1987 AE86 GTV - F20C Engine & Drivetrain Project

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Well, I picked myself up a nice clean 87 Levin GTV as a base car and after careful consideration about money and costs involved with tuning the 16V or 20v and various conversations with Ian G. I opted for an F20C conversion. The car is booked in for the work in mid Feb so in the meantime a bit of strip down work has to take place.

Here is the car before I start Smile

Plans for the car;

F20C engine and box.
Custom RS Fab exhaust header.
Life Racing ECU & custom loom.
Custom 70mm exhaust system
Throttle bodies (Later)
RS Fab Radiator (inlet & Outlet re-positioned to suit F20C
Modified Dashboard or S2000 Dash (Undecided yet)
15" Long Champ Wheels. (Coming this weekend)
Roll Cage ( I have a bolt in one coming this weekend that will be added to and made into a weld in version).
Strengthening around the front end.
Run Free Type II bodykit - front Bumper, side skirts & rear bumper (ordered and on its way)
J-Blood Carbon bonnet with central vent (ordered and on its way)
Crystal Body Yokahama Lightweight FRP tailgate & catches (ordered and on its way)
A pair of new bucket seats (undecided on what)
Front brake upgrade (discs & calipers Undecided what yet?)

Colour Change ~ who knows what colour

Items Removed from Car (Which will end up For Sale)

Healthy 4AG (see above pictures) comes with Cusco exhaust manifold.
Standard (good condition) interior. Will get it dyno'd and health checked prior to removing.

Healthy gearbox (unsure if TRD or not - will confirm later)

Standard Radiator

RS Watanbe 14" wheels used

HKS Cam Pulleys new & unused

HKS timing belt new and unused

HKS exhaust turbo manifold new & unused

Cusco engine mounts new & unused

Bride Bucket seat (good condition) with AE86 drivers subframe

Any little items that are under the bonnet

Side Skirts

Original Front Bumper

Original Rear Bumper

Original Tailgate (No Glass)

Fujitsubo exhaust system

Smile

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:14 pm Post subject:

Wahoo, another one! By the time I get round to doing this all the bugs will be ironed out! Cool

Are you another UK member?

The car looks lovely to start with actually, really nice.

Daft question for yourself and Ian I guess, I see you both mention ITB's at some point in the future but in my admittedly small amount of research I'd always thought the F20 is a very difficult engine to improve on and I wondered whether ITB's would actually bring any gain? Confused

Anyway, good luck! Keep us posted, I know I for one am rivetted to the build diaries of any of these conversions, as it's genuinely something I hope to do myself. Smile

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject:

Hey Conrad,

N1 hachi's (import ?)

if you wanne lose the watanabe's let me know Smile

They would be a great asset to my restoration project. And the bride seat?

Will you use it as full drift car?

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Robo, yes it was a JDM import Smile

Car will be used for track days, circuit use mainly but it will no doubt end up sideways at some point Smile

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject:

I've been back to look at the pictures of this several times, it's making me all hot under the collar! Wink

You mind me asking how much it cost once it landed in the UK £'s wise? No offence if not, I'm just wondering as prices were all over the place when I left in December, some cars going for huge money, then other sitting for sale for ages.

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

YHPM

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Well, the engine & box has arrived Smile

Onwards & upwards Smile

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject:

When that's cleaned up and sat in the engine bay it's gonna look very yummy.

And when the lottery win comes in, ITB's and a big assed carbon airbox please! Wink

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Should free up some HP when the power steering and aircon pumps have been removed Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject:

I think aircon in a mad track prepped buzzbox may be a neccesity here. Sad

I used to speak regularly with a guy who taught motorsport aerodynamics and ran a business making carbon and fibreglass components, and he had some really interesting ideas for airboxes and the like. Bigger the better etc, as he once showed me on an airbox for a Merc CLK GTR racer he was making. The bit that always grabbed me is that if he was correct, the din a strong induction noise would make through a carbon airbox would be purely sexual.

Not that I'm sewing seeds or anything! Wink

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject:

Hi Conrad,

I'm sure my car will love the company of yours when it arrives down at RS.

Do you have any photographs of the lightweight bonnet you have ? I need one. I've steered away from the drop vented style of bonnets as the F20C motor is a bit longer than the 4AGE and it may not work. If its an upwards vented bonnet I could be interested.

