AnotherSlowAE86's.. slow AE86

[AnotherSlowAE86]

1985 Toyota Corolla GT-S Coupe

It's been a long journey and it isn't over by a long shot. There's probably more I'm forgetting.. but here's the quick and dirty.

Mods:

• HKS Exhaust
• TRD Short Shifter
• JDM Zenki Front Bumper
• JDM Zenki Turn Signals
• JDM OEM Front Bumper Brackets
• JDM Zenki Grill
• JDM Rear Bumper
• JDM OEM Rear Bumper Brackets
• JDM Zenki Tail Lights
• Tomei 2 Way LSD
• OEM Side Skirts
• OEM Coupe Spoiler
• Seibon Carbon Fiber Hood
• JDM "Trueno" Emblem
• Enkei Compe's in 15X8 0
• Annex Coilovers
• T3 4-Links
• T3 Pan Hard Bar
• Wilwood Big Brake Kit Front and Rear
• Unknown Front/Rear Sway Bars (Came with car)
• TRD Shift Knob
• Zenki Trunk Garnish (minty and rare)
• Manual Steering Rack
• JDM Kouki Seats

Work done:

• Rebuilt T50 Transmission (all OEM parts)
• Resealed Engine
• New Timing Belt
• New Water Pump
• New Oil Pump
• Rebuilt Front Hubs and Races
• Replaced Driver Side Power Mirror
• Red Panda Paint Job and Rust Repair
• Door Hinges Replaced
• Tie Rods Replaced
• Manual Steering Rack Rebuilt and Installed
• FLCAs / Ball Joints Replaced

Here's a picture the day I got it home..



Couple shots of the rust. Wasn't going to cut corners. New metal would be welded in..





Started ordering parts. Couldn't find real Watanabes in the fitment I wanted right away and had some eBay bucks to spend. Ended up grabbing these Enkeis for a really low price.



Started rebuilding the transmission. T50 OEM rebuild kits are few and far in between these days. Ended up sourcing one from a guy in Florida. No pictures of the transmission rebuild process, but very cool looking anyhow.

But while the transmission was out, I got the Wilwood BBK installed front and rear..



Finally got the car back on the road with the new wheels, brakes, transmission rebuilt and 16v rebuilt. Also got a JDM rear bumper installed. At this point I was still trying to source a zenki front bumper..




What do ya know, a buddy down in Portland decided to part ways with one of his spares. Unfortunately, many JDM zenki front bumpers have the corners cut. I couldn't say no, due to the price being very reasonable.

No JDM emblem or turn signals at this point. I was quickly discovering the AE86 is a difficult car to source parts for and even when you do, they're pretty expensive. Luckily I had deployment money to burn.





HKS exhaust came in and was a breeze to install. Much better than the corny piece the car came with.



Around this time my side skirts arrived and I had the car's major exterior pieces all installed. With many more parts coming from Japan, I figured it was time to get into paint.

I debated long and hard about doing the typical white panda color scheme. I really love the way it looks on the coupes, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Figured I'd compromise by keeping the same OEM red, but with a "red panda" scheme.





JDM Zenki tails from another PNW AE86 legend in Portland..





Some where around this time the tired old suspension gave out. Perfect time to hit up the guys at Battle Garage RS for some coilovers and a hub rebuild kit.



Pretty proud of this part. Got some brand new JDM turn signals and a brand new JDM zenki grill. Not easy to find new old stock like that. Ended up getting the last two sets of signals available.

Oh and a kouki "Trueno" emblem. Zenki emblems are expensive and hard to find. Made more sense to buy a kouki and trim it to fit.



Another part I'm pretty proud of is this zenki trunk garnish. Most of these are so sun damaged that you can't even tell what the original finish was. I was able to source this minty fresh one from AE86 parts purveyor Jacob Gioffre.



So I'm sure by now you saw how hideous my OEM hood was, it had been mutilated with a set of hood pins for some reason (previous owner).

I had tolerated looking at it as long as I possibly could until..




My old WRX in the background..




Couple quick shots in better lighting.




Which brings me to present day. Loved the progress made and the car was coming along nicely. Didn't quite look right without an OEM coupe spoiler, so I scrounged up more money to make another purchase. Wife was starting to disapprove at this point.





I've accomplished quite a bit with the car in a relatively short period of time. Though I have no plans to stop just yet. I'm currently weighing whether or not I want to swap to a 20v or squeeze more power out of my 16v. I'm partial to the 16v, even though it doesn't make sense financially.

I also want to put some authentic CBY flares on it. That way I could hide the cut corners on my front bumper. It'd also help with how thin the fenders are from the previous owner rolling them. They look fine in the photos, but in person they don't look perfect.

