Ke30 Top End Rebuild

[altezzaclub]

Pull the stocking out after a week and bin it. Its done its work by then.

 

What valve train are you swapping?? If its a 3K you just get a 3K head to replace yours. Only if you swap to a 4K or 5K head on your 3K motor will it be a problem. You re-use all your valve gear, pushrods, rockers etc and adjust the tappets to suit.

 

Is that head of yours really useless? Have you had it looked at by a head shop?

[Super Jamie]

As long as there is enough adjustment in the tappets, just use whatever fits.

 

If the valve gear on the replacement head works, use that.

 

If you find your replacement head can't be adjusted to the right length, the replacement head gear might have come from an engine with different length pushrods, in which case you could maybe swap your old valve gear back over.

 

Like others have said, a couple of coolant and oil flushes would be a good idea. Don't forget to replace the oil filter after a couple of weeks too.

 

if you do take the sump off, if your block has any studs which locate the sump, then take the studs out and swap to all bolts. It makes it much easier to get the sump off again later.

[Dzhoel]

OK sorry for the lack of updates but I'm here now

 

I put the new head in to get resurfaced and what do ya know, it was warped and hilly as the Himalayas! so for $35 she was as good as new.

 

The welsh plugs were taken out and painstakingly replaced with brass ones (never need to replace those again)

 

Followed the tightening sequence, adjusted the rocker cover to what i was told, filled it with crap oil, drained it and filled it with good oil, got proper coolant got the proper gaskets together, everything we took out was cleaned and painted

 

The radiator works fine, the rocker cover was given a good treatment of polish. The Toyota 'TEQ" logo was painted with my mums fingernail polish (thanks mum!) and rubbed back to reveal the lettering. However, i did find that the heater pipe was leaking like mad, and in Australia we're going into summer so we disconnected that and reconnected it to do a loop from the back of the head and into the water pump. The old water pump was taken off and a new one put on, thermostat housing was re done.

 

Filled her up and took her for a spin and noticed it over heating a little bit. Checked the timing and it was out. We noticed marks on the engine reading "10 | 0" and figured it should line up with '0' but found the engine runs better and at lower temperature at '10'

 

Finally, where should the temperature be on the temp gauge? and how do i fill up on transmission fluids?

 

Pictures will come in the next post

 

Thanks so much for your help and guidance, this car is running as good as she came out!

[Dzhoel]

About the head, i've decided to keep it. Just incase i need some valve parts down the track i can always rob it from the old head

 

As it stands, ready for work! brought it into the shed because it was getting hot out

 

The head went on perfectly, had to loosen the valve train to fit the pushrods but it fit in the end

Also my gasket kit came with new valve seals, so those were installed before the head went on

 

Polished rocker cover, took a day of scrubbing to get it to shine like it does

 

The engine being put back together

 

More engine, this time the radiator hoses connected and the air filter put on

 

Heres a video of it running, sounds sweet!

 

And finally the old welsh plugs, this picture was taken out by the beach to end the day. These were used as skipping stones :P:

 

Thanks again for all the help!

[ke70dave]

Nice result!

 

Happy days.

[altezzaclub]

Ok, learn about tuning it- You should have the tappet gaps correct, or can check them after a month.

 

Points gap correct, and if you change it or they wear it affects timing too. Plugs gaps checked.

 

Timing with a timing light preferably, 8-10deg before TDC although they will run well with a little more advance.

 

Set the carb mixture for best idle and then set the idle speed.

 

Stacks on Youtube about how to do those jobs, or ask on here, and you'll be set!

 

My blue car always runs at 1/3 up the temp gauge, my gold car a tad higher just under the halfway mark.

 

I use a bit of garden hose, about 1.5M long, and a plastic funnel to do g'box and diff oil. Prop the funnel up against the car and feed the hose into the filler hole, then pour g'box oil in slowly. You can buy filler bottles, some you squeeze the oil up a curved steel spout, and flash ones that you pump the oil along a hose.

[Super Jamie]

Good man, your engine looks great with that new head and fancy tappet cover too :)

 

Also what radiator fan shroud is that? I've never seen one like it on a K motor before.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Super Jamie

[Dzhoel]

don't know what you mean Jamie, On google images it seems pretty common on a standard corolla like mine

 

However, the man who did my radiator repair did mention it was serviced/replaced at one point in its life. Might be a ke30 radiator, might not be. It was a badly rusted 2 piece cover

 

One last question, do i check my trans fluid while its idling or when the engine isn't running?

