advokit

More progress - the BC rear coilover platforms arrived. The threads near the top are a bit dodgy but I will never be winding them that high anyway. I may look at machining them shorter and welding a piece inside so that can bolt to the factory bumpstop mounts like others I have seen. A while back I picked up a rear toe adjuster from an AE101 at the local pick a part. I gave this and a factory panhard rod to my buddy Kelvin. Some cutting and tig work and its done. Interesting paint job Kelvin - if I wasnt trying to go for that semi factory look I would almost keep it that way. Chances are though it will get some factory subframe black like everything else under the car has got or is getting. I also spent some time fitting the rear brake bias valve I got from Japan and bending brake lines to suit. Looks pretty good I think? The green tape is the end I need to get re-flared. Forgot to add I spent most of the summer holidays removing the Aircon/heater core as the heater core I had cracked pipes. It was easier than I thought but you have to take your time and remember where it all goes. So next on the list is add keeper springs to the front coilovers, replace the front wheel bearings, rebuild front calipers and add RCAs. I would ideally like to do this in one go so I need to order some RCAs stat - unless someone has some 30mm Cressida RCAs floating about for cheap?

@flyingbrick - Yeah its come a long way from the backyard in Tokoroa we picked it up from. 3SGE beams had crossed my mind but there is a lot more involved in making it fit which I cant be assed with. Plus its keeping it traditional as you say. The whole idea of the build is to essentially build a more modern day version of an AE86 with slight upgrades all round without costing a fortune. Even a standard AE86 is fun to drive so I figure a 30% or so increase in Power, Braking etc should make it a bit more fun to drive.

Haha sorry man not digging on ya. The thought had crossed my mind too.

@ryanfels - Hey man!! Na not that cheap - I think they run for around the $600 mark which I guess is to recover the time it took Brendan from Niteparts to figure it all out. I did get mine slightly cheaper as it was one of the first ones and the Niteparts Logo was a bit crap. At the end of the day though its basically $1000 odd with gearbox for something that is way newer/stronger than a T50. T50s seem to go for $600-$750 with a 4AGE bellhousing and then god only knows what the condition of it is till you open it up. Most of the ones I looked at were super sloppy and would have needed a re-build kit which is around $400 at cheap rates plus labour if someone did it for me. @maxted - Yeah I love Starsharks, and its something different from the Millions of AE86s that have either Watanabes of Rays TE37s. Can wait to get some wide lips on the skinny ones so they have max dish on the back. @haurangi - Notches have grown on me. I used to love the Hatches and still do, but I think I prefer the Notch now maybe just because they are different and not as common. @vintage grumble - Sorry bro, while it would be easy to take a copy I would hate to do that to Brendon from Niteparts as he seems to be an all around GC. I guess there is nothing stopping you from buying one and copying it then re-selling the original but thats kind of a stink thing to do.

Picked up a Cusco strut brace which looks awesome. I also received my Hydraulic clutch pedal from Motorfix in Japan. So I grabbed a clutch master and made the necessary holes in the firewall to make it all fit. Lastly I grabbed a KE70 Booster (much smaller) to allow longer intake trumpets to be run. Ideally I would like to run 100mm intake trumpets if they will fit. Also a AE111 Brake master went in to boost up the braking power, Motorfix recommended this upgrade as he runs the same setup in his V8 Ke70. He also recently sent me over a rear brake bias valve to suit the disc rear end. So this pretty much puts us to present day. There are many small things Ive missed as I havent documented the entire build over the last couple of years. Have just sourced some BC rear spring platforms to get some rear height adjustment, just need to buy the matching 4.5KG BC rear springs to make it work.

Haha, yeah it doesnt seem that long ago really.

The SSR Starsharks finally arrived from Japan. They turned out to be wider than advertised... Bonus! 14x6.5 Front and 14x7.5 Rear. I was going to get new lips made anyway so now I can run 7.5 on the front which is perfect, I can then widen the 6.5 out to 8 Inch which should be just right. I also threw in an AE86 Dash cluster so that I have a check engine light and an oil pressure gauge. I forgot to add that before going to Japan I had purchased a Blacktop 4AGE and T Series Disc rear end from one of the other guys I went to Japan with. So after much deliberation I decided that a T50 was going to not only be an expensive option but possibly be a serious weak point in the build. So I harassed Brendon from Nightparts and bought one of the Prototype adapters to run a J160 6 Speed Altezza gearbox behind a 4AGE. I saw guys in Japan using them and they seemed pretty sweet as far as both ratios and strength of gearbox. Better still the J160s can be picked up for as little as $500 and being a much newer box than the T50 its unlikely I would have to spend hundreds of dollars re-building it. I also found a J160 at a local wreckers for $500 so that was a done deal. All that needs to be done is the front of the Bellhousing needs to be machined down by about 14mm so that everything fits. You can also run an Altezza 3SGE starter motor which is a much stronger/cheaper option than a 4AGE planetary starter.

