Banjo

I've been tempted for a while to do a hydraulic clutch conversion on my KE30. However, my wife never complains of a heavy clutch pedal, and the cable arrangement is simple & generally reliable. I've found the only problem you have with the cable is it going "dry" on the big radius. Every couple of years I pull the cable out & hang the outer sheath vertically in the vice. I then move the inner cable up & down, & squirt some light engine oil down into the sheath, until it drips out the bottom. That way I know the whole cable is oiled. I once bought an Asian aftermarket cable for a KE, and it was terrible. It didn't have the Teflon lining over the inner cable like the Toyota OEM cable, and it bound on the large radius. Even generous lubrication did not help much. The design of making the clutch adjustment accessible in the enging bay was a great Toyota idea. Most cars require you get under neath ot put it on a hoist to adjust a threaded rod with lock nuts. However, the firewall adjustment of the KE series leaves a lot to be desired, as the little clip breaks, pops out, often never to be seen again. I guess most Rollas of that vintage have something like the following to replace the little C clip. The wire hose clamp seems a better idea that the band type as they resist slipping. I've found that I need two small band ones in series to take the forces involved. I've often thought of making a threaded tube, which could be attached to the outer sheath, with a couple of large adjusting lock nuts. I've not come across any aftermarket device or design on the net. I would be interested in hearing what others have improvised on RollaClub, or whether anyone has a good design alternative. Cheers Banjo

Hi Logan, My guess is it is related to fuel, and not to gearbocx mechanical, or an ignition problem. Did you do the conversion with the engine still in place ? If so you would have had to tilt the engine back down. There is an electrical wire on the carby of the far side. This wire is always powered when the ignition is on, and opens a solenoid in the carby to allow fuel to flow. It's purpose is to cut off fuel as soon as the ignition is switched off, so the engine cannot run on. However if there is an intermittent connection between carby and inner guard panel "green" connector, you can get a symptom, similar to what you are describing. This wire, being connected to the engine, vibrates, & if there is a bad connection, could easily be intermittent. I trust it is just that, because it's a very easy fix. Cheers Banjo

Hi John, Most definitely all KE30/35/55 front guards are completely interchangeable. The only difference you will ever find in these guards is that if they are imported spares from S.E. Asia or Japan, they may have holes in the top of the guards for mounting of "fender rear vision mirrors". Easily covered from the inside & filled. Also be wary of reproduction model panels which do not always fit well. There was a recent post on here under KEXX Corolla Discussion forum regarding these at . . . . http://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/64044-ke30-reproduction-body-panels/ Cheers Banjo

Thanks Guys ! That was just the sort of info I was after. Cheers Banjo.

Hi Reed, Prices seem too good to be true, hence my queries ! I'll be in Sydney in 2 weeks, so may go & check them out if anyone one on Rollaclub has had experience with them.

Hi Guys, Came across these at a ebay store called RRR Auto Parts in Sydney. Their store link is http://stores.ebay.c...sid=p4340.l2563 Has anyone purchased or used these ? I'd be interested in quality & fit. Any feedback appreciated. I note that this store also stocks some KE70 & AE71 panels also. Cheers Banjo

