corolla_nut

We’re finally beginning to get back into doing some work on the cars. First priority is getting my ke30 club car going. Today Rob and I managed to tidy up some wiring in the engine bay and remove the majority of some very hard cracked paint and rust from the bootlid. Obviously there’s still a lot more work to be done, including some more much dreaded sanding tomorrow, but we’re making progress. forgot to take a pic of the bootlid before I started, but this pic is after hours of scraping and sanding :/ it looked like dry cracked mud prior!

So this isn’t high on the priority list atm as we’ve got a few dozen other things to sort out on other things first, but I’m just trying to figure this out so I can plan/save for it. I currently have a ke36 that has a very rusty section of chassis under the engine. I’m after any advice/experience any members have with either repairing this themselves or a ballpark figure of how much a panel beater would charge if I was to go that route. As much info as possible would be great. thanks

just a thought - would something have made it run lean enough to burn exhaust valves on that trip? might be worth checking the o2 sensors out? probably just horrible petrol. Robert.

I thought something seemed a little odd when I was looking at it last: we have a ke36 panelvan, with a two reservoir master cylinder, both reservoirs mounted on the master cylinder. the way the brake lines are hooked up, the rear (secondary) circuit is closest to the booster, and the front (primary) circuit is the further of the two away. looking at the other corolla with working brakes, the front (primary) is hooked up closer to the booster, and the rear (secondary) is the further of the two away, although it is a ke55 master cylinder (square reservoir).... reading on the internet, I'm under the impression that the front should always be the closest to the brake booster - which is what I thought in the first place. it all *looks* factory on the ke36, but on a car that old, anything could be possible. just seeking some verification of whether this is normal or not from some other ke30/ke36 owners. Robert.

Haha thanks :) So the machine put a helicoil kit through the oil pick up, it actually has thread and all the same size bolts now :) All of that went back on last night, and we put a coat of heat proof paint on the sump. Trying to get the grey paint off the rocker cover so I can polish it up and make it look a little nicer. Unfortunately we have to wait until Friday to put the clutch and flywheel back on and bung it back in - the rear main seal we got was apparently the wrong one and we have to wait until tomorrow when they get it in. Also took the leaking heatercore out last night. It's not the heatercore that's leaking like a mofo but, it's the pipes going into it :bash:

That frigging coke zero banner ad that shows up on the top of some of rollaclub's pages!!! As soon as you accidentally move your mouse over it to get to the url bar it opens up and won't stop opening up and playing no matter how many times you hit the 'x' How f*cking annoying!!

I'm currently unemployed... being a uni student sucks - I'm competing with thousands of other people for jobs >| - so I have no money. As soon as I have spare money, I'm going straight to a panelbeaters and getting them to fix the entire front right chassis rail and surround, as when we pulled the engine out you can see just how bad the rust is :bash: Thanks for the heads up :)

Haha don't have any spare money/time for that Keith :P Yeah, I've mentioned offhandedly quite a few times "oh, there's a very nice 4K on the ground over there, why don't we just whack that in?" Didn't work lol So, Rob had a "scheduled breakdown" last night, so we didn't get a heap done last night. Basically, measured the crank journals, which were all within spec. (yay!), and then whacked the bearings in and attempted to install the rear main seal, but it appears to be the wrong one. Also, Rob cleaned up the oil pick up at work the other day and discovered it's been pulled apart before, has three different size bolts and the threads are rooted, so I'll be taking that down to the engineering shop today for some helicoils and new bolts.

Got all the engine bits that I need today, apart from the rocker cover washers, so the engine will more than likely be going back together tonight or tomorrow :) It's a bit hard to juggle rebuilding and repairing a myriad of cars with house reno's lol.

This is my new baby. He's a 1975 ke36 got around 380,000ks on the clock and isn't coming along too bad. Has a 4k with a k40 manual and fairly standard driveline. Put a new battery, the firehawks and hotwires on it as well as changing the locked diff to a standard borgy last weekend. It's history past 12 months ago is a bit sketchy, all we've been able to figure past that is the remnants of signwriting from a panelbeater's in Toowoomba on the doors. Plans at the moment is to put new bearings, sump gasket, rocker gasket in it and whack it all back together - it was developing a nice knock and had some oil pressure issues prior so we pulled it apart to have a look. Check out the photos. Also on the to do list for this weekend is to install the head unit for the stereo and route some wires past the seats so I can chuck my speakers in it when I get back to Wollongong, and putting another heatercore in it as this one leaks like crazy. Discovered some not very nice rust in it on and around the chassis rail recently, so that's also pretty high on the priority list. So, meh, that's enough blabbing for tonight. Adios!

After almost 12 months of being rolla-less, I finally have a new one in my hot little hands :D Name: Kylie Car: 1975 ke36 Windowless panelvan Motor & Driveline: 4k with ? k's. 4 Speed box. Came with a locked 3.9 (we think) diff, changed to 4.1 borgy yesterday with matching tailshaft. Suspension & Brakes: It's apparently had alot of bushes replaced, the monroe shockies in the back look relatively new. Stock as a rock rear leafs. Stock brakes apart from swapping to girlock calipers for the front yesterday to fit hotwires to car. Wheels & Tyres: 14" Hotwires. Not sure of offset. Firehawk rubbers - nicked these off the ke55 :) Interior: Bit of this, bit of that. Original brown seats and vinyl covering over gearbox tunnel. Really annoying black carpets in footwells (not held down by anything). Black roof lining, dash and door trims. Back of car has brown house carpet and has been painted black. Body: Has been resprayed white by a previous owner. Metallic blue paint coming through in a couple of spots. A little rusty, as can be expected for an almost 400,000km old car, but surprisingly not too bad. Other:

^^^^ Same as above - I'm aware that this thread is getting kinda old - but I'd love to do something - I'm finally getting another rolla after almost 12 months!! :D Come on guys - we got to rep it for the Illawarra :)

I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post on here. Well after a good year of racing in the dirt events and even a few tarmac events with the bathurst light car club, as well as a ladies championship win, the little blue rollie has been retired. The rust has finally gotten to me, so last November we purchased a late ke30 from a bloke in Newcastle. We've got new carpet and a nice uncracked dash for it, we've replaced the windscreen, windscreen rubber and we're about to swap everything over from the ke55 to the ke30. See my new project page for the new shell :) http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/46691-charli-the-ke30/#entry482440

This is the new topic for my bitsa car. You may remember the guts of this car from the little bright blue ke55 kr01la :) Well this is it, just with a bit of cosmetic surgery lol Plans: * Put carpet in * Put new dash in * Swap interior stuff from ke55 * Take out 3K and put in 4K from ke55 * New wheels, preferably watanabes * Respray bonnet and bootlid (already sanded back, just need to get my ass into gear) Feel free to comment :) the engine to go in, not sure what carbies are going on it.

Unfortunately had to sell the car a few months back. Gone to a good home hopefully :)

ummmmmm...... gear oil weights are different to engine oil weights and it is possible for a higher number in gear oil to be thinner than a lower number in engine oil.... and a 40w monograde is going to be much thicker at a cold temperature than a multigrade such as a 20w50 - it will be thinner than a 20w50 at higher temperatures though. If you need to know how much, try googling it, or searching a major oil manufacturer's website - they normally give you a reccommendation and a capacity. Robert.

check valve clearances too, I forgot when I wrote that, had breakfast on the brain!

Ethanol is hydroscopic (it absorbs water) so don't leave it sitting in a metal tank for too long, it will cause rust. To top this off, it seems to pick up any crap you have in the tank and distribute it throughout the fuel system, AND it eats some types of rubber and gaskets... Oh, and the amount of energy required to make ethanol is greater than the energy that you receive from using the ethanol as a fuel...... so its a real "green" renewable fuel...... to think people are going to grow crops specifically for this shit! I can understand the making and using of ethanol if you have shite loads of crop waste lying around, but to GROW crops SPECIFICALLY for this...... Anyway, to the fuel consumption issue: check your air filter is clean, if in doubt replace it. Make sure it looks clean and not discoloured as well as cleaning it with compressed air until there is no more dust and stuff coming out of it. Check your tyre pressures. Check/replace your fuel filter. Check condition of points, that the gap is correct and they are not burnt horribly (a little is normal) check your distributor cap and rotor are in good condition, the leads are in good condition, and the spark plugs are clean and the gap is adjusted correctly (.8 from memory). Set your timing to 8-10 degrees initial on a stock curve, and if your car is not modified, I'd run 91 octane NON ETHANOL fuel. We use around 10-12 litres per 100km in a heavily modifed ke55 with a 4k engine, depending upon how hard we flog it lol, (it gets raced with a car club as well as driven on the road) and it sits at 4000rpm on the highway..... Robert.

You'll be right, don't try to go too hard on the first run, just get a feel for the track and try to take note of the places you could have gone faster, where you didn't need to brake, where you should've slowed down a bit more, etc. Definitely talk to other drivers there as, although they may all not know completely what you're talking about, you get some hints off some of the more experienced ones on markers of where to aim for when going around corners (i.e. a grate or a certain tree is the apex of the corner). A fast take off makes a huge difference and if it's a flying finish make sure you don't start slowing down until after the finish line. Check your times after each one and aim to shave a few seconds off eachtime. Definitely watch the other cars - you'll notice some of them get it very right and some of them get it oh so wrong, and Rob is right - don't be afraid to use the whole of the track. I found it hard in my first couple of tarmac events to switch off the side of my brain that was used to driving on public roads and only using my "lane". I find most scrutineers want a triangle, and racing tape does the trick nicely, also race numbers are preferred for larger events. They also check for things like a secure seat, safe seat belts, secure battery, secure throttle return, covered headlights for those with glass, an approved helmet, fire extinguisher and wrist to neck to ankle clothing and non-nylon enclosed shoes. I don't know what they would be like there though. Most of all, just have fun!!! :(

lsd oil is a gl6 grade (obsolete) whereas diff or manual trans oil is a gl5. the difference is the level of shear loading and abuse the oil will put up with, gl6 will put up with more. the thing to be careful of is that EP (extreme pressure oils) have sulfur additives which do not agree with brass, so they will cause problems eventually for your syncrhoniser rings in your gearbox, but they will be fine for your diff... I use LSD oil if I'm on a budget, it is cheaper than the same brand gear/diff oil. I'm using atf in the gearbox at the moment anyway. Robert.

wow!!! That looks amazing :) where on earth do you hear about all these cars from?! Anyhow, definitely keep it original - it is so cool just the way it is :fuzz:

I would avoid ethanol because the ke70 has an accelerator pump plunger made out of leather or some sort of plastic or leather and the ethanol tends to find these things tasty! :jamie: It's true that some cars do ping on the lower octane fuels, but if the timing is set to the correct factory specs this shouldn't happen. Kylie/Rob

I take it you are racing? how do they manage to scrutineer flywheel weight or engine balancing??? Depending on what you are doing, find out what camshaft everybody else uses and go something a little bit less "wild" than that, especially if you are allowed limited mods, you might find it will go quicker when you race it....... everybody always goes for something too "wild" and loses drivability and midrange meaning slower times.... Its all trial and error though when you are building something like that :S Robert.