altezzaclub

Thanks for the offer Mullet, but a copy of the K gearbox part of the T18 book has just arrived from parrot! Its great to see these manuals still exist and are in circulation! I'll let you guys know if the gearbox shop comes up with some caged roller bearings.

Grab a vice-grip and when it cranks slowly just put the clamp on the lead terminal and see if it improves. It will charge through a small contact as it charges slowly, but spinning a starter motor takes a few hundred amps and good connections. - or swap batteries with another car for a few days and see if it is better. It may be a slowly dying battery.

"The best way is to install a proper temp gauge and use a thermometer to check its accuracy. " Yep- buy a 110deg thermometer for $10. Then idle the motor from dead cold to the maximum it gets to with the rad cap off and the thermometer in the top of the radiator. You can slip a sheet of newspaper down in front of the rad to help it as the motor isn't under load. Note down the temp and time it takes, and you will get a curve. If the temp gets to 100deg you have a problem, the cooling system just isn't up to it anymore. It should show cold, then quite quickly go to 75deg or so, and slowly climb to maybe 80 odd. Then you will know what temperature the marks on the gauge really mean. In pouring rain it shouldn't get hot at all.

The Locost guys have been onto it for years it seems- Motor mounts- http://mannylocost.blogspot.com/2009/10/engine-mounts-and-start-on-pedal-and.html J160 adapter- http://mannylocost.blogspot.com/2009/10/1zz-fe-engine-to-j160-gearbox-adapter.html The lack of block attachments for engine mounts is something I'd never thought of. His solution is not ideal, but I can't see any other way. Comments from a guy who owned one of those Rollas was that it was uninspiring but adequate in traffic going to work.. and an animal over 6000rpm when the dual valve lift/timing hit! So you wanted to drive it over 6000rpm all day. Someone else said there were chips to lower the cut-in revs. Old motors now, for blocks that can't be re-bored.

haha! yes banjo, I saw that too! it still didn't lead me where I wanted to go! I still have the K40 in bits and a fully disassembled K50 downstairs, but I didn't strip the K50! I popped into the local gearbox shop and they will replace the seal for $105/hour plus parts... That's the same as the first shop that stripped my first k50 and wanted to re-new everything! Anyway, Orange Auto reckon they can get bearings, so I will drop some bits down to him and if he can source parts I might get the dis-assembled one rebuilt. It needs metal-spray on the bearing surface to build it up, so it all might get too expensive. The one in the car.. well, I bought a can of Rislone transmission stop leak, so I'll toss that in and see if it helps. Parrot, if you could copy that part of the manual I would be grateful. There is no hurry right now, but when the Rislone gives up I'll need to do it. I also have the Gregorys manual that says "its all too hard, don't touch it!" Thanks guys!

The Hoonicorn has a leaky front gearbox seal & it can only be replaced by stripping the whole box from the back. If it didn't oil the clutch I'd ignore it! If anyone has the Toyota manual e-book that is floating around some very dodgy internet sites I'd love a copy. The last time this happened I took that box to a gearbox shop to replace the $10 seal and they gave me back a box full of bits saying it was irrepairable as they couldn't buy bearings... all I wanted was a seal put in! Thanks

You'd jump the T-series, they're too old & worn out, and go straight to a J160 6-speed. Then you need an adapter plate to fit it on the motor if at all possible with input shaft dimensions, and the room in the car to fit a rather large gearbox. We will all come to this problem as our K boxes can't be rebuilt as there are no bearings anymore, T boxes can't be far off the same problem, and there are no small RWD gearboxes in the Toyota range.

mmm.. drop into a KE70 nicely.. 225bhp if you buy the right motor! No wonder those Lotus' fly!

