Banjo

Hi Mate ! Does the LHS blinker work ? If all lights in the LHS cluster are not working, then it is very likely to be an earth wire open circuit in the boot area, commonly direct below the boot lid catch. If it is just the tail & stop light, that are not working, then replace the bulb, and have a close look at the metal areas on the bulb & socket into which it fits, as they need to be clean. Very common for water to get into this area & cause rust & corrosion. Quickest way to check bulb is swap it with the RHS cluster bulb, if they are all currently working OK. Let us know what you find. Cheers Banjo

The Toyota K Series engine manual lists an NGK BP5EA-L or EP5EA for the Australian 4K & 4K-C engines. However, I think most people use the NGK BPR4EY or BPR5EY. However, if your 4K is a 4K-U, (with dished piston tops) then you must use the long reach NGK BRE527Y. These were common with some early Falcons & you'll ocasionally see them on special in SCA and the like. I've always found NGK to be an excellent spark plug ! Cheers Banjo

I wouldn't advise learning to weld, on diff spring seats, which are structually critical. Take it to an expert & get it done properly. Cheers Banjo

Hi Luke, I think you should be fine with standard head bolts, as long as you take all the precautions regarding good head / block seal. I've found over the years there are no short cuts to a good top cylinder block seal. As long as the top of your block has been skimmed to be dead level & the head likewise, the best head gasket you can afford, and it your case a set of new head bolts. I wouldn't be risking using second hand head bolts, with unknown previous life & probably 30 years of use to boot. The trap is not doing your homework with the head bolts before fitting the head. Clean out the threads in the block scrupulously. Put some light sewing machine oil onto a head bolt thread, and with the large thick head bolt washer fitted, and no head fitted, screw the bolt right to the bottom of the block threaded hole. Measure the distance vertically between the top of the block deck & the underside of the thick washer. This dimension should always be less by at least 3-4mm, than the thickness of the head where the bolts fit, plus the head gasket thickness. The danger when decking the block & skimming the head is that the bolts will bottom in the block. I always put a bit of engine oil on the top of the thick head bolt washers to reduce the rotational torsional forces on the bolt, when tensioning the head down. And never fit bolts without those thick washers ! I once had a 4K where the head had been shaved so many times the head bolt was nearly at the bottom of the block threaded hole. Not wanting to grind the bottom of the head bolts to shorten them, I got ten (10) x stainless steel washers, about 1-2mm thick, and fitted them under the thick steel washers. This stopped the bolts bottoming, but had the result that the torsional forces in tensioning the head bolts was greating reduced, as the slipage between washers was less that the friction between the top of the thick washer & the underside of the bolt head. Cheers Banjo

Hi Luke, Found these ARP part numbers on a KP Starlet website forum. "Arp head studs to suit k series engine are as follows AM5.000-1LB. Headstuds 10 required AMW750N. Headstud washers or you can use your origional toyota ones.10 required. AMN12-1. Headstud nuts you guessed it 10 required. " Agree with Stuart regarding total over kill, and expensive, unless you are running very high compressions, and keep blowing head gaskets, after doing all the right things with head & block deck levels, & high performance head gasket. Cheers Banjo

Hi Ben, The vacumm pick up point for the standard Aisan carby, is in the lower inner side of the carby closest to the rocker cover, poking out from down near the carby bowl, directly under the fuel line in union on the carby. Get a meter of 3mm or 4mm rubber vacuum tube from SCA, and connect to carby & dizzy. Make sure they are a tight fit. (small plastic cable tie ensures that) Start engine & see if that lowers the excessive idle speed. If it is still too fast, undo slightly the bolt holding down the clamp for the dizzy & turn very slightly & slowly clockwise. If your problem is excessive advance, then this action will make a big difference. I'm assuming you've set the throlle idle stop as well as the idle mixture. Let's know how you go. Cheers Banjo

Love it Kirill ! That's better than finding $ 100 under the back seat ! Cheers Banjo

That's a remarkable result for a 4K with 235,000 klms on the dial. I guess your mates grandmother, didn't leave rubber at the lights !

