thcraig87

Hey guys Just thought I would let you know how I went. Had a good look around the extractors and the gasket to the head and it looked sooty/black. So I thought no worries, just a gasket. Took it to a local exhaust mob just to check it out anyway. Had two cracks in the extractors, one longitudanally out of two and one transverse/round the pipe out of four. Couldn't patch, so new extractors. Cost a bit, but the tick is gone. Thanks for the help, until next time I suppose.

Thanks heaps for the help. Well the sounds you describe are pretty similar to mine. Louder down low, but just crazy loud/scary in general. Is there any reasoning behind it only being under load and not all the time? The setup is 4-2-1, but no gaskets. Just one at the manifold/extractors then the next one isn't until just before the cat converter down near the gearbox. So must be the manifold gasket if any. Definitely sounds like under the bonnet. Changing this gasket should be easy right? I know I have said those words before...

Do you mean at the gasket?

Hey guys Got a tough one. Picked up a tick in my small port 4age. Only appears under load. I can push the clutch in and give it a boot full, when rolling, and no tick. Nothing at idle, smooth as. As soon as it's in gear and accelerating its there, goes again when at a constant speed. It's definitely not a ping, doesnt sound like one and I put an octane booster just incase I was mistaken. The thing that gets me too is that it is out of no where. I parked her and it was all good; I took her out 4 days later and it was there. Does anyone have any ideas, any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/uploads/1318419830/gallery_10805_775_962367.jpg Hey mate Hopefully the above link will take you to my pics, otherwise just jump on my profile and look at the gallery. Pictures of the 17s are up and one of the 14s I hope to change them to. Best of luck.

Mate I will get some this weekend and post them. If you like the wheels, they are for sale, seeing as I have the 14s now. Once I post the pics, if you like them you can pm me, otherwise all good. Kind of funny, I tell you not to go bigger than 15s, then try to sell you my 17s. Well at least you know they work. Back soon.

Sorry mate, forgot to say mine is a KE35...

Mate I have 17s on mine. Not by my choice may I add, she came with them. Pretty low profile to fit them in (205 something..40s I think, can't remember and not close to her right now). Only hits the guards on the very extremities of the wheel lock. The wheels are a front wheel drive offset though, so at least an offset of 25 to 30mm. The problem is that it looks bad from the back because the rear wheels don't dish out to the guards. They look like they are sitting in too far. The other problem is because of the low profile she rides as rough as. So I have just bought some 14x6s to put back on mine. Moral of the story is that your 16s can be done. You would have to be careful with the offset and risk the fact that the low profile would hurt the smoothness of the ride (not that they are all that smooth to start with). The big rims look great, don't get me wrong, I love the way mine looks. I just think that no more than 15s is the call. The other thing is to consider what is legal depending on where you are. QLD is no more than 15mm larger or less than 26mm less than the stock wheel diameter. Not that you mean to change this too much, just something to keep in mind.

Plus one on Rob's comment. Did the same thing to an 93 model civic I had. Didn't ground it properly and rooted the electrics. I can't remember whether it turned over or whether there was just nothing, I do remember the cost of the auto-electrician to fix her though, wasn't nice. Mate with it being the electronic dizzy version I would bet a fair bit of money that this is the problem (assuming you have put everything back on the exact same way it came off).

Mate I'm going to jump in before someone else does. Just go to forums, type what you want in the search (probably engine conversions or general mechanical) and you will hit a fair few threads of guys that have built this engine or are talking about how it should be done. Everything you need you could probably find in topics already discussed. Just be careful mate because if you ask a question that can be easily found in a previous forum you will get smashed by the old boys for asking it in the first place. Learnt my lesson. Best of luck.

Pretty sure you have to go to a mechanic for a new plate. I think they will need to check things on the car and then issue you a new one.

Is it true that bog will actually attract (absorb) water and cause further rust down the track? Has anyone ever used one of those electric rust preventers that people use now on beach vehicles? When you cut out all the rust and re-spray, will one of these help in preventing it coming back? (sorry for taking the thread slightly off track)

Sweet. Yeah I've been meaning to pull out the lowering blocks since I have had it. It does look nice, but it rides like a dog. Not to mention when you have anyone sitting in the back seat, it gets sooo much worse. The Holden unis that are spoken about above. What are they out of? Keen to do some investigating. The ones I have are relatively little, so I would been keen to increase the size if its possible. And yeah my days of side stepping the clutch are a long way behind me now, however, I admit that my driving that night wasn't great. Still, I had an old KE70 for my first car and absolutely smashed it (and yeah I know that 4K vs 4AGE is a big difference). Even so, I was a lot harder on that then I have ever been on this and she was right as rain. I just didn't expect to break the uni, diff maybe...

