Banjo

Hi Lachie, Any chance that the alarm system that was removed, had an immobiliser relay or such, that cut out the ignition, & prevented the car from starting, if it was broken into ? That could explain why no power out of the ignition barrel & to the coil. Was the alarm system removed very recently, or has it been running perfectly for some time since it's removal ? Cheers Banjo.

Hi Lachie, Without knowing more about your car engine setup, as to whether it is standard carby & ignition, or otherwise, I'll have a stab in the dark & suggest you've lost power to the fuel cut-off valve built into the carby. This cuts fuel off to the carby, as soon as you switch the ignition off. If you get someone to turn the ignition on & off, (not start it) you should be able to hear it clicking, if you put your ear down close. If no tick, then unplug wire & test for power with a multimeter of test light. Cheers Banjo.

That's one of Murphy's Laws. "The day or week after you throw something away, that you've had for ages, you will have a need for it". Trouble is, you finish up with no shed space left. Cheers Banjo

Hi Madis, I don't think you'd be the first one to have a burnt out fuse box. The net search indicates it is quite frequent. Is your KE70 left hand drive ? I heard last year, that they are now allowing RHD cars to be registered in Estonia now after some EU ruling. Does your fuse box look like this ? Unfortunately, I'm into KE30-KE55s, which are different, but someone here may have a spare one, they are prepared to post to you, to get a fellow Rolla enthusiast out of trouble. Post a picture of your box in situ if you can. It's a bugger of a place to work on that kick panel area, if you are large. I had a kinked neck for a week after rewiring my KE30 in that area. Cheers Banjo

Good one Will ! Glad you were able to fix it. Welcome aboard ! Cherrs Banjo

Finally got around to fitting the sensor to the timing chain cover at the weekend. Simply removed the camshaft sprocket, & drilled a small hole in one of the "spokes" of the sprocket. There is plenty of meat in the casting at those points. I used a rare earth magnet 10mm in dia. & 25mm long. Determine which is north pole, & which is south pole, & mark accordingly, as the Hall Effect sensor I used, (Honeywell model SR3F-A1) is unipolar, and only operates to a south pole. South Pole must face out to the front of the sprocket. I liberally coated the hole & the magnet with Araldite, and ensured the face of the south pole was flush with the front outer face of the sprocket. Magnets are also available in a "screw in" package in plastic or metal case. This might work well, as it doesn't require Araldite to hold it in. "Loctite only". Only disadvantage is the magnetic strength of these smaller magnets, will probably require a smaller gap between pole face & sensor. I used another cover off a 4K or 5K instead of the original 3K one, so simply ground the "ribs" off the inner side of the casting and drilled a hole for the sensor (14mm) There is quite a good thickess of metal in the timing chain cover, so for permanent use on a road car, I would tap the hole (M14 x 1.0), and only use the outer locknut, so the sensor could be removed without removing cover, if the Hall Effect sensor ever needed to be replaced. The sensor has a threaded barrel & lock nuts, so it's distance between sensing face & magnet south face can be adjusted. I hooked up the sensor to an LED, so I could see it switch, when the engine was rotated. The sensor reliably switched with gaps of 1mm to 10mm, so I set it at 5mm. I had previously tested the sensor on the bench with an oscilloscope, and it produced a very clean sharp pulse about 1.2m/S wide at around 5200 rpm. I think I read in the specs, that they are good to about 100kHz, so speed is not an issue. This sensor should provide a very reliable "synch" signal for any after market ECU, requiring one. Unlike the crankshaft pulley ones, it is hidden away, fully protected, and is guaranteed operation up to 125 deg C. I will fit one to my road car next time I have the radiator out, and hook it up to a simple tacho for a month or two, to see how it performs long term, before trying it with my Haltech E6K. ____________________________________________________________________________ I did learn that all 3K/4K/5K sumps mounting holes & timing chain covers are not identical. The 3K sump's very two front flange mounting holes, (one on each side), do not line up with the timing chain cover from the 4K or 5K I used. Cheers Banjo

Good luck Phil ! Leaving sunny Queensland ? Keep in touch on here, and let us know what you are up to. Reminds me of an olde Black Adder saying . . . "I've got a plan so cunning, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel !" Cheers Banjo

We all wait, wondering what the "next project" will be. After the the 4K with twin overhead cam head, I can't imagine how that will be trumped. But that's what the car with engine was sold for, . . . . . the next project ? ? ? What a thread ! ! ! I've read it several times; all 6 pages. Cheers Banjo

