altezzaclub

Now, Leichty is a sly old fox who has been rallying since the 70s with Steve's Dad Pete. He's seen (and probably done) all the tricks I've seen over the same time, and a lot have nothing to do with holding a steering wheel.. On Thursday Leichty was talking to Steve's Dad Pete and asked him how Ashley, Steve's navigator, was getting down. She was meant to be coming with Leichty but hadn't formally asked him so there was lots of phonings and carry-ons between the four of them before it was settled. We left Walcha at 7am Friday morning with time to hit the wrecker and get the 3SGE motor out of the early FWD Celica down there. While Steve was in the KE70 with me following the truck, Pete rang him and said Leichty had just phoned and they were waiting to leave Port Macquarie but there was no sign of Ashley, so Steve better phone her. When he did her father answered and said there was no Ashley living there, then asked him who the hell he was, and what did he want with his daughter, then said she was freezing standing outside waiting to be picked up. So more phoning around and back to Leichty, who just burst out laughing and said he'd got Steve good! They had left with Ashley & Ben hours before and he was bored, so he set up the whole prank with Ashley's phone. So Steve and I spent the next couple of hours planning counter-attacks on Leichty! Anyway, we hit Orange about 2pm and started at the wreckers. That was as bad as feared and three hours later they were about to let the dogs out and go home even if we weren't finished. Finally, we ripped it out with the forkhoist and put it on the truck. We checked in at the Bowling Club HQ and did the paperwork, but could only get scrutineered at 7am Sat morning at the start. We got up Saturday 5.30am to leave at 6.30am and I noticed the canvas on the back of the truck had been moved. Some prick had stolen the 50 litres of rally car fuel in the plastic containers! So much for this being a safe area. When Pete jumped in to take the truck to the start, the diesel had been siphoned! There is a puddle of that on the road by the gutter. ...and of course when I had raced off to get rally car fuel we found they had siphoned the rally car dry as well. Anyway, they made the start and off they went. We followed them up Mt Canobolas, the same stage as last year that drops steeply to the right near the summit, and found everyone waiting as someone had already gone off a couple of Km in and they wanted to clear the car first. So we went all the way around to the Cadia road and just missed them at the end of One, and caught up at the end of Two- with a puncture, which destroyed the first of the set of gold mags off the spares car. We changed that and sent him off to the 15min refuel at the showgrounds to buy another tyre from the Dunlop truck while I stopped at the wrecker with Pete to get Corona rims. 4 for $40, to hell with alloys now! (we've gone from $100 mags to $25 mags to $10 steelies now...) They had dropped position for stage 3, a 36Km all around the back of the mountain, and got caught behind someone slow that they couldn't get past, so when he got off the stage he was furious. Then a lunch break so we bought two new steer tyres for two steel rims, and he had 4 new tyres on the car when they repeated stage one. He moved from 17th place on the stage to 10th place, taking 50seconds off. It also took the smile off Leichty's face as he'd got a couple of minute up on Steve with the puncture and slow driver.

I meant to get some detailed photos but it was getting late, so we loaded the car and I spent the rest of the time loading tools, then reversed the truck into the woolshed for a fast getaway. If just fits.. at the front then overhangs the spare 18RG at the back. and you can't walk down the side- So we were all go for 7am-

What a weekend! Where did I get to? Right- the car was always full of dust, it really vacuumed it up as Steve would drive with the windows down. They would open the rear 1/4 windows to get airflow out, but last rally the nav's side one fell out and was hanging by its clip. So a roof vent was needed! I found an old Valvoline oil tin in one of the other sheds and grabbed the grinder. Being razor-blade thin it shaped nicely into a wedge, and the grinder made short work of the roof. I slipped it into the hole and drew the curve of the roof along each side, then transferred that line onto a sheet of paper. Cutting the paper gave me a curve to put on a bit of timber, and a hacksaw gave me a roof curve. I made two of them, clamped the tin edge between them and bent a couple of flaps that matched the roof. A couple of rivets and a reinforcing strip of metal underneath finished the basics. In case of rain while on the back of the truck I cut the rest of the tin into a front cover that neatly read "Valvoline" and it clipped over the opening. Inside a took the grinder to a 20L drench container and made a vent that directed the air to the back instead of freezing the crew. If it gets too hot in summer I'll cut holes in that and make some adjustable gizmo to direct the air to each seat.

