turbo_rolla

I'll slap the new one on when i go through as their main concern is the pod not being able to move, which it can't with that setup - wont hurt it to drive it down there sitting where i put it :dance:

Think he was one of the guys i spoke to when i rang some engineers and he said they wouldnt be able to find a reason to justify running a car with wider track...not sure if they completely understood where i was coming from though :dance:

Ah, no problems - actually had the same thoughts to tell you the truth :dance: i might give them a few more calls over the next few days and see if i get a consistent answer - i mean at the end of the day they're insurance companies and don't wanna pay out, so could find something to reject if they wanted. I think though, that if you had wheels that are an inch outside the recommended track that they're not going to have any dramas? WHo knows though - that's why it'd be good to hear from anyone who's had experiences with similar (ie got rims or something else that is deemed "illegal" by local authorities but have got through an insurance claim without a problem).

Yeah, was thinking that - not really gonna be driving it like that for long/at all, so wont bother with anything for now as it'll be going over where the carbon canister is onces its been through regency - plus the airflow where it is there at the moment isnt great either - might actually put the "old" setup on it until its gone through regency, then the new one after its done and can go in the right spot :dance:

This whole wheel thing has been doing my head in, so I called shannons back and asked straight out what the situation would be should I have wider rims than the specified track and had to make a claim for an accident. They said that so long as the "illegal" modification hasn’t caused the accident (ie wheel snaps, extra "load" snaps a strut or something :( ), that they wouldn’t reject the claim. So that's good enough for me for now atleast - may still look for some 14x6.5's, but no urgency to do it now! Also, got a shiny new present in the post today (thanks Gilly!!!!) Old setup - pod was literally just sitting on the rubber "hose", and you could pull it off with no effort at all - did the job though :) New shiny one - have managed to squeeze it in between the carbon canister and radiator, and will have to stay there til i go through regency - then the canister will come out and the pod can sit in its rightful place :hmm:

Thanks for the comments! I actually decided to ring Shannons (my insurer) today to see what their stance is other than "we want it legal". Was straight up with the guy and asked "if my wheels are wider than stock track, and i make a claim, would you reject it", and he said that they wouldnt, unless it was the "illegal" modification that caused the accident (ie wheel snaps, snaps the strut cause of "extra" loading on it etc). SO going from that piece of information i think I'm going to stick with what i've got cause it seems like they're actually pretty reasonable - they are "motoring enthusiasts" afterall :) If anyone has had other experiences though i'd still love to know about it - just in case :(

Okay, so I'm getting my ke70 ready to go through Regency here in SA to get the 4age conversion ticked off. Rang them to see what the go was with wheels and they said they don't care how wide the rims are, and that its the track that they measure: Front - 1346mm, Rear 1361mm I measured mine up and have got about 1425mm on front and1405mm on rear, so obviously a bit over what's considered "legal". Rang insurance company and spoke to a helpful guy who happens to owns a sprinter (chatted about mods for 10 mins), and basically said their stance on it is they want it the "legal" track, or engineered. Rang a couple of engineers and they said they wouldnt be able to justify going outside of the regency recommended track...... The reason I'm asking all of this is because i want it to be legal, and not get f$#ked up the ass by insurance if i have a prang cause the track is 20mm out. Has anyone had experience with insurance claims being rejected because of rims that were too wide? Just looking around the roads on the way home and most cars with aftermarket rims would be outside of the "26mm" allowed by regency - surely insurance companies arent that big a pr!ck to deny a claim on 1" too much track? I'm looking to downgrade to 6.5" rims, which would still more than likely be outside of the track given above, but would all be within the guards.....should i do this, or should i just play it safe and buy some 6" rims. Probably looking into it a bit much, but don't wanna go through all this stuff getting it legal to all be wasted. Thanks for listening :)

Gave regency a call to query the situation on wheels today - basically they don't care how wide the rims are, as long as the "track" is within their liking. For a ke70, that is as follows: Front - 1346mm max Rear - 1361mm max So went out to measure up mine this arvo and got 1425mm on the front, and 1405mm on the rear :) Pretty sure its been measured up properly (ie from about the centre of the wheel to the centre of the other wheel), so I'm about 44mm out on the rear (ie 22m each side), and a whopping 79mm out on the fronts (39mm each side). So think i'll have to go with getting some new rims with an offset that pulls them in a bit so there's no issues there. Just don't wanna pay a fortune for new rims - lots of pairs, but they're all going for about $350 each, which seems pricey for 6.5" rims......dunno :hmm:

Latest part acquired - thanks Gilly :( Should keep the pod in place nicely. Also took it out for a quick run tonight to see if everything was bolted back in nicely, and no clunks or rattles, so that was good. Also seems a bit tighter in the front too. Slooooooooowly getting there now! :(

Thanks mate! If you've already done a 12A conversion on a mates car then i guess it wouldnt be that hard to do another one as you already know what you're doing! Guess it just comes down to personal preference over the 4age or 12A - would be fairly similar result maybe? Had a look at yours - looks real tidy - very nice starting base! Once mine is all finished and legal i'll start bringing it out, so might catchya on a cruise - not sure if there's any organised ones in SA at the moment, but could get one started if there's enough interest at some stage in the future! Chuck up a members ride thread on here too so we can watch your conversion come along too! :(