Just a stock one mate ! Cheers Banjo

I was assembling a 3K on the bench at the weekend, & thought I take a few pictures of the fitment aligning marks for the timing chain, that might help those new to K Series engines, or that don't have a factory workshop manual. Getting this wrong, can cause great heartache, especially if you've assembled the engine & refitted it to the car, only to find, you've got it wrong. A dizzy fitted incorrectly, is easy to rectify, but a timing chain "refit", can be very frustrating. The camshaft & crankshaft must be in a precise postion, when the sprockets & chain are fitted. Toyota have provided some markings, which must line up. The crankshaft sprocket must be in the postion with no:1 & no:4 pistons being at TDC (top dead centre). The keyway for crankshaft sprocket should be at 12:00 o'clock. ie: vertical, with the engine horizontal. There is a small mark at about 5:00 o'clock, which I have marked with "whiteout" for these photos to make it a bit clearer. You can just see the "dot" in the pic above. The camshaft has two sets of markings. The location pin on the end of the camshaft that engages with the camshaft sprocket, must line up with the camshaft thrust plate alignment marker. Ensure the camshaft thrust plate is not fitted upside down, if you haven't already fitted the timing chain cover "back plate". The thrust plate is not synmetrical, as is shown in the pic above. These two markings are obscured, once the camshaft sprocket is fitted. The camshaft sprocket has a small mark at about 11 o'clock. The timing chain can usually be fitted with the crankshaft sprocket already fitted to the crankshaft, as long as the chain anti-vibration plate has not been fitted. The factory manual depicts two links on the chain 180 deg apart which are a different "colour", to aid in getting the next step right. Lay the chain out stretched with the chain in a straight line & mark two links, one at each end (white out). Fit the chain over the crankshaft sprocket, with one marked chain link lining up with the dot on the crankshaft sprocket at 5:00 o'clock. Fit the camshaft sprocket to the spretched chain so that the dot at 11:00 o'clock lines up with the other marked link. Taking care not to dislodge the camshaft position, the camshaft sprocket can then be located on the end of the camshaft, with the locating pin. Everything being OK, you should be able to hold a ruler or straight edge across the centre points of the camshaft & crankshaft, and the two markings on both sprockets should line up, as per the photo below. Slip the timing chain cover on, just using the location pins. With crankshaft key fitted, slip on the crankshaft pully. The TDC timing mark on the pulley should line up with 0 deg on the cover timing marks. The only proviso with this technique, is that if fitting a brand new chain, you may have to fit chain & both sprockets at the same time, as there may not be enough sideways flexibility in the chain. Cheers Banjo

Like the idea of the welch plug ! Yes, I must clean that area up, before I take the engine off the test stand, & into the car. I note you have'nt used the clamp to hold down, (what's left of the distributor boss), in place. Is it wedged in the hole ? Cheers Banjo

Hi Laurence, That's some project you've got going there ! Re timing mark for TDC. Your last picture does not show the timing mark. Not sure what the little red mark is pointing to. The TDC No: 1 timing mark is a small indent in the rear of the crankshaft pulley, nearest to the advance/retard timing markings, on the timing chain cover. In your picture, the fan belt obscures this area. There is an indent on the front of the outer pulley, in the approximate right area of rotation, but that is unusual, from my experience. If the timing was way out, I would not think you should be getting the "clean" reving results you are. I'd suspect it is sucking air somewhere, or the distributor is not timed correctly. Unclamp the distributor slightly, and while it is idling at 1100 - 1200 rpm, rotate the dizzy slowly clockwise, and see if it has an effect on the idle rpm. Also pull the rubber hose off the dizzy vaccum advance, squash the end of the hose together, and see if that makes any difference to idle. The results of these tests might point you in the right direction. Cheers Banjo

All the sensors I've used are Hall Effect, rather than the reluctor type sensors, which have low amplitude outputs at low revs. The reluctor outputs need a bit of processing electronically to make the signal usable. The Hall Effect sensors I use, on the other hand, give a snap action (square wave output with sharp leading edge), and are very reliable, and not effected by oil. They are made specifically for automotive use. The use of rare earth magnets attached to the moving part (cam sprocket in this case) results in very wide gap tolerances being possible. I have two rare earth magnets fitted to the flywheel, 180 deg apart, with the Hall Effect sensor protruding through the rear engine plate on the lower distributor side of the engine. I tried gaps from 1 mm to nearly 10mm, with no difference in performance. The sensor on the camshaft would not ever need any "fine tuning" as it is not the ignition trigger signal, but a synch pulse that just tells the ECU that the next trigger pulse it receives will be for cylinder no: 1. I've got an engine block on the bench at present. I'll pop in the camshaft, in the next few days, with the timing chain cover modified, & do a few tests. Can't see any reason why it won't work well. I'll let you know if it works out. I'm not real keen on crankshaft front pulley sensors. The aftermarket ones seem to have brackets & adjustments, and are in a spot at the lower front of the car, that is prone to damage, from road debris. Thats why I chose the flywheel. Hidden away & protected. Cheers Banjo

Except for the intial fitting of the magnet to the camshaft sprocket, which would be done with the timing chain cover off, with engine on test stand, there would never be a need to get inside the chain cover again. The Hall Effect sensor would simply plug in from the outside. It's position for timing is not critical, as long as it produces a pulse between no:2 & no:1 firings. It just needs to tell the ECU, no: 1 is next. I've been down the track of the Nissan CAS inside the Corolla Bosch dizzy. Tight fit, but did work well. I even did a home/synch sensor inside a stripped out dizzy housing. It worked also. I liked your turned up Teflon lid for the dizzy & custom clips. Very neat. I found a Nescafe coffee jar lid that was just the right size. However, I'd like to not have a distributor at all, which is what I currently have on the test stand engine. Unfortunately, you need the dizzy shaft to drive the oil pump. The synch signal allows you to run an ecu with sequential firing, but that of course needs 4 x ignitors, & 4 x coils, although you could get away with a smaller coil. Presently favouring a waste spark system, just using 2 coils. No distributor required. Signal is just two trigger points 180 deg apart on the flywheel, with no synch signal required. However, would like to look at the option of Honda motor bike COPs directly of top of the plugs, which will get rid of the two big bulky GMH coils in the picture above. Brodie in Adelaide has a COP setup like that which is awesome. The 4 x COPs allow either sequential or waste spark, by running COPs 1&4 and 2&3 in parallel. Presently just about finished a 7K EFI conversion onto the 4K on the test stand which will take the K series experiments to the next level. Cheers Banjo

Stripped a 3K at the weekend, that someone gave me. Looked in reasonable nick, so stripped to see if anything was usable. Unfortunately, it had thrown a slipper bearing on number 4 conrod, & badly scored the journal. However, I noticed a "protrusion" on the front face of the timing chain cover, which I had never seen on a K Series engine before. Lying around my shed is a 3K, 2 x 5Ks, & 2 x 4Ks. I checked all of them, and none had this protrusion. The rear of the cover shows a small hole. However, the hole went no where. I was just about to start a thread to ask what it was for, and thought I'd search, and found this thread. Apparently it is a breather port connection, found on some 3K engines. However, in my case the port was not used, & Toyota just used the cover, without drilling out the "protrusion" to fit the pipe, as depicted earlier in this thread. Got me thinking. The hole in the rear of the cover appears to be slightly off the centre line of the camshaft. Could be a perfect place to fit a small Hall Effect sensor, with a small magnet fitted to the camshaft sprocket, in the appropriate spot, to generate a "Home" or "Synchronising" signal for an an electronic inginition system. The "Home" or "Synchronising" signal just tells the ECU that the next trigger signal is no: 1 cylinder. As the camshaft turns at 1/2 crankshaft speed, the "Home" pulse would be generated once every 2 revolutions of the crankshaft, which is just what is required by the ECU. Anyone else ever tinkered with this idea before ? Cheers Banjo

Wouldn't have thought that was a wise analogy to draw on this responsible forum. Cheers Banjo

Hi Laurence, Is the test stand you mention, something you have built ? Does it have wiring on it that you, or someone else has fitted, with ignition switch or switches & relays of some kind ? Is this the first time the stand has been used ? If it has been used before, did the charge light work previously as expected. I built a test stand years ago, and wired it up, and it has a charge light & it works perfectly. If you have a wiring diagram for the test stand wiring, can you scan it, and pop it up on this thread. We can then see where the error lies. P.S. Does the engine run, or have you only got as far as cranking it over ? Cheers Banjo

Hmmmm ! I am starting to think seriously that way also. Cheers Banjo

Still not happy Jan ! Did some more trolling on the net tonight re this problem. It's pretty wide spread. Just listen to these squeaks on upper & lower control arm poly bushings. Unreal ! I couldn't live with that. Cheers Banjo

Hi Sam, Have a look at this link. Lot of older Toyota Colours there. http://members.iinet...epho/colour.htm There is an early Toyota colour (1999) called Blue Mica Pearl. Another called Blue Grey Pearl (1989) Both are metalic. Colour is such a personal thing. Sample cards are very disceiving sometimes. Need it in a large area on a car in sunlight. If you see a car somewhere, that you like the colour, leave a note under the windscreen wiper, to ring you. That way you can get the colour code, if it's original, or ask them what colour was used for the respray. Met some nice people that way. Cheers Banjo

2000-3000 klms ! Cheers Banjo

Recently replaced all the rubber rear spring bushes in my KE30 with SuperPro poly bushes. Installed them using the supplied grease, applying it as per the SuperPro packet directions. The rear end is so squeaky & creaky now, it's driving me nuts. Has anyone else had this issue ? If I can't solve it, I might even go back to new rubber ones. P.S. Actually the original rubber ones were in remarkable condition for a 40 year old car. Cheers Banjo

I, like many on RollaClub, have upgraded my master cylinder to the Pajero one, after upgrading front brakes & caliper upsizing. It is very popular, because it is basically a straight swap. The Pajero MC comes standard, with a low level alarm signal, by way of a small plastic tube that slides in under the MC resevoir. It contains a small N.O. reed relay. The resevoir float has little magnet in the bottom which closes the reed relay, when the level becomes too low. A few members I have talked to, have just not used the alarm switch, as the KEs did not have a low level brake fluid warning light. I found a very simple way to utilise it. All KE30s have a handbrake warning light, which shows the handbrake is on. As this is only on, when the car is stationary, and the hand brake applied, this warning light, can be used to also warn of low brake fluid level. The handbrake light switch simply applies an earth or ground to a red wire with white stripe, which runs from the handbrake along the tunnel under the carpet, and is usually visible coming out under the carpet forward on the gearbox hump, just to the LHS & up of the clutch pedal. By simply running the Pajaro 2 x wires to this point, and splicing one wire to the red/white wire & the other to ground/chassis, the hand brake warning light effectively becomes also a low level brake fluid indicator. To test after wiring up, place car on level area. Chock the wheels. Release handbrake. Turn on ignition switch to "Run". Remove Pajero MC screw lid. Press down float, with clean screw driver, and dash brake light should illuminate. I did notice on my KE30 that there is a spare dash warning light directly below the brake warning light. It has a blanking piece in it. Looking up an old KE30 wiring diagram I have here, indicates it is probably what is described on the wiring as a "brake differential switch". I can only assume this was a switch fitted to some models, where if the front or rear hydraulic circuit failed, it warned you when you applied the brakes. As it is not used on the my KE30, i suppose you could hook the Pajero MC wire up to it, fit a bulb & have a seperate light for the MC fluid level warning. According to the wiring diagram, the differential brake wire was green with white stripe. Cheers Banjo

Wow ! I've never seen wear like that, in what should be a straight pull at the firewall. Might be something to do with LHD, as I would image the cable is much greater in length. Cheers Banjo

Hi Sam, Front suspension upgrade is one of the most important upgrades you will do to the car. By going 15" rims in the front, you give yourself the widest options, as you shouldn't have too much trouble getting larger brake rotors & calipers inside the rims. I did it with 14" rims, and although I got there, it was not without a few compromises, and the narrowest of clearances between rim & calipers. I would suggest you do a lot of homework & planning on this one, as many here have been caught part way through, and have had to back pedal, or change direction. I would suggest you make contact with a local certifying engineer, who will ultimately provide you the required approvals for the "plating" that your KE30 will require, with a big power plant change to 240kW. A good guy, will tell you clearly what you can & can't do. Front end geometry plays a large part in how sucessful the front end mods end up, particularly, if you are going to lower it. I'd suggest sticking with the KE30 cross member, & use other Toyota struts & LCAs, as there are a lot of combos of struts, rotors, hubs, LCAs & calipers that go together without too many engineering requirements. Make sure you check the king pin inclination angle of the strut you go with. Also decide early what camber angle you require, and whether the setup will require top hat camber adjusters. Also get hold of the biggest KE sway bar diametre that you can, which off memory is 23mm dia. Stay away from the cheaper aluminium coil overs. Completely rebush front end in with poly bushes. Don't forget you will have to upgrade the brake master cylinder to get the hydraulic capacities ratios of master cylinder & brake cylinders to provide the right pedal pressures. Mitsubishi Pajero MC or HiLux are popular conversions, that works well, and are a pretty straight forward changeover. There are not too many KE front end mods that haven't been already tried, and that are not documented on RollaClub or other forums. A night or two on the computer, and a lot of reading, should give you a clearer picture as too which way you want to go. Love to see some pictures of your rebuild as it progresses. Cheers Banjo