Mechanical Sympathy

Bah-ling!

Thanks I hadn't, but I have now! Looks to be "well used" for $1000.. I can't see the value considering it all needs a rebuild. Even if it's an early 2TG head, rather than the later offset chamber 2TGEU head. There's an SC14 and 2TGEU EFI setup laying in my shed that could get a look in if I ever find a 2T Aircon bracket and idler pulley. Maybe in 2016 once I'm on the road!

If he's really in El Salvador that may or may not be straightforward. Whenever I can't be bothered counter-jockeying at a Toyota delearship, I hit up www.amayama.com

So for the last year I've been watching eBay for a 2TG oil filler cap, but they were going for crazy money and then suddenly they were all like, "$70 buy it now!" I reject hipster pricing of popular parts (and videogames - don't get me started on hipsters trying to flog 20 year old Nintendo 64 games for hundreds of dollars) so I hit up toyodiy for a part number 12108-49015 (which of course it turns out isn't specific to the 2TG at all!) and plugged it into Amayama.com Whaddaya know - $14 plus $6 delivery and three weeks later i get this; Amayama for the fricken win! Anyway - just about ready to fire up the compressor and get some primer on in coming weeks..

Well thank goodness for the Rozzers.

Offset means nothing without a width - it's all relative!

+ boot lid plastic trim that dissolves in sunlight, XX badges.

The TE51 is by far the nicer body shape compared to the lift back. The Japanese domestic GT model came with the 2TG. Yours looks to be a good base for a few well considered modifications!

Speedhunters have been doing some mildly interesting blogging on incremental upgrades to a 2.3 litre 4 cylinder Ecoboost Mustang. Worth a google/read and I only mention it in the context of this post as I remain ambivalent about desiring one. I imagine demo and secondhand Mustangs would be quite a bit cheaper in North America where you might consider one if you were in the market for an 86. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=speedhunters+mustang+ecoboost

One is a three row and one is a two row. The $100 difference is due to value adding. Nonetheless there are other sellers and prices vary, so you are sure to find something to suit your budget and application eventually.

Yeah I'm with Parrot on this one - 2T is already a good period-correct upgrade for this car. You might consider swapping it for a 3T or a 2TG if you can find a good running one, but otherwise the 2T would be a good bang-for-buck rebuild. People advocating a rotary conversion don't know what is involved.

Falling flat when you put the foot down can indicate that the accelerator pump plunger is perished, so she no squirt fuel when you crack her open and leans out until you back off. Try put a new kit through your carby.

Nah they're good. I've put them on both of my KE55s. Only the coupe needed holes filled because it had the even uglier longer body coloured wrap around bumpers.

That's around the ballpark that I was thinking too. Anyway you should just get KE30 bumpers. KE55 bumpers are ugly with those stupid rubber end caps. That's not going to get you many kudos on chrome-bumper days!

When you get a quote for the chrome plating you will be tempted to buy a box of steel wool, or another set of good bumpers that have been cleaned with steel wool.

Steel wool is like white-fella magic on rusty chrome bumpers. Get the ones with the pink soap for best results. Small taps and dings can often be resolved with careful use of a hammer and dolly, prior to the application of the steel wool.

I'm really interested to see what you can get out of one, and at what revs. Before I deviated to a 2TG conversion, I was looking to strap an SC14 onto one. And may yet do. edit: will you keep a K series gearbox or go T or W?

If 80's vehicle ECU's are anything like the 80's microcomputers I collect, most could do with having their leaky capacitors replaced by now.

These just arrived at my desk - new old stock to suit XX alloys... I need to start putting something aside for paint materials but eBay keeps delivering!

Hello - great project! Adapter plates for 32/36 Webers are available. http://www.weberperformance.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=29_132_156&products_id=563

Smudged out some more puttied repair spots with 400 grit. Things are starting to take shape. I'm glad I persevered with the original panels. I have some clean reproduction guards laying around but they always need tweaking to fit, let alone gap properly. These guards practically fall back onto their bolt holes. Though I think I'll prime them all loose.

