Let’s take a closer look at Kevin’s AE86 from the last video. We were lucky the sun came out that day to show off its incredible blue paint. Kevin had been building this car for over seven years and had just picked it up a couple of days before we called out to visit. He was very eager to show me the Levin. Continue Reading
A Hidden shed Tour! We take a look at a freshly built AE86 Levin and a shed full of Japanese classics.
I’m very fortunate to work in a place that imports parts from Japan. It’s as much a blessing as it is a curse. Most of our monthly wages never really leave JDM Distro but working here has enabled me to source some of the best parts for my AE86 build over the last few years.
Being able to drop parts at the depot in Japan was once in a lifetime stuff. Here was a Goodline 86 hood, which I had listed after for many, many years. We barely snugged it into the back of the Alphard and drove halfway across Japan to drop it off just outside of Tokyo.
YES! Parts and magazines Arrive at JDM Distro from our Japan in a Van trip, making it one of the best days ever at work.
Here are some photos from the time we drove down to Group D. Group D is the brainchild of Darren McNamara, a well-known legend in the Drift scene. Darren has been tinkering with Corollas for a long time, and he developed a rear coil-over suspension for the AE86 with a company from the UK called AVO. You have probably seen the vlog episode from this day, with the old legend and his lovely little starlet. I had a mega backlog of photos from older episodes that I will throw up on the site every Friday. Enjoy the images of the day below.
We are very fortunate to have people like MR X in the car community. For years, he has been supplying the AE86 community with much sought after parts. He has been breaking Corollas for parts for well over ten years, and it is a necessary evil, sometimes it’s sad to see cool cars he has killed, but most of the time, every last piece of that car ends helping another.
We go AE86 parts hunting at MR X’s stash to find the missing bits for the Trueno build. We also get a quick look at MR X’s private collection.
If my younger self could see me now! That young freckly fucker obsessing over Gran Turismo 2, sitting in his room listening to that smooth jazz menu music, looking at cars he had never heard of in the used car garage. Here I am, many years later, still chasing the dream, still into the same stuff I was back then! I think my younger self would be buzzing to see the space I have in the shed with sound friends, a few rusty Japanese shit heaps, a few bikes, skateboards and silly bits pushing on into my 30s. It’s not much, but I try not to take it for granted, best to enjoy the ride. This night made me incredibly happy.
We are back at it in our shed with the Trueno progress and updates on where to go next, with a few surprised along the way.
The AE86 shell is finally back on the ground, rolling on all four wheels, a big step forward in this build. It’s finally starting to feel like a car again.
A big moment! We finally start assembling the AE86 shell. This weekend was probably the most exciting part of the build. The plan was to get it rolling in Flips after paint and wheel it back to our shed.
Fitting new parts onto the shell was one of the greatest feelings. Everyone was buzzing to help, which made for a hilarious weekend of assembly craic with the lads. It was a huge milestone, it felt like we had reached the peak, and everything was going to be easier from here on in. After looking at the 86 as a bare shell for so long, I was starting to wonder if we would ever get to this stage. Out of nowhere, the body went from looking more or less the same for two-plus years into pretty much a rolling chassis in the space of two nights. It all happened so quick that it took a week or two for my brain to catch up.
I found a photo set from when we brought the March and the Civic to the track day. I’m pretty sure this is from March 2019. This day out was such an enjoyable day with the lads. We had a blast in the Civic thanks to Trackdays.ie, and took the March out just for a laugh,
I’ve gone back through the backlog of photos from the AE86 shell progress. My initial idea was to release all of these when the vlog came out to have a nice behind the scenes photo set to accompany the videos.
Unfortunately, time had been against my so ill post older photos most Fridays from here on out until we catch up with relevant pictures posting Wednesday after each video.
Today we are taking a look back at the weekend we undersealed the car. Barry called down Friday night to finish the last welding, followed by his cousin Jackie, who finished the remaining exposed seals in the arches and under the body. We went complete overkill and sprayed seam sealer all over the high impact parts of the underneath.
We find a famous AE86 and the perfect KE70 Corolla hidden in the Irish countryside.