son of stig

I drove it around a little like this but didnt like how it sat on the road, so took it apart again to attack the suspension. The struts were not too bad and i was having trouble finding new ones so decided to just do springs. Ryan was putting new suspension in his 13BT KE20 so i was lucky enough to get his old stuff. Lowered Pedders in the front, and an extra leaf from his leaf pack in the back. I then took off all the trims and sanded them back I'm a big fan of Gunmetal Grey Did them all this colour except the grill which was done silver, and the light surrounds i ended up rubbing back to chrome (they had been painted over?) Cost $52 With a bit of a cut and polish, and a very light sanding of the surface rust, shes come up pretty good. One of the headlights stopped working too, and decided that rather than get another sealed beam i may as well upgrade, so i bought a pair of new housings with halogen globes from Ashdown Ingram in Regency Park. The improvement is massive, they were a sinch to fit, light up the night SO much better, and globes are replacable unlike the original sealed beams. Cost $56 Also one of the taillights was really badly faded, so got a little pot of red taillight dye and did several coats on both lenses. Cost $11

From there i did a lot of degreasing and tidying of the engine bay, as well as doing all new oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, oil change, diff and gearbox oil change, radiator flush, and new coolant. Cost $118 Also had the brake master rebuilt and resleeved, got new front discs, pads, wheel bearings, rear drums, shoes, and wheel cylinders. Cost $223 The interior was stinky, mouldy, and festy when i got it. There was even a possum nest under the back seat! But after a lot of scrubbing and some cheesy seat covers, it didnt come up too bad! I also found a few goodies in my shed to chuck in, an MP3 head deck with hidden 6x9s, Momo steering wheel, fire extinguisher, and wired in a little tacho The steering was a little tired so put in a complete set of new joints and arms Cost $165 And figured i may as well do the bushes while i was at it. Superpro does a full set of Polyurethane bushes for the KE20s, i got mine from Cartorque in SA, Andy there is great. Cost $194

The new mounts rocked up a few days later. The motor was still in place but in limbo on the engine crane, so changing the mounts was pretty simple. From there, everything went together pretty easily, using bits that came with the shell and bits i had in my shed. STARTER CIRCUIT When i went to turn the key, nothing happened. Tested the whole starter circuit and discovered that the break was between the key and the firewall. So i rewired the circuit, and she started. I later realised what a moron i was when i found the plugs under the carpet leading to the automatic trans, obviously being for the neutral safety switch. This had been my first auto-manual conversion, but even so it seemed so obvious in hindsight. Lesson learned. TAILSHAFTS I also had a fair bit of trouble with tailshafts. Being an AMI model, it had a borg warner diff. However the tailshaft supplied was for a Banjo diff. Searched high and low and posted several wanted ads on here, but to no avail. So eventually i tracked down a KE26 complete Banjo rear end to match the tailshaft i had. THEN discovered that a KE26 rear end mounts to the leaves and shocks differently to a KE20. So went searching again, and eventually found a KE20 rear axle housing with no centre. Bought that, swapped the centre from the KE26, and hey presto it all bolted together. Cost $160 WHEELS With the KE20 now moving under its own power, i looked into wheels. After learning that KE20s have the same stud pattern as S1/2 RX7s, i test fitted a set of 14" Performance 5 spokes (my favorite rims) that i used to have on my RX7. Fit like a dream. The rims had some fairly bald semi slick tyres on them, so had them removed and got a set of badass yokohama 185/60/14s put on. Cost $260

Started by pulling out the auto pedal box and putting in a manual one that came with the shell. I wasnt terribly stressed about the engine bay looking show spec, so just treated a little bit of rust before dropping stuff in I had a spare 4k and K40 with KE55 engine mounts sitting on my shed floor for a long time (removed from the KE55 when i put the 4AGE in) with only 120,000km on them, so dropped that in Didnt fit very well at all, which lead me to realise that KE55s and KE20s have different engine mounts. This was quite frustrating as it meant we wouldnt get the thing going on day one. Note the one on the left is a KE20 mount, on the right KE55 So i opened my wallet for the first time and sent $80 to Phils Rotaries (through Ebay) for a new set of KE20 mounts. END OF DAY ONE.

Hey all probably about time i posted up some of my rides. Ill start with the KE20. I started the project basically because i built a 4AGE KE55 as a daily, but then i changed jobs and now I'm not allowed to drive it to work. (don't ask.) Therefore i needed another daily. I already had a shed full of KE spare bits but had never had a KE20 before, so made that my aim. Shes a 1971 Aussie manufactured Automatic model. DAY ONE Bought it as a shell off Ebay for a few hundred bucks. Actually was in a lot better condition than i expected. But had been sitting in the weather for years. Body was straight other than a few little dings, and only rust was surface rust on the front left panel and a few little holes on the front of the bonnet. Also a couple of little bits of rust coming through below the windscreen, and a bit of a scrape on the rear right. Came pretty much complete minus engine and gearbox, though a lot of bits were scattered through various boxes that came with it.

spotted RA28GT thismorning on south rd just north of regency rd. pretty sure you spotted me in my 20? respect to the jdm look youve got going, even better in the metal.

my bog stock 4KC pulled 32.3RWKW if that helps...

hahaha oh yeah forgot to mention that bit... i was stumped by this and ended up rewiring the whole starter circuit before finding these wires and feeling like a moron :lolcry:

pretty much as listed above except the master and slave cylinders, the standard manual setup runs a cable straight from the pedal to the clutch. if you can get ahold of a workshop manual, read the sections on manual and auto gearboxes a few times and it will all sink in eventually. As long as you have all the right manual bits it should all be fairly straightforward. It can be done alone, but definately easier if you have a mate to help out with some of the heavier stuff.

