Banjo

Hi Keith, Welcome aboard. Wow, that is a beautiful KE20 you have there. It looks to have been lovingly looked after, & probably has low klms. Seems a shame to modify it in anyway, but a set of olde skool mag wheels, will probalby make it look even better. Love to see some more photos of it on here, and a bit of it's history, if you know it. If it hasn't got any serious cancer in it, you will be the envy of many on this site. Cheers Banjo

One tip when welding lower KE70 spring perches onto strut with a greater O/S dia. When you grind away the inside of the lower perch to fit snuggly over the 50mm dia strut, it does not leave a lot of metal on the perch at that point, where you need it to be welded to the strut. The original perches had a "turn down" at that point where, it met the strut, but you will have ground that off in this opening up hole process. I found a 2" dia. metal ring at the hardware store, that was actually part of an agricultural gate latch fitting. I careful filed all the galvanising off it, then carefully filed the inside dia. about 0.5 mm, until is was a snug slide down the 51mm strut tube. It was welded onto the strut tube, with about 4 off stitch welds, so as not to distort the tube. Then slide the lower perch down onto the ring and weld perch to ring & strut tube. Created a very strong welded joint, probably as good or better than the original. Cheers Banjo

Possible air leak somewhere on the inlet manifold ? Second stage, take 4K carby & dismantle, & give it a good clean with carby cleaner aerosol. Third stage, give ignition system a complete check overall, & replace anything defective. Forth stage, do a compression test to see how your valves are. One of those scenarios will most likely reveal the cause of your woes. Cheers Banjo

Hi Wayne, Yes, just carefully grind the KE70 struts lower spring perches off, open the hole out to approx 50mm to be a snug fit on the strut, and weld it back on, with enough compression on the spring, so that it will still be held captive, when you have a wheel airborne. I only used the top KE70 spring cap, as I used the Techno Toy Tuning camber adjustmenter. The spacing of the 3 studs on the KE70 top strut mount are different to other KEs. They are not evenly spaced. No doubt, you could probably use the KE70 top spring perch with a normal KE30/55 top rubber mount. Cheers Banjo

Hi Parrot, Most calipers have two mounting holes where the caliper attaches to the strut axle casting. The centre to centre of these two mountings is the 100mm I was referring to. The Corona strut's, (used by many on Rollaclub) mounting, are I think, 90mm centre to centre. This picture isn't mine, I just grabbed it off the net to make it clear. Cheers Banjo

Hi Steve, Yes pretty much straight in, bolt up changeover. However, if changing over from a JAP diff, you will need the tailshaft also, as the tailshaft to diff flanges are different. Cheers Banjo

Sorry for the slow response. Wanted bigger & better brakes on my KE30 2 door, but didn't want to go to 15" wheels. Finished up with Celicia RA65 struts, but the KPI on these is about 9.0 deg, and gives slightly positive camber. Needed adjustable Techno Toy Tuning camber top adjusters, to get it slightly negative again. Wanted to keep LCAs length standard. Biggest vented disc rotors I could find at the wreckers, that would fit inside the rims, were out of a Cressida MX62. The caliper mounts on the RA65 strut had 100mm centres and were parallel to the rotor, so required no packing or adjustment. Many of the Toyota disc calipers have 90 mm mounting centres, but I did find a later model Cressida (about 1992 - 1993 model) that had giant single pot calipers with 100mm mounting centres. These fitted the RA65 strut caliper mounts perfectly. These calpiers were however designed for a slightly thicker rotor. I needed to machine just 1mm off the caliper mounting face to get the caliper to sit over the rotor with the disc pads evenly spaced either side. I also needed a 2 mm flat spacer behind each disc pad, so that with everything new the pots were fully retracted. This was easy, as I just ground the brake pad off old disc pads backing plates, & then had then the backing plates machined down about 2mm. This is a very straight forward conversion, using KE70 coils & lower sping perches, so the the camber adjusters travel can be used in full. (KE70 has the smallest dia coils of the early Corollas) The later model Cressida calipers have giant disc pads which cover a greater area of the MX62 rotor that the original MX62 pads. This provided great breaking performance, with lower pressure requirements. However, I did convert my master cylinder to the early Pajero one. The result was a front brake performance that bears no comparison, to the original KE30s brakes. Let's be frank. Early Corolla's were not reknown for there good brakes. I'm about to fit a KE55 diff assembly which had 9" brake drums, rather than the original KE30's 8.0" drums. This diff has a 4.11 ratio (manual) rather than the 4.3 original in the car, as the KE30 started life as an automatic. I'd love a 3.89 diff ratio but can't find one at present. However, with the 4.11 & the slightly larger 14 wheels & tyres, I should get a car with "longer legs" and hopefully can cruise on the open road at 110 kph at about 2600 - 2800 rpm, in 5th gear. (yes it has a KE70 5 speed box) Cheers Banjo

Toyoat Corolla 4KU engines have dished pistons. i know, I've got one in my car at present.

