Greetings From Costa Rica

[crdiscoverer]

Hi folks,

 

First of all, my name is Eric and I'm from Costa Rica. I own a 1978 KE-30 2-door sedan and a 1997 BMW E39 5 series. I'm glad to be here and I hope to become more knowledgeable when it comes to my little 'rolla.

 

I have a few questions so I'll try to keep it short:

 

1. Car is 99% stock, single-carb 3k engine and all. I want to extract a little bit more power from the 3k, but I'm not going after anything crazy. I just want to keep up with the times and also keep up with traffic :happy:. I bought a Weber 32/36 carb kit and I will probably install it next weekend. Realistically how much of a difference should I expect from the switch? 5hp? zero? A bit of background: my car has the 2-into-1 stock exhaust manifold and I don't know if I have the big-port intake (how can I tell?).

 

2. I've seen you guys get modded cams from Tighe but sadly I don't have that advantage here. Can I take my current cams to a shop to get them modified? I'm a bit worried something happens to the original cams as I don't have easy access to spare parts.

 

I saw a Dellorto ITB on eBay but it's too expensive for what I'm trying to accomplish. A dual carb 3k-b intake would be great though. With 20 to 30hp more I'd be a happy man.

 

This is my Corolla:

 

An older one:

 

I promise better pictures later. If I'm not posting in the correct sub-forum please tow it.

[SkidzMgee]

Maybe try the RollaClub Rides (Toyota) section :) Unless you want some help finding info or something?

 

Nice as Corolla bud, looks tough as :) More photos of under the bonnet, and wheel fitment :)

[altezzaclub]

You'll have to ask your local cam cutters what profiles they have and then decide if you reckon they know what they're doing or its easier to get one sent from over here. Someone in the club will have a spare cam they can get cut and mail it over.

 

I expect you'll need to re-jet the carb for it to work properly, a job for someone with an oxygen sensor to measure rich/lean on a dyno or driving. Once set up correctly you should feel the difference, although it will only be 5-10bhp. I think that carb will flow enough for your motor and twin carbs will not be a great improvement.

 

Add a cam and a set of extractors/better exhaust and you will keep up with the traffic, but getting a 15bhp increase would be the most you'll see I'd say.

 

The car looks great! Somebody has looked after it very carefully. Are there many rollas over there?

[crdiscoverer]

I have a few engine pics but they are old crappy phone photos. I will take a few this next weekend. The wheels are 13 inch stock, came with the car from the dealer. They had these funny plastic center caps with the old Toyota logo, but they are long gone.

 

I posted here in the mechanical section because I thought I will get a bit more feedback regarding how to reach the 20-30hp increase target. The new carb is already on its way. It is one of those Redline kits and I really hope it gives me something more than just noise. Suposedly it's already set up for a stock or slightly modified 3k-4k. At least that's what it said. If not, re-jetting it would not be a problem.

 

15hp is fine I guess, it's a 25% improvement over the stock 60-ish hp. In retrospective, 30hp is unrealistic as it's 50% of the current output. Small initial values yield small gains. The extractors (headers over here) are in the near future and I wanted to round everything up with a new set of cams. If somebody has a set I will be happy to make an offer for them. Tighe 104's seem popular for the 3k.

 

The car has been always in the family (bought new from the dealer), so it's a one-owner. That's probably why it is still running strong. Taking care of rust is a royal PITA and it is by far my biggest concern with it. Trunk lid and doors had to be reconstructed from new sheet metal.

 

Vintage Toyotas are not uncommon but are becoming rarer as parts are more and more difficult to obtain. As they are not collectibles, owners just don't care about maintenance, and most are cars having a slow death. Well cared examples are very rare.

Edited February 8, 2011 by crdiscoverer

[crdiscoverer]

All right, I installed the new carby this last weekend. I spent the whole morning removing the old one and getting the Weber assembled and installed. Engine fired up the first time and now I just have to adjust it a bit (idle was a tad high).

 

Also, I still have to get me a longer vacuum advance, EGR and Valve Cover ventilation hoses. But the biggest problem is that the stock gas cable wasn't long enough. Now I have to find a proper cable or adapt the one I have. The problem is not actually the steel cable, but the plastic surround; it doesn't reach the holder.

 

Do any of you guys with a K engine have pictures of a Weber 32/36 installed to see if I did everything correctly? Do you know what the screw behind the electric choke does? Did you use the old gas cable adapter or the one supplied with the Weber kit?

Edited February 14, 2011 by crdiscoverer

[altezzaclub]

I used the holes in the tappet cover to mount a bracket. I already had a little alloy bracket holding the heater pipe off the dizzy, so I just added a right-angled bracket. You might have to have the cable in a different place with the Weber, but those are the holes to use.

[crdiscoverer]

That's a great idea! I will get one of those fabricated.

 

Thanks!!!