Carina E questions

irish rwd

Anybody know the differences in parts between a UK (SB chassis plate) and Jap built Carina E's (JT1 plate) ?

I have replaced the Wiper linkage and motor in my pre-facelift E with a Jap set-up but what are the other differences in parts? I have heard things like steering racks are prone to failure in the UK build ones due to using english parts

Are the UK carinas as people make them out to be?

My one is a very early 1996 2.0d straight diesel pre-facelift, no sunroof and no electrics

Needles73

Well i've had a few carinas e's and i always thought the jap ones are better. However they are all fairly good so would not worry that much. The steering rack is a known fault. The uk built had to use a certain percentage of european sourced parts .i.e bosch instead of nippon denso and i believe slightly inferior. I knew a toyota mechanic and he reckoned certain production runs were better. They will all easily handle high mileage.

irish rwd

Yeah i am after having 2 myself, the first was a very late 92 2.0d (great car), current a 96 2.0d thats going on the road soon.

Was the steering rack a fault on all carinas or just SB chassis models?

My 96 SB one is identical everyway in spec inside and out compared to the 92 JT1 one, even down to the tinted rear lights that i assumed only the jap built ones had?? But they dont have the koito stamp. The only difference is the location on the vacuum pump, but i believe the early E's used the last of the carina 2 engines

Are things like the starter motors, alternators ect different?

kermitpwee

The jap cars are better built but the uk cars are good as well. The diesel is capable of 500k miles if serviced on time. I know a lad that had 11 carina e diesels on his taxi fleet. All got to 500k miles or more, he had 2 jap 1992's and both got to over 900k miles with the injector pump rebulit once around the 750k miles mark.
The steering rack is not a big job so I wouldn't worry. We have 2 1.6 leanburns in the family. They are a very good car compared to the ****e thats out nowadays for reliability.

Needles73

Regardless of jap or uk the same starters/alternators should fit either or i think. As far as i know the steering rack was only on the later uk cars.
In general you see the same parts in that can be interchanged in loads of toyotas, so parts wont be a problem.
I remember they had a tendency to wear out "drop links" on the rear but they were cheap and easy to replace. Also didnt the uk hatchback have the wiper on the opposite side to the jap ones ? The 1.6 petrols had a great 4afe engine but the slighly older version of that engine is considered better. I actually had one of those engines for a project a few years ago with only 40 odd thousand miles. Those engines a re scarce as they can be used with a different head, to give essentially a a 4age engine as in all the twincams.

Needles73

Regardless of jap or uk the same starters/alternators should fit either or i think. As far as i know the steering rack was only on the later uk cars but regardless i'd imagine it should have failed already in your 96 diesel before now if its going to fail at all. A friend of mine has 96 diesel and its at least 10 years since his failed....
In general you see the same parts in that can be interchanged in loads of toyotas, so parts wont be a problem.
I remember they had a tendency to wear out "drop links" on the rear but they were cheap and easy to replace. Also didnt the uk hatchback have the wiper on the opposite side to the jap ones ? The 1.6 petrols had a great 4afe engine but the slighly older version of that engine is considered better. I actually had one of those engines for a project a few years ago with only 40 odd thousand miles. Those engines are scarce as they can be used with a different head, to give essentially a a 4age engine as in all the twincams.