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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/12/19 in Posts

  1. So the Starlet had sat for just over ten years not moving at all. I turned the motor over to make sure it wasn't seized up. It moved so were good to go! The reason it sat for so long was the water pump had froze up. So first thing to replace was the water pump Old Teq vs New pump Next was going through the entire fuel system. It was badly clogged from ten years of sitting. i had to drop the fuel tank and clean the out and return lines. Then got a new fuel pump which wasnt big enough and had to go for a bigger one. I also slapped in a new fuel filter. Next were the injectors which were pretty much falling apart as i took them off the fuel line. After getting the fuel system all redone the car still wouldn't fire up. So i started looking at the other wires and found a couple things. One of the plug wires had a nice chunk taken out of it from a mouse. I'm sure that tasted really good. Then i found the O2 sensor was just barley hanging on. After replacing those things i found the dizzy cap had mold growing inside of it. So got me a new distributor cap from Thailand. The car still wouldn't start up. So last thing to check was the timing. And of course the timing chain tensioner was gone. So replaced that and she finally runs!!!!! Parts list so far Fuel pump redone twice Water pump Injectors Fuel filter Cleaned clogged fuel tank O2 sensor Spark plugs & wires Distributor cap Timing chain tensioner Battery All new fluids Front brake pads
    12 points
  2. Discussion thread :https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/60328-a-dogs-83-toyota-starlet-kp61/ Hello Gents, I have been watching this forum for a while to gather helpful information on this little project car I have. Being in America it is very hard to find parts and proper information on modifying starlets. So here I am to pick your brains for all the great Starlet knowledge you all have. The plan for this little guy is to compete in Auto Cross at the local level. I already have a 240SX drift car, So now I can use this as a grip car. THE BACK STORY The year was 2003, I was a junior in high school in Beautiful Bozeman, MT. My best friend Gabe got this little hatch for his first car. Totally stock 1983 Starlet 2 door with the mighty 4KE motor. We used to drive this hatch around thinking we were Colin Mcrae. Hitting jumps at 45mph and attempting to "drift" turns around town. He was a terrible driver and because of it the Starlet suffered. All four wheels were bent from hitting curbs all the time. So as time went on Gabe moved away and the Starlet sat at his dads warehouse for over ten years. One day Gabe came to town and he said I could have the starlet if I took good care of it. So that is exactly what i did. I picked up the starlet with my trusty trailer and brought it to my dads house. Gotta love that custom wood grill. Nothing like having a park bench for a rear bumper. USDM bumpers are MASSIVE. The rear end is in great shape(thank GOD) The interior was pretty rough from years of teenager abuse and sitting. Missing the center dash vent and the seats were junk. Windshield totally busted from angry child syndrome. Steering wheel has garden hose wrapped with electrical tape. Real Classy. Open the hood and behold the awesome 75HP of the Toyota 4KE! Motor has 150K miles on it. YEARS AND YEARS of dust on the engine.
    11 points
  3. Cheers Truenotch. Had a great time at Leadfoot, so good to get the car to a motorsport event again. A few teething issues including the problem that i thought i fixed with the new diaphragms. I think the crankcase seals are toast and its lacking in crankcase compression. There was a lot of oily mess around the engine and i think the seals are the only place it could be coming from. Also missed one run after i failed to make it out to the start. Fired up the motor on the dummy grid ready to drive out to the start line, selected first gear let the clutch out and oh shit i'm going backwards........ Bit odd as it has no reverse gear. It was making some bad noises in the gearbox and i thought it had done some major damage somehow. Pushed it back to the pits, had a think about it and started it up again. Turns out it somehow backfired on startup and started running backwards, all of the noises from the gearbox was just the gear set spinning in reverse..... 2 strokes eh, Dennis had never had that happen to him. Yeah a few people made that comment about it not being as loud as they though it would of been. One of the theory's is that it was quite loud but nowhere near the level of some of the other cars going up the hill. A couple of those rotary's were extremely loud. Cheers man, Yeah i brought Dennis along for the event. He had an amazing time and was awesome for him to see it going up the hill, was probably the first motorsport event hes been to in 20 years. Yeah its miniature, all done to keep the weight down. Oh yeah got it on the scales, only 330kgs!!!!! I see a camera on the fire wall, you better post some videos young man! Also, where did you get that hat? I must have one. Unfortunately the camera didn't work VG so no hill vids. I was yarning to this young american dude at the event about the car and he was wearing the hat. Turns out hes super into 2 stroke dirt bikes in the states. Asked him where i could get myself of those epic hats and he took it off and gave it to me. Complete GC, said he had got it at a motorcross event somewhere along the line. Wise words to live by.