"that could be used as camshaft signal for the independent ignition. " The problem there is the slap in the gears between accelerating and decelerating. The timing signal would shift a few degrees each time. I suppose it would be as accurate as the timng is on a stock motor, maybe accuracy isn't that important. Banjo, can't you adapt the trigger in the K series electronic dizzys we use now?? It means a bit of metal sticking up from the flywheel edge and the sensor in the bellhousing rim like you planned, but a step further rearwards from the ring gear. It's a knife edge strip to give a sharp impulse, rather than your circular magnet that has a broad effect. Set it on the flywheel with epoxy and have a threaded mount on the pickup to move it within a few thou, like we do with the Terratrip sensors. Actually, they work on one of the four bolts in the back of the front discs, we just put a couple of washers under it to raise the head above the other three.

yep- 5 years or so back I took The Girls KE70 up to Cairns to fix up a rental house & sell it. Walking out of the supermarket I found a beautiful AE86 parked near the KE, and while I was looking it over the owner came back. He was my age, 60-something, a farmer out of town, and had bought it new. Said it hardly got driven these days as he and his wife both had SUVs and the AE was too hard to get in and out of... I'd only just got into Toyota and didn't attach any significance to AE86s, so never offered him the couple of grand he'd take for it!.. So... what should we be buying these days for 20years time??

Maaate.. they're rooted..! I'll give you $100 for them so I can use them for parts..! Actually, just what everyone said, they're not right, probably worn out/broken and you will have to strip them right down then find out how they work. Take the shocks out of the struts and start from there. Find out what doesn't fit properly and what doesn't tighten down correctly. Definately get the wheel alignment and don't run max negative camber! You will need more toe-in for every degree neg camber to even out the tyre wear across the tread, and those tyres will vanish quickly!

This one?

Ah- is it lacking space here?? This is a Redline single side-draught manifold, but I expect it has the same shape. It looks like you have to put the nuts on with the manifold held off the head 5mm or so, then tighten them up. Option B is some work with a grinder I suppose.

Is this the manifold?? https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-3062-Redline-Manifold-Toyota-Corolla-Corona-twin-DCOE-Weber-3K-4K-5K-/331217079754 It looks pretty straightforward, which means it probably doesn't fit a K motor! Are you fitting the manifold with the carbs on it already?? Pop up a few photos, it shouldn't be too bad. I've never had to take the starter out. The usual problem is a height difference between intake and exhaust manifolds which leads to air leaks, or weld too close to the bolts so the washers have no room to sit flat.

Nice- How's the wheel travel?? Especially at the rear? I see so many small FWD hatches leap off the road when they land after going over a jump... well, that's on Racing Fail, which I'm sure you watch each week! How much rear brake bias is there? They lock up when you first hit the brakes?

PM oldskewtoy, he seems to be The Man when it comes to porting. Don't forget the exhausts never need to be opened up as much as the inlets, the gases get pushed out the exhaust. One of these? I thought I had a used one to measure but I've looked all through the garage and can't find it. https://rollaclub.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/monthly_02_2009/post-7544-1233966586.jpg Shall I buy a couple and mail them over? They were only $10 each a few years back.

A big steam clean under the skin! I'm trying to think of who would do it, apart from the companies that are meant to clean vehicles being imported. We have a 4000psi water blaster but its still not enough for decades of gease and oil, you need temperature to really do it. Into that engine bay and then up on a hoist, do it once and its done for years. It looks so much better now than when you picked it up.

Yes, and the coil is a 12V, so it doesn't use a ballast. Some sort of relay?

OK, here's a better diagram, off the KE17 but it looks the same. Mainly, you can read wire colours off it, which generally on the web you can't. Take the wires off the alty and tape each wire up separately so they can't short out. Check the wire colours on the regulator & unplug that. See if the fuse blows with those two things disconnected. Pull the insulation back on these & see the wire colours. I don't know what this box is for. Any ideas anyone?

'As soon as I turn the ignition key and the instrument panel lights come on( battery and oil )the fuse blows' OK, so the short is permanent, which suggests a permanent problem rather than a loose wire waving around. I have a feeling the alternator is incorrectly wired up, if there is a short in there it will take power through the charge light and that will blow fuse #3. I'll add that circuit in blue to the diagram above. The fact the motor died when the battery was disconnected means the alternator is not working. Disconnect the alternator & voltage regulator and just confirm the fuse doesn't blow. You could try disconnecting the red light circuit itself as it goes to the alty. Here's a general setup- https://www.howacarworks.com/ignition-system/troubleshooting-the-ignition-warning-light Why did you replace the alty? Was that the first part of solving some problem that led to the new plugs and leads etc from your first post? If the battery was disconnected overnight and it went flat, the battery is ruined. If you charged it up it would still go flat the next night. So it is new battery time & isolate the alty. If that stops it blowing the fuse then you need to have someone look at your alty wiring, or spend some time on Google. That model alty might not be compatible with your external regulator, or a live wire might be touching the casing.