Was originally $250 but now $200 pickup from memory, so fairly cheap. Yeah, from what i know they're chevoits :(

Busy weekend doing more work on the beast. Back seat is back in now (had it out from the rust repairs), and all vaccumed and looking nice and tidy again. All of the shit that was in the boot has been taken out and that's looking nice and roomy. But that's just cosmetic stuff..... Got around to my mates yesterday (where we did the engine conversion) and had the cat convertor put in - the exhaust note is sooooooo much nicer now - not raspy, and you can't hear me coming from 3 blocks away, which is good for Regency :D Can hear the engine roaring when you push it now too, so that's a good enough sound to listen to! After a bit of weeding in the garden this morning, i decided i may as well give the castor brackets a shot - came out easier than i was expecting, but getting it all back in wasnt as easy :( had to grind about 2-3mm off each side of the eyelet end of the swaybar to get it through the stock sized hole on the bracket (didnt have big enough drills to just grind that out a little), then took about 30mins to work out what way it all had to go etc. Finally got all the bits through and then mounted it all back in place - couldnt quite get one bolt on the bracket back in so will leave that for another day as it was getting quite dark (spotlight had to come out!), then there was quite a bit of grunting and pushing to get the swaybar and castor rod mounts back on the lower arms. Old "modified"/hacked ones New nice non sharp edge ones But its all back together now, ready to be taken on a test tomorrow to make sure it doesnt fall apart. So a couple more things ticked off my list..... :( Have also still been hunting around for some new wheels to get rid of any potential issues from the officers of the law/regency/insurance. Got my eye on a set of meshies. Only thing is they're only 14x6, and was ideally going for 14x6.5, but may go ahead with it anyway and can run a spacer if i wanna get them pushed out a bit more. Thoughts?

Ah that's always nice :lolcry: mine didnt get to that point until i put the screw driver through it, then it got the duct tape treatment. Got one layer of paint on all of the bits now so that'll do until its done properly. Got a couple of things that could do with some smoothing out (where they connect the roof the the rear pillar was a bitch before, and still a bit of a line now, but there's no rust so tempted to leave it :cool:). Either way, its alot cleaner than it was, and another thing ticked off that needed to be done! :y:

Bit of work done since last post - the rust has now all been cut out and replaced and bogged - that was last weekend. Is currently sitting outside with the primer drying before i do a quick top coat, so thought i'd update the post while i had some time :cool: Probably better just to put it in pictures! This was the main bit and what she looked like after it was all cut out and taken back to bare metal :( First part of repair welded in: Full repair welded in: Neil cleaning it all up (not bare metal guards): All cleaned up: Bogged and sanded: Primered and drying, as of about 45 minutes ago: Also repaired a little bit around the bottom corner of the rear windscreen: Also did fuel filler cap (that area, but on the body in the corner), but no pics of that - a LITTLE rough, but will do the job. Also took the front guards back to bare metal and bogged again :y: Just giving it all a spray pack job at the moment until i've got a bit more time and then we'll do it properly (the front guards atleast, as the rest are only smallish spots and can probably get away with spray pack). Just wanted to get it all primered and painted for now so it doesnt rust more :y: Gotta give a HUUUUGE thanks to Neil and his dad, who really did the majority of the work - his dad did the welding, neil did the cleaning and tidying up of it all, and i mainly did the guards and some sanding (kept it to that as i didnt wanna f$#k up their good work :lolcry: ). Anyway, should be dry now so off to paint :cool:

yeah, got enough clearance issues as it is though, so definitely wont be going that low :bash: actually had a change of plans though and not getting the xr4's anymore - will stick with what i've got for now and maybe spend the money doing some other things to it :yes:

Got a couple of new "toys" that should be making their way down from queensland on monday: They're 14x6.5 +10, just a pair, and probably chuck them on the front. I've got the 14x7 hotwires on there at the moment, but wanted to go for something a touch thinner to get rid of any clearance issues (also just wanted some XR4's ;)) - will get some spacers if i wanna fill them out a little more. Anyway, had a very quick play around on photoshop with something i'd done previously 1 - car lowered a bit more, centre of hotwires on rear painted black, and xr4's up front: 2 - car lowered a bit more, and xr4's all round (if i can get another pair somewhere i probably will) Disregard the wheels in the bottom corner of the pics - other layers i couldnt be bothered getting rid of :) I'm liking the look of the xr4's front and rear though, so that may be the way to go :D

Been a bit sick the last week with a cold, and got some days of work to rest, but thought i'd make the most of these free days to work on my car. Fairly productive day today i thought: Got the fuel level indicator on the dash working again (after cutting a hole in the rear panel after taking the bumper off to get through to it on top of the tank, i realised there was a nice little cover in the boot that just had to be undone to access it - raise your hand if you feel like an idiot :y: ) Started to cut out and clean out that rust spot near the roof, so its ready to get stuck into when i start on it with my mate Got the airconditioner working again (issue with the power getting to it and activating the magnetic clutch on the compressor) Got the rear window demister/defogger working Replaced the plastic covers that go over the steering column (thanks tas ae71 :)) So all in all a fairly productive day i guess, and everything went to plan - even better than i planned as i wasnt expecting to get the a/c to work (was just testing out one of those little pen with light voltage testers and used that plug, then plugged it back in and it kicked into gear ;) ). Also yesterday got a piece of exhaust pipe bent up so the cat can hopefully be put in this weekend. So getting closer to all being finished :D