    10 points
  4. The satin black is a bastard to keep clean so its kept under the plastic sheet. I hit the car with a McGuires product that is for satin finishes. It took a whole day to fit the grill to the front panel, each slat had to be individually made straight then bent to line up. I got pretty good at it by the last one. The front panel got bolted on. Even though it had been together this is the first time all the bolts had been put in. I ran a tap through the threads which made life a lot easier, all the captured nuts were full of paint. The passengers side wasn't too bad, it was the original guard going back on, drivers side was a guard of another car so needed a bit of persuasion. Need the stick to hold up the bonnet. The extra weight of the die cast badge and bits of trim was enough for the bonnet to not stay up. I assembled the hatch and tail gate locks first after it was painted. The tail lights were some I bought about 6 months ago and are really good.
    9 points
  5. I am very happy with finally having a front end back on the Starlet. It looks a lot more like a rally car now. And it is road legal so i can drive it around town. Now that the front end is all together and it has a little sound from the muffler, It is time to get this soggy old suspension taken care of. Parts pile going on next: Replacement Front Control Arms Tie Rod Ends Front Sway Bar Bushings Rubber Strut Tower Tops Replacement Strut Inserts Camaro Rear Shocks Cut the coils a bit and see how she rides. I would love to do all AE86 suspension but I want to see what is possible with the stock suspension. I'm just replacing all the bushings that I can and putting slightly shorter shocks in it. Cut one coil out and see how it rides. It won't be perfect, but it will be far better than what it is now.
    9 points
  6. No but a mate has one and wants to chuck it in a Austin 7 chassis. Its a pretty cool rotary hoe when its powered by a v twin! luckily someone has already made JAP casting patterns...... Made a start on the chassis brackets. Did them in two half's so could clamp them to chassis rail and get a nice tight fit before welding. Have also thinned down the rails from 2" to 1 1/2''. Looked a bit bulky and heavy before. Much better now Drilled a hole through it all and mounted the springs. Will need some form of U bolt to hold them down at the front.
    5 points
  7. Since my last update there has been a bit of progress. The car went to the paint shop in July for a 3 -4 week turn around. It sat.......and sat....... and then one day out of the blue I got the call, come and get it, its painted. That was December. Out in the sun it just blew me away.
    5 points
  8. Bought a house : moved one of the important things in on the weekend both the House & car built in 1976! Some sort of fate / meant to be eh?
    4 points
  9. Paint it green and blame THE BLOODY LIME SCOOTERS
    4 points
  10. Fuck you for a couple of weeks. Had to walk away before I burned the twat. Made the interior look right pretty. Getting there with the electrics, lots of water in the loom & fuse boxes. Defusing the towing electrics. Blue or black ? Seems to have helped though. That's all I've got for the moment, not even going to tempt fate and think about when it might get tested.
