Stu's 4agte 85 EP71 Starlet and 4age 84 AE86 Levin

[Stu]

Oh yeah, I also added this turd to the fleet.  I have no idea why, seemed like a good idea at the time.  Will likely move it on if anyone is interested.

Its a 1985 EP70, that someone has spent alot of time/effort/money into squeezing a silvertop 4age into.  Its quite hilarious to drive and unlike my blue car it doesn't try to kill you. Comes with a Link g4+, coil overs, si interior, rear disc brakes, etc.  

If I keep it I'll turn it into a track hack.  It needs some new panels and a few bits so if anyone knows of a reasonably tidy EP70 going or not then let me know - just needs to be tidy.

 

[Stu]

So i made a thing from ali this time

 

Will likely bomb it black at some point, its a bit too shiny for me.

Thanks to Richie i now have some cam covers that have the lower bolt provisions for the COP plate so im working on getting those tidied up, modified for breathers and painted.

I've also been making a few brake hard lines and about to start buying the ecu and sensors etc.

[Stu]

Lockdown didn't quite provide all the spare time I was anticipating due to picking up a heap of essential work, but I have been ticking away at this thing.  I've been wanting to get into the wiring so have been putting in a few hours here and there.  Wiring is something Ive done alot of over the years so while I don't enjoy body wiring that much, I am looking forward to getting into the ecu side of things. The whole idea with the wiring is that the engine/ecu wiring is plug and play so if I ever wanted to go back to a stock engine/ecu (I wont) then it wouldn't be a total nightmare to do.  I hope it means the car will retain its value better this way.

Way back when I stripped the car for painting the front end wiring loom ended up stashed in a box which gathered dust, but I hauled that out and started pondering things.  I wanted to make a few small changes to the factory front wiring like shifting the washer pump wiring from the factory location behind the passenger strut tower where it will melt due to the heat from the headers, over to the factory 85 location on the drivers side. I also wanted to take out the air con wiring, re-route where the loom runs and tidy up a few other things.

So the loom got stripped back, I traced all the plugs so I've got notes on what goes where with wire colours, then got to work.  I removed all the aircon wiring but kept the circuits intact with notes on what connects where so if I want to later down the track I can overlay that loom and plug it all back in.  I laid in the new washer wiring but de-pinned, insulated and hid the original wiring so it can be uncovered and repinned later on if the washer ever goes back there.  

The drivers side wiring route usually runs through firewall into the wheel well then in through the inner guard, down across the inner fender to the head lights and along the front under the top radiator support, but I've changed this so its all hidden under the guard, runs under the headlight and along the lower radiator support so none of it is seen.  The alternator wiring is now re-routed to enter the engine bay below the head light so its a short straight run along the chassis rail and is far less noticeable - its actually shorter wiring along with being neater.  Wrapped it all in conduit and then taped up and clipped back in using as many factory fixing points as possible. 

A large number of hours later shortening and lengthening etc it looked like this.

I quite like the fact that I know what all the plugs do, where the wires all run and that there isn't any un-used plug or circuits.  Lots of time spent doing things that no one will ever see or care about 

And other than the short section of alternator wiring this is all you can obviously see - its not finished yet but you get the idea.

While I was at it I took the dash out and hauled the dash wiring loom out for a once over too.  There was only a few minor changes I wanted to make like reconfigure the wiper wiring so instead of running through the engine loom like factory its part of the dash loom instead - Its spliced in so a factory engine loom would still work if needed. Fixed a few broken speaker wires and sorted the stereo wiring too. After that it all got a once over with new wrapping and replaced the odd plastic clip and it went back in.  Quite satisfying that everything is in the right place, clipped back into factory points and theres no random wires. While I was at it I ran another separate loom next to it from the ecu area over to the dash for the Link inputs/outputs I want to run including a canbus circuit for future proofing incase I run a dash in this thing.  Dash all went back in and at least for now its all buttoned back up properly.

Then with the looms all plugged back in and the battery temporarily connected I powered the car up and after replacing a few bulbs everything seems to work and the smoke didn't escape so that's a bonus!  I'll give the interior a good clean once the ecu wiring is done as its dusty as shit but it looks like a car again.

I'll update on the ecu side of things soon but stuff as been arriving so im hoping to get onto that sometime soon.

Other than wiring I also got the EGT setup pretty well sorted - have welded the compression fittings onto the exhaust so that can go on for good soon too.

