After a year of persistence, I am finally the owner of a Carina.

The body is in absolutely incredible condition, save for a large surface rust spot on the RH rear 1/4 panel. There is no rust in the rocker panels suspension etc.

The interior is also in very good condition, except for a huge crack in the instrument panel. If anyone has any suggestions on repairing it, I am all ears.

I am also happy if anyone can pass on any resources such as wiring diagrams/engine manuals, as I'm not terribly familiar with this car/engine.
The car is all original, it even has an original exhaust system on it.
The only non-genuine parts on it are a set of ignition wires and a turbo timer.




Of course there is a catch.
Right now it is a 3 cylinder and hasn't run in about 4 years.

What was the attraction?
For me it was the blend of simplicity, 80's in-your-face insanity, and that the car had not been modified.

Oh, the other factor would be the genes shared with the Group B cars of the 80's.

It is my goal to keep the car as original as possible.

I know someone with a similar Carina. Has the same wheels on it as well.
While i'm not sure if his is a turbo or not yours is in much better shape.

They do look mean with those wheels on it.

Well,

I have found the root of the engine problem.
#4 piston gave up the ghost.



On the other hand, it looks like the car had a decent bit of work done to it before I bought it.

The turbo, alternator and A/C compressor all appear to be recent replacements.

Progress is happening.

The engine is out and stripped.
Sent the block to the machine shop.
Got a set of Arias pistons (arrived), various gaskets and seals from Toyota (1/2 of those still available have arrived), working on the rest via aftermarket. It looks like I am out of luck on the valve cover gasket, as it is not available anywhere.

It is looking like I'll have to get bushes put in the small ends of the rods.



I pulled the gas tank to clean it, as the gas inside was way old.
I first tried pumping it out using the in-tank pump, but it was no-go, as the pump wouldn't run.

I got the tank down and discovered that it was a monument to rust. I have ordered a used pump and fuel gauge sender from Yahoo auction (cheap!) that looks like it should fit. I'll just have to check volume@pressure once I get it.

Ok, I mentioned rust in the fuel tank. It was nastier than anything I have ever seen.

When I got the car, I tried starting it.
It cranked, and you could hear the cranking speed changing due to low compression in one cylinder. It wouldn't fire though.
I was told that it was running when it was parked. I tend to believe this.

The reason it wouldn't start was a lack of fuel.
I managed to verify spark in a rather shocking manner.
The nasty stink from the tank made it pretty easy to guess the reason for the lack of fuel.

The pump came out covered in rust. The fuel that came out of the fuel rail when pulling the engine also had a rusty tinge to it.

This is the interior of the tank before cleaning:



Here is after the first round of cleaning:




and here is after the third round of cleaning and an acid treatment:


The fuel tank gets put aside tomorrow.

Tomorrow I pull the head apart and hope that the valve seals I got for it are the right ones. I'll also be hoping that the valves and seats haven't been killed by the debris that was floating around in cylinder #4.

The next step for the tank is the coating. More pictures after that.

Nice job! What products did you use on that tank?

_________________

Hi you got pm let me know . thanks

I used the stuff in the POR 15 fuel tank sealer kit and ample amounts of elbow grease.

I had a chance to strip the head down today.
I was most worried about the exhaust valve seat in #4, as that is the cylinder that had the damaged piston (with attendant debris). It turned out that was no problem.

Here is a shot before cleaning:


Here is a shot after cleaning:


Bottom after cleaning:
(note that I am planning on having the head resurfaced, so I didn't go crazy on cleaning off the old gasket. #1 is cleaner because I cc'd that chamber.)


Ironically, the exhaust valve seats and 3 of 4 of the intake seats cleaned up well. #4 intake wasn't happy though.
Here is the collateral damage:
(sorry the pic is a bit washed out)


In other news, the mailman was nice to me today:

Well, the parts availability gods are not completely crushing me.
I do have more to wait for though.

Today Mr Postman delivered my headgasket.



Cometic 2TG "87 mm" bore (0.059 in = 1.4986 mm).
My stock HG measured at 1.2 mm thickness upon removal.

My caliper says otherwise on the bore:


This is actually ok by me, as my pistons are 87 mm.
I wanted a metal HG, but the only one I could find was the Kameari with a 90 mm bore, far larger than I wanted. (If anyone does know of a 2TG 87 mm bore metal gasket, please let me know.)
(Note: Cometic had a misprint in its catalog, and they used to list a metal headgasket at 87 mm (There was (or no longer is) no such an animal). This error is still present in the online catalogs of dozens of websites)

More of my parts have arrived, and progress is possible again.
I was waiting for the bearings to send the crank off to the machine shop.
While ordering and waiting for the bearings, I got a little education. More on that later.

Gaskets and bearings.


Random gaskets + tensioner O-ring:


Some of the chains/guides/slippers:



My first plan was to do a minimum repair on the engine, basically just fixing the pistons.
As with many repairs of this sort, one thing led to another.
The upper chain had too much slack in it, my intake seat with the nick, and a crankshaft that is just good enough that I could probably get away with using standard bearings.
Given that parts are tough to come by for this, I have decided to go all the way.

Regarding the bearings,
The block has been at the machine shop for a while now.
As such, I was feeling a little pressure to get bearings here soon.
So, I ordered a second set. Smart me (sarcasm) does his research after ordering.

I'm not a noob, I just don't have experience selecting bearings for a motor like this. My experience has been limited to selecting the correct size.
Bearing material has never been a consideration.
I either used OE Toyota bearings, or the motor has been for a low power application like a Tercel.
What does this all mean?

Well, my second set of bearings I ordered were Bimetal.

I sent an email to the bearing manufacturer to ask about their suitability for use in a turbocharged application. The following is an excerpt from the reply:



Well, I guess this goes under the "glad I asked" category.

I asked another manufacturer (Mahle/Clevite) about using their CB1270P and MS1456P in a turbocharged application. This question elicited this response:


Now as I'm not cranking up the boost to a crazy level, then these would probably do the trick.

As it is, I believe that the bearings I have pictured are made from an appropriate material.
Hopefully this helps someone in the future.

Very nice car! Looks like you are doing a lot of good work to the engine, hope to see more soon!!!

_________________
-1984 Celica GT RA64

hmm interesting! keep up the good work!

_________________
'73 Corona MarkII...

Well,
Progress continues slowly.

I had a chance to assemble and install the gas tank.


Interior after coating:


Progress on the engine continues slowly.
The parts came back from the machine shop this week.
I'll have to try and remember to take an overview photo of all the parts laid out.
Here is a photo of the valve seat after having been cut:

I asked them to take off the minimum amount of material, and they did.
It isn't perfect, but it will work.

I got a chance to clean and put the head together and check the valve clearance.


The valve has only moved up by a small amount.
Now I'm looking for 1 shim between 2.636 and 2.736 mm.
I'll probably just order one, as it is the easiest and quickest route.

If all goes well, I'll be putting the bottom end together next week.
That's when it starts getting exciting!

I'm kind of curious to measure the dome volume of the pistons.
They are supposed to have a dome volume so as to produce 8.5:1 CR with the stock gasket thickness and chamber volume. The shape of the dome on these pistons is different than that of the originals, and it looks a little larger than I would expect.
I am pretty sure I am in the ballpark, but my fingers are crossed none the less!

the Toyota factory bearings are great...
specially the ones used on factory G engines
coating will help, but not necessary for your build

Why not a little flowing/porting of the head right away when all is dissasembled?

_________________
Carina TA12, Starlet EP70(sold) and EP71, Mitsubishi Lancer CS9W

That would be nice to do, but I am a little tight on time.

Progress continues.
Next step is to get this back in the car.

PM sent regarding your valve cover gasket. Project looks great so far!

_________________
-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Well,

It lives.

I took a video of it immediately after the first start.
Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voq7z9xARVo

Here it is right before going in:


and mostly installed (before rad and intake pipes)


I couldn't believe how easily it went onto the tranny!


First impressions:
The engine is far quieter than I expected.
I expected a little rattle out of the forged pistons and the chains, but the chains are quiet and the noise from the pistons was very slight and went away quickly as it warmed up.

The rings took longer to seat than I expected.
I was genuinely worried for a few minutes.
Licensing aside, I can't really drive it on the road either, as the tires are beyond terrible.
One was perished/cracked so badly that it wouldn't even hold air.


No oil or coolant leaks - at least after I tightened that one heater hose... (knock on wood)

I must say, it was a very humbling experience to work on this.
As obvious as it might be to state, it isn't the same thing as building later model Toyota engines.
All the help I received is greatly appreciated.