Lola - Ke55 4a-gze

[Jason]

sound just like a megasquirt fuel only if its still running another computer.

[ancullen]

That's what I would think too. So even the most basic Microtech should have more control than the Megasquirt & Bluetop. I doubt that would amount to a lot of extra power, but it might give me an extra kilowatt here and there.

[Jason]

yeah the basic MS is pretty gay, once you get into the top end they come good

 

*jason plugs MS :D

[ancullen]

Have just confirmed deal for 2x T28 GTR turbos. I'll still be selling one on to a mate for his SR20. Have also just secured a pair of lowered springs for the front of Lola.

 

And have just found someone with a coilover kit for sale, although I shouldn't mention his name on here, eh Jason?

[ancullen]

The deal on the turbos was cancelled (by me) upon discovering that GTR turbos are fairly different to regular T25's & T28's (thanks irokin).

 

Have finally agreed on a price for the big valves, so when I get a bigport head and the money to have some work done on it, I should get a fairly good jump in power. ;)

[beerhead]

Don't touch the Coilover kits from kelvin5878 on ebay, I bought an apparent stainless steel kit to do a conversion and they ended up being alloy! Then he tried to tell me that the springs were stainless steel, but they were powdercoated! Grrrrr, never buying things like that on ebay again. Good luck on the stainless valves, would be a great upgrade :( I have a bare bigport head, but there is a slight nick on one bucket bores, from some dumb person (me) was removing the valve springs. I'm not sure whether it's any good but you can have it for cheap. I can get a piccy of the damage if you want, I'd say a good machinist would be able to fix it.

Edited September 29, 2006 by beerhead

[ancullen]

HELL YES! on the bigport!!! Post some pics (or PM me with them as I'd be EXTREMELY interested. If the damage isn't too bad we can discuss a deal of some kind. I'd have to get the head machined for the new valves anyhow, plus I'd get a port and polish. And yes I have read all of Billzilla's info on biport heads and realise that the ports are too big for anything under 200hp, but I want maximum flow for when I go turbo to show all those 4A-GTE 20v mofo's that they've wasted their money on 20% extra valves. :P

 

I'll be checking my mailbox on Monday and hopefully there will be some bigport cams and 2x sets of cam covers waiting for me (BIG thanks to Nick :jamie: ).

 

Also, today I actually worked on my car (shock, horror!!!) I've removed the driver's side front strut and put the lowered spring on (see springs compared below). I'm trying to remove the lower control arm, but am having issues. And for once I'm actually using air tools, and it is WAY quicker than doing everything with a manual ratchet (well, duh). Tomorrow I will be checking on here to see if anyone has answered my query about removing the LCA from the steering arm (see here). If you have any clue as to why I can't get the LCA off the steering arm, PLEASE help me out, as I'd really like to achieve something within a weekend for once.

 

Standard KE55 spring vs. red Pedders low spring. They seem to be the same height when out of the car, but I presume that the Pedders item compresses further than the KE55 item when the car is resting on it.

 

BTW, I actually compared my rose-jointed LCA versus a standard one today. They seem to be the same length, just with a rose-joint being the only difference. So I'm not expecting any extra negative camber. Redwarf, if you're reading this, were your rose-jointed LCA's longer than the standard ones, or did you pick up some negative camber through some other method?

 

Also, my rose-jointed items have what appears to be a solid piece of steel welded into it at the cut & rose-jointed end. The steel is the width of the arm and goes most of the length. I presume it's to ensure the structural integrity of the arm, but it feels like it at least doubles it's weight and seems like a bit of overkill. Not really a question or anything, just a statement about something which made me curious.

[ancullen]

As for kelvin5878's coilover kit, what's the issue with alloy vs. stainless? I take it that alloy is weaker than stainless steel? And $155 does seem extremely cheap when I think about it.

[beerhead]

I'm just suspect on alloy in suspension, it likes to shock fracture. The way I was planning to shorten the strut required something that I could weld as the sleeve. All good now anyway, picked up a set of sprinter coilovers for the job.

[ancullen]

Fair enough. But I suppose that means you're stuck with a useless coilover kit. I hope you got it cheap.

[beerhead]

The ones that are $155 are the same as the $180 stainless ones, that's the thing that really frustrated me, he even uses the same image on all the ad's and when I asked a detailed question about his product he told be to refer to the image :jamie:

 

After a week of hassling him about them not being stainless steel he agreed to let me return them, I did registered post aswell, so he can't pretend they were never returned. I lost $50 in the transaction due to his false advertising, not very cool.

