The Red Car - Ke70

[seabiscuit]

Hey Everyone,

 

I've had my KE70 for quite a while as most of you may know and it's been through a few small transformations since I've owned it,

but it's still quite a simple Corolla. At the moment it is sort of an ongoing daily project.

 

Here's a short history of what's happened to the car starting a little bit before I owned it - I hope you enjoy it:

 

My uncle worked for a young woman who was given the car by her elderly relative. The young lady couldn't drive manual so

the car sat there for a while without any use. My uncle saw it in the unused state and asked what she was doing with it and she

said that she was planning to send it to the wreckers. My uncle then said he'd give her the price the wrecker was going to give her

and she let him have it!

 

The car was then passed down to my immediate family as a first car for either my sister or me. My sister being the lazy one wasn't

eager enough to get her license and therefore the car was handed down to me! :lol: From then, I gave it a service and abused the

crap out of it - I literally hated the thing - it was slow, rear wheel drive :dance: , and ugly! So The Red Car took on many journeys

that would normally break a cars heart. The completely stock Red Car took on wet clay 4WD tracks, the mighty cotter, burnouts,

wet drifting and many other stories!

 

The day came that I bought the Purple Monster - Grimus the KE36. The tyre tread was wearing low on the Red Car and Grimus had

a fresh set of 4 tyres on the cheviot hotwires tucked under the guards. The hotwires swapped spots with the steel rims and I had an

epiphany. I said to myself "This car doesn't look half bad" :cool: That was the day that the KE70 started earning the respect it

deserved!

 

This picture is how it looked from when I got it till soon before I put the hotwires on it - always dirty!

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

Before the car was in it's current state, the many journeys it traveled on can be seen below. Some cannot be shown due to legal reasons :dance:

 

The first picture shows a VERY damp 4WD track around Swan Lake on the South Coast of NSW where we had ventured far into the depths only to come to

a huge 1m deep puddle where we had to turn back. There were many giant puddles that we had amazingly evaded getting bogged in, but LITERALLY, the

very last puddle on the track before it turned smooth again was this one in the picture. An hour of waiting, no phone service and only a small toolbox.

Finally, a V8 Land Rover comes to the rescue!

 

The second picture just shows the kind of daily abuse that the car received while in my college years. For lunchtimes and lines off we Corolled (see signature)

about, harassing people, lawns, dirt tracks, etc.

 

The third picture is of the Red Car being launched over the lip of a very large ditch on the mighty Cotter! The Red Car was being rallied around a corner which

was under corrected and we swerved over to one side of the track and across the lip of the ditch and smacked onto the other side of it. What you cannot see in

the photo is the 2m drop below the ditch! When I was getting out of my drivers seat I had to jump down into the ditch as the front and rear halves of the car

were perched on either side of the ditch and half of the middle of the car was high above it.

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

The day had come where I had purchased two KE20's from a very nice gentleman in the suburb of Duffy. One sedan and one convertible.

Inside the engine bay lay the beastly hunk of the mighty 5K attached to the 5 speed gearbox, which was soon to replace the busted and worn

4K and 4 speed combo (the 4 speed actually broke). I'd decided to put the 5K in Grimus and the time was at hand to do the conversion.

Vince: "Patrick, are you coming around to give me a hand to put the 5K in my wagon?"

Patrick: "Yea no worries, be there soon!".

 

Half an hour later-

Patrick: "Put the 5k in your Red Car and you'll be a real man!"

Vince: Silence...... "Ok!" *Massive grin*

Later that day-

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

A few days later, the Red Car went faster - it's red so already went fast! It went much faster! What was 15 seconds to 100km/h was cut down to just

below 10 seconds. It would wheelspin while cornering in the dry, beat Mazda 323 Astina's, was way more fun in the dirt and it had a PHAT idle much

the same as a rotary! That's right - this 5K had some work done to it. Massively ported head, Stage 5 race cam, 32/36 DGV weber, solid lifter conversion

and high compression all paired up with a nice 2" exhaust system - all the means to rip fat skids! And that it did :dance:

 

This is (to my knowledge) the only photo of the 5k I have currently without having to take another one, which is way too hard!

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

Here's a few more shots of the car in it's history!

