www.86garage.com

I probably should have started this build thread about 3 years ago but hard times and lack of money brought on severe loss of motivation, but now I'm back and going hard in the paint.

A little bit of back story is required first I believe. I picked up the car back in 2008 about a year after my best friend passed away. The car was his and it had just been sitting around most of the time and it made me sad to think it would never get to a level of badassery that he wanted, so I picked it up. Shortly after purchasing the car I started throwing money at it to get it respectable when I got hit hard with layoffs and lost everything. Right on queue it spun a bearing, this was very bad news since it would be my daily for the better part of a year. I got a new engine swapped in before they repo'd the truck only to find out it had bad rings, however, it was able to stay reliable until I got something newer.

Fast forward to 2012 and things are finally coming together, I've got a better job and I'm finally able to throw money and time at the trusty 86. Picked up an engine from McKenney got it shoehorned in 2 days before moving back to Dallas and it has all started falling into place.

I'm just going to list off all the things I've done so far and add pictures if I've got them and I'll try to do a better job of keeping it updated as I go from this point forward.


Pulled the engine.



Before and after of hood cleaning, when I pulled the engine oil was blowing out of the dipstick every time I let off the gas.



Valve covers when they came back from getting powder coated, from the picture it looks like we used a sharpie to do it haha.


First start!


Run Free +35mm flares the day they showed up.


New rubber.


Diamond Racing 15x10 +0 next to the Celi-supras.


JDM bumper lights, wing lights, eyelids


T3 STS installed

TRD 272 cams showed up!


Flares and body kit fabbed up and test fitted.


Run Free kit from the front, whole car supported by a lone PB Buster can.


SOOO much poke.


Old EGR block-off solution vs KSD Engineering's solution. (Yes, that's a Mt. Dew can for a gasket)


My homie Mitchell getting ready to cut the first fender, I was nervous as shit.


Just a little post cut hammering, just need to do a bit of welding now.


Manual rack put assembled and ready to be installed, just hoping I got the correct tie-rods.



That's all I got for right now but I have a 7 day weekend coming up so I will post more then. Also, please check out my post in the 16v Tech section I can't seem to find an answer on what to do after I installed a IACV block-off plate. Thanks!

nice build looks good... good luck...

nice start man, glad you are sharing with us

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!! Awesome job Jeremy! Still can't believe you hacked that beautiful body.

Thanks everyone, I'll be more detailed in the future one what's going on. I was going to share on club4ag but you guys have been more helpful by a long shot not to mention you're all from Texas

McKenney, I didn't cut her up too bad and she'll look incredible when it's done.

looks sick! is that the manual rack you got from me? i really can't remember haha

love the diamond wheels too they'll go perfect with the flares

yep that's the rack I got from you, just waiting on LCA's and Coils to arrive before starting the swap.

sweet glad it's being put to good use!

looks good bro keep it up!

look cool.. i like the red. i have a red 86 myself. whats the name on that body kit? lol

It's the run free kit, I bought it from a vendor off of club4ag but I can't seem to find the thread.

Red is definately the best color but I've been considering doing something else.

Got a bit of work done this weekend, I don't really want to post pics since I'm ashamed of our welds.

We shaved the rear wiper motor, rear plate lights, antenna and windshield sprayers and we welded the inner & outer fenders together in the rear where we had cut for the flares. I also started to remove the front suspension so I can swap out the rack, LCA's and Coils.

I had told myself that if I removed the suspension before the new coils showed up something would happen and low and behold if it didn't do just that. Two hours after pulling the entire front suspension out of the car the apartment above the garage started pouring water all over everything, I wasn't too worried about water but I am concerned with the ceiling falling down on the car. Still no word if they've figured out the issue.

I will have more updates starting next weekend since I have 7 off again, really hoping to get more done.



EDIT: Forgot to mention that when we started sanding down the passenger side rear fender we discovered a ton of bondo, this was quite upsetting since we had no idea it had been wrecked or had any body work done. Whomever did the work took their time because you couldn't tell until we starting cutting in, really hoping there aren't any more surprises like that.

That sucks. Those fenders are like gold... really hard to find OEM in good condition.

If you take your time sanding the bondo out, you can almost definitely remove the dent. The steel used on the 86 has good elasticity. I just removed a crushed rear corner right below the tail light on mine where it looked like someone had backed a trailer hitch into it years ago. You can not tell there was ever any damage now... with no bondo what so ever.

Auto Zone has fender hammers for around 12 bucks, and harbor freight has a decent hammer and dolly set for about 30 (the dolly's are worth that alone).

If you are in the Austin area and are not familiar with that kind of body work, I would be more than willing to give you a hand / teach you how it is done.

Again I say - I really dig the red and white combination. I can see the white wheels enhancing the color combo as well.

I'll try to get a look at it once I get it off jack stands and can see what it looks like, I think it might look half ass'd since so many people used to run around with unpainted bodykits.

Milch - I think we are going to try to leave it as is right now since we have no idea how much bondo is actually there and how bad the damage is. I do appreciate the offer though and if it starts getting shitty I will definitely hit you up for help, lol.

Getting the rack swapped out this weekend and a friend just brought me some electrical fans so I can get rid of this mechanical fan.

Does anyone know where I can get the bushings for the front end links, sway bar and some good non over-priced stainless brake lines?