Sloths Ae86 Project Car

[frasian]

awsome build

[Sloth]

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!

Edited December 11, 2010 by Sloth

[Crowie55]

Bad news about all the troubles. Great news to hear the car is ready for the track day though, you must be stoked! Please get some photo's of this beast in action tomorrow :y:

Cheers, Crowie

[Sloth]

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.

[Sloth]

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).

 

[Sloth]

New Wheels and Tyres

 

After the car couldn't grip at Marulan it was finally time to get some tyres (with the help of my christmas bonus).

 

I put some second hand tyres on the rear that I got at the same time as the wheels (they are still basically brand new) and got some new Federals for the front (nothing too fancy, but anything was better than I had).

 

With the new rims on the car looks awesome!

 

I celebrated by doing lots of driving on them (drove to Melbourne and back) and taking lots of photos.

[Sloth]

New Rear Springs

 

The person who sold me the wheels also offered to sell me his old rear springs nice and cheap (as he was putting in electronically adjustable suspension). The springs are AJPS 6kg springs and they are now fitted to my 86. You can see the change in the ride height (it's fairly low at the rear). Hopefully soon I'll order a matching set for the front. Since the main focus of the car is just as a daily and not a full track car, I'm not going to go too over the top (replacing everything with fancy coilovers etc). While we were installing the springs we discovered that the rubber boot was missing from the drivers side spring (the spring was just rubbing against the metal). This might account for some of the weird creaks and moans I've heard while driving (as I no longer hear them). The car just seems a little less floaty at the back with the new springs and feels a little more in control at the back.

 

Old spring (with half a coil cut out) on the left, new spring on the right

 

Car up on stands

 

Old drivers side spring (missing rubber boot)

 

New spring installed on passenger side

 

New (current) ride height (you can see the back is fairly low, the angle of the picture makes it look a little worse though)

[Sloth]

January Photo Shoot

 

I'm a bit of an amateur photographer, and every now and then I go out with another photographer friend and take photos around Canberra, the skidpan or Wakefield. Here are some pictures I got of my Sprinter in January (apologies for the large size).

 

[t18drifts]

i must say this is isnperational it makes me wana bail on my gf go home and get down and dirty doing work on my t18 keep it bro

[timbo]

excellent build mate! those last track shots are awesome. i wish i could just bugger off and drive to melbourne haha.

[Sloth]

Plans VS Current State

 

I thought after having the car for almost a year and a half it was worth doing a little bit of a recap of where I am compared with the original plans.

 

AGEZE (New engine)

I didn't end up going with the ZE, but I have put in a different engine (4AGE 20v Silvertop). I got everything done right (and expensively) resulting in an engine that hasn't really given me any issues. It's got a bit more kick than the 4AC and even though it's not putting out lots of power (or as much as it should) it's still fine for the road.

 

LSD

Still running the stock diff for now. Still planning to get a new diff, but it's not a huge priority for now.

 

Paintjob (probably in orange/yellow with black along the base, like all the Initial D themed 86s)

I've abandoned the full ricer spec. Hehe. I decided that since I wanted it for the street I should go with something a little more sedate and sensible (though one day I hope to have a Jap car with crazy paint covered in stickers). My current idea is to paint it similar to this http://www.flickr.com/photos/quickster/2970540145/in/pool-35257991@N00/ two tone with a really dark gunmetal grey.

 

Bodykit (nothing too over the top, thinking of rolling the guards and/or putting on flares)

Still want to get a body kit, and will do this before I paint it, but it's fairly low on the list of priorities. I almost got a new tailgate with spoiler a couple of weeks ago, but was too slow :( I still think rolling the guards or flares will look cool, but I'll need to make sure I can get some rims/tyres to fill them out right.

 

Rims (probably 16 inch, not gansta style chromies, probably some nice simple black rims)

Eventually got some 14 inch meshies. Decided 16 was too big! I will eventually go up to 15 inch rims (have two Volk Racing 15 inch meshies in the garage at the moment) when I find something good, but for now the 14 inch rims look good and the rubber on them is fine for the road.

 

Tyres (as wide and low profile as I can put on it)

Just got some new Federals on the front (nothing too fancy, just standard $100ish tyres) and some second hand (though almost new) Dunlops on the back. They manage to keep traction most of the time ;)

 

Suspension

While getting the engine changed the springs were cut a little (half a coil). I've since replaced the rear springs with AJPS 6kg springs and I'm planning to do the same to the front. I'm running new pedders sports shocks on the rear (and front as well I believe). I'm not going to bother going too over the top (adjustable coilovers etc).

 

Diff

Still running the stock ADM diff/rear end with drum brakes. I'll probably just keep this as I've heard the hassle of changing the rear end isn't worth it for a street car and it pulls up alright. The master and slave cylinders have been replaced and the drums machined.

 

Strut Braces/Sway bars

Nothing done on this yet. Will see how it goes next time I take it to the track. I'm still considering braces and might replace the sway bars if something comes up cheap (but I'm not really going to go out of my way).

 

Sound system (currently the radio doesn't work)

Still no sound :( in fact there is less of a sound system now (as I've removed the dodgy old speakers from the front). Hopefully I'll do something about this in the next couple of months. For a while I had a set of headphones around the gearknob and I just turned my ipod up really really loud.

 

Recaro adjustable sports seats

At over $5000 to put in brand new leather recaros I ended up going with FTO seats in the front. They are comfortable enough and don't make the car look to ricey.

 

Extractors and exhaust

Had an exhaust custom made when the engine was being installed. It currently has a small hole (or so) just before the muffler so it is a little loud (have to be silenced for track/skidpan days). I'll get this welded up soon.... hopefully.

 

 

Daily Drive

Since I got the car back from the engine change I've driven it to work almost ever day. It's such a fun car to drive around. The aircon not working can be a little annoying, but the fact that I have a ball wherever I go makes up for it. I've driven from Canberra to Melbourne in it at least 4 times. I've taken it to the skidpan 3 times (and going again in a month) and onto Marulan once.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Sloth

[KENut]

I like the current paint job plans :yes:

[Sloth]

I like the current paint job plans :yes:

 

Yeah it should look pretty sweet. I was originally thinking black, but black 86s (even the black limited ones) just don't look that great (they don't pop). The big thing about the grey though is I don't want a bright silver/light grey. Nice and dark like the other car. Over the next couple of weeks I'm planning to start spraying the interior panels from brown to black. Might even see if there are any places in Canberra that do moulded carpet, when I got the carpet for me KE55 (like 5 years ago) it cost about $120 for a brand new black moulded carpet (which I think is pretty good).

[J Riftin]

When are you gonna drop the bomb Slotho? A good story has a beginning, middle, and an end.............

[Sloth]

When are you gonna drop the bomb Slotho? A good story has a beginning, middle, and an end.............

 

It's coming, still coming to terms with it. Probably by the end of the weekend.