Tham

Thank you, Felix. That would be about 8 % smaller for the primary jet, which accounts for most of the running in downtown driving. Initially I thought you had used about 85 or 90 for this jet. I'll try looking around.

Hi Felix, In this post, you mentioned you downsized the jets of your KE30 carburettor. http://www.rollaclub.com/board/index.php?s...st&p=129102 May I ask what jet sizes you downsized them to ? I'm not sure of the stock jets for the KE30, but those for the KE70 are 105 primary, 168 secondary. The idle jet is 50, I think. The idle jet also looks too big, as consumption seems high even when just idling. Over here in Malaysia, it's a bit hard to find just replacement jets alone for sale. Most come with carb kits, such as those "Keyster" brand ones, and are standard stock jet sizes. Thanks very much.

There is a creaking noise when I depress the clutch pedal in my 1981 KE70 these few weeks, much like a noisy gate whose hinges are rusted. The mechanics here have been given me different opinions as usual. One says it is the clutch cable, another says it could a worn fiber or rubber bush at the fulcrum on which the pedal pivots. (I've sprayed lots of WD40, then silicon oil, in that area without much effect). And there doesn't appear to be any replacement bushes on sale here in Malaysia, for this old a car. Yet another says it could be a lack of grease on the release fork mechanism inside the gearbox bell housing. However, I have replaced my clutch cable, disc, diaphragm and release bearing just about a year ago. And the squeaking or creaking sound only comes about on depressing the pedal AFTER the engine has been started, not before. It also seems to be more frequent in colder temperature, such as at night or a rainy day. And it also appears to be more prominent when I am depressing the pedal on a slope, particulary when reversing. It's also coming from inside the car from the clutch pedal area, not eminating from outsite like the bell housing, I believe. I'm using Exedy (Daikin) clutch disc and diaphragm, which is so damn stiff (just after a week of installation), even the mechanic complained. Anyway, I'll try replacing the cable for a start. My current one is a good brand, I think by TSK of Japan.

Thanks, Paul. Yes, during the 80s I was driving an Isuzu Gemini, I tried using an SAE 40 oil meant purely for diesel engines. I think it was Shell Rimula or something, with an API rating of just CC. I remember the oil was quite black when drained out on changing. This is the Pennzoil HDX SAE 30 oil which I was referring to. http://www.pennzoil.com.my/product3.htm

Thanks, Super Jaime. I will go ahead and try it out again. I was initially afraid that mineral-based SAE 30 might tend to thin out too much in the higher ambient temperatures here, since the timing chain and tappets ran extremely noisy the last time I tried it out. The common single grade mineral oils which one finds selling in motor supply shops here are all SAE 40, which I find too thick and lowers the 4K's performance significantly. I can get SAE 30 only direct from Pennzoil's factory here. So far, their salesman has been nice enough to deliver them right to where I work, though of course I need to buy at least a few cans (usually 4) at one go !

The general tendency for most cars in Malaysia is to use a multigrade engine oil, with typical SAE ratings of 20W-50 and 15W-40 for the normal mineral-based ones, 10W-30 for semisynthetics and down to 5W-30 for the full synthetics. Multigrade oils are relatively more expensive. Pennzoil currently has a single grade "heavy duty" SAE 30 mineral oil over here, marketed more for diesel engines, with an API rating of CD/SF. They call it "HDX 30". I was wondering if it was alright to use this long term in my old KE70's 4K ? Ambient temperatures here have grown much hotter over the past twenty years, partly due to global warming I think, and 38 degrees celsius (100 deg F) in the daytime is common. I tried using it a few times, and the tappets and timing chain seemed extremely noisy on a hot afternoon. I'm not sure if engine wear would be higher in long traffic jams on a hot day.

Can silicone spray be used to lubricate the internals of an electronic distributor, especially on the breaker plate to help the vacuum advance shift it smoothly ? Does it have any conductive properties ?

This was taken from an old tune-up manual which came with my timing light as well as an old Reader's Digest car care book. http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/THAM_4K/VACUUM1.jpg http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/THAM_4K/VACUUM2.jpg http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/TH...ADERSDIGEST.jpg

This was taken from the Hayne's manual on the Toyota Starlet. I think it was based on the 4K-E engine. http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/THAM_4K/DIST.jpg http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n234/THAM_4K/DIST1.jpg The electronic distributor looks basically the same as the ones which some of us have here. The connection diagram is for fuel injection, but note that the vacuum advance for the distributor's lower stage appears to be taken from the intake manifold, with the upper one going to the standard vacuum inlet above the throttle butterfly.

