Second Shell, Third Live..

[Matt-AE86]

Some quick History with me and my 86's.. quick.. hmm maybe not.. haha.



No.1 - White Commet -

March/April 05'


I first spotted this car in October 04', different to the picture. It was full white, but from my first time of spotting it to then later inspecting it, I came back to it several months later to see it like this. It was one of the cleanest I could find at the time so I bought it as my first car.

I drove it around for awhile and eventually repainted it a whole white again.



Later on installing an AE82 4age and learning to wire it myself after a few months of having no luck with any help from others.



Drifting then started to become popular in WA and I was chasing more power. With the help of a friend and his workshop i turbo'd the 4age. This didn't last very long, but it didn't really help that a lot of things were not setup correctly and the tuner lacked confidence in the ECU. Another replacement engine also fell to this setup, twice.

Pre Turbo. It was the day that made me want more power.







I was then frustrated and just wanted to go back to having fun with no extra worries, the standard 4age was always reliable, I went to the track, drove home, no problems. but I wanted a little more. I opted for a 20v.



More frustration set on with issues of the 20v. Johnny_K was rebuilding his car and engine and offered me his 16v. The plan was to put this in the car to get it running until I could sort my issues out with the 20v.

That never eventuated.



Wanting a presentable 86 and tracking it almost twice a month on a low wage never really worked out. This is how it ended up BEFORE its demise in March 07' and at the time I was quite happy with where it got to.


and then..




So as I had crashed, and they take you to get checked out I sat there thinking of what was to come of this. I opted KE70 for one second, but I knew a KE70 would never replace the 86 for me. I remembered where there was one for sale.

[Matt-AE86]

I jumped the fence to get back to the spectating area, and that night me parents happened to come down to watch. I met my dad and my first words were

"canyoulendme4ktobuyanewsprinteriknowwherethereone is.. *breath*"

And then came along what we ended up knowing it as "The Silver surfer". The silver surfer was equipped with everything from White Comet, was obtained 3 days later, and rebuilt to full spec a week later, almost making it for the competition. The only thing missing was the diff as it had a bent hub on the axle and was later fixed. I vowed to keep the car simple and not stripped, but as soon as I drove it, it was too quite inside. It disturbed me a little.

.. A little video I made at the time.

I then went on to attending more drift days and having a lot more fun again. I also went through a lot of phases with this car. I'm sure Ken/ae86hachiroku can confirm The amount of times we installed and uninstalled the interior/roll cage was ridiculous.

The paint was faded and towards the end of this era it got treated to $30 of export Grey. Always fighting the urge for a track car, and then wanting it just to commute around in and enjoy the quick street run. Also for a short period of time I had ITB's running from stock ecu. Thats another story I''m sure a few have read.

I had a lot of support from Ken and his father Kin at Infinite Autosport and was regularly down at their workshop having them help me do small adjustments to the car and kindly letting me use there facilities for small jobs.









Then the bug of power came again. As I still had my block from the 20v I decided I would build a 4agte engine again but do it properly. I acquired many parts but after awhile summed up that I should just go straight to something that would already have the power of a 4agte, in stock form, and be able to go beyond it if I wish, but also at the same time something reliable, cheap, accessible.. the SR20 was chosen.

Then from December 07 to around April-May 07 I installed the SR into my car and went for a unique colour, Holden Gunmetal which turned out more like Jungle/Forrest Green. It was then named "The Dark Knight" due to the darkness of the cars colour and the Dark side of its heart .





I had a lot of fun with this, but got frustrated at the fact that I wasn't particularly able to drive it on a day to day bases and then when I did it was hit with a defect for the simplest of things, besides the engine itself. Not only that, I was getting frustrated with a lot of other things on that track and finally put it down to, "whats the point".

[Matt-AE86]

This helped me decide what to do next with the car. Over the time of going to Japan and always liking the style of the Japanese domestic models I had acquired many parts which almost completed my dream 86 and were in the recently build of the silver surfer/dark night.

So this all together Helped me Decide what I would do with the car. I did think of partying it out or selling it, as it was, but each time someone showed interest I felt a little sad inside and knew I didn't want to see the car go just yet.

