Popular Post lownslow Posted September 7, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 7, 2020 Well I couldnt help myself once again. Saw this pop up and had to have it. So picked some mates up and made the drive from Brisbane to Bundaberg on Sunday. I basically bought it without seeing it in person, and trusting what the seller had said about it. Thankfully she is near mint structurally, thanks to being out west in the Queensland outback. Amazing how dry hot weather can keep a car so well preserved (apart from the paint obviously). Unfortunately it has two nasty dents in the RHR door and rear quarter, but hopefully with a bit of persuasion, it might pop out with minimal damage. Plans are to tidy it up, disk brake front end, leave the patina alone, and slam on some nice small wheels (13x7 ish) When we got it home we thought we may as well see if we can get it started. Battery in, fresh fuel and 4 cranks later shes alive. Typical K series. Like clockwork. Anyway, pictures. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted September 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 7, 2020 27 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownslow Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 First piece to the puzzle. Managed to pick up some springs and struts tubes that have been shortened to fit shorter inserts. Unsure what ones thought? They would have to have a 360ish mm body, so I'm thinking MR2. Will put these in for now and turn the originals into coilovers. Also found a disk brake setup, so will bang that on too. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownslow Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 So researched some "patina" pages, and a lot of the American hot rod guys use CLR to get rid of the surface rust and crap on their cars. I had some time on my hands, so thought I'd give it a crack (Can't look any worse). Turns out CLR is amazing. Moving into a place with garage soon too, so things will hopefully progress a bit quicker. Also, for anyone running a K series, use a genuine Toyota oil filter! The reduction in engine noise is amazing. Will never use aftermarket again. Oh and had to see what 13x9 would look like on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted September 23, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 23, 2020 15 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted October 6, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 6, 2020 One of my favourite steering wheels popped up cheap, so I jumped on it. Must of been meant to be, because the boss kit even fits. Was on an old Hilux apparently. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownslow Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Small wheel update. I ended up buying my mates 13x7 superlites off him. These will do until i find some decent SSR's in 4x110. Took the balloons off and gave them a quick clean up. Will polish them on the brake lathe at work this week. Sat them on the car and had a measure up. Looks like ill have to go with 165/55r13 tyres, rather than the 175/50r13's that i wanted, just so they tuck inside the guards a bit better. Suspension will be getting a drop of 4.5 inches in the rear, and 3.5 inches in the front. Still undecided what short shock cartridge ill go with in the front. I have the Mk1 VW golf ones in my datsun, so might do the same with this. Also found some tail lights on eBay, so bought them and got them sent over from England. Front brakes finally installed too. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted November 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 2, 2020 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted November 23, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 23, 2020 So the rear springs came back from resetting. 2.5 inches is all I could get them reset to, before they lost their arch. Will probably end up with 2 inch blocks also. Ended up going with some Saab 900 front shocks for the rear, as they're a lot shorter. Front Mk1 golf inserts showed up. So will get the strut bodies dropped off tomorrow for shortening. Part numbers for anyone interested are; Front inserts : KYB 363001 (Only KYB brand fit 45mm strut bodies) Rear shocks : KYB 343023 Carpet and tyres are on their way. Also picked up a coupe grille 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted December 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 7, 2020 Got my struts back from getting modified to suit the MK1 golf inserts. He ended having to remove the spring perch and weld it back on to cut enough out. Very happy with the job though. Also got the carpet in and trimmed to suit. Not 100% happy with how it sits, but hopefully it will settle a bit. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted December 14, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 14, 2020 So I got a tyre fitted up today. Pretty stoked on the profile. 175/50r13 nankangs. Very cheap as well. Will fit the rest up tomorrow, and hopefully get some proper photos. Also bought some masonite in the weekend and finally made some boot interior panels, as they were missing. Has tidied the interior up tenfold. Highly recommend masonite over MDF. Much stiffer and easier to work with. Still need to get some speed nuts for the RH side. My front indicators showed up too. Genuine fakes from Thailand. Pretty happy with the quality though. Can't complain for $50 all up. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted December 15, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 15, 2020 Got all the tyres on today. Pretty happy with the fitment. Some photos (Sorry about the uneven driveway) Need some SSR's asap 20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted December 17, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 17, 2020 Excuse the post, but how it sits on flat ground. 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted January 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2021 Finally finished the boot this past weekend. Won't be everyone's cup of tea, but decided to do a spotted gum floor. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted January 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2021 Finally found some front seats for this thing. Ended up with 240/260z seats that were in good condition. Always wanted them in my 1200 coupe. Had to make some custom mounts to suit the wagon rails. Seats sit pretty good, although 10mm further towards the outside because of the way the recliner lever assembly sits. Not noticeable when sitting in the though. Would have to raise the seats 20-30mm if I wanted to get them perfect. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted March 18, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 18, 2021 Tidied up the front end over the weekend. Painted up the corner bezels with new insert bits. Still on the hunt for a coupe or later ke20 lower grill trim piece though. Trying to get it on the road for a Jap day in April, here in brisbane. Also have a front lip on the way. 23 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted April 11, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 11, 2021 Finally got thing on the road and took it on its maiden voyage to a japday at Queensland raceway. Ran flawlessly and rides surprisingly ok with 3 people in it. Need to get my hands on a k50 5 speed now though. Was probably doing 4k rpm and 80kph. 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted November 23, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 23, 2021 So after driving this for a bit, I really found it way too rough. Maybe I'm getting old. Diff hitting floor etc. Was going to cut out where it's hitting and modify it etc, but want new wheels as well. If I'm doing that all that, I might as well 4 link it, and if I'm doing that, I might as well change to 4x114, and if I'm doing that I'll have to stuff around and shorten the diff to fit the wheels I want. Long story short, shit snowballed and now I'm the owner of a shortened MX5 rear end. (And still have to change to 4x114) Will build some new rails for the frame to sit under, and run them from the back to the rear seat area, and try tie them in with the original rails. Really wanting to use 40x40x3 SHS, to keep the subframe as high as possible under the boot floor, but everyone seems to use 50x50 for this sort of thing. If anyone has experience in this, will 40x40 be enough? The original rear "rails" are only monocoque, so surely 40x40x3 will be more than enough for a subframe to sit under. I won't be cutting much out of the originals. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted November 26, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 26, 2021 Got the diff and fuel tank out tonight, so started having a quick mock up of things. Seems like everything will be pretty well placed, and not hang too low. It will be getting raised another 20mm from these photos, as haven't cut anything yet. Will be about 10mm above sill height, so pretty happy. Would have to channel the boot floor if I wanted to raise it any higher. Also should be able to squeeze some 13x8.5 wheels under the guards too. Last photo is the look I'll be aiming for. (Different model, I know) 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lownslow Posted January 10, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 10, 2022 Started on the frame rails over the Christmas break. Ended up using 50x50x2.5mm SHS. Should be plenty strong enough. Especially considering that I can lift the whole rear of the car by hand, with the diff removed. Finally decided on how to do the bends. Was going to get them bent, but have heard horror stories about bending square tube. The mitre cuts turned out pretty good, and both rails are exactly the same. Also plated the existing crossmember. This is tied into the original front leaf spring mounts underneath. 25 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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