Hi Nick, Kitting the carby ..... you mean servicing it with a repair kit and/or downsizing the primary and secondary jets ? Thanks. (By the way, seems to be some bugs displaying the pages here in Seamonkey/Mozilla. The thread starter's first message is displayed on the top of every subsequent page. Or is this supposed to be a feature ?)

Partly the Aisan carburetor, partly the differential ratio, but more the OHV engine design, I think (though the Datsun's A12 is also OHV but has comparatively much better fuel efficiency). You are probably right with regards to inefficient gas flow in the cylinder head. The Aisan carburetor appear to have faulted design, with very poor mixture atomisation and consequently poor idle, particularly when it gets a bit old. The K-series are all well known gas guzzlers in Malaysia. This was also true of the 7K in the first batch of the Unser recently, despite using fuel injection. This Indian guy who has an office near mine, drives an Unser, and the first thing he commented when I asked him about it, was "....... It's quite a gas guzzler". Toyota engines, whether OHV or OHC designs, have never had a good reputation for fuel economy in Malaysia. That's why one doesn't find any taxi drivers here using Toyotas, apart from a few Crown diesels in the 80s. One of the worst in terms of fuel consumption was the 2T and 3T. This was a bit surprising, since I had the impression that the hemispherical combustion chamber design for an OHV engine was quite innovative and advanced for its time, and thus was supposed to be fuel efficient.

That's really fantastic fuel economy on a 4K. One other user on the Toymods forum also reported a consumption as good as yours. Nobody in Malaysia can achieve anything even close. At 11 km/L at best, this would give on a full tank of 42 liters, 460 km maximum.

A 5-speed improves fuel economy only at higher highway speeds, above 70 km/h. The Corolla KE70's 4K is known to be a gas guzzler in Malaysia, particularly the "DX" model, which I have. This model was marketed from 1979 to 1981. In the light of such poor feedback, they came out with the "GL" model in 1982 to 1983. This improved fuel economy by about 3 mpg (about 1 km per liter), but performance suffered, particularly acceleration. I think they made revisions to the carburetor, gearbox and differential ratios. I get 26 to 28 mpg (9 - 10 km/L) on average, 30 mpg (10.5 km/L) at best. In bad traffic jams, the consumption can easily drop below 20 mpg (7 km/L). One can see the fuel meter drooping before your eyes. The 5K is even worse in this regard. In contrast, the A12 engine in the Datsun 1200 /120Y easily gets 35 to 37 mpg (12 - 13 km/L) on average. This is why virtually all the taxi drivers here at that time used this car.

I'm currently using a 3K Aisan carburetor on my 4K engine. This carb doesn't hold idle very well, and I think it's partly due to the return spring, which is built into the throttle linkage, unlike the 4K carb which uses an external spring hooked to a bracket on the manifold. I'm thinking of switching back to my previous 4K carb, which has a hot idle compensator, which is basically a bimetallic strip. This compensator introduces air into the intake manifold at higher temperatures and leans the mixture, and thus gives a smoother idle too. The currrent 3K carb does not have this compensator. However, I undertstand that a lean mixture makes the engine run even hotter, so I wonder if that might be a problem.

$40 for a differential, that's really cheap. The last I checked a few years back, a KE70 differential costs M$400 (A$150) at one of the local salvage yards here in Malaysia. Should have bought it back then, my differential is making lots of grinding noises, and that salvage yard doesn't stock it anymore. Neither do most others here.

Seems there are some script errors with the pics you posted, can't see them. I'm not familar with the extra vacuum inlets on other carbs. Maybe the others here can help. According to Mikey's Toy on the other post, he mentioned that the outer diaphragm port goes to the standard inlet just above the carb's butterfly for advance, and the inner one goes to the intake manifold port for retard.

Why don't you ask him to loosen the valve clearances then ? But I doubt if somewhat tight tappets can cause misfirings when the engine is under mechanical or electrical load. Sounds more like an ignition problem. My usual spare parts shop in Segambut, Sheng Hua, showed me a Hitachi coil without a ballast resistor the other day, model C1Z-500. Probably has resistance wire in the coil windings. Cost about $40 again. Can be used with both points and ignitors, I believe. Should be a good choice.

