LittleRedSpirit

Sunday arvo I can do (tomorrow). Might be around 3pm? Please PM me your address and preferred bevvies.

Sounds wonderful. When might I be able to come over and what do you drink?

Congrats!! As Peter Costello said: "Have one for mum, one for dad, and one or your country." Mission accomplished! Make sure you have a nice collection of overrated oldschool cars to hand down to them. Worth lots more than money!!

Howdy everyone, I have a nice Recaro to go into my car asap (cheers Jono). The only problem is, I don't have a welder (or welding skills) to make the rails to adapt it into mr ae71. I have a good condition pair of standard rails to weld in. The way id like to do it is: 1. Bolt the rails into my ae71 parts car floorpan. 2. Cut some flat steel pieces, say 350x50x4mm. 3. Weld those, packed up slightly to clear the mechanism of the sliding rail, over the top of each rail. 4. Weld 2 cross braces to fix them the correct width apart. 5. Sit the Recaro on top of this assembly in the car and mark where to drill the holes for it. Maybe even use double sided tape to attach the two in the correct position. 6. Remove the seat, drill the rail for the recaro, and bolt it all together. Sand, grind and paint it all. If anybody has any more ideas and wouldn't mind bringing their stick welder over to my place to help out, theres a nice carton in it for you!!!! Boags, Corona, Bourbon cans, Whatever!! I will of course provide the steel for the job.

Then why ask us what we think?

Looks great mate. I love PVs. Looking at your piccies is bringing back all the fond memeories I had in my old 323 panno. Those were the days.

Congrats Jono. Have a blinder.

I dare say its not a relay. Run some grounds in the car. Or find the old ones, remove the bolts at either end and check for a spot weld looking mark under each one. This mark will indicate that the ground is loose and the current has to arc from point to point. Give them a really good sand with wet and dry then clean with metho and bolt them back together. Also, check the lead from the starter to the battery, they quite often crack and fray the insulation off and need to be replaced. Do not get a new starter if you havent tried these fixes. You could even run a new ground from the block to the point on the body where the battery grounds. You only need a starter relay if you cannot start the car with the lights and stereo on.

Go the 5k, I'd rather see someone finish an easier project, than start something very challenging and never finish it.

Going from my own expierience, Id build it into the rusty shell first, then once you have a nice tidy package all together, Id think about reshelling it. If you make an error or butcher something in the current shell while doing the conversion, no tears for you, as you plan to change it long term anyhow. May as well bend the rusty one first. The rust looks a lot like what everyone of us has faced, I guess to make nice light car bodies Toyota used some pretty poor steel. Its hard to find a rust free 71 these days too. If you persist with the shell you have, at least to get it running, you have plenty of time to find another overrated donor car, be it ke70 or ae71. Thats what I reckon anyhow. For me, I see xe7x shells as somewhat expendable, so I wouldn't cry if I bent it. $500 dollars and you have a new shell, and a month of weekends and shes back in top form.

I was passenger in my first car, the Xtra Funky XF, when it was put into a power pole head on at 60. Never even got a picture of her. Twas lucky Id had about 3 beers down let me tell you. The power pole was at about 45 degrees, and sunk deeply into the car. We got out, I felt fine. Then the woman driving the car said, "oh god your cut" and so I was. I was in a bit of shock. I had punched a hole through the windscreen with my jaw. Only about 3 inches from the pillar too. Ambulance came. Many thanks to anonymous Mr Fist aid McGuyver who ran out of the park to help me. Never got your name, but thanks mate. Had my 2 weeks in hospital, skin grafts and plenty o'pethidine and I fully recovered after about 10 weeks. Had a lot of shredded skin under my jaw, stitches on my face, staples all over the place, and I couldn't move my head for a couple of days. There are a few days, probably the first three that are really hazy. Ive got a f@$king big scar under my chin. Doctor said I was 1 cm from cutting my jugular. I didn't even chip a tooth, or break a bone somehow. Hit my shoulder pretty hard against the door too, and split it open but no fractures thankfully. My shins were also popped open on the dash too, as the glove box was smashed by my legs. So what have I learned? Don't let anybody drive your car, even if your half cut. XFs take a good punch. Also, power poles cost over 1200 dollars to erect at 9:30 at night in Toowoomba. And don't ever swerve for wildlife, thats what caused it to happen. Bad driving really. I'm a nervous passenger these days, I probably always will be too.

I personally think the question; "just wondering why you would put 17s on a ke70?" is perfectly valid, I want to know what hes trying to achieve by doing so? From a feel or handling perspective, or whether its just for looks. Theres no need to get personal or abusive. Please realise that most comments, however short, are made in good humour. 9 times out of 10 the reason an argument follows is because someone goes too far in response. Trust me we've all done this, including me. PM me if you want to talk further, lets keep the thread on topic.

Just get a stock one from the wreckers and see if it fits?

