An exercise in Mexellence (my 86 hatch project)

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:38 pm

(right now its kind of my daily driver actually =P)
((this thread was originally on club4ag, but it was moved to 86garage per HondaRue's request))

Alright!! So here it is! A genuine AE86 Corolla GT-S (AE88 in the VIN)

My goal for this project is a properly engineered car. A car that handles well and can go over bumps without me caring that I go over bumps. Right now its got ground control coil-overs up front and TRD shocks and springs in the back.

On a scale from one to ten, this car is probably a six. There are many things on the car that could use sprucing up, but the car has alot of things that still work. All the wipers, heater, AC, pop up lights, etc still work pretty good. The only thing that I have noticed that doesnt work is the rear defroster, which sucks.

Of course, the engine works and the tranny work but the tranny should probably get rebuilt. The exhaust was jb welded by the previous owner, and it fell from the hangars so the exhaust was resting on the axle! It annoyed the crap out of me so I safety wired it to the hangar as a (hopefully) temporary solution.

The distance between the bumpstop and the.... bumpstopee?

Mmmmm safety wire.

On the plus side, it pulls to 7500 without any hesitation at all! It does stumble a bit on the highway on neutral throttle (just coasting at 60-70) and it throws engine codes sometimes and bogs real good, but a quick blip of the throttle fixes it right up. My guess is the MAF (or MAF equivelant) is probably on the fritz and needs to be replaced. Also, my gas milage is HORRIBLE. Like maybe 16-18mpg. The only modification it has as far as i can tell is the exhaust.

The paint looks ok from far away but it definitely need a new paintjob bad.

One of the first things I did when I bought the car was buy new tires. Tires are the most important part of the car. I see people spending 4-500 dollars per rim and then they run $50 dollar tires. ???!

The BF Goodrich G-force tires I installed. Treadwear is like 340.

Also, the previous owner modified the wheels that were originally 4x100 to fit the Corolla, which is 4x114.3 (i forget in which order the numbers go).

Can you see the milling? I hope the wheels were milled. If they were they used a really crappy endmill because the finish is the worst Ive ever seen.

Here are some more picture.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:39 pm

A bunch of goodies Ive just recently purchased. Cant wait till summer so I can install them. Powerslot slotted rear rotors should be here in a couple of weeks...

mmm....

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:39 pm

Cleaned 'er up!

The wheels it came with are pretty cool. Too bad theyre in such bad shape. Anyway, after looking at Mr. John's car I want something wider.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:40 pm

Update!

New rotors, calipers, brake pads, and brake lines! Just got the front done tonight. Will do the rear this weekend.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:42 pm

I ordered a Classic Nardi wheel and hub in hopes of moving the steering wheel away from the turn signal stalk. I had a Grant steering wheel in before and it was way too close to the stalk.

Pictures of the Nardi Wheel.

Picture of the Grant wheel.

So there I was. All psyched that I was finally gonna have a 'itchin steering wheel that is far away enough from the turn signal so that I dont hit accidently when I turn. Imagine my dissappointment when I put the two hubs next two each other.

Grant Hub on the left and Hub for Nardi Wheel on the right.

Darn....

I wanted to put the Nardi wheel on real bad, and I wasnt going to settle for a wheel that was closer than the one before. So I did what any man with access to a computer and a machine shop would do: I pulled out the mic and fired up solidworks.

I decided to design my own spacer.

Now I have coordinates that I can use on the ol' mill. w00t!

Next, I had to find a piece of aluminium big enough for what I needed.

This oughta do it.

Time to fire up the ol' lathe! The smaller diameter side was just about right, but the finish wasnt good, so I decided to machine down the other side.

What a mess!!!!

Using the facing tool, I got the outer diamter fairly quickly.

Lookin' good!

Next, using a dinky little boring bar, I bored out the inside. It took forever since I could only take off .040" per pass.

It was worth it though.

Next, I cut it and face it off and put it on the vice of the mill

Ready to go!

First two holes. Hope theyre good...

