Banjo

Sounds like there is a few coffee lids missing in a few pantries. My better half gets peeved off when I raid her pantry or kitchen when I need something in a hurry. I needed a piece of flat thin aluminium one day, & one of her baking trays was just the right size. A couple of weeks ago a hole appeared in the aluminium cutting deck of my Greenfield ride-on lawn mover. I needed something thick that was easy to cut, that I could shape & bolt on quickly, as I was half way through mowing an acre. Her plastic bread board, filled the bill perfectly. Luckily, she was out shopping at the time, but I did replace it the next day with a new one. Cheers Banjo

Hi John, A few guys on here have done what you are suggesting. Pretty relevant if you are going waste spark or COP (coil over plug), where you don't need a distributor at all. Brodie in S.A. did a very neat job on his Rolla when he went COP. I went waste spark, and just cut the dizzy down with a hacksaw & cleaned it up with a file. No machining needed. Waste Spark Commode Coils X 2 mounted on the block so little HV cable movement. I also blanked off the mechanical fuel pump, as it is now going EFI. It doesn't show in my pic, but I think I found a coffee jar lid that fitted perfectly over the "cut down" dizzy. Off memory, I think Brodie did a similar thing with a lid from a biscuit tin or something. However, the idea of a welch plug with a bit of machining, is probably the best solution, if you want something that is perfectly sealed, and oil drip free. Cheers Banjo

Interesting thread ! Bear in mind that the King Spring replacement front coils, are a bit stiffer than the original KE70 Toyota coils. This is because the King Springs are made with a harder material, & a vernier indicates the King Spring coil rod/bar is approx. 1mm greater in diameter, than the original Toyota ones. I did a front end strut & brake conversion on my KE30, using Celica RA65 struts with KE70 perches & coils, so i could get the struts right back into the strut tower, so the camber adjusters could provide the slight negative camber I wanted. The result was excellent, but the ride is a little harsh, as a result of the changed spring rate. I like it slightly harder, but there maybe others, whose "better half", would like the softer ride. In the past month, I completely re-shoed my Camry wide body, all round, with new struts, shocks & King Springs. The result was exactly the same. A harder slightly harsher ride. Cheers Banjo

Never did get a chance to get the head off this car & CC it, as the Rollaclub member young lady who owns this "moded" 4K in a KE20, uses the car as a daily drive to work, and can't really afford to have it off the road. She has advised that she has recently had a weber & electronic dizzy fitted. She is bringing it around soon, so I'll get to see what the result was. Sometimes, a too high compression ratio, can work against you, and you don't get the result you expect. I expect that is what happened in this case. Cheers Banjo

These cheap new dizzies on ebay are replicas out of China, I guess. I've never used one, so can't really comment. I've asked on here a couple of times whether, anyone has bought one, & how they found them, but haven't seen a response. They look like 5K dizzies, so I'd be concerned about the advance curve. The genuine Denso ones on ebay are $ 748 ea. The Accuspark/Powerspark type conversion is very simple. You can even do it, without taking the dizzy out of the engine. Cheers Banjo

Which is why everyone should convert to "electronic points" like the Accuspark, or similar & you'll never have to change points again. Nothing moving, no pivots or rubbing block to wear. Very simple mod, which can be done in 30 minutes, with full instructions with the kit, available in Australia. This is what it looks like when fitted in place of the existing points, in a KE Corolla dizzy 3K case. Best thing I ever did for my Rolla. Always stays in tune. Points are only good when brand new. After that, everyday the tune drops off a little more. The Accuspark has built in ignitor, which will drive most coils except the very low impedance (ohm) ones. Alternatively, get the electronic Accuspark to drive an external ignitor, capable of driving the hi energy racing coils. Or you can go the whole hog, like I did, and lock up the bob weighs in the base of the dizzy, for the centifugal advance, and use the dizzy electronic points as a trigger only, for a Jaycar programmable module, or similar, where you can set the advance curve to optimum performance for your engine. Notice the vacuum actuator is gone, as load retardation, is done via vaccum line straight into the programmable controller. Just retained the "octane rating" thumb screw adjuster to fine set the initial idling advance spot on. The way to go ! Cheers Banjo