20% is the margin for SA before requiring engineering or inspection approval. therefore if you have a 3k or 4k you can go up to a 5k. should be just matter of filling out a form at the rego office, or worst case an id inspection.

How bout i agree that Ryans beast is insane, then its not just him :P

i think you will just have to wait dude. changing the cv joint would take a few hours, and would be on a priority list of jobs like raven said. i agree the car should have been roadworthy when delivered to you, but at least they did supply an alternative until they rectify the issues.

The Renault Espace F1 was so much fun in the old Gran Turisimo games! Awesome car. I inspected what was possibly the hottest car ive ever seen today. Hot orange 2 seater 260Z, with an HSV 6 Litre. Absolutely complete from front to rear with race parts. Fully engineered for street rego :wink: Unfortunately photos are not allowed :y:

Hell yeah! Ive got a mag from a couple of years ago that featured this amazon, apparently the owner/builder works as an engineer for Koennegsegg (no idea how to spell it...) Oh and i think technically the word is "manic", as to "maniacal" :yes: This thread is bringing up some goodies! I have to throw this in just to bug you Ryan... Behold the Volvo 262C! And who could forget the bubble car...

Real custom made springs are better. Lots better. Worth waiting a little longer to save up the extra cash or stumble across some forgotten ones.

I second that motion. Plus Datto 240/260Zs Ford Escorts Mini Mokes RX7s and so forth

took care of it today, keeping the KE55 40A alternator with the inbuilt regulator. there was indeed 3 wires coming from the KE20 alternator with external regulator one larger white for battery, then 2 (smaller white and a white/green) to the regulator then the yellow charge light wire from the loom to the regulator. i chopped the yellow and the white/green before the regulator, joined them together, and threw the regulator and other wire away. job done!

right think ive figured it out, will just make sure theres a wire going from the batt to the alternator, splice the yellow to the charge light wire and throw the external regulator over my shoulder.

So ive put a KE55 alternator into a KE20 and its not charging the battery. Ive put this down to the fact the KE55 alternator has an inbuilt regulator, and the KE20 also has an external regulator. Edit: As ive figured out the problem, read on, this post might become of use to others.

I thought there was some slight difference between the corona and corolla arms but there you go, apparently i put in corona arms for no reason.

hey mate yeah lots of options, all a matter of opinion. you sound very much like me about 18 months ago. this is what i went with in my 4age ke55 coupe. after playing around with corolla bits i decided they werent up to the job, so went with xt130 front struts and brakes (sumitomo twin pots). when looking for performance pads, escort ones fit, just need to ever so slightly drill out the mounting pin holes. brakes a hell of a lot better so i considered it worth the messing around. the corona spring will NOT fit into the corolla sturt tower. to remedy this, you chop the bottom spring seat off the corona struts, and weld ke35 spring seat on. then use ke35 springs and top hat and it will all bolt up. i went with a heavy duty king spring. using the corona steering arms/ control arms gives a healthy of camber (by no means ridiculous like the sigma arms on ke70s). rear has an added and reset leaves, and kyb struts. whiteline heavy duty sway bar up front, standard rear. car sits exactly on minimum legal height, brakes a whole lot better, and handles like a dream. if anything id go maybe a bit stiffer on the front springs. all very cheap to do if you know where to look/ what to do. Hope that helps Paul

So the Galant master is sounding like a good idea. I did scope one out at the wreckers last time i was there but didnt have time to pull it off and test fit it on the ke20 thats also there. Are there any mods involved? ie drilling/enlarging holes, changing of brake line sizes, or changing length of the rod that goes to the pedal? I can take care of these, just curious before i start the endeavour. I appreciate the time taken in replies guys.

When you say twin system do you mean the later KE2x master with the single reservoir and twin outlet, or the KE3x master with the twin reservoirs? I'm leaning towards the former. Anywho, thanks for the advice.

Just curious as i have all the bits lying around, i like seeing what can be mixed and matched. And have seen a couple of photos of KE2x engine bays with the same setup. Ive looked at my KE20, KE35, and KE55 today and scoped off the car spares. From the looks of it all it would need is 4 holes drilled through the firewall to mount the booster and possibly a bit of reinforcing, the rest should line up. this pic was from seabiscuits for sale thread:

SRK355 purely cause it can be got on the cheap S and R series plates