Xon

Thanks mate, it seemed in pretty tidy condition. Once I got it up on a hoist I found a bit of rust underneath, but nothing half a day couldn't fix. The big news is, he's registered and sitting at home, instead of taking up space at my mechanics! It was a bit of a funny drive home though, since I live in the Blue Mountains there's a massive hill to get up, and the old 3k didn't like that very much. Any time I tried to give it more than about 50% throttle it would go great for a minute or so, then bog down and eventually stall. I'm assuming it's starving somehow, bad float or bad fuel pump or something. Gives me something to do on the weekend anyway! Here's a picture of it's first visit to a petrol station in 12 years :lovin: and a new interior shot with more suitable seats.

Thanks guys, it's not quite as tidy as it looks in the photos, but it's pretty damn good. Only a tiny bit of rust here and there, which is good because I have no welding skills (yet). The racing seats seem like they're pretty good quality, but I want to keep the car pretty original, and they definitely aren't original!

So I picked up the KE20 on the weekend - and by picked up I mean put it on a tow truck and sent over to my local mechanic to get checked out for rego. It hasn't had plates on it in at least 10 years, but it's still in good condition so hopefully there won't be too much to fix up. Seeing it up on the truck really gave me an appreciation for just how tiny this was, and the previous owner had bit of a moment before it drove away! He was also nice enough to let me know about some seats for sale that were pretty local on gumtree. Funnily enough they are KE20 seats that have been reupholstered and then put in a Morris Minor. From the look of them, I don't think anyone's sat in them since! She's still sitting at the mechanics for now, and I'm just itching to go for a bit of cruise!

Hi All, I've been a member for a while - initially I signed up to buy a KE35 for my girlfriend, but having it sitting in the driveway and puttering around on weekends inspired me to upgrade. So on Saturday I pick up my first Corolla - a 1974 KE20 that's been in one family since new. It's currently unregistered, but after a bit of a once-over I'm hoping to get it registered on Saturday and drive it home. Immediate plans are: Rego Replace the massive racing seats with original seats (have to source some!) Attach the granny visor Replace lap sash belts with retractables Brakes - maybe AE86 strut/brake combo Down the track I might look at a 4AGE swap, but to start with I'll see how the 3K goes. Here's some pics from the gumtree ad: I'm really not against race seats, but these things are so big you have to reach for the seat belt before you close the door, and the two seats nearly meet in the middle!

Sorry but the varex is 100% illegal. You won't pass a blue slip with one (not sure what you call blue slips in Vic?), you won't pass engineering with one, and if the cops pull you over and spot it, you'll probably get a defect. I've got no beef with you running one, I had one on my Subaru until the novelty wore off, but there's no sense in wasting your time hoping it'll pass when it's unlikely they'll even get the test equipment out when they see it.

Just grab a stock muffler from something that ran an SR20 from a wrecker, and then chuck it in the bin afterwards. Should only cost a few bucks!

Yeah unfortunately because they're adjustable they are not allowed. Even if they were, you would need to pass EPA with it open, which I high doubt it would since they're just straight through when open.

To clarify, it will depend on the car you're driving. If your driving an EFI car that's been tuned for 91 ron, using 98 ron will make almost no difference to economy. It'll burn cleaner and all that crap but it won't make more power, and it won't be more economical, because the ECU doesn't know what to do with the extra octane. There is a common misconception that the ECU can "learn" to use the fuel you use, which is crap - the fuel maps are pre-defined and is the reason if your car is tuned for premium you shouldn't run it on regular unleaded. As well, ethanol has a higher octane but you need more ethanol in a single combustion than you do petrol, so while you get more power from it you will use more. If you tried back to back E10 with plain old 91 (if you can find it anywhere) you'll find the regular stuff more economical.

I think you mentioned somewhere along the line you wanted to use a varex muffler, are you going to? If so, you're not going to use it for the EPA test are you, because they're quite illegal.

Sounds like there's some chemicals in the wrap that will burn off after the first few drives. Maybe take it for another short spin or two and see if it stops smoking?

Totally awesome build, it's amazing to see the quality you've put out of a garage! Could the smoke not be related to the leaky gearbox seal?

It appears to be the stock carb. Is there anything simple to identify it as pre or post pollution? The engine was swapped before I got the car, so I'm not sure what's what on it.

Yes Dave, but after giving it a good rev the timing goes way out as it comes back down to idle. It evens out, but often stalls before it comes good.

Looks like the dizzy is worn out and is retarding the timing too much. Points are ok, plugs are all ok, cyl 4 has plenty of compression, but the timing goes way out after a good throttle blip. I'm wondering if it's worth going for an electronic replacement?

Cheers for the specs, fingers crossed it's something simple like wrong plug gap. I replaced the dizzy cap not long ago so hopefully it's not that!

Yep, that was the plan for sure. Got a spare set of plugs sitting around to try too.

It's been happening for ages to varying degrees, seems to have gotten worse lately though. I'll have a good look for vacuum leaks, but I pulled the lead off spark plug #4 and the idle wasn't affected at all, so I'll check the gaps and maybe replace the leads in the morning.

ok I'm an idiot. Like I said I don't know much about carburetors. I was checking vacuum in the wrong spot. It looks like spark plug number 4 has weak or no spark at idle, but it's otherwise fine.

Thanks Dave, I'll give all of those a shot once it stops raining. I just threw a vacuum guage on in various places (the nipple in the pic above, as well as the main vacuum hose that goes to the dizzy etc), and got a reading of absolutely nothing. I assume this is a big problem!

I will readily admit up front I know very little about carbys, so please go easy if I sound like a bit of a tard! I have a KE35 with a 4k block and 3k head in it. It generally runs quite well, but it won't idle for crap. Generally it will idle ok for a few seconds (sometimes a minute or two), then will start to shake and miss a bit, and then just stall completely. Sometimes it will try and stall as soon as I engage the clutch when slowing down for lights etc, although if I just let the clutch out and roll start it, it will generally idle happily for a little while. If I sit with my foot on the accelerator a bit (sitting at 1500+ rpm) it will sit quite happily indefinitely. It's also missing a bit below 2000rpm SOMETIMES, but not all the time. To me, this seems to be a vacuum leak or similar. While having a quick look over the carby, I noticed the nipple in the picture below with nothing attached to it. I assume this should have something going somewhere, or be blocked off. Anyone able to suggest where it should go?

Theory makes sense to me. Pressure plate spins fast, weights pull outwards, putting extra pressure on the clutch disc. Complete and utter waste of time on a motor making ~50hp though :S

Thanks jono, reckon there would be any problem still driving it around for a while until I find another?

I've wondered this before, but wow it'd take a lot of spray cans to do a whole car!!

Hey folks, I'm back with another problem with the mustard KE35. The last 2 days I've noticed a knock develop from the front right side of the vehicle. Upon further inspection, I can duplicate the noise by moving the steering wheel left to right fairly quickly in the driveway, and the knock appears to be coming from somewhere on the steering arm. I know it's hard to diagnose noises over the internet, but all the bolts seem nice and tight, and have their lock pins in place, so is this likely to just be a worn bush? Or is the wheel about to fall off completely?

Even my reasonably modern Subaru gearbox crunches going into reverse. Wouldn't be too concerned if a 30 year old box is doing it. It won't hurt your clutch, since the clutch is inside the bellhousing, and the gears are inside the gearbox case itself.