Graeme, Take the air cleaner off, and look down the carby's venturi, & then open the butterfly quickly, & see if the accelerator jet is squirting fuel directly into the venturi, to enrich the mixture under acceleration. The light leather washer on the accelerator pump is a common wear point in the Aisan carbies. Maybe time for a rebuild kit, which usually includes this piston washer. Available on ebay. http://www.ebay.com....6UAAOSwEzxYQ3nX This is the piston/plunger I am referring to. Cheers Banjo

Sir Graeme, Thou shalt advise your Princess, that she shalt have respect for the KE (King Forever), as he has reigned for nearly 4 decades. and is allowed to slow down a bit in his olde age.However, after advising that, if the King is well fed, exercised regularly, and given regular "doctors" checkups, he should live forever, & be able to perform all the majestic duties. His stuttering on take off could be ignition or carbeuration. I would suggest that you try & determine which one, which will make remedying his disposition much easier, and normalise the Princess's relation with her monarch. Does the princess stamp on the accelerator when taking off ? Does the hesitancy stop if the revs are increased to say 2000RPM, before releasing the clutch ? (edit: forgot, it is an auto) Is the the hesitancy sharp, like an electrical miss, or a cough type hesitancy, like it is fuel related ? A good suggestion is to run the car at night in the pitch dark, & look for coronas, under the bonnet. With sudden loads, like on take off, electrical break down will happen at the weakest point, in the HT circuit. A common gremlin, is the inside of the dizzy cap, not necessarily detected by replacing the H.T. leads. Come back with some comments on the above queries, & we'll see if we can't also assist the princess. Cheers Banjo Long Live the KE !

Hi Benjamin, Welcome aboard. Couldn't access your youtube video as it was set as private. Despite the fact that you've sprayed some carby cleaner, I would suggest, that the carby would be the first thing to look at. Remove it and carefully dissemble and clean all jets & passages. It is always a good idea with olde carbies, that have not seen a service in a long time, or been sitting unused, to soak them for 24 hours in a cleaning bath. Plenty of instructions on the net how to do that. Those rubber hoses connected to the carby are always a source of air leaks, as they get hard, brittle & crack. Inspect all very carefully, but better still, buy a meter of new hose, & replace each section one at a time. If you can start the car, and keep your foot on the accelerator, so that it idles very fast for a few minutes, then idles normally when you take the foot off the accelerator, the problem will be easily solved, once you find the culprit. I presume the carby is the original Japanese Aisan ? Get hold of the manual on the net, & study how this carby works. They are fairly simple. Let's know how you go. Cheers Banjo

Thank for the feedback Guys ! It's unanimous. Out with the New, & in with the Olde. After looking at it for two (2) days, I'd pretty much come to the same decision, as your good selves. There are 4 off screws inside the olde steelie centre caps, holding the "barbed" finger assembly. I'll take that out, & make up a round plate that will screw in, in its place, with a push in "bung" attached to suit the wheel 60mm dia. centre hole. Will post a pic, when I have all four (4) done. Cheers Banjo Thanks again.

Hi Guys & Gals, I have a set of mags on my KE30, which I've had for a number of years. I think they are olde school Deltas, but not sure. They are 14 inch, to go over the Cressida rotors & calipers, I have on my Celica RA65 struts up front on the KE30. Lot of people say they look like they come off a Triumph, & others say they are a little like the KE70 mags. Recently had them straighten by FMR (Fix My Rims) on the Gold Coast here in Qld, who did a excellent job. My idea is to paint the "triangular" inserts on the mags, the same colour as the car, when I eventually respray it. The wheels never had any centre caps, & looked a bit odd, with the visible holes. I bought some silver plastic ones off ebay from Hong Kong, and they certainly filled the hole, but looked a bit flat. This morning, I had reason to remove the front Toyota alloy wheel from my wife's 2009 Corolla, and noticed that the knock out centre cap, was about the same size, as the hole in the centre of my Deltas. There was only 1 millimetre or so difference, so in no time, I had the 2009 Corolla alloy wheel plastic centre cap, sitting in my KE30's mags. Do you think it looks alright or a bit tacky ? I like the "olde sckool" look, but this adds a touch of new generations. I played with the idea, of adapting the fancy original centres, from the 13" steelies, but they would require a bit of engineering to adapt same. However, this is how it would look if I built an adaptor. I just sat it there with a bit of "blue tack" to see what it would look like. Only trouble is the cap sticks out about 16-17mm past the line of the tyre, so not sure whether that is legal. Will investigate. Cheers Banjo

