Roman's 4GR V6 Toyota Carina

[Roman]

I am so absolutely stoked to have some garage space again. Feels like I've been let out of jail or something! 
So I have been burning the midnight oil a bit. 

I got the passenger side manifold all finished, filled it all up with water and no leaks. 
So hopefully it's good haha.

I started on the rest of the exhaust a while back, but will chop it back up and redo it. As I was kinda thinking I'd make the extractors to suit the pipe locations, but it's worked out the other way around.
I am so absolutely over the moon to be able to spend nights or rainy days working on things now. 
The collector doesnt look so tiny/weird now that the rest of the pipe is on it. 

Just need to add the rear part after the collector onto the other side too, then I can make a start on the 2-1 section and rest of exhaust.

[Roman]

The cable that links the banks of throttles together was made from a motorcycle cable repair kit, so one end had a little screw in type fitting. 
However problem is that you need to push the cable all of the way through and out the other side to tighten it properly. Which I cant do, because of how it slots in. 
So I just left some cable hanging out the other side, then buzzed it with the tig and now it's sweet. 
I could lift up my bench vice using that connection so think it will be fine for pulling some throttles open. 

Burning the midnight oil some more, now that I can. I drained the brake fluid and got the Soarer booster and master cyl out.
I was hoping to fit this KE70 booster, which is much smaller diameter so gives me a bit more room to get bolts in. 

But unfortunately the bolt pattern through the firewall is different. 
The Soarer is 100x70mm, the KE70 is 80xsomething I think. 
It's tempting to redrill the firewall holes but the bracket on the other side has spacers/dowel type things on it, which make it more effort to redo properly. 
So will keep on the lookout for a slightly smaller booster with a 100x70 pattern.




It's looking as though a Hilux Surf has the same pattern, and hopefully a smaller booster. So will try find one of these, unless anyone has something similar lying around they could measure? 
There's one on Trademe so I've asked the guy if he can measure it up. Otherwise looks like there are some Surfs at pickapart, so will have a look next time I'm in Auckland.





 

[Roman]

Toyota legend Mark Roads has a Spare Celica/Carina GT-T spec brake booster.
Which is a little smaller than the Soarer one, and will bolt up.
So will go pick that up some time next week. 

Back to the firewall problem, I borrowed a laser projector tool from @flyingbrick that is a cool piece of gear. 
It can draw a 360 degree line, all on the same plane. 
So I'm going to mark where this line lands everywhere, Then I can either cut the metal back to this line so it's all straight. 
Or, is use it as a reference point for knowing how far a piece needs to bend back or whatever.
Makes the problem seem easier in my brain, having some sort of reference point to work to.
I'll need to pull the motor back out to do this properly, so will dig out all of my engine crane parts out of storage and make a start on that.
Slowly making progress on a few different fronts which is good.

[Roman]

Pulled the motor back out to do firewall activities. 
Borrowed more of Nathan's stuff, so I could hang it all off the scales and see how we're looking weight wise now that most of the stuff is finalized.
This is with motor, flywheel, clutch, engine mounts, clutch slave&master, gearbox, alternator, exhaust manifolds. 
And a pair of extra exhaust flanges which I'm hanging the motor from. 
So 209kg all up isnt too bad. For reference @Hyperblade had the full beams 3SGE setup sitting at around 199kg when using ITB kit and 1NZ alternator.
Or for some other context, people list the weight of a 1JZGE alone at around 200-210kg.

So by switching from lead acid battery to a lithium one I've as good as neutralized the weight gain.
Then there are some other currently podgy parts like the factory seats still in there. 
So, this should still be a sub 1000kg car with most of the interior in, I'd imagine.

[Roman]

Well I'm making progress towards getting things going. 
Firewall isnt finished, or pretty, but if it stops my face catching fire for now, that's a win. 
Has got a severe case of myspace photo angles here, looks fairly rubbish in person.
Posting here before it ends up on @cletus's wall of shame instagram story for being crappy things brought in for cert.




Also welded up the engine mounts properly, and reshaped the front of the mounts so they look a bit nicer. Then a few coats of only the finest rattle can black.
I'm out of town for work for most of next week, but I'm hoping to get the engine back in and fired up by next weekend.

[Roman]

Sorry to everyone that I have blue balled with this project!
Over the period of god knows how long it's been so far without any cool stuff happening.
I have not yet made good on my promise of doing zillions of rpm with a shitbox wrecker engine. In V6 variant at least.

I've been putting in some solid hours to get things finished to try get to the drags.
But tonight I've come to see I'm not going to make it. 
If it was just about getting the car finished enough, might be feasible with some long nights.
However it turns out I need an MSNZ license as well as a log book in order to race without wof/reg.
I've been going down this road over last few days to try organize it.
I paid $70 to join a car club, which is a prerequisite to applying for a license.
However it was then was going to be another ~140ish bucks for a license that might not arrive in time. 
So combined with some extra expenses to get car in a drivable state I'm probably looking at $7-800 I need to pull out of my ass in a hurry.
My bank balance got fairly well emptied a week or two ago when the neighbors dog tried to eat our cat. Then the cat crunched my finger when I picked it up. 
So big vet bill for the cats injuries, and a week on antibiotics and a day or 2 with bandages for me.
So as exhausting as it has been pushing hard to get this done. For now I just have a rest.

But it's really close to being drivable. 
Since last post:
-Firewall finished
-Put crossmember and steering rack back in
-fixed gearbox leak (loose bolt) 
-fixed engine oil leak 
-finished exhaust manifolds on both sides, down to a finished flange. So they can stay in for good while I make rest of the exhaust.
-Got motor and box back in
-TA63 booster fitted
-Interior started going back in 
-Started on battery tray
-ITBs properly fitted and bolted/sealed up
-Exhaust manifolds on properly with gaskets etc, all bolted up properly 
-Some wiring stuff sorted
-2nd wideband wired up 
-radiator back in
-front of car back together 
-Motor fired up again! 

My collector flares out to 2.25" or 2.5" (cant remember) but then you can see down where the flange ends up, thats where it flares out to 3".
So does this mean it's an F1 car now? haha.
The last weld I did on this pipe was the one on the rear of the 3d printed part, and turned out quite nice compared to some earlier efforts.
Also, although I'm no welding expert by any means.
Holy shit, it feels like cheat mode being able to weld indoors.
So much easier when you're not battling a mild breeze on the driveway. haha.