Sloth

Just be careful, 86s always end up costing more than you think. I picked up mine for 2k and now I've spent.... well lets just say a lot, and there is much more I still want to do. Make sure you make a budget and stick to it.

+1 For red and white.

Fifth Gear Christmas Rush (Marulan Driver Training Centre) Last year I attended the Christmas Rush hosted by Fifth Gear motoring in my KE55 and had a ball, so I'd been waiting all year to go in the 86. The event is held at Marulan Driver training centre, it's a fairly cheap way to get some track time in a nice small tight track. The KE55 went quite well through the corners last year, managing to keep up with some of the bigger cars (Monaros etc), though (being the slowest car on the day) it got demolished on the straights. Last year there were some very nice and very fast cars (Skylines, RS4, brand new Golf and even an R35 Skyline). This year the numbers were a little smaller and the grade of cars was slightly lower, though I still had the slowest car :bash: There were two others AE86s, a white 4AGTE and Bob's 16v Hillclimb car. I was quite keen to hit the track and see how my 86 would perform (this year having a more powerful engine than the KE55 and new shocks). My biggest worry though was that the tyres would let me down.... and they did. Almost every single turn I was losing traction. To not lose traction I had to take the corners at about half the speed of everyone else. Suddenly the one advantage my car had (it agility) was gone. The day was still a lot of fun, and I learnt a little about the Sprinter, but because I couldn't really push the car (without sliding off the track) I was limited in what I could learn. Aside from the fact that I couldn't get any speed on the corners and lost out on the straight to all the turbos, I still had an absolute ball. I think that I actually did better in the 7k KE55 as it had brand new tyres (even though it makes 15-20 RWKW less and was almost on three wheels at times). Even just coming out of the last turn onto the main straight I had to wait to get on the power so that I could get traction. My plan is to go back early next year with new tyres and give it another go (and try to get a better time than a friend in his EK).

A dyno tune would be my recommendation as well. I had a similar sort of problem with my 7k (runnign twin SUs), when I put my foot to the floor it was fine, but after that it would cough, splutter and stall for about 10 minutes. Chucked it on the dyno and the discovered that I had the wrong needles. As clubby said, it isn't cheap (I had a similar sized bill) but it was definately worth it (drove in doing like 42rwkw drove out with almost 60.

I had a 1 and 7/8 on my 4k at first, sounded great. The exhaust place was going to put a 2 on, but then decided against it, were worried it would be too big (loss of back pressure etc). From what I hear though 2 is fine, but most people don't go much bigger..

Hopefully there will be pics. I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, and take lots of pics at skidpans and trackdays. The only problem is I can't take photos of myself while I'm driving, lol.

Nice build! I like the uniqueness of the interior, great to have something a little different. How does the SR go in there?

