rob83ke70

a couple of bhp gain is more noticable and worth it in a 72hp engine than say a 500+ hp engine... just my 2c. And yes, I'd be the sort of person that would try something like that, not a lot of money, and time spent is ok because I'm assuming you, like me, love working on your corolla? Robert.

The silastic wasn't the ideal solution, but cheaper and quicker than pulling the head off and the manifolds apart to get everything machined. My extractors have a once piece flange the same thickness as the manifold ears. Easy as. I'd get the shits if the extractor flange was two pieces and a different thickness..... thats poorer engineering than my silastic solution lol. Robert.

bought wasp rack ends once, for an rt142 corona, had to chop the ends off the threaded bit as they were that long I could not wind enough adjustment in to get the toe to a normal spot.... fairly normal I'm told though. Robert.

better for flow if you go the other way around. do some reading about exhausts on wrx's in particular the mrt exhausts. As the gas travels further from the engine it cools down thus losing energy, and slowing down, if you step the pipe down in size slightly as it gets further away the gas speed stays really fast, thus you get good scavenging. Doesn't give you any street cred though if you have a small exhaust pipe coming out the rear of the car. Being pedantic I know. Robert.

was it poisonously expensive? I've got a pair of 3kb twin aisans and a manifold, and I'm going to be doing a head up in a fairly big way, matching the ports and increasing compression ratio of engine to 11:1, I was putting some serious thought into bigger valves. Its not going to be too crazy rpm wise and I'm just wondering about the air speed and whatnot though. Robert.

there's a wonderful thing called a "speedisleeve" which is an interferance fit tube that gets tapped on to the sealing surface and corrects oil leaks due to scoring the surface when fitting. I've used it a couple of times fixing oil leaks on v6 magnas, which is a bit of a lost cause sometimes anyway. I would assume the gilmer would need to have no slack but wouldn't need to be tight as such, much the same as a timing belt. Timing belts can vary wildly depending on the manufacturer and the engine and the km on it. If tensioned correctly I wouldn't imagine it putting any extra load on the bearings in the alternator or water pump, probably work out to be similar to standard V belt. Having less resistance when turning would have to be a good thing for your engine revving freely too. Similar effect to removing the mechanical fan or lightening the flywheel? Harun: How hard was it to put 4y valves into a K head? How much bigger are they? Robert.

BIG BIG BUBBLES violently erupting from your radiator, spewing bubbling coolant all over everything...... that would be a head gasket....

I drop washers and nuts and fight with them a bit. I seemed to get along better with the allen head bolts. Standard studs/washers/manifold nuts are good, but the allen bolts worked for me. That is a concern about stripping the threads if I don't start them properly, but a little bit of patience, its all good. Robert.

normal for the coolant to rise and flow over if running the engine without a cap, if it is leaking compression and pressurising the cooling system the result will be rather violent and catastrophic.... coolant will bubble and go everywhere very fast. the stud in the air bleeder hole is so air can get through when bleeding but it doesn't leak too much coolant AROUND the thermostat when in operation, if you cut the stud out the overall temp of the car will come down a bit. I'd probably leave the stud in. K motors aren't hard to bleed anyway. Robert.

Your car isn't running too hot? check it with an infrared thermometer. Also, make sure that the manifold bolts or studs/nuts are clamping the gaskets tight enough. Then make sure the inlet/exhaust flanges are the same thickness. I found the only way to make them seal properly and last on the ke55 (twin su's and extractors) was to coat both sides of gaskets (2 piece cheap shitty ones) with silastic and then assemble using allen headed bolts (the diameter of the head fits beautifully in the space provided by toyota to clamp the manifold flanges) and check tension a few times after you've run it for a bit. I would HIGHLY reccommend using allen headed bolts to secure the manifolds, the studs were a pain because the nuts would bottom out on the thread and then the manifolds would not squish the gasket tight enough. Aftermarket bolts have too big of a hex head (automotive bolts are smaller heads for same size shank) and the allen headed high tensile bolts are easy enough to get, weren't really dear, and work absolutely spot on and look neat as. The only downside is it takes a little bit more time/effort/care to line up manifolds and put all bolts in and get them started before you clamp anything down really tight. Robert.

I will requalify my statement there: Cranking combustion chamber pressure is greater than combustion chamber pressure at engine idle. Was mid-intake of very strong coffee, not lending as much thought as I should have to what I'm saying.

Never had anything to do with them myself, general consensus in the world of the wide wide web is that you should make sure that they are NOT overtensioned, and they should be fairly loose at idle as the pulleys expand when it warms up, and if overtensioned they break alternators/waterpumps and in general make a horrible mess. Apparently they don't spit the belt at high revs and they make an interesting noise, those are the reasons for fitting one. I reckon it would probably look really cool on a k motor as nobody seems to have done it, but I myself am the sort of person who would normally only fit something for the practical reasons rather than just asthetics, if that makes sense. Build a spastic 10,000 rpm race K motor and run a gilmer drive maybe?? From what I've seen on youtube, I'm not too sure that the noise would do a whole lot for me, it would wear off after a while, much the same as a loud BOV, after I've driven it around the block a few times I get sick of hearing it.... Gilmer drive seems to sound (on youtube) just like a noisy alternator bearing.... probably drive me up the wall... Anyway, thats my 2c worth from someone who has had nothing to do with them. Everybody feel free to correct me on anything! Robert.

