Jarrad's AE86 resto project

[Jrad]

I know, they're pretty cool!

I was trying to find some more information on them, to no avail.

[Jrad]

An automotive trimmer told me how hard it was going to be, and that I probably couldn't do it.

So I bought myself a roll of vinyl and did it.

Full re-trim of a steering wheel! Pretty damn happy with how it came out, having never attempted something like this before.

[Jimmee1990]

Looks awesome, good work!

[Jrad]

Cheers man!

I can be picky, a few things I would do differently if I did it again. But overall I'm quite happy.
Starting to get feeling in my fingers again today, lol.

[Mirko]

Props on the wrap work man looks great at his rate your gonna finish before me haha

[Jrad]

So if you recall, the present I bought myself off Yahoo.
Pair of 264 HKS cams and gears.


I paid 350,000 Yen for them, so about $350. Plus shipping etc. All up, a pretty good price!

HOWEVER...
Turns out one cam is a stock 4AGE cam. I'm pretty annoyed about it, as the add clearly said two sets (pair) 264/264

"It will be two sets Toyota Levin / Trueno for HKS made high cam and cam pulley slide.


★ ★ Details
It becomes the AE86 Levin system / Trueno 4A-G for.
More ... 264/264"



I've been offered a 100k refund, but nothing else.
250,000 yen ($250ish) is pretty still alright for a single cam (in very good condition) and retro gears.
It's just the postage that killed it.

SO! i'm on the hunt for a single 264 (or similar) HKS cam.
Or if someone else is on the hunt for a single cam, we can negotiate some sort of price.

Another bit of bad news is that when I pulled the cam cover off my engine, I found 2 seized valves. I'm so bitter over that engine. I don't even want to talk about it, haha.

This whole build has been a learning curve, and sometimes it just pays to pay full price for new items that have guarantees. Or pay the little bit extra from people you know, have good reputations, or can be relied upon.

[Jimmee1990]

I have some spare standard valves with minimal wear you can have to get you out of trouble if you want, I have no need for them anymore. How long was the engine sitting for?

[Jrad]

Yeah, that definitely wouldn't go astray, cheers!

Who knows prior to me owning it. Apparently it was a running, but judging from the sludge and surfaces in all the ports. It's been sitting for a couple years.

[Jrad]

So I spent a day just pottering - looking for stuff to do as I was waiting for primer to dry on a bumper bar I'm painting for a mate of mine.

Got stuck into repairing my bumper bars doing a bit of plastic welding.

For those interested, it's a pretty easy task that basically relies on you knowing your plastics.
Being an Industrial Designer, we did a whole subject based on plastics.
The AE86 bumper bars are Polypropylene (PP) which has largely been replaced in newer cars with more common plastics such as PPE.
Generally on the inside of the bumper it will have a code that has PP or PPE or PP+E or something like that.

For a good weld, you absolutely need to used LIKE plastics.
Same melting points, same material. I was lucky enough to have some PP laying around from a different car's bumper, so used that.
Then, it's like metal welding. Get both surfaces hot enough that they melt together and merge. You can even cut a strip and use it like a welding stick.
I did it using an electric soldering iron (a good one, not shitty one)

Welding up the number plate holes on my ADM zenki bar, as I have some Kouki redlines going on.


My front bumper had a whole corner missing due to a dog where the car was previously stored before I bought it.
you can see I cut a corner to match, welded it in front and back, and sanded it back to match. Really happy with how that come out.



Then I saw a Toyota Century when I walked out of work in the city. Sweet!


TL;DR
Plastic welded some bars
Saw a Century.
See pics.

[Jrad]

Oh yeah, and I did a build total so far.

Taking guesses

I wasn't shocked, but at this point where it's still in a million pieces it's like "well, not much to show for it!"