Anyone know AE-86's

I almost bought a 86 GTs notch 5 speed for 700 bucks. the wife said no way to another car project. Since I couldnt buy it I told my buddy about it, he got it and it blew up on the way home haha, the kid he bought it from gave him 500 bucks back for his trouble. Its highly modded now, and I hate seeing it because I want it so bad!

Cone_Junky wrote: That's because they want you to lowball him so they can come back later and make a better offer. That's a great chassis and can be built to compete in many different classes of auto-x.

You just may be on to something. I'll fish around and see how things come along. You never know.

I got my "85 GT-S for $500 in 1998.

Before that I had a '80 SR-5 hatchback with a 3TC.

Before that a '79 Corolla wagon with a 3TC.
That wagon is really what hooked me. I spent the first 6 months trying everything I knew (as a 16 year old)to kill it. I mean real, REAL concentrated abuse. Constant clutch-drops from redline. Driving everywhere in second gear. Spinning the tires to a speedometer indicated 75 mph in the rain. Nothing. Ever. Broke. It took repeated four-wheels-in-the-air jumps off road just to get the upper strut mounts to fail. Eventually I ran over a fire hydrant with it. That worked great.

What are the GT-S's rated at...something like 100hp?

Bluetop is 112hp at the crank

Sorry I screwed that last question up. What I meant to ask was the power rating on the SR-5.

90 ish? it's really pretty terrible.

Rearend from some of the VanWagon atrocities from the '80's work. Same chunk as 4x4 front and 2x4 truck diffs, so lockers and gears are readily available. I kept the 4.10's and had a detroit truetrac put in (about $400 for it, uninstalled). Some of these awful vans ('85 Toyota Vanwagon) even had four links, which COULD simplify mounting in an ae 86. Drum brakes, but they're BIG.,

Actually I've heard the van rear-ends are preferred by some drifters, because the big drums are easier to lock up with the handbrake...

BTW I've had two of them. The first one was an '85 which I bought for $350 and drove daily for a couple years. It was fairly solid but had issues with the rockers and arches, and I was constantly replacing brake hardlines on it. (Rant: why can't they make those out of plastic?!) It got hit by a Chevy Blazer, I got $2500 from the insurance for it then bought the shell back for $100, replaced the hood, fender, bumper and headlight pod with spares off the second one, and sold it for $1600. That's four grand in profit. Wrote off the Blazer. Hah.
The second one was a parts car that was rusted beyond all hope. Bought for $350, sold $300 in parts off of it, then sold the drivetrain for $450. These things are made of gold.

I think I may actually talk my wife into this thing! We will see.

jlm_photo wrote: Sorry I screwed that last question up. What I meant to ask was the power rating on the SR-5.

Well, after all my tweaks, mine dyno'd at 65hp at the tires. Most stock cars run about 55hp at the tires.

ReverendDexter wrote: ...The 4A-C is pretty unloved (though I liked mine once I pulled all the crap off that was bogging it down), and a 3T-C swap would be considerably easier than a 4A-GE swap.

This is true. I've got a AE72 ('83 Corolla with the 4AC) and will be putting a 3TC into it.

I've either got to get and modify a header to clear the steering, or swap the steering over to the drag-link style (from rack and peanut).

I love my '82 and '83 corollas for their RIDICULOUSLY tight turning radius. I can drive down a city street, crank the wheel all the way to the left and pull directly into a parallel parking spot ACROSS the street. (no power steering either!).

I've not had an AE86 and probably never will...but I'm sure they're good fun cars. Just getting a little hard to come by (obsolete) by now.

Clem

ReverendDexter wrote: What do you want to know? Coupes are lighter than hatches, hatches have slightly better weight balance, though both are right around 50/50.

I heard the coupes have better balance, which would seem to make sense with a trunk hanging over the rear axle...

GameboyRMH wrote:

ReverendDexter wrote: What do you want to know? Coupes are lighter than hatches, hatches have slightly better weight balance, though both are right around 50/50.

I heard the coupes have better balance, which would seem to make sense with a trunk hanging over the rear axle...

Length is the same on both, hatches have all that glass hanging over the rear axle.

for $2-300, Id be willing to live in the doghouse for a while while waiting for the wife to cool off after I bought a car without running it past the boss.

And just for fun, heres wat $7k can buy you - seriously this one is (or was) on CL local to me for 7K

That is a nice ride! I would love to get this one looking like that. But as they say..."The sum of the parts are worth more than the whole car". Why can't they make cars like that now.

You need to jump on this car!!!

It's been sitting for at least 2 years and where its sitting the only people that see it are the neighbors. I am going to still try to get it but it might be July.

Also, if it's an SR5..there's a pretty damn good guide in this month's Project Car going over all the differences between the SR-5 and GT-S and a step-by-step guide going over how to convert it (if you can track down all the parts that is)

The issue out now or the next issue?

Okay, I'm behind. I didn't know there was a mag called "Project car".

As others have said, they might seem humble on paper, but they are a kick in the pants to drive due to the light weight, great balance, and good response. More importantly, compared to modern cars with high limits, RWD Corollas are super-fun because driving one quickly often doesn't mean insanely high speeds.

As others have said, a few hundred bucks is a good price. Even if it has issues or rust (which I haven't found to be much of an issue, but our climate is pretty mild) it is still a great Locost donor, or can be parted out.

As far as mixing and matching 4AC and 4AG parts, don't waste your time. If you want a cheap runner or a car to beat on, a 4AC works. If you are serious about performance, a 4A-G swap is the only way to go. The blocks share architecture, but the 4AG is more than just EFI and a multivalve head. The 4AC has a cast crank, and the 4AG has a full-counterweighted forged crank. The 4AG has an 8-bolt flywheel, the 4AC has six bolts. The 4AG has beefier bearings, beefier connecting rods, higher compression, a water pump and oil pump capable of high revs, etc. There are lots of subtle differences between 4A-G's over the years, but you don't need to worry about those for now. Basically the 4A-C works, and if you want to, you can change the carb and exhaust and wake it up a little bit, but anything more is impractical and difficult. A 4A-G (any year) is a genuine base for real performance tuning, and basically the sky is the limit. Check out my car in reader's rides for an idea of what is possible...we should have 150whp and 8800rpm out of a 16-valve "bluetop" 4A-G when it is done. :D

Okay, wife just said I could buy the car in question. Gotta sell some stuff now. Anyone want to buy a used PS2 and some books? Maybe a Nolan Ryan card or two?

hehehehe......

good luck with it. There are many AE86 fans, and even a few experts in GRM.