90's Style - Custard Yellow Hatch

[Course_Out]

Hello ladies and gents!

As some of you may recall I once owned a black s13 and had been poking around for something older and more "classic" while still being RWD. I looked at Escorts and Geminis and basically discovered that people think that they are worth a lot of money, even if they are doing their best colander impersonation. I got to thinking about one of my first loves - the ae86. If I'm spending this much money they are back on the radar? I took one for a drive. Yes, this is what I want...

Then, as luck would have it the right car popped up on Gumtree. Yellow. Hatchback. No rust and a 4age swap.Talked to the seller who turned out to be a Toyota workshop manager and an ae86 nut. He also had a TRD 2 way diff he could throw in. We arranged a meeting and, not only was the car as good as described, we managed to agree on a price that was good for both of us. I had a clean ae86 and he knew his baby was going to someone who wasn't going to cut it up or roll it or sticker bomb it. One week after putting down a deposit (longest. week. ever.) we took the 2 hour drive and picked this up:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/504097.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/504439.jpg

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/504440.jpg

So awesome!

So, specs:

ADM shell
4age swap - stock save for throttle body, Microtech computer and exhaust
Lowered springs (unknown brand)
JDM front lip and Levin grill
FRP hatch w/ TRD wing (to be replaced with steel hatch with GTV wing)
Tom's Igeta 14x6.5 wheels, 185/60r14 tyres
JDM disk brake diff, 4.3 CWP, TRD 2 way LSD

So, plans? First things needed are a clutch bleed, refit the stock hatch (requires minor rust repair) and fit a more dished steering wheel as the current Momo has no offset and sits on my knees.

Then I want to fit some Recaro's as the next mod and enjoy it for a while. Later on some further suspension tweaks and some more horsepower would be good!

Hopefully I will get to the doing some hillclimbs and track days in the very near future. Thanks for looking!

[dove grey 64]

Clean 86 mate, chuck up some more pics eg. Engine bay.keen to see the quality work of a Toyota workshop manager

[AJPS]

i really like it

[Konakid]

So clean and well modded!

[Course_Out]

Yeah I wish I could take credit for it! As soon as I saw it for sale I wanted it, it's exactly how I would build one starting from scratch.

Will try and get some more pics this weekend, it really is very tidy, just a fluke that this happened to be the 2nd one I looked at.

[Course_Out]

Well, not a great deal has happened, but have gotten a few things done:

- New clutch hard line and Master Cylinder. Clutch actually works now!
- Bought a spacer for the steering wheel, 2 inches is all I needed (that's what she said!) but the wheel is still not great, will upgrade to something better soonish, perhaps a new Luisi
- Fixed the stock hatch and replaced it. Mate swapped me my FRP hatch for his labour and part exchange on some swaybars
- Noticed one if the tyres on the back was shot so broke the piggy bank and bought a full set of Federal 595 in 185/55r14. So far I like them, but will be getting onto the track in the near future to give them a good test.

Everyone loves pictures so here is one after we swapped the hatch at a mates place, parked up with his 4agze rally car

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/507404.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMAG0532_zps1c6a8106.jpg.html)

Might take some better pictures this weekend, a good clean!

[cooter]

so clean, good buy
and the yellow is an awesome colour, underrated. ive got the same

[Course_Out]

Yellow is the way of the future man! All custard, all the time!

[mcBen]

Wanted this so badly.. so clean and happy looking

[Course_Out]

Been a little while since I have updated. Not much to report, only real work has been a service but I have spent a bit of time driving! First event was a drift night on the Peanut Track at SMSP. Shredded a pair of tyres and had a lot of fun.

Next up I did a couple of hill climbs at our local track at Ringwood. In my previous s13 Q's I managed a 37.49 second run, best to date in the ae86 is a 36.82 which I am pretty happy with considering the small amount of driving I have done with it. Really I need to find another second to be on the podium in my class - the car is capable of it, just a matter of stringing it all together. Here is a video from Sunday's hill climb, I appear at 3:50

http://youtu.be/AJbtwojordg

The Ringwood Hill Climb in the video is the 2nd round of our Tri Series championship, run between Newcastle MGCC (my club), Tamworth and Kempsey Sporting Car Clubs. I missed Kempsey, but will be hitting the next two rounds - Lap Dash at Tamworth's Oakburn Park next month and the Mattara Hill Climb at King Edward Park in Newcastle in October.