Hi Sven, Welcome aboard ! Thanks for the pictures of your car. Lovely daily drive. They were pretty much a disaster, those early model Corolla door pulls. Plastic & just broke, specially on the 2 door Corollas. Mine was do different. The later model KE55s had an arm rest/door pull, which was much more substantial, and I even considered at fitting the KE55 arm rests to the KE30, but the mounting points were no where near the same. I purchased a couple of reproduction/aftermarket door pulls, off ebay a couple of years ago, which were beige in colour, but they were ever worse that the original Toyota ones, & only lasted a couple of months. Eventually, I found a couple of chromed metal door "kitchen" type door handles at the local hardware store, (Bunnings) with the exact same mounting point centres as the original door pulls. I fitted these, and they are perfect, for this application, being strong, and look good. Cheers Banjo

Note you have tried another ECU without sucess, but you might like to have a look at this Utube vide, if you haven't already found it, as the fault sounds very similar to yours. Hope this assists. Cheers Banjo

Hi Steve, Do you mean the rotors are touching the rotors when turning hard left or right, or when the the steering is pointing straight ahead ? Where exactly on the LCAs are the rotors touching ? Just one side or both sides ? A pic showing where it is touching would help, as I'm scatching my head as to where you've gone wrong. Cheers Banjo

Nathan, Just looked up the "yellow" Toyota 3K bible & it doesn't help. Only tells you how to test it. How about trying to remove the lever arm, by driving out the pivot pin, & then extracting the lever arm. When I'm down the shed in an hour or so, I'll have a look, as I'm sure I've got one stripped down in a box somewhere. Cheers Banjo

Hi Nathan, Off memory, after separating the two (2) halves, you twist the diaphragm 90 degrees, & it pops out. Re-installing is the reverse. Cheers Banjo

Hi Marius, Oversize bearings & piston rings are only fitted to engines after the crankshaft has been reground, & the cylinders rebored. You don't just fit them to a worn engine to take up the wear. You would have to do a full strip & engine recondition to do that. Oversize bearings & rings come in various oversizes, which are chosen by the engine rebuilder, dependent on the amount of material they have to grind or bore. Whilst you have the engine stripped down, have the bores & grankshaft professionally measured, to see howw much wear they have. Be very very careful that you number each bearing halves, so that if you don't regrind, that they go back in exactly the same spot. How many klms has your car got on it, & what are the compression figures like ? Cheers Banjo

Hi Goose, Torque for pressure plate bolts is 21Nm. Tighten the bolts up in a star or diagonal pattern, using an aligning spigot for the friction plate. Make sure the driven plate is fitted the right way around. Cheers Banjo

Hi Marius, I just had a quick look at my KE30 original brake booster details. It has the following name plate details . . ASCO BRAKE BOOSTER Type: 44610-12070 No: 5A01192 AISIN SEIKI - JAPAN Many of these brake booster units are sealed units, which makes them difficult to service yourself. The ASCO one on my KE30 seems to have a crimp system to open it up, which may be possible, if you have the right tools. If you read through the repair website that Rob posted above, you will note that they can supply parts, but would rather not, due to a number of given reasons, including the possible difficulty with sealed units. I would think it would be highly expensive to either send your booster from Norway to Australia & back. They may supply you the parts, if you quote them all the numbers on your booster. The best way would be to try buying them on-line from one of the many Japanese outlets. Try Amayama. They are great from my experience. I just typed in P/N 44610-12070 on the AMAYAMA website, and they can ship a new one in 7 days. About USD 400 + Cheers Banjo

Hi Marius, The guys Rob suggested in South Australia, sound very good, but it doesn't really help you, as you are in Norway, where I gather, not a lot of early Corollas were sold or exist. However, a similar company in Norway, who service brake boosters, should be able to refurbish your booster, as boosters are rarely made by the company who manufactures the car, but are made & supplied by "brake" component manufacturers. The KE30 used a physically small booster, and transposing larger boosters from other cars, can be problematic, as you described what others have previously done ("butchered") to your Rolla. Another alternative maybe to scour the car wrecking yards for a booster with similar dimensions, from a late model car of a similar size. You will note that the mountings on the front of the booster for the master cylinder can vary, from model to model, but don't let that deter you, as you may also be able to change the master cylinder. A very popular mod here is to fit a Mitsubishi Pajero MC to a Rolla, if up sizing the front brake calipers. I bolts straight onto a KE30 booster (no mods). I wish you luck, and let us know how you fare. Cheers Banjo

