Banjo

Hi James, Let me get this straight. You are removing the 5K head, & got all head bolts out, except one, in the corner of the head, which wouldn't budge. So you dad welds on a spanner, because the bolt head had rounded corners. The bolt came out, but in the process broke off. So the bolt head is off, but the head still won't come free of the block. If the head bolt had broken off in the block, or at the surface of the top of the block, then the head would come away easily. If it is still stuck, then the bolt must have broken inside the head, & must be twisted or distorted, such that the head won't come free. If the bolt head with welded spanner has come away, then you should be able to look down the hole in the head & see the remaining mangled/twisted bolt shaft. Be very careful levering away the head, as the head is aluminium. You will also need the remaining part of the bolt shaft, to be able to unscrew t from the block, once you've put some penetrating oil down the thread. Might take a day or so to free it. Cheers Banjo

I have no idea why you would want to run the car without the alternator connected. However, your very first test is to ensure all major "power" connection points between battery & alternator on both the +12V side, and the chassis side. Check all earths between chassis & engine block. Make sure every other electrical load in the car is turned off. Lights, radio fan etc. Then connect a multimeter across the battery terminals, without the motor running, & note the DC voltage reading. Then start crank the motor & note the mulitimeter DC voltage reading, during cranking. Then run the motor at a fast idle, & note the DC voltage reading on the multimeter. What ECU are you using for the EFI conversion ? If you feed us back some answers to the above questions, we might be able to provide some more suggestions. Hopefully, your inspection of all electical "power" connections, will find the culprit, & all will be fixed. Cheers Banjo

Whilst in Canberra over Christmas, helping move my son into an apartment he had just purchased, I happened to spot a DMC-12 DeLorean, in the apartment complexes underground car park. I've never seen one in the flesh before, as there are so few of them in Australia. I had of course seen them in auto mags over the years, which is why I recognised it. To be truthful, my first impression at a distance was, it must be a replica. However, after walking all around it & looking closely, I realised it was the real thing. I'm back in Brisbane now, & started researching it, to make myself fully aware of the history of this extraordinary bit of automemorabillia. Strangely enough, I was watching tele yesterday afternoon, & saw a re-run of Classic Car Rescue, in which those pair of idiots restored a DeLorean. After researching DeLoreans this morning, on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorean_DMC-12, if I was back in Canberra today, I could probably determine whether it was a 1981 or 1982 model, from all the subtle exterior changes the short lived car had. However, one thing has got me wondering. The Delorean, production cars, had unpainted stainless steel panels, which were not a structural part of the car. They had an unpolished finish, such as would result from the use of a "flapper" wheel, which is what they used in Classic Car Rescue TV series resto. Wikipedia tells me that there were 3 off factory gold plated models produced, & a fourth was gold plated by it's new owner after production. I have read or heard somewhere, that there were a very limited number of DeLoreans produced with a burnished bronze type finish. The one I spotted in Canberra, was one of them. It is not painted on, as I looked at it closely, & you can see the grazed pattern in the metal work. I haven't done any research on Deloreans in Australia, but did notice there was one for sale in Mackay Qld. mid this year for about $ 48K. There was another up for auction, in Tasmania. Next time I'm in Canberra, I'll try & find the owner of the car, & see if I can't learn a little more about this unusual classic. Here is a picture of one that obviously resides in Australia. If anyone reading this, has any knowledge on the "bronze" finished ones, or their total numbers in Australia, please let me know, Cheers Banjo

Great example why "sleepers" don't usually become "cop bate", despite their age. Had two boys in blue follow me one night in Greenbank, only 2 klms from home. They thought I'd come from the local Tavern, but I'd only pulled out of the shopping centre adjacent. After blowing, & coming up negative, they then asked a lot of questions about the KE30. Even popped the bonnet, but was not so much to check it, but that the older copper had had one in the family, & the younger one, had owned one, in his younger days. They loved it, & had a few stories to tell. We were on the side of the road about 20 mins. Post Script to this story . . . . My neighbour popped in to see me the next day, to see what I'd done to get pulled over, as He had driven by whilst I was in conversation with the two boys in blue. "Just chatting about my Rolla", I replied. I often come out of the Post Office in the afternoon, to find someone looking it over, with a story to tell, about their association with Rollas. Most families in Australia, have had a Rolla in the family sometime. Cheers Banjo