 

The first one is after I installed my 6x9's in the parcel shelf. Sounds great for free speakers. The second one is when it had a hood emblem

for a long drive to Sussex Inlet (the trip I went on the 4WD track) before it fell off. The third is what the engine bay looked like after the 4WD

journey

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

Up until this day, the Red Car has served very well as a daily. I still have plenty of short term plans for the car, which

are already underway! This is how the Red Car sits as of 06-Sep-09! This was also the "revival" cruise of the RollaClub

Canberra group. The first gathering in years I believe. Minus the dirty car, the bottom pic is my fave. I plan to do a reshoot

when I'm there and the car is clean!

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

Alritey! Now that I've wrote out a brief history of The Red Car, here's what I've planned for her:

 

- Suspension upgrades already underway: Have lowered and stiffer springs for rear ready to go in,

just waiting for front springs which I've ordered along with stiffer rear sway bar. Also in the process

of purchasing a front strut brace.

 

- Suspension upgrades for the future: Possibly thicker front sway bar also and, if funds permit, may go

down the coilover path. It is only a daily, though.

 

- Engine modifications: Has already got the decently worked 5k in it, which is doing wonders currently,

but I would love to build up another 5k with fuel injection and a turbo. Something similar to Si's 5kte setup!

Would aim for anywhere around 100rwkw

 

- Stronger LSD diff: T-18 fits I seem to recall reading on here a while ago. Paired with a T-50 gearbox

and K-T bellhousing.

 

- If I go crazy over this car: I (don't think I will) but I really would like to clean up all of the dents on the

car and give it a respray in the original colour and try and get somewhere to redo the factory dealer stickers

on the side.

Edited September 18, 2009 by seabiscuit

[seabiscuit]

UPDATE: Have received my strut brace and tacho dash! Tacho dash is ready to go in; I will be painting the ends of the

strut braces black and polishing the centre bar before I put it in. Hopefully I'll get round to putting it all in by next weekend.

Whiteline rear sway bar and pedders springs are taking forever to get to the shop! I ordered them over two weeks ago :D

Here are some pics:

[flat out]

looks really good mate, suprised how clean it still is after a thrashing :D

[bAKER]

looks really good mate, suprised how clean it still is after a thrashing ;)

 

Agreed, haha.

[Daxman]

UPDATE: Have received my strut brace and tacho dash! Tacho dash is ready to go in; I will be painting the ends of the

strut braces black and polishing the centre bar before I put it in. Hopefully I'll get round to putting it all in by next weekend.

Whiteline rear sway bar and pedders springs are taking forever to get to the shop! I ordered them over two weeks ago :)

Here are some pics:

 

That tacho dash looks nice, we don't have those kind of things here in Finland, is that plug and play dash, or do you have to change the wiring or something, could you take a picture from behind the tacho dash? How wide is that dash?

[LittleRedSpirit]

That tacho dash looks nice, we don't have those kind of things here in Finland, is that plug and play dash, or do you have to change the wiring or something, could you take a picture from behind the tacho dash? How wide is that dash?

 

 

The aussie tacho cluster is almost the same as your type in shape (assuming yours is a japanese style instruments). It will physically fit in the spot and screw in, but the shape of the cover is different. It will leave a hollow bit around the screen. I think the plugs fit too but I never got to the stage of powering it up when playing in my car. Ive heard a pin or three needs to be swapped, but the swap is well do-able.

[KENut]

You finally got a tacho! Will be good once all the new bits are in.

Don't forget to put pics up of the new addition :)

[seabiscuit]

You finally got a tacho! Will be good once all the new bits are in.

Don't forget to put pics up of the new addition :yes:

Will do, KENut :) How's the 4k going? :dance:

 

That tacho dash looks nice, we don't have those kind of things here in Finland, is that plug and play dash, or do you have to change the wiring or something, could you take a picture from behind the tacho dash? How wide is that dash?

What LittleRedSpirit said and yes, I quite like it myself... It's much better than a GIANT clock :bash: in the way.

 

If LRS's reply didn't answer your questions, I can still take a few more photo's and measure it up for you!?

 

I've seen your car in your rides thread and it's awesome, Daxman! I like the chrome that you put on the grill. I prefer that style of front over

most but it'd be a toss up between that and quad fronts :) You should send me your front when you install your quads :jamie:

[KENut]

Will do, KENut How's the 4k going?

 

Its going good thanks, can confirm 6000+rpm revability :jamie: