Banjo

Hi Ben, Welcome aboard ! What you describe is not unusual, & probably been experienced my mamy on here, with older K Series engine. There are two quite distinctly different issues here. The aluminiun spark plug tubes, are soft, as they are aluminium. They play two important fuctions. 1. The flat section of the bottom on the tube, through which the threaded section of the spark plug protudes, is "clamped", between spark plug & head, when you tighten the spark plugs up. Over time, this area of the tube gets thinner, & sometuimes even cracked & worn; as a result of the spark plug "tightening down action"; is not perfect, & in worse case can suck oil into the cylinder. 2. The second function is to prevent oil return path, from rocker oil feed, to sump, from leaking. It has a rubber under the top lip, to seal at that end, & the spark plug tightening on the flat at the bottom, to prevent from the bottom end. Because tha aluniniun is soft, the tube can effectively "elongate", & it will not seal properly on the rubber seal at the top. Solution, new aluminium tubes & rubbers. Bear in mind, that in your first picture, that whole void in there is wet with hot oil return to the sump, whilst the engine is running. Also check the sump breather relief valve on the top of the rocker cover. If that is blocked it will exaserbate oil leaks inside the sump/block/head area. That valve feeds back into the inlet side of the head, so you can easily understand the implications, if that is stuck "open". The "wet" spark plugs would maybe indicate a mixture too rich, rather than too lean, & maybe an issue with the needle & seat & float in the carby, not cutting off fuel flow properly. Maybe time to remove the carby, & completely clean & reassemble. Don't forget the crankcase pressure valve that protudes from the top of the rocker cover. Often neglected, which results in them being fully open, or fully closed. Take your time, & work through these three (3) areas, & I'm pretty sure, you will resolve your current issues. Cheers Banjo

Not going to argue over your observations. After all, you spend a lot of time on country roads in the dark, between Orange & Blaney. As You well know, I live on the outskirts of Brisbane, in a semi rural area, without a lot of street lights. I experienced initially, exactly what you describe; as a pool of bright light 30 metres in front of the car, from the bar LED setup. Now there are a variety of quality, sizes, & prices, of LED bar driving lights for automobiles. Certainly, if you want to see a mile ahead, & scare the living daylights out of all the sheep in the neighbourhood, then you buy the biggest; brightest; & probably most expensive LED driving lights, & mount them up of the roof, of the vehicle; or at least on the top edge of the bull-bar. What I am talking about, is the little LED bar driving lights, that are 12-20 inches in length, & mount down on a plate, which fits behind the front number plate. 1. By nature, (on a car), they are fairly close to the ground. 2. They are not very stable, as the number plate is often attached to the body work, & vibrates. 3. The angle of adjustment is very "finnicky", & a very small angle change will produce a very big difference, in how far the light will travel. 4. Even the loading of the vehicle, can change the angle of the LED bar light. If the pool of light is only 30 metres in front of the car, try adjusting the angle of the bar, on a dark night, in an unlit area; & you''ll definitely find their limits. P.S. Ultimately, the best solution, would being able to adjust the angle of elevation of the driving light bar, from the drivers seat. I presume, those products are available; but probably, dearer than the driving lights themselves. Cheers Banjo

It is very important, that the 12 volts fed to the alternator "idiot" charging indicator light, is a switched 12v, from the ignition switch. To describe it simply . . . . . When the engine is not running, the D+ terminal, is effectively at ground or earth potential. When you turn the ignition on, without placing it in the "start" position, the charge light illuminates, because the charge lamp, has 12 volts on one side (the ignition switch), & ground on the other (D+ terminal). When you start the engine, the alternator turns, & produces +12V. The D+ terminal basically then becomes the same voltage as the B+ battery terminal. The charge bulb then has +12 volt on either side of it, & with no volts across it,extinguishes. That's how you know the alternator is working. Now I have been guilty of this . . . . . . . . When testing an alternator output, I've simply joined the +D & +B (main battery terminals) together, to get it going. It works. But when you are finished, you must remove the link betweeen the +D & +B terminals. With the alternator off, the +D terminal, does not revert to look like a ground, because it is still connected to the battery +12 volt terminal. Internally the alternator, the +D terminal will draw a small magnetising current from the battery, & slowly drain the battery flat. I've experienced a fully charged battery slowly drain over a week or so, because I failed to remove the link, after testing. Cheers Banjo

