altezzaclub

Yeah, that's what I was looking for! I'd seen single to double cable converters, but not for years. I didn't think about motorbikes/ATVs, as they all still run carbs and there is still a good industry making cables for them. I've emailed a couple of places and will put up the prices when I get them.

Photos!! of a nice clean plug and a nice clean hole! You might be able to borrow a tap the right size and clean up the sump thread.

OK- found that some companies still make choke cables- So if I get a twin cable made, who else would like one? The correct way to run chokes on your SUs.

Unfortunately on a Toyota the throttle arm swings through the position where the shaft between the two choke linkages should go, so I can't run the stock choke cable and link the two choke systems. I'm not keen to cold start the car every morning on one rich and one lean carb, so has anyone seen twin cables around recently, or the kit that turned one cable into two? Do companies still make cables? What do bicycles do for cables?? What are you other SU guys doing??

..and the exhaust is quite likely to have very little to do with the power! Think of race cars 30years ago that really just had tuned headers and no pipes or mufflers! It may cost you power low down but then it should get up and go! One time we broke the exhaust off on the rally car under the passenger's feet and it suddenly went like a scalded cat! If you want a 'flat' engine (assuming things like compressions are OK) then cam timing is the way to do it! Also ignition timing will kill power being either too advanced or too retarded.

Yeah, Toyota confirmed the same with me today. Both 3S & 5S are non-interference, and that dodgy workshop will be ripping people off all over the place.

Hmm.... "I was smashing pretty hard" That doesn't sound good... There may be damage to the diff splines that the axle fits into. Check it carefully as it may be a throwaway anyway. If the splines get worn to a skinny point they will not last. Welding the diff up means those splines take a tremendous amount of abuse.

Only if you don't have a spider gear shaft I would assume...

Lesson number one in business- never pay for someone else to fix your mistakes!! He should offer to fix the engine if its his fault, and refuse to pay anyone else to do it. Its just asking to get screwed. The customer can have the car freighted back to your workshop if he wants it done. We get it with washing machines and appliances all the time. It might be under Electrolux guarantee, but the customer has to get it into our workshop or pay for travel time outside of Orange itself to get it fixed. So accepting some risk with any machine is part of buying it. Without photos I'd say you're being screwed! It's a difficult one to prove, although I'm sure some University Engineering School would know how to check how it happened. If you overtightened it it would have suddenly gone loose as it started to shear, and that puts rotational shear lines on the end. If it has no rotational shear marks it would be metal fatigue. After all, the stress in use on that bolt is at right-angles to its head, so the cambelt tensioner is not trying to rip the head off the bolt. Anyway- get onto Toyota and find out if they are interference engines. If they're not then its nothing to do with you...

What rolliac means is to remove the whole rear axle setup from the car and and bang it one the ground, broken axle side down. The piece of axle will fall out of the diff head and get stuck behind the wheel bearing! :) Then pull the crown wheel/diff assembly out and tip it up the other way to get the piece of axle out.

Oh, I forgot- If you just want to go faster, buy twin carbs or a Weber, a set of extractors and have a cam cut... Cut the springs and you're in business.. sort of!

Give it about 5years and if you stick with it you might manage it... You will have to know more than most mechanics who fix cars for a living, and I assume you're starting from a base of zero knowledge right now! How about you win a few gymkhanas first (my daughter came 3rd in her class in her first one today and would have come 5th overall if I hadn't got her lost in a couple of tests.. :) ) so youlearn to drift an almost stock car on gravel or wet tarmac. Then you can tackle a full suspension, brakes and steering change... not much of the car left now is there... take it out and win some khanacross, & a sprint or two. Then do a full engine conversion with a new gearbox, spend billions of dollars on getting a turbo to work and setting it up, and win a few hillclimbs... Then you throw away the welded diff and get a decent LSD! When you can do all that you will be able to drift.

So... they have photos of a bolt with turning shear marks where it was overtightened? If the shear marks are straight it could be fatigue, not overtightening. ...or did they just toss it in the rubbish and tell the customer that? These days I photograph everything and send them off to manufacturers or customers or whoever needs them, and I don't take anyone on their word any more.