If it is pressurizing the coolant system, the highest combustion chamber pressure is found when the engine is cranking (not started), maybe disconnect the trigger wire for the coil to disable spark and take radiator cap off, and observe coolant with engine cranking, if it bubbles, then it is pressurising the cooling system with combustion gasses. interesting experiment actually on a side note, compare compression readings with a compression gauge (the sort that is screwed into the spark plug hole) with the engine cranking and with the engine idling (obviously with the lead that you are not using grounded via a test spark plug or similar) and note the pressures... Robert.

not sure what the factory system looks like or how it works, if you have a mechanical throttle body then an aftermarket system isn't a huge hassle to fit, and is a minor hassle to fit neatly and happily.... I'm not the biggest fan of aftermarket bits though and I can't for the life of me remember exactly what a zre152r looked like under the bonnet.... did have one at work the other day. Robert.

engine rpm related whirring or vehicle speed related whirring? hard to say if it is normal or not without listening to it. what tyres are fitted to it? does it change with different road surfaces? does it change if you load either side of the vehicle up (ie going around corners) are the tyres scrubbed or feathered? if they are, get a wheel alignment and rotate front to rear and see if the nosie changes. always a good idea to check for any freeplay in wheels as well, shouldn't be any freeplay in any of the bearings. hard to make a diagnosis without hearing it and/or getting to play with it myself. Robert.

green

I've been searching around on the internet for weeks, and I'm finding it hard to get a good tyre in a 185/60r13 or similar. I know felix has yokohama a539's, which are no longer available. Seems to be very hard to find something of equivalent quality in the size I want. Damn these fast and furious people who think everything should run 17" or bigger rims!! ;) - read about what yokohama says about the s drives!! firestone firehawk tz100's are pretty good. I'm told by some people pirelli dragons are good, and other people think they are cheap feeling especially for a pirelli. Not too sure about yokohama a drives, I was in a pulsar with a set the other day and they seemed to be worn a bit odd, and weren't impressive. Pirelli P6's seem good but don't come in my size. Supercats seem ok but again don't come in my size and get scary when more than half worn out. Michelin tyres seem to last too long and get a bit scary when the rubber hardens. Any ideas? what are you all running? I'm after something nice and grippy that doesn't aquaplane or go insane scary in the wet. 30,000km tyre life is ok by my book if they perform well. Robert.

I did notice the lack of radius rods... so the only factory adjustable angle is toe. great! If I was to get adjustable strut tops made and mount them with small diameter coilovers I could probably mount the top of the strut further towards the rear of the vehicle, thus giving an increase of positive castor. What are the normal wheel alignment angles of a stock ke10, and what do you run? I'd imagine if the vehicle was lowered you would decrease the camber somewhat. I'm not planning on having my ke11 lowered (or not much lower than stock) I think I'd rather put some sort of adjustment in. I remember reading something a few years back about Stewart Ford making adjustable strut tops for a ke10...

If I take leaves out of the front and put a coilover setup on the standard ke11 strut, and run a spring rate comparable to a ke20 standard spring, install the swaybar and put a strut brace on the car, there shouldn't be any dramas? small diameter coilovers would even give me room for adjustable strut tops as well, so I can adjust my camber. Where is the castor adjustment on a ke1x? (my dumb question of the day there) Robert.

they give you those angle brackets with the swaybar? what about mounting the swaybar further towards the rear of the car, and putting the swaybar link rods through a hole in the centre of the A frame of the control arm? or what about putting the brackets on the rear side of the a frame control arm and running the swaybar over the top of the control arm to the link rods at the rear side? I'm still a little incredulous that whiteline would provide something that would foul brake components and cause a safety issue.

Ok time to throw a spanner in the works. With the leaf spring installed in the front end, a good proportion of weight is taken on the chassis rails, as opposed to the strut tops, like the newer models. If you take the leaves out, and put heavier springs in, the weight would then sit on the strut tops, and toyota didn't originally design this, so I'm thinking the strut towers might require some more reinforcing. It did occur to me the other day that the leaves may also affect the stress upon the lower control arms. I'm not interested in lowering the car, or putting huge wheels on it or anything like that. I just want something that will handle acceptably and not break if I give it a bit of a hard time on the rough stuff. I'm still a little bit confuzzled about the whiteline swaybar hitting the brake calipers, surely they couldn't release a suspension item that had a safety issue like that? Anybody have pics? Robert.

rabbit

I'd use a corrosion inhibitor, doesn't have to be an antifreeze as such. I'd use a reputable brand such as castrol, and use it as the instructions suggest. I'd use clean tap water, and I'd change the cooling system fluid at manufacturer reccommended intervals. Thats my 2c worth. Robert.

orange brake and clutch said a general machine shop can lighten the flywheel, they can only resurface it, their machine tip gets damaged if they lighten it. Robert.

less flywheel weight = less inertia. torque is exactly the same from the engine. torque is twisting force, it does not change. if i spun a bowling ball around myself at 20km/hr it would take longer to spin up and longer to slow down than if i used a soccer ball. if that makes any sense? how strong I am is not affected. Robert.