OK, lets get started- Do you have a computer?? or do you work off a phone?? You will struggle to read wiring diagrams on a tiny screen.. If you have a computer go find a free copy of Photoshop, some old one like my Photoshop 6. They are invaluable for enlarging and sharpening crappy diagrams, but get any program that can do those functions. This wiring diagram is not labelled as to the model KE, but I expect it is 1970s from the lack of things like the ballast resistor & the carb idle shutoff. Is yours auto or manual gearbox?? I've shown the ignition & starting circuit in red, you can see it goes from the key to the #1 fuse, then to the coil, hazard lights and alty regulator. However your problem is nowhere in those, you can see the #1 input is bridged to the #2 and #3 fuses also, so I've labelled #3 circuit in green. That goes to the back-up (reversing) light switch, the combination meter, speedometer, heater blower motor switch. Your problem is in one of those. Turn the key onto 'ignition' and see if the fuse blows. You might as well take the driver's seat out, you'll spend time lying under the dash! Go find the back-up wires on the top of the gearbox, inspect them then wiggle them, then pull the plug apart so they are disconnected. See if the fuse blew. Then the heater switch, do the same, and finally the ones behind the instruments. Inspect the wires for worn areas with metal showing, especially on the gearbox. If the fuse blows, look at the thing you were touching when it did. Leave it disconnected and put in a new fuse, then continue. You might find a live wire floating around under the dash and solve the whole problem! With those components disconnected, see if the car runs and the fuse blows. If it doesn't blow, connect them back up one at a time. If it blew earlier, connect all the others back up and see if it runs. Once you have it working you can chase down the particular component that blew the fuse. It might be inside a switch. If the fuse doesn't blow, start the motor. I'm not clear if the fuse blows when you turn the key to "ignition" or to "Start" or when the motor is running, or whether it does it at any of those times. Let me know. The motor dying when it idles is probably related to you changing the ignition components, the fuse blowing being a separate problem. See if we can sort the fuse first.. You can always screw the idle speed up to keep it running. This wiring diagram came from- http://uisalumnisage.org/toyota-wiring-diagrams/toyota-wiring-diagrams-0/ I used Photoshop to enlarge and sharpen it. There will probably be others on the web. It is 1200pixels wide, if Rollaclub shrinks it you can PM me with an email address & I can send it to you.

Man! If you could drive that car out of the barn it would be a steal at $6k!! Si, I forgot to mention you could forgo the T50 on your 4AGE and go straight to an Altezza J160 sixspeed with an adapter plate. Now you're into close-ratio boxes. Of course you could just put the Altezza BEAMs on the front of it, but engineering will get more expensive. An Altezza halfcut is just over $3000.

More reply, I had to dash out before I'd finished.. Check out The Girls KE70, that's the most recent one, a bigport 4AGE. Steve has a smallport in his KE70, and we have one awaiting for a mate of his, after we finish putting a bigport into the rally KE70. We haven't done a 20-valve yet, I'd have to do some reading. What Littleredspirit said is good advice, buying one done saves a lot of time and trouble. Make sure it idles well, cold and hot, and make sure it goes up hills on less than a half-tank of gas.

We can do it.. You'll need a AE71, a 4AGE, a T50, and a T-series diff. plus little bits like alloy radiator, electric fan, injection pumps, surge tank, custom driveshaft... And $5k or so. We can get it engineered, mine cost less than $1000 for that, or you can get it done in Canberra. We can also fit coilovers if you like, or celica/corona struts & brakes & LCAs, camber tops, OS Geiken LSD, bilsteins or Konis, sway bars.. How big was that budget??

I posted these somewhere for you I thought.. Both these cars are 1983, but the Hoonicorn is a flat-front with a 4K & K50 on a cable, & The Girls beast is a slanty with a 4AGE on a T50 hydraulic. So that pedalbox is from an AE71 that had a 4A-C motor. I hadn't noticed the pedals were so different, even though I converted them both from autos!