Davros El Davros

Haha, good stuff Mick - and very well deserved. I would like to say I'll give you a run for your money as soon as my KE10 is finished, but I don't want to throw down a challenge like that after seeing you engine bay first hand.. I will definitely bring my car down for a Rad Rollaz cruise when it's all finished.

Vlad, Dude thats sweet that you have got the beast on the track.. And its pretty predictable what I will say here in regard to moving forward.... Looks! I think if you got it painted, sweet interior upholstery and engine detailing (which you can do yourself with a decent grinder and buff wheel) its going to be an absolute weapon. I like the chasers, but whitewalls would be nice or alloy rims - it all depends on the look you want. I have found with my car that it can be really tedious to try and make everything perfect, but I keep imagining the time I get the car all together, running and looking sweet.. I can't wait. Then once its all sorted in terms of looks, you can then pull more power out.. My two cents.. If you ever want any polishing tips, shoot me a PM.! Good luck and keep us updated. I have decided when my car is finished Ill drive it down for a Rad Rollaz cruise.. Davros

Hey Darren, Late reply.. Been mad busy trying to sort out my brake headaches, and learning how to TIG weld as well as I have decided to do my alloy airbox and radiator myself.. Good to hear you are progressing. It sure is tight in the engine bay with the 4AGE in there. I have about 5mm clearance at the back with a low profile RWD rear water outlet, but I can get a bit more clearance by adding a bit more spacing between the gearbox mounting bracket and gearbox crossmember. I don't have my gearbox mount up as high as it can go yet. By pushing the gearbox up, the engine tilts down and gives you more clearance at the back. However pushing the gearbox higher will bring it closer to the trans tunnel, so some massaging may be needed. I just bought a high density Cusco gearbox mount from Ebay to minimise gearbox movement once its all together. Not sure what you mean by the width from the flange - if you can clarify I'll measure it all and get back to you.. And there is bugger all clearance between the intake plenum and the brake master cylinder. I have decided to ditch the standard brake master cylinder and the clutch master cylinder that I have been working on and go for a Tilton Pedal box setup under the dash, so this will eliminate the issue with clearance in the engine bay. Happy to email you some pics if you like.. Davros

Just read an interesting article from a 4WD website - its from a profile written by a guy named Phil Gaukroger Here is the bit that interested me: "I got interested in outback travel in the late 1970's when I travelled bush with two mates in a 2wd KE10 Corolla station wagon. That was a pretty flash vehicle for a uni student back in those days - cost me $1400 which was saved over a couple of years working at a grog shop. It was fitted with HD springs, bullbar, tropical roof, sump guards, and used a 27Mhz radio for communications. It was very light and surprisingly capable on sand, usually only coming stuck when bottoming out on deep sand. The Corolla travelled the Birdsville, Cordillo, Strezlecki and Oodnadatta tracks before they became outback highways and did them in the summer heat (we did some crazy things in hindsight). It also did a lot of Flinders tracks. The small tyres suffered occasionally from the rocks - did 3 tyres one day, but did our own repairs, using a scissor jack under the towbar as a beadbreaker. The Corolla was cheap on petrol, going over 800km on 40 litre tank plus 2 jerries. No fridges - just a couple of canvas water bags on the front, and lots of tinned food." Taken from page 3 of this PDF My old man used to do some hectic outback trips in old valiants, but I have never seen an old corolla in the desert yet..!

Figured I should poke my nose in here and put up some images of my 4age. It's just been fitted in the engine bay but isn't running yet, so I will just show you the images of the finished engine. I have done all of the polishing myself except for the dizzy. The intake plenum took about 2 weeks of nights to sand back and buff. I have never bothered clear coating polished alloy. I think it would be a pain in the ass if you got a small scratch on something to have to get the clear coat back off and re-polish..

Hey You can try one of these tandem 11/16 unboosted master cylinders - they are available on Ebay USA and they bolt straight up to the best of my knowledge. Click Another rollaclub member (can't remember who right now..) has put one of these on his early model rolla. You can always go the suggested re-sleeve, it would probably cost you around $80 for a re-sleeve and overhaul, new rubbers etc. However if you want a dual circuit one that will bolt straight up and is made for corollas, try the ebay item. I have some pics from an old thread on here if you want them. Good luck - let us know what you end up running with. I know there are a whole bunch of possibilities. Rollaclub member Jono had a pajero master cylinder in his KE20 4AGTE.

