Like the shoot we did on Jacks’s car, you can see the sun starting to fade on these photos of the Wyleys Corolla FX GT. I absolutely love this car, and these are some of my favourite images I’ve extracted from the newer Sony A7III I’ve been shooting with. The Autumn colours were a perfect backdrop to this silver Corolla.
Progress was a little patchy on the AE86 during lockdowns and restrictions. We bring you up to speed on the Trueno progress which was filmed off camera. It is not long till the first start now.
This was another one of those incredibly productive weekends. During covid, things were patchy, and progress ground halted for much of Christmas 2019/2020. With lockdowns and everything in between, the car progress had stopped, and it wasn’t until May/June 2020 that things started to move again.
This build has always been feast or famine, massive chunks of progress in the shed or small dribbles of effort. Over this weekend, our friend Darrel had re-adjusted the clocks to zero, as we felt the car deserved it. It had never come with the original Clocks. If you are a long time viewer of the build, you will know that the clocks were out of an AE92 supercharged FWD Levin, along with the entire loom.
The AE86 rolls out of the shed for the first time in daylight with an engine, and we push it over to flips to sort an exhaust manifold setup.
I can still taste the rich fumes on the back of my throat from this weekend. I’m sure this was a moment Flip would never forget. During the lockdown period of 2020, Flip and Reuben were quietly working away on resolving all the gremlins in the FC and sorting it out for its first start. They gave me a call when they knew they were close to the first proper start.
Reuben was jobless and looking for something to occupy his time during what seemed like a never-ending lockdown, and what better way to pass the time than jumping headfirst into the unknown land of rotary power. When I called out, the lads were talking about things I had never heard of, and it was great to see just how far down the rabbit hole both of them had fallen on a mission to get the 13b Fired up.
We test fit the 4A-GE to the Trueno and see what kind of clearance we have with the 100mm trumpets. We also try on the Goodline Hood to see if it works with the engine installed.
This is an AE86 heavy episode. We rebuild the 20 Valve Blacktop 4A-GE for the Trueno and we get a surprise 86 visitor from Scotland.
I got a phone call from a friend, I was finally getting the chance to see this AE111. For those of you who dont know this car, this is the Cruise Power Levin. Cruise are notorious for covering cars in their signature pink and well, building insane power cars. This is just one of the many cars that was snatched up at auction and made its way to our damp little isle.
This was always an interesting build from the Guys at Auto Rest. Obviously built to compete with the DC2 Integra type-R, this Levin actually looks pretty good in, the styling is done quite close to the actual ITR but doesn’t look out of place on the AE111, it would be interesting to see a battle between this AE111 and the DC2, anyone out there know if this ever went down in an of the Japanese videos? Either way a cool car.
Hyper Rev vol18
Dave has had this car for almost ten or more years. In this world we never really own our cars, if the car is maintained well it will eventually pass hands when we are gone. This car has always been special to me because it gave me such inspiration over the years, back when the car scene was infected with filler and ICE installs, this Corolla had come in from Japan land stripped out with Advan A3A’s at the back and Longchapms at the front. Straight away it looked cool, a little track slut with odd shoes, something I had never seen before. It was silver low and ignorant looking, the complete opposite to every Max Power machine around at the time.
Dave’s car is well known amongst the 86 community in Ireland. Being one of the founding members of Garage Hachi, quite a hot blog up until a year ago, the guys have always had a serious eye for the right parts and have a true love for the 86 chassis.
Ah, another AE86 track day. Anyone who follows this blog will know how much we enjoy this chassis. Anytime there is a track day for the 86 movement it always brings a very interesting selection of cars.
Ireland has to have one of the most solid loves for the AE86 in the world. We literally stole thousands of them from Japan. On top of buying these out of Japan we have all the goodies and people around the country manage to build some incredible examples time and time again. No other movement inside the car scene seems to be as good.
Stephens Turbo work in Progress Pride and Joy…. watch this space, this car is only going to get better….
It’s obvious to many just how strong the AE86 following is here in Ireland, there was such a ridiculous amount of these cars brought into our little country over the last ten years. Nicky’s 86 was one of these cars; it came in as a slag from Japan, with a collection of desirable goodies. Somehow he managed to build on what many would have called an already awesome car. I have to admit, like many who have seen this car in the flesh, it just makes you smile, it could easily be one of the best looking Trueno’s this little green isle has ever seen.
The dates have been announced and its shaping up to be another enjoyable year for Irish drifting with the usual favourite places and a date announced in the north! Roll on the good times!
