Thomas Dillon

that’s interesting, I just had a wee google and the power numbers are pretty close between the 4ku & 5k ay. Surprising, Makes me wonder why the previous owner choose to go with a 5k head, unless it was skimmed it would’ve dropped compression. Also unsure if it’s got a mild cam in it. Such an unknown motor ahaha. We’ll get some answers once it’s completely stripped down. whipped the base off the oil pump. From a first glance the spout and pump mating surfaces look in good order. Those wear marks you can see don’t catch a fingernail at all. would there be any need to remove the upper housing beyond the pump?

Ahahaha, shit thats a big 5k! well fellas, sump is off, I’ll be on my third sump seal if I can’t get the goop off but that’s okay! Upon taking the sump off I noticed we’ve got a 4k crank… 4k timing cover & dished pistos so all fingers are pointing towards 4K-u correct? Do all k series run a 4k crank? I think I may have read this elsewhere or would they be stamped 2k,3k,4k etc? I’ll also whip those studs out shortly and get some new bolts from blacks. also see attached the photo of the sump where there’s a gap in the threads.. I’m guessing to allow oil to flow out of the lowest point. Somewhere along the line the sump steel has been pushed up into this gap. I’ve been looking at Aeroflow fittings and the plan is to loose the entire old bung set up and weld the new one on the exterior flush so we get a good flow out when doing oil changes thats all for now, touch base soon. cheers fellas

bloody magic, I’ll get onto that tomorrow. Fingers crossed it should be laid to rest on the subframe and back in the bay in 6 weeks ish for a run up. this arvo I hit another wee bump in the road. I hadn’t really noticed it when dropping the oil pre pulling the motor as I bought the car a few weeks prior… A combination of an uneven sump-to-plug surface & a couple dicey threads led to a leaky plug this arvo when filling with penrite. Option 1: We rip the sump off again and have a new female fitting welded on and plug fitted. Will have to get a new seal and razor the gasket maker off. Bloody faffs. Option 2: I try and find an 18m ID rubber flat washer that can deal with oil and high temp and try that first. The plug does tighten well in the sump threads, just feels a little wobbly on the way in but I’m guessing that’s to be expected with a 1.5mm thread pitch? Sump plug size is 18x1.5 Not the end of the world and if welding a new fitting in has to be the way forward we’ll come out the other side better for it. Just a bloooody faff

To be honest, I’ve only ever had starlets with k series motors in them and when I look back I wouldn’t have changed anything ay. They’re an epic package, simple, and a heap of fun as is with some noisy/peppy upgrades. At the moment I just wanna turn the key and have a tidy example starly with a few good supporting mods/updated tech where necessary. Take it hooning and keep things simple…famous last words hahah I’ll look into that YouTube channel, I’ve also got a donor 4 door flat front shell that has some rear roof corner rust that needs addressing but it’d make a good track/event platform someday. also re the thermostat top housing, I found one… a factory RHS shooting outlet with a facto sensor tapped in. will update with pics when it arrives from chch. also a little unrelated, I’ve got the motor on the stand (no oil in it). It’s got a new filter on etc and is waiting to go back in the car basically in a couple months. Should I dump the oil in and give it a wind over each week? I was gonna send some down the spark tubes but being dished pistos I wouldn’t reach the walls without dumping a good 100ml in hahah

You fellas have got an answer for everything! Ahaha, I didn’t even think of that, did you drill with a press or just a hand drill? You ever had any issues with it leaking? I suppose a bitta thread tape would do the trick ay

Hey fellas, tezza - A twin cam 4k?! The f*ck. Some people are too smart ahaha! They’re bloody epic cars, this is my 5th one. All the ones I’ve had in the past have been built by others. Good to go ham on this one myself (and try to do things properly hahah) What do we think about a beams 3sge swap? Banjo - your efforts are outstanding! It’s such bastard ay. However on a positive note I tracked one down in just over 24 hours and it on its way hahah. Pic attached. Hopefully this does the trick I just need to have a fiddle with temp gauge sensors, I also need a port for the fan switch, may need to run a twin T fitting if there’s only one tapped port on the bottom of the housing. shes pretty ugly but a good scrub up with some scotch bright and she’ll be brand new haha ill touch base when she arrives felllars, cheers

I haven’t had the head off on this motor yet, have be tidying up the body and everything else first as it was in dire need of some tlc. Once/if the motor kabooms itself then we’ll give it a good once over. I’ve had a peep down the spark tube on a very peculiar angle and have definitely seen dished pistos. Even just giving the motor a wee freshen; all gaskets/seals, main seal, twin row, filter, engine mounts, radiator/fan, etc etc I’ve ended up spending a handsome sum ay hahah. It adds up quick. carbs in good time, we just need to get out there rippin first. this is the pile of goodies waiting to go back in the car after paint, set a date to have it finished for early September so we’ll see 🤣🤣 had a wee mock up with the new wheels the other day and now I just want it finished

