Robbo Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 So a while ago I made a pretty ballsy decision to buy Rhys's (Rhyscar) daily/racecar AE101 basically unseen and drive it just under 1000 kms home. Thankfully things worked quite well and I flew up, bought it and drove it back Queen's birthday weekend. Many thanks to Rhys who offered to pick me up from the airport, gave me a bunch of spares with it as well as info for setting it up/racing and was generally just an all round GC! It was an eventful weekend to say the least though! Featuring a successful Tinder date, two speeding tickets and probably the most uncomfortable drive I've ever done... 8kg springs all round, bugger all suspension travel and the 2 1/2" exhaust left me deafened and crippled when I finally rolled into Wellington about 7 hours after leaving Hamilton. Thankfully I had a mates place to crash at who kindly moved his girlfriend's Peugeot 306 convertible out on the street where it belongs and let me chuck the Levin in the garage for the night Anywho made it all the way home to Christchurch the next day without any issues which was great as I had no tools whatsoever on me! The plan with this thing was to buy something where most of the work had been done and I could just get out there and drive it rather than having something that sits in the garage 11.9 months a year, had to be road legal as I don't have access to a trailer. Rhys has done a pretty sweet job of setting this thing up, current specs are roughly as follows: 1995 AE101 Levin GT Apex Chassis 20v Blacktop 4AGE (A/C removed) 16 row oil cooler and remote filter Honda Civic radiator HKS extractors 2 1/2" stainless exhaust 50mm trumpets Exedy heavy duty clutch GTZ twin pot brakes with Hawk pads Cusco rear swaybar Tein Super Street coilovers Camber plates Relocated lightweight battery Raised shifter Stripped interior with sound deadening removed 16x8s with Achilles ATRs for the road 15x8s with well used Nitto NT01s for the track No real plans to change any of the above, just race it/break it/fix it! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegreatestben Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Nice! Agree this is a sweet car and Rhys is a thoroughly nice chap. I couldn't believe how fast he could make this go around manfield! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Have done some stuff since I got it, new front engine mount, flushed the coolant, tidied up some wiring, chucked my clear indicators on that I nicked from my daily before I sold it and just generally fixed a few things. Entered a Motorkhana last Saturday at Ruapuna which while it was pretty much only first gear and reverse was still super fun. Probably need to tighten up the handbrake if I do another one as it pretty much had no bite, there were a couple of Minis entered who were absolutely killing it with some really tight turns around the cones. Can't remember how I placed but it wasn't that great, I was the only first timer there though. Didn't bother chucking the semi-slicks on as it wouldn't of been worth warming up the tyres for 1 minuteish runs. Quite luckily it turned out there was a full day Autocross on the Sunday so entered that as well. It rained pretty much all night so when I got out there the track was super wet, it dried up early in the afternoon but then the rain kicked back in again. Ended up still being an awesome day, had heaps of fun and I'm pretty sure my driving improved massively between the first run and the last one. We did 5 different courses and 2 runs of each, placed 18th out of about 27 which was alright but it's fair to say this car has way more potential than I currently have skill! Still, thought it went pretty well for my first time on a track. Nearly had a spin early in the day (pretty weird feeling having the rear end of a FWD break out on you! ). Some photos from the day (credit Chris Maxwell): The car went pretty well, only a couple of issues really. Leaking a bit of coolant where a hose meets the block (suspect it's slightly too big so just tightened the fuck out of the hose clamp) and struggled to get it in gear on a couple of downshifts (think the clutch had little air in the lines so bled it but also I probably need to work on my rev matching). Sweet shot of the Levin with a mates 500hp R33 in front: Next event will probably be a track day at Ruapuna in two weeks then another down at Levels the following weekend, exciting stuff! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Nice! Agree this is a sweet car and Rhys is a thoroughly nice chap. I couldn't believe how fast he could make this go around manfield! Yep sounds like I've got some pretty big boots to fill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 Borrowed a workmates Gopro and managed to video a few of the Autocross runs before it ran out of battery. Here's one of the better of the bunch (plz ignore my terrible lines, early braking and just general poor driving. I have much to learn!) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyscar Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Nice! Agree this is a sweet car and Rhys is a thoroughly nice chap. I couldn't believe how fast he could make this go around manfield! This is a different car to that one! This is the accumulation of all the good ideas/learnings from my racecar Is same/better spec than what my racecar was before it went into the shed for the last 3-4yrs, bar cage and TRD diff. Great to see you out there! That coolant hose always weeped a bit but never had it drop enough to motivate me to fix it when at the track. Should have sorted it sorry. Get used to the rear stepping out thats when you know you're starting to find the limit. I'm always quite rough on the car in the corners on the first lap to get it to step out and heat the rear tyres, then you know where the track grip is at and can smooth the lines out from there to keep the rear in line. Best thing you can do it keep the throttle pinned and it'll pull you straight. Man that car sounds so good high in the revs! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyscar Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 oh and also you'll struggle to get the handbrake much tighter than that one is unfortunately. The ae series handbrakes are just poo's and never work that well. That is the best feeling handbrake I've ever been able to achieve! Worth a shot to adjust but set your expectations quite low 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 This is a different car to that one! This is the accumulation of all the good ideas/learnings from my racecar Is same/better spec than what my racecar was before it went into the shed for the last 3-4yrs, bar cage and TRD diff. Great to see you out there! That coolant hose always weeped a bit but never had it drop enough to motivate me to fix it when at the track. Should have sorted it sorry. Get used to the rear stepping out thats when you know you're starting to find the limit. I'm always quite rough on the car in the corners on the first lap to get it to step out and heat the rear tyres, then you know where the track grip is at and can smooth the lines out from there to keep the rear in line. Best thing you can do it keep the throttle pinned and it'll pull you straight. Man that car sounds so good high in the revs! Nah no worries, doesn't leak too much so will probably just leave it for now unless it gets worse. Had the car on a hoist this morning and the rear engine mount is buggered too so once I get a new one in it the motor shouldn't move around so much which will hopefully help the leak. Sounds like a good way to do it, I'll give it a go for the track day. Haven't had chance to drive it on the semi-slicks yet but it's got an impressive amount of grip even on cold road tyres! Yea you nailed it with that resonator, sounds the tits at 8k! One of the exhaust hangers fell off on the weekend (the one just behind the rear muffler, I knew it was loose but didn't get chance to fix it). Didn't look to be doing much but it ripped a couple of holes in the exhaust tube so I got them welded up this morning. The old codger who did it reckoned I should get the tubing dropped down a bit under the fuel tank though because it's rubbing pretty bad/it's stainless and gets real hot so I might look into getting that done at some point. oh and also you'll struggle to get the handbrake much tighter than that one is unfortunately. The ae series handbrakes are just poo's and never work that well. That is the best feeling handbrake I've ever been able to achieve! Worth a shot to adjust but set your expectations quite low Haha bugger, oh well not too worried probably won't be doing too many of those Motorkhanas anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangbug Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 Both hands on the wheel please driver 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Always been curious as to how much this thing weighs so took it to Metalman at lunch and chucked in on their weighbridge... 920kg with 1/3 tank of fuel, pretty happy with that! Supposedly accurate to +/- 20kg so shouldn't be far off the mark. Ruapuna trackday was awesome, update to come... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyscar Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Always wondered how light this was. I always wanted it to be this light but never thought it would actually. Kinda explains why it hauls ass with relatively small amount of power. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 So I had my first trackday the other weekend at Ruapuna, the car went pretty well other than clutch/gearbox issues. Was having trouble getting it into gear on high RPM shifts and it got progressively worse throughout the day. When I got it home I realised the clutch fluid was below the minimum level so must have been leaking slowly, kicking myself for not thinking to check it at the track! I put it down to the gearbox rather than the clutch not actually disengaging. Couldn't see anywhere that it looked to have been leaking from but I noticed the master cylinder cap was too big so I reckon the fluid may have been sloshing out under hard cornering and braking. Anywho got a proper cap from the wreckers, tightened all the lines and gave it a proper bleed. Quite a bit of air in the lines! So anyway thought I'd fixed those issues but more on that later... Otherwise it was an awesome day, no rain this time so chucked the semi-slicks on and OMG so much grip! It was super fun driving the car flat out and it was holding its own with a lot more powerful cars, think I only got passed twice the whole day. Bought a Gopro so got some videos, haven't bothered trying to pull lap times off them but I was running at a pretty similar pace to my workmates GT86 which had semi-slicks and race pads and who's got much more track experience so pretty happy with that. Vid below from a couple of flying laps: Definitely need to work on my lines and be a bit more ballsy with my braking so still heaps of room for improvement. Few