Problems Last year I attended Fifth Gear Motoring's "Christmas Rush" (a track day a Marulan Driver Training Centre) in my KE55. I was quite keen to go this year in the 86 and as soon as they started taking bookings I signed up. I planned to get some new tyres for the 14inch rims I got and get a service (essentially a 100,000km service) before the day. Unfortunately I left getting the tyre to two weeks before and the service until three days before (earliest I could get in with how late I booked). I was all planned out... then I started hitting problems. Nut Issues (2 Weeks before Marulan) I dropped the Sprinter off at one of the local tyre places with 4 rims and two tyres (buying another two from the shop). Unfortunately I didn't have any nuts for the specific mags and left it up to one of the people there to find the nuts. After two days of looking they still weren't able to get them, so I ordered them from another shop. They told me they should come in the Monday before my track day. Broken Lock A week and a half before the track day I came back to my car after seeing a show and discovered that the drivers lock had stopped working (i just put the key in and turn and nothing happens). I had noticed it getting a little funny, and I'm not sure if it broke because of just being old (although it's only a year or two old cause the original was damaged in a break in attempt), whether it had something to do with the rain or whether someone had tried to break into the car. Until I get it fixed I'll just open the passenger door (on which the lock is also really dodgy) and reach over. The Worst Day (1 week before Marulan) The Monday before my track day I started driving to work, boot loaded with rims and tyres (hoping to get the nuts that day and get the tyres fitted). Over the past couple of days the clutch had been getting worse and worse (it wasn't really engaging, even when I pushed the pedal all the way in). I assumed (quite incorrectly) that this was simply because the pedal needed to be tightened and was planning to get this done at the service. By the time I was 1/3 of the way to work the clutch was almost unusable. I decided to detour down a side road and see if I could see anything wrong with it. I stopped in some random driveway and tried to jack the car up. Only to find the jack in the car is basically seized and doesn't work. While trying to look under the car I had my keys in my back pocket and snapped my AE86DC (http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/showthread.php/20422-AE86DC-Keyrings-In-stock-now!) keyring in half :( Realising I had no hope of doing anything on the side of the road, I took it to the mechanic I had visited earlier in the year when my oil pressure switch blew. He took a quite look under the hood and noticed there was no clutch fluid at all. He topped it up and I drove off with the clutch working again. He said this probably meant the master (or slave) cylinder was leaking, so I decided to get that checked out at the service at the end of the week too. Later that day I had to zip home at lunch to pick up a delivery. As soon as I left work the clutch was almost back to it's old trick of not working, with fluid still in the reservoir. 3 or 4 turns after I had left work the indicators just stopped. On my way back to work I stopped of at one of the local tyre places to pick up the nuts I had ordered. When I got there it turned out they were the wrong ones. When I got back to work I decided that driving a car with no clutch or indicators was probably too unsafe and decided to leave it there until it's service. I asked around one or two of the places to see if they could fix the clutch in one day (ie before the service), but had no luck. I spoke to ESP (who were doing the service) and they said that because they would have to access the clutch problem before they ordered the parts (no point ordering a new master cylinder etc if I didn't need it) the car wouldn't be ready until a day or two after the track day. Feeling quite disheartened I cancelled my spot at Marulan. Leading up to getting the service done at ESP they did all their homework and worked out what parts they would need to do the service and even found a place where they could source a master and slave cylinder to fix the clutch. I dropped it in on the Thursday and was told I'd probably get it back Monday or Tuesday by the sales rep. A glimmer of hope (3 days before track day) On Thursday night I got a call from ESP telling me that they were still waiting on a couple of parts, but if everything went well there was a chance I could get it back on Friday or Saturday. Major Service (two days before track day) I got a call on Friday from Glen the mechanic at ESP. He told me the good news, that the master and slave cylinder had been replaced. Timing belt had been replaced. All fluids and plugs changed. The front brakes were wearing unevenly, the pads were almost gone and one of the callipers had shifted. The rear brakes had been adjusted incorrectly and one (or both?) was essentially slightly locked on. They fixed that in addition to replacing the flasher unit (which fixed the indicators). On friday night Glen was about to chuck it on the dyno and take a look at the tune, but unfortunately he couldn't get the software working for me ECU (it was corrupted when he downloaded it from the LINK website). Picking up the Sprinter (One day before the track day) On Saturday morning I dropped a laptop off with the appropriate software (which was able to talk to the ECU after a bit of fiddling). I called up Fifth Gear and re-booked my spot for Marulan. A couple of hours later I headed back and picked up the car, all working. It now makes a little more power (73.9 RWKW) and is all ready to hit the track tomorrow!

I have a 7K in my KE55 with twin SU carbys. When we first got the engine it a single (3k?) carby on it. The previous owner sold the EFI parts and converted it to run use the carby as he didn't know anything about EFI engine and thought it would be easier. Unfortunately the carby didn't run very well, and even when we put the dual carbys on it still didn't run great. After putting it on the dyno and having a mechanic try out different needles they found the right ones and tuned it up good. I wouldn't say it's very fuel efficient, but it's not too bad. It makes 58KW at the wheels. From what I've heard though, EFI for the 7ks is usually the best option. The main reason people chuck carbys on them is just because carbys are simpler. I've always wondered what the difference in power would be between a carby and EFI 7k.

Gearbox wise I think most people stick with the T50 until it breaks. From what I hear I think they are relatively good (though I can't say that for certain). Not sure what people usually replace them with (maybe the W50? Which I think is out of a supra?). If you want to turbo or supercharge a Silvertop theres a little bit you need to do first (change compression etc). I think this is usually done by replacing some of the parts with those from the blacktop and the ZE engine. I'm pretty sure SamQ has an article on his website http://s-86.com/ . I've heard mention of using hilux diffs and skyline diffs (I know maxhag from AE86DC has a skyline diff in his at the moment). I think that they are similar to the gearboxes, with it really depending on how much power you are going to put through it etc. Legality-wise it all depends on the state you are in. I'm guessing you would need to get it engineered (especially if you are going to turbo/supercharge it). I have heard of people getting away with it just being a "different 4a engine", but I'm not sure how true those stories are and how easy it is too fool them. One thing about putting the silvertops in (which I think I mentioned before) is that it doesn't fit (as the dizzy is on the back of the engine when put in a RWD and meets the firewall). To make it fit you can either cut the firewall (which is bad, looks a bit shoddy and will make it way harder to register and easier to defect) or you can relocate the dizzy/use a coilpack etc (which is trickier and more expensive). I think there is also an article about this on SamQs site. I know this doesn't answer a lot, haha Surf around http://s-86.com/ and http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/ and you might be able to get some better answers than I can give. Take a look at peoples ride/project threads and see what they've done.

