NZ AE85 - soon to be BEAMS powered

[Hachi Go]

I've always enjoyed viewing other people's build threads, so I thought I'd give back and share my own. A bit of history on myself and the car first:

My first project was an S14 Silvia powered by a NEO RB25DET. It was a fun build, and made 250rwkw. Here's a video of it in action-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-mUv4dDOw

I decided to sell the S14 a few years ago and go with something more practical for daily driving, so I bought a 2001 C-Class Mercedes-Benz. I fitted some 19s and a sound system, and used this for daily duties for a year or two. I got bored of the low-powered auto, and decided it was time for another performance car. So I sold the Merc, and went on the lookout for a Nissan 350Z through Japan. It was taking a while to find a suitable 350Z, and I needed a daily driver in the meantime. I always had a soft spot for the AE86, so I decided to buy an AE85 as a cheap daily driver while looking for a suitable 350z.

I came accross a 1984 Toyota Trueno AE85 that had just had a strip down, rust removal and respray. It was stock standard, and came with some tidy 15x7 Japanese wheels. I paid more for it than I had budgeted for, but when I went to view the car, I fell in love with it and handed over the cash - with the usual inflated pricing that these cars go for.

The more I drove the car around, the more I fell in love with it. Soon, I really didn't give a crap about buying a 350Z, so I scrapped this idea, and started building the AE85.

Here it is with the 15X7s it came on. That's my cousin Oz, who came over to check out the new wheels.



The 15x7s weren't going to cut it, so I bought these NZ made Arrow 3 piece wheels. 15x10 0 offset in the rear, and 15x8 -10 offset in the front.




This is what it looked like with the new wheels and CBY flares. Stock ride height was a disgrace, I know! I was considering doing an S13 front coilover and 4 pot Nissan brakes conversion at the time, and was collecting the parts in the meantime.





Fitted a Sabelt wheel, removed the stock seats, fitted Bride Low Max seats and removed boot trim to prepare it for a half-cage install






I bought a full Vertex body kit initially. I decided that I much preffered the look of the stock bumper + front lip, so I sold the Vertex front bumper. I also sold the Vertex side skirts and replaced them with Origin items. I also managed to get my hands on a genuine TRD spoiler. Here are some pics checking the kit for fitment, before removing them and preparing them for paint.







I decided to ditch the S13 suspension idea, and bought some BC coilovers. I'll fit FC3S breaks soon.






The result-





Aaaah, much better. Still needs to go lower, but handles great, is really comfortable and clears most speed bumps and driveways, so I'm leaving it like this for now.

The kit is currently off the car and getting painted. I'll hopefully post the finished result on Monday.