Hi Kirill, Dave's right about the 5% -10% max variation. Your max variation is 15 PSI between lowest & highest, which is about a worstcase 7-8% variation. Spot on ! I'd say your engine is pretty healthy, compression wise, which means rings, & valve seats are all pretty good. I picked up a second hand 4K a couple of years ago, as part of a 5 speed G/Box & 4K combo, and the guy couldn't be bothered seperating them. I was only really after the 5 speed G/Box, which was out of a KE70. I got both for the cost of a the gearbox. When I did get to use the 4K recently, I was astounded how good it was. Taking the head off to do a general decoke, I found the engine had been fully reconditioned not that long ago. Sometimes, you can be very lucky. Cheers Banjo

Hi Kirill, A 4K with 100K+ klms usually gives 150 - 160 PSI. As long as the readings are reasonably close together, then all is well. Yours are a bit high, so maybe the head has been shaved at some time. You can usually pick up whether the head has been shaved, by the depth of the "dipple" in the head, behind the dizzy, where the the head surface meets the block. The other possibility is that the 4K has been bored & O/S pistons fitted at some time. That will also increase the compression. Cheers Banjo

Hi Matt, Welcome aboard. Is your KE30 currently a manual or an auto ? There lots of threads on this website regarding fitting 5 speed boxes into KE series Rollas with existing manual 4 speed, & auto gearboxes. Suggest you search a bit, as the reading & pictures are good. You have an option of 5 speed gearboxes, as early ones, usually out of KE55, had the gear lever forward, whereas, 5 speed boxes out of Ke70s, had the gear lever further back, and usually require cutting the tunnel to fit them in. Cheers Banjo

Me thinks not ! It's pretty wide. Lovely thought though. Love that boxer thoatie sound ! Cheers Banjo

Where abouts are you located, and when you say the mornings are cool, how cool are they ? What is the temperature in deg C ? A good squirt of "Start Yu Barstard" will probably solve the problem. Cheers Banjo

Hi Charles, Thanks for the feedback ! Glad that all the advice proved successful in the end. Cheers Banjo

Hi Charles, Was the new clutch cable you fitted a genuine Toyota one, or an after-market one ? I've seen aftermarket ones that were too long on the inner cable, and you couldn't adjust enough at the firewall. Did you by any chance have the flywheel machined acoss the friction surface, reducing the step on the flywheel, to the outer area where the pressure plate bolts up to. Should be a minimum of a 1mm step off memory. Cheers Banjo

Charles, my immediate thought also ! It's been done before, & certainly results in the symptoms you describe. We even had a rollaclub member put the clutch throw out bearing on the wrong way around recently, which ultimately resulted in a horrible noise. The unfortunate problem with all these mistakes is, the whole gearbox has to come out again. Here's a checklist (that other may wish to add to) to ensure when doing clutch work, before the gearbox goes back in. 1. If you are doing a auto / manual conversion, make sure you obtain & install & "new" spigot bearing in the back of the flywheel. 2. Check that the clutch plate has the right number of splines for your gearbox spigot shaft. 19 or 21 splines. 3. Ensure an "after market" pressure plate doesn't clip the bell housing. Especially a problem when fitting KE70 5 speed boxes. 4. Ensure clutch plate is fitted the right way around. 5. Align the clutch plate before tightening up the pressure plate holding bolts, which should be tightened evenly a bit at a time. 6. Ensure little retaining pins/clips are fitted to the clutch fork pivot shaft ends. 7. Fit rubber boot to fork arm & bellhousing hole before fitting gearbox to the engine. 8. If you need to change the reversing light switch wiring connector on top of the gearbox in anyway, do it before reinstalling gearbox. Cheers Banjo

Hey Gav . . . When you put the 7K engine in it way back then, can you remember what throttle cable you used ? I seem to remember Pajero V6 being mentioned in a post somewhere, but I can't find it. Adrian (Nesta) is off to the wreckers this weekend to find a cable suitable for a 4K with 7K EFI, he is fitting to a KE30. I told him I think I read about a Pajero V6 cable working, but would like that confirmed if possible, or any other suitable "long" cables others have used. What a classic Rolla this KE18 has been. A tribute to everyone who as owned it. Cheers Banjo

Hi Zen, When a car is 40+ years olde, you look everywhere for rust. In particular, Rear bottom of front guards. Bottom of rear quarters. Around roof gutters. Around boot hinge area. In boot wheel well & side pockets. Under floor mats, front & rear. In "chassis" "U" channels. Around rear spring front mounts. Under rubber lip on front & rear window screens. Just go over it with a fine tooth comb. Cheers Banjo

