Corolla KE26 Wagon
1971 Toyota Corolla KE26 1200cc wagon (estate)
Was the daily driver/parts hauler/weekend cruiser...
current spec list
4K engine rebuild page
03.05.08
Currently rebuilding the 4k sourced from a kp61. although it has low km's.. it still would've leaked oil being 27yrs old. So the decision was made to give it a quick refresh job. see 4K page. Engine was stripped and thoroughly inspected for wear. most things good running cond. Then new seals, gaskets, chain + dampeners and all bearings ordered from www.staparts.co.nz The only wear apparent was some scuffing on sides of pistons but are well within tolerance. The block, crank, pistons, rods and head were sent away with my flatmate (cheers mike) to get cleaned in a decarburising bath, which came back much nicer than they left! Other parts and brackets have all been degreased and either painted or cleaned/polished ready for assembly.
12.08.07
Still parked up. Bought a 4k and k50 from a NZ new kp61 starlet sprint with 136k on the clock :) so will chuck it in since the current 4k has a sticky valve and low compression. bought some TE28 steering arms out of Hawaii to go in with the new struts. woot
14.10.06
Parked up for now and put on backburner since the ke70 is on the road. Want to get all rust proofed and painted before it gets wet.
Have picked up a 3.7:1 ratio 6.7" T302 live axle diff head from sa60 celica (thanks callum) for
an ST185 GT-Four torsen lsd to go into. As you can see i'm wanting a stronger diff for reliability if i'm
ever going to put a 2tg or 4ag in this thing. Not sure if i get the te71 disk brake diff
shortened with later type T series axle splines adapted on or shorten a T series drum diff to suit.. it won't
be for a while anyway.
06.06.06
I thrash the living crap out of this thing and i cant kill it! just wearing out slowly. I've put
the 4k carb back on after blowing out the jets, runs fine and I get the induction noise back :)
Recent compression test 100psi on all four cyl hmm way too low. Have bought and fitted some ae85 struts
with the 9" solid disks. Have used ae86 p/s 115mm long arms sitting on a 1mm shim wrapped around the ke26 ball
joint which is a temporary fix till te27 arms come in from the states. Bought new Tokico ae92 GT gas filled
shocks which are spaced up inside the strut and gives a good 2" shorter stroke to keep the king springs captive.
Unfortunately camber is now 1.5deg positive which is forgiving in the dry but an ass to keep straight round corners in the wet.
Camber plates required and eventually will swap to vented ae86 disks and calipers. See tech
section for a more detailed article on the swap. Have now made a 2" press bent exhaust. Using up all the old te71 exhausts...
managed to chop and swap bends and tig weld together to make quite a nice system. First incarnation used
two resonators.. one in middle, the other on the end which ended up way too loud.
click here for a vid of lumpy idle and rev noise heh.
A quick trip to pick-a-part scored me a near new 2" straight through barrel muffler out of an aw11 mr2 for $10.
welded a 2.5" bend on the exit and noise is bearable. Yesterday i had my jammy bastard pants on again and went wrecker bashing (well pinch-a-part anyways) and scored an st185 celica gt-four torsen irs lsd which i am pleased to say does fit a T series live axle head.
I doubt the 2.9:1 ratio pinion gear will physically fit in the live axle housing tho (have yet to try..) ratio too tall anyway.
The down side is because this is a late 80's early 90's head, it wont fit te71 or pre '83 T series smaller 23 spline axles..
only the larger spline facelift ae86 type or later type 83+ etc carina, celica or corona 6.7" axles will be useable.
As i have a pair of snapped te71 disk brake axles i see a conversion in the pipeline using the st185 half shaft splines welded onto the broken axles and put into a shortened ma45 diff housing using te71 disks/calipers/backing plates to convert to 9" disk.
25.08.05
Added some accessories... 13x6 and 13x6.5 SpeedStar's for some more jdm'ness.
genuine TRD gearknob (moulded rubber leather look ball). KE25 SR Coupe tacho
woodgrain dash fitted.. wiring was there already from factory so just plug in and go.
KE25 delux drivers seat fitted because I kept sliding out of the wagon seat :(
Car now sits 2" lower from blocks installed in the rear and king springs up
front. (shocks need shortening up front to fit these). starting to have an
engine conking problem. fitted a facet pump to bypass mechanical fuel pump.
run hell rich and is overfueling so need a regulator on it. fitted a km36 jdm 5k-j
liteace carby which has a 26mm venturi compared to my 25mm 4k carb. This seems to
have rid me of the conking out problem so i could've had a blocked jet or something.
With all the emissions and ancilliary devices not correctly connected yet its doing
a couple funny things.. waiting for emissions diagrams to fit cold idle up
diaphragm. Theres a fuel level veiwing port which is how i found the facet pump has
too much pressure and running the fuel level too high. The automatic choke working good
but in our weather i could pull it off and still not have any starting woes. not
sure if i like the diaphragm operated secondary throttle tho.. seems to have taken away
the intake roar and doesnt kick in early enough. Have fitted the km36 Liteace egr
intake manifold but plated the egr system off. have now added a liteace 5k carby
intake pipe adapter with a pod filter hanging off the front.. this sounds horny at full
noise... say goodbye ramflo! :D compression low on 1 and 4 tho and geez does this
thing guzzle gas. need another k motor :( cheaper to replace than rebuild.
01.01.05
Progress finally.... have modified some TE71 2tgeu exhaust secondaries to fit.
have cut off the 2t manifold flange and welded on a 4k flange. Found the
secondaries to be too tall between the manifold flange and corner bend so have cut/weld
them shorter so they're not the lowest point on the car. Have also cut the single
pipe shorter and next step is to make up a section to fit past the gearbox and crossmember
and join up with original exhaust. hmm all this just to change from 4into1 to 4-2-1.
Have done a front stud pattern conversion... using a ke70 hub and a new wheel
bearing kit for KE30 (inner bearing is bigger than ke2) it was a bolt in job by swapping
the original ke26 disk onto the ke70 hub. only problem i found was the inner seal is
a different size between the two cars (ke26 = 40x52x7. ke70 = 41x53x7) and an in
between size seal was not available from local seal shop ie 40x53x7. have used the
smaller size seal and urethaned the seal in position but fitted the hub to the stub axle
before it set so that the seal could centre itself inside the hub. dodgy but better
than nothing at this stage. not sure but ke3 hubs may have similar inner seal size
as ke2(?). Spent many hours playing around with various ke70 brake upgrade options
and also te71 and ae86 front brakes but no bolt in configuration could be found for the
ke26 strut. will be writing up a tech page for this mod eventually. the front
grill trim has been taken off and a replacement mix of ke2# parts have been fitted in the
mean time. These have been given a quick paint in htv silver for colour
matching. thanks tup and nayray for your help
.12.04
have swapped my 5k for a 4age + cash so probly eventually do a conversion to either 4ag or
2tg when the time is right. after pulling the diff head out, found the oil to be a
mucky metallic silver so decided to give it a good clean out. pulled the housing
out, steam cleaned it inside and out, painted it black along with the drums and back
plates. installed a kp61 3.3:1 ratio diff head but had to use two long studs and
nuts on the back of em to fit the diff, cant run split washer as diff oil leaks past
it. (the ke36 diff head studs had a head on the back of em and are pressed in like a
wheel stud, whereas the starlet housing had screw in studs). with that done i
checked the brake cylinders and found them to be seized. stripped them and luckily
werent rusty, but had what looked like oxidized grease in em.. so cleaned em up and
reinstalled. fitted new axle seals and new brake shoes and reassembled it all,
filled with oil and bled brakes etc so diff ready to go. found the front
'stud adapters' were nothing more than 8mm spacers with longer studs and jammed out to fit
the 4x114.3 corolla steelies!! dangerous mod! so will be changing to ke70
front hubs soon. next is exhaust as i wanted to change to 4-2-1 manifold but
dont have the secondaries...
18.10.04
Was given another 3k engine so that has been swapped in as the old one had an annoying
knock. Just need to replace U series diff head and it should be reliable runner.
Have removed the front corners/indicators and head light surrounds for safe
keeping... too hard to find replacements.. and easily smacked into =( looking at
making up fibreglass moulds to make a few to sell off and maybe find a similar styled late
model indicator to fit em? need some interest in this to make worthwhile tho.
Picked up a Jensen/Healy instrument cluster full of oldschool period 'Smiths' gauges so
lookin into fitting them. mmm 225km/h speedo, 8k tacho, oil pres, volt etc. May
have found a 4age for it too =)
degreased replacement 3k with ke35
k50 5speed box fitted, and oh look its red.. must be fast??? =P
Been wanting and waiting to find one for some time! It will replace the white ke25
coupe as it's more practical to cart parts around and go road trippin! Happened to
buy it on my 23rd birthday so its gotta be the best ever pressie =) Has been owned
by an elderly couple for half of its life so was well looked after and been garaged.
Cant find any major rust holes, only some repairs and surface rust in places. A few
dings in places and a respray on r/h rear 1/4 panel, otherwise paint is original
yellow. Previous owner (of 3 total) had replaced diff with a ke36 one and installed
a k50 5-speed from a 79 corolla so I'm guessing a ke35. Front stud pattern has been
changed with hub adapters. wheels are 13" steelies. Am really happy with
it and plan to keep it reasonably original except for engine & drive line as they need
a little work.
pics - first bought
Home
degreased replacement 3k with ke35
k50 5speed box fitted, and oh look its red.. must be fast??? =P
