teza40

Thankyou Matty, yes fingers are crossed for a good outcome.If it is all good will be rego early in the week and yes i will drive it for a few days along with a drive to southside of Brissy to hand it too Emma. Tho I'm thinking i will be slightly dissapointed in it with the auto behind it,was a fun car to drive with the 5 speed...oh well..will just be glad when all is right with it and Emma can enjoy her car..... :) Cheers

Road Trip done, A big thankyou to Bruce for all his help with the Trimatic i bought from him...top bloke. Had nice hassle free drive from strathpine to maryborough and will get crackin this saturday....Again out with the motor/box from the ke38...do the swap over and fingers crossed all is sweet... If so rego n new plates real soon.... Cheers Teza40

All things required to be replaced or fixed......DONE!... TA DA....passed safety inspection this morning :) Now waiting on the word that another trimatic is out of a car,then drive to Maryborough to pick it.....change auto`s...cross fingers tight...then go get new registration n plates... Cheers Terry

Evan G....... yeah it does kind sloppy change after giving it the bootfull as i said....... SOLUTION ? Daughter should have learnt to drive a manual....as it already was a 5 speed.......lol....

For sure matty it aint right.....holds onto first like a hooker that just made her first dollar........i have no idea on service history condition of the box...i did only get to test it up n back Chris`s driveway at the time... Havent as yet pulled the pan mate...been too busy doing all the other things the roadie guy said needed replacing..that shit is all done and the trans is the spanner in the works....Yes it has vaccuum tho i do wonder if it is strong enough to pull the diaphram fully open. There are two wires the exit the right side of the box near the middle but on flat surface above pan....have no idea if they are for neutral safety swithc etc....but i have the safety switch all working in anycase... Has got me stuffed...but i reckon personally it is stuffed...rebuild...worth it ?????? maybe not... Thanks for your help Matty

Hey Matty..... symptoms are...can take of steady and dosen`t seem to want to change up,give it a boot full and it takes of ok (strong under load), back off and settle it down it feels slushy/doughey as it trys to change into possibly 2nd....so once up too speed as such it gets real vague/lazy,possibly slipping feel.....then have to give it more to keep it moving... Cheers Terry

Hi all.....well hooked up the vaccuum for the kickdown to the inlet manifold...took the van for a drive this morning up the street, seems like hasnt made much of a difference to the upshift 1 2 3 automatically in the box... Took the vaccuum modulator/diaphram off the back of the box,it is pulling in on suction and releasing.So this tells me that with vaccuum it should be doing it`s job...yes i have vaccuum at the modulator end of the line.... So who on here is the automatic specialist??......any assistance would be much appreciated.....this box is untried n tested but i believed it to be sound enough...so not sure if there is other problems that occur,as this is the very first vaccuum kickdown box i have messed with...all other have been cable or bar kick down I.E. chrysler borg warner 35 or chrysler 727 auto`s........long many long years ago... Regards Terry

Well the ke38 finally went for a safety inspection today.....no go for rego at this stage.. Have found out, disc rotors are undersize,left seat belt frayed to badly,idler arm and pitman arm worn,rear gearbox mount needs replacing along with shackle bushes in leaf springs. Indicators not self cancelling out An oil leak somewhere (pretty sure from oil filter),speedo for some reason wasnt working also.... Along with needing to drill an tap a fitting into the inlet manifold for vaccuum to the auto kick down module/diaphram...they sure don't shift gears these traumatics (GMH trimatic) without it... So in all,not ready yet for the road..but considering none of those items got my attention due to time and dollar factor.....I'm happy that they are the only things stopping it from rego...they are after all mainly safety items... Cheers Teza

So todays task, was too make up a couple of Anti wet feet devices....lol. Using the remaing metal left from a corolla bonnet, i made up these two air grille/plennum chamber covers (scoops). Low in height with a rolled non sharp front edge,i don't reckon Emma will be getting drowned feet now, when in heavy down pours. Will be fitted after roadie/rego of course....this thing has come a long way from how it was when i got it in 2007/8 Enjoy Teza40

The latest lot of work........... Fixed up my fark up on the bonnet,but wait there is more planned to those bonnet paint outs in burgundy,side window interior trim boards in grey material to match roof linning all done and fitted.Along with the tailgate interior trim board done in the black panne velvet.... CTP insurance...roadie n rego this week....fingers crossed. Enjoy Teza40 Terry

A fair enough question and yes a different way to do it,tho in my experience velcro is only good for certain applications...Would mean relying on the glue to hold both strips of velcro to the metal lip in window opening and to the trim board,whilst overly heavy the trim board my main concern would be it falling out of place over time possibly..Heat affects glue over time.. The factory trim boards used screws from what i have seen in pics....so with placing one screw at each corner, I'm happy with the look and I'm assured it aint going to fall off.. Cheers

Here we go, One done n dusted and temporarily fitted (need to get some nice n shiny self tap screws)...... 3 more to go and it will look sweet when all fitted up inside :) Bit of work/time involved in this,as with most do from scratch/experimental things. enjoy the pics...

Cheers Matty :) Yes mate going to glue (I'm not that good with the sewing machine) the fabric along the outer edge of the trim board. overlapping one side,so the fabric that is seen in the car has no seam around outer edge..the two fabrics will overlap and be hidden by the metal lip where pinchwelt once was... Will look so much neater and by using the grey cotton is a flow down effect from roof linning and breaks up the amount of black used on othe panels......all cosmetic..but hey it is a girls car now ....lol...

