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What a corking little car ;D As mentioned recently in the general thread, I did buy the bronze Starlet that was for sale in Wroxham. With the help of ScrapingScrap and Nick (thanks!), went and picked it up last night. Drove home perfectly, and haven't yet had any of those nasty shocks you often get when buying an old car. Quick history: It was sold new in 1981 to a Mrs Bayley from Norwich by Batsons, who were the people I bought it from! She p'xed a Carina against it, and had wheel trim rings, LH mirror and mudflaps fitted from new. I have quite a bit of her history with the car, plus MoTs from 1987. She got the mileage up to the mid-40's, then sold it back to the garage in 1996. They used it for the boss's wife and as an occasional courtesy car until it went up for sale last year with 54k on the clock, so I'm only the third owner. Fortunately it's had nothing like a glass sunroof or modern stereo cut into it, the bodywork is basically sound, and the mechanics seem as fit as you'd expect. Drove nicer than I suspected it might - nippy, great steering and a fairly smooth ride. For anyone who doesn't know, this generation of Starlet is RWD with steering rack (not the usual box) and struts up front, and solid axle on coils at the back. SS is already threatening a visit with the grinder  1.2 engine (3K I think) does a good job, pulls well, and 5-speed is a bonus on a little oldish car like this. Having said that, I couldn't keep up when SS in the 560SEC obliterated an Impreza at a Norwich round of Traffic Light GP 2006...... Future plans? Limited in my hands - as said before, some subtle lowering (tips from any other Starlet owners?) and wheels. And drive it. Looking forward to sensible fuel economy the right side of 30mpg, maybe nearer 40? At present the Laurel and Skyline don't do much more than 20  Pic's to follow at the weekend. Right, now I really must change that profile....... Just realised how little my motoring life has progressed since I passed my test - back then I had a 1981 1.2-litre Japanese hatchback (Cherry N10), now I've got another 18 years later. Starlet way nicer to drive! |
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Jan 20, 2006 15:32:37 GMT
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Sounds like a nice car, got a couple myself. The easiest (& most common) way to lower them seems tobe to cut 1/4 of a coil out of each rear spring! Seems a bit dodgy to me, so i ordered a set from polleysport, who will do you a set of custom made springs any length & spring rate you want. Fuel economy-don't expect anything special, i only managed mid 20's out of a 2k (1.0l) & less than 20 mpg average now its a 4k with cam etc. But they are a lot of fun, esp on wet or greasy roads  |
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Jan 20, 2006 17:30:20 GMT
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Sounds like a nice car, got a couple myself. The easiest (& most common) way to lower them seems tobe to cut 1/4 of a coil out of each rear spring! Seems a bit dodgy to me, so i ordered a set from polleysport, who will do you a set of custom made springs any length & spring rate you want. Fuel economy-don't expect anything special, i only managed mid 20's out of a 2k (1.0l) & less than 20 mpg average now its a 4k with cam etc. But they are a lot of fun, esp on wet or greasy roads Polleysport were the people I'd got in mind - figured they'd built enough oval racing Starlets to know what they were doing. Since I wrote my first post this morning, I've driven it work on familiar roads and like it even more  |
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Jan 20, 2006 17:35:37 GMT
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As mentioned recently in the general thread, I did buy the bronze Starlet that was for sale in Wroxham. Was it from a division of "Roy's"?  Anyway, enough of the frippery... show us some more pics of your brown treasue please!  |
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Mr Vincent
Part of things
Hiding In The Shed ......
Posts: 605
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Jan 20, 2006 18:18:09 GMT
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Rock On, Oh and Rover 600 wheels fit ! (Later Starlets are 4x114ish not 4x100)
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Rusty`s Motorcycles
OLD SKOOL RETRO CAR CLUB
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NickB, nothing to do with Roy's (fortunately) And am I the only one who finds the phrase brown treasure mildly disturbing? Shudder to think what you'd find if you did a Google on that.... Anyway, here's some snaps I took yesterday.  Tried to keep this shot clean in case anyone fancies a bit of Photoshop fun. In some lights you can see that bottom of wing and rear quarters have been painted up to the coachline.   Front number plate had to be replaced after original got stolen! Possibly taken to disguise vehicle used in a nearby burglary.  Heart of the bronze beast. 1166cc of sheer power, 3K in Toyota speak. Needs a new thermostat as stays quite cold, then it'll be fun seeing whether a hose or rad pops first as always seems to happen when I do this.   It's very clean inside, and very beige. I've got more painted metal on show than SnoozinEuro's J-spec car. Surprisingly quiet in here though, given light weight of car. Doors sound very tinny.  Oddly, discovered that my other small J-car has 54k on the clock. Sadly the 100A is going to be broken, as rear wishbones needed for someone else and it needs too much work. Of course, still started after being laid up for 2+ months untouched......  Finally, what is this? An angry goat? Contemporay mag's criticised this as being the last bit of Japanese over-adornment - I wish there was more! |
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Jan 22, 2006 10:42:18 GMT
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I've had a bit of a go!  |
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Jan 22, 2006 10:44:17 GMT
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Looks cracking!!! Superb buy for 300 notes, QUALITEE!!
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1972 Fiat 130 1985 Talbot Alpine 1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 + 1986 Mazda 929 Koop + Wagon 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 BEST CAR EVER!!!!!!!! 1979 Datsun B310 Sunny 4-dr 1984 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo 1983 Honda Accord 1.6 DX GONE1989 Alfa 75 2.0 TS Mr T says: TREAT YO MOTHER RIGHT! |
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Jan 22, 2006 16:31:49 GMT
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£300, is that all you paid for it? Bargain mate, you'll love it! you can get all the cams & manifolds you want for the k engine, or throw in a 4age out a corrola or MR2, then just enjoy!
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Jan 22, 2006 18:16:16 GMT
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Here's my Pshop effort: I have used photoshop to fit the standard wheels, plus I have lowered it by 0.00000000006mm. Other than those two mods its standard. |
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1972 Fiat 130 1985 Talbot Alpine 1974 Lancia Beta Saloon 1975 + 1986 Mazda 929 Koop + Wagon 1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica 1977 Toyota Carina TA14 BEST CAR EVER!!!!!!!! 1979 Datsun B310 Sunny 4-dr 1984 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo 1983 Honda Accord 1.6 DX GONE1989 Alfa 75 2.0 TS Mr T says: TREAT YO MOTHER RIGHT! |
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Mr K
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,993
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Jan 22, 2006 18:28:02 GMT
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Here's my Pshop effort: I have used photoshop to fit the standard wheels, plus I have lowered it by 0.00000000006mm. Other than those two mods its standard. Mr B... didn't realise you where such a purist? |
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Jan 23, 2006 20:22:01 GMT
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I went a bit crazy...looks good lower to the ground tho  |
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I think /\ that might be a bright for my tastes, but an interesting effort!
Mr B has met me and is obviously a shrewd judge of character, as he's probably summed-up best what will actually get done.....
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Jan 24, 2006 10:59:25 GMT
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Look out for some bargainous Lotus wheels, get the grinder out and fit a roof rack!
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Jan 26, 2006 23:56:41 GMT
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very nice car, great price! if you want to lower it while keeping the handling stiff, you can fit mr2 turbo rear springs cut two coils off, the fit perfect and are lovely and stiff. for the front you can fit EP71 springs, and get uprated inserts. ive eibach coilovers in the front, i can get em for 200 dollars. the 3k is a super engine and because of its short stroke revs like mad. ive seen 3k's rev to 9000+rpm many times. heres my 120bhp 4k  |
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Why you always bring me junk!
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Jan 26, 2006 23:57:43 GMT
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oh btw that emblem is a dear, ive no idea what its for tho |
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Why you always bring me junk!
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Grrr, talk about one step forwards and two back. Fired up by the success of getting the HRW working (reattached wire that had come loose) decided to do the thermostat. In an exciting twist of the 'what will go wrong next?' game, managed to snap the housing!! This was after losing the two original bolts somewhere in the gloomy void between block and alternator (good job I've got a scrap Datsun engine on the drive which has been awaiting collection for nearly two years, very useful for odd bolts etc), cold fingers not making life easier. At this point I'm puzzled as to why Toyota canted the engine over so much. On the 'up' RH side there's only the oil filter and distributor, but pretty much everything else is hidden on the downward leaning LH side. Not crossflow either, so that includes carb and exhaust manifold. Anyway, onecam8ohv or other KP experts, are these housings easy enough to get from Toyota nowadays? Or anybody got one spare? If need be the garage I bought the car from have a 1.0-litre (1K, 2K?) in their workshop that I may be able to rob. Someone please advise This of course is why you should always have several cars on the road, or at least have spares cars to rob things from. Back to the faithful Laurel clunker this week. |
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Jan 30, 2006 19:25:29 GMT
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yeah they're handy enought to get and not too expensive. il have a look in my kp parts i think i have a few of them but might be 5k which has a different size water outlet. either way if your haveing trouble ive many contacts in the u.k that can help you out with one. let me know anyway. the engine is tilted over to save space so as to not have the bonnet so high, because of the rwd setup a subframe in a hatchback is rare. only sunbeam comes to mind. its actually a very handy design, because all you'll ever need to fiddle with is there (ie the distributor ,oil filter plugs etc) and the starter and alternator can be easily acessed from underneath. TRD upright the engines on their race cars, but its alot of work. one vey good tip here -->don't fill your car up with oil when your doing a service, with the plugs out. you will have four cylinders full with oil there so eay to work on i can do a clutch in one from start to finish in about an hour or so , and do an engine swap in about 3 its nice that you got the k50 box too. do you know what ratio diff you have? |
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Why you always bring me junk!
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Jan 30, 2006 22:01:07 GMT
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Ouch. Toyota parts say £34.80, so any contacts would be useful! Or is that reasonable? Trying to get word out here amongst local banger racing/stock car boys.
K50 'box I assume is the 5-speeder? It's a nice shift, actually quite chunky compared to lightness of everything else. Is this the 'box that Midget/Minor people go for? Definitely a bonus to get a decent overdrive on something like this.
Brochure suggests diff ratio is 3.909, does that sound right?
And what are the dots marked on the speedo? Maximum change points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd? Got no rev counter in mine (only 1.2S got those?), so don't know if they're close to maximum. Certainly not taken mine to 9k yet!
Other than this glitch, still really chuffed with it - biggest annoyance is that I can now only look at it.......
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yup thats right, k40 4 speed k50 is 5 speed. i ran a 4 speed for ages the extra gear is a gift yeah 3.909 is good, ive that in mine at the mo too, but ive got a 4.2 here too i might put in. if you look on your chassis plate it will prob say X312? thats defo 3.909. gearboxes are good, never seen one break, and i know a guy running a supercharged 5k through it. a weak point tho is the axles. if your going to be doing any real messing in it be nice to the drive shafts 34 quid sounds good, id get the new one if you can. your right the dots are recommended shift points for just city driving as far as i know. GREAT CARS! ;D Heres one of mine  |
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Why you always bring me junk!
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1.2 engine (3K I think) does a good job, pulls well, and 5-speed is a bonus on a little oldish car like this.