Told you it was possibly Jeremy. If you have the vehicle high enough on jacks or stands, you can lift it by yourself with you knees bent, with heels on the ground, & knees supporting the bell housing. Your hands above your head, then just lift, & support / align the extension housing, & push it forward. Cheers Banjo

Love a Rolla story with a happy ending ! Cheers Banjo

Hi Jasper, Did you make Melbourne OK, last night. ? Love to know you made it, & all your hard work was worth it ! Cheers Banjo

Just back from Batemans Bay. Good that you got it all sorted finally. Clutch cable replacement, nearly always requires a clutch cable at the at the firewall. Hope you have safe trip back to Melbourne this evening. Cheers Banjo

Just check that the new friction clutch plate that has been supplied is the right one. There are two different splines used in Rollas. One has 19 splines & one has 21 splines. Strangely enough, the 21 spline one, will fit a gearbox shaft with 19 splines, but the noise when you move off is frightening. Don't forget the splines are straight cut, so sometimes you have to just rotate it ever so slightly, for it to line up, so the splines don't "butt". Hope it works out today. Cheers Banjo

I've only done it twice in my life, but a foot of broom handle, a rasp, & 30 mins of patience, can produce a clutch plate alignment tool that works well.

Hi Jasper, Just back from the shops. Unless you have a drill & easy-out to remove the broken bolt, you probably haven't many other options, if you are heading off tomorrow. As it is a long drive, you won't be changing gear that much, until very close to home. Think you'll be right. Just don't red-line it on the way home. Ha Ha ! Cheers Banjo

Hi Jasper, The return spring is on the outside of the gearbox & is purely there to return the clutch arm to a point where the throw-out bearing is not in touch with the pressure plate fingers. The only way that the clutch could be partial engaged, is if the clutch cable adjustment at the firewall, was such, that there was no freeplay at all in the clutch pedal at all. Highly unlikely, that is the cause of your slipping. Make sure the clutch cable inner moves freely, inside its sleeve. It is a good idea to remove the cable, hang it vertically, & feed oil down it's inside. Let us know how you fare. Cheers Banjo

I've never used a gearbox jack ! Serious; & I'm average & definitely don't pump iron. Cheers Banjo.

Hi Jasper, Gearbox removal in your Rolla is fairly easy, & accomplished with very few tools, but there are a couple of prerequisites, I suggest you do. 1. Before you do anything, lift the bonnet, & take off one end of the top radiator hose. 2. Also crack the two (2) off 17mm bolts at the top of the bell housing from inside the engine bay. 3. The most important thing is to get the car up as high as possible at both ends, on a concrete pad, and make sure it is super substantial & very safe. Cannot stress this enough. 4. Take the gear stick & boot out. Disconnect the speedo cable. 5. The rest is easy. I've done it many times without a gearbox jack. Lie on your back, parallel to the car, with your head towards the back of the car. Slide the gearbox off & sit the gearbox on your stomach, then lower to the ground beside you. 6. Reinstall the gearbox the same way. 7. The clutch driven plate can be realigned without a realignment tool. Assemble by sight but only just nip up the pressure plate bolts. Slide the gearbox on to align the driven/friction plate perfectly. Slide the gearbox off. Tighten the pressure plate retaining bolts evenly working from one side to the other. 8. Reinstall gearbox. 9. You biggest problem might be refilling the gearbox with oil, if you don't have a large oil siringe. P.S. A pressure can of super degreaser from SCA, and a bit of emery paper to rough up the flywheel & pressure plate surfaces should get you back to Melbourne. Good Luck ! Cheers Banjo

Hi Graeme, If RobRoy can't help, or their solution involves hacking your existing dizzy too much, another alternative is to get another DENSO 3K dizzy, & fit the Accuspark to it. I've got a really good 3K dizzy you can have, if needs be, like the one pictured earlier in this thread. The 3K dizzy is a lot smaller than the Bosch dizzies, so is really neat. Cheers Banjo