No ! The space down is for the KE70 5 speed box, as it's rear mount hangs lower, which would push the gearbox rear up higher, if you didn't space it. Cheers Banjo

Hi Karel, I've done the KE70 5 speed box into a KE30, that had an auto. It's really a breeze, without too many troubles in the x-member department. I found you can use the existing cross member with just the need to drill two new holes for the rear gearbox mount. The gearbox mount is different to the KE55 4 & 5 speed gear boxes, and hangs lower, requiring the cross member to be spaced off the chassis by about 20-25 mm, to keep the tail shaft angle the same. Because of the spacers, you'll need longer bolts for cross member to chassis, but they are not a hassle to find. If you are like me, you'll have more trouble doing the pedal box conversion, (because of the tight location) than you will with the gearbox & cross member fitting. Nice thing is you can use the same tail shaft. Only trick with auto to manual conversion is to bridge the ignition lock out, in the wiring, at the auto console. Cheers Banjo

I've changed a few LCA inner bushes in my time. In fact I did a couple only a few weeks ago. I remember struggling with them the first time I did one, years ago. I found then, that the hardest bit was actually removing the old bushes, rather than fitting the new bushes. Quite often, the old rubber bushes have been in there so long, they literally vulcanise to the LCA. The technique I have used works well, & doesn't require any special equipment. 1. Definitely remove LCA from the car. 2. Place LCA in a vice & saw off with a hacksaw, the section of the rubber bush shoulder on each side, that protrudes from the LCA. 3. Don't worry about cutting the centre metal crush tube, as the bush kit always includes a new one. 4. Drill a series of pilot holes through the rubber bush between metal tube & LCA. 5. Open up these holes with a larger drill until the holes nearly join. 6. The tube & remaining bush material can then be easily knocked out with a large drift punch. 7. Clear vulcanansied rubber remaining inside the LCA opening with a round file, being careful not to remove any metal. 8. Finish cleaning inside of hole with sand paper & your finger, until metal only remains. 9. Apply supplied lubricant grease to both bushes, as detailed in instructions with new bushes. 10. Fit both bushes at the same time using an ordinary vice, with a piece of packing timber so the jaws of the vice then pressurise the whole of the outer bush end. Pretty simple, & effective, and has worked for me every time. P.S. The outer lower LCA ball joints can also be removed & replaced by hand, with a bit of care & patience, without the need for a press, but that's another story. Cheers Banjo

They are the standard 10mm x 1.25 that you buy in SCA, AutoBarn or Bursons on those nuts/ bolts/washer rotating racks. Some kits just have the studs, others have stud 7 nut. I'll measure one up exactly for you, when next in the shed later today. Cheers Banjo

I think I've got some 1/4" drive metric sockets someplace in "the shed". Good suggestion. I'll try that Si. Cheers Banjo

I walked into Bursons Browns Plains Qld, yesterday afternoon & ordered an EM30 extractor manifold gasket. The guys there rang the supplier to make sure they were in stock. 1:00pm today, the gasket arrived. It's a Durapro brand with full P/N GSEM30D and is described as Extractor Gasket Toyota 4. The manufacturing batch date was 20/12/2010. Best thing was the price. $ 12.30. Don't know if that included courier charge, or not, but I don't think so. Maybe they just like me because I'm a regular there. I'm not complaining. I hate fitting those 2 piece thin ACL ones, although it is a bit easier when you fit all studs & get rid of the manifold bolts. They tend to wear the aluminium threads out in the head after a while, if you're changing the gasket regularly. Trying to obtain those narrow brass manifold nuts & heavy washers is always difficult. Finished up getting them at an engineering Nuts & Bolts place for 40c ea. Bargain ! Picked up some S.S. thick washers at Bunnings. Done ! Only thing i need now is a narrow walled 14mm socket, or get an ordinary 14mm socket turned down to make it easier to do the manifold nuts up, with a 1/2" drive extension & ratchet. It gets a bit tight in there & you are working blind. Cheers Banjo

Hi Jeff, That's the first time I've heard of that one. Good one to keep in mind. Cheers Banjo