Thats all till next time

 

 

 

[Stu]

#ingredients #broke

So yeah, short of the injectors turning up I should have everything for the engine wire up now.  Huge thanks to DaveScienceTM @Roman who 3D printed me a super sweet mounting plate for the CAN-PWM fan speed control module.  Just gotta find some time to wire it  - there might be a few "sick" days off work coming up...

[Stu]

Small update time.  With the 86 I wanted to try and use CAN wherever possible as I haven't used it before and if it goes wrong its only my car compared to someone else's.  So in the above pictured pile of junk is a Spartan3 CAN wideband with the ADV sensor, an ECUMaster CAN-EGT amplifier, and a Maxxecu CAN-PWM module. Eventually I'll get a CAN-GPS module and a possibly a dash but that will be a loooooong way off. 

I've started with the PWM fan speed control and as mentioned above, with the help of DaveScienceTM @Roman and his fancy 3d printer I now have a mounting block that fits to the underside of the battery tray.  This will do for now but I have in mind a two piece mount so it has a cover.  Anyway, wired up the module, relay, output and can circuit including terminal resistor which is inside the sealed off deutsch plug at the bottom.

Mounted up under the battery, 60amp fuse is on the side, can bus runs through the front then parallels with the chassis wiring under the guard and into the cabin.

And sorted out the fans themselves:

And then, with the help of Dave we got the data streams roughed together and the fans running with varying speed:

 

There is still some sorting out to be done on the data streams as the PWM module transmits an internal temperature, amperage load, and an error state, which are showing but not in the correct scale yet.  Still learning so it might take me some time to sort out but its a promising start.  The whole reason for the variable speed is that the battery is quite small (will eventually be a lithium one) and want to limit the load where possible, plus ramping fan speed is kinda rad...

Till next time.

[Roman]

Another cool thing about rampable fans.

Instead of instantly on/off and shock loading your closed loop idle. You can gently ramp in the extra alternator load using a timer or whatever and it will help keep engine speed steady without a jolt.

[Stu]

Update time:

Blue EP71

I've been thinking about what to do with this car and have finally come to a bit of a plan.  Currently its under cover in dry storage and gets largely forgotten about for months at a time.  Every now and then I take the cover off, stand around pondering things while it gets a heat cycle or a short drive, then put it all away again. Its reasonably functional in its current form, is a total animal to drive (read FUN), and works well enough. I'm sure I could jump in it and rattle off more high 11sec quarter mile runs (possibly quicker) or go hit a track without too much effort.  But there are a few small things that past Stu did that current Stu isn't so happy with.  I'd like to swap back to the taller ratio gearbox with the new Cusco LSD I've got sitting on the shelf to see if one less gear change on the quarter mile would make a difference.  I've also got the new S2 GTX2867 to go on, all the stainless bends/pipe for the upgrade to a 3 inch exhaust. I'd pour some new engine mounts at the same time, change the hot side intercooler pipe, finally fit the front lip properly, rewire the main power feeds, put some high impedance big injectors in it and do away with the ballast resistors, maybe upgrade the ecu to an extreme, wire up the speed sensor and clutch position sensor so I can setup proper launch control etc.  I'm motivated, but the reality is that I don't have time for this with house renovations, a growing business, caravan build and the AE86 being priorities.   So, for now this thing will continue to stay parked up for the most part and the aim is to refresh it over winter 2023 and get it ready for OS drags 23.  

So for now all Ive done is have the alternator upgraded/rebuilt, bought a new battery, pulled the spare gearbox out of storage to fit the new diff, and ordered a few vband clamps. #boring

I'm hoping that in the next month or so I can find a weekend to give it a good clean as it got put away filthy so at least I feel its not being neglected.

And here's one of my favourite pics to keep the motivation going:

 

Other EP71

The beater has had significant rust and panel work done to it since I bought it and its "nearly" ready for paint.  A really good mate of mine is tackling most of the work and has done an amazing job - I'm very thankful as I just don't have the time to do it myself. I actually bought a donor shell to take doors/hatch/guards and a few cuts from as there was a fair bit of rot. It will never be a show car but its looking miles better than it was and Im looking forward to getting it back on the road for general hooning.  Will take it up and dyno it with KPR at some point and finally use the ramps that allow the dyno to take FWD cars that I built aaaages back.  

This is an old photo and its much further on now but you get the idea.

Ive picked up a full Si body kit for it (side skirts, front lip, boot spoiler) which I'll paint up when the rest of the car is ready.  I'm on the hunt for some different wheels for it but unsure what I really want - should really stick with 15's for cert but tempted to find some 14's.

 

The 86

I haven't really touched this much until lately while Ive been waiting for Caravan parts to arrive.  Changed out the front strut brace for a Cusco one. Fitted a kill switch in the engine bay and tidied up the main powers - will likely move the earth point to further forward on the chassis leg so its not seen. 

 

I want to eventually run a big fuel pump and big coils etc so rather than relying on old relays etc I setup a new relay/fuse box up under the dash on the passenger side.  Have run the feeds through to the battery and will hook them into the factory main fuses as there is a slot free.  Just trying to track down a fuse to suit then thats done.

You can see the link bracket mounted onto the underside of the heater box - there's not alot of real estate to hide stuff.

Ive also drawn up a mount for the Spartan3 and the EGT amplifier that DaveScience aka @Roman is going to 3d print for me - thanks bro!  This will mount to the side of the blower casing behind the glove box so will be nicely hidden.  Ive drawn up all the wiring diagrams now so any spare time will be on wiring the engine from now on.

Thats it for now

[Stu]

Holy hell, two updates within 6 months?! 

I think I've mentioned before that there isn't a lot of real estate for the ecu and wideband etc to be mounted so I've been taking advantage of every piece of space available to mount things. Ecu's laying on the floor or stuffed loose in a glove box is a pet hate of mine.  I needed to find a space to mount the CAN-EGT amplifier and the Spartan3 wideband and worked out there is some clear space between the back of the glovebox and the blower box which might do the trick.  I drew up a mount and once again the GC @Roman 3D printed it and it came out great - admittedly it took two goes because my tape measure was faulty...  Anyway, got there in the end.

The two little caps are to capture the cables so they don't move and put stress on the plugs.

Everything fits well and the CAN-EGT clips into place solidly, glad that worked out.

This is where its going to live.

 

So everything is starting to take shape now, and ive buttoned up the drivers side.  I need to find some new clutch and brake pedal rubbers, a fog light switch, replace the few bulbs in the cluster/console as there are a couple not working, find a black bonnet release lever, and give everything a clean. I'm still hunting for the head light and wiper switch bezels that have the dimmer and intermittent text on them as the switches are the adjustable ones but mine don't have the text on them.  

Also managed to get the factory radio running again and have been listening to a few classics.  I like the factory dash insets for storing tapes.

 

Last year I got in on a group buy for some carbon weather shields so fitted those too.

And here's the alternator all rebuilt/upgraded.  Have fitted that now, waiting on a belt to show up then the charge circuit stuff is all done.

 

I'm working on the engine loom at the moment - plan is to have the injection circuit and the coils circuit to have plugs to the main harness so if I ever decide to change them its only the sub harness that needs changing rather than the whole loom.  Anyway, more on that once its done.

 

[Stu]

Oh yeah, also found another hole in the NA 4age EP71.  Fuck I hate bodywork.

Everything else is looking good though so hopefully in the next month or so it will be close to ready to paint.

 

[Stu]

AE86 updates? I've been ticking away at this but only sporadically as the caravan and the orange EP71 have been eating all my time.  Ive been sorting small annoying things like blown dash bulbs, working out why the hand brake/fluid level light didnt work on the dash (wire break), why the dash lights dimmer wasn't working (switch garked up with crud), why the rear brake light warning light was on (incorrect bulb wattage), and sorting small clips and bits of trim that were missing or broken etc.  #boring #nomajorprogress

But things have been progressing on the other orange EP71:

Actually, it might be time to start a seperate thread on this turd...

 

[Stu]

Quick update on the 86:

A mate of mine has had a set of factory plastic side skirts gathering dust in his extensive hoard of AE86 parts and I have been pestering him for at least 2 years to sell them to me.  I was visiting him to pickup some other parts and finally got him at a moment of weakness and managed to load them into my car.  Very very happy! It was going to be factory skirts or nothing as I'm not a huge fan of the big fiberglass ones.  Have temporarily fitted them poser spec but will be taking them off to clean them up properly sometime soon.  

Yes panel gaps are all over the show and the ride height is stupid high, and its grubby, but its coming together now.... finally.

 

I have been pining over @Roman's ethrottle setup on his Echo for quite a while now and I wasn't 100% happy with the original blacktop quad setup on the engine. I managed to pick up a set of BMW throttles with the intention to slowly figure out if they would work on a 4age and maybe swap them in later on down the track. 

 

They are pretty compact and the quad alignment is actually not too far off the 4age.

 

The initial idea was to just slowly tinker away with it as a low priority but as usual with me, shit snowballed.  It wasn't long until I had cut a flange, squashed some pipe and tacked up a manifold...

 

They worked out really well and there is oodles of space for trumpets. @Roman (aka DaveScienceTM) has kindly offered to print a few to trial and I'm pretty excited to keep the momentum going.  I'm working on the pedal arrangement at the moment and have a few options that may work fairly easily. I will mount up a vac manifold underneath the quads and hook that into the brake booster. Being e-throttle I wont need any idle up solenoids which I'm stoked about.

 

I also have started on the cam covers. Couple of spots the cutter went a bit deep as I was running it with the jog wheel so will weld those up at the same time I setup the breathers - will update more on those next time.

 

[Stu]

Holy thread dredge batman - where has the time gone? 

I haven't done anything on the 86 in a very long time - mainly due to getting distracted with the white 4age EP71..  But in life update news we have bought a larger house so I dug the 4agte out of deep storage and now have it at home where I can get back to tinkering on it in any spare time (yeah right). I can confirm it still drives good, scarily good, I had forgotten how angry this car really is,  Being in storage hasn't caused any major issues other than the pressure gauge on the fuel pressure regulator leaking and dowsing the engine bay in fuel.   I have a new Turbosmart gauge on the way but in the mean time blanked it up with a bung.  There are alot of sins to remedy but for now its nice to have it home.  First task is to lower it back to street height as its still jacked from racing.

[Stu]

Well, Ive done exactly nothing with 86 in well over a year, but life has been pretty full on so it only seems like a few months.  The car itself is still under its cover, but things have been ticking away in the background on a new engine for it. 

Sooo I can't actually remember if it was peer pressure from @kpr or from me peer pressuring him (probably this option), but a couple of years ago the idea of a building a dream engine was born.  From memory the now somewhat famous Garage4age Turd short stroke engine was being punished to all the rpm on the dyno with great results, so the new build is based on that concept but with a hair dryer bolted to the side for max rpm and max boost lols. 

Base of the recipe was a 7a block so found one eventually:

 

This was stripped down and pistons, rods and crank etc were junked:

 

A brand new crank from Toyota made its way into the mix:

 

Along with some 81.5mm 9.0:1 Carillo forged pistons:

 

Some custom length Garage4age designed rods:

 

All the usual ARP bolts etc were aquired, and a MPR crank girdle, and this went off to the machine shop where it sat in a corner for a year or so. 

The block was washed and resufaced, torque plate honed and bored, the tops of the main bearing caps were machined, the MRP never again girdle was remachined as it wasn't flat which was a major piss off, refaced sump surface, bored main bearing tunnels, rewashed, everything was balanced and polished etc.  Here it is being picked up:

 

New oil pump which got Toda gears, some relief porting and matching to the 7a block:

 

KPR then applied his wizardry and put the whole thing together using ARP main studs, ACL race main bearings, King XP big end brearings, the balanced rods and pistions which were skimmed to 0 deck, SS works oil pickup, oil restrictor mod in head feed, and a TRD 0.8mm headgasket. 

 

So thats the bottom end done and I can't thank KPR enough for all his r&d and time put into this engine.

The head is next level again and I will post on this soon as its actually 99% done bar a few small things.

Till next time...

 

 

 

[Stu]

Next part is the head and this was actually started years ago from a stock 16v small port - so long ago that from memory it has G4A 01 stamped on it. The head retains standard size valves but has had a few other mods care of the 4age guru @kpr 

KPR broke out the dremel and applied some of his porting skills:

 

Originally I was going to use the HKS cams that are in the original 86 engine, but decided to put my big boy pants on so Kelfords made a dent in my bank balance by supplying bump sticks and a few other bits:

 

And this made me laugh

Basically its a version of KPR's Hilux engine with vvti which should make the cams managable. 

Anyway, ages back I smoothed off a set of cam covers (photos ^ there somewhere in an earlier post) so got onto finishing them by welding on some AN fittings and then fitting a set of my breather plates (which I now sell if anyone is interested).

These then went off to powdercoating.