Hi Mick, Just for interest sake. How many klms is on this 1981 Aunties Corolla ? More than likely, the rough idling will not be the result of what is causing the "ticking" sound. Carbies that have been sitting for a long time, can dry out and get blockages etc. inside the small internal passages. No doubt a good clean, with a "carby & throttle" cleaner, or a soak in a carby cleaner bath, will solve the idling roughness. Other issues causing rough idling is air leaks around carby, or at manifold to head mating. Keep us abreast of your progress. Cheers Banjo

Hi Mick, Quick tip you can try in just 5 minutes, to narrow it down, to possibly "tappets needed adjusting". Simply idle the car, then carefully unscrew the rocker cover oil filler cap, & listen at the oil filler hole with your ear. The tappets are only inches from your ear at this location, so if it is the tappets, then the "ticking" should be quite loud. Increase the revs slightly, and the ticking should increase in speed accordingly. Might be a good idea to put a tissue over your listening ear, with a light rubber band, so you don't get any oil spits in there. I'm hoping, for your sake, that it is the tappets, because that is a dead simple fix, you can do yourself on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Cheers Banjo

Hi Mick, No problem ! You didn't say were you are located, but I just found your earlier posts & the pictures you posted of your auntie's car. I gather you are in Victoria, if that's where your auntie lives. Disregard my previous comment about it maybe being modified by an earlier owner, as I would think, if auntie purchased it new, she probably hasn't added or changed anything, and it will be dead stock standard. Cheers Banjo

Hi Mick, Welcome aboard ! Ticking sounds in older engines are common place, and certainly more likely in a car that has been sitting for several years. However, if you have changed the oil several times & given it a few good hard runs, it should have freed itself by now, if it was something just sticking. The 4K-Cs to my knowledge only had solid lifters, unlike most 5K engines, that had hydraulic lifters, and these could have blocked up & are not pumping up, after sitting for years. The head would have to come off, if you were to try & take the lifters out. I would initially, just take the rocker cover off, which is not a hard job. If the tappets have adjustments on them, then the lifters are solid. If the tappets have no adjusters, then the lifters are hydraulic. (You just never know what the history of an older engine is, and what others before you, might have modified or changed on it) I would do a full tappet adjustment, and see if there are any wide settings. If the rocker faces are "grooved" where they contact the top of the valves, you may have to have them faced, or you can lap them yourself, on an oiled sharpening stone. Then run the car, & see what changes to the ticking, if any, are audible. If the ticking noise is evident, when the engine is idling, you can sometimes narrow down it's origin, using an automotive stethoscope. A cheap stethoscope can be made from a piece of hose with a rod clamped in one end, although not as sensitive as a professional one. Anyway, give those suggestions a try, and come back to us, in this thread, with what you found, and we'll see if we can help some more. Where are you located ? There maybe a Rollaclub member, close by, who is prepared to assist you. Cheers Banjo

Altezzaclub is probably right, that it would not be a good idea to use a thicker oil, because of your colder climate in Norway. Unfortunately, by the time it gets to the stage that you can smell the oil burning, it's probably time for the engine to come out, for a hone & new rings, or a rebore, if the bores are too "wavey". The smoke is usually the result of oil in the sump getting up into the combustion chambers, past the rings & pistons, although shot valve stem seals plus worn valve stems & guides will also produce a similar effect. Make sure the spring loaded valve on the top of the rocker cover is clean & working, because it reliefs pressure build up in the crankcase, which can also assist in driving oil up past worn rings. This usually happens because of carbon building up in the piston ring grooves, such that the rings can't move to effectively scrape the oil off the cylinder walls. There are some after market oil additives, that are claimed to seal smoking engines, but if they do work, it is usually only for a limited period. However, in some old motors, the build up between the rings, actually helps seal, & avoid more oil consumption. I once made the big mistake in an olde Corolla, of filling the tank with the best premium highest octane fuel available at the pump. By the time that tank had been consumed, the cleaning additives in the premium fuel, had loosened the carbon, and the engine was smoking like a steam train. Big mistake ! Cheers Banjo