Also took a couple of photos after giving it a polish. Apologies for the low quality, I couldn't find the camera so used my HTC. Looks so much better with the lower profile tyres and the correct hatch.

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/509747.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMAG0861_zpsabcb8c6c.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/509748.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMAG0859_zps7c3ef2f8.jpg.html)

So next jobs, in order:

- Replace valve stem seals (you can see a bit of blue smoke puff in the video)
- Fit swaybars (solid front, adjustable rear)
- Compete in Tamworth Lap Dash at Oakburn Park
- Buy new seats (thinking Bride Digo Type R's) $$$$
- Buy new steering wheel (current Momo is flaking and the grip is a bit thick for my liking)

Loving being in an ae86, never owned a car that gets such universally positive feedback. Event the scrutineer at the hill climb told me it was tidy! Thanks for reading my ramblings, will hopefully post up more photos/news after the Tamworth event

[cooter]

Love this car mate, such a clean yellow example. Looks like your getting a good bit of fun in it too

[johl]

its perfect. so good to see an owner that doesnt want to wreck a clean example by stripping and cutting the guards, putting a shit body kit on it. great work

[AJPS]

hillclimb looks fun, might have to check it out one day

[Course_Out]

Thanks guys!

Yeah Dave, it is a fun climb - the track is currently being extended (you can see the works in the background of a few shots) so it will be much bigger and faster in the next couple months

[AJPS]

sounds good

if you have the means, i couldnt recommend legend of the lakes hillclimb in mt gambier, fair hike for you but its really the best in aust by all accounts

[Course_Out]

Legend of the Lakes would be epic, but might have to wait until I have a tow car, ha ha

[AJPS]

Legend of the Lakes would be epic, but might have to wait until I have a tow car, ha ha

gumtree.com.au

hop to it haha

[Course_Out]

gumtree.com.au

hop to it haha

Sponsorship deal? Ha ha

[Course_Out]

Gee that last update was a while ago, wasn't it? So, what has happened?

Well I:

- Installed swaybars (Kmac front, Adjustable Whiteline rear) - worthwhile upgrade for the track in my opinion, although it feels a bit skittish in the front on the Old Pac? Needs a wheel alignment so I shall reserve judgement
- Fitted Luisi Griffin steering wheel. Same size as a Twin Cam wheel. I rather like it, possibly for the much thinner grip compared to the Momo it did have
- Purchased Bride Digo Type R's - turns out I don't really like them, so have a look in the for sales. Really should've checked some out before I dropped the money...

I have also put in my entry for the Mattara hillclimb in October, which I am very, very excited about. To keep my enthusiasm in check the car has developed a grumbling/moaning noise from the back end. Best case it is a wheel bearing, worst case it could be the carrier bearings. Guess what I am hoping for?

Car is booked in for Thursday, hopefully the news is on the good side of bad!

[Course_Out]

Morning all!

So turned out it was just a wheel bearing - Newcastle Gearbox and Diff fixed it in 2 days (had to wait overnight for the bearing as no one local had the double width bearing in stock) for $250. Very happy and would highly recommend these guys! Very good service all round

So Mattara has been run and won for another year. I didn't go as quick as I'd have liked but nothing got broken so I am very happy about that! Car ran perfect all day. Backed off the rear swaybar which helped corner exit speed but unfortunately this was offset by my corner entry speed!

Biggest time loss was the pinch - it is totally blind until you are right at the bottom of it and, although I held it flat longer each time, I just couldn't get past that psychological barrier. But enough of that - what people really want is pictures!

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/514906.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMAG1232_zps7c7f7070.jpg.html)
Day before the hillclimb - after racing both days of the BMX State Titles I came home and made sure the car was ready to go. Numbers and battery triangle? Because race car!