A TRD gasket was added to the mix:

 

And then everything assembled:

 

 

There's still a bit more to go but its taking shape.

 

[Dudley]

On 09/01/2025 at 11:17, Stu said:

Next part is the head and this was actually started years ago from a stock 16v small port - so long ago that from memory it has G4A 01 stamped on it. The head retains standard size valves but has had a few other mods care of the 4age guru @kpr 

KPR broke out the dremel and applied some of his porting skills:

 

Originally I was going to use the HKS cams that are in the original 86 engine, but decided to put my big boy pants on so Kelfords made a dent in my bank balance by supplying bump sticks and a few other bits:

 

And this made me laugh

Basically its a version of KPR's Hilux engine with vvti which should make the cams managable. 

Anyway, ages back I smoothed off a set of cam covers (photos ^ there somewhere in an earlier post) so got onto finishing them by welding on some AN fittings and then fitting a set of my breather plates (which I now sell if anyone is interested).

These then went off to powdercoating.

A TRD gasket was added to the mix:

 

And then everything assembled:

 

 

There's still a bit more to go but its taking shape.

 

 

[Stu]

So the engine has sat on my bench for a while due to distractions with house projects which can be seen on the House DIY thread:

And I've also been helping get the MIL's 72 beetle back on the road which is pretty much done, leaving me with a little spare time to back to the engine.

First up was welding some fittings to the sump for the turbo oil drain, vvti oil drain and the oil drain from the back of the head:

I gave the sump a good sand and clean, then painted it black to hide the sin. Also painted the block.

Took one last look (hopefully) at the girdle, fitted the windage tray and the SS works oil pickup, then jammed the sump on:

Next I made up the head oil return line:

I started mucking around the the vvti oil feed, figuring out what elbow I needed.  

 

The base of the weld on -6 fitting was a bit touchy touchy with the block so I broke out the CNC Makita sanding lathe and accurately spun it down for clearance:

 

Tig welded it, black paint, sorted:

 

Due to the height difference of the 7a block I modified the tube between the water pump and the water neck - its ugly so no photos. But also modified the water lines by deleting the small lines that ran to the OEM throttle body, and made a bracket to support it off the block.

 

Due to the banjo fittings on the vvti block there wasn't enough room for the fuel rail fitting:

 

So milled off a flat surface on the top of the rail, and drilled/tapped it for a banjo bolt instead. 

I didn't take a photo but the original end fitting is lopped off and the rail end welded up.

 

Then fitted a new crank sprocket, the Garage4age crank hall effect bracket and sensor, idler, and cambelt etc.

 

Due to the injector length the fuel rail spacers where too short so machined some up out of acetyl. They still need trimming down a few mm and a clean up so will muck around with these more in the future.

 

This vacuum manifold thing came with the car, so made up a bracket to hang under the throttles:

 

Kind threw everything on it so I could have a quick wank then got it ready to lift in.

 

Then it was time to pull the original engine out:

 

Then I had another wank over the engine sitting on the garage floor ready to go:

 

Then once I had composed myself again I threw it in the car (shit photo):

 

So that's where its at for now, heaps of little jobs to sort then will start back into wiring.

 

[Stu]

I really struggle for free time these days but have been ticking off the odd job when I can.

Now the engine is in I could continue with the game of making the trumpets fit. In the last photo of the previous post the rear pair of trumpets weren't fitted as they hit the brake booster. I had various schemes in mind for sorting this including a change of angle for the quads, or printing different trumpets, but an easy solution was to change the booster to a smaller unit.  Quite a while back I managed to pickup a second hand KE70 booster to measure up, and seeing as it looked like it would all work I got a new one and finally got around to fitting it. 

Here's the comparison:

I also picked up a new master cylinder and threw that in.  The rubber line from the reservoir to the master touches the strut tower but I'll muck around with that later on. 

At least now there is ample room:

 

Also finished up the fuel rail spacers and fitted the rail

 

Got some new cam cover washers so bolted them down properly and fitted the coils:

 

Can't decide which spark plug cover to run, tempted to stain the wood version and run that till it catches on fire:

 

I also took the starlet for a quick loop around the neighbourhood, When I got back one of my nieghbours was waiting for me which made me worry for a bit, but he just wanted a ride...

Poor things gets warmed up then trashed, then put away again.  One day I will revisit it and make it betterer... or worserer... but definitely faster.

Anyway, thats all for now.

PS: All of this is @kpr's fault