Phil's Ke25/te2X Conversion

[PBaines]

In completion of my AE86 project (which has been promoted to my 'Sunday Fun-day car, this is a very high rank) I have bought myself a pre-facelift KE25... for some reason.

 

Have scored myself so far,

KE20 1200 HI-Delux front guards, bonnet (not pictured) and grill setup from Japan

TE27 Trueno rear tail lights from Japan

4k and K40 locally

 

 

 

I predict that this will be a 2+ year long project, but looking forward to it none the less!

 

Still accumulating a few things.

-The matching bonnet is on the way (TE27 sprinter)

-The grill support/radiator support panel is on the way. The sprinter version which varies from the Levin and Corolla range. Quite the steal.

-TE27 levin boot (just in better condition than the one I have currently). Though I will try find a sprinter badge to match the front guards.

 

 

The car will also be painted this blue/turquoise colour. It is an original Toyota colour but will have to somehow find the paint code for it.

 

We also have a small port 4A-GE which I have been kitting out with my RWD specific partrs today. I will either be putting it in this KE25 or my KE20, still undecided.

 

 

 

 

Alas, after waiting a little while for the Stacked/ML Racing container to come to NZ I have received my KE20 Hi-Deluxe bonnet

Little dented but car will be getting fully stripped repainted so not overly concerned. That is what the panel beater will have to worry about.

 

Will be rebuilding the small port over the coming wee while and get some mounts made up for it. Once that's all done it'll be panel and paint time.

 

Now time to find a good condition valance...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, have sold the KE20 and the guy wanted the original running gear in it. Removed the hilux rear end and coil over front end (from a starlet I think originally).

Had some TA63 LCA's lying around and though I would try them with the struts I had, they are about 25mm longer than standard and mated up the the struts so chuffed about that!

 

Now as you can see the tie rods don't really reach that far... would wind them out if they weren't rusted and actually let me to turn them out. ah well. Looks quite staunch for the time being.

 

 

 

 

On the list over the coming weeks

#Rebuild 4A-GE Small port.

 

have bought heaps of OEM bolts and a few things from Bazza at MRP and also some TODA gear in from Japan. Should be a beautiful engine bay somewhere down the line

 

 

Well. Bit of an update here.

 

Saw a fella put up his KE25 on one of the pages on FaceBook, then the next weekend I was off to pick it up.

Has been sand blasted and 80% epoxy primed. This shell is much straighter than the previous shell, though the rust patches are probably more prominent. Just little holes where as the old shell was covered in bog in areas and was all bent around the rear under the bumper. I think the new shell will be a lot easier to work on than the old one, and being sand blasted and primed means I don't have to do get it done.

 

 

Here it is nicely tucked onto the smallish trailer I bought it back on. Did the job just fine

 

 

And here we have the LOWRIDER KE25!! The height is atrocious for now, however I am waiting on some TE27 knuckes so can slap some AE86 struts in there

 

 

 

Panda spotted in the background..

 

Dash is complete, interior is well on the way to being finished. Have got in touch with the only man for the job of retrimming my seats and getting new door cards for the old girl

 

Also scored these interior pieces in from Japan. You'd think they were brand new the condition that they are in

 

Sprinter air vents. Pretty much finished the sprinter conversion. Been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

 

 

 

I've bought some 4A-GE - KE2X engine mounts and will get the engine rebuilt, drop it in then get it going Jan - February.

Much more to come, exciting times ahead. Or is the word more appropriate "Expensive". Both I guess.

 

Today, Christmas kept on rolling over.

Received:

TODA Cam pulleys

TODA Timing Belt

TODA Underbucket shim conversion kit

TODA Uprated springs

Uprated oil spring for higher pressure.

Enroute:

290deg 10.3mm & 282deg 10.10 Kelford cams

 

The Small port 4A-GE bottom end is nearing completion of the rebuild, and the head will be going up to the trusty Baz at MRP for a complete head port next month. It will receive Atlantic size valves also. If I ever want to turbo this thing one day the engine will only need minor changes and will be an absolute trooper.

The bottom end will remain stock for the time being. One day when I can afford to do the bottom end I will but that day will probably when a hair dryer goes on it

 

 

I also received some sprinter rear vents which look overrated! Brand new too

 

So have started assembling the short block now.

All the bolts are brand new, spent hours tracking down all of the part numbers for them so have got a box full of OEM bolts to finish the engine.

 

I received the block back from Motor Machinists in Palmerston North, and had done:

Block - decked, honed and cleaned

Crank - Polished, crack tested, balanced

Rods - Balanced

Flywheel - Balanced (MRP Light weight)

They also cleaned the pistons and have come up brand new!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to look like a real engine now. Oil pump was not brand new however inspected, and also installed the higher pressure spring.

 

 

The head is being sent up to MRP for a full port and polish, and complete blow head job and expected to be back in 3 weeks.

Now just have to track down a T50 which will probably come from Japan and get that rebuilt. I might attack it myself or just take it in to get done by the pro's.

 

Well, I bought the wrong piston rings as didn't know that there were two different sizes (the top ring on most is 1.5mm where as the small port and late GZE use a 1.2mm top ring)

Ordered some overnight and installed everything today.

Short block complete, will next have an update once Barry has finished with the head

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by PBaines

[PBaines]

Nice new TRD oil filter

 

Also scored some T3 castor arms and TE27 knuckles with RCA's. I will most likely be going with AE86 Blitz coil overs for this car

I will also be going to Toyota Fest this year and will be picking up my head from Barry (MRP) then. Excited!! April 1st roll around already.

Edited March 18, 2017 by PBaines

[PBaines]

To be honest, I should have cut the springs in half from the get go.
I cut the springs for no other reason that to make it more pleasant in the shed to look at until the coilovers go in.
The right side of the car is a bit higher than the left, I will probably end up with a height similar to the higher side.

