Doogs

Thanks mate, good fun getting it on track at last! I pulled the gearbox out after work today and had a look inside, bit of a mess haha! Here's another sunset shot on the way up to Wilby

Hello sleepy Rollaclub, Had a blast over the weekend, so many good times/dudes/cars. We were lucky enough to have our mate Streetstatik following our every move with a camera, not just the on track antics. http://www.streetstatik.com/blog-heroes-2016 We cruised up to Mulwala just after lunch on Friday with a bunch of pretty serious (track) street cars. Unfortunately due to the heavy rains there was some flooding and a few detours on gravel roads. This wasn't a big issue for my little 20, but some of the big boys had to remove skirts and bars to proceed. Quick wash again before heading to the track; The car was certainly quite a handful, but I had a ball over the course of the day. Front grip was a little lacking, needs more camber and caster ideally. Higher speed skando/feint initiation was quite tricky so I was using more second than third during the middle of the day. One of the guys came out and gave me some tips and confidence to carry more speed in third and throw the car in a bit deeper. This had good results, however it was still rather nerve racking. The track access was quite muddy and I also had a few little 'offs' as I got a feel for things. Checking things over; About 3pm my on track luck ran out, I came through the esses to a rattling noise. I immediately pulled over and popped the bonnet thinking I'd done a bottom end. I revved the motor and it revved cleanly without any rattles, so I jumper back in and took off. 1st, 2nd, brrrrzzzzzzzz no third! Wow, blown away that this had the balls to kill third. I started laughing, thankful and surprised that my two previous fears hadn't been realised; another slipping clutch or the diff letting go. I dropped back to second and nailed the hairpin, 50m later no gears left haha Sitting patiently waiting for a tow All in all a great weekend, so good to get some motorsport done in this beast at long last! It was a good reminder about what I want to do with the car. I had fun drifting but the higher speed stuff really isn't ideal for the car, and I'm not willing to drive balls out enough to risk crashing the car. I love the notion of the ShaDynasty guys getting it done in old cars, but think I prefer the main use for LKE020 is conservative street. I'll do a few events here and there but think I'd prefer to drift the S14 and MX32 at higher speed. I'll pop my old 4-speed back in to get the car cruising again, then long term I'll upgrade to a T50 when I do the diff.

Hey guys, Knocked off the last few jobs for the weekend and so now I’ve only got cleaning left to do. I made a quick extinguisher bracket to bolt between the passenger seat rails and painted it wrinkle black. I welded up some small lowering blocks to even out the rear ride height (I painted them up as well as the rear leaves and drums, so I don’t have dirty old parts showing from the open design of the Rebels). Took it down for an alignment. Before After, (note this pic was taken as the jam nuts were being tightened on the tie rod ends so it moved, actual toe setting is even and a touch over 2mm total toe-out). I’m wondering if the machine reading was wrong.. I swear I had more camber/caster on the old setup with just longer LCAs and maxed caster rods. Now the car has been lowered and the KMAC tops in I would’ve thought it’d be a higher reading. He had the base setting on the machine as “AE86” so I know the KPI would be out, not sure how it interprets other values… It feels pretty good to steer, proof will really be at the event rather than numbers on the screen. I’ve had a little spare time to help other friends with prep, including a brake bleed on Oliver’s RB26 S13. Crazy rig that is very well presented and put together! He’s making over 6 times the power that I have, should behave a little differently haha!

I put the front end together last week and I underestimated the front axle weight when I calculated the spring compression/new base height. The car was slammed! Looked cool but totally impractical, the modified sump was looking dangerously close to the ground. I have since raised the car 20mm and test drove with great success. Thankfully I have adjustment, I would've been in real strife if the spring seat was a set height like factory. I have a few cosmetic jobs and a wheel alignment to do this week, in addition to dropping the rear a bit to even out the ride height. We should be able to dial in a little more camber and castor with the KMAC tops. Having said that; front grip is quite good with the longer LCAs and maxed factory castor rods. Sadly 13s won't clear the steering arm/tie rod end with RCAs fitted. TE278U kindly lent me some 14" Volk Mesh to get around this issue. I love the proportion of a KE on 13"s :/ Original lowered height. Bit rude with this much poke! Excuse the paint, I'll give it a good wash/polish/wax this week. Perfect clearance on the Volk A more sensible height and out for a test.