Luckily one of the guys I went to Japan with was Shane from Racelign. After many conversation were had in Japan we devised a plan for the suspension side of the car. Suspension is one area where I didn't want to scrimp so I went with Shane's recommendations. When we got back I got Shane to build me some front Coilovers from some MX73 Cressida front struts. The Cressida struts have much bigger vented brakes than even the AE86 has, plus they are easier and cheaper to buy than AE86 stuff so that was a bonus. Shane threw in some Bilstein inserts and Tein 6kg front springs with adjustable platforms. I then grabbed some steering knuckles and Camber tops from, T3 in the USA. Some rear Bilsteins were sourced as well and were re-valved to the 4-4.5Kg rear spring rate I intend to run. New height is pretty sweet. Unfortunately I had to sell the SSR Harts to free up cash for the Suspension. Its ok though as I had already ordered some Starsharks from Japan.

In April 2013 myself and a few of the lads went to Japan for a boys trip. Among seeing D1GP a JCCA Race meet and a Team Burst Drift day at Meihan we saw many tuner shops. The main one I wanted to see was Motorfix in Gifu. If you dont know who Motorfix are you probably aren't that into old Corollas...... This is us with Nozomu Sakai's famous 20v Black top powered Wagon. I also picked up a Classic Nardi which in my opinion is the only steering wheel worth putting in an AE86. After the trip to Japan my vision had changed slightly, I had a better idea of what I wanted to do with the AE85 and it also pushed me to spend more time downstairs working on it!

After getting it back from the Panel beaters the real work could begin. I primed and painted the back panel just to get it all back to white, I didnt bog anything so currently its pretty rough but I figure once its certed and road legal I can then save up and spend the time and money on getting the exterior looking mint again. At this stage panel and paint is not high on the list of priorities. Now the worst thing about AE85s is that they were carburettor so going to EFI would require either an AE86 fuel tank or a surge tank type setup. In trying to keep certain elements of the car factory looking I wasnt that keen on a surge tank etc hanging around in the boot so I kept an eye out for an AE86 fuel tank. My god.. Takumi tax sux.. an AE86 EFI tank could fetch as high as $300! screw that. So I ended up buying a TE71 tank from Ryan in Auckland which I was told would bolt straight in. Not quite.... The tank was the same shape but due to the different shape rear end between E7* chassis and AE86 the filler pipe just wouldnt work. After some measuring and cutting a solution was sorted by cutting down the original AE85 filler and modifying the breather for the TE71 tank into the side of it. The great thing about the TE71 tank is that it has the larger EFI pickup and surge bowl setup in the bottom of the tank. So add an external pump and its good to go. New Tank cleaned up and painted. Quite a big difference in the fillers. Mocked up to see how it would work. Finished product. Im not by any means a fabricator or engineer so I didn't think it was a bad effort. Also cleaned and painted the tank straps for that tidy factory look.

Discuss here.

After a couple of weeks it was done. The guy who did the panel beating used zero bog and spent a fair bit of time folding up pieces to make it all look right. He did an awesome job for the price! I also replaced the boot lid with one I found online as the original one needed rust repairs and it was cheaper just to buy a whole boot lid. I also at the time purchased a set of 14x6.5" SSR HART Fins.

I found a panel beater who was willing to do the rust work for a good deal, so I started stripping the car so that it was ready for the panel work. The engine was removed as there was some rust in the engine bay, I also removed the tail lights and drilled out the spot welds to remove the rear tail light panel.

I thought it was about time I started a build thread for what has become a far larger project than what I had initially thought when I purchased it. So far its 2 years in the build so I will update as much as I can to catch up to present day. In the meantime Ill get the ball rolling. Back in January 2012 I found this 1983 Toyota AE85 Trueno on trademe, it wasnt exactly what I wanted as I had originally planned to start with a KE70 Sedan however it was listed for $800 so I thought it would be rude not to have a look. Discuss Here : //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/42303-advokits-ae85-trueno-notch-jap-style-build/ Turns out the rear end was pretty rusty and it had been sitting in a back yard for several years. It was also de-reged, but it was in original unmolested condition. Nothing that couldn't be sorted with time and money I guess. So I parted with the grand total of $700 and we returned a few days later to tow it home. So I slowly started cleaning all the moss, dirt and flaking rust off to get a better picture of what I was dealing with. Turns out that with a polish the paint was in pretty good nick for its age, it makes me wonder if it spent some time under cover during its life. The original plan was to get the factory 3AU running, replace bushes, bearings, rebuild brakes and essentially get it up to compliance standard so it could be road legal again. From there I was planning to strip it back and do the full build. Well after talking to compliance guys and certifier guy it was decided that I would be spending a hell of a lot of money and time twice. So I decided to take my time and do the whole thing right the first time. I had spent some time mucking around trying to get the 3AU running and actually drove it down the road and back but it had a major death rattle and was smoking like an 80s Mitsubishi. It was time to go hunting for a 4AGE!