altezzaclub

I thought I'd write this for the guys just joining and full of enthusiasm to build a fully sik drifta. Hopefully some of the members who have completed projects (and some who haven't) will add their wisdom. First- Decide on how much time you are realistically going to spend on the project, which means listing what you are going to give up to do it. We spent two nights every week and every Saturday working on the rally car when I was in South Africa for a decade, and that over-rode almost anything else. Without that sort of discipline it will be too easy to give up when you hit a hard part. Then- make a list of what you want the car to do. Drifting, track-work, weekend warrior, night drags...and research what it will take to do that, searching this site and Toymods and whatever Google throws up, and PM guys on here who have cars you admire. Next- Make a list of what you have to do to achieve that. Usually it involves an engine converson, lowered suspension, bigger brakes, locked diff..whatever.. Then- Get a budget together of what each part of the project is expected to cost. This is the real hard part of the planning, so don't think twice to PM some guy who has done what you want to do and ask him. Its not just buying the 4AGE that costs, it is all the conversion parts, the engineering work and the costs of Govt compliance. ALSO- get a budget together of how much money you are happy to lose if the project goes sour and you never finish it. You can safely assume you will never get the money back that you paid for stuff, whether the project is finished or not. So treat every drive as the money spent on entertainment- that first blast will cost $9000, the second one means $4500 each, and by the time you've driven it every day for a year you are paying $30 each drive for the fun of the car you built! Finally- Group the sub-projects together and decide which to tackle first. You might decide to do the suspension work first, and then include the brakes with it. Start saving money and buying parts for that little project and get that completed, which will tell you how much you REALLY enjoy working on cars, how much you know about working on cars, and how keen you are to stick with your original list of the other sub-projects like the diff, gearbox, motor swap. Things will change as you go along, believe me! Making sure you finish one part of it before starting another will keep the whole project alive, even if you can only drive it up and down the driveway with your new 20valve running but stock suspension and diff. ALWAYS keep in mind that you might have to bail out before the project is finished, and that will be a cost of amassing parts too far ahead. It is extremely hard to sell a car that is half-done, or even 90% done and "just needs this and that to get mobile" Your $2000 wheels and tyres are not going to return you the money if the 4AGE isn't running or the car isn't engineerd and rego'd. You might get $500 back selling them by themselves, even if you've never driven on them once! Its even worse if you bought the tyres and rims, AND the 4AGE AND the coilovers and brakes all at once, then have to liquidate it all because your job vanished or you have to move house. Decide on a time to bail before you start, be it 3months without touching the car, or 6 or a year, but have some idea of how long you want the wreck sitting in the garage stopping you from doing other projects. Most people (myself included) can't get rid of a half-done project to let a better one start, so they just close the door and leave it there. You can see the projects that I've tackled on The Girls KE70 in my signature, finishing each of them and keeping it running as much as possible. For me, its the best way to keep my enthusiasm up. Good luck! .

It depends which pin it was, you'd need to know the circuit to tell what it should be like. The relay circuit is often printed on its side or base. Maybe the relay could be bypassed with 12V direct from the battery & see if that starts it.

OK, so we have spark. That means coil and distributor are working. Do you have a timing light?? If not, make sure the rotor does turn the way you think it should for the correct firing order. Set the crank to 10deg before TDC and make sure the sensor in the dizzy is right beside the trigger. That means we have the spark at the right time. We can assume the injectors are firing then. Can you take one out and fire it into a jar?? or can you smell raw fuel everywhere when you crank it? Maybe you have lost the fuel pump or some part of the fuel system such that it isn't injecting even when the injector opens. One more question- can you see the injector pulse on your multimeter?? Does it jump up and down to 12V ??

That should be OK. Mine is about 6kg. There are a couple of guys on here reckon 8000rpm is possible once they're balanced, but the factory bakance is not good at all. Philfrederick's twincam 4K hits nine, its still a 4K crank but its been pretty heavily machined.

I reckon. It was quite random, but the flywheel and the flex panel are the same way up in each photo. If you enlarge it you can see where the starter gears hit the flex plate in the top photo, so that side goes onto the crank.

What sort of flywheel? Did you have it all balanced?