Finally got around this weekend to modifying the other KE30 steering arm so they would fit to the bottom of the RA65 struts. I ran into a slight problem, once the KE30 steering arm was attached to the lower ball joint, & I then I tried to attach the RA65 struts. The mating surfaces of the upper side of the steering arm, and lower end face of the struts would not come completely together. (gap of about 1 mm) This was because the tip of the ball joint threaded taper was touching the inside bottom of the strut. This is not an issue with the RA65 steering arms, (shown below) as they are deeper, & have a recess in them to accommodate the ball joint and retaining "castle" nut. I did find that not all lower ball joints are made equal. I have a couple of brand new brand "555" Japanese replacement ball joints to put in finally, and their threaded section & "castle" nuts are not as high. To quickly test, I ground the protruding section of the ball joint thread back to the top of a shallower nut. These ground ball joints will not be used again, so it didn't matter. With everything now in place, it was time to drop the donor car onto the dead level contrete floor & measure the camber. The results were dissappointing. My original calculations earlier in this post said I should finish up with about negative 0.6 deg camber each side. What I finished up with was negative 1.3 camber on one side, and positive 0.1 deg on the other. Now it might not be the same when I put these in the final KE30, but it goes to show the problem of camber in these early mass produced Corollas with no suspension adjustment facilities whatsoever. The major problem is that the two critical mounting points for the front suspension, being the inner LCA pivot point, & the top hat of the MacPherson strut are on two different parts of the car. The LCAs are connected to the cross member, whereas the top of the struts are connected to the body. I have often wondered how much 'sideways" movement is available in the cross member to the chassis, and may undo the four cross member to chassis mounting bolts, and try this next time I have an engine out. To my way of thinking, you could probably jig the car on a straightener in a body shop & then seam weld the car in the front area, but there is no guarantee that it would all come out straight, and the cost would be great. The idea of a triangular strut brace between strut towers & to the mid point of the firewall is looking like another cheaper option option. Something like this. I'll put the struts in the final KE30 car & see what camber result I come up with. I may then have to go to camber adjusters to get both sides equal. Any one got any ideas on the best KE camber adjusters available locally ? How many degrees of camber adjustment can you get out of these ? Cheers Banjo

For any newbies or others that haven't really got a hold of the jargon around suspension matters, the following website might be of interest. http://www.barsomtir...index.html#head I haven't come across another website that puts all the terminology in such simple concise terms, with good clear diagrams, all referring to Macpherson strut arrangements, which we Corolla guys all know well. Cheers Banjo

Hi Bruce, I spend a whole Saturday several weeks ago, with my KE30 on the garage concrete floor, with everything level. I even matched all wheel/tyre pad areas with offcuts of lino, so that each wheel contact area level was exactly the same. A good idea I picked up from the internet, is to use two pieces of lino face to face under each front wheel. You can smear the mating faces of the two lino pieces with grease, and this lets the wheels settle properly after bouncing the front of the car up & down. If you don't like the idea of the grease, then coarse salt spread over the lino does the same thing. It also lets you turn the steering wheel, with the car stationary, with little tyre drag. Anyway, once I had the whole car balanced & level, I measured the camber on both sides accurately, with the digital inclinometer. One side was perfectly vertical at zero camber, whilst the other side was 0.7 deg of positive camber. What I’d like to finish up with is about 0.5 – 1.0 deg of negative camber on each side, but exactly the same. The link on Reocities is one I’ve had book marked for quite a while. It’s full of good advice, & I guess gets scanned regularly. It’s a bit of a bible on old Corollas. The steering arm modification to allow the KE30/55 arm to attach to the bottom of the RA65 strut is pretty easy. You could buy one of those after market machined ones from the good old USA for $100 - $200 a pair, or pay an engineering firm to fill & redrill the holes. I think I've even seen the machined ones on ebay, but probably not for KE Corollas. I found it quite simple to elongate one hole (arm end) with a “ Bunnings ” carbide cutter costing $ 30.00. Here’s what it looked like when I’d finished it. I don’t think I will have any bump steer problems, as I have not changed the geometry of the front suspension & steering in any way. The RA65 struts are the same length as the original KE30 ones, and the LCAs are exactly the same length. I’m using the original steering arms & the tie rods are unchanged. From the way I read it, if the tie rod length is very close to that of the LCA, and the inner tie rod pivot point is in line with the LCA inner pivot point, then the arc of the tie rod & LCA should be very similar, with minimal bump steer. The problems with bump steer really starts to rear it’s ugly head, when cars get lowered with cut or lowered springs/shortened struts etc. That’s when you have to start adding RCAs to correct for it. As this KE30 is being prepared for a round Australia trip, not drifting or racing, I don’t think it will be an issue. However, once I’ve got the camber & castor sorted out, I will be checking the bump steer which isn’t too hard. A plate bolted across the hub faces, a dial gauge, & a jack under the strut. There’s a couple of good videos on the net, which depict the technique for DIYers well. Cheers Banjo