Phife: Yeah I think these master cylinders are a fairly generic unit. I didn't know that at the time of purchasing mine otherwise I would have gone to repco or supercrap. I rigged everything up today with a really rough clutch line over the top of the engine just to see if it works. I flared all of the ends myself and the system works sweet - no leaks anywhere. The issue now is dealing with the amount of flex in the firewall when the pedal is engaged, and also increasing the amount of throw that the slave cylinder has - it's not pushing out far enough to engage the clutch properly. I am going to increase the length of the clutch slave engage rod, and also change the angle of the engage arm from the clutch pedal. Here is a pic of the pedal in place and attached to the master cylinder: I have also finally finished the surge tank and pump setup, with all of the braided lines and fittings. I am stoked with the finish of the surge tanks setup and pump bracket, and of course it's been polished to within an inch of its life. Here are some quick pics. I am going to do a full boot lining - probably cut the panels from thin plywood and then cover them with black marine carpet - I want something that will look good but be really hard wearing at the same time. This is intended to be a daily after all...

Hey Darren, Here are some pics of my clutch master cylinder and the clutch slave. I purchased the master cylinder from a really helpful guy named Goran at Brakewest in VIC. He has an ebay store, and is a cool guy to deal with. It is a fairly generic master cylinder, but here is whats stamped on it: 10 TVS - Girling T26G And thats it! It is a 3/4 bore, but I may have to get it re-sleeved to suit my slave cylinder which is 13/16. This is not crucial, but the difference in sizes will give a softer pedal feel. I am going down to the brake and clutch place tomorrow so Ill post back up and let you know what the outcome is. Phife: Thanks for posting that document up - I might add it as a download from the first page of my thread. The guy that wrote it up is an absolute demon with the equations etc. Must have been an engineer or something, or just fluid mechanics guru. I also have been investigating inside firewall setups by both Tilton and Willwood. I found out today that Willwood pedal setups are not road legal in QLD because they have 'For off road use only' stamped on the box. At least this is what a guy at Get Boosted brake specialists in Redland Bay, Brissy told me. I have also been looking at simply rigging up a reverse mounted Willwood twin circuit master cylinder, and then modifying my brake pedal in a similar way to my clutch pedal. However I think there is a much simpler and smarter way I can do it. I was looking at the intake plenum today and where it sits exactly in relation to my master cylinder. Here is a pic for reference: So, my current single circuit master cylinder is about 125mm long (from memory - could be completely wrong). The shortest twin circuit master that I can find, with remote reservoir, is a Willwood one that measures in at around 150mm. I am thinking that I can just drop the vertical position of the brake master cylinder by about 60-75mm, so that it still sits in the engine bay, but lower on the firewall. This would be enough to clear the intake plenum, and would still be fine to rig up through a new hole in the firewall to the brake pedal. I had a look at everything today and I think it's going to work, but if anyone has any opinions please throw them up.

Hey Man, Thought I would jump in and finally check out your thread - I went on a Rad Rollaz cruise a few months ago when I was down in Sydney hoping to check out your car, but you weren't on that particular cruise. It's a mad looking little ride dude, and has some great planning and ideas. It's great inspiration for a few hurdles I still have to get over with mine. I am currently looking at my brake setup, and am considering either a Willwood or a Tilton pedal setup, but was concerned about not having much space under the dash.. Are you running the Tilton master cylinders or generic master cylinders? Any chance of some more pics of the actual pedal/master cylinder setup? Would be much appreciated.. Cheers Davros