Hi Graeme, We are about to find out ! I'll certainly keep you posted. I've got the meters here to measure the currents, so we can do a direct comparison. In general though, an LED should always give You more luminoous intensity, for a given power in, than any tungsent fillament bulb. Once you've driven with that "cool white" light out front, You can never go back to that "yellowie" light, again. Cheers Banjo

All makes perfect sense. When I first fired my alternator up, with the engine running, I had no 12 volt output. Then I remembered I hadn't connected the +D terminal to the ignition switch, via an "idiot/charge" light. Some alternator designs have enough residual magnetism in them, to get them up & away. Not the Bosch system ! It relies on the small current through the charge light, to ground inside the alternator, to create some residual magnetism, to get it up & away. Once the alternator is producing 12 volts, then it appears on the +D terminal; so effectly, the charge lamp has 12V on either side of it; & turns off. Normally, the charge lamp in the dashboard, is a small 3W-5W filament bulb. The only problem with this arrangement, is if the filament bulb filament blows, then there is the possibility that when you start the engine, the alternator will not produce an output. I came across this little circuit on the nett, that eliminates this by using an LED, instead of a filament bulb. I'll try it out tomorrow. I have actually read where people have used a 2 Watt filament bulb as an idiot light, & there was not enough current, to create enough magnetism, to get the alternator away. This circuit, should remove both those possibilities. Cheers Banjo

Thanks Si, I can see it very clearly now. Was the 140A version of the Aeroflow alternator you purchased, the chrome one, & that's why the reflection in your previous picture. What stops the two little brackets in your pic, drooping under the weight of the alternator ? Is the rear pivot bolt through the original cast bracket, tightened up so tight, that the two little flat brackets you made, can't move at all ? Cheers Keith

All went well; & the alternator upgrade, can be ticked off as successful. The only modification required, was to reshape the fan belt adjustment bracket. Below is a before & after picture. I basically flattened the standard bracket, & then sculptured away the topside, & reinforced the bracket, by infilling some of the "unused" slot in the bracket. I was even able to use the same fan belt, that was used with the old 30-40A Denso alternator. The following photo clearly shows the mounting bracket & pivot bolt assembly, without the alternator in place. The original cast "block mounting bracket", is simply inverted, & turned end for end. The new pivot bolt is 160mm long & 10mm in diameter. (the origin one was also 10mm, so no mods required there). The spacer & washer allow easy adjustment of the alternators position so the alternator pulley lines up perfectly, with the water-pump & crankshaft pullies. Here is a picture below, of it all assembled; awaiting the bottom radiator hose to be fitted. This pic below, displays the clearance at the rear of the alternator, to the engine mount. The alternator fired up, once I remembered to hook up the +D terminal, with an "idiot light", & was producing about 14.2 Volts. This particular Bosch model alternator, has a "W" terminal, which had me doing a quick Google. It apparently is a tacho output ! A number of European cars, including some VWs, obtain their tacho signal from a Bosch alternator. Cheers Banjo

Hi Si, I'm looking at your pic, when you posted it, & thinking; there is a mirror or something in there. Is the replacement alternator you fitted, a Bosch look-a-like ? I had another play with it last night. It is true, as You say; that by fitting the cast pivot bracket upside down, lifts the alternator slightly upwards. However, if I didn't lift it up, the bottom of my 120A alternator, would touch the front cross member, at the rear. The position I have mine in, is the only position, where my 120A alternator will clear everything on all sides. The only issue I have is the belt tension adjustment bracket clearance, under the water pump inlet. Well I cut down the adjustment bracket, last night, & it clears OK now. Even though my alternator is cantilevered, off the front of the original cast block mounting bracket; when the pivot bolt is tightened up, the alternator body is "rock solid" with the engine. I will maybe, fill in some of the unused adjustment slot in the belt adjustment bracket, & weld it in; to give it back, some strength, that I have removed, by narrowing it down. Just got to pull it all off again, & fit a cable & lug to it's output terminal, then I'll give the engine a run, today, & see how it works dynamically. Cheers Banjo