Nah- flexplate is flat. maybe possible to put it on the crank backwards. The torque converter bolts on via the the holes at the outside edge.

If that is so, it doesn't sound like a starter problem. The jumping still only puts 12V into the system, just more amps, and your new battery should have plenty of amps. Can you find out what makes the beep, and why? Maybe it is some warning alarm.

I thought the torque converter bolted to the flex plate, the plate that replaces the flywheel in a manual. So the torque converter is fixed in place. Mind you, I've never owned an auto, only pulled them out.

That is so gorgeous!! We will catch up on a rally somewhere where the Celicas gather!

Suggest there was "an old rally car project" before... what was that one? Another Corolla? At least you have started this the right way. Its hopeless trying to build a rally car without stripping it out completely and putting back only what you want.

Run a wire from battery +ve to the coil and try starting it, that will pin the problem down to the "start" wire. Grab a wiring diagram and see where the power from the "start" position on the key goes to. It will either power the coil directly or it will go to the ECU and let that do the work.

Just go over this again for me- You took out one injector, and fuel came out of the rail?? How was "without one injector plugged in" not plugged in?? The injector was in the rail and in the manifold, but not wired up? or the injector was not in the rail and you caught the fuel? "with the injector out it had ambi pressure...." refers to the fuel rail not building up pressure or somethng else? How long did it run for and on how many cylinders?? Its not quite clear enough to decide if it is injecting fuel or not.

Make sure the solenoid at the end if the red/yellow wire goes click when you turn the ignition on. What happens if you wind the idle speed screw up as far as it will open the throttle.

One of those is the cold start injector sensor, so maybe that is running it rich. https://www.toymods.org.au/forums/tech-conversions/33404-4age-coolant-temp-sensor-s.html I've got an AE86 manual, but it only lists the resistances for the gauge sender unit, and my Altezza 3SGE manual has similar voltages to what you quoted, but it only has one sensor. The specs for that temp sensor unit are probably online somewhere, if you know who made it.

Its a pig in a poke as you might be buying one that has a crummy bottom end, or worn rings, or had the oil changed once in three years... At least you know what your motor is like, and the $500 would cove the head job if you did it yourself.

Was it like this when you bought it.. maybe the reason the builder sold it! Sounds like you need to start from the bottom and check eveything, ignition, compression, mixture ratios... and see if he got the basics right to start with.

Why do people change them?? Don't they understand them, or is there really something inherently better in LCAs and MacPhersons apart from being cheaper to manufacture? The spring acts as a sway bar & with a little work you cxan adjust its stiffness, there is a lower A-arm to hold the wheel fore and aft in castor, and the strut gives camber control. ..or do I have the wrong photo here?? You can alter spring rates & anti-roll stiffness, although getting -ve camber might be exciting. I'd never played with one, but I'll take a look under Rob's when I go around there next.

Do it !! ..and use it! That way you will have a neat car to zip around in while you assemble the bits for the conversion, and quite likely the conversion will never happen so at least you have a faster KE70. How extensive is the planned rebuild?? Rebore & bearings?? Drill it out to 5K and make it a 1500cc, have the flywheel lightened and get it all balanced. Buy a nice cam for it and some extractors, and fit a 32/36 Weber or a single DCOE. That might keep you happy until you are really ready to drop another motor in, and the 4K should sell to someone on here quite easily. Plus.... no engineering required!!

lol- When I get down toWagga I'll come and kick your tyres and drink your beer!

that's interesting. I told the wrecker my R31 Pintara diff was noisy and how much did he want for a Skyline one, and he said he wouldn't sell me one as they would all be noisy.. So I thought the whole production line was crap.

Nice idea. The multimeter is too slow to respond to fast impulses, so it either doesn't read or gives a low reading. I want an oscilloscope!

Nah, don't do that, it locks it solid. Fill a gap in between two teeth on one gear with weld, then fill the corresponding tooth on another gear, so the diff has half a turn rotation then its hits the welds and stops. That allows the first little bit of turn-in to happen and cuts out the initial understeer.

Now THAT is sharp! If it works let us know.

hmmm.. that is pretty steep alright. All that heat has to go out of the radiator too. Maybe we will take a look at temps this year. I can't remember what the 18RG is using, it comes to the farm in a 44gallon drum!