Condog: Ok at present this is my idea for the front struts: Original KE10 struts with aftermarket springs and new inserts, KE20 strut tops to make it sit lower. I am going to put KE70 discs - probably find some slotted ones aftermarket and Girlock calipers so I can run VN Holden Commodore Brake pads. ADM KE55s and KE70s had Girlock calipers. I'll then get a whiteline sway bar, which will have to be modified to fit around the bigger brakes, and then decide if I want to take the front wishbone spring thingo out.. I am running a remote booster - at this stage it is either a VH40 or VH44. I have one of each, and just have to get them tested to see which one has better pressure. I was going to put it in the engine bay, but I want the bay to look as nice as possible, so it's getting mounted in the boot. Ill probably just run boosted front brakes and unboosted rears, with a proportioning valve to allow even pressure between the front and back. I would be mad keen, as well as a bunch of others, to see some pics of your setup for sure. You can post them in this thread, or email them to me and Ill post them. Darren: Hydraulic clutch setup in a KE10 is an absolute piece of piss..Ke10s have an allowance for a clutch master cylinder thats already in the firewall. I just got a clutch master cylinder that has suitable mounting holes - vertical holes and then made the existing main hole bigger using a die grinder. I then made a hefty 10mm aluminium backing plate that sits inside the firewall, and supports the clutch master from the inside and stops firewall flex. I then had to extend the centre pin of the clutch pedal pivot which was done by welding a high tensile bolt straight on. I then made up a small steel arm that mates to the clutch master with the clevis pin. I am currently using 2 high tensile nuts to tightly clamp the engage arm in place until the whole system is set up, then I will get it all TIG welded so its super strong. Here are some pics of the clutch pedal assembly. Ill post more as I set the whole thing up in the car. But basically by welding the high tensile bolt on then attaching an engage arm off the bolt, pointing downwards to mate to the clutch master piston, it pushes in when you push the pedal in. It also retains the original cable clutch hook on the pedal, if I ever want to go back to a cable clutch setup.

Hey Matty, Yeah I haven't forgotten either! But I haven't been around to do much lately - been in Europe for 6 weeks and have just got home. More updates will come as soon as I nail more work on the car - ordering the radiator as soon as I get the measurements right, and also chasing a 100kw stock harmonic balancer - I am not going to risk running the alloy crank pulley I got from Techno Toy Tuning and potentially cracking or breaking the crank because the engine is off balance. Have you got a 100kw smallport harmonic balancer lying around? I am also looking at the brakes (seems I am always thinking about the brakes...) Considering mounting the remote booster in the boot. Going to take it out to All Brake and Clutch and get them to recon it for me.

Thanks for the feedback boys, your enthusiasm makes me even more amped to get this thing finished. Its been hectic lately - I have been trying to get as much work as I can to pay for the car, but a heap of work has hit at once and I haven't got any time to spend on the beast at all.. Radrollaz - Yeah dude, I can't help myself. I have already decided that as soon as the car is running and registered its all coming out and the engine bay is getting a full respray. I have just found a friend of a friend with his own shed and spray booth/bake oven so its going there. I would like to get the whole car done, but that will be down the track. Oldskool - man I'm hearing you there - it's like the damn domino effect isn't it. At the rate I am going I am going to polish every freakin nut and bolt on the whole car. Btw nice work on the fabrication work for your conversion. I am looking to get a TIG/MIG Inverter soon, and your work is inspiring... Jono - I dare say you are right.. I was recently driving a good mate's SR20DET Powered KE55 and the turbo bug is pretty infectious. But i want to focus on getting this N/A engine in there and then see what happens..

Hey Guys, Thanks for the positive reinforcement.. |blink| Cuzzo - no turbo planned at this stage - I want to get it all in and working and get a feel for the car with the 4AGE power then see where I want to take it. I have thought of a JDM bellhousing, but I figured (maybe incorrectly?) that they were pretty hard to find, and I would like to try and utilise what I have got on hand at this stage. But even with a JDM bellhousing unless the clutch slave is mounted higher on the JDM bellhousing compared to the ADM bellhousing I think it would still hit the streeting arm, but on the drivers side rather than the passengers side?

Thanks heaps for the quick reply. I'll rip over and check the measurements with my engine bay tomorrow and then try and get a hold of one of it will fit. Good luck with your brake upgrades |blink|