Hi Si, Thanks for that. I can work out, what the bottom half of your pic represents, but for the life of me, I can't work out what the top half of the photo reepresents, & what that is in the background. I'm guessing the bottom pivot point for your 100A alternator bottom pivot point, is further away/out from the block ?? So the original cast block bracket, was attached to the block, as originally intended ? Not reversed, or fitted upside down. I'm starting to wonder whether your upgraded alternator mounting pivot arrangement, is identical to mine, or not.' Does the bottom end pivot arrangement of your uopgraded alternator, look like this ? Cheers Banjo

My 150mm 10mm dia. bolts arrived, so I headed to the shed last night, anxious to see whether this alternator will be permanent fixture, on my 5K, instead of the 35-40 Ampere rated one, it came with, originally. The picture above indicates it can be accomodated & sits well, without fouling the front cross member, at it's rear. There are a four very long clamping bolts on the alternator assembly, which could do with a trim down, as they stick out, at the rear. It is reasonably close to the exhaust manifold, but I will also have to check in on my 4K engine, which has a 4 into 1 exhaust header. If it is too close, it might require a small "heat shield" fitted in between alternator & exhaust header. The pivot mounting worked out well. The pivot mounting boss on this 120A alternator, is quite substantial. This 120A alternator requires a 10mm dia. pivot bolt, which is the same as the original alternator, & it's engine block mounting adaptor; so all good there. As I mentioned earlier, I initially, took the original block alternator mounting bracket; & reversed it, & turned it upside down (see above) With a 200mm staight edge steel ruler, I lined up the fromt pulley faces, then measured the gap, between the alternator mounting pivot boss & the front of the block mounting bracket front land., which was about 12-13mm. You can see highlighted by the centre arrow above, that I added a spacer & washer there, so the pivot bolt, could be tightened up. The pivot bolt I obtained was 150mm long, but doesn't provide enough length to fit a flat & spring washer, behind the locking nut. I will probably see if I can get a 160mm long bolt. Meanwhile, the nut has a bit of Locktite, on it's thread. So all was looking very encouraging, until I tried to fit a fan belt adjustment bracket, between the bottom water pump mounting bolt & the point on the top of the alternanor. The two points were out of alignment, completely, as the original curved adjustment arm has a 'factory original" kink in it. However, after measuring the misalignment & the kink offset in the bracket, they turned out to be almost the same. About 10 minutes work, in the big vice, & a heavy hammer & anvil, & the original adjustment bracket; no longer has a kink in it. When fitted, the two lined up perfectly, without even needing a spacer washer or the like. However, It was not done with me yet ! When I set the belt tension, the top of the bracket literally just touched the outlet of the water pump, where the bottom radiator hose connects. The bottom of the aduster arm bracket; also just clears the fan blade on the front of the alternator. However, I have a plan, which I will try tonight, or over the weekend. If cut out the middle offending section of the curved bracket, & then weld the two ends, joined by a piece of round steel rod, then the to & bottom clearance issues will hopefully be eliminated. If that all works, I'll then fire the engine up, & see how it all works out, in practice. Cheers Banjo

From your picture, it looks like you currently have at least one of the Aisan carbies off the engine. If you take it to a company that specdialises in selling carbies, & spares thereof; they would certainly be able to identify it. Cheers Banjo

If you look at the pic I took at night, (a page back), where I only changed one head light over to a white LED, & left the other as a standard fillament bulb, you can see the "blue" in the LED light, & the orange in the fillament bulb. Basically both putting light out, at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Cheers Banjo

I just hopped on the UK ebay site, & searched Aisan SU type carburetor repair kits including diaphragm, & there is quite a list there. You'd have to know exactly which model Asian carb, your Corona, was fitted with. Plenty on the Australian, & USA ebay websites also, but if you need it urgently, you'd be better served looking for them locally, in the UK. Good luck ! Cheers Banjo

Just awaiting the extra long 10mm dia. pivot bolt to arrive tomorrow, so I can lock this 120A Holden alternator in place, & try it out. I said earlier, I was planning on replacing all the filament bulbs on the KE-30, with LEDs. Now my rear tail light clusters are in pretty good nick, but the amber lens, was slightly fadded; but certainly not at the stage where you could get nabbed. I had seen some 21W amber, auto bayonet bulbs on ebay, & thought if I pop them in, & it will improve the colour output of the turn indicators. Wrong ! I even got my wife to come out, at night in the dark, & compare the results with a standard filament bulb, & the amber LED bulb, in case I was going nuts. The amber LED bulb, was definitely duller, with less colour than with the standard filament bulb. Now, it's a long time since I was in a school physics class, where we refracted white light into it's colours, but I figured it was something to do with colour wavelengths. So I quickly Googled; & sure enough, I wasn't seeing things . . . . https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/blog/amber-or-white-led-behind-an-amber-lens-with-video/ So apparently, it is a white light behind an amber lens, or an amber light behind a clear lens; as many modern cars now have. So I'm going to get hold of a cool white bayonet LED bulb & try that. A bit of futher research indicated that there are pressure sprays specifically produced, to improve the amber colour of turn indicator lenses, that have faded. I've yet to look & see if they are commonly available here in Oz. SCA have one, but it only appears to be for red tail & stop lights. Has anyone else on here, tried what I've described, & come up with the same result ? Cheers Banjo