Thanks mate! Yeah I expect you're right.. While the flares formed part of my original "vision" for the project, it might even make sense to get it registered without them and run some inoffensively sized 13" wheels and tyres and then fit the flares. Less controversial, and less mucking around for now. Heck I don't need any more procrastinating - 2015 is going to be the year! Oh I got the Jovites stripped too. Turns out they're a 6/6.5" staggered set. Yeah I think these will go on first, sans flares. I had a bargain bling win on eBay. $20 won me this unused carbon fibre cold air box. It was local and I picked it up within the hour. The base hasn't been cut. No doubt it will be a bit large near the brake master, so I will shave the bottom section at a taper toward the back. But I don't think I'll be able to fit my trumpets inside. Never mind! This will allow me to plumb up the PCV breather properly to keep Mr. Plod happy and will quieten down the intake - because I'm old. I'll plumb the 100mm intake to an air filter somewhere low beside the radiator for some cold air.

Aha! Progress? Well.. it's been gradual, but steady. Sorry I know I'm a bit slow! A quick recap of the last couple months. As I mentioned, I was getting a bit stale on the bodywork so busted open some new service parts and got to tinkering. I wanted to replace this crusty old rear main seal, as well as the spigot bearing which was seized. I tried the wet bread trick but this one was quite stubborn. I substituted dunny paper soaked in WD40 and spanked it with a rubber hammer onto a gearbox bolt. This is the end of the crank before I cleaned it. I think I was more worried about putting things back together properly so I didn't take a clean photo. Nonetheless, I cleaned up the end of the crank with a combination of steel wool, scourer, metho and WD40. The replacement rear main seal supersedes the old orange one that has a spring around the inside circumference. The new one is much thinner (so sits further in), It has a series of tiny rubber "teeth" at 45 degrees on the contact surface which I suppose must increase the contact surface area, and feels like it's PTFE coated. My coffee percolator base was just the right diameter to tap it home. Crank still looks a bit crusty in this photo. But it was clean and smooth to the touch, and nonetheless the main seal sits on the crank further in than the old one so misses the old contact line. New spigot bearing feels like silk. My T50 front seal had definitely been leaking so I replaced that too. I cleaned up the underside of the block and aplied gasket goo in the four spots indicated in the 2T engine manual. I wirebrushed and high-temp enamelled the sump - rough but good enough. Then I found some clean lovely cadmium-plated bolts in my 2T bolts bucket and gradually torqued it down. Figuring they were extras from the other engine, I spaced them nicely around the sump - like in case I ever had mirrors under the car at a car show. Of course they were supposed to be my clutch bolts. So now I have sump bolts holding the clutch onto the flywheel. Hmm I'm hoping they're the same tensile strength! Then - as mentioned I put the whole show together to inspire me to get back onto the bodywork. Which it did! My gutters were a bit flakey and scaley, but without any major rust. People tell me acrylic breathes and I don't want anything I've touched to rust again so I ground/sanded/cleaned them, doused them in Wattyl rusteeter and sealed them over with epoxy. Hey, it looks worse than it is! And yes, I have a replacement dash to go in there (It can wait 'til I do the hydraulic clutch conversion). I dragged the loose panels into the yard and hit them with some spray putty and a wet/dry rub to get things ready and in shape for a future coat of high-fill primer. Wet beer, dry paper that is. And also did a bit more work on the car itself . I'm still in two minds here. I've got a bit more work to make the rear quarters look 100%, or I could just bolt on the fibreglass flares and cover my crimes. The following day I mowed the lawn! There I am. Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be ready for some primer!

I was watching a Yahoo Japan auction for a TE47 GT last month. It went for around $5000 :sadface:

All the KE kids are wheeling and dealing on the Corolla-flavoured Facebook pages these days, rather than here on Rollaclub.com Add yourself to KE55/KE30 Corolla Owners, E Chassis sales and Rollclub.com Facebook pages and post a WTB ad for a 4K and you'll have one by the weekend. Be sure to mention where you are located! This would be the fastest way to get on the road again IMO