Great, thanks team!

Felix he can't really have the pistons protruding as the head is flat, so he has only the compressed head gasket as clearance. It would be different if the piston was humped in the middle. The half a mm between the piston and head is pretty thin! Anastasios when you get the new gasket just make sure the pistons come up through it cleanly, then slap the head on and turn it over. If that's OK then fit the valve gear and try it. If it works with no valve gear then the piston/head clearance is there, no matter how small it is. If it doesn't then you have piston/gasket problems... probably solved by two head gaskets or a metal gasket spacer. If it turns with valve gear then it will run but be very careful changing cam timing. If it doesn't turn then your piston/head are OK but you have valve timing problems, which you might solve with an adjustable cam gear. Should be an interesting weekend!

I bought my Datsun 1600 stuff off Scotts. The first lot vanished in the mail and he sent a second lot w/o charging, except for the mailing, which I thought was very good. Its all on except the door rubbers. I've done one with a bit of superglue and just haven't got around to the rest. Must get it done and sold... it on the list!

Can someone grab their workshop manual and post up the stock KE55 figures please? Camber, castor & toe.... The KE70 is- Camber 0deg 39min to +1deg 39min Castor 1deg 20min to 2deg 20min Toe-in 0 to 2mm

Use kero or turps when measuring combustion chambers, they don't suffer from surface tension bubbles like water. You should be able to put the head on using four bolts and without a headgasket, assemble the rockers on one cylinder and turn the motor over with no trouble. If your pistons hit a valve without a gasket it means you have no safety factor for stretch/heat expansion/valve bounce and you will bend valves sooner or later anyway. If you can turn it without a gasket then all your problems must be in that gasket size and will hopefully be solved over the weekend!

Love it!! Its got my Stratos in!! They couldn't give away the road-going version when they had to make 500 to homologate them! The Bogans across the corner here have the house up for sale & had to demolish the garages (no permits I assume) There is a Mk 1 Celica covered in junk sitting there, just like the one in the RAC, with "Sillicar Racing" on the side.

Cut the back two cylinders off and it should be fine. ...or leave them on if you want a boat anchor.

That won't work, if what you think is actually happening! The piston will mark the metal ring of the head gasket and that is the crucial part of it. It would burn through quite quickly. If you just placed the head gasket on the block the combustion ring should be not inside the bore at all. It can be around the very edge, or outside, but not a smaller diameter at all. I think try that first and decide what size head gasket you need. If that one does actually fit OK then we need to find out what is jamming at TDC.

...and now you know why mechanical superchargers have been used for nearly 100years! I took a rally-prepared supecharged Altezza on a longish trip across the North Island (Tauranga to Hamilton & back) and I'm absolutely sold on it! It only came on when you booted it hard, so most of the time you had no inkling that it was there. However when you went to overtake or went up a solid hill this banshee wail came from under the bonnet and all hell let loose! Go get one off an MR2 and bolt it on!

I wouldn't think that gasket separation is important seeing as the vital parts of the gasket have metal surrounds.. The oil gallery, the combustion chambers.. You could re-use it if the metal parts are OK. However with Nissans I always found the factory head gasket to be far better made than the Repco stuff. I haven't had to use a Toyota one yet. The big question is, did it turn over with the head on and the rocker gear removed?? That will divide the problem between cam and head gasket. ..and I don't know why the rocker bolts are chamfered, the oil to the rocker shaft goes up the special hole in number two tower. I suppose you figured that out.

Then it still should! Whatever you do don't force it! Will it turn backwards?? If so then a piston is hitting a valve as it comes forward. If it won't turn either way take off the rocker gear and try it. If it still doesn't turn then its head off to see why. At least with the rocker gear off you can lean on the spanner a bit and see it its just ring friction.

Tried the local libraries? They're usually online and may still have manuals as reference books. Copy the bits you need or steal it. :cool: Mine came from an Army Surplus shop in Kingaory in Qld.