I would rebuild it back into my daily driver and return it the 4AGE family. I'd had enough of 16v's, and wanted something a little newer/fresh looking. So I went for a 20v blacktop.. again. 20v blacktop, having crossed paths before, and it left me a little disappointed and wanting to finish something I had already started previously and to get back on track with my goal/plan in my head with what I originally set out to have ever since I purchased my first 86.

The motor was purchased from JPC. Low kilometers, approximately 60,000km~ with Loom and Ecu. I was wanting to run the stock ecu with some type of DLI box setup to run coils but it seemed easier to acquire an Adaptronic from Anthony Kellam at Kaizen Garage.



The other aim was to try and restore the car and make it look as neat and tidy as possible. With the SR previously being in place I chopped the Radiator support and also removed the battery tray. A lot of other things were slightly modified and I wanted to put them all back to factory order. I obtained a 2nd shell for parts. It was quite straight but full of rust and was not worth the trouble of fixing it. Some of the things I have or probably will rush a little. I only work on it on weekends, some afternoons in the summer just passed and days off.

I am basing my car around a few 86's I've seen in japan over time. Hopefully it will be in an off white colour with bumper black bumpers (of course) and hopefully running Watanabe's on all 4 corners.

Just a small idea of the amount of rust. Lots more where that came from.


So I used the radiator support and battery mount from this shell.




I decided that due to wanting a clean and proper looking setup I would purchase a 20v RS-CHITA water kit.



It came with a handy manual all in japanese, but the pictures were helpful enough to understand what to do. The installation on the Blacktop differed to the Silvertop, having to make alterations to the Block on one little nodule, alternator bracket, and water pump, due to the difference in timing tensioner setup.

I also purchased some stacks and will be fitting them with the original rubber stacks modified to just be fitting flanges.



Some prepping of the engine and fitting some RWD water parts.




More Water parts from the Chita Kit were added and the 4 stacks for testing.




I then later lifted the car up and sealed up rivets that I had previously used to help strengthen the car on the cheap back in its silver surfer days, it did work by the way. This is to help past registry easier.



More work on the engine, resealed the sump, fitted the alternator bracket, engine brackets, etc.



Removed some rust, preped and sprayed the engine bay





Now I have got most of that off my chest we are up to the current day. This weekend was a long weekend in WA and gave me some time to get alot more done to the car. In the previous weekends Booster, Master and Brake lines were then cleaned and refitted to the car. Along with some new 8mm fuel lines. I prepped/cleaned/painted the engine crossmember/gearbox crossmember and also did the same with the fuel tank.

This weekend I fitted the fuel tank and finished of the fuel lines. Also prepping/painting the diff, which is yet to be installed, but the main attraction. Engine is now installed! Before Installing the engine I rebuilt the steering rack with a new Steering rack internal bush, new rack ends, new steering rack boots. I also have new Tie rod ends to go with them which I have not installed yet. The steering rack was fitted to the crossmember with new steering rack bushes which were supplied by Dave at AJPS.

Here is some pics.










This is a spacer supplied by RS-Chita to space the gearbox up and help tilt the engine, to try and keep the distributor away from the heater hose.





I'm also working on a airbox to help past regency. At the moment I've started trying to modify the standard blacktop airbox. We will see how this goes though.



The colour I'll be painting the watanabe's.


I should be updating this regularly and from now on more in depth of what I am doing... Stay tuned!

[Nikkojoe]

Yay, Matt made a build thread.

Love the engine bay so far

[Beserker99]

I miss old whitey...a better pic for those who didn't get to meet him.

[Matt-AE86]

That was the day the trueno bonnet battled with my head.. my head did not win. I still have the scar.

[ae86hachiroku]

Yep finally a build thread considering the amount of inhouse work that get's done.

Good luck on this one! hahahaa

[todd]

build thread goodness.
good to see a more historical indepth look at it matt. happy to see u got a bit done this weekend.



ps it looks at home i the bay mr mattski

[slydar]

you better run that heat shield on the primaries or i want it back.

[patience]

Nice, looks like it's coming along nicely, will be awesome to see it when it's done.
I have an airbox on my blacktop at the moment if you want dimensions, or do you have to use the stock one and modify it over there?


Interested in that Rs-Chita gearbox spacer, is it only to really keep the dizzy away from the heater hose?

you mentioned you were having issues with your 20v previously, what were they?
I'm running a blacktop with coils and standard ecu at the moment, need to look at getting a decent tune and see if my sensors are all working fine.