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Boingk's KE20


boingk

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Hi all, I'm a long time lurker short time member. I got addicted to Corollas over 10 years ago when a mate at Uni had a green KE10 with a 4K in it. We once lapped it around Mt Panorama to charge it after I helped him out with a jumpstart. It was a complete hoot and I've never forgotten it - Tommo, if you're reading this, hope you've still got her!

Anyway, not quite a KE10 but I've gone and picked up a KE20.

She was lurking on the other side of town, perched up on old gas tanks at the metal recyclers. They had picked it up at a deceased estate and it was in very sorry condition - filthy both inside and out, perished rims and tyres, starting to rust on the bottom of the driver's side front quarter panel. The asking price was reasonable so I put in a cheeky offer and ended up buying it.

I slapped her on a trailer quick smart and towed her home to begin the unfilthening.

More to come.

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So, I got her home in the sorry state she was in.

It was layered in mouse and dog poo. Pure filth. I got out the vacuum cleaner and lost count at about 10 canisters full of crap from the seats and carpet. Luckily the seats had covers on them so those just got vacuumed before being cut off and put in the bin. The vinyl seats underneath were worn but not too horrible - a quick vacuum followed by a good hot sponging got them looking decent enough. The carpet is going to be replaced because its spent the last 20+ years as a home for rats and smells foul.

The plan is to get rims and tyres on her and get the engine running. It looks complete but it was last on the road in 1999. The sticker on the windscreen says it had it had its 50,000km service in 1993. It only has 53,000km on the clock.

Later on I will look at doing more modification like camshaft, carburettor etc but for the moment cleaning and running are my goals.

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The outside washed up okay, too. The driver's side still needs attention to the lower sill and quarter panel to ward off surface rust but the rest of it is in pretty good nick. 

The engine bay is complete and I had a good effort going through all electrical connectors. If they could be cleaned and refastened with a hit of WD40 then they were. The ones I couldn't get to easily (alternator & starter) I at least hit with a multimeter to make sure all circuits were complete. While I was at it I threw in an electronic distributor setup and new oil & fuel filters before taking the plugs out and soaking the chambers in WD40 overnight to make sure I didn't damage anything after her long sleep.

So a few mornings ago I barred her over. Slight resistance at first followed by normal resistance for the next few rotations by hand. Very nice. With fresh terminals, battery and undoing some dodgy wire splices she turned over nice and quick on the starter, too. Brilliant!

That's about where she sits after a week of ownership. I had created a thread over on Mighty Car Mods but that forum seems to have imploded after their forum meltdown, so I'll be updating this thread only now.

Cheers - boingk

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Cheers gents, thanks for the kind words. 

She looks alright underneath and the floor areas I've checked inside look good. I live in outback NSW so things don't rust here like they do on the coast.

Limited progress until I can get some more parts, I've picked up some tyres as well as a set of Cheviot rims off an old Mazda, hopefully they go on without too much hassle. 

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Righteo, gloves and respirator on! This shitfight is coming out...

I stripped the seats and carpet out of her, and took a liberal amount of detergent and hot water to the floors to get rid of the worst of the smell. Seriously, 20 years of accumulated rat piss and decomposed animal remains just flat-out stinks. Yes, that's an intact mouse skeleton. WTF?

Anyway, I managed to get new carpet in in the factory loop-pile black. Apart from some minor trimming still to do it's all gone in quite well.

I'm up to sorting the ignition now, it looks like the coil I was using is dead so I'll have to source a replacement.

Cheers for now - boingk

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That loop pile carpet beats the hell out of the modern stuff and it lasts forever. My daughters car has the original stuff in it and it still looks great 37 years later. She is coming along nicely keep the good work.

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You have to do something with the mouse skeleton! I’m thinking hood ornament. The rat piss was my worry with the floors but it looks good. 

In fact the whole car looks great  

A mate of mine left a window down in his AE86 in the garage, and the his cat climbed in and pissed everywhere. The smell still lingers. 

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Thanks for the kind words gents. The carpet surprised me, too, I'm always a bit wary of reproduction items whatever they may be so it was good to find a mob who made reasonable carpet pans. The listers name is johnnysautocarpets2014 on eBay, the pan was about 120 posted.

Progress was getting the ignition to work - the electronic system I fitted didn't cooperate so I will have to find out what the issue there is before going further with it. It could just be a bad module. I did manage to fit a new coil, leads and plugs though. She fired up pretty well with the points dizzy after I cleaned and gapped the points correctly, then I ran a timing light over her and got everything in sync. Idles fine, 13.4v charging, no issues there. Even sucks fuel from the tank which is still partially full... 

Shortlist for the road:

  • Wheels and tyres.
  • Brake master cylinder - this one is seized solid.
  • Refurbish and fit the resistor for the coil so the points last more than a few hours.

Other than that she's pretty good... apart from the lingering smell. I'm trying everything I can to get rid of it but it is sticking around. I've even cleaned the insides of the windows and the rear venetians. Any suggestions? 

 - boingk

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Have you taken the door and rear quarter trim panels off and looked in there?  Possibly the fibreboard may also have absorbed odour.

I'd maybe take out the seats and give them a good long airing for some weeks, and  double checking nothing has burrowed up into the seats from underneath.  They were often filled with kapok which would be very attractive bedding for rodents.

The floor sound insulation material shouldn't absorb anything?

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Just came across this thread, great work so far. Given  the age and where it had been sitting that car is in great shape! nice to see it being brought back to life. Those vinyl seats look  really good.

As for the smell. hows the hood  lining? and what is living in the vents system?

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I haven't taken the trim panels off, good idea though.

The seats I left out for a few days to air, and vacuumed the underneath of the seat pans as they were dusty and had a bit of debris in them. Otherwise they look pretty good, the seat foam isn't stained, discoloured or dried out etc. I may take them back out to air.

I'm not sure if the insulation has absorbed anything but it didn't look discoloured. I suppose its possible that the humidity brought into the car by washing the floor has released the smell? Its nowhere near as bad as it was but just seems to be hanging around more, if that makes any sense.

The hood lining is perfect apart from a few cobwebs. The vents look pretty good but I am yet to get right through them, although I have opened up the heater box and given it a good vacuum. I will probably still get a foul blast once she's opened up on the road, though. Thanks for the kind words!

 - boingk

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A few days ago I took delivery of my Cheviot wheels in 13", the seller said they were 7.5" width but the stamp says 13x6JJ so I'm assuming 6". Either way they are in decent condition (apart from flaking paint on one) and I fit some cheap 185/70R13 Bridgestone Supercat radials. They were a slight stretch but went on just fine with hand levers and a bit of the old spray 'n' pop method. The seal on the rims seems good and are holding 24psi just fine.

I'll be removing the old wheels tomorrow and seeing what I can do with the old brakes, too. I'm anticipating that the calipers will need rebuilding. At least with the new wheels on I'll be able to move it around as at the moment its smack-bang in the middle of my yard!

More as it happens.

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I finally got the tyres on the car. The brakes aren't seized and everything went off without a hitch... minus having to convert to shank-style bolts for the alloy wheels.

A master cylinder and brake flush and I'm in business.

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