    4 points
  11. So tonight I now have a functioning hand brake! i need to have a riv nut session soon in a few key areas and I should be in a good place for the Gettin. Sorted for Compliance. Will take it for a professional alignment before the repair cert sign off. Then compliance and the cert. I need to raise it up more and it’s still low. The rear soft brake lines need made larger so that they totally clear the diff so that’s in the to do list getting there aye
    3 points
  12. Dyno happened just over a week ago. I lost around 8hp from the weight of the new tailshaft haha. So after optimising the E85 tune with the new GTX turbo we got it back up to 300whp with the same boost pressure 20psi. Pushing beyond that the car began to lose fuel pressure so the boost is fixed at 20psi until I fit another Bosch 044 to make a twin pump set up. But looking at the results from when we pushed past 20psi, I will be lucky to get another 20whp out of it. Any more than that will require a bigger turbine wheel from the likes of a GT3071R which is an option even with the limited space available. The compact T04B compressor cover from a GT2871R can be used on the GT3071R (they have the same compressor wheel) and there's a T2 flanged Mamba turbine housing with Vband outlet that suits the full size 60mm 84trim turbine. I'm trying to resist the urge to go bigger. There would be some down sides- Traction problems, I'd have to ditch my 13x7 miniltes and AO48 semi slicks, then change diff gears again to suit 15" tyres. Boost coming on 1000rpm later in the revs. And of course the cost of doing it all
    3 points
  13. Car is running and working on making it drivable. Huge thanks to @Roman answering all my stupid questions. Ran the first log tonight, hopefully the changes I made work
    3 points
  14. Hahahaha looking at some sweet sweet waveforms while driving. The dream
    3 points
  15. the ecotec engines have a problematic intake manifold/valley gasket that leaks oil into the coolant and/or vice versa so gives the impression it has a BHG.
    2 points
  16. So some of you are really into programmable ignition and electronic sensors. I tried to make my own electronic ignition. After 3 seconds one of the MOSFETS running a coil shorted out. After 7 seconds all of them had. Each mosfet was rated at 20 amps. But considering they were dealing with the primary and ... lets face it. some of the secondary output (These old timers are like that) i don't think they were up to the million volt task. At least 2 hall effect sensors survived. Barely.
    2 points
  17. This is my Datsun Bluebird "de-rustification" project. This Bluebird is a U.S. specification 48 HP left hand drive 1961 PL310. It is the same as 1959 and 1960 310s. It is much different with respect to the drivetrain than late '61 through '64 models with the 60 hp engine, all synchro transmission and beefier rear axle components. I've swapped in most of the later model drivetrain though. The overall project been on and off again for years, decades actually. I have 44 years of my ownership history that I can present separately in a discussion thread along with this build activity. Previous historical "major" repairs included bumping out the roof panel in the late 70s due to a prior owner rollover accident. The rust work however is relatively new since early 2018. Photos. My earliest photo of the car is alongside the aqueduct in the California San Joaquin Valley in June 1975 and then Pullman, WA October 1975 . The latter photos are current covering the inner and outer sill panels fabrication, fit and weld work currently in progress. As time permits, I'll go back a year and begin describing the work and discoveries along the way to date and continue from there. https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/60267-marts-pl310-61-datsun-bluebird-sedan/
    1 point
  18. Not been on here much at all for a few months, mostly cos an unnamed mod changed one of my posts to make me look like even more of a cunt than I actually am without indicating that they had done so, this gave me a complete sense of humour failure so I lost quite a lot of interest. I guess I am over it now but we will see how things go.... Anyway I have been up to a bit of stuff in the absent months, I will let the pics mostly do the talking. Cost 3x boxes of beer White dust is from fingerprinting, was stolen and recovered.. Fitted pretty nice with minimal sheetmetal cutting Engine is seized, need to find another, but will use this to set up the mounts. Made a removable subframe for the rear and mid body mounts Later model safari steering box, this might be a sticking point but i have a plan that has been agreed with the cert man in principle. The box is rotated forward from the original position, the tie rod position is exactly the same though Front body mounts and steering box mount are all tied in. I have a design for this in CAD which looks pretty good. Fitted the Safari clutch booster in there with relative ease Engine is just propped there, I have moved it back 570mm to help with weight distribution/radiator clearance/etc. It also means I can use a SWB rear driveshaft. Gear linkage might be fun, although apparently the gearbox in a Condor/Atlas with the FD42 has the same box housing, the top plate and gearshift mech should respectively bolt on/be able to be modded to fit. Took it to a weighbridge to check axle loadings, 1755kg all up, 1130kg on the front. Axle ratings are 1500kg front and 1800 rear so should be good to go. The weighbridge was reading 65kg heavier by the time we were done so this is probably worst case. GVM of the Safari was 2505kg, so will be racecar. There is a lot to do yet, as I said the engine is seized so need to find another + turbo to put on it. Build the front cab mount and steering mount, engine and gearbox mounts Need to think how to build the front driveshaft, probably a shorty shaft to a frame mounted carrier, then use the standard front axle. Need to find FD42 gearbox linkage Probably needs new tyres and at least one more rim for a spare Need adjustable panhards and adjustable rear lower trailing arms to get the axles in a better position. It had a 2" lift that translates to about a 3.5" lift with the current weight, so axles are a bit off to one side and the rear will need rotating so the driveshaft flanges are parallel. Need to airbag the rear for load leveling. Need to convert the AC pump to continuous air for the airbags and whatever else Will need to build a deck with big ass drawers underneath for my tools. Will probably will have a budget hoist of some variety, maybe just an arm with a chain block. Electrical will be a nightmare as the cab is 12v and the chassis is 24v, need to talk to an auto sparky to discuss my ideas. Still need to 100% make sure that my cert guy will be able to take it on, there is no one in Nelson with 1D unfortunately. Piece of piss really.
    1 point
  19. Any questions or comments please let me know what you think of my project starlet. Starlet Build Thread
    1 point
  20. Crank seals / leaky crank case issues can be hard to diagnose too. Apparently it can make an engine appear to be running rich (and sound like it's 4 stroking), when actually it's leaning out. 2 strokes can definitely be challenging little things! But we definitely need to see more of them out there .
    1 point
  21. Both supercharged and plain ecotec.
    1 point
  22. That's good to know. I do want an lsd eventually. But finding one I the USA is nearly impossible. If I do get one I will let you know. The rear bumper all though being an eye sore will have to stay for a while. It is a nice resting spot for my bum when at the car meets. All though a nice similar style rally bar would be fitting.
    1 point
  23. Bible here (Jennings, two stroke tuners handbook): http://www.amrca.com/tech/tuners.pdf
    1 point
  24. Oh what i would do for a 4KE race cam. To hear this little motor lump would be dreamy. I am truly jealous
    1 point
  25. Found a great deal on some fenders from Malaysia. Just had to go with it and hope they showed up unharmed to the USA. Threw on the fenders with some ebay fender mirrors. Then painted the headlight surrounds and grill so they match. installed the new front end with some Ebay LED lights. The ebay LED are so darn bright and a million times better than those old H4 lights. SHOP TIME!! After sliding the car around on some snow I realized I need the rear end locked up. It was too hard to predict when the rear end would break loose with the open diff. So I took the little starlet to my friends shop to weld up the rear diff. Locking up the tiny little diff. Now having a custom front bash bar made. Gotta be legal and have a front bumper.
    1 point
  26. Widened sigma steels wheels Headers and a hotdog exhaust 3/4 race cam These are the days of my youth
    1 point
  27. Just read back over this tread. Funny thing about this photo is that 3 weeks later my arm still hurt... 4 weeks later I got it x-rayed...yip - broken wrist!!!
    1 point
  28. turns out I need more than half a day...... Everything is off the shell (apart from wheels etc) except fuel and brake lines and a few odd's and ends, so I'm almost happy....... Hopefully should get it done this weekend. I've set myself the goal of having the car fully painted by the end of the year.
    1 point
  29. Made some subframe connectors out of some 75x40x3 rhs and glued them in
    1 point
  30. Dear readers, things are not going entirely to plan, but the good news is that I have access to a shed next week, and the weather has been amazing, so I've spent the last couple of afternoons lying on hardened sheep shit and thistles, whilst dropping rust flakes in my eyes, in an attempt to get the motor ready to remove next week. Once the motor is on a pallet and the heads and sump are off I'll make a decision as to what to do next. The big unknown is the transmission. I'd hate to spend three or four grand sorting the motor to find the trans or 4x4 system was no good, but at this stage I have no way of checking. I do have what may be a dumb question wrt removing the torque convertor without draining the transmission, which I'll ask on the discussion page. Be gentle. I know petrol, carbs and manual gearboxes. This diesel/turbo/automatic malarky is new to me.
    1 point
  31. Masked and ready for paint over the weekend
    1 point
  32. Right so i did around 8 hours of relaxed work on this thing today. Mounted the radiator properly and made a front shround thing. The clear plastic was used for template making. Greg did an epic job of the shrouds fold- he did it with his knee and his jandled foot.
    1 point
  33. “It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” David Attenborough Here we have an omniscience of oldschool GC's gathered in nature to observe oil burning jalopies
    1 point
  34. More Bluebird history. I love driving up into the mountains. Then, now and always. One of my favorite Bluebird mountain pass crossings back in June 1976, westbound on beautiful highway 20 through the Washington North Cascades. For the 48 hp Bluebird on the steeper grades, this was nearly always a maximum power event, pedal to the floor and changing down to second gear very early.
    1 point
  35. or an uuuuber exotic briggs v-twin?
    1 point
  36. Reproduction c pillar trims and mirror cover, look bloody good
    1 point
  37. Some more progress. One thing I have learned from the job I do, is sometimes it's better to pay for someone to do stuff instead of having a go and making a hash of it myself. Both front floor pans had some rust on the top side which I don't have the skill, gear, or patience to do a nice job of. @RXFORD/ Matt at tin tricks in east tamaki is a friend of mine, he picked it up and fixed the floors, while it was there he deleted the heater motor and hose holes in the firewall and made a new part of the inner guard which gets rid of an ugly bit where the battery box used to live, and made it match the other side. My photos are a bit ham but I'm stoked with how it turned out
    1 point
  38. Ok, so it took 4 months, but I finally got some time in the shed again over the last week. Between three kids and business being really busy.......and a stupid set of bunks I refurbished instead of buying new ones (such a time suck!) .....I finally got there and stripped out the doors and only found the slightest rust and the lock holes smoothed over. Will take these back to metal soon. A mate is a diesel mechanic and was doing some odd jobs at the workshop and helped me out with a few things. Rear bearings pressed Front hubs bearings replaced and new discs fitted Rear callipers completely pulled apart (and then painted along with a few other bits) Diff housing seals fitted and cleaned up ready to be assembled So now all 4 callipers are ready to be fully assembled (again - minus shit paint), along with the diff and the entire front subframe - all ready to go in the car once the shell is at the panel shop. I just need a half day to pull the last few things out of the shell to get it blasted and then it's off to the panel beater for some major progress.
