altezzaclub

Can you put a timing light onto the spark plug leads and see that each is getting power??

Yes, should be less than that! Maybe 10-15mm I would expect. 10mm outer cable movement at the firewall When the weather is nicer I will crawl underneath and measure mine.

1)- Why did you have to bleed the brakes?? Did the pedal start going too low overnight, or slowly got worse over a year, or was hitting the floor when you bought the car?? There is something wrong if the air got in there to start with without you doing something to get it in there. Its a sealed system. If you had changed rear slave cyl seals they would need bleeding, but otherwise air should never get in. Did it run out of oil in the master cyl? 2)- Before you bled them,did the car stop faster with less pedal pressure if you pumped them a couple of times?? The grip of the brakes could be in the pads or in the cylinders, and you will need to sort out which is faulty.

Could be timing/points/plugs related, so do those first. Check the points visually to see they are still reasonably flat on the contact faces. As the get old a hollow burns into one side and a matching volcano builds up on the other. Check the gap with a dwell meter, as feeler gauges are only good for new flat points, because of the volcano. Set the timing to 10 or 12deg BTDC Check the plugs for gap and how burnt the electrodes are. Are they black and sooty from running rich? Set the tappets while the plugs are out. Then worry about the carb. Mixture screw when warm for maximum idle and set the idle speed with the throttle stop screw. Check the operation of the choke, make sure it goes full on and full off like it should. Good luck-

:laff: I fear we always looked like that! The Politzi did nail me once or twice for excessive noise, but I had some good luck in Court... another story another time... :D

That all sounds good, so I'm confused too! How does it look when you watch the clutch arm?? The cable pulls it in the middle of the hole or so?? Is the bellhousing pivot bolt adjustable on yours?? If you wound that out it would put the thrust bearing up against the pressure plate then move the cable end towards the rear of the car. That would give you more swing on the thrust.

Yep! that is the standard way of doing it. Primer is designed to stick to a previous coat. Sand EVERY bit of gloss off the original paint, not necessarily deeply, but don't miss any corners or little bits. Then over it with u'coat then topcoats. I used 320grit for that sort of work. and 400 for between topcoats & undercoat.

Just hassle your local parts place. Midstate Spares up here in Orange had no problem getting me bearings & gaskets, and they priced rings for me too.

I'll do a writeup in The Girl's KE70 in a few days, I don't want to hijack abbott's thread too much. I'll have to scan a few 1970s photos first. They tended to be rough and ready P510s that were extremely light and extremely fast, so they didn't last long! I would only build a RWD car, but that's just my style.

ouch! That would be A LOT! They're meant to just skim the face of the flywheel if its damaged, but lightening takes off the back of it. So- if you pull the cable out from the firewall, it just comes out about 10mm max?? Is that right? Then the thrust bearing hits the pressure plate and it stops. Now, if that is happening, when you press the pedal it feels like a real clutch?? (gets harder to press down then easier at the bottom) or is it floppy without any resistance?? or only gets hard 3/4way down?? Does the clutch fork hit the front edge of the gearbox hole when the clutch is down?? Its obviously not pushing the pressure plate off the clutch plate, you just have to find out why. Not a chance the clutch plate is in backwards? (Don't think it would fit!) The thrust bearing is off its mounts on the arm? The arm is off the pivot ball??

That is very true- We used Datsun 1600s before that Corolla because in 1980 the 1600s were at their minimum price and we must have gone through a dozen over the years! Snot's also right about joining a club and someone else's team- do service for someone for a year and you will learn heaps about how it all works. In that year get a KE70 into gymkhanas & hillclimbs and trackdays so you can keep it as a road car and build it up slowly. Rallying takes 5 or 6 people really, so you need a lot of keen mates who can help, a big chequebook and a very friendly panelbeater and engine shop!! :laff: Three nights a week, without fail, we would meet at my mate's place and work on the rallycar, or fix cars for people to pay for the rallying. He had a double garage that became a 5car garage over the years.

