_Matt

Made up the 4-link bars and tacked all the mounts on. It's now roll-able for the first time since I pretty much bought it. Lifted the cab and front end back on to check clearances and it all looks good. Won't need much of a gearbox/driveshaft tunnel through the floor. The engine wouldn't fit between the inner guards. Needs a little bit more of a trim, or a lot more if I want to make some better headers for it. So keen for some ITB's! Tray fits well, needs some cutting out of the side for airbag clearance. C-notch doesn't stick out too much

Have done quite a bit of work on this in the past week, been doing a few hours each day after work. Made the engine and gearbox mounts, just need to weld them in, but that can wait until the front guards and cab are test fitted. Headers just clear the chassis rails on either side. Gusseted the front end brackets Holes No more holes Started on the rear end again. Trying to position the lower 4-link arms first and then will figure which way to mount the top ones later.

Didn't realise it's been 5-6 months since I've worked on this. I guess the engine swap on the Starlet and buying a house didn't help! Oh well, I have some motivation again, so back into it. Chassis was fully welded ages ago and started setting up the rear suspension. Made a hoop for the drive shaft to fit through. Had some brackets laser cut for the mounting of the arms. Originally thought I needed to use the top hole on those brackets but that ends up making the diff twist way too much throughout the suspension travel. Tops arms need to be closer to parallel to the ground, which keeps the diff the same level throughout. Acquired some 4-link rod ends thanks to my parents Next up I think will be fitting the engine and making sure the driveshaft is at the right position and then figure out where the 4-link brackets mount.

Done some things to the engine bay. Polished up a rocker cover, painted a couple things, changed the air filter to a K&N one and made a strut brace out of stainless steel and aluminium round bar. I think next up is to make some heater lines out of stainless steel tube, as having a working heater is kind of nice.

Since it seems like every other KP owner makes another improved set of adjustable coilovers, I thought I'd follow that tradition. Used some ae82 Corolla shock inserts this time, way shorter than the previous ones. Drilled off the brake hose mounts and dropped them 30mm lower as well, so the threaded sleeve could go lower. Picked up a pair of Recaro seats as well. So much nicer than the faded pink factory ones. Also so much better sitting lower. Need to do something to those belt buckles though! Coilovers can still be wound down 25mm (captive) or 35mm (non-captive) but was rubbing way too much. Back needs to come down an inch or so now.

Definitely get a LSD in there. Pretty sure KP_james has rebuilt a C series gearbox before

Couldn't find any front brake rotors the correct size, the smallest I could find was 226mm diameter ones whereas I needed 205mm ones. So we made a pattern and got some cast and then machined. Installed them today along with new pads and wheels bearings

Did a little photoshoot

Made some coilovers. Ended up getting MR2 inserts I think, they weren't really short enough and 5kg springs. I shortened the struts and TIG welded them up. Applied paint Test fitted and the springs were too hard, didn't go anywhere low enough unless I pulled out the keeper springs and wound the collars right down. De-sprung the rear to see how low it could go. Removed the bump stops as well Did some calculating and figured some 3kg springs would be better and shortened the insert shaft a bit. Bought some cheap evo camber plates and drew up some new top hats to get laser cut. Cut another coil off the rear springs and installed some shorted shocks, so this is how it sits now. Hopefully settles a bit lower. Bought another K50 shifter housing thanks to enzee. Shifts much smoother without the one that's been brazed and welded!

Now has a K50 in it, so no longer sits at ~3600rpm at 100kmh Also bought some struts to start cutting up for more low!

Put some 175/60/13 tires on. They make such a huge difference. Just needs lowering another couple of inches.

Got tuning done, needs to go back soon to get the top end done, since we didn't want to rev it too high too soon. Any suggestions on what oil to run? I'm guessing some mineral oil with plenty of zinc?

Nah just to Ewan Mcmillan in feilding. He'll probably just re-jet the carb and get it running better, as it's running quite rich atm. Then will try and get it on a dyno.

Yeah cam has been run in. Dropped it off today for it to get tuned tomorrow.

Here's a video with the straight pipe, needs a tune still. Will try and do a better one once the mufflers on.

Made the exhaust, was too loud as it only have one Coby resonator and just a straight pipe out the back. So decided to make a muffler for it, since I couldn't find anything the style I liked. So here's my guide to making a muffler haha Press some end caps. Drill a lot of holes in some tube and then louvre them. Weld on baffle for the expansion chamber. Wrap tube in stainless steel wool and then stuff with fibreglass. Weld on end caps Polish. Then fit. Is all welded now and have painted the tube black, just waiting for some flanges to go just in front of the diff, otherwise I'll have some difficulty trying to get it over the diff to fit.

Yeah P10, they fit well and are easy to fit as well. I just made some brackets for the bottom that were 'Z' kinda shaped to drop it down, so the bonnet clears the radiator cap. Used rivnuts to mount them. Then just made some other brackets for the top using existing holes. Bottom radiator hose fits. I used a Nissan Maxima hose for the top and cut it down to fit.

Everything is nearly done now. Just need to make the exhaust, sort out the breather/pcv valve and tidy up the wiring, as it's a mess. Made some overly complicated throttle linkage. This is since the Weber's throttle rotates the opposite way to the factory carby, also clearance issues and because the cable travels way more than what the carby rotates (would result in very touchy accelerator pedal with hardly any travel) if that makes sense. Anyway this works mint and uses the full pedal travel. Filled it up with oil and coolant tonight and started it. Started up first try after fuel had gotten through. Ran really nice! Was quite loud with only the headers on haha. Will try get a video tomorrow.

Pulled out the old dirty 2K Friday afternoon. Gave the engine bay a clean, degrease and painted a few things that weren't very nice looking. Dropped the 4K in today. Also test fitted radiator. Still a decent amount of things need doing; make exhaust, radiator mounts, fit accelerator/choke cables, sort the water/heater lines, make a new coil mount, rewire the dizzy/tidy up the wiring, shorten braided fuel line, probably heaps more I'm missing.

Rush Automotive headers arrived today, so nice! The swap might potentially happen next weekend or the week after.

Nearly done, might put some more horizontal east-west bars coming off the wide V parts (if that makes sense) as it looks a little empty there. Then I guess it can all be welded and the engine can go back in to figure out mounting and driveshaft hoops etc. Picked up a commodore diff as well, since it has disc brakes. So can also start setting up the 4 links as well.

Yeah, i thought about it a lot, but decided against it, since I thought red on red was a bit much and red seems to be the most common colour choice for starsharks. I wanted to be different. Cheers man

Here's a list of the things that have been done: Got the flywheel back and it is about 6.5kg I think Also painted the grill and headlight surrounds again, this time satin black, which looks much better! Clocked to 88888 today

So the 4K is all reassembled thanks to Hartley's! Not 100% sure on the specs yet, but I believe it is bored out to 1400cc, new pistons, bigger cam, ported, skimmed head, valve springs, lightened flywheel, electronic distributor. Weber carby has been rebuilt, have also acquired a Primera radiator, MSD coil, new muffler and Ramflo filter. Basically just waiting for the Rush automotive headers to be made then it can go in! So excited for some power!! Need to tidy up that yuck fuel pump and dizzy vacuum advance(?) somehow.

Yay progress! Still at least 12 bars to cut up and weld in.