Evening Everyone Just got a quick couple of questions about universal joint problems. Firstly I have a small port 4age in a KE35, T50 box and stock borg warner diff. I broke the universal in front of the diff the other day, just fell into pieces. Gave it a boot full, dropped the clutch and bang. Previous owner said that he had it happen to him twice as well. Now I know this is a "high load" situation and that things break at the weakest point. That being said, it is probably better breaking a uni rather than a diff, however, I thought that it was still pretty unusual. Has anyone had any experience with this? How did you fix it, what can I do? If I strengthen the uni will I start breaking the diff? Lastly, and sorry this may be a stupid question. I have 2inch lowering blocks in the back and was wondering if this has any effect on the angle at which the uni sits, i.e. putting more strain on the joint? Any help is appreciated. Craig

Agree with the check your filter stuff, but if it didn't do it before and it does now then I you sort of need to find out why. Remember that smaller sized filters will give you a higher oil pressure and may help to build the pressure a little quicker. I had a similar problem with my 4K, don't know if it applies to the 3K though. She would rattle on start up and take up to five seconds for the oil light to go off and then was fine while running. It was the timing chain tensioner, relatively easy fix, all good after that. So it could be that. I think if it was the pump or a blockage then it may go on for longer than the first five to ten seconds and probably give you other problems while driving? Not sure??? Hope it helps.

I have had the same problem with the back universals, Are there any reasons why? Or is it just that they are small?

Mate the 12a only has a displacement of 1146cc. So once you do all the calculations the minimum factory kerb weight of your car (for an n/a 12a) needs to be about 765kg or higher for it to be a legal conversion in QLD. The KE16 are pretty little, but I think they should make the 765kg mark. You just need to find the kerb weight that QLD mechanics need to use when doing the mod plates. By the way all the gear you need to know for the calculations is on the QLD transport website in the modifications book. For actual defined weights you need to go to a mechanic though.

Maybe the actual/confirmed weight may have been more helpful to everyone than just a straight re-post. Perhaps.... Trying to help each other out more so than be smart. So how is old mate going to go with his n/a 13b box? Assuming that he doesn't have a turbo 12a one sitting around, will he need one?

Maybe the actual/confirmed weight may have been more helpful to everyone than just a straight re-post. Perhaps.... Trying to help each other out more so than be smart. So how is old mate going to go with his n/a 13b box? Assuming that he doesn't have a turbo 12a one sitting around, will he need one?

Yeah mate all good as long as your figures are right, I trust they would be. If you research on the net it says that the KE35 (my car) kerb weight is 880, which means that a 13b just fits in when you multiply that kerb weight by three for the n/a engines (gives you max. cc capacity). I went to a mechanic to double check the weight and the book, he legally has to work from, said that the KE35 original kerb weight was only 815kg so a 13b was no good. It actually only just scrapes in a 12a. I assumed the KE30 would be in a similar weight range to the KE35, but a short bit of research revealed that apparently it is 880kg. In this case a 13b would be OK, but you need to ensure that you double check the weight with a mechanic. It may have been a bad assumption on my part, but better to be safe then sorry so check it just to make sure.

Thanks, once again all good stuff. Sounds like an easy enough job. I will let you all know how she goes in the build section. Cheers

Sorry about the mix-up. Its meant to read, "illegal in a KE30," in QLD anyway. The biggest we can go up here is a n/a 12a. Its a shame, I love my rotors. It would be pretty funny if the 13b's were illegal in a state, there would be some very unhappy RX-7 owners. Me being one of them :)

I have heard its tough not due to engine size, but due to gearbox size. A fair bit of cutting and welding to get the gearbox in the tunnel, still only what I have heard though and that was going into a KE70, I don't know if your kE30 tunnel is bigger. There is heaps more to it than just dropping it in. As said before the diff and tailshaft. My tailshaft was custom built in the end for the 4age conversion. Plus a 13b (even a n/a one) is illegal on the road in QLD, the biggest we can go is a 12a, due to the rotary capacity needing to by multiplied by two when doing conversions. So if you plan to register it make sure you check out those regulations too.

Thanks for all the information guys. I think big port cams or 256s might be the go depending on availability and cost and a bit of port and head work.It already has a 2" exhaust and extractors on her with a muffler (not a cannon :) ) I was thinking a pod filter, because I do like the note and have been told by many about the better performance. I haven't done it as yet though, because there is a sensor sticking out of the back of the stock air box. What do I do with that? Where does it go?

Mate definitely sounds like the head gasket. I have never claimed to be experiences with working with engines, but I changed a head gasket on my old 4K and in a ford laser no worries at all. Just have the owners manual, the right tools, take your time and you should be right. Just make sure you get the head machined so you know it is flat when you pull it back down. While you're at the head works shop you will also have options to freshen up things if you choose to, its up to you and you're wallet as to what you get done. In the end my 4K gasket blew on me again and instead of getting a new/reconditioned head for it I just upgraded to a 5K engine package (only cost $100 more) and was very happy with the outcome. If you have a 4K that goes pretty well though, it might be worth holding onto. Hope it helps.