DIY: Hopeless project.

[Rascal21]

Hi all

This is a thread I decided to create for my car.
It`s my first serious attempt at a "project" thread, so I`m sorry if aspects (Or indeed all of it, for all I care) is shaite, let`s just hope for improvement on my side

As you will notice through the thread, I am working on a budget, and its not because I have a choice, it`s either do it this way, and shine it up properly as I can afford it, it`s either that or no dice what so ever..

This "build" (Well it nearly is a build because of the many things that my car lacks) nearly qualifies as a ghetto-job here in Norway, some of you might not understand why I`m doing things the way I do them, because you`re not used to the idea of owning and building a car like this on a relatively tight leash, welcome to `rolla building the way it goes with little money, whether you like it or not

It`s a HUGE difference though, between those fancy and neatly (And absolutely amazing, might I add) finished builds featured on SpeedHunters, Driftworks, Youtube, Best Motoring and Hot Version and so forth.

Only to find that setting someone to do the job can cost one a fair bit more than I can afford though (That does not, however, in any type, shape or form mean that you should avoid the workshops blablabla yadayada yeah you know..)
Or that the perfectionism you envisioned is going to come at a cost more than you can actually support..
To put it into perspective:
It took me half a year of working my ass off just to buy this car..

Just letting you know, I`m a complete newbie..

Anyway, upon getting the car and getting it running, I discovered that the engine needed a lot of work, weary TRD Gr.A bigport head on a stock ae86 block (The race block was blown some years prior to me buying the car) usually doesnt work that well.

I originally wanted to restore the old 16v racing engine (Still working on that..) but changed priorities in order to get the car rolling, to let my first car ever stand still like this for years after hardly driving it was a shameful crime..

So last year (before I even got the drivers license) an awesome friend of mine offered his services and we went and picked up the engine that I had laying around at Underground Garage here in Norway, the owner (which is also the mechanic) who people started calling Mr.Toyota now (A most fitting nickname might I add) was plain awesome from the get go:
From sourcing out the engine complete with wiring and everything from Japan, to getting to his garage directly from his main job and start work on the engine as I was on my way to pick it up, he`s also been troubleshooting and giving me mechanical tips ever since we first came in contact on the web!

After a trip (and awesome conversation with Mr.Toyota) well worth the time, I could admire the new powerplant (Or sewing machine, depending how you look at it)



With some modifications:

You all probably know what he did already but for those who might be curious: Basically what "Mr.Toyota" did, was to dremel a port between the two water holes at the back of the head, therefore, as you can see, a lot of precious space between engine head and firewall can be saved by shaping and drilling your ordinary steel plate to use the 16v head-
waterneck (Which most GTS people already has) instead of going for this alternate (And probably just as good)solution:
(Picture off google-images)
I`m schizo about ending up with something that doesnt fit, I wanted as much firewall clearance as I could get, so thats that!


Then I later got the necessary parts from Underground Garage (The parts were not there yet when I was there to pick up the engine itself)

Picked up the wiring loom as well but thats in the bin which is barely visible at the top of the pic.
.
All of you probably already noticed the A/T ECU, this is because the 6spd M/T ECU which somehow many people opt for, especially in U.S it seems, has an absolutely apeshit ignition curve in order to save the puny 6 M/T internals, couple this with the fact that the 20v is already hard enough to get running well with stock ECU in FR layout, I decided that sacrificing the few hundred RPM`s but increased driving time in place of added crappy troubleshooting (Will probably get enough of that as it is anyway) was not a bad idea. vague rumor also has it that the A/T ecu gives more punchy accel-response, though we`ll see about that

The OEM 20v wiring loom was already customized by "Mr.Toyota" to suit AE86/RWD application, I do not yet have the guts to do splicing into OEM wiring on the car though (And since the car was used in all sorts of competition prior to me acquiring it, it had no OEM engine loom left either)..

So to "MAKE CERTAIN" in terms of proofing the setup from myself, I ordered a self-sufficient 20v wiring loom from Tweakdperformance (Who, might I add, has been with me every step during the electrics part so far and guided and explaining me the connectors I didnt know, plug by plug!)

As for solution to the distributor problem and other tid-bits all of us RWD guys have to face when tailoring these engines for RWD use (Minus the TA60 owners, they can slam the engine w/dizzy cap straight in...), I had a chat with an Australian guy named Samuel who`s almost as crazy as Mr.Toyota @ Underground Garage here in Norway, his shop`s called SQ-Engineering, and hes done a remarkable quality job at designing and producing RWD parts for 20v 4AGE`s for quite some time now.

So, along with stuff I already had accumulated over the years, I took off the Wrong Wheel Drive stuff (Sry FWD fans..) and started assembling it to RWD-specs:

This is the most cost-effective solution I could think of, it took only about 3 months (!!) of waiting for the announced kit to be designed, developed, tested AND produced in quantity (And quality might I add), and sent to me, but I`m convinced it will have helped me out in the long run, my goal is to get a good WORKING engine (Not necessarily a good RUNNING engine) to cope with the sometimes stressful environment up here in the mountains.
Basically I`m doing everything I can do get daily-driver reliability, so I can spend less money on mending problems, and more money on shining things up later on

Sure, I wont get the possibly added 5 horsepower of simultaneously firing COP`s, but from the thousands of forum threads I`ve read by now I do know I have a good chance of better (better, NOT perfect, an OEM performing 20v on stock ECU, adapted for RWD is NEVER an easy task even for the most professional workshops) function and reliability in a sometimes a little too harsh driving environment, so it`s nice to have OEM troubleshooting manuals to fall back to when everything else fails, and that usually works best if things are as close to OEM specs as possible..

Enough about that, assembly continues:


Here with distributor installed, topped of with SQ-Engineering slim dizzy cover (Again, no chances taken):


Installed flywheel (MR2 200mm) with ARP bolts (Not taking the possible chance of getting my feet blown off by reusing old flywheel bolts no matter what anyone says) and ACT round-clutch (The sharp 20v 4age is already enough to handle in the intersections) plus I`d rather a 50-100 euro clutch buys the farm than a hard to get T50 tranny..



Then I encountered a interesting problem, the 20v oil filter sandwich wont do because of the RWD exhaust manifold (would crash with the filter)
Mr.Toyota adviced me that certain early 4A blocks come with a shorter union bolt, so I had a look at the stuff I had laying around, and sure enough...

(Btw, take a look at that no-name filter, I think we can surmise why that block stopped swiveling )

Here installed on 20v (Along with lightened 16v engine mounts):


So, as we say here, the shit started coming together (This is a few days ago):

I bought the JDM T50 tranny w/TRD quickshift from fellow ae86 mate and PowerDrift driver "EGR" who, as he pretty much told me "Saw what the 4AGE could do and bought a F20C instead" lol, but in his defense, he had two engine break downs with just 4 trackdays..

So anyway, shit started coming together fast, too:

Now you`ll see why I`m glad I made sure when buying the parts:

The dizzy cap clears the firewall with a little margin to spare, no need for any "massage", I am just sick and tired of constant problems coming up, especially if I can do anything to prevent that, this car taught me that early on in the process so

SQ-E water outlet seems to not fit because the 6mm cooling tube for the 16v manifold (I think thats what the 6mm tube does?) is in the way:

But then again, no need for that, easy solution: Chopped off the tube clamps and blocked the hose.. I also had to chop the main tube and use a hose so I could get clear of the knock sensor
So as you know by now, I`m using all the 16v cooling routes, and also 16v alternator and 16v main pulley.

Further progress:

Started fitting the wiring loom (And pulled it through existing hole in the firewall), I also grinded the alternator bracket to clear the dreaded 20v tensioner assy.
And since I`m using 16v waterpump (So I can use the 16v alternator, no need to rewire anything) I had to file and grind that to clear the tensioner wheel as well (Will upload pic of that tommorow)

Plus I`m doing an experiment, it`s starting to look like spring time now, in a bid for performance oriented experiment I`m heat wrapping the radiator and heater hoses (as well as exhaust, naturally) to see if that will save me the trouble of spacing the hood off the hinges and get cooler air intake temperatures for a little bit more performance (At the weight expense of a few grams worth of heat wrapping)

Furthermore I assembled the fuel delivery system:


From main fuel tank, through Facet Red Top Competition fuel pump, in this case used as lift pump, and into the 2 Litre catch tank, from the catch tank, through subaru impreza fuel filter and straight through the coupè and out through the passenger side firewall and to the engine bay.

And yes thats a KE30/35 tank (I think) in the luggage compartment lol, I guess it beats a small 20 litre or w/e and massacre the spare tire-well?
It worked for competition, will work for street driving+ a few track days per year too


Now here is an interesting problem:

This has got to be the most idiotic driveshaft crossmember fastening solution I`ve ever seen to date.
Sure, lirking a bolt with a nut up into the mounting point there if you have no proper bolts will work, but what about when you have to take the shaft off??
I had to ponder this problem for a while, and while my mind was about to come to the conclusion of splitting the nuts with a dremel, I had another idea:

I sliced the bolt face with the Dremel instead, this way, I could use a ratchet spanner to take the nut off, while holding a flathead screwdriver still on the slice on the bolt-face:

Forgive the dark pictures, but when you`ve got a big dark ex-cowfood silo to work in and limited tools, you make do with what you have..
Anyway, as you can see, the ratchet spanner can be used to screw the nut off whilst holding the bolt-face still with a flathead screw driver

Voilà:


And since laying on hard wood plates under a car that is barely off the ground is VERY physically demanding (And if you think you are strong as heck, try working under a car just 45-55cm off the ground..)
I quickly switch between tasks on this car so that while waiting for something or tired or working on the same thing over and over, I can constantly get things done and achieve progress, even being just one person working on the car
My attention to the interior side of things late 2012:

I managed to actually take off the rally instrument board, then set about removing the rally instrument wiring.
To my surprise, the original OEM instrument wiring and terminals was still there!

So, to me the dream was always to install a hard and expensive (For me anyway) OEM EDM Zenki instrument cluster (In keeping it with the cars originality, since everything else is so frankensteined)

The awesome and crafty member Jamiesmirror on these forums (We have stayed in daily contact on MSN/Skype for years now!) sourced one up for me, and it wasnt long before he, despite moving to a different country, sent me the goodies, here its mocked up and tested:


But it looks cooler in the dark:

Thx Jamie!!

As you probably know, looking at existing wiring jobs so far, the car I bought was not exactly perfect before I bought it..
As for figuring out and getting rid of this circuit salad:


You`ll just have to wait and see!

Stay tuned!