They are! Thank science! I didnt wanna do this again!

Finished part.

Making sure everything lines up. Close enough for government work.

Now I got an extra 1.5"!

That oughta clear the stupid turn signal. If its too much, I can shorten it. More pics of the install tomorrow cause i gotta buy bolts.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:43 pm

Alright! Bolts have arrived. I had to order them from McMaster Carr. Stainless Steel Behbeh!

mmmmmmmmm.... sweet delicious fuel.

The horn button.

The thing that holds the horn button on the wheel.

If you look at the horn button its got these divets on the edge. I thought they were to make the horn button concentric to the wheel. However, after hours upon hours of looking at the button, Ive determined that these were caused by someone tightening bolts around the horn button. Fark. That was $25 bucks! Oh well, the seller had the horn button pictured clearly when I bought it, so I suppose its my fault.

My... What nice bolts you have!

When stuff lines up this good, we usually say its "***". This is, indeed, ***.

Youre probably like "???... why didnt you put on your horn button?"

Well... The horn button and the horn button holder are not ***. Im assuming that the horn button goes inside the horn button holder? Either way, it aint going in or out. It looks like I will have to make another part. =(

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:44 pm

Alright, long time since Ive updated. Pretty much nothing exciting has happened since the last update, except for me sliding the car into a curb. Fortunately, the only thing that really got damaged besides my pride, was a wheel and an axle.

The wheel completely gave out. In retrospect, this is probably the only reason that the frame sustained no damage.

I bought some celica-supras and an axle from a friend and had the car rolling again in no time.

How the car looks with the new wheels and tires.

185-60R14's give me a little bit of stretch and look kinda cool.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:45 pm

So here are the short term goals for right now:

Swap engine I just bought from a fellow 86 owner in the DFW area. This engine was just rebuilt. Ill also change out the tranny. I want to put a fidenza flywheel in it while everything is out. I dont know what would be good for clutch and pressure plate though.

I also got some WRX seats from a friend. Maybe theyre too big for my car? I dunno, we will see when i have more time!

So here is a list of the things that will happen within the next two months, in order:

*Buddy Club Spec II exhaust
*Put in a gosh darned HORN button and fix the flippin passanger side mirror.
*Rebuild stock LSD (if there is one in there) and replace rear wheel bearings.
*Install adjustable 4 links
*Make brakes super awesome (replace whatever needs to be replaced w. stock parts)
*Put in Engine and Tranny with Fidenza flywheel and sport clutch and pressure plate
*Go over front suspension and steering rack. Replace all worn parts. (maybe convert to manual rack with quaife QSR?
*Put in WRX seats
*If theres any money left, put in TRD headers and test pipe and an NST pulley kit?

Anyone got any recommendations on a sport clutch and pressure plate?

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:46 pm

Updates:

Stumbled on some battle version NRCA's. They weren't really in the plan, but I got a deal on em, so I figured "why not?". I got Aaron to thank for that!

And...

Buddy Club exhaust! Its gonna be sooooo loud. It is super light though... I was surprised when I picked up the box. It was missing a couple of parts but I called Simon at PASS and he said he would get me squared away. :thumbup:

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:47 pm

Alright. You guys are up to speed now!

inertia · Post by **inertia** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:06 pm

dude sweet freakin hub

DjSpecter · Post by **DjSpecter** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:22 pm

SWEET EXHAUST. SEEMS LIKE A STRIGHT THROUGH DESIGN!!

Post by **dr.occa** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:39 pm

i remember your thread on the hub. great job on that mex!

i like the supras (especially the red one) over the previous wheels.

BUDDY CLUB EXHAUST! welcome to the "CLUB"!

i love mine hope you will as well.

car is quite clean. why not cut the bump stops? they make my scalp itch just looking at them.

HondaRue · Post by **HondaRue** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 12:56 am

French Knight from Monty Python say "It's a-very nice-a!"

joel26 · Post by **joel26** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:37 am

Nice 86 man........ :D