We've got $40 ones from Shitcheap or similar, and the lift height is always too low. The trouble is, to get good lift height they are both expensive and made for lifting too much, so too heavy! I'd love a cheap plain one that lifted 600kg 600mm high. Sadly to get 600mm its made to lift about 3tons! Anyone want to start a sticky'd thread about what garage equipment you need for working on Rollas?? Jacks, stands, welders, grinders, sliding hammers, port-a-power panelbeating stuff, a hoist, engine stands, parts washer, chassis straighteners, lathe, mill,...

That will probably be the wire that activates the solenoid on the starter, so you will need that connected to its tab on top of the starter by the big wire.

There were more things done, but I have to go to bed as there is yet another 6am start tomorrow... and we have to find Steerfast and TRDKE70! We watched the local news on TV tonight where they were talking about the rally and dang! There goes the red and white Celica across the screen! So we're famous already! More updates Sunday!

The maths is simple- the 4mm bend in the wood on each side gives 8mm to add to the back measurement, then subtracting front and rear gives toe-in or out over the length of the wood. My timber was 1500mm long, compared to the rim at 360mm. I measured 1780 & 1790, whch became 1798 with the timber bend. So I had 18mm of toe-in along the timber, which is 4mm over the rim. Then you adjust the toe in as needed (the painful part) and push the car forward again a couple of metres to settle the steering. Repeat the measurements until you get what you want. I made it 2.5mm of toe-in after this.

The toe-in needed checking after the off-roading that modifed the sump guard. This is not hard to do, all you need is a straight bit of wood. I checked this against a solid steel RSJ that not even farmers can bend, and it was 4mm out over its length. The nails have to be put in to the rim width, and exactly the same length, I used vernier calipers to get them under a mm different. Then you get it setup so the nails sit on the rim, I used a paint tin and a couple of bricks, and use a spirit level to mark on the floor exactly where the front and back of the timber is. Repeat it on the other side and push the car back so you can measure across the floor with a tape.

There was a diff oil trail down the back of one rear brake so I stripped that. Yes, the oil was inside too, so we pulled the axle out. Lucky we did that, as the bearing was tight and rough. We stripped out the other and found the bearing worn and loose, so the car got the axles from the spares car. The one axle has the most amazing pattern within the machining marks, making it look like it has been twisted. They are both worn at the splines such that we could measure the difference in spline width between those and the spares car ones. That's a spares car axle on the right.

There were plenty of jobs, both repairs, maintenence and new ideas. The sump guard had taken a hammering when some road was not as wide as the driver wanted...

It was typically freezing, being 1300M up, so a fire was needed. The boys had one last year using a beer keg, but their design was lacking.. so I took to a 20L can with a hammer and chisel. That turned out fine, I stuck it on top of the old fire sitting in a rim.

Well, we are all in Orange for a rally tomorrow after another week up at the farm getting the car ready. Some of us left the keys in our overalls after opening one of the other sheds, then left the overalls in the woolshed when we went home... Of course the next day we couldn't get in so a little break & enter was needed with a borrowed hacksaw!

You have to ask yourself, why didn't they do that from factory.... It is such a nicer motor when upright, access to the starter is possible, even the exhaust manifold is accessible. I suppose they wanted that damm downdraught carb sitting up there. I might do it when I get the next Ke70 and fit Keihins!

That LCA line is pretty steep Gav- It looks like I'd expect the rally car to look like. Maybe I'll have a look at this, we've got the ride height sorted and the handling is fine, but its a bit scary drifting in 4th gear he reckons... rolls a lot.

