Dominic’s KP61 Build… Introduction
Today I’ll be bringing you guys a first look at Dominic’s 1984 KP61 build. What initially started out as a small modification, later ensued into an all out restoration build like no other.
Dominic first fell in love with the KP61 Starlet when he acquired one in his late teens and started to mod it. The car was well maintained – some days it was cleaned as many as three times. Some years after, he made the decision to part ways with to pursue business ventures. Because of this, Dominic had always promised himself that some day he would like to be the owner of another KP Starlet, not only to serve as a reminder of the fun times he had, but also to create some new ones. Knowing the type of guy he is, Dominic kept putting the idea out of his head, largely because of the fear. Fear? Yes, the fear that he may end up going a tad overboard and wind up spending countless amounts of money on modifications that weren’t possible when he had his first one. Also, the amount of time that would be spent working on it, as we know, when it comes to cars, money and time go hand in hand. Needless to say that phase didn’t last for very long as you are currently reading about his KP61 build haha.
One of the 4 KP61 shells that were imported from New Zealand was up for sale and after taking a look at it, Dominic didn’t need much convincing before he eventually gave in. Complete with a 16 valve 4A-GE motor with 45 Weber carburetors mated to a T50 gearbox and Starlet rear end, this was enough power to take for a spirited drive and have some fun. At the same time giving Dominic a chance to build back some seat time in his once beloved place behind the wheel. To go along with the motor swap, the suspension was also upgraded to Techno Toy Tuning coilovers.
Now that you guys have a little story behind the build, let’s get on with today’s post. We’ll be taking a look at the car when it first arrived at home and also some shots of the slight changes that were made…
How the car looked when he first brought it home on a set of 13″x7″ fig wheels…
Admittedly the interior was a big rough around the edges…
Recyclable bucket seats…
Rear quarter panels could use some attention…
The material on the rear seats saw better times…
Missing from the trunk was the carpet and the parcel shelf…
On further inspection of the body, Dominic found that flashband was used to cover some holes around the tailgate…
After having the car for a few months and being frustrated with the constant issues associated with carburetors and their reliability, Dominic decided he would dig a little deeper into the build…
How the motor sat in the bay with the 45 Weber carbs…
Full sized radiator removed…
Then came the next phase in development, a coil on plug set up…
Test fitting to get some measurements for the custom aluminum coil plug cover…
A shot of it completed and bolted down…
Moving forward, a set of TWM 40mm individual throttles were acquired to replace the 45 Weber carbs…
To accommodate for these new changes, some wiring will need to be done and the car converted to fuel injection…
Meanwhile…
It was time for a full cleaning…
High in the air… time for a wash down…
After an underbody wash, with the wheels and bumpers removed…
This is how the car sits… Awaiting the next phase in development…
That’s it for today’s post, I hope you guys enjoyed the first look at Dominic KP61 restoration build. Stay tuned for much more to come on this build, this is one you guys don’t want to miss…
Track Bred EG6 Build… Part 20
A lot to talk about today, now the race meet is over. It was a day filled with ups and downs and if I had to describe the day in one word, it would have to be bittersweet…
As you guys would have known from the last post, Jerry missed qualifying but still managed to make it to the dyno, which forced him to start from the back of the pack on race day. In the first race of the day the car performed surprisingly well, and Jerry was able to fight his way to the front and brought home the victory. This was a great achievement for the team as it was Jerry’s very first outing with what you can basically consider a new car, with all the changes that were made. After the results from the first race, they decided to leave the current settings for the second race. The car performed well once again up until he encountered some issues that followed him from the last race meet, the rear engine mount bracket broke forcing him to retire. As soon as the car returned to the pits, it was a mad scramble to get the bracket taken off, have it welded and put back in place all before the final race of the day. Fortunately, the team was successful in doing so and Jerry was on the start line. With victory looking very promising, tragedy struck once more, this time there wasn’t any coming back. Jerry was left with a blown motor, with no choice but to retire, crushing all hopes of another podium finish and closing out the day on a dull note.
Today we will be looking at some shots of the car at the circuit and I also have some action shots for you guys courtesy of Just Bajan and Ozzman. With that said, let’s get on with the post…
As always the link to the previous posts can be found below for those who may need to catch up on this build…
Completed and ready for action…
One of the last minute changes to the engine bay was to replace the blue valve cover for a Type R counterpart…
Karl doing a few final checks before Jerry hits the track….
The man himself… Suited up and ready to go…
Here he is again, exchanging some words with one of his on track rivals, Kurt Thompson…
A few shots as Jerry makes his way up the order…
Really liked this shot captured by Ozzman…
Corner entry…
After winning the first race of the day, Jerry makes his way around the track during his victory lap…
A print out showing the times Jerry did after the first race… Very good times for a car on D.O.T tires that hasn’t been fully dialed in…
The print out from the third race where Jerry was forced to retire after blowing the motor…
After the motor blew, Jerry was able to make his way back into the pits, but that was it for the day…
Andre lending a hand to get the car off the trailer…
Such a disappointing end after all the hard work and countless hours that have put into this car over the last few months…
When the car returned to the pits it was engulfed in smoke, so as a precautionary measure, the marshals used the fire extinguisher to out what they thought was a fire…
WARNING !!!… THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS MAY BE QUITE GRAPHIC TO SOME, SCROLL WITH CAUTION…
A view of the aftermath…
A look at how the car sat with the engine removed…
A gearbox and some other misc stuff that was left scattered around from the preparation for the race meet…
I’m going to close out today’s post with some final shots of how the car sits, livery stripped off, awaiting the next stage in development. Thanks for taking a look and stay tuned for what happens next in this build series…
TDSAutoMag 