Thanks mate, hoping to get it over my mates pit for us to do a bit of work to it, so it basically depends on that and a couple of other things are done as to when it goes through, but within a month or two would be ideal. Will keep the post updated once all finalised, with some new updated pics too :lolcry:

Not too much unfortunately :( was going to put the cat converter in last weekend, but turns out we need some other pipe to do it properly (ie mount it up in the little cavity on the floor plan underneath - when the new exhaust was done it just went straight over it), but managed to get my reverse lights working so that wasnt a complete waste of time. Slowly getting there - been busy lately so been hard to organise to do stuff Did just get off the phone to regency re some queries i had for when it does go over. Thought i'd chuck them up here, if not just for my own future reference :lolcry: 1. does the car need the stone stray under the engine that was there previously (but no longer fits)? No 2. do i need to put an ULP fuel filler neck/sticker on the tank inlet? No, can't get Leaded petrol anymore so not an issue 3. Do i need to upgrade my brake master cylinder due to the upgrade of brakes - if i step on the brakes when driving along and it locks the rears, then yes, or need to put a "proportioning valve" in it. If it doesnt, then they're fine 4. chrome t-18 bumpers okay? Yes 5. Pod filter - needs to be secured so it doesnt wobble around - up to me how this is done 6. Cost of inspection - $198 When i was chatting to the guy and telling him about what had been done he said "and we havent asked you to get this engineered?" which was a bit worrying :yes: , but i guess i've got the SOR here saying i don't need it. Just hoping there arent any major issues when it is finally taken over

i've run both external and intank setups and recently changed over to internal lifter pump and Vl pump under the car now. Was all in the boot before with an external VL lifter pump flowing into a surge tank, then going through VL high pressure pump to send it up the front. Did the job, but was noisy as f$#k in the boot :lolcry: i've now got a custom setup with a VL INTANK lifter pump mounted on the ke70 gear, running to VL pump mounted under the cap - HEAPS better, alot quieter (can hardly hear it in cabin), and wont get busted by the cops if they pop the boot to see all your fuel setup in there. Havent had any problems with fuel cutout yet, but if you keep it above a 1/4 like sam Q said you'll be fine :yes:

Good work Philbey! Definitely something that's discussed a bit so good to have it in the wiki! i'll hopefully be able to update you in a couple of months as to whether my ke70+4age gets through. Still adding some finishing touches to make sure its all good! :lolcry:

Yeah, i can help you out if you're doing a ke70 with 4age as i've basically got Regency to allow it to be done without engineering ( :S ), but if its going into a KE30/55 i think you're gonna have a few more issues. Unless you can find a ke30/55 that came out ANYWHERE with a more powerful engine thats within 20% of what you're upgrading to (ie your new motor can have 20% more power without being engineered). Give the modifications branch of regency a call and have a chat - i've called them a few times and they were REALLY helpful. THe way i went about mine was to fill in an application to modify a motor vehicle and put a covering letter with it clearly explaining what i was planning (already done) to the car, and pointing out how everything i'd done was a BOLT IN job with little/no modification. I think the trick is not to sound like a young punk who wants to have the most powerful car on the road, instead, someone who's done their research and taking the steps to make the car safe. First step would be to fill out one of those forms, then Transport SA will send you out a "statement of requirements - vehicle modification" detailing everything they'd want done. I have a feeling it'll involve engineering though, which would be between $1500-$2000 from my research :)

Me and a mate who's done quite alot of body work are gonna fix up the rust, so that's fine - better not cost $1k :S COnsidering more power, but nothing on the forced induction side of things as i'll then have to get it engineered, which defeats the purpose of me trying to make it legal for cheap which i've managed to do so far (when its finished). Dunno :)

Only been a day or so but having second thoughts about the LSD already lol. Got a price of $985 delivered, which is pretty good seeing as though some sponsers here and on other sites are after $1199 ("on special"). BUT, i just don't know if i'll really make good use of it. The only reason i'd use it is for motorkana (IF i ended up doing it), which might be 4 or 5 times a year. I don't drift, and only other time i spin the wheels is while turning a corner from a standing start, which is easy enough to control anyway. So i think it'd be a waste of $1k to get it........i just think there'd be better things i can spend $1k on for the car than a LSD that wont get much use :S

Yeah, atleast its one of the "typical" spots that i don't have to be too concerned about. Couple of other very small spots around the petrol cap, and near one of the taillights, so will clean them up before the re-spray. I'd be happy for a rust repair to last 8 years. Sucks though - didnt see anything when i bought it a couple of years ago or so, but it just bubbles up slowly until BAM, theres a big patch :S the fact that i have put it off and put it off some more doesnt have anything to do with it though :)