Slammed Daily '55

[zeph_KE70]

looks sweeet as!

[snotyellowke55]

Thanks man, will push on with the mods once I get this carby sorted. Choke and throttle cable issues, so I'll pull the thing out and start from scratch - looks like the previous owner had messed around with it a fair bit without knowing what he was doing.

The cutoff wiring to the carby decided to tear itself out of the clip also - dodgy old classic wiring. Will replace with a male and female clip and some sleeving and see how it goes.

 

Hopefully tomorrow after a coolant flush, thermostat change and new exhaust gasket it'll be good to go, and on with the mods :)

[floody31]

Good luck with the build mate. Should look a lot better when its low.

You could try 175/60s instead of the 175/70 balloon tyres if you want to minimise the molesting to your guards and lose some more rideheight too. Barely stretched on an 8 (I have some on Volk 13x8s..was too much stretch on 13x9.5s though).

TE37, Celica or TE51 mirrors would fit better.

 

I'll be honest, the only JDM bit I can see is potentially the gearknob...Its an Aussie built car after all.

 

This was my friend's TE37-copy KE55, previously here in Hobart. You can see the mirrors are a lot different to the generic KE70 type ones.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2012 by floody31

[snotyellowke55]

Mate that thing is balls tough. I had originally sought out to include more Japanese parts, such as some bullet fender mirrors just like the TE replica above, and a JDM grille, but unfortunately my plans changed - I have focussed more on the Soarer, considering it is actually an import and parts are more plentiful (and more affordable) than rolla parts. Instead of splurging out on the said mirrors, it was more preferable to spend $30 on some Thai replicas and spend the savings on some genuine origin +20mm front guards, front bar and some tein coilovers, all of which are en route :happy:

 

I should really rename the thread "my snotbox I have experimented/played around with" but true to my original inspiration I sprayed my AE82 seca rear wing and test fitted it as a splitter - looks sweet. The front has already been dropped 3" and any more would lead to guard scrapage, so more rubber might be on the cards. The rear still needs to be slammed so hopefully it'll have a more aggressive stance with the addition of those 2 mods.

 

Do I spot Watanabes or are they Rotas?

Edited February 1, 2012 by snotyellowke55

[floody31]

They were one pair 14x6.5 RS-Watanabe, one pair 14x6.5 Black Racing 8 Spoke. It was a fun car with all the good bits (coilovers, 4 pot hilux brakes, '3T-G' with big cams, TRD LSD etc), built before it was cheap/simple to get stuff from Japan, lots of calling in favours, mates of mates etc to gather the bits.

 

If you want to try 175/60s I happen to have a pair which have been fitted to rims, but not driven on, which I could let go for minimal cost, haha.

[snotyellowke55]

A little tinkering here and there - moved head unit down to the centre console above shifter (hated the bling factor of the alpine deck in my face), VHT dyed door trims satin black, vht dying (in progress) rear and drivers seat tan, sourced a good passenger seat to be dyed tan, new black carpet (war declared on poo brown basically), and spraying silver trims on dash black / fibreglassing in the bloody big hole which used to be there for the head unit. Wired in a 4x200rms amp for the speakers, and 2x10" subs. Also adding some billet window winders and some pure white LEDs in the cluster to rid the dull green, and carpeting the rear parcel shelf.

 

Amazing what a few hundred bucks can result in - a completely retrimmed interior (albeit with original vinyl, but looks good as new and smells fresh), a killer system, and less of the 80's factor. Love the 80's body styling, but the interior colour schemes - not so much...

 

Also considering the possibility of bolt-on flares before the car sees a full respray (in the original 'buff' yellow, but I'm thinking matte finish...)

 

Progress pics to come.

[snotyellowke55]

 

Thanks Jono_C for the GZ20 seats! These will be in by tomorrow afternoon, offering a heap more support and comfort than the old vinyl church-pews!

 

Starting some work on the boot today (some MDF false flooring and carpeting), and a fresh parcel shelf.

[the_ke55!]

 

 

hey mate, I'm building a ke55 from the ground up, bought it as a rolling shell, any way quick to the chase, youve got the front bumper whats the bit under that called? like the chin bit? its hard to find one when you don't know what there called haha

cheers jesse

 

 

 

 

 

[snotyellowke55]

 

 

hey mate, I'm building a ke55 from the ground up, bought it as a rolling shell, any way quick to the chase, youve got the front bumper whats the bit under that called? like the chin bit? its hard to find one when you don't know what there called haha

cheers jesse

 

Hey mate,

 

That's the 'beaver panel'. Good luck with the build :)

[the_ke55!]

Hey mate,

 

That's the 'beaver panel'. Good luck with the build :)

 

thanks heaps buddy, yeh been tryin for a bit to find what its called haha,

[snotyellowke55]

Small update,

 

declared war against turd brown - new interior is starting to look much more accomodating.

 

New carpet just arrived, and the new seats are to be retrimmed.

 

But currently, this is today's work: dyed trims, a lick of autosol on the handles, and billet window winders

 

 

A vast improvement over the turd brown of before:

 

[snotyellowke55]

After a long period of time working on my Soarer and getting it ready for sale, I have neglected anything to do with the KE, but I just splurged out on a few more bits today in order to revive the build.

 

I had a change of heart re. the GZ seats - adapting the rails / adapting the seats to the KE55 rails would have been a PITA, plus the seats were too wide to really fit in the '55 properly (Should have taken a hint from Jono_C when they didn't fit in his KE10!). Sold the seats on to some dude with a Hiace Camper of all things.

 

- Picked up an immaculate S13 CA drivers seat (in fact it is in such good condition, the autocorrected word on this particular forum is warranted - yes it is M.I.N.T.) Picking up a passenger one on the weekend from someone else, said to be in similar condiiton. Thanks to Chillin and Crowie55 for the inspiration there.

 

- Sourced some bolt-on guards from Megat on these forums. Was going to go the TE37 guards but I don't like the look or width, so I ended up sourcing some TE27 replicas and will modify the guards to fit. My guards will be cut a little bit all round, as all four corners scrape (the rears on big bumps, and the fronts on full-lock) and I'm only running 13x7s, albeit with fat offset. Hopefully I will have a flush stance after these are fitted.

 

- Bought an original JAF badge to fit on the front grille, just because.

 

- Also sick of breaking my neck every time I drive - car is about 3.5 inches lower all round, and I'm still running standard shocks in the rear (stupidly). Sourced some VN commodore wagon shockies with much shorter stroke to hopefully rectify this problem.

 

- And for laughs, sourced myself one of these:

 

 

Yep, a NOS pillow, haha.

 

Stay tuned, plenty more mods to come

[snotyellowke55]

Fitted the seat last night, looks the goods and is 100 times more supportive than the old vinyl pew!

 

[snotyellowke55]

Well disaster has struck. Big time. The poor little 4K finally went bang. Lost all compression coming off the Tasman bridge (and lucky it was off the bridge, as it attracts a fine around $400ish), and spluttered to death in a pool of what looked to be a mixture of coolant, oil, and general 31-year-old sludge.

 

 

 

 

I thought twice about having it towed to the wreckers and decided it deserved another chance, so I had it towed to the workshop at a college where my Dad teaches. It was either there, home (where I'd probably let it sit and rot), or to the wreckers, where I'd be lucky to get $100 for it.

 

 

 

It was out in a matter of hours, the benefits of having a hoist and engine crane handy! (Damn I need to spray the rest of my car - two tone snot!)

 

Pulling the head off revealed all kinds of bad - a cracked piston, warped head, and generally a complete mess. Was time to can the old 4K. Luckily I picked up a decent 4K from Leigh a few months back with a measly 125,000kms on it, and it was compete minus fuel pump, dizzy, and flywheel. Over the last week the new 4K has been completely dismantled, de-carbonised and cleaned, a full regrind gasket kit put through, timing chain kit, and any decent components left from the old motor have been swapped. I was heading out to pick up a K50 yesterday but the @rsehole sold it without telling me, so I'll stick with the K40 now for high-revving highway action.

 

 

With the bad news comes the good - hopefully by the end of next week I'll have a healthy 4K without the concern of any further hassles, and I can focus on the bodywork - some bolt-on flares arrived from Megat, so I'll be cutting out the remnants of the rust-converted, sorry looking rear guards, and fitting the TE27 replicas.

 

 

It would have been more logical to fit the TE37 reps, but I prefer the look of the TE27 flares (TE37s looked way to fat), plus I've seen TE27s fitted to KE30s/55s with minimal modification.

 

And probably the best news - there will be a Toyota 86 GTS in the garage (albeit, in about 6-9 months). It's not mine - the old man was sold after a test drive and a thrash around the Hobart domain - the same road as the old Targa Tasmania circuit.

 

Might have to lay some cash down on one myself.

 

Edited July 15, 2012 by snotyellowke55

[Jono.C]

Get it done Michael. Urban disturbance is needed!

 

Let's hope your hang ring doesn't get stolen haha