Haven't really started on the interior at all. Just added a few necessary pieces that were missing. Future posts will probably be centered around rehabilitating the interior, as my dash is cracked and the carpet is trash.

Thanks for looking!

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Been a long time, nearly a year since I've updated! Not everything has a photo record. But I have a few photos to show whats been done. What HASN'T been photographed, is the replacement of my looped power steering rack with a manual rack. I also replace my old FLCAs with a fresh set with new ball joints. The difference is substantial and has resulted in a much better experience on the road.

Here's a few photos to show what else I've been up to:

New axle bearings, replaced one of the door handles too. The little round black bushings are for the valve covers, which we'll talk about next..


Bought an old dirty set of valve covers. Thought about having them restored to factory spec./colors but I decided against it. I can always find another set for cheap to do that with down the line, so I have my choice of valve covers to swap in and out as I please.


Decided to go with a nice gloss black. Some times I wish I went with a matte black, as the car has a lot of gloss black as is. But here we are anyway:


My interior has been, in large part, ignored. So I decided to buy a few things to make the space more enoyable.. or as enjoyable as a 30+ year interior can be right now. Needed floor mats, happened to know a guy putting together a group buy in Japan for nicely made LHD mats. Couldn't let this opportunity escape me.


I also hated the seats the previous owner has installed. I think they were out of a Sentra SE-R or something weird. They certainly weren't designed for the Corolla and resulted in an awkward seating position. Found a set a JDM kouki seats for cheap. Was very happy to find them, especially at the price I paid.


Here's the seats installed. As you can tell, my interior and seats aren't matching. While I love the maroon/red interior, it's simply too difficult for me to source quality maroon interior pieces. Additionally, I wanted to go with these kouki seats specifically and they don't come in red. So I'll be swapping interior pieces over time.


You'll notice I've already begun, the interior color swap with the door cards being replaced..


Decided to re-install the cam gear cover with my newly powder coated valve covers. Oh, that intake is also new. Forgot to mention it! Engine bay still needs painted, but thats for another day.. or year..:



OEM headlights didn't cut it in the dark, dark PNW. So I had to sort that with these:



I didn't like the bare look of the car's rear. So I found some JDM replica decals.


The JDM replica decals weren't quite my thing, so I swapped them out for some USDM replica decals. Wish I could find new OEM sets, but they're very rare now and more money than I'm willing to spend.


That's just about the extent of what's been done since I last posted in August, 2018. Wish more had been done, but time and money isn't what it used to be. Here's a bonus picture I took:



Until next time!

[AnotherSlowAE86]

(Reserved for the future)

[spicyricecake]

Looks awesome. Do you plan to paint the headlight covers black?

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Originally Posted by spicyricecake

Looks awesome. Do you plan to paint the headlight covers black?

Thanks! I actually have some J-Blood carbon fiber covers coming as we speak.

[johl]

Great build so far

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Originally Posted by johl

Great build so far

Appreciated!

[DaSilva3525]

Awesome job! Very nice touches to bring it back to life.

I crave for an old AE86 except I can't find anything within reason locally. If there is one, it's all rotted for 10Gs rolling lol

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Originally Posted by DaSilva3525

Awesome job! Very nice touches to bring it back to life.

I crave for an old AE86 except I can't find anything within reason locally. If there is one, it's all rotted for 10Gs rolling lol

Thanks! For better or worse the market on these cars is only going up. I wanted to buy a hatch to round out my car collection, but it's getting tough to find a project GT-S hatch worth my time and money.

If you really want one, keep an eye out. I've seen cars that are turn key and good to go for decent sums of money. I certainly wish I had been more patient, I spent more restoring this car than some people were asking for their finished projects.

[aimforapex]

This is some good shit!

I went to travel and drove a AE86 Trueno Sprinter around Tokyo. I get the hype for these cars after the drive haha.

[DarkSideFRS]

awesome build. looks much better now!

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Originally Posted by aimforapex

This is some good shit!

I went to travel and drove a AE86 Trueno Sprinter around Tokyo. I get the hype for these cars after the drive haha.

Much of the appeal of the AE86 I've found in my BRZ. They still offer different experiences, but I like them for a lot of the same reasons.

Sounds like you had fun in Tokyo!

Originally Posted by DarkSideFRS

awesome build. looks much better now!

Thanks!

[Lantanafrs2]

That's a nice car. Well done.

[AnotherSlowAE86]

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

That's a nice car. Well done.

I appreciate it! Got some new parts in the mail today. Excited to get them installed.