Aido's KE70(s)

[AidoKsev]

Hi there! It's been a while since I've been active on here and now that I'm happy as to where I'm up to on my KE70 I've decided to start a little thread to show the world ...

So here is how it all started off, all beaten up and needing some lovin!...





And then some bodywork



And paint. I was rather rushed with the painting as it was of course nearing the end of Winter and the weather was unpredictable.





Somehow I managed to get overspray on the windows (May have been due to my lack of preparation!) So I gave that 'razorblading' a go and actually turned out rather well.




And then the finished product:



I then tidied up the interior and prepared it for a Rego inspection, which to my surprise passed no sweat!
Then one day I was cruising around my yard and stumbled across one of my AE82's and the boot spoiler caught my eye, I immediately removed it and test fitted it to my 70, the result:



Where it still resides as my front lip to this day! Even after its injuries!




I had multiple problems with blowing exhaust manifold gaskets with the 4K, to the point that I finally decided to linish the manifolds as the centre exhaust runners had pulled away from the head (warped) and I popped the gasket nearly every week I had it, which would have been going on for a few months... Then the week that I linished the manifolds, (note, it was going well and I had driven it a lot harder than usual and the gasket had not blown out), the unthinkable happened... DUH DUH DUHHHH!
Blew the headgasket! Around the same time I had just mounted my coils into my 4A 20V and fitted the motor to another KE70 of mine in ONE DAY!! (pics below)









However I was still using the standard 4K gearbox which made it easy not having to change gearbox mounts or diffs etc. etc. Anyway, back to the headgasket...
It was too much effort changing the headgasket (also being a Sunday, hard to acquire one) and I figured it was easier and more efficient to change the engine (go figure...) I was also approx. 200km from home, and my homeboy Lappy had prepared an engine crossmember and engine mounts for me as I hacked up the originals for the other conversion as they split after the 16v came out of one of my other KE70's. So once again with the help of some good mates we managed to get the 20V in my car and running well enough for me to drive home, which was A LOT of work for lunchtime to about midnight Sunday, especially because of things you don't think of until the end, like fuel pumps, hydro clutch etc. Wiring consisted of drilling a hole through the firewall and having the ecu float around in the footwell, and cooling consisted of an S14 radiator, cable tied in and no thermostat system!



So I made the journey back to Perth from Bunbury (keeping a close eye on the fire extinguisher!) while listening out for anything that went wrong. Nope, all went fine! Then ironically the airflow meter died the weekend after, which gave me an excuse to wire in my aftermarket computer. After spending a day and a bit on wiring I put it on the dyno and gave it a simple yet driveable tune. From that point on there has been constant modifications and touch ups (like radiator support, surge tank and general neatening up!) At this stage I was still using the 4K box which went well for around 2 months when the clutch system gave way, twice in two weeks. So I decided to go to a T50 that I had lying around. During the week I stole the Tailshaft from my bosses AE86 and had a replica made in one piece, with new yolks as I didn't have them. Ended up setting me back $600. I had already prepared for the day as I had the 20v flywheel and clutch stashed away at work for when the conversion was going to take place. That weekend coming I was lucky enough that my parents were making the trip to Perth for skydiving and brought up my T-Series diff with them! Lappy also made his way up for drifting the next day and gave me a hand getting it all in on Saturday night. Finally it was drive time! Lappy did the honours only to come back and tell me it had no second gear A few weeks later I stripped the gearbox down to find that it had been rebuilt with new 2nd and 3rd, and the 1st/2nd synchro slip-ring had been put on backwards! Switched it around and it was mint! A few weeks later I did a Motorkhana hosted by SWTCC in Bunbury, sharing my car with Lappy, which went awesome! Until the gearbox stripped the input shaft gear on Reid Highway, 3 days later haha!






After waiting about 4 weeks for another gearbox to come from the East, I finally decided to make a new exhaust, especially after the motorkhana all that was holding it up was the diff So a mate hooked me up with plenty of exhaust stuff and I got straight to it, spending about a day and a half, here is the finished product:




As you can see (well, not really) I've followed the floor and tunnel as tightly as possible due to the tendency of these cars having a relatively low floor pan. Then I ordered some parts from Sam Quad to give it some finishing touches (even though it's far from finished!)





Notice my remote clutch resivior? didnt think so... either way that was another trip to Bunbury that ended up with some (completely legal) skids which caused this:



So some driving around occurred, and I ended up stealing Lappy's spare Hilux master cylinder and stripping it down, luckily enough it had a section that was clampable and fitted a barb to the bolt on resivior system the AE82's (and I'm sure a lot of other Toyota's) have. Saved many hours rather than modifying the clutch pedal assembly to mount something else!



Now that I'm no longer having a heater I should probably remove that filthy heater tap, but hey, this ain't Autosalon! Is it?
And then of course I received the dreaded Yellow sticker Which called for some modification of parts to look nice and standard So I spent plenty of time 're-fabricating' some parts to put over the pits that you wouldn't even pick as being modified. Unmodified= No engineers certificate!



The name of the person who created that abomination of a gearbox crossmember remains undisclosed, however I will say that it took them about 5 minutes!

Re-modified: (I was pretty slack on the painting)



And the engine mounts:

[WA_TRD_83]

looking good Aiden... good effort mate couple of my pictures from Toyota's in the Park

[Mika]

hell yeah dude! looks clean!

[AidoKsev]

Update, in the end I ended up getting knocked back by the Department of Transport for the 20 Valve, so I've smashed in a 4A-C to ease getting over the pits cause it's not "Too powerful"



As you can see the oil was a tad milky I knew the headgasket was gone before I put the motor in but I thought "I'll see how it goes". It only needs to to about 40k's of driving (if that), I got it in and running, was running really well so I came to the conclusion that I won't need to do the headgasket. So I turned it off and went for lunch. Came back and cranked it... Did about 1/4 of a crank then stopped, pulled all plugs out and #4 was full of coolant lol! So I obviously had to do the gasket. Within about 45 minutes I had the head off and prepped the block with an air buffer thing, same with the head (Nothing special for this motor!)



All back together now



Hopefully I'll get away with having the 20V wiring loom tucked in the corner of the engine bay haha



While I haven't got your attention, anyone have a 4A-C/4K-C air cleaner assembly I can borrow for a few days (this week asap) Will pick up!

[Mika]

good luck with the pits mate!

[Zane k]

Can't wait till my 16v goes pop so I can go 20v! Looks cool man (Y)

[AidoKsev]

Here it is in it's latest form, will post an engine pic later on when there is some more daylight where I can take a photo

[Mika]

Looks rad dude, what are the rim specs? How did you go with the yellow? Got that sorted?

[AidoKsev]

Rims are 15x9-10 with my 195/50's stretched on, yellow is all gone! (Definately getting another one soon with these wheels though!) Rear scrubs ever so slightly on decent bumps when you're moving fairly quick but I could sort that out by bashing the inner guard out more, or by making some new flares which is what I plan on doing.

[Mika]

Still running the 4AC? Or you've put it all back to the original setup? Wheels look tough as dude! Good luck with keeping clean! Haha.