We take the AE86 out for its first drive with the new engine set up around the business park, no panels, lots of noise and lots of laughs!
For anyone who has been here before, the feeling as you nervously wait for the engine to fire up, years and years of putting time and effort into this build with friends because this car is a communal effort hoping it will pay off.
After years of building, the AE86 runs and drives! A huge milestone for the project. Also, our shop is finally live and fully stocked!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
We reset the clocks on a cluster for the AE86, and add some parts to the 4A-GE
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.