Hey Guys, Dunadan - the VIN number of the little beast is: KE10178846 I have been meaning to get it on the database - I wanted to get the engine conversion done first. Also cheers for the props on the website - that was a lot of work, and a lot of time I wanted to be spending on the car.. But I needed to get it all up and completed and get some work rolling through the door. Beerhead - I have nutted out a solution for the clutch slave cylinder (I hope!). I went to repco and got one with the bleed nipple in a different place, and then made up an offset bracket to step the slave cylinder and the strike plate off the clutch fork by about 30-50mm. I will post up some pics as soon as I get back to the garage. There looks to be a fair amount of room for the exhaust. By a fair amount I mean around 3-4 inches! It will go pretty close to the slave cylinder, but I am looking to get the exhaust Ceramic Coated to reduce heat in the engine bay and hopefully this should be ok down there. I have to rig up the hydraulic clutch system as soon as I get a spare weekend, and the time to take a trip out to All Brake and Clutch in Rocklea to get the correct thread fitting for my clutch master cylinder. I am starting to wrap my head around the brake system. A few ideas in mind in regard to upgrading to a tandem master cylinder, with the super limited clearance I have, but nothing concrete as yet.

Hey Matt, Thats a nice find - looks like exactly the type of thing I am after to suit my KE10 - 4AGE conversion. If it's not too much trouble, would you be able to quickly measure the overall distance of the unit, from the brass cap at the front to the firewall mounting face at the rear? I currently have a certain amount of clearance to my intake plenum that I would like to squeeze a tandem master cylinder into and if this one fits I will hunt one down.. Thanks in advance Davros

Well, never fear Dougy because it's all bolted in the engine bay right now!! I started by prepping the engine, as it has been sitting on the stand for the last year or so. Inserted the spigot bearing into the back of the crank, installed the manual flywheel with the proper long flywheel bolts I have had ordered for ages. Aligned the clutch with LittleRedSpirit's super specialist T50 22 spline clutch aligning tool :yes: Then I went to drop the engine in and took a look at the engine bay and cross member. Now this is the problem with having such a detailed engine - It's like a domino effect. Once one part is polished, it makes the part next to it look like shite, so that part has to be polished as well, and it continues from there. I was thinking that I could get away without re spraying the engine bay and cross member etc, but after seeing the engine sitting next to the car, I realised I didnt have much choice. So I spent the best part of a day cleaning up the cross member and front chassis rails, and starting to rub back the engine bay. I gave them a quick coat of primer. I am going to fit the engine first, then do all of the drilling and mod work in the engine bay to get everything in there, and then once it's all running sweet I'll pull the engine back out and repaint the whole engine bay. Can't help myself. And now here is the sexy part. Dummy fitted the engine first with no gearbox just to make sure the mounts I have had for over a year were right. Thank sweet baby jesus they were. Then fitted the gearbox and backing plate, clutch etc and with the help of a mate dropped it in the car. Was initially having issues with the gearbox hanging on the steering arm, but once I got under there and levered it over, it just dropped in fine. And I am guessing this is where the real fun begins. The engine sits in the engine bay really well, its pretty far back, but has just enough clearance for the small rear water outlet I have. Fitting the water outlet will be fun. The bolts for the gearbox stays just clear the steering arm by about 3mm, and the gearbox sits in the trans-tunnel realy well, without rubbing anywhere. I had to move the hole for the gear shift back by about 100mm, but will have plenty of clearance for the handbrake still. The water pump and crank pulleys have plenty of clearance at the front to the radiator, and I will be able to use my triple core KE10 radiator if I wanted to, but I think I will go with a custom alloy radiator. The 2 parts that will be a bit problematic are shown here: The clutch slave cylinder is hitting the steering assembly, causing it to lose about 1.5 turns of steering lock on that side, so I am currently looking at off setting the clutch slave. And in the engine bay, the intake plenum only just clears the brake master cylinder. I would ideally like to upgrade to a twin circuit master cylinder with remote booster, but this may prove to be a bit more messing around than I thought. But all in all its fits in there really well, and I can't wait to start work on getting everything hooked up....

Thanks for the feedback guys, and thanks for the continued help LittleRedSpirit :) I'm keen to talk to you more about some suspension/diff upgrades. Mick - don't think that this car will go as hard as your beast, but hopefully will look just as neat! I'm about to head over to my garage and drop the engine and gearbox in today...It's been a long time coming so I am a bit excited! And of course there will be pics.

