Mechanical Sympathy

Head to Bunnings and get $30 worth of the sisal/buffing wheels and compounds they sell for metal polishing. Grab a $20 corded drill while you're there. About 40 minutes work per wheel gets you this from this; If you like, hit them with some 400 grit paper first, to get rid of the stubborn stains. But the sisal wheel really takes most gunk off. In hindsight some 80-120 grit around the edges would've taken the harshness off that gutter rash but after a few pints I wasn't getting too fussy about them. Maybe if I ever strip the tyres off I'd give them another hit. For the inside of the wheel I found a wire brush attachment cleaned them up but then it became too much like hard work for little gain.

You're welcome "high port" man.

Cool story bro!

Yeah nah - square peg in a round hole. Clappers assures a 30/55 will bolt in.

Not sure where you are, but would a KE55 radiator be a closer fit? At least the inlets and outlets ought to be in the same place and there's a chance the radiator support panels are similar. I'm sure you could fit anything with a bit of creativity and persuasion!

Assuming it's in good condition you could just get the inlet and outlet on the orginal radiator cut and rewelded into the positions you need by a good radiator repair shop. Also member Jordanrolla has finished his T engine into KE30 mounts - you should hit him up if you haven't already sourced a T crossmember. I know I will be.

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/69475-ke55-ke30-parts/ Check the for sale forum regularly. This thread has been bumping all week.

Great colour. It will turn heads with those wheels.

Pretty sure you were talking about manifolds, not carburettors. I've never heard of anyone refer to a standard KE30 inlet manifold as the "high port twin downdraught" one until now. So rest assured that there is nothing special about your manifold except that it appears to have been match ported to whatever head it was attached to previously. Instead I'd respectfully suggest the head might be of more interest to you, despite the engine throwing a leg out of bed.

If I may address the premise of the question first, the KE35 and TE27 are quite different cars that don't share a windscreen. KE35/50 *might though. Toyodiy is where you could find out.

No, it's only a single downdraught manifold. This is a twin downdraught manifold.

I think it depends how low you want your suspension and how wide you want your rims. A practical ride height and modest rims get around the need to cut and I think that's the path I'll take. I've got a set of TE37 copy flares for my KE55 XX coupe and the only thing that makes me baulk at fitting them is cutting or otherwise ʞ©$ɟing with the rear arches to clear a 9" rim for example. Though it's not as if they're rust free so something has to be done. These ones seem trickier to mount because there are no screw hole recesses in them. I'll have to epoxy mount shaped blocks to the inside of them and then screw them from the inside of the wheel arch. I think Clark Rubber sell an extrusion for mounting against the body. Gee they look good but. IMO anyway. I'm very envious of Parrot's steel flares.

Camry/Aurion 2GR-FE would have to be adapted to RWD. Better to start with a Hilux 1GR-FE and RWD gearbox. Like if you had enough cash for that shit.

If I had a budget like that I'd be keen for a 3RZ turbo. I admit they're ugly, but also different - and still Toyota. Though probably more suited to quarter miles than racetracks and hard to register for Sunday drives.

It really depends on the offset of the rim and the width and aspect ratio of the tyre. Sounds a bit large though without flares. You kinda have to measure how much room you have and calculate a rim size, rather than the other way around. However someone may be able to show you a worked example. Also, legally I think you can only go +2" diameter larger than standard i.e. 12"+2"=14" max on that car. Just saying.

I was looking for similar things for a while. Check out the wreckers. It's a good morning out. Do you have a smartphone? Save some eBay searches and turn notifications on. There's a front bumper on there right now in Vic for 99 cents. Bid late and bid high. Bid what you'd be happy for some other sucker to pay if he outbid you, not what you'd be happy to pay. Try Gumtree too. Save a link for the cover page here and refresh it regularly to spot the forsale items as they come up. Join the Rollaclub Facebook page. I was going to ask - is that page a sanctioned use of the websites name? Keep your eyes open. Stuff comes up. Before long it snowballs and you'll have 3 of everything.

The metal polishing wheels and compounds you can get at Bunnings et al are what you need to polish the rocker cover. You'll go from this to this with not much effort.

To check the spark plugs are firing pull one out, plug the lead back onto it and sit it on the rocker cover. Turn the motor over and you should see/hear it spark. After sitting a while mine won't fire unless I pump the throttle continuously while cranking or spray some start ya bastard down it's guts. Starter issues aside, does it start with a push start? You could probably throw in a second hand starter motor for less than a visit to the auto electrician and a few grazed knuckles.

