blue_rolla's toy: 1973 KE20

[blue_rolla]

I went halves in this car with a friend for $100 each. The car came running and in excellent mechanical condition. The paint was a bit dodgy and it was dirty inside and out... about 3 weeks later, the paint has been cut right back, to show some lovely light lemon colour. we've cleaned and vacuumed the inside as much as humanly possible, and it doesnt seem too bad now...

anyway here's the specs:

Year: 1973

Model: Toyota Corolla KE20

Odometer: I'm not sure - it only goes up to 99,999, and thats in miles...

Engine: 3K-C 1200cc :D

There's a few things that have to be done, including rebuilding the diff, getting some new seats, and fixing up some rust... but all the work that needs to be done is relatively cheap... im going to have a shot at doing the diff myself. i have all the new parts i need...

the car came with so many spare parts i can't even list them... to name some:

- whole other block and head (a 3K-H, which is a little crapper than the crap 3K-C :P)

- front disc brake setup

- front right shock/spring setup

- carburetor

- fuel pump

- water pump

- ETC

anyway my garage is full of KE20 parts, so that will be fun playing with them all for the next uni semester...

The part you've all been dying for:

that was before i cut the paint back, and she's received a new mirror since then and a whole lotta TLC...

stay tuned for more pics and info when i work out which direction she's going :P

[CORZZA]

nice tomo!!

Im expecting a sleeper out of this baby! 1G-GTE!

[MR22ZZ]

1G-GTE would be a pain in the **** to fit into it's tiny little engine bay... 4A-GE or GTE would be awesome though :)

[blue_rolla]

yep ooonnneeee day ill get my hands on a 4agte :) its all so expensive though! maybe when i get a full time job (not looking at anyone), ill be able to afford it..

[Brad!]

tom did you buy that from someone in north rocks?

[blue_rolla]

sure did - they live on lawndale avenue! :P it belonged to a friend's dad...

[Brad!]

thought it was familar. Its my neighbour lol

[RedLiner]

2zz ge would fit in that wouldnt it???????

[MR22ZZ]

it's a pain to change to RWD

[blue_rolla]

and they are soooo expensive... 4a-gte will do just nicely :)

... speaking of which... im in the middle of taking the rear axle off... do you know how hard that is? i was assuming it would be a bunch of bolts and whatever and it would all pretty much come apart with a bit of time and effort...

its been almost 5 hours, and all ive managed to do is get the handbrake cables out, and undo the flange on the diff... im stuck at the brake lines... i dont have the right sized spanner and my adjustable is so useless... and i didnt factor in brake fluid, so ill have to go buy some more and work out how to get that back into the system... lame.

[MT]

tommy i wanna see many more pics of this! a work in progress! DIY encouragement for everyone else out there

[Dead]

I've seen an SR20DET (bit my tongue) in one of these. Was a sideways machine. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Tom, looking awesome. I can tell you that restoring an old car will make you warm inside ;)

[MT]

geez thats a massive amount of work to fit an SR20 into one of them... i've seen a 13B turbo in there... all it did was spin the back wheels

[MR22ZZ]

I've seen one of these with a 350 CHEVY in it... no kidding

[MT]

wow... thats crazy.... whats the point??

[MR22ZZ]

it did sick skids :P

it was a drag car, max power to weight ;)

[MT]

mmm but even the one with the rotor in it couldnt keep the wheels from spinnin... i'd imagine the chevy would be worse!

still thats pretty dam cool :D

[MR22ZZ]

mmm but even the one with the rotor in it couldnt keep the wheels from spinnin... i'd imagine the chevy would be worse!

still thats pretty dam cool :D

extra weight makes the car more stable ;)

[blue_rolla]

well i have updates!! UPDATES!!!

... over the weekend i managed to remove the old gearbox and install a 5 speed... i was having trouble with the old one - it was making some crazy high pitched noise in second... so i bought another box...

upon opening the crap box, turns out there was a whole tooth missing from 2nd, and it was just filthy inside... the new one is spotless - its amazing.

i didnt get any pics of the gearbox removal process... but take my word for it - its not easy... but if i can do it with a socket set, it cant be thaaaat hard... anyway she drives again!!!

... ive also managed to source a car with a FWD 4A-GE for next to FREE!! as well as engine mounts for a 4A block on the toymods forum, and a T50 gearbox to go behind the 4A... so in about $300 time i should have most of the parts to do the conversion... HOW CHEAP IS THAT!!!

ive been filling in the dents and fixing up the rust... there's hardly any rust to speak of, just a bit down in the front left fender and just below the drivers window... the rest of the rust had been fixed by the previous owner, but even that was only a tiny bit...

uumm... what else... yeah so the dents are filled and primed... a bit more sanding to do, then its paint time. i bought a can of bright canary yellow paint, so thats what colour its going...

im really excited about this, and ive managed to get some ridiculously cheap parts... still im sure there'll be some expensive complications in the engine swap...

oh and i used a dremel tool to cut a new hole in the tunnel to fit the gearbox... do you know how crap a dremel tool is to cut into car? far out.

ok... ill upload some pics in a jiffy...

[MR22ZZ]

Tom, if you have an conversion day/weekend/week/month/quarter/year, let me know, I'd love to see it happen and help out where I can :)

[MT]

agreed.

your painting it yourself?

and who says fender??

[blue_rolla]

no worries dylan... im looking forward to doing it... hopefully these mounts and gearbox will arrive soon, then all i gotta find is a new tailshaft (probably...)

[blue_rolla]

alright some update pics:

INSTALLED A NEW CONSOLE FROM A 1976 CORONA:

NEONS: (not really, halogen lights for seeing the gearbox i was about to remove)

PRIMER AND BOG EVERYWHERE:

BONNET REPAIRS: (fibreglass and bog are my best friends :P)

[blue_rolla]

alrighty ladies and gentlemen... its time for an update...

today is painting day...

we spent the morning doing the final preparations to get the body ready, sanding some filler back etc... and then this arvo, painting began...

here's the pics:

MAKESHIFT PAINTING BOOTH:

im done for the day... tomorrow the back half will be primed... and then maybe next weekend ill start the actual colour... :)

[Sportivo05]

Thats awesome Tom!!

i cant wait to see it when its finished! It'll look great!

All that hard work and effort will be paid off! :)