Fred's 1983 KP60 Toyota Starlet! STOLEN! :-(

[Fred]

Well, you probably already knew that I was completely insane, but if not, this proves it. If sim's green wagon is the snot rocket, then one day this will be projectile diarrhea! What a colour! These are getting rare (much like the RB30E), so I bought this without seeing it from 1000km away. It has a dead engine (to some extent, not yet known) but what looks to be a reasonably tidy/rust-free interior and body for a 1983 econobox. These cars weigh nearly nothing, so only a modest amount of power makes them pretty fun. The trick will be to fix the existing engine enough to keep it legal (currently it's legal) and enough to drive it back to Auckland including a ferry ride. A mate of mine wants to buy an AW11 MR2 from even further down the other island, so it might end up a 4 man 2 car epic road trip from way down there to way up here :-D


















What I really want to do to this is put a black top 4age in it with a strong gearbox and diff and fuel system and OK brakes and have some fun in it. What I might do in the mean time is some hilarious inappropriate short term temporary engine swaps. Just to wind up the internet and have a good laugh :-D

More info on the general model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Starlet#60_Series

Note: Curb weight = 695–750 kg :-D Hence quick with only 165hp :-)

More posts as I learn more about the car. I've not yet seen the back or left side, hopefully no nasty surprises there.

Fred.

[tpsretard]

Some encoragement for you and the starlet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aSg3JTCd9E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeJ05y0oAcc <== EPIC in car..

[Fred]

Update! My wonderful assistant went and picked up the car today (now yesterday, didn't finish the post last night). Rather than a tow rope, or a trailer, or a truck, they used a bottle of water. IE, checked oil, filled radiator, and fired it up! Drove it home like this :-D

Obviously it still needs some shakedown testing to validate that the cooling system is reliable enough for a 1500km drive north, but this is a promising start! :-D

Fred.

[Nick_nl]

The climate must be nice for those cars, my grand father had two of those. The rear wheel arches could really rust. One was a 1.2 the other was a 1 liter.

[Fred]

Auckland cars tend to rust, fairly humid up here. Down where this car is from, it's quite dry, so I think this one will be pretty straight, rust wise. Time will tell, though :-)

[Fred]

Small update at 1am from a farm central north island: Rumour has it that the high idle was caused by the choke. Also, the "oil light" on the dash was caused by the choke, too, it was a choke light afterall. Apparently it's been driving fine. Things are looking good for a retrieval in November if I'm lucky. Can't wait to drive it, even on the crappy stock 2k engine :-D

[Fred]

Won an auction for a bare blacktop engine for relatively cheap! I'm thinking plenum, trumpets and 82mm ID VH45 throttle (which I already have), which should make more power than the ITBs did stock, and only lack the responsiveness and part-throttle noises! Several people already hate this idea, but hey, run what ya brung, right? :-) I'd have to buy ITBs or a whole engine or something anyway, so... this seems like a good option. Doesn't have to be forever, and it'd be a bit different, which is always nice. Thoughts? :-p

[ivan141]

People around here probably know a nice big plenum is good for power, but you will be robbing the 20v of it's most redeeming feature: the noise.
Should be lovely in a light car like the kp60 and I'm very jealous of your access to relatively cheap 20v's.

[Fred]

Well, don't be too jealous! The guy turned out to be a dishonest bastard. An Asian dude, and not the first I've had trouble with, either. Genuine kiwis almost never give much trouble :-( Anyway, told me 9-6 pickup, so I was ready to leave for 430, to arrive at 5, with an hour to inspect and load into the car before the 6 cut off. 4pm, phone rings, he's got an appointment from 5 till 6. On and off and on and off, tells me to go and his mechanic will be there. I show up about 530 after leaving at 5, and start to look at the engine:

• Top sprayed with clear laquer, including over top of ex pipes, made me wonder if it was silver sprayed black, but it was actually a black
• broken plastic covers around the cam belt in various ways
• two inlet valves (one in 1 one in 3) were rusted as if it'd had water in there
• Described as "very clean" on the auction, this thing was typically JDM dirty
• Wrong thread bolt used to attach to engine stand, part of block ripped out as a result
• Could not rotate bottom end by hand with plugs in
• Removed plugs, still couldn't
• Used a ratchet to turn it stiffly around with quite a bit of force
• Still couldn't move it by hand... that's not right... rusted bore(s)?
• Low kms claimed, no proof of this at all... ok, but... given the apparent condition, no

So I offered him 300 as is with high risk of worthlessness, or he could relist it for some other smuck to buy. His reply? "Let me teach you a little lesson about contract law" tried to make me feel guilty about not taking it, failed. Replied that it did not fit the decription on the auction. Told me he could have his lawyer dog me for it, and I'd have to pay the fees, too. "You'll be hearing from my lawyer" he said. Good luck, I grabbed some photos of some of the damaged parts.

Cooling system seemed legit, though, not rusted or anything like that. Not much use when it's nearly siezed, however...

To go with this apparently "very clean" bottom end, I bought another "smokey" blacktop complete with flywheel etc for 500 in the city this car is in. It can bring home its own new heart. Going to take a look at another one tomorrow, too. If that goes cheap enough, I'll nab it as well. Otherwise I'll keep an eye out for a good long block and if I don't find one in time, I'll ring, seals and bearings the smokey one.

Really killed my mood tonight, though. Bad enough to not bring home the thing I thought I had in the bag. Even worse to be threatened with legal action for backing out of a sale of something described as "very clean" only to find out it was fucked. Bleh.

Fred.

[ivan141]

That sounds like a bad experience... the guy is probably just mouthing off about legal action.. Only an idiot would risk incurring those costs
when there is no question of any financial loss for him.