Hey Chris....sounds like you`re doing ok on it mate.... Metallics are a pain to paint...at the best of times. Are you using acrylic/thinners,given the set up i think you are...otherwise if 2 pac you be lucky to still be healthy... Make sure you mix pretty close to normal guidlines....when i was doing the ke38,i had a 1 litre tin...2 litre tin. fed from the 4 litre colour tin into the 1 litre measure...poured that into the 2 litre tin,then 1.5 litre of thinner or close enough added into the paint in 2 litre tin... MIX MIX STIR STIR N STIR IT WELL Then i fed my gravity gun...small pot on mine from the mixed paint in 2 litre tin...giving me kinda a better consistancy... Stand approx 6 inches from the surface (side of the car) and hold the wrist fairly square to the surface whilst making(don't arch-swivel your wrist) passes with spray gun....i was over lapping on each pass....with metallics i found it was a build up to get nice coverage (some times 3-4 passes with dry off time inbetween)...if you are starting each pass from same location..eg from the top to the bottom of panel,maybe try reverse...go from bottom to top with passes... Gun set up is like clapped out said...hit n miss...eventually you find what works well...a wide fan is best but with that the paint feed must also be opened up to suit or you spray too dry.......paint will look see through and feel like 360 grit wet n dry when you rub hand over it dried...also have a play with the amount of air coming into the gun at the hose connection end... Hope this helps...i am by no means a proffessional painter...spent many years doing my paint work with a little beaver set up...lol......and yes i know every part of that wild violet paint on the ke38 that i have to fix...a couple more litres will see it how it should be....as a rule 4 litres don't strecth far enough for good coverage...sometimes need 6 -8 litres i have found. Keep up the good work mate..

Alrighty..moving along with the side window trim boards... Have made one fro the front side window now,tho needs to be made again with fine tuning that i found i needed to make look right....When ya work off off sight-measurements and from scratch...only a 50/50 chance you get it right first go...lol.. Also was going to cover these with the black velvet...errr too much work involved in trying to sew it nice...sew it you ask...yes considering you will see this board from outside the car also,i want both sides nicely covered. So too make life easier on me,went with the same material i made roof head linning from.....pics tell the story :) Enjoy..

Hey Phil.....yeah no worries ..can do easy enough once first set close enough to lookin good! Just need to buy some more plywood sheet (3-4mm) and go from there.........will look far much nicer than just the pinchwelt around the metal edge....main reason for me going the effort...still it aint no show car....lol... stay tuned Cheers Teza40

Nice colour :)...good to see progress Chris,keep loading that gun up mate and over lap your passes closer together.....will look sweet,

Well with little stuff still to be done,and getting there bit by bit...yesterday got the wipers working properly (correct park position etc). fixed the left front side window Today seen me weld up yet again more repair jobs...left front side window i buggered up the corner lower front..so in process of fixing.Also welded up the slits i made in side of tailgate for bolt/mounting places. Sealed up side windows n rear glass in tailgate with the black stuff,try stop it from leaking as much in heavy qld down pours.....sadly this car will live its life in the elements.. Then was loooking at inner side window areas,thinking other vans with side windows have trim boards.If this van had them...they long long gone...so what else would someone like me do?...but make them from scratch :)..Yes will be covered in black panne velvet also.. So along with that and a new tailgate trim board...its in the process..

Thankyou muchly....sometimes take a huge effort to stay on track and see it to the end....work isnt proffessional...but is good enough..cheers.

Not much been happening this week on ke38 van...yeah i been bit slack after such a full on effort last month... Left interior door card and arm rest are now on...covered in the black panne velevet...right door soon to be finished and fitted...... Hope to get back into this thing over the weekend a bit more.... Cheers enjoy pics Teza40

That sure sucks...but I'm thinking by look of pics...you got off lightly.....tailgate can be fixed by looks of it.. Try a car full speed up the arse of a stationery 1992 corolla sedan.....the boot floor was sunk in 600 mm plus...was my partners car,luckily full insured.They wrote it off......passengers had whiplash injuries from the force and she was also pushed in the car in front of her... Good luck with it all :)

Hey.........no worries and thanks. Yeah I'm getting the feeling these ke 36-8 wagon/vans just are not suited to a gas lift strut conversion!!! Have tried many ways with short struts and turn up epic fail every time....ahh well.... Cheers Terry

Oh buggger........Had a similar thing with the ke38 van years ago,was mowing yard...happened to look at back of van...a stone had gone right through one corner of the tailgate glass.....massive shatter time... Always better to cut the hard old rubber seal out with a knife (sharp)...you can buy new rubber seals...

If this is the case..wondering/considering doing ke70 hinges that sit in the top of the rain channel and pissing off those antiquated ke30 series hinges from inside the rear outer edges of the cargo area!! Well nice idea..and a big one..but meh gonna give that a miss!!!!!!!!!!! after looking it over,i don't reckon there is enough room or able enough to get the height required to have tailgate not rub on roof....damn it! Current status on gas strut conversion.......OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!.....hugely over it...looks like will get another good set of hinges and go back to original torssion rods system..hope i can get the plastic bushes for the system. Spotted this morning a white ke36 windowed panlevan at strathpine westfield carpark (learmonth st side)...original black n white rego plates...sorry no pics..they didnt save to my phone :(... Despite all ensuring depression over the tailgate,i managed to get the mags on rear repainted with some gloss black and small toyota centre caps to fill the hole....

Well now///there ya go !!!! Funny the things you find out when you have the time to look around on here at different threads.....So it seems that with the ke70 van/wagon. Toyota changed the tailgate hinge system and added gas lift strut of a fairly long length/throw.... correct or not ????? If this is the case..wondering/considering doing ke70 hinges that sit in the top of the rain channel and pissing off those antiquated ke30 series hinges from inside the rear outer edges of the cargo area!! Also looks like i was right with my location for mounting gas lift struts - just the ones i have are not long enough...Anyone on here have the closed and extend length measurements of gas lift struts used on ke70 ???? Cheers Teza40