Hi Si, I took a quick look at the alternator today, when it arrived, & my first thought was; this is going to be tight. Tight it is, but it does fit in the conventional space, on the same mounting access, as the original 30-40A alternator. It will require a custom made bracket, to attach to the block; but that is no real big issue, as it is simply a flat thick bar, with a couple of brackets off it. I took the cast mounting bracket off the block, & reversed it, & turned it upside down. Using the original long mounting pivot bolt, which is about 11cm long, I was able to mount/hold it in the final position. The clearance at the rear of the alternator, is a bit tight, but workable. I don't want to modify the alternator mountings in any way, in case it has to be changed out, in the future. The pulleys line up perfectly, with a staight edge, but I might have to make up an angled arm, to allow for fan belt tensioning setting. Just need to get hold of a 14-15 cm long 10mm dia. bolt, & with a few washers in that gap between the end on the cast bracket & alternator mount, I should be able to run it tomorrow, & check it all electrically. I was concerned earlier, that it might finish up, with the rear of the alternator being too close to the cross member & engine mount. However, I discovered that the front cross members, vary from model to model, in this area. The cross member supporting the 5K engine, on which this "lash up", was tried; has very straight up & down sides, where it supports the engine mount. Others I have here, taper outwards as they descend from the engine mount pad. I'll post some pics, once I've got it all going. Cheers Banjo

Hi Si, The aftermarket Holden 308 alternator arrived today. A quick play at lunchtime, indicates it will fit; but it's going to be a small gap possibly, between the back of the alternator, & the front cross member/engine mount support. Maybe the alternator block bracket on the 5K motor can be modified; but probably, will be easier in the long run, to fabricate a new bracket, from scratch, to attach to the block. Would love some pics of how you got yours to mount OK. Actually, I might work it all out, on another K motor, I have on an engine stand, as it is a bit hard, down there, under the exhaust header, where it is cramped. Actually fitted a 30cm lg LED driving light bar, over the weekend, just above the front number plate. KE30 won't know itself now, at night. Cheers Banjo

Hi Geoff, Looks good ! Looks like plenty of adjustment there in length, once you install rear springs & diff, & let it all hang, at lowest drop point. Keep up the good work, & the pics. Cheers Banjo

Hi Col, Welcome aboard ! If you use the search feature up at the top of the screen on Rollaclub, you'll find numerous articles about this subject, often related to changing out the front struts to Corona ones, with various brake disc & caliper options. Plenty of reading there. I personally, went a slightly different track, & used Celica RA40 struts. Adjustable T3 top bearings, & Cresida, caliper & dics, from two different year models. Then you need to upgrade the master cylinder to suit, so your force needed, on your RH foot, is not so great. (Mitsubishi Pajero) When searching, you'll come across a post, I put up here years & years ago, with how I did it. https://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/63524-ke-3055-brake-upgrade/ My KE-30 brake upgrade has been wonderful, & it has always stopped well, since upgrade, & is very light on disc pads. Your KE-55 should have 9 inch brakes already,on the rear, unlike the KE-30, that had 7 inch only. Give us a yell, if you have any specific questions or queries, once you've sifted through the numerous posts. Cheers Banjo