pics from the day: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted August 7, 2016 Author Share Posted August 7, 2016 Had a trackday down at Levels in Timaru a couple of weeks back, drove down there thinking I'd sorted the gearbox issues but it was still crunching pretty badly going into 2nd and 3rd. Tried changing the oil at the track but didn't make much of difference so spent the day double clutching and shifting a bit slower. Think I may have ruined the synchros at the Ruapuna trackday when the clutch wasn't fully disengaging but who knows... Levels is a pretty sweet track, a lot narrower than Ruapuna though and with shorter run offs. Being a bit lower speed the Levin was definitely better suited to it. A workmate put me onto the RaceChrono app so gave that a go and managed to get some lap times. Started out doing about 1.27s but got down to 1.20s by the end of the day once I got to know the track, definitely got a way better feel for the car now! Organisers set up a bit of time attack at the end of the day and I ended up running my quickest lap of the day. 1.19.68, good enough for 9th but just beaten by another AE101! Beat an R35 GTR though Here's a vid of the lap, clock starts about 20s in: So anyway decided it was time for a new gearbox, grabbed a pair cheapish off Trademe figuring atleast one of them should be OK and got them shipped down from Auckland. As of Thursday the corner of the garage looked like this with the two Trademe C56s top and bottom and the C160 with a broken diff that Rhys gave me with the car in the middle. Got a mate round Friday night and pulled out the old box in about 2 hours which was pretty good considering neither of us had done a FWD box before. Picked the coldest weekend possible to be in the garage though! Chose the better looking box out of the two and got stuck into putting it in on Saturday morning, took waaay longer than 2 hours to get the new one in. Had it all back together by this afternoon so bled the clutch filled the box with oil and went for a drive around the block sans bonnet. Seemed to go pretty well so threw the bonnet back on and went for a longer drive to somewhere I could put my foot down without fucking off the residents of my neighbourhood. So the good - synchros seem fine but the bad - makes a pretty loud noise in 2nd above about 5k rpm (sort of sounds like it could be a bearing but only happens in 2nd gear, ideas anyone?) and it's leaking oil from somewhere Pretty over it by that point so called it a night. Haven't decided what to do from here, could try putting the other box in but it may have it's own issues and I'm not so keen to spend a whole weekend putting in another dud gearbox...Anyone rebuilt one of these boxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honda Ass Dragger Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Get a box with a LSD if you don't have one already Such a Game Changer in FWD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Matt Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Definitely get a LSD in there. Pretty sure KP_james has rebuilt a C series gearbox before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Get a box with a LSD if you don't have one already Such a Game Changer in FWD Definitely get a LSD in there. Pretty sure KP_james has rebuilt a C series gearbox before Have been looking for one for a while but nothing's come up! There's been the odd C160 6 speed with an LSD but everyone says they're not worth the trouble with them being a quite a bit weaker. Cheers for that though, might give him a message. At least I've got a couple to practice on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakesae101 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 turbo starlets use the same lsd as the 5 speeds from memory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorollaGT Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Treat the 6 speed nicely by showing some mechanical sympathy and they last. A buddy has run one for years in his AE82 club car doing sealed sprints. I still have the original 160k old C160 in mine and it's done a tonne of trackdays. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 So the leak was pretty much from where I expected. Basically when we were putting the new box back in the driveshaft didn't slot in as far as we thought it should into the gearbox but since it bolts to the side of the block on locating pins that's the only position it can be in, my mate took the driveshaft out when we removed the old gearbox so no idea if it looked the same with the old gearbox in there. Probably doesn't help that the seal itself looked a bit passed it though. Anyone come across this before? It's almost like the axle is 5mm too short which is odd because the old and new gearboxes are basically identical. This is how I think it should look using a spare driveshaft/the old gearbox. Leaked about 200ml over 24hr just sitting there but probably leaks more when driving? Pretty keen to do the dual car sprint out at Ruapuna this weekend despite the horrendous noise from second gear so if anyone has got a quick/temporary fix please let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegreatestben Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Bit late now but don't suppose you looked through the output of both boxes? It probably just needs a persuasion tap from el hammeroso. Or is the support bearing slightly off? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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