front end refresh pt2

Got a nice call from the painter dude today, my bumper and splitter finished ahead of schedule.. He did a really really nice job. Its nearly a shame to put it on the car I want to hang it on the wall haha.. I found some silver cable ties for the splitter too.

lights, bumper brackets, and my lovely new pressed metal number plates are on already, Trueno gets its face back on tomorrow weather permitting!

random video: nice sprinter in action**!

"looking ae86" VID!

あさやん LOOKING AE86 :: ひとみＧＯ 走行会 ２００８ from Laurence Janus on Vimeo.

little vid I fumbled across out there....

front end refresh pt1

What is it with the front falling off Truenos!

Truenos eat leaves and small birds

Today I removed my ratty front bumper/splitter combo as it is finally going for paint this week. My patented "satin black rattle over graphite" was really starting to flake badly (as expected when you do no prep work lol) and a friend of a friend turned out to be a local spraypainter so the time is here at last. Hopefully this time next week the front bumper and splitter will be a fresh shade of 2x1 graphite. I also ordered some fresh pressed steel import number plates today, should go nicely on the new clean bumper..

Non-Hachi related , exhaust sex....

Powercrafts youtube channel is definitely my favorite youtube subscription! It's full of screaming v8/10's!!

Noisy Ear Sex Inside , TURN UP !

Sadly they don't have any vids of there full ae86 system up , but hopefully I will be able to sort them out with something in the future!!

There latest two uploaded clips......

T50 swap

Ever since I got my car there has been a bit of a shudder up through the gearbox on the off throttle over-run. It was pretty bad in 3rd and 4th gears, and over the last few months it has been getting worse, starting to get quite noisy when on throttle too. So a gearbox overhaul, or swap at least was added to the list. Being my daily I couldn't have the car sitting up for more than a day with no transmission so I picked up a cheap 2nd hand T50 from the local forum, and hoping for the best, once again my Trueno was flung up on the ramps of GarageHachi heavy lift division!

 

Actually flung is not the right word, carefully maneuvered and manhandled is more like, it as due to  plenty of "moAR low", sleepers, spare wheel jack and trolley jack are needed to get her on the 2 post lift..

 

 The old gearbox came out with no stress, and we discovered yet another coolant leak caused by a loose heater hose, that was quickly put back into place and will hopefully end of that orange on my hachis underbelly! A nice suprise that we found living in the bellhousing was a Fidanza uprated flywheel, and a spurious ebay looking clutch with a bit of life left on it. (Will eventually be replaced by one of  Exedys or Oguras offerings).

Fidanzeh, yer dinners ready!

   

The new gearbox was put in at a leisurely pace, mount, fork, bearing and speedo drive swapped over, filled up with fresh 75W90, and after final checks we went for a quick test run. The new box was really quiet, and through my C's shifter it felt a little more precise up and down through the gears, so I was smiling as I was approaching a roundabout....

...until I tried to shift down to second from third. Nothing. Just about 6000rpm and no forward motion! F&*^£$(! It would absolutely not go into second unless the car was stopped. So I cruised back round to GH and back on the ramp she went. The box was pulled out in a matter of minutes pit lane style and the original went straight back in, giving us enough time for lunch (Wonder what the record for a t50 swap is?).

   Once the car was on the ground again the split case was prised apart to feast on its insides and try find the problem. Initial examination by Dr.Kev revealed a worn blocker ring on 2nd gear, so we just cleaned out the box and wrapped her up for transport to and later surgery in GarageHachi workshop division.

I was hoping a quick swap would be the end of an annoying noise, but now this will become a tasty gearbox refresh, as the "while you are doing it you might as well.." rule of tuning comes into play. By the time it is done it will go back in mated to a new clutch, spigot and release bearings, and the slave cylinder will be also replaced as it was noticed to have started leaking.. And then theres no point changing the slave without installing a neat braided clutch line by APP... At least my shifter is complete..

all the small things....

I've just been tip'n away at the Trueno build.Getting a few of the small bits done.

Cylinders in and servo painted. Maybe sometime in the future I might be able to afford a proper pedalbox set up which will allow for mega stacks ,to improve lower down power .

Ive also been messing around with different oil cooler setups. There's no need to run a filter relocation kit because of the crazy design of the ex mani and the space it give around the filter,so I can go back to using my thermostat controlled mocal kit. I just have to get a new oil seal for it and find a better place to mount it than before 

I striped out the front suspension and stripped down the old coil-overs to find some messy looking ss trd green dampers. So fresh short strokes are now added to my shopping list.

The fiberglass doors are now lined up and fitted as good as possible. I added in the latches, handles and rods etc so there in order now .I started chopping up a dash to fit around the mcn cage so I'll get that finished and get it off to be flocked. All small bits going on at the moment. Hopefully we'll have the stack wide-band vs powercraft bracket made up during the week as well.

As for my Levin , I'm waiting on a vvt gear for my blactop and when that arrives I got some nice Toyota goodies to time it all back together

random snap*

 

Redlines in, rear coilovers raised slightly, getting there! Still needs lateral rod adjustment and I'm slowly finding the right settings on the dampers for road use. Next job in the bodywork list is getting the front bumper and splitter sprayed graphite again..

I love lamp 2.0 **

 
4 days from Japan to my door. The postage cost more than the lights but it was worth it. By the time I got the shipping confirmation email after the weekend, my Redlines were already in the country, sweet! Thank you JAA and EMS! They are in very good condition for a 23+ year old car part, just a few scratches here and there. Even came with working bulbs. I dont know is it Redlines in general (probably) or just this set but they have an odd panel for mounting the bulbs, it looks like it has space for two stop/tails like my old lights, but when you open it up it just holds one.

Weird but either way everything still works and the connectors on the wiring were the same. The single bulb look is much cleaner anyway I think. Before I installed them I gave them a good clean, and polish with Autoglym super resin polish (as I have no money left for Megiuars Plast-RX!) to buff out the light scratches, and they came out quite well for the time being.

Unpolished and polished

good as new

The number plate surround also had to come out for the ultimate in whiteline delete. A quick light sanding and a clean....

 ...and a few coast of satin black rattle later it was looking good as new. For any 2 door owner out there I highly recommend satin black for the surround and that plastic trim piece along the boot lid, it really freshens up the back end.

 

Anyway I got the lights in, but my camera sucks and its too dark to take a pic of them fitted, so the car will have to wait for a random snap after wash to show off her new back end, but they look awesome and suit the Trueno body a lot better than the whiteline lights. Yahoo auctions conquered! ;)

whiteline vs redline