Good luck Pete ! Silicon Chip don't usually tell you what they have got in the pipeline, until the month before. The only thing that would be a welcome upgrade would be a PC interface, so you could set the programmable ignition up, without the hand controller. That said, once you get the advance curve right, the controller is not needed again, unless you want to use it as a real-time readout. With the knock sensor and it's ability to retard at first sign of detonation, you can really give it a fair amount of advance, & then note the operational points, where the knock sensor activates, & then back off the map in that area. I read an article by Julian Edgar, (whom I believe was involved with John Clark at Silicon Chip, in the original design of this project) about using a simple acoustic pickup with amplifier & headphones to pick up the onset of detonation. Julian has always advocated that the two best tools for tuning a car on the road is the acoustic detonation device, & a O2 sensor with dash readout. His articles on AutoSpeed are always a good read. Cheers Banjo

I had an aftermarket pressure plate (out of India) do a similar thing, several years ago. The spring steel material wasn't up to scratch, & lost tension, but not as quickly as what you just described. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jasper, If it is an oil seal which has finally broken up, then that could well put a lot of oil into the clutch area. The flywheel will fling it around everywhere. With the rubber boot off, and a torch, you will see that clearly. Don't think you can degease it, but even if you could, it would oil up quickly, and you could get stuck half way home. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jasper, If there is no severe noise, & it is still slightly driveable, then the centre of the friction/driven plate has not torn out, or something horrific like that. It sounds like the metal diaphram on the pressure plate might have let go. Strange that it happened so swiftly. My suggestion is get it on some ramps or a hoist, & and see what you can see from underneath. Remove spring & clutch cable from the clutch arm, & then remove the rubber boot. Reinstall cable & return spring, & with someone pushing the clutch in & out, someone underneath with a torch can see whether clutch cable & arm & throw-out bearing are all working OK, and there is some resistance when the clutch pedal is pushed right to the floor, and the throw-out bearing presses against the pressure plate fingers. If this checks out OK, then I'm afraid the gearbox, will have to come out, as nothing externally can solve this issue. P.S. Is there any oil leak underneath the gearbox. A rear engine seal going could cover the clutch plate, & make it slip, but It would have to be a lot of oil. Cheers Banjo

Was there any noise associated with it slipping ? Where abouts in Canberra are you, Jasper. I happen to be in Bruce ATM. Cheers Banjo

Early in this thread, I mentioned the Jaycar programmable ignition system, which I have had in my KE30 2 door for a number of years. These modules can be triggered by various means, including points, if you so desire. This kit from Jaycar was released in 2007, so it is 10 years olde. It was one of Silicon Chips most successful kits. I notice Jaycar are selling them out at present. Originally, they sold for nearly $ 100.00. At the moment they are $ 22.92 ea. https://www.jaycar.com.au/programmable-high-energy-ignition-system/p/KC5442 If you want to get into programmable ignition at a basement bargain price, then now is the time. Jaycar are out of stock, for on-line sales, but various Jaycar stores around Australia have them in stock. Just click on the store check, in the link above, & pop in your postcode, to find the nearest store. Most stores in Brisbane have them. I happened to be in Canberra at the moment, & picked up their last two kits at Jaycar's Fyshwick store this morning. The Programmable Ignition System kit comes with comprehensive instructions. Not normally available on-line, but found a website where someone has posted it, if anyone wants to have a read of it's capabilities. http://www.vespalabs.org/@api/deki/files/479/=kc5442_Programmable_High_Energy_Ignition_System.pdf Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, I must comment on your following statement. There is no "constant flow of high current to power the hall effect sensor". That is quiet untrue. The Hall Effect sensor is a low voltage, extremely low current device that senses a magnetic field (usually a north pole) and produces a sharp DC voltage step change, which is used as a trigger signal. The amount of current drawn by this sensor is miniscule. It is true that the reluctance sensor is just a coil, which produces a small AC voltage waveform, when the metalic vane passes it. It has a few problems though, in that the AC waveform output is dependent on speed, so when you are starting the car, & it is cranking over, the output is at its lowest, which is just the time you want the best & highest signal. The Hall Effect device is totally unaffected by the speed of rotation. The reluctance sensor's output being a rough sinewave, is not suitable as a trigger signal, so some processing of this signal has to be carried out, to turn it into a square wave, so it can be effectively used as a trigger signal. However, I agree they are very reliable & were fitted to many cars in the past as a first transistion, by manufactures away from "points" systems. The high current switched by any ignition ignitor, is always a function of the particular coil used, & it's primary resistance. Like any device, there are a range of ignitors, with different max. current carrying capacities. I have ignitors here capable of 4A max, 9A max. 16A max & 19A max. It's simply a case of matching coil & & ignitor to suit. The 4A capacity of the Accuspark, is well capable of handling the coils fitted to many cars, as per their listings, and are ideally suited to our Rollas with standard ignition coils, with or without ballast resistors. Low ohm primary ignition coils are only really required on 6 & 8 cylinder engines, where charging time has to be reduced to allow full charging & full output of the coil at higher revs. Our Rollas are a 4 cylinder car, so there is rarely an issue there or need for a low ohm coil, unless you are red-lining at 8000 rpm regularly ! Cheers Banjo

