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1977 KE35 CS Coupe


Chances

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Got this nice little 1 owner a few weeks ago with full log books, receipts and even a Polaroid of it when it was new, its my first Corolla and so far I love it :D

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Main reason I liked it so much was that it was kept stock its whole life so there isn't many parts I need to find and I thought it was quite rare to find one in this condition.
The drivers side door had a good whack a few years ago the previous owner mentioned, I had to source a new glass window (got the whole door+mirror which was awesome). Wasn't as hard to find as I had firstly thought,  other than that the passenger front guard has a small but decent dent in the front near the headlight and the chrome strip is all busted up :(.

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Not much rust at all considering its age I thought, rear passenger guard is the worst in the whole car. I believe the car had a touch up long ago as there's signs of repair in back of the roof/down between the windows, looks good from far away so that will do for now lol...

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Dumped the oil straight away and put some nice full zinc Penrite in and gave the engine bay and motor a good scrub.
Thermostat was totally seized so that was replaced.
New oil and fuel filter.
Water pump has seen better days but I have it a good clean and slapped it back on for now.
Sanded back the air cleaner housing as it was in a terrible state but gave up after it was good enough as I didn't have the right tools to do it properly. Gave it a paint in white but it looked weird so I went black, need to find the original color code or something... taped up the best looking original paint and the sticker on the housing so I could get it matched if all else fails (not a high priority at all).
Rocker cover was sanded back with 1500 and it come up pretty good I thought.
Flushed out all the crappy rusty water from the block and heater hoses - was filthy...
Gave the radiator a flush with the hose and painted it and the fan cover.

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Noticed the distributor vacuum advance wasn't working, I think the diaphragm is seized up.. don't have a timing light handy so when I take it to the mechanics soon ill get him to take a look at the distributor and hopefully its an easy fix (doubt it).
Does this need to be working for the secondaries to open up on the carb or is it just for the timing when decelerating ?
In this photo the carb doesn't look like one of the throats have been working ?
Read up a bit about them but still a little confused. I'm thinking ill just send it away and get it rebuilt when I have some cash to blow.

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Other than that there isn't too much mechanically wrong with it, going to change the wheel bearings cause that's cheap and probably start looking at the bushes and replacing them slowly over time. Ill take some nice pics when its up on the hoist.

Really wanted to get the cassette player working so I pulled it apart and gave it a good clean (had to learn how to do this lol). Replaced the belt and found the motor to be seized, come good with some crc lectra-clean and a few spins. Took a while to get it sorted so when it finally worked I was so happy :D ... made some tapes on a $40 Yamaha tape deck I got off gumtree yesterday just for recording and they sound pretty good (not really) from the original speakers, when I'm cashed up ill get some 5x7 which Ive read should fit in the standard holes - ill check before I buy any as I def don't want to cut any holes anywhere.
Video of the player working with a tape I made up :))
https://streamable.com/wvqww

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Main drama I still have is when I floor the pedal - even when rolling, it just bogs down until maybe 3000rpm ?? then it seems to liven up. Was pretty sluggish when I first drove it but after the little service I gave it and filled it up with 98 + upper head lube additive it seems to have come back to life somewhat. I'm thinking perhaps the timing is simply off, or worst case the carb needs a good service or tune at least. Still haven't got my hands on a service manual as some of them don't have the KE35 coupe and some do - I think... just going to get a newer one when I can which will def have the CS Coupe.

So that's it for now, done about 300km over the past week with her all over Brisbane, up the lookout, over the gateway bridge and its very nice to drive!
Next on the agenda are wheel bearings, gearbox oil gasket, sort out the carb.
Long term goal is to slowly refurbish the rest of the car, the front guard needs to be beat out or replaced and the drivers side door needs to be swapped over with the one I got with the window.
Hoping the a KE55 coupe door line up with the body lines on the KE35... I know the base of the mirrors are bigger on the 55 as I have one for my drivers door, the bottom hangs off the body a bit so I'm wondering if the door is slightly wider or something.
Hate autos also, would be nice to swap it over to 4 or 5 speed as id like to drive long distance and the old trimatic is kinda limited to 90 unless I want to rev the hell out of it for an hour straight but I don't want to cut any holes to fit it. Ive read the early K gearboxes should bolt right in, but Ive also heard the autos may not have the mounting holes for the manual - its a low priority so not too worried about it for now - its just a cruiser anyway :)

Anyway hope you enjoy the pics, hopefully down the road it will have a total respray in the original color and at this stage ill fix the rust, door and all the big jobs like that as it wont be very cheap to do it properly.

Edited by Chances
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Nice find mate, even if it does need a little work its very original and complete as you said.

There will be not a whole lot below 3000rpm in these little guys, especially with the automatic box that both you and I are cursed with. The converter and hydraulic pump both suck energy out of the drivetrain that could otherwise go to the wheels... manuals are much better in these little engines as you've noticed. A K40 will bolt right up, it may be worth a trip to the wreckers to see if they;ve got the whole lot - a rusted and wrecked Corolla to scavenge would be ideal.

Timing should be 10 degrees before top dead centre at idle. The bog in the carby may be a bad accelerator pump diaphragm. With the engine off, take the aircleaner off and look into the carb throat. It should shoot fuel down its venturi when you push the throttle linkage. If it doesn't, or only a dribble comes out, you will need a new pump diaphragm. These should be fairly cheap and easy to replace. E10 will destroy carby parts so keep on using 95 or 98.

All up, nice ride!

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Cheers for the reply, I rang a dozen wreckers in Brisbane, Sunny Coast and Toowoomba searching for corollas but it was pretty unsuccessful but this was for the drivers window so I might have to give it another go. I see a K40 on Gumtree at the moment for $70 but its too far from me unfortunately, def keeping an eye out for one locally tho.

Ill check out the carbie tomorrow too and leave an update here, ill be surprised if its working 100% as it looks pretty sad :P
 

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Get yourself a quality carby rebuild kit and pull it apart give it a good scrub and put it back together with new kit in it. If one thing is worn out you can guarantee there will be more stuffed parts in there. Just have a nice clean surface to pull it apart  on put all the bits in order as they come off and put them back in reverse order. Its not as hard as it first looks. I rebuilt the carby on my daughters hardtop in a couple of hours from go to whoa with zero experience. She is a neat ride it amazes me these granny spec cars keep appearing.

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