I can confirm I have had this motor running and it goes like a cut cat. I haven’t had it running since I swapped out the single row chain to the double row. I think both you guys weighed in on this. I couldn’t get the locator dowel to line up and had to roll the crank back like a tooth to get it all on. The other finiky thing with this motor is its had the eg. 4k - ***** stamped on the block ground off hahah. are there any other ways of identifying the block? It goes way harder than any 4K I’ve owned, which makes me think it could be 5k. Although the rumour down the grape vine of previous owners say 4k-u block 5k head. I think I’ve found a ke70 thermo housing that should have us sorted to shoot water the other way. Thanks for your input fellas, both of you banjo & altezza always blow me away with your responses. I hope these forums pay you haha!! I’ve added photos of various angles of the motor for you guys to geek out on if you can figure if it’s 5/4k

Hi team, Currently in the process of rebuilding a wee kp for summertime skids & coffee cruising. Bought the kp and have come to realise it’s got a dished piston bottom end and what I believe to be a 5k head and have confirm this with the previous owner but it’s all “apparently”. The head has got the two knobs under each spark tube at both ends. Anyway, I’ve turfed the facto radiator and electric fan and have gone for the Fenix ke70 ally rad/fan shroud kit for maximum coolage when abusing it over the takaka hill. Question being, are the entire top & bottom thermostat housings compatible across the range of 2k-5k heads? My current thermostat housing outlet is shooting off towards the right hand side of the bay if you’re looking at the motor. The Fenix top tank outlet is on the left hand side. Option 1: I run a 180 degree rad hose off the current set up, through a length of stainless and into the radiator. (Not the end of the world). Option 2: we tidy things up and put one of the other thermostat housings on that shoot the other way. basically just wanting to know if they bolt to the head all the same. Really appreciate ya help in advance, Cheers fellars

Fellas, thank you both for your input. outstanding! I've had a wee looking into measuring cc's etc, as you say, looks rather easy with a pipette. All things to be discussed further down the track once we've had a good look inside. I look forward to coming back to you both with pictures of where we're at hopefully by Sunday. All the best team, cheers

Hi mate, Thanks for a prompt response! From a recon perspective we're not too limited on budget and at a bare minimum I'd like to have the pistons out to do rings and main/rod bearings. We're treating this as a learning exercise more than anything so I'd like to give everything a bit of a once over if we can. Will take a heap of photos and get back to the thread sometime in the next week or so. I think this'll be a good thread to run with some input & photos from a complete learner on the first build. We're not under any time pressure either as i don't have a rolling body yet so we'll just chip away steadily and get it right. Really looking forward to it. Thanks again for for a snappy response, really appreciate it. Cheers Banjo

Hi Team, So I've had a few Kp's in the past and have done pretty much everything with them except for opening up the motor an attempting a rebuild. I Decided recently that I wouldn't mind trying to build a hot wee 4k in the shed through winter and as natural progression follows, finding a kp rolling body to dump it in when the opportunity presents itself. We're not going for a crazy build here, this is an opportunity for me to tinker in the shed and try my hand at building an engine from the bottom up on the work bench. Street driven, peppi town driving and passing a few mazda demios on the highway haha. Basic run down of the build as I see it rolling out: Feel free to interject Completely tear down the engine Send the head & block off to be acid washed/cleaned Head skimmed Block resurfaced/cleaned up Honed/bored out 40thou for acl pistons? Build spec: Pistons Mild cam 270 Deg? Main bearings Frost plugs Head gasket Timing chain Valve spring set webber 32/36 downdraught lightened fly Extractors Electronic dizzy My Questions: When it comes skimming heads, resurfacing blocks and the thickness of the head gasket... My knowledge begins to disappear. Remember, we're ultimately building this in the shed for 1. Me to learn 2. to have a bit of fun 3. to not break the bank. But with that in mind I'm happy to spend money where necessary as I want to make a good solid job of it. Basically, my question is this.. Should I be skimming to make higher compression or should I just get the head & block resurfaced so we can slap it back together. If the answer is skim for higher compression, what else needs to be considered when upping the comp? when we start talking about measuring cc's and all that jazz I'm all out of ideas. Should I send my factory cam away for a regrind or go with something aftermarket? Valve springs.. Kelford performance valve springs? Balancing the engine, Is it necessary? OEM Headgasket or go with a metal head gasket? Thank you for taking the time to read and help out, I have done my research through various forums but I can't seem to find a dumbed down answer for my application. I plan on picking the motor up this week and firing into the methodical and well organised tear down.