Hi Guys, Had an interesting weekend, experimenting with different settings on my donor KE55, using the Celica RA65 strut, with the bigger hubs & bearings, and the larger vented disks. I started by doing KPI (kin pin inclination) angles for the KE30/55, KE70 & RA65 struts, all of which I had here. For these I used my newly acquired digital inclinometer, which has a resolution of 0.1 degrees, so it’s accuracy is probably +/- .1 degrees. KE30 & RA65 struts & disks side by side. (RA65 strut has had lower perch removed) I took readings on the strut & hub face; taking two readings on the hub face, 180 degrees apart, to make sure of consistence readings. From the Toymods website I found the following table of KPIs, that members had provided. However, it did not include KE30/55 or RA65 KPIs specifically. RA40 8.4 deg. KE70 8.4 deg. RA28 8.4 deg. TA22 8.4 deg. XT130 8.4 deg. MA61 10.6 deg. MX83 13.1 deg. For the KE30/55 & KE70 struts, I came up with readings of 9.0 & 9.1 deg respectively. The RA65 came in with a reading of 8.4 degrees, which lines up perfectly with that for the RA40 in the table above. So it looks like the Corona XT130/XT132, & Celica RA40/RA60 & RA65 all have the same KPI of 8.4 degrees. Bear in mind that everything else being equal, a bigger KPI angle, should lessen the amount of negative camber, or increase the amount of positive camber, depending on whether the camber was originally negative or positive, however there are a number of other factors that come into play, as I discovered. As I haven’t got my final KE70 or AE86 springs as yet, I temporarily set up an RA65 strut with the original KE30/55 spring & top spring cap & hat. The RA65 strut being the same length as the KE30/55, & both LCAs also being exactly the same, the strut fitted in perfectly. I used the original RA65 steering arms, as the mounting centres on the KE30/55 ones are 2-3 mm shorter in the distance between the strut mounting holes. I dropped the wheel to the ground and settled it, and measured the camber with a straight edge cut to length, across the wheel rim vertically. I was pleasantly surprised that the result was a positive camber of only 0.3 degrees. I was concerned from warnings on this & other websites, that the use of RA65 struts would create severe positive camber. Clearly showing ball joint centre outside centre line of strut with RA65 steering arm However, the steering arm for the RA65 has it’s lower ball joint mounting hole offset inwards from the centre line of the strut. I figured that if I reversed the steering arm, the offset would work the other way, placing the bottom of the strut further outwards, providing some negative camber. It only took 10 minutes to reverse the steering arm & drop the wheel & remeasure the camber across the wheel rim. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the camber was now a healthy – 1.5 degrees. Large gap now produced between back of disk & outter tip of LCA The affect of reversing the steering arm provides a 25mm outwards change in the position of the lower strut mounting point to the cetre line of the lower ball joint. RA65 strut with KE30/55 spring inside the KE30/55 tower Sounds great, but obviously you can’t have the steering arm pointing towards the front of the car, and you can’t reverse left & right hand steering arms, as the arms have a bend in them. As I was looking for somewhere between 0.5 to 1.0 degree of negative camber, I figured that if I could use the KE30 steering arm, then it would provide only half the movement achieved with the RA65 steering arms, as it’s ball joint mounting point is in line with the strut mounting holes. In theory, the change in lower outward position of the strut should only be 12.5 mm, instead of 25mm. If the 25 mm had provided a change in degrees of 1.8 degrees, then 12.5 mm should provide 0.9 degrees. That would theoretically provide a negative camber of -.0.6 degrees, which is a good starting point to adjust from, if camber top adjusters are eventually needed to fine tune it & get each side of the equal. However, the problem is the KE30/55 steering arms won’t fit the RA65 struts. I did find a post on here where Radrollaz back in 2007, had an engineer remachine the KE30/55 steering arm mounting holes & locator rings to line up with the RA40/RA60/RA65 mounting holes. Radrollaz's engineered steering arm Being impatient, I took a carbine drill cutting tool & my high speed drill, & 25 minutes later the mounting hole in the KE30/55 steering arm at the arm end had been elongated, & the locator ring reinserted. We then copped another storm, so I couldn’t fit & prove my theory, of achieving the 0.6 degrees of negative camber, without changing steering arms, but will do so later this afternoon, & post the results. If it works I’ll take the car down to a specialized wheel aligner, with all the good gear, and have all my measurements confirmed. More to come . . Cheers Banjo

Hi Bruce, To my mind, there are a number of things that affect the camber, beyond the simple kin pin inclination (KPI) of the particular strut that is used. The vertical & horizontal distances between the centre of the strut top hat mounting, & the inner pivot point for the LCAs, are crucial to the gemometry of the camber. Secondly, the distance between the inner LCA pivot point & the lower ball joint mount centre also has an effect. Getting an alternative strut the same length as the original strut certainly helps, as does using LCAs the same length. However, the LCA outer ball joint centre line is not always exactly in the centre of the strut tube. Various steering arms made by Toyota have the lower ball joint offset from the centre line of the strut, presumably to set the camber to what they wanted. The picture attached, borrowed from the Toymods site shows this clearly. In fact the RA65 steering arms, which I have, do have the lower ball joint tapered hole offset. It's for these reasons, that KPI is not something you can decide upon wholly. That's why I am setting it up in a donor KE55, so I can put the car wheels back down on the deck, and measure the camber accurately using the inclinometer across each front rim vertically. When I get it all right, I'll just transfer everything across to the KE30, without having her off the road, as I use it as a daily drive. Will keep you posted of results. Cheers Banjo

Hi Bruce, Two weeks ago, I got one of those little digital inclinometers from Hong Kong on ebay for $ 20.00, the same as in the Toymods post, and have taken a number of readings of the KE-30 camber across the rims on a dead flat surface. I've also set up an RA65 & KE30 strut in the vice at the same strut angle exactly and the stub axles look pretty much in line. I will now repeat the exercise with KE30, KE70, & RA65 struts, all of which I have here, and take the exact measurements with the hubs on, which should give very accurate KPI readings, which I will post on here for you. However, with lots of different length LCAs available, it shouldn't be too hard to get the camber right. I'm not looking for anything excessive, just maybe 0.5 to 1.0 deg of negative camber. Cheers Banjo

Hi Guys, I'm half way through doing a brake upgrade on my KE-30 two door coupe. (early Corolla's are not known for they amazing brakes) I researched all the other options people have posted on here over the years. I've managed to obtain a set of front RA-65 Celica struts, complete with brakes & LCAs. These appealed to me, as I get the bigger hubs & bearings on the front wheels, & the big vented disks. Mate it up with a Pajero 1" bore master cylinder, and my KE-30 should stop on the spot. The RA-65 LCAs & strut lengths, are the same as the KE-30s. The only major mod required is the replacement of the lower coil perch on the RA-65 struts, as the strut towers on the KE-30 are too narrow for the RA-65 springs, which have an OD of approx 160mm. Lots of posts say that there will be postive camber issue with this type of upgrade, but my measurements to date indicate that, if there is a problem, it will be small, & can probably be corrected with a camber adjustment plate or slightly longer LCAs. I've already got 14" mags on the KE-30, and the wheels fit easily over the RA-65 hubs & brakes, with plenty of clearance to the lower spring perch. I originally decided on KE-70 front coils, as they have a smaller OD (125mm) than the standard KE-30 ones at 145mm. This would give me maximum room for movement in the KE-30 tower space if camber adjustment is needed. I obtained some "donor" KE-70 struts & have removed the lower spring perches, and opened them up to fit the 51mm OD RA-65 strut tubes. I was without top spring caps for the KE-70 struts, but I got two which are actually AE86 top spring caps, which I was told would fit the KE-70 springs. However, the AE-86 spring top caps are slightly too small for the KE-70 spring. I assumed then that the AE-86 front coil spring must be even smaller in OD than the KE-70 one. A bit of research on Google has turned up that the AE-86 front springs are 120mm OD. As I haven't purchased new King springs as yet, I thought I might as well go for the AE-86 coils instead of the KE-70s, as I've already got the AE-86 top spring caps, and it will result in even more room in the strut tower. The only question is, will the bottom of the AE-86 front coil spring sit snuggly in the KE-70 lower perches ? If there is anyone out there who can confirm that an AE-86 front coil spring is 120mm OD, and can advise if it will fit the KE-70 lower perches, I would be most appreciative. P.S. I am documenting this upgrade with pictures as I go, so will post it all on here when completed. I have a donor KE-55 set up in my garage that I can experiment with, then swap it all over to the KE-30 when I get it right. P.S.S. The only other question is what multi pot calipers are around, that will replace the original RA-65 ones, without any mounting bracket changes? Cheers Banjo

I think I read about camber issues elsewhere on Rollaclub, when I was researching this, but it was in relation to fitting RA65 struts into a KE70, which required "modified" Sigma LCAs. I haven't read anywhere that the RA65 struts have any ill effects on a KE30/35/55. However, when I get the KE30 & RA65 struts side by side, and check the stub axle angles in relation to strut tube, I should have a better idea. If it looks good, I'll measure camber before, fit RA65 struts, then measure camber again, & post the results here. Cheers Banjo

I acquired a beautiful little 2 door KE30 sedan a few years ago, with 96,000 klms on it. I use it as a daily drive. It originally had a 3K & 2 speed auto, but now has a 5K & K50 (KE70) 5 speed gearbox, so is a lovely car to tour in. As these early Corollas were not known for their brake performance, I've had on my list, a brake upgrade for the past 6 months, and have been looking around at my options. I recently had the opportunity to acquire a set of Celica RA65 struts complete with vented disks, LCAs, steering knuckles, less calipers. I have measured them up, & the struts seem to be exactly the same length, as are the LCAs. As the RA65 springs will not fit inside the strut towers, so I will have to change the spings over. I intend to have the KE30 lower spring perches professionally welded to the RA65 struts, as I'm a "weekend welder" only. However, I'm a bit concerned at the cutting & grinding off of the lower sping perches without undercutting or damaging/weakening the strut tube. Also, how do you open up the central hole in the removed KE30 lower perch, to fit on the slightly larger diameter (51mm) RA65 strut tube ? Any advice or tips from anyone who has done this previously would be appreciated. I've gathered together a complete set of neoprene bushes for front & rear end, a set of new lower ball joints, and can get hold of a new set of new standard KE30 "King" spings. I think the KE30 dserves new springs after 36 years ! I've also ordered one of those little electonic inclinometers from ebay, so I can check the camber & castor angles before & after the modification. The RA65 strut stub axle angle seems to be slightly different to the KE30, and should hopefully provide 1 or 2 deg of negative camber. I also intend putting an extra inch of thread on the castor rods, and getting a little more castor, which others on Rollaclub have advised, improves the steering greatly. As the RA65 struts acquired has the original Celica oil filled shockers, I intend fitting a good set of new fron shockers. Gas ??? if the budget can afford it. I will top the mod off with either a new early Camry or Pajero master cylinder. Should make for a very straight forward & hassle free mod. I need to get a new set of calipers, so would love advice as to what 2 or 4 pot calipers will bolt directly onto the RA65 caliper mounting brackets, with little or no required mofications, other than possible spacing. Any advice or recommendations greatly appreciated. Regards Banjo.

The Jaycar kit sets provides two switchable maps ( for dual fuel), with 11 settable load sites, or one map with 15 settable load sites. It then automatically adjusts the load site RPM increment based on the max & min RPM limits you assign. I am using the the 15 load site map, and with a min RPM of 1000, & a max RPM of 6600, I get 15 sites 400 RPM apart. Other combinations are . . 1000 - 3800 RPM 200 RPM settable load site increment. 1000 - 5200 RPM 300 RPM 1000 - 6600 RPM 400 RPM 1000 - 8000 RPM 500 RPM For your example of . . . 500 - 6100 RPM 400 RPM settable load site increment. 500 - 7500 RPM 500 RPM However, the microprocessor then creates three more "calculated" sites between the settable load sites. It basically takes the difference between the advance at two consectitive "settable" load sites, and divides that by 4, which becomes the final load site increment. In my setup with 1000 - 6600 RPM the settable load sites for 3000 & 3400 RPM have advances of say 25 & 29 deg assigned respectively. The calculated load sites for 3100, 3200, & 3300 RPM would be assigned advances of 26, 27, & 28 deg of advance, by the micro processor. If I set the maximum RPM to 5200, I obtain increments of just 75 RPM. Even at 500 - 7500 RPM the load site increment would be 125 RPM. In this way, using a 15 load settable map, you actually finish up with 57 sites created,over the entire rev range you set. Cheers Banjo

The Jaycar programable kit could be your best bet, unless you want to pay big bucks for an imported unit from the USA. The Jaycar unit allows you to basically lock up your distributor advance mechanical mechanism, & completely recurve the advance in 100 RPM increments to suit your needs, whether turbo or naturally aspirated. It does everything the big buck profession units do, with a MAP input,or an onboard MAP sensor, plus an optional knock sensor that temporarily retards until the knock disappears. There was a good thread back in March about recurving distributors. March Thread I, like others, found a 5K distributor on a 4K, resulted in a poorer result, so I decided to build the Jaycar unit, and have just finished it, & have it working on the bench. My aim is actually to use it as the core of a waste spark ignition system, & do away with the distributor all together. I'll just have to leave the shaft in so the oil pump can run ! I'm using a crankshaft home made Hall Effect sensor, mounted on the bell housing, picking up a signal from a couple of rare earth magnets "buried" into the flywheel, on that land between the ring gear & the friction face. A north pole magnet fires 1 & 4, & a south pole magnet fires 3 & 2. It all works well on the bench. I've just got to do some basic programming of the advance characteristics of the existing distributor, so I can get it running on the engine, which will allow fine tuning to begin. The method, involves putting a degree wheel on the crankshaft pulley, and increasing the revs in 400 RPM increments & reading the advance created by the original current distributor. Would be interested to hear from anyone who has done this, because the method above sounds like a pain in the butt, if you haven't got an assistant. I looked in the Toyota yellow bible workshop manual for the 4k & 5K engines, but under distributor, they don't show any advance curve info at all. I thought I might set it at the static timing of 8-10 deg at 1000RPM, then say 35 deg at 3500 RPM, with appropriate settings inbetween, and then flat/straight line it above 3500 RPM. That should get the 4K I have on an engine test bed running. I'm fairly well advanced on the waste spark system, and have used a couple of old VT Comodore coil packs. It should be running within a week or so. If anyone has built the Jaycar unit and fitted it on a 4K or 5K, and have it operational, I'd love to hear as to what MAP sensor they used, and where they fitted it. I was thinking of screwing directly into the manifold, as there is a threaded hole there, with a bung in it. It's where I've always fitted a vaccum guage when tuning, and it works OK. If anyone is interested, I'll put some pics up of how it all goes together. P.S. Actually, I spent this afternoon making a degree wheel. I looked at them on eBay, but being a 'stinge" I just Googled "Images" of degree wheels, pinted one I liked out, glued it to a thin piece of cardboard. It turned out perfect. I'll fit it to the engine tomorrow, and initially, just see how close to true TDC, that little "nick" on the crankshaft pulley is. I can see my olde timing light getting a bit of use in the next day or so. Cheers Banjo.

It's probably not the starter motor ! Just a flat battery or maybe a battery terminal post connection that needs cleaning or tightening. Cheers Banjo.

OK ! I eventually got the info I wanted ! :dance: The PBR manual at my local Brake & Clutch centre lists the lip between friction area of 4K flywheel & outer area as 1 mm. This is what it looks like after having had machining of both surfaces. Cheers Banjo.

Stripping a 5K this weekend, & measuring & listing everything, before it's off to the engine rebuilders next week for rebore. The 5k already has a 4K flywheel,but it needs attention with a couple of shallow grooves in the 180mm dia. clutch plate area. This flywheel has probably been resurfaced several times in its life, as the raised 180mm section is probably only 1 mm above the flywheel surface. My question is; does anyone know what the height of this raised 180mm section is, above the flywheel surface, on a brand new flywheel ----->. I have a factory K Series repair manual, I got off eBay,which covers the 4K & 5K, but it doesn't give this dimension. I've also scanned our forums and can't find this dimension elsewhere. As I see it, this dimension is critical,as the driven plate is in contact with the raised 180mm section, but the pressure plate is mounted to the lower section of the flywheel surface. As the height of the raised section is lowered during resurfacing, without reducing the flywheel area <--------> accordingly, then the pressure on the driven plate would be reduced, resulting in possible slippage as the driven plates wears. (correct me if I'm wrong) I can't see that it is any great issue, as I gather a machinist would normally remove the three clutch plate locating pins before resurfacing. I would think it would simply be a matter of resurfacing the 180mm raised area, and then machining the outer face area, until the original raised height dimension was reinstated. The amount of material removed would not upset the flywheel, and as it's on the outer edge, it could only assist in making the engine a little more responsive with less flywheel inertia. If anyone on here has had experience in this matter, or resurfaces flywheels for "a crust", I'd like to hear their thoughts. P.S. I only raise this, as I have had flywheels resurfaced before, but only the 180mm raised section was machined. The outer lower area was never touched. Many thanks.

Hi Sam, Before you waste a lot of time on checking the engine, remove all the spark plugs and do a compression test on each cylinder, to check you haven't got a blown head gasket, burnt exhaust valve, or posibbly broken rings. If they are all OK, then you can start looking at other areas. Let us know what you find ! Banjo

Hi Scott, Sounds like the starting resistor next to the ignition coil has gone O/C. The ignition key shorts this resistor out, whilst starting, but places the resistor in circuit, when you let go of the key & it springs back. Temporaily short out the resistor & see if it runs OK, when you let the key go. If it runs OK, then replace resistor. Cheers Banjo

Hi Harry, Here is a post regarding your queries, that I posted back in May. Trust it assists a bit. I recently did an auto to manual conversion on my newly acquired KE30 2 door. The conversion was pretty easy, except for swapping the pedal box over, which has got to be one of the worst jobs on a KE if you are big, & don't fit between the drivers seat, with it right back, & the pedal area. Even with the seat removed it was a pain. Anyway, I digress. The "donner" k50 came out of KE70, so had the rear gearbox extension with the gearstick location right at the back. (actually, it fitted perfectly through the tunnel hole for the 2 speed Toyoglide auto) The rear gearbox mount on the K50 out of a KE70 is different to the mount from earlier KE series rear gearbox mounts, but lined up perfectly with the KE30 rear gearbox cross member, with just the need for two holes to be drilled a little further out to accommodate the rear gearbox mount holes. Everything went smooothly, and the tailshaft from the auto setup was exactly the right length. First run in it identified a bit of floor pan vibration. When I took a look, the exhaust pipe was just touching the floor, which it hadn't before the conversion. The rear gearbox mount from the KE70 was higher than than say a KE30 - KE55 type mount (which can't be used on the K50 ex KE70 extension housing), and was locating the rear of the gearbox upwards, such that the front uni had a bit more angle in it, & the exhaust pipe was closer to the floor. To solve problem immediately, I got hold of some longer cross member to floorpan mounting bolts (starter mounting bolts) and spaced the cross member lower to correct the added height of the rear gearbox mount. I used some very large flat washers, & just keep adding them until it was right. With 19mm - 20mm of spacing the gearbox sat properly, and I've now been driving it for several weeks, & it runs very smoothly. I am planning on making up two 20mm thick spacer blocks out of bar steel, & welding them permanently to the ends of the cross member. I'm just interested, as to whether anyone else has done a similar conversion & run into the same problem. Unfortunately the way the rear gearbox mount attaches to the late K50 externsion housing, it really has to be used, as other mounts would not adapt easily to the rear gearbox extension without a lot of fabrication. Love to hear some feed back on this one !

If you happen to be doing an auto to 5 speed manual conversion in yur KE-30, then a 5 speed gear box out of a KE-70 may be a better option. The 5 speed box in the KE-70s has the gear stick further back, and it pops up right through the hole in tunnel in auto models. You might have to open up the hole in the tunnel a little on the RHS to get it to go into 5th gear, off memory. Your existing tail shaft can be used OK. You will however, have to use the rear gearbox cross member from the KE-70, rather that your existing cross member, as the mounting point on the bottom of the KE-70 5 speed box is different. Good luck ! Banjo

The clutch arm rubber boot is still available from Toyota. I've just bought one from Motorama, & I've got another two (2) coming. I'll go and see if I can find the invoice, or plastic bag it came in, with the P/N on it and post it here. Cheers Banjo :dance: