KE55 Rear Drums to Disks

[cibvr4]

Hey guys

I'm looking for an easy upgrade for the rear drums on a KE55. Been playing with Datto's for years so i'm up with all the interchangable there, but hoping someone can short track the toyota learning curve for me!

I've currently got XD calipers sitting on a bracket that is held in place by two of the axle seal bolts.Rotors are vented volvo. It's not a bad setup, actually stopped pretty well until....

The axle seal bolts came lose, resulting in the mounting brackets tearing and damaging the calipers and the rotors! The calipers need rebuilding, the disks need machining, and i need new mounts and brake hose. I'm guessing there's about $500 worth of parts.

So before i go and spend that sort of cash, does anyone know of a better option? Are the rear disks from a crown or corona going to bolt up with minimal fuss? How about a whole disk to disk diff assembly?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

[Dom-AE71]

what motor are you using in your ke55? chances are if its going to be powerful enough to require rear discs, you also going to need to use a stronger center.

a ta22 diff is the right width, has a t series center (stronger than the ke55 borg warner) and if you take the mounts off your ke55 diff and have them welded onto ta22 diff itll fit without any problems you just need hilux u-bolts instead of the standard ones.

ive got a ta22 diff in my ke55 and it has RT142 discs on it. im not 100% sure how they were fitted but i might be able to take the setup appart for you if you like?

[o_man_ra23]

Yeah, RT142 will work a treat. Im gonna put the set i have on my RA40 apple.

Cheers, Owen

[cibvr4]

what motor are you using in your ke55? chances are if its going to be powerful enough to require rear discs, you also going to need to use a stronger center.

a ta22 diff is the right width, has a t series center (stronger than the ke55 borg warner) and if you take the mounts off your ke55 diff and have them welded onto ta22 diff itll fit without any problems you just need hilux u-bolts instead of the standard ones.

ive got a ta22 diff in my ke55 and it has RT142 discs on it. im not 100% sure how they were fitted but i might be able to take the setup appart for you if you like?

Motor is a mild 4K. Has had a few dollars thrown at it and currently pushes around 50 - 55kw to the rear wheels. Another cam would make it good for 65 - 75kw. Not huge power but not bad from a little 4K!

The celica setup sounds like a good option. The corolla is a rally car so disks are preferred to assist heat dissapation. Braking is either all or nothing, and drums have a tendancy to die quickly under those conditions.

The RT142 is a corona right? Be interested to know if the backing plates were used on the TA22 diff or whether custom mounts had to be fabricated? No need to take it apart but if you could stick your head under there and see if the calipers are on backing plates that would be great. My preference is to use backing plates with minimal modification if possible. If the calipers are on the RT142 backing plates i'll make a trip to the wreckers and start work!

Cheers

[o_man_ra23]

The backing plates fit onto the celica diff. The bearing plate from the corona(small thing that you need to press the bearing off to get off) has to be re-drilled, as I think does the backing plate(ill have a look at mine today sometime, its still off the car). Make sure you get the handbrake cables, fixed brake lines and the plate off the axle when you get the discs. The setup is less than helpful without these items.

Cheers, Owen

[cibvr4]

The backing plates fit onto the celica diff. The bearing plate from the corona(small thing that you need to press the bearing off to get off) has to be re-drilled, as I think does the backing plate(ill have a look at mine today sometime, its still off the car). Make sure you get the handbrake cables, fixed brake lines and the plate off the axle when you get the discs. The setup is less than helpful without these items.

Cheers, Owen

Thanks for the info owen, exactly the sort of conversion i was hoping for.

[Dom-AE71]

i think your a little bit over optimistic with your power figure there tho champ.

irally had a small port 4age with 20v bottom end quads big cams and aftermarket ecu and only managed to put out 75rwkw's. i think youll be lucky to get the 55rwkw with any extra work. even with alot of work i think thats just about the limit of the old 4k unfortunatly.

[cibvr4]

[QUOTE=Dom-KE55]i think your a little bit over optimistic with your power figure there tho champ.QUOTE]

First dyno run was 47kw, and by the third we got 55kw. I know there can be a lot of variation between dynos so it may not be totally accurate. We reused the old cam and the guy who built the engine really wanted to fit another one. As it was the engine cost me just over $3500 and with fitment and a new radiator (cooked the old motor) i couldn't justify the cost of another cam at the time. He said it would be worth another 20kw. Won't know unless we fit it!

It's bored out to just under 1400cc with race quality bottom end componenets (duralite from memory) Head is the big port one (from a later K engine?), double row timing chain, manifold is match ported with twin webbers. Motor revs freely to 7500rpm and sounds awesome. Purpose built engine for rallying, trust me it's a good one.

One thing i've noticed with this K engine is that it revs so much faster than the old L series datto engines. I had some nice L and Z eries engines with serious work done to them, but they never redlined as fast as this little K engine. Stand on the gas and you're at 7500 in a second, very impressive!