Project Ke30

[KE30Coupe]

I bought the ke30 2dr in September 2004 transported it on a trailer to my garage and left it. It sat untouched until in May this year I finally got my lazy ass out to the garage and started having a look at what I could do. It needed a whole new interior but I figured an engine refresh was the first thing to do so that at least I could drive it around while I slowly fixed the interior.

 

 

So I stripped it down to the block, had the cam reground, obtained a 3k head as it had a 4k head on it :D as has been documented elsewhere on this site. Meticulously cleaned the head and reseated the valves, obtained a inlet manifold due to the existing one being cracked, cleaned that up so it was shiney as the head and finally I put it all back together.

 

Brand new plugs, points, dist cap, coil, leads to go with the nice clean head, inlet manifold and new cam. Taking great care to make sure everything was adjusted just like the gregorys says and all the nuts and bolts were put back in the same holes they came out of.

 

I then pulled off the spark plug leads and hooked up a freshly charged old battery and turned the motor over until the battery was flat to get the oil flowing, changed over to a new battery reconnected the leads and sat for a moment preparing for what would undoubtable be the greatest moment of my life.....the starting of MY corolla, the car I had spent the last few months painstakingly pulling apart and putting back together, spending freezing cold Melbourne winter nights in the garage while the family sat inside the warm house looking at me out the window shaking their heads at the stupidity of their husband/father.

 

I open the choke, turn the key, step on the go pedal and.............................

 

It wont start sob

 

So I kicked the dog punched the wife and went inside and drank myself into a coma.

 

 

Nah just kidding. I began checking and established that there is no spark from the coil. When the ignition is on there is power to the coil as when I disconnect the ignition wire it sparks but as soon as I turn the starter there is no power.

 

So I figure I'll follow a few wires and see if they are earthed properly or maybe loose and what do I discover.........I got wires that don't go anywhere, aren't connected to anything and some that actually loop around and connect back to themselves :) The more electrical tape I unwrapped the worse it became. It appears that the previous owner when he moved the battery to the boot decided that he obviously didnt need to connect all the wires back up and threw in a few extra ones for good measure.

 

So at 9.00pm on Saturday night I closed the bonnet and the garage door and walked away.

 

I have yet to decide whether or not to attempt to trace this myself or call in an expert...........just how hard is it to totally rewire a ke30????????????

[demuire]

I kinda rewired mine. It's not difficult, but is quite tedious. It would be nice if all the wires were the correct colors too, if they've been replaced with "generic black" wires then it makes it all the more tedious.

 

But KE Corollas are simple, and the wiring is also fairly simple. No EFI is sometimes a good thing :D

 

Give it a go, I recon you'll be able to do it. You just need a multimeter, and a hell of a lot of patience.

[ROLLN'03]

ERM....

 

I sat down and totally rewired mine.....

 

its not that hard. Just make sure you have a manual at hand and youll be fine... :) Also, its probably best to make sure that you have all the right coloured wires as well. And TRUST ME, it really helps in the future.

 

(eg, when the fuel guage stops working after playing in the dash, you whip out the manual, choose your colour and follow it around til you find somethin....)

 

HAVE FUN! :D

[Rolla__Boy]

That was quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever read....

 

"It wont start

 

So I kicked the dog punched the wife and went inside and drank myself into a coma."

 

GOLD!!!!!

[KE30Coupe]

Update...........I decided to play around with a few wires over the weekend before undertaking the task of a rewire, I really need to hear the rolla start. 3 recharged batteries later I finally got a spark at the plugs just as the battery went flat for the 4th time. I'll get some pics up tonight of the incredibly professional job the previous owner did with the wiring when he relocated the battery to the boot.

[Super Jamie]

haha this should be good :(

[KE30Coupe]

OK some pics as promised

 

Unwrapped a heap of black electrical tape and found this. Note the exposed wires, especially the thick red one which you can see connected to nothing down near the altinator

 

heres some more wires that don't connect to anything

 

the positive battery terminal in the boot

 

this is the bolt that holds on the bumper which also served as the eath point for the battery in the boot

 

don't even look under the dash

 

away from the wiring heres a tip for those with a choke cable that doesnt work........2hb pencil

 

and finally my patented racing seats with specially designed speed tears :(

Edited July 18, 2005 by KE30Coupe

[Xany]

holy shit......

 

thats worse than my wiring.....lol.

[Teddy]

*insert omg wtf*

 

i think its time you talked to an auto lecky.

[Ratty]

I had a simmilar problem in my ke35, i had power untill i turned the key to crank over the engine then nothing i replaced the main wire from the starter motor which is a pain to get too :( then i checked the negitive wires on the starter and replaced them and it works now i also replaced the main earth from battery to manifold all connections are tight and clean and i have a new battery too which helps

[Ratty]

the cut black wire is the main power to the starter

the cut two little white wires are from ignition i just need to join them together

 

don't know if it helps much but if you can sort your starter motor wires out u might have some luck :(

[demuire]

Wow. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you!!!

[Super Jamie]

classy. my wiring sucks but at least it works and it's semi-neat. it's amazing how much people can f@$k a car with so little effort

 

the pencil tho, that's a truly inventive move :)

Edited July 19, 2005 by Super Jamie

[Raven]

Definately has been cut out. :)

[KE30Coupe]

Update

 

Found a spare hour in my busy Saturday and decided to play my favorite game, "Whats under the electical tape" =)

 

Boot at the start

 

Time for "Whats under the electrical tape" this is the positive lead from the battery.

 

Removing the tape revealed this

 

A bit of cutting, drilling and we now have a battery firmly in place with nice looking cable running to & from the battery, earthed to the chassis and no exposed cable showing anywhere

 

And finally the finished boot :D

 

Tommorrow we tackle the engine bay