Good advice from Parrot there. An ignition system is as good as the weakest link in the chain. Use an olde dizzy with lots of slop, and you won't get the best results. Re RainWarriors query above. The MSD 6AL is basically a smart ignitor, but does not have the ability to setup a custom advance curve. http://www.msdigniti...on_Control.aspx It still uses the mechanical advance characteristics from the dizzy that triggers it. You need a programable ignition module, where you can set the advance curve up to suit your engine setup & your needs. I use an Australian Jaycar Programmable ignition system, which you build from a kit. It is the cheapest entry level way into a fully programable ignition. I've got an Accuspark/Powerspark Hall Effect sensor to replace the points in a 4K Denso dizzy I had rebushed. I locked up the bob weights, and the results have been very pleasing. I have the ignition wired up so that it starts up instantly, using the Accuspark as the ignitor. As soon as it starts & you let go the key, it flips back to the Jaycar system, using the Accuspark as a trigger only. I've built an external ignitor based on the Bosche ignitor component, which I brought in from DIY AutoTune in the USA. These Bosche ICs are almost indestructible. Just mount it on a heatsink & that's it. Very very pleased with the results, & highly reliable. I've played with the curve over time & the drive is now smoother, more acceleration & better top end performance. I've even put a limp mode switch in, so if in the worst case, the whole electronics & ignitor were to burn out, I can switch it back to the Accuspark and drive the coil via it's internal ignitor. I actually tried it one night, whilst 15 klms from home, and although lacking a bit of oommph, it got home safe & sound, with just static advance of about 12 deg. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, Just a few thoughts. Have you done a health check on the engine itself ? If not, take it for a brisk run, until it is up to operating temperature. Upon return home, immediately take out all four (4) spark plugs and lay them out on a piece of cardboard & number them 1,2.3 & 4 front to rear. Then beg, borrow, or obtain a compression guage and do a full compress test, on each cylinder with the throttle wide open. You need an assistant for this. Write down the results, for each cylinder. If all the readings are very low, then squirt a tablespoon of fresh engine oil down each cylinder & do compression test again. The colour & state of the plugs & their insulators will tell you a lot about the current combustion process in your engine. The compression test will tell you a lot about the state of valve seats & valves & rings. All cylinders should be within say 5-10 PSI of each other. Consistency between cylinder compression readings is more important than the actual compression number itself. A hack Corolla engine should be somewhere in the range of 120 PSI to 160 PSI, dependent on compression ratio & state of the rings & valve & valve seat conditions. You'll be surprised how much info can be gained by this simple test, and point you in the direction to help you solve your backfiring issue. Cheers Banjo

Hi Steve, There are several varieties of the Pajero MC. The differences are the outlet position for the front brakes. The model you need is a JB1712, which can be obtained on line at ebay. Cheers Banjo

Hi Steve, Most Rollaclub guys who upgrade their front brake rotors & calipers, also increase the capacity of their master cylinder to avoid a very hard pedal. Master cylinders with 15/16" or 1.0" dia. cylinders work well. I used a Pajero MC, and it worked fine. Brand new ones on ebay were relatively cheap. You could do the conversion in two stages. Upgrade the brakes, and see how "hard" the brake pedal force required is with your existing MC. If it is too hard then upgrade the MC also. I did similar upgrade a couple of years ago. I used Cressida rotors & calipers, + the Pajero MC. The braking performance of the car was greatly improved, and it has worked perfectly. I've currently got a KE55 complete rear diff assembly & 9.0" brakes ready to go in, to finalise the complete brake upgrade. Only thing to consider, is whether you want to upgrade the booster also. However, it gets very tight in that area, if you go to a bigger booster + MC. I stuck with the KE30 one. http://www.rollaclub...page__hl__banjo http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/70150-problems-after-paj-master-cyl-install/page__p__686736__hl__+pajero#entry686736 Cheers Banjo O

Hi Jeremy, I wasn't giving you a bum steer about there being ignition coils out there with 3 terminals. I'll grant you they are not common, but they do exist. I don't know what he means either. If your existing coil has 4 ohms primary resistance, that's probably why you are getting a weak orange spark. The yellow 4K toyota bible says, you should be using a coil with a primary resistance of 1.1 - 1.3 ohms, with your reluctor dizzy with ignitor. The external ballast resistor should be somewhere bewteen 1.3 - 1.7 ohms. The ballast resistor should be shorted out effectively, by the start contacts of the ignition barrel. Let us know how you go ! Cheers Banjo

The olde ballast resistor quandary ! What is it for ? Here's my take for what it is worth. In the very early days of the automobile, starting the engine was always an effort, particularly in cold weather. When the weather is cold, the engine is stiff & the oil thick after standing overnight. The lower the temp., the lower the battery o/c terminal voltage. The colder it is, the more current the starter motor draws, which puts a bigger load on the battery, and the voltage available in the system drops, sometimes to around about say 8-9 volts. The 12 volt coil performs well at 12 volts, but with just 8-9 volts across it, it didn't provide the optimum stored energy & therefore spark, just when it was needed at start up the engine. Ford, I believe, suggested using a 9 volt coil, which solved that problem, but introduced another. The 9 volt coil overheated & burnt out, when it was supplied 12-14 volts, once the car started. Solution was to put a resistance in series with the coil, that lowered the voltage to 9 volts, whilst the car was running, but was shorted out effectively, whilst starting the car. The resistance in series with the coil also had another beneficial result. It lowered the current passing through the points & therefore the points life was extended, from the normal pitting & burning. The ballast resistor, when used with a points system, also had the effect of regulating the current drawn. As the average current increases, at lower revs, the ballast resistor heats up, and it's resistance increases lowering the current. At higher revs, when the points have less time to put current through the coil, the ballast cools slightly, lowering it's resistance, and therefore increasing the current through the coil at higher revs. This particularly improved the performance of 6 & 8 cylinder engines at the higher revs. If an ignition coilhad an inbuilt ballast resistor, but only had two terminals, it could achieve the increase in current at higher revs, but cannot be used as a starting resistor, as you cannot get to the other end of the ballast resistor, inside the coil, to short it out during starter motor operation. There are coils out there with 3 terminals that achieve both improvements. Try a coil with a lower primarly resistance, and see if you get a blue spark, and the car performs better. You won't burn the ignitor out doing a test like this, for a short time. Be very careful when measuring the primary resistance of second hand coils you have available. Common multimeters, are not very good at reading resistance of a few ohms very accurately. Trust this assists. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, 4K engines came with points distributors & reluctor distributors, depending on the country of origin. The reluctor distributors came with & without internal ignitors, according to the yellow Toyota bible. All came with ballast resistors, which were external to the coil. A 9 volt coil with an "internal ballast" resistor, that is shorted out on startup, is easily recognised as it has three (3) terminals. Ballast Resistor: 1.1 - 1.3 ohm with ignitor. Ballast Resistor 1.3 - 1.5 ohms without ignitor (points distributor) Coil Resistance - Primary: 1.3 - 1.7 ohms with ignitor. Coil Resistance - Primary 1.2 - 1.5 ohms without ignitor (points distributor) Coil Resistance - Secondary 10 - 15K ohms with ignitor. Coil Resistance - Secondary 8 - 12K ohms without ignitor (points distributor) Hope that helps. Cheers Banjo

If your current distributor is the original 5K distributor, with reluctor trigger & internal ignitor, you won't achieve anything really by replacing with your options, other than possibly easier starting. The reason is that the PowerSpark replacement Hall Effect ignitor module, does not change the timing & advance/retard of the ignition, which is still a function of the centifugal bob weights in the base of the 5K distributor. The 5K engines were basically used in Toyota commercial vehicles & forklifts, where the requirement was very focused on torque, rather than outright power. As a result, a 5K dizzy in a Corolla is a bit sluggish. If you really want to get some more ooomph from your Rolla, by all means use the PowerSpark/Accuspark module, as a trigger source, rather than the existing reluctor, but then feed it into a programable ignition module with ignitor. This will however, require "locking up" the centifugal bob weights in your distributor. This is not a hard job. Simply remove the springs, tie the weights in with wire, and then a few "dollops" of Araldite to secure it. You can then produce an advance curve that will delight you with the results. Instant starts, greater acceleration, smooth cruising & very reliable. Only warning is don't go overboard with very low ohm sports coils, unless you have an an ignitor that can handle it. Lots of guys burn out ignitors, (which are not cheap) by not matching coil selection to ignitor capacity. I've been running such a system on my 4KU for several years now, and the results were very pleasing. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, Is your 4K distributor a reluctor type, with internal ignitor, inside the distributor, or a reluctor type with an external ignitor, or has the 4K distributor been fitted with a HotSpark modification, with Hall effect trigger & ignitor all inside the distributor ? You need to determine this before going any further. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeremy, Because of the shape of the combustion chamber in the head & the dished pistion, I believe the long reach plug places the spark in the middle of the compressed air/fuel mixture at the moment of firing, to provide best explosion and rapid flame front to all parts of the combustible mixture. Cheers Banjo.

