Pattax's KE55 Project.
 

Hello Brethren,

So it's not a Mazda, but it's my new project. The BA ended up in the backyard of a friend’s house, completely stripped down and parted out. All the was left was the shell and the engine. Made of some interesting driving.

Anyway, picked this up in my new hometown of Cairns. It’s a 1979 KE55 Corolla. It comes tinted, lowered on Kings / Monroes, with some nice 16” rims, fully resprayed in the original colour. It’s got the stock 4K-C with a 3sp gearbox. First carby I have owned, and first RWD for that matter :O

Here it is.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y/IMG_0218.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y/IMG_0219.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y/IMG_0220.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...y/IMG_0221.jpg

I don’t have any interior shots on me at this minute, but will update that later.

I haven’t done a lot to it, but I’m in the early stages of planning what to do. I have put the boss kit on it, run a tacho, air:fuel, 12volt, oil temp / pressure gauges. I’ve been trying to track down a 4AGZE for it, which means a few things. I need to weld up a new cross member for the gearbox and engine mounts. This is the hardest thing because there is no one that manufactures the engine mounts / xmember for the 4A, let alone any other engine, and my welding skills aren’t exactly A1.

Other engine options are;

SR20DET (or ca18det)
4AG(Z)E
5K or 7K engine with side draught carbies. Maybes look at supercharging.
Build up the 4K motor that is already in it, place the 5 speed box in.

My main and first plan is engine. Other than that, I will endeavour to tackle some of the minor rust bubbles, central locking, new diff (probably a hilux of pintara diff) exhaust (4-1 headers into 2 ¼” pipe).

I have been talking to rupe about engines and he has managed to find some mild to wild options (including an ex Toyota racing 4AG for $5000 =O). If anyone knows anyone selling the above engines please le me know.

Still not sure what the best option is financially. Obviously it would have to be comparable to the power output. Anyhoo, this is where I am at the minute. Whatever the case may be, I plan on changing this engine up a bit. I just can’t stand it. It no joke, puts out 45kw. Try driving that everyday

Ill keep this updated with my progress.

Thanks,
Pat.

Oh awesome, it's Kingston Blue - i had a 77 in the same color :D

:D love it man
looks awesome
4AG ftw :)

+1 4AGE ftw :)

They make mint rides the Ke55s :)

I like it, however stick with teh 4k & just do some headwork, throw on some extractors & a weber and just cruise :cool:

Was thinking this.

If I can free up some air around the carby I probably could push it out a bit. Webber carby would be the go. But I need to remember that the 4K is a complete donk of an engine, and even if I did these things, i'd be pushing up to 60kw out max, its just not worth it.

I have been chatting to a bloke about 2T conversion from a Celica aswell, could lead places.

I have the corolla as well and have the 4AGE 20V blacktop and love it. Quad throttles for the win. :D Apparently this motor has about 128kw at the fly but have never dyno'd it so not too sure what it is at the wheels. Nice car and I hope you are enjoying Cairns as I used to live on the tablelands. Have you tried the Gillies yet? I used to come down that road on my mountain bike overtaking traffic the whole way down. Ah good memories. :)

Nup, the furthest north I've been to the tablelands is Kuranda, but I've heard "Gillies" thrown around a bit.

Still looking at finding a 5K. I can do the basic mods I would on a 4K to the 5K, which im lead to believe is a just a stroked version of the 4K. Plus side is, it bolts right on, so no need to fabricate a new crossmember! Win.

I think for the sake of the car's value, and the previous owner/s whom have kept in such great condition - please stick with the 4K, or at least no more than a 5K. :(

If you head south towards gordonvale then west from there towards atherton you will head up the gillies then come back down for some fun. :D
As for the motor I would stick to the 4k but just realise it is never going to be a huge powerhouse. 5k would get you more power but would be more expensive.

there is one of these cruising around CQ and that thing gives my mates Xr6 a run for its money i think from memory he said he had the sr20 in it but i will have to find out

I can pick up a 5K / t50 for around 400 complete. It's pretty cheap comparitively.

Anyway, today I was driving along getting my frozen green apple and softserve from Maccas (it tastes like splice, try it!), and while I was in the drive-thru I hear this "tack tack tack tack tack tack" and then it stops. I dont know what it is, but as I keep driving back to work I hear it again, and then all of a sudden my revs die, and my engine shuts off. I turn the car off and park, turn the car back on to auxilliary to give it power. So I hear this noise again "tack tack tack tack tack". I track it back to the boot and find this -

http://upload.ihasaids.com/data/1283427168.jpg

Let's just cover our eyes and ears about the fact that the person before me has put the electronic fuel pump on the side of the tank with tape for a second. I "un-tape" the fuel pump (the words "fuel pump" and "tape" shouldn't be mentioned together. Ever.) and hold onto it. It feels like something is moving around in there. I went to the bonnet at found the fuel filter near the carby and opened it up, it was dry. After fidgeting around with the pump and the filter the fuel pump sounds like its starting to pump fuel again, and not air. I have a look at the filter and the filter chamber is completely full.

I think im going to bolt down the pump somewhere, it's plain stupid to have it hanging in mid air and try to combat this with sticky tape. Derp.

Tried finding a 5K aswell. I might be looking at converting to a manual and working the 4K afterall.

OK, ignore what I said. The previous owner was a farken dumb carnt to do something like that... :mad:
You might as well go crazy and turn it into a drag car now too.
I can't think of this car the same way now, throw a mad SR20VET in there. :(

im not sure which is funnier, the fact the pump was taped on or the fact he did an epic fail at the "taping" bit

That was about half way through ripping it out. What it originally looked like was the whole tank was taped left to right with a bump in the middle -_-

Nice looking car...

So I'm looking a red top SR20 on Sunday. It comes with loom, ecu, 5 speed box, diff(not that i really want or need that) tailshaft, exhaust, all pumps and motors, radiator, pipes AND crossmember for the mounts. Chasing $900 which is an epic bargain if it checks out.

So in my other build thread on rollaclub someone posed the question of an NA8 conversion. NA8!?

Anyway, this has never been done before, and a halfcut for this is $1900, which is a tad of a steal. Could be done? I'll need to track down some dimensions. But like i said, no one has ever done this before, so I could encouter several problems.

Oh, and the 4K isnt turning over, think it could be the pump again -_-

Sneak peak :)

http://upload.ihasaids.com/data/1284106919.jpg

http://upload.ihasaids.com/data/1284119337.jpg

http://upload.ihasaids.com/data/1284107447.jpg

http://upload.ihasaids.com/data/1284053025.jpg