Thanks Si; I will look forward to those pics. The H4 LED replacement head light bulbs arrived yesterday, & I couldn't wait until it got dark, to swap one out in the KE30, & see what the difference was. At a bit over $ 30 for a pair, it is only an experiment, & if it turns out alright, I might purchase another pair, & fit these to my Wife's Corolla or Echo. The first thing I noticed, was the very tiny plastic electric fan, at the back end of the assembly, to "keep it cool". They are tiny, & my first thought was, "I wonder how long they will last". As the fan is positioned, where the cable harness, would normally plug in, they provide an integral plug & lead. The Existing H4 headlight bulbs I had installed, were 100/90 W models, so they were already pretty bright; but I really wanted that "cool white" LED light, rather than the yellowish light, from a tungsten fillament standard bulb. Changing just one bulb, allowed me to directly compare the light outputs of both bulbs, at the same time. The result was brilliant, & the pic below, doesn't really illustrate how much better the LED bulb is. So I'll pop the battery out today, so I can get at the LHS bulb; & take it for a run tonight, out somewhere, where there are no street lights. Then, I'll start looking at "LED-anizing", all the other parking, stop & indicator lamps. Cheers Banjo

Hi Si, Thanks for that info. There are a lot of Commodore, & other Holden models; that appear to have used that particular Bosch alternator, so they are certainly commonly available, as either genuine Bosch, or several aftermarket brands/makes. You wouldn't buy a second hand one, when the aftermarket ones are fairly inexpensive, with 5 year warranties. I did however notice that they come in 100A, 120A, & 140A models. I also noticed that there are some models, they use the multi groove ribbed flat belt, rather than the standard V belt. I'm not sure whether the 140A version of this alternator, used the flat belt exclusively, due to the possible higher torque required to turn it. Did you have to modify the pulley on yours, to fit it to your engine ? Definitely seems to be the way to go. Do you happen to have any pics of your alternator installation, on the engine. A picture usually replaces a 1000 words. Cheers Banjo

Last week, my horn stopped working, & fearing the worst; I thought my little wireless mod above, had given up on me. As it turned out; it was just that the tiny little model A12 battery had finally failed to drive the circuit. So before I pulled the steering wheel insert off, I looked up on ebay, to see how much the FOB push button/relay boards were now, in case I had to buy one. I came across a product I had not seen previously, which was specifically designed to switch a horn, via a wireless signal, as I accomplished back in 2019. However, this one, has a button assembly, which simply clips around the steering wheel, & basically, does not require you to take one hand off the steering wheel, to "honk the horn". https://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/75658-ke3055-horn-steering-wheel-contact-ring/ So for anyone, confronted with the same original issue, I faced; who does want to build what I did, inside the steering wheel cover; this could be a welcome suggestion, with minimal installation. Cheers Banjo

My KE30 turns 50 next year, & I've planned on giving her a few extra features for her birthday. (I'm only Her second owner) One of the presents is to replace or modify, all lighting, inside & out, with LED lights. Headlights are pretty easy, as you can easily source "H4 bulb compatible" 4 sided LED Hi intensity lights bulbs. I've ordered a set this week, so that will be the first step. One of the best things you can do to an olde Rolla, is increase the capacity of the battery & alternator, although replacing the original crappy load bearing wiring, with cable a lot thicker, would be a close second. (I've already done that) The original alternators fitted to the early KEs, were all in the 30-35-40 ampere capacity. I replaced my alternator with a reconditioned 85 ampere model, out of an early Hilux, years ago, & it has been a great asset. It was very straight forward, & just needed a few washers on the long bolt that attaches the alernator to the engine bracket, to allow the pullies to line up perfectly. As I will be putting a 5K in it, once my EFI experiment is completed, I was thinking of maybe upgrading to something like 100A capacity. I searched on here, & found Evan did an upgrade, 12 or 13 years ago, where He fitted the internals of a VL Commodore alty, into the frame of the original Denso Corolla frame. Has anyone on here experimented, & found a late model commonly available 100A alternator, that can be fitted to a K Series engine, without too much alteration, or fabrication. Alternator design has improved greatly over the past few decades, so a current 100A capacity alternator, is not necessarily, any greater in size, than the original 30-35-& 40 ampere originals fitted to K series engines. Any suggestions, gratefully received. Cheers Banjo

Absolute "Work of Art", Geoff ! I take my hat off to you. That takes real patience. Cheers Banjo

Hi Geoff, Just be careful, as to what rear spring bushes you chose. I ran into all sorts of problems several years ago, when I pulled the rear end out, & rebushed front & rear of the rear springs. Initially, I went for the "blue" polly bushes. They were were so squeakie, I couldn't stand it any longer, & pulled the whole lot out, & put in the red ones, which were nice & quiet. Cheers Banjo