Join BMSC- Brindebella Motor Sports Club, they are very good online. Start hunting for a limited slip diff right now- best thing you will ever do. Go gas struts rather than non-gas, you can't afford to have the oil inside form a foam. You also need shocks that push the car back up. Racing shocks like Konis tend to pull the car down onto the ground. (their rebound is strong, their bounce is weak) so the valving is important. Spring rates can be softer in the rear but the shocks will have to stop it from bottoming out. You're not going to carry 4adults and their holiday luggage, and you want rear squat to get traction. Negative camber on the front and lots of castor as you want plenty of front end grip. You need the nose to turn in when you want it to, and you steer the tail with the accelerator. The closest ratio gearbox you can find, and then the lowest diff ratio. 4.5 to 5.0 would be best. You want all acceleration and no top speed. ..and a cage- If you're into CAMS it will have to be over-built and heavy, but something half the size will help hold the car in shape (we used to have the back window jump out over yumps...) and keep the roof off your head in a roll. Don't modify the engine to race specs! Keep it torquey with lots of mid-range when it comes to cams and carbs. There is nothing worse than falling off the cam as you go into a corner and find there is no power to get grip. Newspaper photo of us from Cape Town-

There is usually a spare rubber grommet or two in the engine bay to allow LED to RHD conversions. Did the tuneup solve the starting problem?? ...and the moment you tinted the windows then the rear side window suddenly looked very big! In my mind I expect to draw a line along the front door frame to the back, and now it suddenly steps up.

...and the worst thing is that there is never anywhere to practice!

It does run at diff speed, not g'box speed, so you're right that it continues to spin fast when you push the clutch in. However I think the orientation of the UJ in its needle bearings will be different between drive and over-run. Give it a good shake or disconnect it and see what it feels like. No chance you've run over something recentlyand bent it ?

Wiring- The "start" position is one set of wires and the "on" position is another set. If the carb has an electric fuel cutoff you may not have that connected. Otherwise, power is not getting to the coil when the key is "on"..

Any noises as you let the clutch out? I've just had a new UJ fitted to the Pintara driveshaft, it groaned as it took up power from standstill and had a vibration a speed. Lie under it and see if you can move the driveshaft at the diff- a mm or two is a lot of slack. That's about the only thing that wears out, everything else comes loose- gearbox mounts, clutch components, suspension arms, wheels.. Was it vibrating before the wheel balance??

I don't think anyone would seriously believe that they will send the design offshore and NOT follow it with manufacture or paperwork pushers or call-centers... So if they do it you can be sure it will continue. Its all quite likely a political threat to have the Govt give them more cash. When you are big enough you can exert undue pressure on the parasites, who in the end are not spending their own money.

Before you balance it lighten the crank and knife-edge it, and I'm sure you have a lightweight flywheel for it. If you're not driving it on the road you'll want it as light and free-revving as possible.

Well, after years of pouring our tax money into the two giant multi-nationals, the first is kicking the Govt in the head and moving anyway. http://www.smh.com.au/business/next-commodore-may-be-last-locally-made-20111103-1mwdy.html

Excellent! Get the timing set with a timing light and it should be fine.

That's the one on the column that flicks from bright to dip, or high-beam to low-beam...

OMG! Enginuity at its best!

hmm... so they are open, you pull them back closed momentarily, then they open again but the lights stay on. The relay powers the bulbs first, then they earth back through the switch. Somehow it is continuing to earth the lights, so you'll have to pull the dipswitch apart again I think. I've swapped mine around, so the dipswitch turns the relays on and off and they earth out at the relays. That makes them much brighter headlights, but its nothing like yours I'm afraid.

Jeeez Towe... You're talking country boys coming to Toowoomba on horseback! :laff: Jesse if you can find a manifold for a single DCOE Weber it will be more than enough for your motor. Don't forget to have the flywheel lightened too, that helps them spin up quicker.