Hey Wayne, Probably so many over there they use them as boat anchors !

Hi Jeremy, Good point ! Sorry if my wiring diagram above confused anyone. My coil is 1.4 ohms, but is only switched by the Accuspark during starting. As soon as the engine starts, it switches over to the Jaycar programmable controller. The Jaycar fires an external ignitor, of my own making, which can handle currents up to 16 amperes, so handles the 1.4 ohm primary coil OK. The Accuspark has no trouble handling the 1.4 ohm coil current, as it is only for a few seconds, until the engine starts. I did this, because the Jaycar unit seemed to need the engine to turn over a few times, to gets its inputs right, before doing its calculation & outputting a firing pulse . By using the Accuspark to start the engine, it starts instantly every time, just like my wife's late model Corolla. Lots of people comment, how easily & quickly my Rolla starts. Putting excess current through the Accuspark will not kill it instantly. They only fail when subjected to high current for some time, when heat is built up in the module, and the internal electronic fail. The electronic 5K dizzies do the same, if low ohm primary coils are used. They won't instantly fail, but will over time. Cheers Banjo

Hi Graeme, Yes, as Parrot says, contact the guys at RobRoy in Melbourne & tell them you have a 4K with a Bosch dizzy, & they will fix you up. They have done it before. https://www.robroyhistoricgarage.com.au/contact_us.html You won't regret it. Parrot has been looking at the Accuspark Black Box programmable ignition module. Haven't played with it myself, but It has good reports. The Black Box only allows 7 off points to map the curve. The Jaycar has twice that number of points, so is a smoother curve. The advantage of the Accuspark is that you will never ever have to readjust the points again. There is no gap setting. There are two things that upset the old points system on olde dizzies. With new points, perfectly adjusted, in theory you will get excellent results straight away. Fortunately it is all down hill from that point on. It's not just the points. The rubbing block material doesn't seem to be as good as it was years ago. The blocks wear down, the points gap reduces & the timing also changes. The real culprit is the uneven wear on the lobes on the shaft. This has the gap changing constantly & timing jumping around. Altezzaclub has a good trick to show this effect, by putting the timing light pickup on the lead out of the dizzy, rather than no: 1 Spark Plug. If the timing marks indicates it jumping around, there is a good chance you've got a worn shaft and/or worn lobes. Accuspark overcomes all those problems, as there is no contact & the gap movement is non critical. I would recommend if you are going to fit the Accuspark, that it is worth taking out the base plate in the dizzy, & inspecting, cleaning & oiling the bob weights, springs & pivots. If the pivots are very worn, they can catch, & you will never get full advance. Unfortunately, hidden down under the dizzy top plate, they are out of site, & often forgotten, but are so crucial for good performance. Here are a couple of pics showing how clean the Accuspark mod is in the dizzy, and my Jaycar system hidden down on the passengers side. Cheers Banjo