    1 point
  39. Looks nasty Can they save any of his face?
    1 point
  40. Hi guys. It's been a while since last post. The car has been performing great and I'm still getting out an about in it, mostly on weekends. There's always something on at the local track every couple of months. I really wanted to get back onto the forum after growing somewhat tired of facebook and all the crap it can add to this hobby. Anyway... as far as developing the car. I have learned that gearbox ratios are very important. The W58 I have is quite low in first and second gear and a bit of a gap to third. Typical of road ratios. Well, a 600hp XR6T i've not been able to beat at roll racing finally fell behind me the last time out because I rolled on in 3rd instead of 2nd. 3rd has much longer legs and I didn't lose the speed changing from 2nd to third. So I looked into close ratio gear sets for the W58 and turns out they are available. At a cost of around $4500. Needless to say, the CR gearbox can wait. But gee it would make a difference. Also, the temptation to add more power has gotten the better of me. I have bought a used HKS GT2835R-56T , it's a Garrett GT3071R with a back cut rear wheel so it fits in the T25 exhaust housing. Compressor wheel will go from 47mm-60mm 62 trim, to 53.1mm-71mm 56 trim and more importantly the turbine, from 54mm-47mm 76 trim to 56mm-53mm 90 trim. I'm aiming to add around 30 or 40hp so 330~340hp at the wheels. My current GT2860RS is pretty much out of puff @ 300whp. At first I was going to fit a 67mm GTX billet wheel, effectively turning it into a GTX 2867R. It could probably make that extra power but nowhere near as efficiently as the GT2835R-56T. The larger turbine is where the benefits will come from. A larger set of Siemens Deka injectors will also be fitted. Jumping from 60lb (630cc) to 80lb (840cc) I took it to the drags a few months ago and it went 12.75 @ 113 mph (2sec 60ft) . Hoping with the new turbo and tune to crack into high 11's. If not I will just live with it because any more power will result in problems like gearbox failure, clutch failure, cracked block etc etc. So here's a pic of the car launching when I ran the 12 with 205 60 13 rear tyres. I was only able to achieve low 13's with 185 60 13 tyres, as soon as the 205's went on it was into the 12's. I might put in some 3.45 diff gears with the 185 tyres which would work out about the same as 205's and 3.9. Cheers
    1 point
  41. RockAuto is really low on stock, wonder why. Factory drop spindles still available, used. No UK spec' ones available though.... NZ got canada spec ones.
    1 point
  42. Finally got a boot spoiler sorted, after buying the second original that was not good enough decided to try the reproduction out of Australia, after hearing mixed reports on the quality I was relieved to find they are in fact bloody awesome!
    1 point
  43. I've also grafted some fibreglass RS500 Sierra vents into a spare bonnet. It turned out pretty good and should help a bit with under bonnet temps. Still needs to be painted
    1 point
  44. Tidied up the pedal box, new pedal rubbers and the grommet for the brake rod at the back.
    1 point
  45. Hard to believe it's been 15 months since my last post of this project! Crashed computers, new baby, work.....but pretty sure you don't want to hear any weak excuses so I will do a quick pic dump to show how the car came out. My goal was to have it ready for the road by Labour Weekend last year to make it to the Vauxhall Nationals in Tauranga, which I did, with just a week to spare. This didn't leave much time for road testing, but I had no need for worry as it made the trip from Nelson to Tauranga and back without missing a beat. Anyway, this is here all put back together. This is when I pushed her outside for first time with most of the assembly done but minus the headlight lenses and bumpers. ` Then I had later model reclinable seats bolstered up for more lateral support and painted them with vinyl paint. Old versus new. Getting close to all done at this stage. Lights working! Interior shot. Not great but you get the idea. Some pics of the car beside some other flat front Firenza's at the nationals in Tauranga. And some pics on our way back down the North Island. So I have barely done a thing to the car since then except put some more miles on it and plan the final stage, which is the engine and engine bay, which is still green. The plan had been to build up a good 2300 slant motor with some goodies I have collected over last few years...but then this little gem came up on TM and it was too tempting to pass up... This is a Lotus 907 all alloy twin cam 2.0L out of a Jensen Healey.These engines are basically an alloy version of the Vauxhall unit, but with the extra cam. Lotus actually developed the head on the iron Vauxhall block before casting their own alloy blocks. They are rated at about 140hp and considerably lighter than the Vauxhall unit. You can install the Vauxhall 2.3 crank to strock it up to 2.2L. It is a bit of an unknown as far as condition, but I have hooked up a starter motor and battery to do a compression test and it came up good on 3 cylinders, with the 4th a little low, but hopefully that will come up with some use. Regardless it should run. It just needs a few bits like headers and water pump. The sump will have to be cut around the crossmember too, which is the biggest job. Luckily it came with a twin sidedraft manifold and I have a new set of 45 Webers to go with that. Could resist mocking those up for a quick pic too. So that's where I am up to with this, just sorting the bits needed to complete the conversion and then to rope Alex (yoeddy) into doing the tricky bits for me. Hopefully this stage won't take another 15 months... better pull finger!
    1 point
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