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/514907.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMAG1234_zps34b4867b.jpg.html)
Calm before the storm - up top in the pits at 6:30am with my mates jza70

And a few from my runs:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/514908.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/HillClimb07-10-2013852_zps6e51401a.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/514909.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/HillClimb07-10-2013484_zpsd825e024.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/514910.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/HillClimb07-10-2013488_zps84f36b53.jpg.html)

Nice. Unfortunately no video which is a shame - had the little 4age wound all the way out in 2nd and 3rd so would be nice to know what it sounded like! haha

So where to from here? Well I have purchased the following items:

Mesh headrest Recaros
PS arms
Cusco RCA's
Dizzy Heatshield (TODA brand, no TODA markings - but now its fitted I can stop replacing the dizzy cap every three weeks after it melts onto the headers)
TRD headgasket

So the plan is to fit up the Recaros in the near future, and run the final hillclimb for the year in November. After that the engine will come out for a freshen up and we will fit up the RCA's and steering arms. The current head is shot, so have a second bigport head that will be reconditioned soon, so its ready to go when we pull the bottom end. Hoping there are no nasty surprises in the bottom end, but we shall see

I have also lined up a set of 13x6 wheels, so once my wallet recovers from the engine freshen up I will buy a set of "proper" tyres (possible 185/60r13 r888's)

Next year the plan is to compete in all rounds of the Tri Series Championship (Kempsey, Tamworth, Ringwood and Mattara if it runs again)

[Course_Out]

Rightio, update time!

So last weekend saw the final hillclimb at our local course for the year, with efforts being put toward having our new layout up and running for next season (course will be doubled in length, with some higher speed sections compared to current layout)

Managed to get my time down to 36.37, which is still a way off the pace but the heat in the track meant that the Federal 595's I run were a little too greasy. Some better tyres for next season would be nice! Also finally got pinged for having a modified inlet manifold and pushed up into Type 3, so the unmolested manifold I have at home will need to be fitted up for next season. Most irritating thing was arguing with the scrutineer that the ae86 was available with a 4age. "I thought these were all carby?" Bloody goose he was! I don't expect every person to know every car, but if you're going to call me a liar at least do a little research!

Anyway, for a change one of the guys had a camera out, so I figured I'd do something worth shooting:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/515545.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/Nat1_zps02d23f4c.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/515546.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/Nat2_zpsfaba962c.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/515547.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/Nat3_zpsf8759d2e.jpg.html)

Pretty happy with that! New PB and some nice slide photos make for a pretty good day at the track! Hopefully next year will mean a few more HP with the fresh head and some more appropriate rubber.

[Course_Out]

Been a while since the last update! Been basically buying up gear and trying to get the thing out and drive it as much as I can. I bought a pair of JDM front seats and door trims from Craig at Just JDM (cheers mate!) and fitted those up over the last couple of weeks:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/523949.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMG_1284_zpsaf014769.jpg.html)

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/523950.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/IMG_1283_zpscbbf0462.jpg.html)

You can also see my Luisi steering wheel in these shots. Very happy with how it looks now, although it seems that JDM seats are a bit "wobbly" compared to the ADM ones? Thinking maybe its because you are actually pushing against the bolsters rather than sliding across the seats? I will see how it goes on the track, if it is too bad I will buy a fixed back to put in for track days and leave the JDM seats for the street. Also wired up some new speakers in the stock positions so I don't have to cut the trims. Next interior jobs are to respray some of the trims (previous owner sprayed the blue stuff black and it is now flaking off - will scrub them back and paint them with the correct plastic paint) and repair the parcel tray - it had 6x9's in it which I have now removed. The weight of them broke the shelf and of course there are 2 gaping holes to fix!

I also have a few new bits for the suspension (AJPS 6kg front springs, Cusco RCA's and PS arms) which will hopefully go in over the next couple weeks. Yes guys, I am leaving regular King springs in the back - talking to a few people who were involved with the ae86 when it was new have even suggested going to stock spring in the rear, which is supposedly what the TTA cars had, albeit lowered slightly. I have also just fitted up a strut brace on the advice of a mate with a gravel ae86, but I haven't really tested it properly as of yet.

Other than that I also have a stock inlet manifold to fit up to replace the bodged one in there at the moment, just waiting for my spare head to come back from being reco'd so I can get that fitted up with a TRD head gasket.

[Jim621]

Nice updates mate - good to see someone using the car for trackdays with simple but effective mods. well done!

[Course_Out]

Thanks mate - been really happy with it so far. I think at this stage the limiting factor is ability for me, so modifications are really based around making the whole package as usable as possible. I also don't really want to get to the point that it becomes a trailer only car, or I am scared to drive it on the street, so that is part of the reason this build is quite mild.