Hi Jeremy, I run a 4KU in my KE30 at present. I just took a plug out & measured it, as it was a good excuse to see they were, as I haven't looked at them for a year. This plug also fits an early model Falcon, that had long reach plugs. I used to buy 2 x packs of 6 plugs at SCA when they were on special, and finish up with 3 sets of plugs for the Rolla. Cheers Banjo

Hi Daniel, Clips over the centre of the disc pad to stop it from rattling. Cheers Banjo

What a wonderful story, and a great car. It definitely has a value, & would sell, with a low mileage like that, for a Corolla getting on towards 40 years olde. It's value is really what someone is prepared to pay for it, if they really want it. The fact that it is still registered would make it even more attractive. These cars probably sold new at about $ 4000. There could be someone out there that might be prepared to buy it at 39 years olde for $ 4000. However, realistically, you could expect maybe $ 2000 - $ 2500. There maybe someone here on Rollaclub that may be interested, when they read your post tomorrow. The other way would be to put it up on ebay, with a realistic reserve, and then see what the "market" out there is prepared to pay. The "audience" on ebay is enormous, & you might even find an international unique or classic car buyer who is interested. Keep us posted with what you decide to do, and the outcome, as there are lots of us here on Rollaclub, that are keen to save & restore as many KEs as possible. Cheers Banjo

Well there you go ! You live and learn. Every clutch cable I've ever had in a KE has had the shoulder built into the cable, so no circlip was required. I've never seen one of those before, like Springer has. Good one Altezzaclub. Problem solved. Cheers Banjo

There is no circlip on the bottom of my cable. I just grabbed an old original Toyota cable from the garage & photed each end. Springers, looking at your photo of your cable poking through the bell housing flange, it looks like a different cable. If you want to remove your cable & measure it all up, I will do the same here to this one, and you can compare lengths of the sheath & cable end to end. Cheers Banjo

Yeah, aftermarket stuff can be cheap, but often the quality is poor. The original KE series clutch cables had a Teflon or similar lining/coating on the cable itself, inside the outer sheath. This reduced the friction on the big bend/curve in the cable as it changes direction 180 deg down past the brake MC. Many of the after market ones don't have the Teflon coating. You can improve the uncoated ones by holding the outer sheath in a vice & slowly dripping oil down the cable, working the inner up & down, until it drips out the bottom. I have revived an old cable sucessfully that way in the past. Another way is keeping the 180 deg bend in the clutch cable rigid, so that it does move, under load. Later KE55s had a factory bracket fitted to the brake MC, that did just that. The clutch adjustment at the firewall, has always been an issue, with the circlips popping off. Many installations finish up like this. Cheers Banjo

Oh clutch cables ! I think we've all struggled with clutch cable issues at some time or other. The most common problem is aftermarket clutch cables that are too long. After market clutch pressure plates with release fingers in a different position. Machined flywheels without reintroducing the lip. Throw out bearings omitted or put on back to front. Driven clutch plates with linings too thick. Before you go pulling out the gearbox, you can carefully prise out the rubber boot & put a small 12V auto bulb on a length of wire inside, to see with a little mirror whether everything related to the fork /fingers & throw out bearing looks OK. Three inches is a big amount of free play, so there is something very wrong. I've blown up your photo of where the cable passes through the bell housing hole, and it doesn't look quite right to me. The cable appears to be at a slight angle to the bell housing flange. It should be quite straight, because the cable has an alloy locator on it.I can't see the shoulder of the locator in your photo. When I head out to the garage later, I'll take a photo of this area & you can compare with your setup. I realise it's hard to take a photo of this restricted area. Here's a photo of this area I found on the net. Cheers Banjo