Cheers Stu, Got the swaybar mounted and brackets painted in POR-15 over the weekend. Demo of how it bolts up in car (note I used washers of course); Welded in. Thankfully it runs straight underneath one of the cross-car chassis braces, I was worried it would be mounted to the floor and just flexing the sheetmetal. Collected the new camber tops tonight, so the front end should be back together tomorrow after work.

Hey guys, A little bit has happened since the last update. I have moved cars into a rental factory with a three other mates. The main use of the factory will be the grunt work of the Cressida build, and also a place to hang with mates and do car stuff uninterrupted. There’s still a fair bit of organising to do, and we’d love to kit it up with a hoist and tyre machine in time. Since moving in I’ve gutted the Cressida a bit, motor and slushbox are out in prep for the crossmember mods and rack and pinion. Now that’s been put on the backburner for a bit as I was offered a drive at a private drift day in regional Victoria. This meant one thing; the first motorsport outing in about 8 ½ years of owning the KE20! :D Needless to say there are a number of jobs that require doing to get the car up to scratch. I bought some more period 13” wheels to do up. Cut down the standard struts 30mm and installed a 5kg sleeve kit with helper springs. Also bought a few goodies like RCAs and camber/castor tops. Obtained another shell from Dave (TE278U) for another little project and some spare diff parts. Rebuilt the rear brakes for a stronger handbrake. This weekend I’ll get the rear swaybar mounted and a few extra saddle clamps around the leaf springs to hold them together better. Hopefully that’ll reduce the rear end walk a little, long term I’ll probably need a panhard. I'll try and get the car on the ground and rolling when the camber tops arrive this week. Then it’ll only be cosmetic stuff left to go. Perks of my work, few bits with fresh powder.

Damn this thing is cool! Great work on all the changes since the NA setup, any updates?

Awesome build mate, would hook along quite well with that driveline! Love everything other than the matte black colour scheme..

Amazing find Adam, Keen to see it take shape. Factory storage/workspace is about to open up for my MX32 shortly, so I can pull out the suspension for you then.

Great project mate, definitely worth the time going back to baremetal. I found paint stripper only good for flat panels and repeat application was needed, even when you use a bag or glad wrap to trap the fumes and get deeper penetration. A wire brush on an angle grinder is quite versatile although you get sick of wearing the scraps of wire! I think there's no quick way unless you get it soda/bead blasted. +1 for metal conditioner, I put acrylic topcoat down 4 years ago and have had no rust popping through since.

Awesome mate, look forward to seeing this take shape! Seems like there is a pretty cool Jap car scene in Scotland.

Hi guys, 7:30pm tonight at Kebab Joint One of the members on here is organsing/bringing something most of us haven't seen in a while ;) https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Kebab+Joint/@-37.930851,145.1536003,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6ad6151fefdd570f:0xba27ab40702bccb7!8m2!3d-37.930851!4d145.155789

Unfortunately I'm away this weekend. I appreciate TCCAV still run a number of events, but these low key meets and drives can't be beaten.

Bump, I think it's time we got active again Vic! Good catch up last night Dave!

Hey guys, Been a while since the last update! Back at the end of January I had more issues with the welch plug leaking in the back of the head. Fair to say I was pretty fed up with it after the issues I'd had with this and a slipping clutch. I parked up the car and it sat until a few weeks back. In the meantime I bought a turbo S14 as a daily/weekend drifter and have done a few events in that. It's been fun, but no question that it lacks a lot of the KE20 cool factor and emotional attachment! Anyway I fixed the 20 on Sunday and it's been a blast driving since! Main goal now is to get an LSD and 5kg springs in for November DECA. Pics/vids soon :)

Thanks guys, I'll be honest, when I was porting the head I thought it was part of the casting with how flat it sat into the head. I changed all the plugs in the block and had I known it was a welch plug I would have changed it too. Thankfully I have hawk eyes on the temp gauge at all times, so caught it as the needle sat one thickness higher than usual. You're right about the wheel choice Justin! I might end up running 114.3 up front and 110 on the rear, we'll see how the diff pans out. Looking into a Mazda option at the moment..