In other updates, RCA's and steering arms have been installed, didn't get the springs done due to a lack of short stroke struts (considering this is the second one of these I've done I really should've remembered I needed the struts...). Can't really comment on the handling improvement until after a wheel alignment this weekend, but am hoping that the quicker steering and lack of bump steer will make the thing a bit more surefooted around the tight Ringwood circuit

[Course_Out]

Been a while since an update, so let's do it!

Been to 2 hillclimb events since the last update, first being Kempsey Hillclimb (Mt Cooperabung). Received my first motorsport trophy (3rd in class, 2013 Tri Series) which was a bit exciting. Sadly I doubt I will be repeating that for 2014, with some tougher competition in the form of a pair of Integra Type R's joining the fray.

The hillclimb itself did not go great - first time at the track, which is a rather imposing piece of disused highway, coupled with a rapidly deteriorating clutch meant I was well down the order. A well run event and a fun track, so I will return!

I quickly got hold of a Driftculture lightweight flywheel thru Sc86 (cheers mate!) and dropped the car in to get a HD Exedy clutch installed. WOW. What an upgrade, between the flywheel and a working clutch the car feels like it has an extra 30hp! So happy with it, although it has made the axle tramp more apparent. Always something...

On Friday night a got a message from one of the guys involved in the Gemini Nationals saying they were a bit low on numbers for their annual Ringwood hillclimb. Having a fresh clutch and flywheel I decided to go throw in a few laps. Good bunch of guys and a fun, low key day! Hilariously the little ae86 ran fastest time of the day (hand timed at 36.1 seconds, so not sure of accuracy there) despite being seriously outgunned for horsepower. With the new flywheel/clutch I am finding I am getting much more oversteer on corner exit, so it maybe time to back the rear swaybar off a notch. It was certainly a handful, and I think there is a solid 0.5 of a second in tying the backend down a bit more. Anyway, enough chatter, here is a video of my fastest run of the day, followed by one of my slippery runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySHogYoCVXY

Not sure if you can see it in the video, but the second run into the loop I have a bit of a lift off oversteer moment coming in - haven't done that before!

[Course_Out]

Well, has been a little while since my last update hasn't it? Been a little bit going on, got the car tuned after rebuilding the head. Made a monstrous 66.6kw at the wheels.

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/544909.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/10967912_511541562316881_175809424_n%202_zpsxoueo2 xp.jpg.html)

Don't pretend you're not impressed! The 55.5kw line shows where we messed up and had the cam timing off a tooth (oops)

Main changes though have been to the suspension set up, with the following installed:

185/60r14 a050 tyres all round (Monaco Performance, Kotara NSW)
6kg front springs (AJPS)
mr2 inserts with adapter kit (AJPS)
New tie rod ends/rack ends
Camber tops (eBay)
xt130 LCA (eBay)

Rear has been left as just King Springs to promote squat.

Car now looks like this:

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/1/0/2/544910.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/nathanial84/media/11390110_10153296686355907_4195648415996914969_n_z psctszqzbp.jpg.html)

First hit out was at Ringwood Park Hillclimb. Layout A2A was in use, with 2 laps of the top loop before heading down to the finish. Managed a 64.55 which put me 4th in class, 0.7 seconds (and 80kw) down on the 3rd place Vtec CRX, and a couple of seconds further adrift from the winning Integra Type R. Video below

https://youtu.be/rHZ0w_0X620

Bloody horn button fell out, hence the weird wheel work here and there.

Plan for now is to leave as is mechanically and just do general tidy up things, and enjoy driving as much as possible.

[phoenix]

Wow, that drivers seat does look like it has the wobbles in the vid. Might be an idea to have a sus of the base where the rails bolt to it, seen them crack there before.
Awesome car though, gotta get out to a hill climb sometime!

[McLEVIN]

Yeah maybe cracked but they are all like that...i got defected for wobbly seats.

[Course_Out]

Yeah it seems all the JDM seats have a bit a wobble to them. Its been like that since I installed it, and I had a good look over it at the time before I put it in.

Have a harness bar to go in, considering whether to get an sr2 Recaro or a fixed back seat.

[Konakid]

a050 are an amazing tyre. Good stuff.

[Course_Out]

They sure are Konakid - the difference is night and day between these and the 595ss i was running before. I think there is probably another second in it if I can get my confidence to match the tyre grip