A little escape from the grind with a few friends, pushing the limits of their road-going 4A-GE AE86s and some shed shenanigans.
I have a lot of respect for Bryan, I’d be completely lost without him steering the ship on this build, when things get a little daunting, he’s usually there throwing some sort of suggestion or idea that saves the day. A few nights before the car went for paint we installed the Tomei Poncams, and it really opened my eyes up to just how much effort goes into this stuff. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves here, Im sure most of you landed here due to the videos, as I’ve mentioned many times Im incredibly grateful to be surrounded by the right kind of people on this build.
A day I thought would never come, we had been at this for over five years at the time of these photos. This was an emotional day for both of us, we had both been so emotionally invested in this car over the last few years, Barry finished the front arch and gapped the front end and rear before hitting the hills. Without Barry this car would have never happened, along with Bryan, Flip or Jackie, key players in this car’s restoration, I wouldn’t have been able to undertake such a mission. I’m forever grateful for knowing these guys and having their influence and drive throughout the build.
Barry’s final day doing metal work on the AE86.
Here are a few photos from the night we installed the cam cover and the pulleys, a vision I had for this for a long time I was curious to see if it would work out.
We refreshed the AE86’s cam cover with some sparkle paint and give the BMW some attention.
I could watch Barry forever working on this car and others, working with metal has always fascinated me and it’s been an absolute blast watching him figure things out with this car and slowly remove all the misery. It’s mad to think it’s over a year since I shot these photos, the last few weeks before the car went for paint, Barry devoted his weekends to calling down and wrapping up the flared arch work on the Trueno. I divided that work into four episodes one for each arch as I loved having Barry on the videos chatting shit and showing us how he does it. I’ll leave these photos to speak for themselves, someone might appreciate how he does it, a dying craft, very much on a dying platform, a blog post!
Barry finishes the right side on the AE86. We can finally see how the Trueno will sit. The metalwork is almost finished!
Nothing beats that first car modification; luckily for my brother Stephen, he went for the delayed gratification and slowly accumulated all the parts he wanted to fit into the car over a year until he scored a full license. We picked a suitable weekend, and a few of us got together to help him achieve the dream of owning a stripped-out nugget.
Here are a few photos from the first finished arch. Barry worked his magic here. I mentioned a few posts ago just how nervous I was about the overall shape of the arch and how it would come together, but Im very pleased with these. The profile follows the original form from Toyota and loses the flat piece on the front, which nods to the original design.
Here is the photoset from the day we nailed the very first arch. The rest were based on this shape and made for a balanced look. I’d be lost without Barry and his talents on this.
We take my brother’s first car, A Toyota Vitz (Yaris), and overhaul it with rare parts he has collected over the last year.
As Barry finished the right arch, progress is back on the menu for the AE86.
This was a special Saturday for the 86; Barry and I had been away from the car since September, things didn’t line up, and I was keen to get him back down to finish the arches; this was all that was left on his end before the car 86 gets shipped off for paint. We figured out a few weekends, and he promised he would make it down and try to wrap this up.
Here’s a little photo dump from the last few videos from the shed. When nothing happened on the 86, we would drip across to the E36. Like many of you, having a full-time job and life leaves little room for other stuff, so cars get neglected. We wanted to spruce up the BMW, and at the same time, Josh was getting his car buttoned up. I had been editing Japan in a Van series, so I missed much of this progress.