XMas Rush is on the 12th (Sunday).

If you are super keen I think Fifth Gear still have a place available for the skidpan this afternoon (starting at 12:30). You might be able to call the number on their site, lol. (I will be there).

Yeah that would be the one, she didn't really want to let it go (was her first car). I've still got a lot more plans for it (just need the money to make them come true). Marulan is about an hour and a half from Canberra (apparently 119kms) just past Goulburn. It's only a small track, but can be a lot of fun in a small car (since there are no huge straights etc). Check out http://www.mdtc.com.au/ for a little more info. In two weeks I'm going there with Fifth Gear Motoring for their end of year "Christmas Rush". According to their site they still have places available http://www.fifthgear.com.au/index.php. It's not a full racetrack (you can only overtake on the main straight and a full lap takes less than 1:10) but it's still heaps of fun. Last year at the Christmas Rush we got about 4-6 runs of about 15 minutes each, so you get a decent amount of time on the track.

Cheers. I just used some kitchen sponges and an old toothbrush to clean them up. Didn't want to go too hardcore with the scourer side (didn't want to scratch off the rim/paint). I got some of the gunk off, but there is still a bit of black stuff on some of the rims (especially in the gaps), so I think I'll just slowly keep working on them (need to find something a little better than the toothbrush I was using). I'm going to keep the stockies, so if worst comes to worst (and I lose all grip on the back) I can always go back to the 13s. At some point in the future I'll go up to 15inch rims, but if the tyres wear out before then (and I want to use the 14s) I can always buy some new ones.

It's been a while since I posted, so I decided to post a nice big update with lots of pictures. SkidPan Been visiting the skidpan lately to watch friends and take lots of photos. Earlier in the year I joined in with the guys from www.nissansilvia.com and I was lucky enough to get a spot in November when they organised a day again. After watching people on the skidpan for so long, chatting with some of the NS guys and getting some tips from Dereck from Fifth Gear I was able to improve quite a bit. When I first got on there this time I was able to get through most corners with minimal understeer shudder (by using the handbrake a lot better etc). Over the day I got a bit more practice in and reduced the amount of steering I was doing (in the beginning I was almost going full lock when turning in and correcting) which resulted in my reducing the understeer I was getting by even more and even managing to take the highspeed turn only using steering/clutch-kicking, weight transfer and speed. Since it's so much fun I'm even going again tomorrow to hone my skills even more! Marques In The Park Last week was "Marques in the Park" a free Canberra car show for local enthusiasts to bring along their pride and joy and show it off. I went along this year with the guys from AE86DC, we had a pretty decent turnout, with 5 different AE86s attending. While mine was probably the worst looking of the bunch it still had the goods under the hood and potential and it still got some looks. All The AE86s 160RWKW 4AGE Turbo 4AGZE n/A 16v 4AGE New Rims! Earlier in the year I picked up some 15inch rims off a friend (they were sitting in his garage doing nothing). I got 2 Volk Racing meshies and 4 stock S13 rims (two sprayed black). I was going to put the Volks on the front and run stock S13 on the rear. After lots of umming, ahhing and staring at the rims I decided that I wouldn't like the look of the mismatched rims, so I keep them and decided to see if I could find some matching Volks or some other rims. 15 inch Volks (which one day I may put on if I can find another 2 rims to use at the same time) Just after Marques in the park, one of the 86 owners in Canberra (Maxhag from AE86DC) offered to sell me his old 14 inch rims. I liked the look of them, so I picked them up today along with some assorted tyres. Hopefully I should be able to get them all fitted up over the next couple of days. Rims and Tyres Dunlop 175/60R14 almost new (going on the front) Yokohama 175/60R14 fairly worn (going on the rear) Rims before wash Rims after wash (still wet) All the rims, nice and clean New Jacket My final Hardtuned.net hoodie came today in the mail, adding to my collection of awesome car themed hoodies and shirts. New Suspension Next weekend I'll be installing some aftermarket AJPS rear springs onto the 86 with the help of Maxhag from AE86DC. I might also get some front springs as well, but will have to see when I can get enough time/money to install them. Service/Tune The sprinter is due for a major service (including replacing the timing belt) so hopefully that will get done over the next week; before I take it to the track (Marulan Driver Training Center). While it's there I'll get them to have a look around the engine and see if they can work out why it's only making 68RWKW. The sprinter should be making around 90RWKW (unless there is something wrong with the engine) so hopefully they will be able to squeeze out a little bit of extra power. Skidpan/Track I'm hitting the Sutton Road Skidpan tomorrow and Marulan Driver Training Center in 2 weeks, so the 86 will be getting a bit of a workout. Hopefully I'll be able to post up some pictures/video afterwards. 2011 I've got lots of plans for the AE86, so hopefully 2011 will bring some big new changes. Hopefully soon I will tint the windows, add in a sound system, start cleaning the car up (to get ready for a respray/bodykit) and continue driving it, having fun and hopefully getting some time on the track. Some time next year I'll probably take it to Wakefield and see how it goes.