An Update. Finally. Ok, it's been way too long since I have updated anything on this thread, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening with the car. I have been working like a fiend, now freelancing after the job I moved to Brisbane to work at ended in June. So after spending insane stints in front of the computer, I don't exactly feel like spending another few hours updating the car thread. Which is a shame.! I have actually finally launched a portfolio site, so if any one wants to check it, click here So, in the last few months, the bulk of my spare time has been spent with the buffing wheel, respirator and a damn dusty garage. As you can see below I have got super happy and basically polished everything that is alloy on the engine, or is able to retain shine without rusting. I originally started by taking the cam covers, dizzy and water outlets to a polishing place, but I wasn't happy with the results, so I decided to do the rest myself. Started with the RWD water outlet, then moved on to the water pump, then shaving the lettering from the cam covers, then completely sanding back the intake plenum until it was smooth and buffing that. I also have replaced almost every visible, non high tensile bolt with stainless steel bolts, which have the heads shaved, sanded and buffed to a mirror finish. Alternator was pulled apart and polished, and custom overdrive alternator, underdrive water pump and single row crank pulley were added, thanks to Techno Toy Tuning. I have fidanza adjustable cam gears, and a custom polished alloy plate made up to cover the hole in the cam gear backing plate from the FWD engine. Have also finished the setup of the genuine RWD water gear/cooling setup, but pics will follow in the next post. I'm mad happy with the progress on the engine, considering the way that it started out. I have taken the liberty to post some more shots of the engine when I picked it up, just to remind myself that progress, however slow, is happening. Can't wait to see it in the engine bay.

Glad that I stumbled across this thread as I am going to replace all of the bushes in my KE10 after the new engine is put in, along with getting the rear springs re-leaved and a front sway bar and KE20 strut tops. Are all of the bushes readily available at somewhere like Repco? Cheers Davros

Dude that will go hard. One of my best friends in Nowra NSW has a really nice KE55 with an SR20DET in it. The thing is a rocket ship. Just make sure you get the engine nice and far back in the engine bay. Looking forward to more updates...

I would say jump on google and start searching around - I was investigating this option a little while ago also and found a few hot rod forums and other info.. I just found about 4 sites that have info and pics. Heres on with a few images for inspiration: Click Its obviously not Australian but can give you a few ideas. Good luck - be keen to see what you come up with. What sort of engine/setup are you running?

I understand the predicament you're in bro - I just moved from Wollongong where I had a an awesome garage and neighbours who were cool to a newish townhouse in Brisbane city area that is really close to the other residents. I can't make too much noise where I am now, but I have been lucky enough to find a place around the corner where a guy is renting me a space underneath his house where I am doing the engine conversion in my KE10. If you look around, check local community noticeboards at shopping centres, search the web or even put up some posters around where you live you will definitely find something. Try posting or searching here: Click

Yeah bro, whole interior is custom upholstery including seats, roof lining, door trims, carpet and boot... was all done by the previous owner(s) of the car. Not sure where the steering wheel boss kit came from - it was in the car when I bought it. It has a Momo wheel - not sure of exact model name. Suspension wise I am going to put stiffer struts all round and get the rear leaves re-set at a spring place just down the road from where I work. Have been making some good progress on the engine - its starting to look pretty tidy. More pics up over the weekend.

Thanks for the feedback guys.. Simon- the gauges are VDO cockpit gauges, should be available from any decent performance shop. In regard to front calipers and struts, I am going to go with the KE70 rotors and calipers, and upgrade to slotted rotors. I'm going to use the later model stud pattern as it will open up the range of wheels that I can put on the car. I want more rubber on the road and want bigger wheels if I want bigger brakes later on. For starters I am leaving the struts and suspension standard - this is one area I don't have a great deal of experience with (well, along with the rest of the conversion haha) I have started stripping the engine bay in preparation to pull the engine out next weekend. Also started stripping the interior out so all the nice upholstery doesn't get munted by the cutting and welding that will be going on. I also got happy and made a new parcel shelf/rear speaker setup for the KE55 daily that I am driving while the KE10 is off the road. Trying not to spend too much time on this car, but can't help it...ha More pics on the way of new goodies arriving each week. Fidanza Adjustable cam gears and full Toyota Genuine RWD cooling setup have arrived. Will post pics when its all hooked up. Also designing a sweet surge tank/fuel pump housing setup from aluminium at the moment. Looking at getting a dry cell battery to put inside the cabin under the seat - does anyone know a good place to order an Odyssey Gel battery?