I originally shot this FD back in 2013 before moving to Canada; it hasn’t hanged much since then visually, and that’s a good thing. I’ve always loved the look of this car, and PJ shares the same opinion. He has retained its original style, only tweaking the aesthetics slightly to make it more usable.
Ireland has a very diverse car culture; in this episode, we head to two shows back to back featuring Escort Cosworths, MK2 escorts, Golf GTI’s and much more. These two shows give a glimpse into the incredible stuff dotted around the Emerald Isle.
This episode is packed with unique cars, a wild Japanese Altezza Demo car survivor, a timeless Evo III and the Perfect 500bhp FD RX7. Enjoy a little slice of the madness hidden away in the rural Irish countryside.
We check out a Mitsubishi Turbo Kei car you’ve probably never heard of called an “EK” this is not to be confused with a Civic. Josh get his M3 powered E30 running for the first time.
After endless days of metalwork on the shell, it sat as bare in ten different shades of shit for almost two years. It started as four days worth of metal work but slowly turned into a very in-depth restoration project.
I learned a lot about what could be hiding under the paint, in between panels and what it takes to get the shell to the right shape. It has been an enormous learning curve; I often wonder if I would have pulled it out of Dan’s garden, knowing what I know now. Maybe so, it’s hard to tell. Sometimes it feels like we are going nowhere but it takes looking back at these images to realise how far we have come.
The progress was moving very quickly for the first six months, but it started to slow down as I quickly realised I had bitten off more than I could chew. These photos were from September 2018 when we rubbed the shell down, getting it ready for paint. Every one of us have a life outside the shed; Barry has a full-time job, I could only get to the project on the weekends, this all aided in the project going on for much longer than I had anticipated. Nevertheless, we kept inching forward. Unfortunately, we found another batch of rust which ill cover in a future post and vlog episode, but we are getting there.
I guess its all part of the fun. I’ve wanted one of these cars for over fifteen years; I watched all of my friends go through the misery, go through the motions with their projects while I was on the sidelines documenting their stories.
Its like life was waiting to drop a mega project on me to make up for all the years I avoided the hardship! Either way, I cant wait for the day this is a proper 86 again.
I have endless respect for the people who have gone down this road with a restoration project and I’m forever grateful for everyone who has helped me get this far already.
Three years and counting. Always looking forward to that first start.
At this point, we thought the rust chasing was coming to an end, oh how we were wrong! Barry had worked his way up to the front end of the car, cutting out the last few bits around the shock tower, making his way to the front end.
I love how much the 86 pocket joke has grown. These are questionable design flaw on the 86. The area is prone to moisture, and the only real purpose the pocket serves is to help keep the bumper on. It’s a notorious spot to rust on these cars and people usually gauge the car’s overall health here in Ireland by what pocket condition. A long-standing joke amongst Irish 86 heads, you often see people talk about them when figuring out if its a solid car or not. I love the fact we got it going with the vlogs.
Valve lapping is up there with taking out the sound deadening and removing the sealer from the wheel wells. Three of the most miserable parts of this car so far. For everything else, I’m lucky to have people like Barry and Bryan helping otherwise id be screwed.
Lapping felt like forever, so why not bring the head to some scenic spots, take in the sights and enjoy the more beautiful things in life, like beaches and misery. I still get a chuckle from these pics. Good times…
Barry chases the last bits of rust on the AE86 shell before we give the underneath a coat of protection. This progress is interrupted many times by a variety of distractions.
Our friend Rob has a pretty cool collection of Mitsubishi Evo’s hidden right around the corner from our shed. Its about time we give you a tour of his unit packed full of Cool Mitsubishis.
Barry is back to cut the rust out of the AE86. Jackie calls down to apply fresh seam-seal the vulnerable parts of the Trueno! More progress and fewer distractions with this one.
Throughout this whole build, Barry has been a critical ingredient in keeping me calm and pushing forward. He also likes to fuck with me as much as possible, especially when I’m completely vulnerable like a helpless child watching him cut the car into pieces.
Barry is back to cut the rust out of the AE86. Jackie calls down to apply fresh seam-seal the vulnerable parts of the Trueno! More progress and fewer distractions with this one.
We get back on track with AE86 progress, we build a spit for the Trueno, rebuild the starter motor and get the shell ready for undersealing.
We hit the racetrack in the K11 daily driver March and go for another run in the Civic. The guys at Trackdays.ie were nice enough to invite us to another day out so we couldn’t resist. Barry calls down to finish Adrians Carina and we sort some coils for the 4A-GE.