"I dunno mate but it had High Port or something written on the air filter. JDM yo!"

That's weird. Does it collect in the spark plug tubes if you just use regular leads? Like ones without the big rubber plug ends..

You pretty much need to look on the body of the distributor for a Nippondenso or Bosch marking. Those parts you've photographed are regular service items and could've been made anywhere. In this case Australia. No correlation to the type of distributor.

Well then the TownAce 7K is probably the largest you can go without a mod plate, as they pretty much bolt in. A mild cam liberates them from a van-spec rev range.

Lock up your daughters!

You got me thinking about the kaido headlights though!

Thanks for the kind words guys. Progress has been slow - probably more still at the "planning and procurement" stage, but there have been some developments. It's important to me that I don't fill the yard/shed with wrecked cars, so both my KE projects remain intact and driveable unless I'm embarking on a specific repair or upgrade. So often I've seen fellas get a perfectly good old car and strip it to bits with big ideas to rebuild it, only to get overwhelmed and flog it off as parts in a fire sale. I also need to make sure I don't get carried away, buying everything I need at the expense of things like, you know, bills. Anyway enough pontificating. A couple of months ago I got a bit excited and picked up a bulk buy of parts comprising (most of) a full 2TG into KE3x conversion. I've wanted a 2TG since I was a kid and despite funds being tight, it was in my budget i.e. cheap. I had a look at it on a weeknight and came back the following weekend with a trailer. An agreed sum swapped hands and I took home the following; 2TGEU long motor, starter, alternator Breakerless distributor and TRD leads Twin Mikuni Solex carbs from an 18RG (I'll confirm that before I kit them) T50 20 spline 5 speed Exedy HD clutch in good condition clutch master and slave cylinders Full 2" exhaust from extractors to tail pipe KE30 brake master and booster 2 clean straight reproduction (L&R) front guards KE55 bonnet similarly clean and straight KE30 front and rear chrome bumpers Crack free dash and fascia KE35 horizontal lines grille Round H4 insert headlamps 32/36 Weber parts and KE adaptor plate Now I like to think I'm a canny fella around an engine but when buying an unknown engine, learn from my mistake! Always, always turn any prospective purchase through 360 degrees before you buy it. I took a spanner and turned it, but clearly not far enough. I must've been busy talking or just too excited with my luck in snagging this gear. Either way I just gave it a little turn and noted it wasn't seized. When I got it home and eyeballed the ports I saw this. Or I didn't see this, depending on your perspective. No valve head in exhaust #4. It's inside the engine. Looking over the engine I reckon someone spent decent money on a rebuild when dropping it into a Corolla, only to drop a valve 20,000km later. It's jammed in there. Spark plug was smashed. If I was lucky the bore would be ok and the head would need welding, machining and new valves. Probably a new piston too. Somewhat disheartened, I set about getting it on a stand and planning a rebuild. At least I felt I'd got a good enough deal on the other parts that I could write off the motor. Bah! Nek minnut, a bare 2TGEU long motor came up on Ebay. It never rains but it pours. It was local and poorly advertised so with a single bid and $100 later I was the owner of an assured was-previously-running but stripped 2TGEU long motor, with EFI manifold, rail, injectors and computer thrown in. Sprayed some oil down the bores and got the spanner onto it.Seems to have good compression. Cams are clean of corrosion. Valves seated after I blew the wasps nests out. And that's about where I'm at presently. I've been doing some work on the sedan to finish it off and get it out of the way but then I'll get back into the coupe. I stripped the early model 1600 rocker cover which I'll polish up, and paint the block black or gun metal grey. I'll kit the carbies and swap over all the bits and pieces from the other motor. I'll need to source a 2TG twin carb inlet manifold, get a converted hydraulic pedal box from Jordanrolla and encourage him to do the T engine to K crossmember blocks mounts he's got on his long list. I know many people fudge TA22 mounts onto a K crossmember but that offsets a T engine's crankshaft to the right (same as a K engine) causing clearance issues between carbies and master cylinder and making the engine appear skewed in the bay. I don't want it like that. The correct mounts will also tilt the engine slightly to the left. Quite a bit of body work to do before a quick snick n spray first though. Realistically that could take a year or two.. Lastly, I found a photo of my second KE35 around 1997