OMG Habib, my chopped king springs make it fulli low and give me all the powah!

Sounds similar to a problem I had with my 86 (with the headlights randomly working). Turned out to be a loose wire where the switches attach to the steering column. You'll probably need to see a wiring diagram. When I pulled the wheel off and took the column apart I was able to find the loose wire.

Love the profit on the list :laff: For the overheating problem is the engine actually getting hot or is the temperature gauge reading hot? I had a problem with the 7k in my KE55 at one point where the temperature sensor and gauge weren't compatible, so it would read really hot when it actually wasn't. Just a thought.

I didn't have the stock 4AC in mine for long, but while it was in there the car was fine to drive. It wasn't the most powerful engine ever, but mine had done over 550,000kms, so I think with a bit of work it would've been a lot better. Speaking to some other 86 owners I've heard that the stock engines are quite alright for the street and just a little fun on the track here and there. A 4AC (and probably the 4AGE?) probably won't be that great at keeping up with "lower powered turbo cars" as you mentioned in your last post. You need to remember that the 86s are best for their agility/control as opposed to overall speed. If you are trying to drag a fulli hectic turbo VN you've got no hope with a 4AC, but if you can still have fun driving it. Sticking with the stock engine will also mean a lot less hassles when it comes to keeping it registered/roadworthy. Saving money on the engine change will also mean you'll have more to spend on whatever else you want do/to put in the car. This all depends on what direction you want to take the car; this could be suspension, seats, stereo, after-market ECU (if you get the 4AGE), bodykit, chromies or tofu delivery sticker.

I think a mate of my did a spray job a couple of years back with touch up paint that he had..... acquired over time. I didn't get to see the car properly after it was done (was always in the garage) but from the photos it looked pretty cool. He spent ages planning it though, lots of prep work and had a spray painter friend helping him out.

Drift Charms!! While on my recent holiday to Malaysia I picked up a cool Domo-kun which is now hanging from my mirror. A also picked up two dice style Domos from a friend to use as drift charms. I don't know if I will keep them on all the time or only when displaying the car/drifting. Originally I wasn't going to rice it up too much with drift charms etc, but I couldn't resist.

Nothing has happened in a while to my knowledge. I think a lot of us got busy during the middle of the year or were car-less. I believe some of the rollaclub guys are getting together for Marquees in the park later this year (unfortunately I'm being traitorous and going with ae68dc).

LOL Reminds me of when I walked out to my old KE35 that was parked on the road out the front of my house (but had a blown head gasket and hadn't been driven in 4 months) and found it full of someones stuff (clothes etc). What I later found out was that one of my sisters friends had been kicked out of home and knew that my old 35 had a dodgy lock (my sisters bf had told him) and that it wasn't driven so he decided to store all of his stuff in the back seat. (And was probably one of the people a couple of months later that tried to steal it.... but that's another story). I have to say though, that's a pretty decent effort 86coupe.

As someone who originally comes from Mooroolbark I lol'd pretty hard at that. Pretty sweet looking car, should be a good project Couple of tips: Make sure the console is bolted down well (some bastard smashed my windows and instead of taking out the stereo just reefed out the entire console :( and I couldn't find another). Respray the vinyl on the doors and roof and the various plastic trim with black vinyl spray; it can make the car look heaps better if you want to get away from the cream look (the cream isn't too bad, but mine was originally baby blue). If you are planning to keep the car for a while and want to keep with the black theme, you can get a set of moulded carpets relatively cheap (I got mine new from a place in dandy for about $130, granted that was about 5 or 6 years ago :S). When I first got the AE86 I was going to put new leather recaros in, but when I realised I was looking at 3k+ per seat I had to abandon that idea. Just keep hunting around for seats that suit you, the car etc. For my KE55 I installed a fixed back Sparco racing seat that I bought off some dude I met in the Basey Maccas carpark after midnight... I originally picked up my 55 from the wreckers on Canterbury road (7 years ago when it was run by the old guy... John I think his name was) but it's now a Ford/Holden wreckers and doesn't have many parts. Pinch a Part up the road (Montrose) also has slim pickings for 55 parts, so you might need to hunt around to find decent parts.

As for the carbie vs EFI debate, that's almost a religious argument. The 20v engines are known for being high revving engines, but in my opinion (which isn't really worth a lot though...) almost any toyota engine can take a lot of punishment.