 

All there is to do now is replace the extractor to muffler gasket, change the carburettor gasket and clean the engine bay up. (maybe move the battery to the boot to clean up the bay while I'm at it)

Edited November 24, 2014 by Dzhoel

[Clapped out]

The fan shroud is a standard item on ke30/35/36/38/55, later 55's and 38's had a plastic unit, as for your trans fluid, check and fill when the engine is running,

 

cheers!

[Super Jamie]

Yeah I know they came with a shroud, I have a KE55 plastic one on my KE30, and had a KE30 metal one on my KE35, I've just never seen a KE Corolla one in the shape of the above before. Oh well.

 

Check auto trans fluid while the car is running, and at normal operating temperature. Take it for a drive around the block. If there is a warm/cold meter on the dipstick, make sure the fluid is correct at the "warm" point.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Super Jamie

[Dzhoel]

Alright, some updates since the rebuild 2 months ago

 

The engine has been running fine now but during 30-40 degree days it comes very close to redlining meaning its fragile doing highway speeds in that weather

.

On cool 30 degree days its fine and the radiator does its job very well, cooling down the coolant quick when i turn it off and dropping the temperature at calm speeds (up to 80km/h) but heats up quickly during high speeds (90km/h or higher), which forces me to do a maximum speed of 80 wherever i go which is unacceptable leading me to believe something in the cooling system is still not completely functional.

 

A couple of reasons i think of this (brace for retardation because I'm not an expert) is due to my car being an auto, its third gear feels 1:1 with engine RPM and i feel as if the engine is working too hard for the speeds I'm going. Another reason is previously i was using E10 fuel before i found out not to run 3k's with it so i switched to 91 octane which i feel has made my engine work better.

 

Previously i wanted to get a new radiator, but seeing that they're $300 for a new-old stock one it might be a last resort measure. I did recall however not flushing my engine block when i had the engine apart which may have blockages causing these issues. Any ideas? Does anyone know how to flush an engine block?

[Taz_Rx]

If you're going to replace the radiator, don't do it with a stock sized corolla one for $300, get a brand new VN commodore one for $120 odd like I did about a year ago. Only other cost is a new top hose, mind was $60 iirc. Easy as to fit. Can find a few pics when I put a new one in a few pages back in my projects thread. I never have any cooling issues even on hot days....and its not like its on a relatively stock 4k.

[Dzhoel]

get a brand new VN commodore one for $120 odd like I did about a year ago. Only other cost is a new top hose, mind was $60 iirc. Easy as to fit.

 

Awesome! but remember I'm running an Auto, do you reckon the trans fluid will go through it correctly?

 

What mods will i have to do and where can i get hoses? could you tell me about what you did?

[altezzaclub]

Buildup of crap in the block will make it run hot. I tipped mine on its side when I had the motor out and cleaned it out with coathangar wire and a screwdriver. It was amazing how much rust flake came out, it was bridging the gaps between the cylinders in the water jackets.

 

Some garages will flush it for you in the car, a water blaster through the water pump hole and the welch plugs taken out or something like that. I've never had it done.

 

The problem started twenty years ago when the cars were just old bombs and no-one bothered to run coolant anymore. Once you have it clean it should last forever.

 

You're right about the auto rad, you'd need one with oil cooler pipes in the bottom. After lots of playing around with diff ratios I have found the high revs are "empty revs". The motor is spinning but not working hard. Go from a 4.3 to a 3.9 and the revs drop 500rpm but because the motor is working harder all the time to cruise it uses more fuel. Not what I expected, but it was a big jump in ratio.

 

You could get two taller tyres when your current ones are worn out, or go to 14" rims to make it easier. I run a tall pair for long trips and swap them to the front for around-town use for acceleration. You can feel the difference immediately.

[ke70dave]

A standard engine on standard tyres shouldn't overheat though.

 

I'm not saying don't go for the bigger radiator if you are going to replace, but just make sure its not something else before you spend the cash. Radiator cap? Waterpump? Thermostat? Gunk/rust blocking pipes? Ignition timing set right?