 

Put the arm in a vice put some tension on the steering arm, then bash the side of it with a hammer. Watch you don't kill the rubber boot, I put a hole in mine :P

Edited October 2, 2006 by beerhead

[love ke70]

those springs will be lower as they are a progrssive rate

they allow for the car to sit lower in general, but on suspension travel they stay captive

dunno if you got told but the gathered bit should be at the top if possible :jamie:

[ancullen]

Put the arm in a vice put some tension on the steering arm, then bash the side of it with a hammer. Watch you don't kill the rubber boot, I put a whole in mine :P

 

I ended up giving up on the driver's side arm (which I had been working on), and trying to do the passenger side. I gave it a few belts with the hammer and discovered that it wouldn't move either. So then I figured there might be something under the rubber boot that was interfering. First I tried moving it, then I ripped it (literally) off. I have new, different rubber boots on the new arms, so it didn't really matter. That didn't change anything, so I gave a few more hits with the hammer and the arm suddenly popped out. I gave the driver's side a few more vicious belts and it came loose too. :jamie:

[ancullen]

those springs will be lower as they are a progrssive rate

they allow for the car to sit lower in general, but on suspension travel they stay captive

dunno if you got told but the gathered bit should be at the top if possible :P

 

I figured they would be progressive rate by looking at how the coils got closer together. I also assumed that the closer coils would be to slow the compression as the springs reached their maximum compression and hence should be at the top. Thanks though. :jamie:

 

Anyway, so to update on the progress, after some small issues with making the holes for the chassis pivot bolt for the lower control arm (the bolt on my new arms is thicker than the standard ones), I finally got the LCA's and lowered springs in. I had been going to put all my new bushes in too, but it was getting late in the day and I'd had to deal with enough problems.

 

Everything worked out okay EXCEPT because I was playing around with the steering so much to make room for everything to be installed, I discovered that when everything was back together, with the steering wheel pointing dead straight, both front wheels point outwards. So I have managed to pickup about 2-3 degrees of toe out either side. I wasn't really interested in gaining toe out, and am not certain how I have. I think it might have been from when I played with what I believed to be the castor adjustment arms, as I tightened them as much as I could. Anyway, as a result I will be taking the car in for a wheel alignment (which it probably needed anyway, especially after so much work), and I'll get the bushes installed at the same time.

 

I didn't get any pictures of the installed LCA's, but will try to remember to next time I have a front wheel off. Here's some comparison pictures of the new springs vs. old.

 

Before

 

After

 

I am quite happy with the new height of the car with these springs. It could possibly be as much as half an inch lower, but I'm not too fussy. Remember these are second hand springs, so they should have already settled in the previous owner's car.

 

I do still have some work to do before I next go racing (in about four weeks). However most of this will be done at various workshops, and not by me.

 

WORK LIST:

ABV mod (ME)

Install tacho (ME)

Fuel & oil filter (ME)

New (Pajero or Hilux) brake master cylinder & reservoir (ME)

Install bushes, reset rear leaves to be lower, wheel alignment (I'll probably go to L&S Springs as I know they're good)

Dyno tune (HiTech Tuning)

 

I know that the dyno tune is going to set me back up to about $300, assuming the engine doesn't need any parts. I'm not sure about the suspension place, but I'm going to try and get about the same amount saved up to afford this, as I know I am missing one set of bushes, and I know they've got them in stock because I ordered them last time I was working on my suspension. I'm hoping the dyno tune will find that the engine isn't producing as much power as it should, and that the only problem is with ECU mapping, and that it is easily fixed. I figure that with the ABV mod, I should be putting out about 110-120kW at the rear wheels. Once all this work is done, I hope to get a time at Hidden Valley in the 1min36 range. Currently my best is a 1min39.5 in Lola, and my black Corolla has done a 1min37.5, so I'm hoping these mods will make a significant difference.

Edited October 2, 2006 by ancullen

[ancullen]

My black Corolla is now a quad cam for the time being. It has four cams in it, it's just two of them are in the engine and two are in the cabin (and are for a 4A-G(Z)E, not a 1ZZ-FE). :dance: I also have two sets of 4A-GE bluetop cam covers sitting in the cabin with the cams, at least one set of which I plan on chroming and painting the letters metallic blue.