Not long until the engine goes in!!

 

 

I also installed my new valance courtesy of Yahoo Japan. The tape is holding the paint/rust on. I decided on a new one as the one I had previously wasn't the straightest and would require some more. Plus I didn't actually own it...

 

Today I received my Route 6 close ratio T50 from Japan. Bought in an auction with 25mm large T series axles and an LSD 3.9 diff head to go in this build mainly. It was listed as having a broken gear. Being the gambling man I am I took a punt on it and 4th* is damaged. I have some spare T50 bits that I could take in and probably get it fixed, but I also checked the gear ratios and to be honest I think I will just stick to the standard T50 and sell this one off! These go for good money for the racers, will look into getting this fixed first.

 

 

So head is taking a big longer than initially planned as a sensor on the CNC that was being used to port the head died so next week sometime I am expecting to receive the head so can finally piece it all together!

 

Today to make me feel like things were still progressing I bolted up the flywheel... yeah. Exciting...

I also made sure I put the sandwich plate on too as I have done it a couple of times where I bolted on the gearbox/flywheel/clutch to find I forgot to do it and have also seen a couple of others do it too 

 

Socket makes a great flywheel stopper too.
Think the flywheel is 3.8kg's. Probably not ideal for a street car, but this won't be a daily so will still be fun when I get it out on the occasions. 

 

After driving the new spiggot bearing into place I thought it would be best to actually see how much contact was made on the input shaft. I just put vivid on the end of the shaft, slipped the box on and gave it a few rotations

 

Looks like I drove the bearing in a bit too much... I whipped everything off and pulled the bearing out a bit. No need to recheck now, a few mm would have done the job

 

 

I have chosen to go with SSR MK2 feet too. If you know of any, let me know! Thinking of going 8J in the rear and 6.5J in the front

 

 

 

[corollaart]

Great work Phil ,you have some nice parts there!!!

Should turn out a great car.

Rob

[PBaines]

13 hours ago, corollaart said:

Great work Phil ,you have some nice parts there!!!

Should turn out a great car.

Rob

Thank you, i'm hoping it all turns out well too!

[PBaines]

So I made up a parts bath using a big old plastic container and mixing 50/50 degreaser-water and letting parts go swim for a day or so then water blast them and tooth brush clean them.

Today I did the bellhousing, the gearbox outer casings, tail shaft housing and rocker covers are soaking at the moment.

 

After a clean, has come up pretty good!

 

I then set onto installing the new clutch fork assembly. Using all new OEM parts gives the peace of mind that everything will be all nice and dandy.

Strange, can't get the fork clips new from Japan but found them on https://partsouq.com/ so that was good. The ones I had spare were all rusty.

 

Clean backside/booty. always nice.

 

I dummy fitted the new bolts to make sure I had them all. Found that I was missing the starter motor bolts so those will be added next to the OEM order which is already 20 items long.

 

Today was a good day!

 

I got my head back from Barry at MRP. Here are some photos he sent me of the head. No need to take my own.

 

 

 

 

 

The head had to have some extra work done on it so that the 10mm+ lift cams were able to rotate without hitting anything.

 

 

With receiving my head I also received the last few gaskets and bolts that I was after. Especially for the intake side of things so I could get these beauties bollted together.

 

 

I installed the front input shaft seal, the output shaft seal, and also the spacer ring between the box and the input shaft that I forgot to install first time round.

 

Nice new slave cylinder

 

I am using OEM head studs so I have used the Toyota torque specs, so need to do the +90 +90. I just did it by eye with my last engine, decided to do it properly this time round.

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Fastforward an hour of fiddling around I got everything bolted together. I am still waiting on some new shims to arrive from Australia so I will have to wait a little bit before I can install the cams etc.

 

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With that, not long to go before i drop it down the guts into the KE25 and can finally start on another task. I am thinking diff shortening next. Hopefully less expensive than this engine!

 

Today I received my new shims, installed them and also the cams. Pretty self explanatory.
I a have still got to dial in the cams which I will do sometime next weekend whilst I wait for my Dial gauge to arrive.

Nearly complete, I have also ordered a brand new alternator and a starter motor also for a good price. still have to order a knock sensor and get the water pump -> back of head lines fabricated with a braided line. Have to do this due to the original piping interferes with the knock sensor, and I am also not running a water based heater so I will not be using those that are included on the original hard lines either. 

I have also ordered the SQEngineering COP valley cover plate to suit the 2nz coils that I will be using which I should receive sometime this week.

 

 

 

Ahh. So i made a bit of a large cock up.
The cams were far too big for the original pistons, the valve reliefs were to small  and when I was dialing in the cams the lobe was hitting the piston by a long shot. Instead of crying about it, I ordered some 82mm (2mm oversized) 12.5:1 compression pistons from Barry at MRP. Took my spare 7-rib block in to the machinists and got that block bored, cleaned and decked also. All is not lost with the other block, I will be using that in my AE86.

I put some new frost plugs in the new block and gave it a blase of semi-gloss paint

 

 

Whipped the head off of the old block

 

 

Removed everything as it was instead of dismantling it (take pulley -> timing sprocket -> oil pump off, all to put it back on again)

 

Went over to the NEW block, gapped the rings and dumped the goods in. Much better

 

 

 

I set about to degree the cams, this time. No fowling on anything!

 

Reconned alternator which is an 80A one

 

It's nice  to work on an engine and still have clean hands at the end of it. new bits e'ry where.

 

So that's that for now, I will be installing the clutch and then putting it into the car next. Excited

 

 

So, lesson. Do more research before completing an engine rebuild so you don't have to take all apart again.