As soon as Rod and Charles announced February's theme 'Builds', I was immediately inundated with ideas. One standout example that came to mind was Ryan Beall's Toyota KE70. Ryan purchased the car back in 2006 off an elderly fellow for just $500, and the project is certainly coming along. It's great to know the previous owner still keeps in contact, wanting to know what new ideas and concepts Ryan's working on.
The purpose of this build is to have fun and to enter the occasional competition. Here you can see the lips of the front guards have been cut off and welded onto the rear to fit the 14x9J -21 SSR Mesh and a wider F series differential.
If we take a look on the other front quarter panel you'll see Ryan has made some progress on extending the whole fender. The front guards will be left alone with no flaring to gain the 45mm clearance needed while keeping the standard lines.
A couple of AE86 parts compliment the rear end. A TRD Coupe spoiler has been moulded to the boot along with an AE86 rear bumper.
At the rear is a straight-through exhaust leading to twin 3.5-inch tips. The rear end suspension setup consists of Tokico shocks with adjustable spring seats, with a 6kg/mm spring rate.
Whilst speaking with Ryan the night before the shoot, he mentioned the motor was still on the crane. Turning up the following day, the motor had been installed. The little KE70 will be powered by this 3rd generation 3S-GTE. The drivetrain consists of a W58 gearbox and an F series differential with a TRD 2 way. Ryan had to make a number of adjustments to fit the motor…
…such as cutting through the firewall and shifting the whole motor back 60cm, virtually coming into the cabin.
The floor trim and sound deadening have been completely stripped out. A pair of Recaro seats from an RX-7 replace the standard seats nicely.
At this stage there isn't much going on in the interior. Ryan will be beginning to make the full custom dash in the coming weeks. For now an older Classico Nardi steering wheel has been installed.
Moving onto the rear, Ryan has welded in a full roll cage which he fabricated himself.
Also fitted is a Celica GT4 ST205 water to air interooler and electric water pump to feed the boot-mounted radiator. Air will be directed to it via two NACA ducts.
As we disassembled one of the front quarters we got to the suspension and brakes…
…8kg/mm custom coilovers on the front fitted with Tokico Hts shocks, 40mm RCA and custom steering knuckles to help in the lock department. To help pull this little machine to a halt are Landcruiser brakes and RX-7 pads, quite an odd combination but it's known to work.
The little KE70 is finally starting to take shape and almost look complete. With some more work to the fenders, a fresh splash of paint, some wiring, and Perspex windows the car will be ready to see the track again!
I'd like to thank Ryan Beall for his time, I look forward to seeing the end result.
-Casey Dhnaram