towbar65 Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 :D To all those KE1X gurus, please help. Questions: 1. My steering is not what I would have hoped after restoration. All parts (even hard to get bushes etc) are new and have even got the steering box rebuilt although i don't think they were able to do much with worm wear. Also the left wheel is 25mm further back then the left from a previous accident I suspect causing a negitive 1 degree castor. Does anyone have any advise as far as steering box repair and making alignment mods etc. 2. I want to put AC in KE11. Has anyone done this and is there any aftermarket units available? Cheers, Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfunkt Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 i have no idea about the steering, but i can give some light on the AC i have a ke20 with AC as a dealer option. its a nippon-denso unit, with custom bracket to bolt the compressor to the engine. there's a separate blower unit that sits underneath the glove-box, with all the controls on it (coolness and fan speed). i'd imagine that this would all bolt into any ke1x/2x. hope that helps cheers dF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philbey Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 For the steering box, best bet is to find a second hand one that isn't thrashed. Try looking at wreckers (good luck) or put an ad in the wanted section. Someone will probably have one lying around. Worm wear will be the main cause of slop in a box, so if they couldn't rebuild that then it defeats the purpose really. For the AC, I have thought about this too. Look in the 4K Ke70's for factory (?) Air con, and pull the compressor and brackets off for a clean swap into yours. Condensor, search around a wrecker for a suitable sized one to mount in front of the Radiator (between rad and grille). The Evaporator unit, check Ebay for aircon. Always have the generic evaporator units come up, all you need to do is mount it under the dash and run the outlet hoses where you want them. OR you could look for one of the period, underdash units with chrome bits etc in old falcons and kingswoods. Then you'll need dryers and hosing, thats easy enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 With the alignment, have you had a good look at the front end to see where it is out? You could have a bent arm, bent xmember or hopefully not a bent chassis rail. You could possibly slot the xmember where the lower arm mounts to allow some adjustment. If you do this, you will need to either weld a washer or something to the xmember to prevent the alignment getting knocked out easily again. My ke16 had a problem like this when I got it that I wasn't immediately aware of. It wasn't until I fitted a set of 185's and got a wheel alignment that I found out about it. The guy doing the wheel alignment had all sorts of problems as the xmember had been slotted on one side to account for prior accident damage. Also I then had bad tyre scrubbing on the strut on that side. I replaced the strut housing, lower arm and xmember and it was all good. With the steering box all you can really do is what philby suggested and keep an eye out for a good one. Sometimes you can adjust them up a bit to remove play, but if the worm is badly worn it'll still be sloppy around center and tighten up when turning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towbar65 Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Thanks guys, this site really is worth its weight in gold. Advise on AC will be very useful, thanks. Think I have it sussed but more advise very appreciated. With respect to alignment, I have done some rough measurements and believe the front left has taken a hit at some time during its life and that strut is now about negative 1 degree (left wheel 25mm further back then right wheel) which would cause the instability. I can't really tell (YET!) what part is pushed back but suspect its the actual sub frame that the crossmember mounts to. The lower arm looks ok and the crossmember as well but judging by some welding done further back in the under body (under passengers feet) I suspect its the part that took the impact energy. I'm thinking about redrilling the crossmember mounting holes through the subframe on the left side ahead about 15mm to correct the castor issue. Is this too extreme? The original holes are sleeved for strength and this could prove difficult to replicate. Any thoughts? Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towbar65 Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Felix, I might be talking about the same thing, just using worse language. By slotting the crossmember, do you mean make a bigger hole and then weld a washer to keep it from moving backwards? Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 (edited) Yes, welding on some washers or something would prevent things moving if you were to hit a bad pothole. I was actually referring to the holes where the lower suspension arm mounts bolt to the xmember. Doug Edited May 13, 2008 by Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towbar65 Posted May 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 Thanks for all the input. Finally had the car measured up and discovered the lower arm and crossmember are bent from previous crash. Just sourses replacement and will install and start alignment game again. Thanks again. Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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