1985 GT Apex Sprinter Trueno

[N2AE86]

Thought you would have dumped that GZE in which you have kicking around?

Mark likes his detail doesn't he - very tidy looking build! Takes me back to when I rebuilt my 3sGTE!

[Lauren]

Hi Matt,

That GZE is still in our garden shed having been rebuilt about ten years ago! Tbh Mark is now worried that because it wasn't built to the meticulous detail that Tom did with mine, for example clearing the oil ways blasting everything out that it will need to come apart again to make sure everything was okay. Our original plan was to junk the SC and turbo it as it's relatively easy to do.

In the end due to all the above we elected to get Tom to blueprint the second hand block I had and replace everything on the head that that my car came with. Mark didn't do any of the engine building. Tom did everything, he's way more fussy and better qualified than Mark could hope to be.

To be honest, I'm not sure the chassis would take that much power as it really needs a fair bit of sorting. It's running TRD suspension, on blue dampers on the rear. We took off the TRD greens from the front as they were stupidly stiff and it's just running KYB stock front dampers. I only did this to improve the ride. It's not made any difference to the handling which unfortunately is none too clever. I think it probably needs all the bushings replaced and a complete change of suspension. All that lot will cost, but it's not a high priority at the moment. I think fitting 15" rims with 195/50's will massively help things by taking off the stock balloon tyres.

[Lauren]

The AE86 is alive!

Here's the proof:

http://youtu.be/JJCFIrMShIk

Very fitting that my GT gave my AE a helping hand to bring it back to life:



28 km/h on axle stands!

[Lauren]

Yep, just a few more jobs to do, then it's ready.

In terms of getting it started I had forgotten a connector which powers the ECU from the loom. Once I'd figured that out we then had fuel and ignition, but as when it fired it slowed the turnover of the engine down. We re-set it to TDC and I took the dizzy off and made a good guess at getting the rotor arm pointing at number one.

Then the moment I turned the key it ran straightaway. The idle was going up and down, but this was quickly traced to a vaccuum hose on the idle up that hadn't been connected. Once we did that, it ran so smooth.

It is a real relief it's up and running again and there really isn't much to do get it through the MOT. We've decided that Mark will be the custodian of the AE86 and he is going to use it through the summer.

A big thanks must go to Si for all his bearding help and Tom for doing the build so meticulously well. Though when he repained the crank pulley he covered the timing marks!

[Lauren]

Exhaust manifold wrap finished finally.



Mark had an idea to fit all studs to the head for the exhaust manifold rather than two studs and three bolts:



Trouble was we couldn't get the manifold on. So in the end we reverted back to stock. All new Toyota bolts of course.

Managed to get a downpipe to cat gasket for free from Kwik Fit. Still leaks though. So will need a thicker gasket.

I went to put on the undertray which meant the car was close to being lowered onto it's wheels once more for a celabratory drive around the yard, only to find a drip of coolant. Yep, water pump gone. FFS. That won't be cheap and whilst not quite the hardest job in the world to change is a bit of a PITA. So, not much in the way of progress today.

[Lauren]

Balls, had a thought, changing the water pump is a bit of a PITA. All the belts, crank pulley, timing covers and cam belt need to come off to get at the pump.

could take a punt on changing the front, but that can be just as much trouble trying to clean the mating surface of old gasket.

Fun job eh? Put it all back together only to take it apart again!

[Chaycore]

Oh man that sounds like such a pain! Old cars can be such a nightmare sometimes. You need it running to realise why the struggle is all worth it though, hopefully that happens soon

[Lauren]

Yep, total pain! Water pump is ordered from Toyota, will have it by Wednesday. Won't have an opportunity to work on it though for another three weeks.

Have Sprint next weekend, then BHP at Lydden Hill for the May bank holiday.

[Kev]

You should document a list of all the Toyota engine part codes you've fitted and put it in the technical section for reference Lauren!

[Lauren]

That's way too much work, Kev and I'm not sure I've kept all the receipts!

Basically I've replaced everything from valve stem oil seals to rings, bearings and all that stuff. I've also replaced any bolts needed too. I've only used Toyota parts for the lot.

Really it's simply a head gasket set, rings, all bearings. The actual part numbers you will need for some of these will vary depending upon bearing size for example, so it wouldn't be that useful and a head gasket set is fairly easy to spec, you just buy the lot.

All you need to do is give you VIN plate to your Toyota parts guy and they do the rest.