You’ve probably arrived here after watching the recent Juicebox video. Eamons car is another local machine, long overdue some attention both on here and on Youtube. The problem is when your friends have these remarkable cars, You always leave them on the back burner. There’s no sense of urgency to do photoshoots as you think they will be around forever.
We take a closer look at this rowdy perfectly styled BN sports kitted R32 Skyline Sedan
A few days after the maiden voyage of Flips FC on the streets, we decided to do a shoot. This photoset was supposed to be the main photoshoot of the car. Flip hadn’t finished the car’s final form yet, so we decided to wait. Regardless, I hadn’t been shooting as much car photography as I used to, especially of close mates and their epic cars. I’ve taken stuff for granted as I’m always around it in the sheds.
It was a real treat to get a double dose of Sunny trucks on the same day, almost a little overwhelming. You are trying to focus on all the details of one truck. At the same time, you don’t want to miss anything with another. Alan had taken a more traditional route with his Sunny Darren. The owner of this short bed had repainted his.
Meeting Alan and his GB122 was a pleasurable experience. Alan asked to call down to check out the shed and show us his Long body GB122 Sunny truck. I’ve always had a soft spot for these, but I can’t say much; my dream car list is quite basic, EK9s, AE86s, S13s, all the usual stuff. I admire people like Alan who step outside the norm and import stuff like this, Sunny.
Two rare Datsun Sunny trucks call to the shed for us to take a look and Flip takes his FC for its first drive.
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.
We head back to our friend Dan’s back garden, where we initially found the AE86. We check out his collection of forgotten Japanese cars to hear his plans, reminisce about old stories and collect a sensor for my 4A-GE engine.
Getting closer to that first start on the AE86, we fit the clutch lines, add gearbox and clutch fluid and mess around with hidden throttle linkage from SQ engineering.
So after a massive chunk of progress, we were onto the brakes. I thought this would be smooth sailing after fitting the engine box and other chunky bits. It turns out this would be one of the most temperamental parts of the build. The bias valve to the rear was faulty and wasn’t allowing fluid to the back brakes. It took us a good few hours to figure this out. You might have seen it in the video.
We install brake lines on the AE86 and eventually get the callipers to work. As usual, it’s not without a slice of typical Trueno torture!
At the time, I didn’t realise just how important this day would be. In well over three years, the ae86 hadn’t seen the light of day on its wheels. After we fitted the engine and box, we decided to push the car over to Flips to fit the manifold, sort a Flexi pipe and do the exhaust.
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.
Considerable progress on the AE86. We fit the 4A-GE and gearbox Trueno and a few other small bits. Another step towards starting this thing!