (technically speaking - but youd probably never get picked up), B) A well tuned ecu on throttles will be significantly better than carbies any day. but you wont get it well tuned by sending it to a tuner for a few hrs. it takes days and weeks of tuning to get the cold start, idle up enrichment etc all tuned in properly. im years in and i still make minor adjustments. I am a little fussy though... You definitely need to determine which 4age you will be using as that will determine your requirements. 16V bigport, 16V small port and 20V are your 3 choices. 20V being the "newest" and by new i mean 25years old...20V also being the most difficult to to RWD but with the products available (sam Q etc) i think you can buy everything you need somewhat off the shelf. 20V is basically mandatory to go aftermarket ecu as the dizzy hangs out the back of the engine. What gearbox you gionna use? t50 5 speed (ae86, AE71) would have to be rare as hens teeth by now. can you still get them? If money is no object, have you considered a honda K24 strapped to a mazda rx8 gearbox? 😉 or you give me some of your money and ill put the k24 in my e30

Well ended up waiting a little bit more than a year, but I've also been slack in updating my forum threads. So, in clear violation of 2020 norms, we decided to socially un-distance the body from the wheels - Blue springs for a blue car, of course. Ended up with 40mm drop on the front and 30mm on the rear (but the rears should settle a little more seeing as how they are new). Passed the shoe test (cheated and used a boot :p), does make getting in and out of the driveway a little trickier since we have rolled gutters (so there is no dip on the driveway portion). Not much changed in the year since (what with COVID and still being in warranty and all), but not long after said lowering was done the SX/ZR wheels that I had stashed away copped a load of Pilot Sport 4s and went on (was waiting for the lowering springs to go in and for a 25%-off tyre sale) Here's how she sat, waiting for the train of cars to arrive at Nepean Dam for CCAD 2021