Check what current these switches will carry, you might need to use it to work a relay that carries the main current. You move the blank switch close to the one with wires and it suddenly carries current. http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=LA5074

Well, I haven't worked on a T-series, but if you check 'The Girl's KE70' build you can see what is generally needed. I bought a donor manual car and sold it on after I'd taken the gearbox & pedalbox out. The driveshaft I had to get modified as the gearbox nose was different between manual & auto. The earlier K-series cars have the same gearboxes with different tailshaft ends, so the gearlever comes up in a different place, as I found with the auto & manual. I don't know if your T will be the same. Overall it was simple but time-consuming and made a great difference.

PM rob83ke70 and ask him. He fitted a Y (I think its a 3Y) to his Dyna, but I can't remember what it replaced. Why not a 7K motor? easy swap... I suppose if you have the 1Y its worth using.

Ouch! That sounds very painful... and slow to heal I expect. Take it easy, you don't need a painful crook knee for the rest of your life

I didn't- I have a Datsun 1600 sitting in the shed for .. um.. close to 10years now, and I fire it up a few times a year. The carb dries out and when it wouldn't run last time I pulled it apart and hosed it through with petrol to clear the tar out. Its a Nikki too.

No we haven't, it feeds no problem at all through that large tube. I thought about how many seconds of fuel that 350ml would feed the twin Webers for and realised there were no corners that tight for that long. 350ml is about a kilometer of foot hard down special stage.

If you want to catch up with WHY cannabis is illegal, read this comic- Just amazing what powers Govts take unto themselves. I suppose its part of confiscating the cars or people who exceed a Govt speed "limit"... http://www.adrugwarcarol.com/ADWC.php not to mention Govts crushing down the limits all the time. NZ introduced speed cameras and PROMISED they would only target the top 15% of those over the limit, as science showed that they were dangerous. The cameras were only to go in dangerous black spots that killed people... Of course after a few years they are everywhere, they are hidden, they target everyone over the limit, and the latest bit of treachery was to drop the infringement trigger point from 110kph (where it had been for over 50years) to 105kph. So, how's this one- Florida traffic engineers shortened the orange light time to below Federal minimums to generate more red-light camera revenue. Not the first state to be caught doing it either, Texas ( or Arizona) was a couple of years back. Revenues jumped to over $100million and are expected to be $120million this year... All those retired old folk with slow reflexes..Nothing more dangerous than a broke Govt! (and nothing like having a $20billion hole in Canberra's wallet bring on "inventive" ways of raising money..) ..aand, talking of "mission creep" How long before we all move to 0.04, the 0.02 then zero, like the L-platers?? "They are all crimes"..?? How can they be crimes when there is no victim?? They are not crimes, they are rules, made by the bureaucrats, those parasites who spend their lives sucking the blood out of the productive, the rest of us... Speaking of broke Govts dodging their responsibilities.. I always expected the Govt to not pay me a pension, I figure I'll be one of an increasing number of people who will get nothing for all the taxes they paid. Anyway, I looked it up today.. Aussie Govt will pay me nothing because I'm not a citizen or a permanent resident, I'm a Kiwi on a special catagory visa. Too old to become a PR or get citizenship. Even if I was a permanent resident, they won't pay me anything because I have a couple of rental properties so I fail their asset test. Eat the houses first and leave nothing to your children... The Kiwi Govt will pay anyone in NZ a pension, or pay it to Kiwis in Aussie... but not at a rate greater than they would receive from the Australian Govt IF they were citizens. Seeing I wouldn't be able to get an Aussie pension the NZ Govt slips out too. So that's the final $300,000 they steal from you! Remember this when people tell you to work hard and save for your old age!

Just take a walk around the wreckers and see, or ask a brake/clutch place for a right-angle one. I've never really taken any notice, but I think there are 90deg ones around. If not, can you set up a remote reservoir? You'll only find out how good the seal is when you hook it up. It doesn't move sideways in normal use.

Either a vac leak or a blocked jet. Strip the carby and blow out the jets and passages with compressed air, or flush them out with petrol in a syringe. Not hard to do, takes half an hour. Does the carb have the window in the side with a line for float level??

Nice work- very tidy. It will be great to see how it runs.

Welcome in- whats the paddock basher look like?