snotyellowke55 Posted May 20, 2011 Report Share Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) Hey guys, I thought Id start a build thread of my KE55. Was bought as a rusty old snotbox, but with a good interior, strong 4K, and moderately low kms for its age (159,000). Picked it up for a very nice price with 6 months registration. Originally the car was purchased as a daily, whilst My Soarer is reserved as a weekender. However, the rolla bug bit, and I have started to spend some decent coin on the beast. The project started with the intention of keeping it as a daily with some gimmicky traditional and JDM mods (220mm dildo shift knob, OMP deep dish wheel, 14" jellybeans). I left it at this for a while, with some decent 6x9s in spacers, and 4" splits in the front. A little later on however, having viewed some HPi DVDs, etc, a particular style of modification, featured at Daikoku futo (popular Japanese cruise meet spot) caught my eye - "Bosozoku" style, or more correctly "Kaido Racer", with styling derived from 70's jap racers / bosozoku motorbike gang styling (young jap punks with yakuza ambitions). Since, I have added some authentic JDM plates (display use), optima yellowtop battery, apline IVA-D100E, have cut out rear guard rust / rust converted smaller bits / welded in sheet metal in the larger holes, and (forgive me) filled the remaining holes. The rolla just went in for a 2" straight through exhaust last night, and whilst it is loud, it sounds good, with minor drone, and anything is better than the rusted out muffler and collapsed resonator it had when I bought it :blush: As of this weekend, my rolla will soon be low'n'slow (3 1/2" blocks, RA60 front strut conversion w/super lows), and wearing some new shoes - 13x7 spitfires. I figure this style of modification is a love or hate thing, but in an uncanny way, I find boso cars very cool (within reason, when modified somewhat tastefully). Fact of the matter is, its intended as daily, low'n'slow is the name of the game, and so far I like what I've achieved. Any advice from more experienced rolla owners would be greatly apprecaited. I can imagine there will be some who will criticise me, but considering the junkheap I've started with, anything is an improvement :dance: Cheers guys, pics to come! Edited April 1, 2012 by snotyellowke55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2011 Just after purchase. The only addition on my part being the "JDM as F@ck sticker" for shits and giggles. New JDM dildo shifter and OMP dished wheel JDM plates. Will be displayed in the window, and on the car at classic shows (if I ever get it to such a standard!). Note the shaved rear garnish New fender mirrors New Exhaust My toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KEhendo Posted May 21, 2011 Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 i'm a big bosozoku fan and i like where this thread is going. you say you like tasteful mods but the whole point of boso is to be a gaudy, attention grabbing and being a general nuisance to the public. my advice is more crazy exhausts... an oil cooler and some more dish and flares. candy paint doesn't hurt either. let me know if you want some more inspiration. i've got a tone of photos i can share. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 Haha, funny you say that man, I was cruising out to the drifts today with a mate of mine who drives a '73 'rona with a big boso pipe several metres straight up - looked like a train puffing steam :dance: I'm gathering ideas re. a boso pipe, but would need to be something I could easily bolt on and off like his, to only use for events such as the drifts. Keeping this in mind, I don't want to cramp his style too much, so rather than a straight pipe I'm going to get creative - watch this space! Just bought some 13x7 mk2 spitfires (deep dish jellybeans), picked up an old Falcon tranny cooler from a wreckers which will clean up nicely, and purchased a rubber mallet and heatgun for the inevitable guard rollage which will need to occur, and some dixie air horns are definately on the cards :lolcry: Also a member here PMed me re. selling me a round headlight conversion kit with early grille - will suit the boso styling down to a tee. Shamefully installed a generic 5" tacho last night, and some fender mirrors. Rolled into the drifts today with the tacho in full view (mounted to a-pillar), and choke fully out with my straight through-zorst (lumpy as!) - someone asked if i was running a 13B, hahaha. The said exhaust also set off 4 car alarms within one multi-story - let the nuisance begin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh-KE Posted May 21, 2011 Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 Cool project man, can't wait to see more progress! :y: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 Pic at Uni yesterday - note the fully hektik tacho uleh! :happy: Just waiting now for a clear day when I can spray the primered guard, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2011 Picked these up today... 13x7 mk2 spitfires a mate used on a KE70 drift car. Tyres are rooted, however I knew this, considering their past life. Should sit nice and flush with a few inches drop and some guard rollage :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowie55 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Share Posted May 22, 2011 Nice dude, coming along great. Are you going to respray the whole car or just primer the front guards, rims look great should look awesome all cleaned up with some good rubber on them. Cheers, Crowie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2011 Thanks Crowie, The plan is to remove both the front guards (need to do this to install my new fender mirrors anyway), and give them the once over - fill badge holes, give them a good sanding, some primer and paint. Might even shave my indicators and replace them with something smaller, but I want to stay true to the heritage of the car. The car could really benefit from a full respray, but as a low budget project, I can't really justify the cost. A good cut, buff and wax, and spot spray and blend of the rear guards, centre garnish area below the bootlid, and ex-rust spots on the doors should do the trick for the moment. If I spend any decent money on the car in the future, I'll be looking at a 4AGE conversion anyway so then I'd want to strip the entire car back to a bare shell. Got my hands on some white rubber dye (synthetic) from the states - planning to whitewall the tyres on the new rims for that old school look. Done properly, wide whitewalls on KE's can look pimp. Plus my mate has the same rims, so I have to do something different so I'm not completely cramping his style :happy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RX-747 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Share Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) Love it :happy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_8oott56jk&feature=related I really don't think thats enough camber :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r6ltUgtFWI I love where this build is going as i too love bosozoku styling :) Edited May 22, 2011 by RX-747 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) I wanna go low, but not that much - this car is still planned to be a daily (for the moment at least). 3" blocks in the rear will give me more than enough drop :wink: As for the second clip - he would pay more for tyres than he would in fuel - looks porn though! Test fitted the mk2 spitfires last night after work. Sit out from the guards about an inch in the rear and over an inch in the front - perfect :happy: Also met up with a nice bloke from the forums this morning who sold me a rev.1 KE30 front grille, and some new sealed beams + brackets. I prefer the early model front end to the KE55 revision. I think it will compliment the overall look I'm going for. Plus a couple of oil cooler lines poking out of the early grille will look tough :cool: Grille is in fair condition, with a few cracked fins and overspray on the top of the grille. The plan is to give it some TLC with some fibreglass, spray the entire thing with plastic primer, then a few coats of metallic gunmetal / silver flake Tamiya Polycarbonate model paint (amazing stuff, I've used it on my R/C drifter parts). The corolla badge is a bit rough so I'll probably give it the chrome treatment too with some chrome plastic model paint. Brackets are used, but in good nick, and the sealed beams are brand new. Got the lot for $40, so very happy with this find. Cheers to Billy for this lot, and good luck with your KSev mate :y: Build will be put on hold for a while, as I have exams in 2 weeks time (Evidence law - blurgh). Rest assured, the build will push on over my holiday post-exam period, which is a decent month - enough time to get some tyres on the mk2s, whitewall them, paint both front guards and finish off the bulk of the rest of the bodywork, and lower the beast. Watch this space fellas, and cheers for the support :wink: Edited May 23, 2011 by snotyellowke55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banshee Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Very nice snotty! Am I right I spotted this at the Autobarn opening in Moonah a couple weeks back? If not, someone else has a snot rolla with that same JDM sticker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 Very nice snotty! Am I right I spotted this at the Autobarn opening in Moonah a couple weeks back? If not, someone else has a snot rolla with that same JDM sticker. Hahaha yeah that was me. It has come a long way since then. Headed out there to get some 3" blocks for a heavily discounted price :happy: I have a heap of video footage of the build (Mighty Car Mods Style!) and I plan to put together a bit of a YouTube clip of the build process. All done in dodgy DIY / budget build fashion :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snotyellowke55 Posted May 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2011 Okay so I may have taken a litle study break today... Bought a set of Kuhmo 175/70R13 rubber and stretched them to buggery to fit over the 13x7 dishies :wink: Looks the ducks guts. Had them fitted and balanced on the spot, and later took another 'study break' to fit them. Got dish? Also received this in the mail - thought it was pretty cool, utilising the old school Toyota emblem against a rising sun background. JDM yo! The rims look great, and sit out from the guards nicely. Being 13's, I now have guard clearance you can fit your foot between, so lowering a good few inches is on the cards in the near future... But that is for another day (most likely in 2 weeks after exams! :wink: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowie55 Posted May 25, 2011 Report Share Posted May 25, 2011 looking good Michael, any plans to modify the guards to cover the tread? not sure on the laws down in tassie but up here in QLD the police love booking people for that kind of thing. Although they do give the car a tough stance, even tougher if it goes lower :wink: Cheers, Crowie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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