Hi Rollaclub, (that's if there's anyone here and not on facebook!) A few weeks back it was a sad day, the first time the car has let me down and had to be towed home. *Purists pipe in that I should have left it stock* haha Any other time I've had an issue it's been easy enough to patch up and get home on. This time; leaking aluminum welch plug at the back of the head (bloody 3kb haha). Thankfully much to everyone's cries that it wasn't doable, I changed the plug in car. Lowered the box crossmember and k-frame with great success. I wasn't going to have the motor out again in a hurry! Since then I had a crack at an R31 strut conversion with some parts I had laying around, as I knew the steering bolt spacing was also 80mm. Whilst this was compatible, the hub/brake sat so far out that even with the weakest offset wheel it would be out of the gaurd. (I'm not flaring this car, more suitable on a KE25 IMO) So with the 114.3 conversion not happening in a hurry, I needed to sort some wheels quick smart for Classic Japan. Thankfully Dave (TE278U) came to the rescue with some 13x7+0 Rebel's. For something different and a bit louder I decided to paint them Mazda Velocity red (metallic RX8 colour). Fresh tyres and an alignment later and I'm stoked, finally happy with this car! I'll post some more pics in time, but the front end now looks complete. So much more aggressive :) Wheels before and paint stripping; I was lucky enough to get a mate to cruise in my MX32 for me; Here's a pic Streetstatik took after the event; Brakes and diff will be on the way soon with any luck.

Great news, keen to see it together mate!

Sorry to hear you're having blow-by dramas guys, I wonder if the high comp is a contributing factor? Blown away with the power and torque figure, I'd be keen for a passenger ride sometime to see what it's throughout the rev range. :)

I just sent the head back to the machinist and they skimmed a bit off the top of the valve guide to fix the problem. All good now. I believe there are a few different height seals though, try 4k ones? New clutch is now in and driving well. I gad a new set of holes drilled and tapped to suit the clutch cover, and a few roll pins installed in the flywheel to help locate it. The whole assembly was also balanced afterwards. I now have 192mm clamping diameter instead of 180mm, but a K-T bellhousing and T-50 would have been welcome if I could find one!

More clutch trouble unfortunately, flywheel is currently off for modification at the moment to accept a Formula Ford pressure plate. In the meantime I stripped the box down with Matt's help for a new front seal, which as some of you might know this means most of the box apart. So while we were there to do the seal..... Time for new bearings on the countershaft and input shaft, a thorough clean and a new extension housing seal. The box seemed to be in reasonable condition otherwise, shifted pretty well and just a little whine in 3rd and 5th. Hoping the new bearings will sort this. PS. Sorry but greasy gearbox hands don't take good pictures!

Few more teething problems and a slipping clutch later it's finally tuned. I've upgraded to a Carter pump and adjustable reg now which helped a fair bit. Making about 80hp and 85ft/lb with more gains to be made if I remove the mechanical fan and get a better cold air/filter setup. At the end of the day the numbers really mean bugger all, torque comes in strongly fairly low which is pretty impressive for such a small 4 though. :) Crappy phone vid doesn't do it justice, sounded awesome under load.

Had a few teething issues over the past week but I managed to get a few run in ks done over the weekend. The carbs sound awesome and the the power difference is huge even with it yet to be tuned! I'm booked in on the dyno this Wednesday to get it all sorted. The power delivery seems spot on for the street, obviously I haven't revved it out yet but I'm impressed with how hard it pulls early in the rev range. Here's how it sits at the moment, sorting out some filters tomorrow. Clearance is a real problem, only 40mm from carb to strut tower so not much room when you allow for the motor rocking about a bit. New KE70 radiator but still a mechanical fan temporarily. I'll be adding a thermofan soon as I do an alternator upgrade New Datsun 240K master to convert to split system brakes, great pedal feel! I just had to shorten the KE20 pushrod a bit, as the factory KE20 one already had thread adjustment it made the process pretty easy. Bigger brakes and struts to come. While it was apart I also freshened up the front end with some 15mm longer LCAs, new balljoints and RA40 tie rod ends (they are a bit longer so I still have plenty of thread engagement). Front grip certainly has improved. Pretty close now, it's good to be almost 'finished' if that even exists haha

Been a while since an update but things certainly haven't been standing still. I'll update with a better vid and pics in time, but I'm proud to announce as of 30 mins ago the bloody thing runs! http://vid282.photob...zps5cvrbgqm.mp4

Great project, the body has come up really well with those flares :y: Looking forward to more updates.