Everybody has an opinion, so please don't shout down other members for expressing a different opinion. Bad form, lets all remain calm. You like big wheels, yahoo for you. Others don't, thats perfectly fine, deal with it hombres. If someone tells you they don't like something, thats always going to be negative. Thats just the way it is. Your response, Rolla_boy, was possibly more negative than the one liner. Lets all play nice, ok.

Personally, for me, 15 inch is the pimp size wheel for my ae71. I really like the feel of the rolling diameter on the car. Even slightly bigger feels like its too big for the chassis. I have enough sidewall to attain a little grip, and tyres are inexpensive. The only reason I would ever want bigger is if I had a brake upgrade which required 16s. At the end of the day I like to be period specific with my dress on the car. I'm not a neons and subwoofers kind of guy. I really don't get the big chrome wheels thing. Chrome bumpers on the other hand... That said, their are a few cars around with slick, loud bodywork and the chrome wheels have worked for them.

Good point!!! If I had 4500 to blow on a motor then Brisbane Motor Imports has a RWD Beams 3sge for 5k, with gearbox, loom, ecu and extractors. Its a big pain to install and installing it would run to 3000 dollars but it puts into perspective what you can get for the money, you know. Three letters, D - I - Y !!!

If I were you Id want to do it myself, so that I learn enough skills to save thousands of dollars in mechanics fees over my lifetime. Thats one of the main reasons I started building my Rolla! If you want to persist with the mechanic route, then get a few quotes at least. You'll be amazed how they vary, and make sure you point out that they will need to use the list of parts Ive given you, so that unnecessary fabrication isnt done at your expense. The smartest thing would be to find all the parts yourself for as little money as possible, then hand it all to him at the end and say, make me a car!!! You never know, you may feel confident enough by that time to put the motor in yourself, even if you don't wire it up. Most of it is really easy, its just fuel systems and wiring which are a pain, in my opinion. If you use a wrecker motor then make sure its a keeper or it gets a freshen up, ok. Good luck, champ.

I just hope the guy who restored it was the guy who wrecked it. Or there is going to be an old ford restorer in tears for some time. I love these cars but have to admit, the reason they are getting so rare these days is exactly what you see in the picture. All the power you'd want but they don't really handle, um, at all.

That calculator tells me Id be able to do a 14.5, but with 5.4 diff gears.

When I was recouperating in hospital in Toowoomba after nearly losing my life in a car wreck 7 years ago, that very same towing company thought it would be helpful to steal the nice speakers out of my car, the only salvageable part. Thats a really nice thing to do to a guy who's had his face smashed through a windscreen. I personally would sooner torch the building than buy a single thing off them, and Id just like to put this out there so no-one ever trusts these scumbags. Trust me mate, any good stuff is already gone, knowing these thieves. There are very few people who have made my revenge book, and this company is in there. don't get all upset Trev but in my experience tow truck drivers are the lowest of the low in most cases. Like carnies they will screw you and smile to your face while they do it. My 2c. So to summarise, SOWERBYS TOWING STOLE FROM ME WHEN THEY TOWED MY CAR, DO NOT TRUST THEM AT ALL.

No peddling please mate, PM him.

Just pick the hatch with the sweetest engine and the longest service history. Your obviously looking for some sweet mechanicals since you only want the motor/loom/ecu. I believe you can also use the radiator and thermofans, front seats and steering wheel in the ke70. Just buy whichever one has all of that in very good condition. You shouldn't have to pay more than 500 dollars. You wil also need that whole list of parts I said in #2. As well as an ae71/86 engine crossmember and engine mounts, and the t50 gearbox crossmember and rubber mount which I forgot to say earlier. It will cost up to 500 dollars usually to get all those parts together, unless you can find a shagged ae71 to steal them from. The really tricky things are doing the fuel system and the loom reconfiguration, as all the wire lengths may need to be modified to make it all sit where it should. Everything else is like lego. If the hatch you find has a good clutch and flywheel you will be able to use that too!

1. Nope, 16 valve 4ages were delivered in AE82 twincam hatches. Buy a dinged or rusted one, freshen her up and put her in. Youll have loom, computer and all accessories that way. You will need rwd extractors too. They can be a bit tricky to find. Us ebay is good for them. 2. Could be as little as 2000 dollars all up, if you do the work. If you pay someone you will still need to source the right pedal box for a hydraulic clutch, a t50 gearbox and tailshaft, slave and master cylinder and clutch line. You'll also need a motor and all accessories, rwd pipes, new exhaust, and a mod plate, efi fuel pump, and surge tank, or a Jap ae86 fuel tank, with efi baffles to stop fuel surge. 3. Very easy on fuel. If the motor is freshened up it should pull 10klm/litre if you thrash it. My 20valve does. Never owned a 16 valve but it surely wouldnt be more with a standard ecu. You have the perfect opportunity to build a tough 4age ke70, as you have one car to pull apart and one car to drive around in and get to work, while you take the other one off the road. That helps sooooooo much. More pics please!! :D

Minty Fresh. Its so white, its like a celebrities' teeth. Very nice find mate, this one is so straight, it needs chrome bumpers and quads.

Ever heard of email? :wink: