peterd

Often when I start the car, the ignition 'clicks', like a flat battery, but after a few try's, it starts easily. I've got a 4k with a trimatic. I don't think it's the neutral safety switch because it starts after a few goes, without me touching anything or moving the shifter. Any ideas? Thanks

I'm a backyard hack so take what I say with a grain of salt, but could it be a faulty coil?

thanks for the replies. The metho idea came from professional painter but I was a bit scared to try it. I tried the boiling water and thumbnail technique and this works. There's so much though that I'll try the clay bar next. thanks for your help.

I was fortuante enough to park my Kluger next to a wall that got painted. I've got white dots all over my bonnet now. Has anyone tried using meths to get water based paint off a car? I'm worried it will damage the clear coat. It was done a few months ago so is well and truly dry.

That's an awesome looking car. What motor does it have? I have a ke35 in Perth Australia. Its easy to buy most new mechanical parts/gaksets etc here cheaply. Trim is difficult to find. Rollaclub, eBay, Gumtree, Peter Robinson Automotive, are great sources for parts and trim. The dash you have is a late model ke35 style, the same as a ke55.

You will need to join the neutral safety switch wires from the auto shifter together.

Alec, I'm running a 4k block, 5k head with a spacer, on a trimatic. From memory, the compression is around 13:1. Its had a genuine Toyota gasket on it for about a year with no problems. It probably has an easier life with the auto though. The car gets used a few times a week.

For the rear drums, make sure the handbrake is off.

In the 1970's you could buy a Holden Premier with a Mazda rotary, if you were in Japan. I saw one at the Toyota Museum in Japan. It was an underpowered, high fuel consumption dog I believe.

I don't know if it still exists but years ago my neighbour did a TAFE car painting hobby course where you work on your own car and use their facilities and equipment.

Just my 2 cents worth. I bought a ke35 with a 4k/5k combo engine a year ago. I had no mechanical knowledge and I'm not good at getting things back together. The 4k corolla is really straight forward. There's nothing there that isn't needed and everything eventually makes sense. You can find everything that you're looking for under the bonnet. I've managed to change a head gasket, service the auto transmission, rebuild the master cylinder, change the slave cylinders, tune the car so it's runs sweet and some other stuff without wrecking anything. There's always something to catch you out but that's part of the challenge. There's great help here and from your new best friend.(the mechanic). Most of the mechanical parts are easy to buy from supercheap/veals/eBay etc and cost around $30. There's good repair manuals available and YouTube. My favourite is the genuine Toyota yellow books, which are written assuming you know nothing. Basically it's a great car to learn on. (Ive got the 3 speed trimatic auto and it's not a heap of shit. My motors got a bit more power than standard which might be why my auto is fine)

Don't you just push it in and screw it on? I don't remember it being difficult. Hopefully its just being difficult and you havent stripped something. There's everything you need to know about trimatics here http://holdenpaedia.oldholden.com/index.php/Trimatic_Index

I've got a ke35 with the rectangular brake master cylinder. My pressure differential switch isn't connected and I can't find the wire in the loom. I assume its been cut off. I'm hoping someone with an original loom wouldn't mind taking a photo of their wiring to point me in the right direction. Thanks.

The kit did come with ceramic sockets, one of which was poorly connected. I swapped the sealed beams today for a Narva h4 conversion kit and while in was doing it, a wire popped out of the connector. I guess you get what you pay for. The improvement in the brightness when I changed the wiring was dramatic but the coverage was splotchy (with the sealed beams) With the new wiring and the h4 conversion, the headlights are just as good as a modern car.

The headlights on my ke35 where so appalling that I wasn't too keen to use the car at night. I remembered that altezzaclub posted a wiring diagram a while back with how to rewire them using a relay to stop the power getting sucked up by the cabling. I came across a ready made version of altezzaclub's diagram on eBay for the huge sum of $12, which I installed today. It took about 10 minutes to install and the result is brilliant. The brightness is easily double what it was. I needed to change the power wire to a longer one to reach the battery but apart from that, the installation was straightforward. Hopefully the cheap Chinese relays in the kit are safe. Tomorrow I'll swap the sealed beam globes for a Narva h4 conversion and see if I get another big improvement. This is the harness that I purchased. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/H4-H4-Headlight-Black-Booster-Wire-Harness-40A-DC-Wiring-Relay-Conversion-LSRG-/380970296201 There's no instructions but its pretty obvious. 2 blue wires to earth and the red wire to the +ve terminal on the battery.

I found the problem, so its running sweet again. The clamp holding the choke cable near the carby was loose, so the choke wasn't opening/closing fully.

The mornings in Perth have been a bit chilly lately, maybe around 10C. When I start up the 4k in the morning, the choke has no effect until the cars warmed up a bit and then it works as expected. I have to keep my foot on the pedal for a minute or two to stop it stalling. The vacuum hoses are connected to the choke. (aisan carb) The original air cleaner has been replaced with an open filter style. Is this normal or is my choke stuffed? thanks

For flat areas, you can use iron on wood veneer. It's expensive but an excellent, high quality product. How about the exterior? You could make it the first corolla woody!

Thank you. PM sent.

I'm trying to pull apart the master cylinder from my ke35 to replace the seals. Its the newer dual circuit (rectangle) one. The main cylinder section came apart easily and cleaned up nicely. On the proportioning valve section, I removed the end cap but the internals have rust on them and don't move/ don't come out. Is there a trick to getting it apart or is it time to find a replacement MC? Thanks.

Thanks. I can see how it works now. Hopefully the recon parts are still available.

The other day, I replaced the front brake hoses and bled the brakes. When I was finished, I had a bad fluid leak from the bolt at the back of the servo. It leaked when the pedal was pressed. I've tightened the bolt and I think the leak is fixed. Should there be any fluid there anyway or is this a sign of a bigger problem? Thanks

Is it this one? This is a late ke30.

Just wondering if there is a gasket for the ke30 diff, do I use gasket silicone, or make a gasket. The car is a 1978 ke35 auto. I'm going to change the diff oil. Thanks.

I had my car inspected in WA for rego. The inspection was pretty thorough. Basically they wanted a safe car that drives well, with minimal problems such as oil leaks. All the electrics/globes have to work. The tyres need tread and the brakes have to work. I got picked up for some missing split pins in the steering and for faded seatbelts. They didn't notice/didn't care about a small oil leak from the transmission or the speedo dial that was pretty shaky until it got to 60 . A friend used to do the inspections in NSW and his advise was to give them something which was safe and looked like you cared about it. Clean the car thoroughly, degrease it thoroughly, spray all the radiator hoses with tyre shine. Don't give them an engine bay covered in 40 years of grease and shit. When you think it's ready, take it to them and give they'll give you a list of what you missed. From my experience, the inspectors enjoyed having an old car to play with and were probably more lenient that with a new car. Good luck. Your car looks great by the way.