As many of you probably know, I recently purchased Lola, my KE55 Corolla (4-door sedan). Now I need to learn more about her. Can anyone tell me what the differences are between the KE30 4-door, and the KE55 4-door? I looked on www.drive.com.au to try and find out what the KE55 weighed, and they didn't even have a 4-door listed, however the firewall declares her to be a KE55E model.

 

I know that the KE55 has rectangular headlights whereas the KE30 had round ones, and that they obviously have different grilles, but aside from that I can't spot much else (from the little I have seen of any KE30's).

 

BTW, the engine specs don't really concern me as my engine's definitely not a standard offering (not even close).

well....not all the ke55's had square headlights for starters..(<--- mine is a round headlight)....the later models did, after 1980 i think. the bonnet on the 55 is also different, it has two rises that come to a centre point, and the grilles in the bonnet arent flat, they are more sunken in.

 

If you have managed to get yourself a aus spec Ke55 then it will prolly have aus spec brakes...(which are bigger on the back).

 

i think the KE55 4 door weighs around 950 - 1100 kgs. not sure on that.

 

oh and also they have different rear grilles....near the quarter glass in the back window.

KE55 also weighs more, due to more side impact intrusion bars.

ke30 has 3k, ke55 has 4k. and the associated emissions crap. ke55 radiator support panel is welded on, 30 is removable, which makes taking the engine out so much easier. 55 has intermittent wipers, more side intrusion crap in the doors, later 55s have a different dash. the tail light surrounds and quarter vents are plastic instead of metal, 55s usually have a borg warner diff, 30s usually have a jap diff. 55s usually have ke70 brakes, 30s have little jap things more similar to ke20. the 55 front apron has a small lip on the bottom of it, ke30 ones don't.

jamie: not all KE55s have intermittent wipers.....i know mine doesnt....and i've tried hooking some up....to no avail.

don't forget that ke-55 has rear saw bar or at least the mounts, as the ke-30 don't

(dam it).

interesting, learn something new every day :D good point that ke30nuts

 

ke30s also have denso alternators, ke55s have bosch ones, so likely they have a different loom plug for the charge system. it's not hard to change over though anyway

and again.....mine doesnt have the rear sway bar mounts to the body....its only got them on the diff itself....not actually any holes in the body to bolt the brackets too....weird.

what year is your car? it's got round headlights so it's an early one yeah?

yup.....1979 to be exact....weird that all these things are different....they may have changed them in the later ones only?

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the help with my search for info.

 

Does anyone have any tips on suspension and/or brake upgrades? I've heard someone up here has a setup that involves AE86 front struts, some Peugeot discs (not sure which model), and Land Cruiser 4-pot calipers. I haven't gotten in touch with the guy to find out about it, but I'd be interested in finding out if a). this sounds about right, and b). what others have done when doing up brakes on their Rollas.

that sounds like redwarfs setup on his rally car..

I just checked redwarf's page out and he says he's using KE55 rotors. I checked demuire's Rolla out just after my last post and discovered he's using the setup I described, or close to it, but grimwolge mentioned in another post that demuire has spent about $20,000 on his car, so it is slightly (read 'way, way') out of my price range. Of course, most of this is probably on the fully adjustable suspension setup.

 

demuire, if you're reading, can you please expand upon this.

Edited March 23, 200521 yr by ancullen

yeah that's right, it's a common upgrade, check toymods forum. to do that upgrade properly you need custom shocks, if you can't do it yourself, expent about a grand or more. there is also a toymods tech article about using cressida struts in a corolla

S13 struts in TA22....I assume possible in other toyotas too. Bring on fully ajustable TEIN/JIC/CUSCO coilovers.....