4AGEKE55

This is some work on the right side. Arch is flared yet still full of rust.

Next steps fix the rust in the rear wheel arches. Starting to flare the guard in this shot. Has a lot of work to go. Need to cut away more rust, weld the inner guard to the outer skin then fit the bolt on flares. I considered flaring the metal yet the corolla's I have seen that done to look wrong in my opinion. Gearbox in the middle is a T50 from a TA22 Celica with a AE86 bellhousing. It measures the same length from bellhousing to shifter as the K50 on the 4K so hopefully will use the original shifter hole. Will find out in the next couple of weeks. Gearbox at the bottom is a W57 which will go in when I have the funds for a bellhousing and more so the custom R31 diff with billet axles and commodore stud pattern.

Same suspension and wheel. Is almost inside the guard with a bit of rough panel work. Have GE Sigma A arms to go in and get some negative camber.

XT130 Strut with Commodore disc and 15" +34 wheel with 205/60 tyre

I had to grind a little bit of casting away to clear the disc hub. It was mostly casting flash and then a bit of grinding to make it neat and smooth. The arc now follows the curve line of the brake pad perfectly.

Front suspension upgrade. XT130 Front Struts. Coil over conversion coming. Only the S13WB Hilux? maybe Landcruiser Calipers are wide enough to fit over Commodore discs. Yet the discs bolt straight up. The small wheel bearing is the same part number between the Commodore and XT130 hubs.

Pedal box changed to hydraulic. I used a 2nd pedal off an AE71. Cut the pivot shaft out of the KE55 pedal then cut the AE71 pedal off it's pivot shaft. That gave me a new shaft to weld the pedal back onto. I welded the new shaft on with the pedal flush on the left hand side. This moved the pedal arm closer in line with the factory mounting point for a hydraulic master. Bought a piece of 16mm solid square steel. Cut to size, drilled a hole to bolt to the pedal and drilled and tapped the end to connect to the master cylinder. With the pedal shifted slightly left, the 16mm steel bolts directly to the pedal on the left and is dead in line with the master. I couldn't get enough piston throw with the master flush to the firewall, so spaced it out with some washers to angle the piston rod further down. This made the connection point lower on the pedal giving more throw. It doesn't give full travel with the carpet in place, yet is so close it won't matter.

Test fitting 4AGE. Had to remove the brake master so removed the booster as well so I could pull the pedal box out.

4K motor getting removed. The left hand K-MAC strut hat is from a commodore. I have a bunch of commodore parts from previous cars and surprisingly they bolted straight in. Unfortunately they lower the top mounting point which will have negative effects on my suspension geometry. Brake master is also of a commodore bolted to the original booster. They come in both 15/16" 65/35 split and 1" 70/30 split. Don't think I can use it though as the clearance is non-existent with a 4AGE smallport manifold.

Hey everyone. I've been a member here for almost 7 years, been using your wealth of information even longer. Thankyou to everyone who has contributed. The information on here makes everything so much easier. Yet at the same time so much harder due to deciding which way to go. So after buying my Rolla 8 years ago, I have been researching, planning and purchasing parts, and the time has now come to start putting things together. Thought I should probably document the process and give something back to the people who have given so much. A lot of what I am doing has been done before yet I think there will be a couple of surprises along the way. I have more things to get, yet hopefully can get the car running by the end of the year. I'd like to introduce you all to Katie. She is looking a little sad here and needs a good wash. Her bumper is also hanging due to having to remove the front quarter from a minor accident :( I first met Katie when a friend came over about 10 years ago. He had just got his license back and had borrowed a car from his in-laws. They bought the car brand new, converted her to gas, and she has travelled all of 212K Km's. Yet, happy ending, Katie is going to get a full makeover.

Cheers. That is how I was interpreting things for changing a diff but wasn't sure how the front end track was calculated. The new regs are a bit vague yet if that is how engineers are looking at it then just need to find the right one.

Old thread revival. How did the engineering go? Did you find out if the te3x has wider track and did the engineer accept that? Looking at doing some suspension mods and this has me hopefull

I thought about the hilux diff but they are becoming hard to find, cost a lot when they turn up and the R31 BW diff will handle 600+ HP if built well. There are a few very nice LSD's that can be purchased for the BW centre. 1.5 and 2 way LSD's. They BW diff was also used in V6 Commodores and straight 6 Falcons. Both have a 5 stud wheel pattern but there is a front hub that will bolt on to XT130 struts with I think the Ford bolt pattern from memory. I have flared the rear guards to fit the R31 diff in my 55 without shortening and fitted XT130 struts with Sigma LCA's at the front to even out the track front to rear. I think the commo and falcon diffs are wider. Have also picked up a diff inspection plate from an early E series Falcon which has the mount for a WATTS linkage for $12 off the old friend Ebay. The BW diff obviously never came in a toyota yet I believe it is a better fit. The pinion angle is pretty close to the stock diff and works better than the Hilux. For front suspension there are a lot of options. Most common being XT130 or RA60 based. Yet have a look around the forums and some people are coming up with some very creative and clever systems that are almost bolt in.

Was fitting some GH sigma LCA's in my KE55 this arvo when I found I already had 2 different length tie rod tubes. The originals from the 55 and some from when I picked up some XT130 struts. KE55 - 152.5mm XT130 - 172mm The XT130 tie rods fit perfectly with the Sigma GH LCA's and XT130 struts. Have been looking around for RA60 tubes yet looks like I don't need them :-)

Any new progress?

Am getting new LCA's to increase the front track and to get some negative camber. I think from memory that the 55 actually came with +1.0 camber. Sigma LCA's will add too much negative camber yet then can adjust it with the commo top hats. Have flared the wheel arches. The back wheels sit nicely in the guards, on a standard width R31 diff. The fronts are sitting a bit far inside. I can move the full range, which is 16mm, for castor with clearance front and back. Camber I can only adjust 12mm. Then the hat hits the inside of the tower. I might grind 4mm off the hat which will give it full adjustment. Yet the top spring cap will then hit the tower. Until I get coilovers.

Holidays are here and had some time this arvo. Had some KMAC adjustable top hats lying about from my old VH Commodore. Thought I would see if I could modify them or the rolla to avoid buying new hats. The result was very surprising. Pic of the original rolla top hats Even though the spacing between the bolts in the Commodore are larger, the smaller bolt diameter was enough that it bolted in with no modifications :-) And then finished I haven't checked the camber or castor angles yet. Camber looks to be about the same at 0, and that is with the hats as far negative as they go. Car is currently getting Rona/Pug/Lux brakes atm so not sure what effect this has had on suspension geometry. Will be picking up some Sigma LCA's in the next week which will make negative camber and then it should be able to be corrected with the Commodore strut tops. Seems to have added some negative castor and the hats are currently in the middle of adjustment. Can turn the hats around 120' and that will make positive castor if for any reason I require it.