genkin's AE86 Vacationer

[genkin]

It's about time I started a thread for this car here on 86dc. I never really intended it to be a 'project', more of a daily. But I guess that's just the 86 bug I've got.

I bought this in November 2010 from outer Melbourne and drove it back to Adelaide the next day. It was a bog stock ADM 1983 Sprinter. Approx. 250,000km on the car (and I assume the original 4ac). After driving it back I noticed the headlight switch wasn't working correctly, so got about fixing that with parts from another one.


























The first mods to go on were a JDM zenki front bumper and lip that I got too good a deal on to refuse.
I had a pair of XR4s sitting in the garage from my first 86. One of the rims was damaged from a heavy kerbing incident, so after getting these repaired and some fresh rubber I put them on the front.

I'm not really building the car up for any intended purpose at the moment. Just to be able to drive it everyday and have some hills fun. There is certainly a long list of mods and upgrades before it's what I really want. And I'm not sure if I should keep going down this track or just keep it fairly basic. I guess the rust on the body is my major worry in the cars longevity. Is it worth it? #86life


In original panda paint


Painted in black bumper spray


New badge



Next up the suspension needed a bit of attention. While trying to keep this car on a budget I decided to get some RA60 rear shocks (shorter and stiffer) and got a good deal on some AJPS 6kg springs (although I'd like softer in the future). The front end just has King Springs and standard inserts. I have shorter inserts but need to get around to working out a spacer or cutting the casing.


Damn, I need to find another pair of XR4s so it doesn't look so lame!


Check!

I bought a fwd 4AGE bigport engine earlier this year as I've been worried that the 4AC is getting a bit beyond it's time. Over the past few months I've been converting it to RWD and have dropped the engine in the bay the other week.

This is my first major mechanical endeavour to attempt alone, I wouldn't have been able to get this far though without advice from friends, forum members, the internet and levin & trueno masterbook I also had to borrow a mates engine crane and do a few u-pull-it runs.

First, some pics of the progress...


Let the carnage begin!


Out she comes.


I'm re-using the Aussie box and bellhousing. I've converted the bigport 4age to rwd water and alternator gear and using the rwd intake.


I'm just going to be running a single high flow internal fuel pump until I can track down a decent deal on a JDM tank. At first I tried rigging it up to the stock 4ac lift line but that seemed pretty dodgy. Instead I got hold of an AE82 twin cam fuel pump and bracket. I cut and extended the bracket so it sat at the bottom of the tank. I replaced the fuel pump with a new walbro gss342 copy.


The exhaust. I just need a de-cat pipe made up, probably with a small bent in it to like up the extractors and catback system.
I'm also just waiting on a SamQ clutch line to stop the slave cylinder line from fowling with the extractors.

Feedback and comments welcome!

Stay tuned for more updates!