From shell to DET. (September)
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 8:40 pm
Quick intro; my names steve and I own an 85 coupe gts. I’m a Southern California local moved to the Bay Area for a couple years then made my way back down to LA. Currently a college student working full time I spend some of my free time building my ae86. This is now my fourth project and probably my last. I’ve owned a 240sx hatch, back in high school before they became as desirable as they are now which got t boned and totaled. Then I owned a bugeye that i also sold. While up in the bay I picked up a 1uz Cressida (the second cressida i had owned), had to get rid of it shortly after coming back to LA. I didn’t have time to work on both the 86 and the Cressida so one had to go. For as long as I can remember the 86 was always my dream car. lol I just never got an opportunity to get one at a reasonable price until about 4 years ago. I sold my bugeye before moving up to the bay to focus on school a very depressing time for me as i had done tons of work to that car, but i thought it was time to move on. I was living in the valley at the time 818, when a friend of mine had began the process of parting out his coupe. I was not aware of this until it was too late and the car was parted out to just a rolling shell. Stripped of all its desired gts parts. seats were all gone door cards were gone a few bits and pieces but the it still had the rear end, I knew I had to save it, so with a small portion of the money I got from the Subaru I had once again got myself into a build knowing damn well I would have absolutely no time for it. The car was parked at my parents in Los Angeles days before I was leaving for Oakland. I would then work on the car about once a month when I would come down to visit. i spent most of my time plotting and thinking about i would be approaching the situation. I would spend hours searching for parts and having things shipped to Los Angeles so that when i would arrive i could get to work. And this is where the build begins...
My old cars
The night I brought her home, i had a friend of mine tow it home for me.
The car was in pretty rough shape. Stripped but Rolling. A blank canvas that I can take in which ever direction I wanted. i knew i wanted to keep it on a budget. with ae86 prices sky rocketing part outs were getting more common but people still want and arm and a leg. I would shop on forums and would jump on opportunities and cheap priced items and little by little the car began taking its original form.
First was deciding a power plant. I wanted to go 4agze but could not find one at the time and was starting to get impatient looking for one. I was in the market for anything. 20v silvertop, `blacktop, beams, 2jz sr20. Anything! And I wanted it now but I wanted it cheap.this is where I’m going to lose most of you and that’s fine. A friend of mine had totaled his car and I volunteered to take his swap in exchange for some monies. And just like that the power plant had landed on my lap and it was time to start the build
I couldn’t stand looking at the car. And I tend to do things backwards in life so instead of dealing with getting it up and running I decided to wrap it so it wouldn’t be such an eye sore.
First upgrade were some celica supras and some wrap
Veryquickly learned that vinyl does not hide any imperfections. also its much easier having another set of hands. laying down the vinyl is easy i had no prior experience and its somewhat forgiving. for the vinyle i used Avery as i had read very good reviews and a local shop in LA called Mclogans had it in stock. The price is about $40-50 to do the hood i ended paying about $240 for the vinyl and was very wasteful with it. The vinyl had air buble release thus making it easy to install. Tools need are a felt squeegee and a heat gun.
Yes I should’ve done some prep..... fml. the car was flat black so you couldnt see many imperfections but once the gloos silver laid on things started popping out. If i had to redue it i would have sanded it down and rattle canned the old paint to seal it, then apply the vinyl. Of course newer cars dont need to worry about this as their paint is newer and holding up, im just saying you probably dont want to apply it to your chalky paint
Looks a bit better at least. all one color. Something to keep me motivated
sprayed the wheels with some gun metal to stay busy. would definitely recommend duplicolor wheel coating if your looking for something quick and inexpensive. sanded them down to scuff them up then did a thin coat of primer then paint. i used 1 Can of duplicolor.
and here we are!!! sr20det ae86. sr86. again this swap happened to fall on my lap while searching for a swap. It came off of my buddies s13 that had just been swapped days prior to it being dropped off the bed of a tow truck while being transported from the shop to his house. He had no choice but to give up on his project that was totaled from the fall and i was able to get a sweet deal. I jumped on the opportunity and days later i had it in my car. I removed the radiator support because I found it would be the easiest way to get the engine in by myself and let me just say. getting the motor in has been the easiest thing Ive had to do to this car.pushed it right in no struggling. i bought motor mounts and tran mounts off an ebay user named dr concept and at first i was very skeptical but they bolted right in and everything lined up.
My old cars
The night I brought her home, i had a friend of mine tow it home for me.
The car was in pretty rough shape. Stripped but Rolling. A blank canvas that I can take in which ever direction I wanted. i knew i wanted to keep it on a budget. with ae86 prices sky rocketing part outs were getting more common but people still want and arm and a leg. I would shop on forums and would jump on opportunities and cheap priced items and little by little the car began taking its original form.
First was deciding a power plant. I wanted to go 4agze but could not find one at the time and was starting to get impatient looking for one. I was in the market for anything. 20v silvertop, `blacktop, beams, 2jz sr20. Anything! And I wanted it now but I wanted it cheap.this is where I’m going to lose most of you and that’s fine. A friend of mine had totaled his car and I volunteered to take his swap in exchange for some monies. And just like that the power plant had landed on my lap and it was time to start the build
I couldn’t stand looking at the car. And I tend to do things backwards in life so instead of dealing with getting it up and running I decided to wrap it so it wouldn’t be such an eye sore.
First upgrade were some celica supras and some wrap
Veryquickly learned that vinyl does not hide any imperfections. also its much easier having another set of hands. laying down the vinyl is easy i had no prior experience and its somewhat forgiving. for the vinyle i used Avery as i had read very good reviews and a local shop in LA called Mclogans had it in stock. The price is about $40-50 to do the hood i ended paying about $240 for the vinyl and was very wasteful with it. The vinyl had air buble release thus making it easy to install. Tools need are a felt squeegee and a heat gun.
Yes I should’ve done some prep..... fml. the car was flat black so you couldnt see many imperfections but once the gloos silver laid on things started popping out. If i had to redue it i would have sanded it down and rattle canned the old paint to seal it, then apply the vinyl. Of course newer cars dont need to worry about this as their paint is newer and holding up, im just saying you probably dont want to apply it to your chalky paint
Looks a bit better at least. all one color. Something to keep me motivated
sprayed the wheels with some gun metal to stay busy. would definitely recommend duplicolor wheel coating if your looking for something quick and inexpensive. sanded them down to scuff them up then did a thin coat of primer then paint. i used 1 Can of duplicolor.
and here we are!!! sr20det ae86. sr86. again this swap happened to fall on my lap while searching for a swap. It came off of my buddies s13 that had just been swapped days prior to it being dropped off the bed of a tow truck while being transported from the shop to his house. He had no choice but to give up on his project that was totaled from the fall and i was able to get a sweet deal. I jumped on the opportunity and days later i had it in my car. I removed the radiator support because I found it would be the easiest way to get the engine in by myself and let me just say. getting the motor in has been the easiest thing Ive had to do to this car.pushed it right in no struggling. i bought motor mounts and tran mounts off an ebay user named dr concept and at first i was very skeptical but they bolted right in and everything lined up.