Thanks for the info, Love KE. Very informative, never knew fitting a Gemini's Nikki was possible. Quite extensive modifications, however, no mechanic in Malaysia would know how to do this. Wished Nikki made direct replacements for the K-series engines. Found a site in the UK here, but no response from them. Maybe they don't sell to Malaysia. http://www.carbs.freeuk.com/nikki_carburetters.htm

Hi, I didn't realize that a Nikki from a Gemini 1600 could fit the 5K ? I've always thought of replacing the Aisan on my Corolla 4K with a Hitachi or Nikki. The Aisan generally idles like crap, even the new one which I have now. I drove a Gemini from 1983 to 1993, and the Nikki was a very reliable and economical carb, idling very smoothly right up to when I sold the car. It did flood once or twice, which I heard is a problem with Nikkis, especially the one fitted to the Datsun 180K in Malaysia during the 80's. Did you have to make modifications to the manifold mounting bracket, throttle linkage and air filter housing ? I note that the Nikki also has separate fuel inlet and fuel return pipes. Thanks very much. I've heard that the Hitachi is a very reliable carb too, and the Nikki is similar in design, since it is a subsidiary of Hitachi. Some description of the Gemini's Nikki : http://www.giant.net.au/users/wight/Existing%20Hardware.htm

The distributor is more or less a universal type made by Nippondenso for the K-series engines. All these electronic ignition units, whether stock and built into the distributor, or after-market external type, including those designed by electronic magazines such as the high energy unit by Silicon Chip, basically involve a trigger unit - an LED sensor, magnetic reluctor, Hall effect sensor or the points itself, and a power transistor as an electronic switch. In the more sophisticated designs, an IC regulates the coil current (as in the Silicon Chip unit) and electronic advance can also be built in, such as those by MSD. Thus the above distributor can be used on the 3K, 4K, 5K and probably the K, 2K and 7K as well. The electronic coil can also usually be used with contact points. My brother-in-law had a Mitsubishi Lancer with an electronic distributor and coil. One day, the distributor gave way, and he replaced it with the original points one. Didn't change the coil, and the engine started and ran normally. You can buy a used Hanshin electronic coil from Soon Choi for $10. Or why not buy the Diamond transfomer coil from Takara Auto ? Very compact unit. Takara Auto Parts Specialists 11, Jln Bacang, off Ipoh Rd 51200 Kuala Lumpur Are you sure it is your coil ? Could be your points or plugs.

I found this Bosch coil at the salvage yard where I had bought the Nippondenso electronic distributor earlier for my Corolla's 4K. http://market.autopartsfair.com/bmw-engine...item-44655.html It's marked "For Transistor Ignition" and must have been salvaged from a BMW. It has part No. 0 221 118 335 carved at the bottom. Is this the famous Bosch "black" electronic coil, and could it be used with the 4K's Nippondenso electronic distributor ? I measured it, and the coil's primary winding has a very low resistance of just about 0.6 ohms, versus 1.5 ohms or more for typical Japanese electronic coils. Secondary resistance is equally low, at 6.3 kohms, versus typically 10 to 12 kohms for Japanese coils. Wonder if it might burn out my igniter. The salvage yard owner said it was meant to be used on German engines' electronic systems.

You can use a plastic T-connector, which the salvage yard owner can probably give you, and connect the single hose from your carburetor's vacuum inlet to both outlets on the vacuum diaphragms. Some say that the outer one is for advance, while the inner one to supposed to go to the manifold for retard, while others say both ports are for advance - one giving advance at low to moderate engine speeds, while the other gives a bit more advance at very high RPMs. I guess this depends on the diaphragm's design and engine application. In my case, both appeared to be for advance, with the outer one giving more advance than the inner. I used one of those metal splitters found in aquarium pumps, which had shutoff taps, as I wanted to experiment shutting off each hose in turn to see what difference it made. If you do not have the T-connector, you can of course use these splitters and open up both outlets permanently. The vacuum hoses fit them exactly. If you cannot get metal ones, normal plastic ones can be used, which was what I used at first, and appear to be able to withstand the engine heat. You can read my other thread "Electronic Distributor for 4K Engine" .

The distributor for the 4K/5K uses an external coil. Later engines, such as the Proton Sagas (Iswara models) made after the mid-90's, has the ignitor, transformer coil and electronic advance all built inside the distributor housing. Soon Choi will give you a used coil if you buy this distributor from them. He gave me one by Hanshin marked "For Transistor Ignitor", though it looked very old. They also have ones with the ignitor strapped on top of a Nippondeso coil, but he said those are for other engines. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, you can also buy new electronic coils made by Diamond from most spare parts shops. I've also seen a very cute transformer coil by Diamond with a ballast resistor, meant for points distributors, but can also be used with electronic ignitors. You can buy it at Takara Auto in Ipoh Road for around $40.

The distributor I bought for my 4K from the salvage yard here was also marked "5K". The connector was identical. It also had a two-stage vacuum advance pump.

Sorry about that NGK copyright infringment misunderstanding in my earlier post under "Cold Plugs". I didn't mean to cause that argument between Trev and Redwarf with my post. Thanks for the info, Trev, it was quite informative. Hardly any mechanic in Malaysia bothers to tighten spark plugs with a torque wrench (hardly any has one, for that matter). That's something important I noted years ago.