With regard to the ITBS - they wont really give a huge improvement at the top end of the rev range - but they will make significant improvements in the mid range.

My friend just engine dyno'd an F20C with the same Jenvey throttles I use and it made 247bhp but more importantly 187lb/ft which is quite a bit up on standard. The torque was mainly obtained by increasing the length of the inlet tract AFTER the ITB by using spacers between the throttle body itself and the inlet manifold. Mid range is really where you see the improvement. If you look at the graphs on the Jenvey site you will see 30+bhp improvement increases in the mid-range.

I got the Jenveys knowing full well they wouldn't gain a huge amount on a stock engine - but they are things of beauty and will sound superb (not that stock F20C engines sound bad).

In the future if serious work was done on the in/ex ports and the addition of cams (possibly evening removing the VTEC system completely) they will help a huge amount.

Congrats on getting your conversion under way.
That means there is 100% 3 F20C powered 86's in the mainland uk. Cheerleader

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Ian, the bonnet I have ordered is the J-Blood drop vent type, now you mention that about the F20 engine I hope it fits lol.

I already had my Jenvey SF54's from a previous project and I never used them. I have spoken with Jenvey and I need a tapered adapter plate because mine are 54mm straight and are a little large for the S2000 manifold. Hopefully Jenvey are going to sort them out.

When I map the car I'll do it on the standard engine for starters and see what I can get out of it then I'll fit the ITB's and see what sort of difference they make when I remap it Smile

For now I think I'll the engine standard then later hopefully get the TODA sump (less oil surge) and cams.

Looking forward to seeing yours on the 23rd Very Happy

Cheers

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:21 am Post subject:

Ah cool,

Also, try to fit one of the s2000 injectors into the injector pocket on your ITB. I had to send mine back to Jenvey and have the pockets reamed out slightly to take the s2000 items. They are fine with std Bosch/Pico injectors but not quite right for ours - it doesn't mean you cant use other injectors once they have been machined. They should also provide you with new o-rings if you send them an injector when you get them done.

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:29 am Post subject:

Interesting stuff regarding the ITB's and the torque increase. As much as I'm not a fan of forced induction and like my revs, you can't complain when someone shoves more torque in there. Smile

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:25 am Post subject:

Nice stuff.

I was also thinking about my J-Blood hood with an f20c might not work. But it really depends how you fit the engine in there.
But there are plenty of other hoods available.

What ECU are you guys running?

When thinking about this swap I am still considered about the wiring.
Hopefully that is not too gib of a problem.

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:41 am Post subject:

Iketani Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 32

this should be interesting

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Well I managed to do a little deal with the chap who I got the car off and after exchanging a few parts from the interior and giving him the 14" RS Watanabes I got myself a REV Speed Roll Cage and a set of 15" Longchamps. This will allow for a bigger front brake upgrade and some Toyo R888 rubber at a later date. The wheels are not in mint condition but nothing that a refurb and polish wont cure. Car looks so much better on the chrome Longchamps Very Happy

Strip down begins...... (with the help of my youngest son) in my unfinished extension / garage.

Car on the axle stands... sorr about the poor photos, no lights in new garage and phone camera Sad

Current rear suspension...

Current front suspension...

No wheels....

Interior bits coming out...

Passenger side bits out....

Son earning his pocket money Smile

Drivers side post strip out....

Work in progress...

And finally with the new 15" Longchamp wheels Very Happy

Bunta Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 669 Location: Surrey, UK

It's nice to see a few AE86 owners with deep enough pockets to commit to this conversion Thumbsup

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject:

I probably go with an AEM, looks good to me and can also handle future upgrades.

I would rather want to keep the original dash but can't say how that would work. Thinking about the loom makes me feel kind of funny. Confused

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Defi's look cool in Miguel's car, very nice job Very Happy

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or this dash option looks good (as does the pedal assembly Wink

)

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:57 am Post subject:

You're a braver man than I making your own loom if you go that route. Fair play. Smile

But then again I guess it's each to their own, when I see it I'll take you some whizzy pictures of it, because at least I know how to do that! :p

Itsuki Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 21

Wataru Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 119 Location: UK

Well, a bit more work on the car before it heads to the fab shop for the serious work to begin.

Engine & box missing?

Oh there they are.... Wink

Next up.... (probably next weekend)

time to remove...

Front Bumper
Rear Bumper
Side Skirts

then strip out the engine loom and tidy the engine bay Smile