Yo what's up club4ag,

My name is Ben and I'm a 3rd year at Cal Poly. I recently picked up this 85 coupe from Yves and I'm having such a blast ! I'm new to the ae86 world, new to the world of RWD cars, and new to the world of cars that aren't hellaflush

That was my old ride and I was so happy to get rid of that piece of hellafail.

SO NOW TO STUFF PEOPLE ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT:

this is the whip.
Is the paint a little crappy? Sure
Is it super clean? Nope
Does it handle like a beast and rev to the stars? HELL YES

Normally I'm pretty against purchasing a car that is already modified. But with school, I just don't have to time to build a car like I want so I set my sights on a work in progress. I was quite pleased with the quality of the modifications that Yves performed and the coupe and I definitely was a fan of the direction he was going in. I hope to make this car a reliable double duty car. Reliability to drive it to the track, rip on it super hard, and then drive it home. I originally planned on sticking to gripping the car, but after driving the car for a month or so, I realized I would be an abomination of an 86 owner if it didn't see a little skidding here and there.

Because Yves did plenty of mods to the car, I'm not going to get super into it here.
To give you an idea: built 16v 4ag tuned on apexi power fc and the suspension is nearly completely set up.
But since this is a build log let's get to it.

The first mod I did was put bushings in the hood to get that drift hood look. srsly though... that was my first mod. haha
Next, I got this seat from Stage 6 for the passenger because the passenger seat was pretty broken. These guys hooked it up, i definitely recommend checking them out.


throw out bearing was squeaky, so of course as you fellow car guys know, the clutch had to be upgraded.

this just came in. This, along with t3 delrin shift bushings and a whole slew of motul fluids should be going in the car after thanksgiving!
I'll keep you guys posted and I look forward to becoming a part of this community.

Whoops, those pictures came out a little big.
And that's a stage 2 3-puck clutch by the way

Welcome aboard!
You have to post pictures sized to fit within the constraints of the forum tempplate, or else they get cut off. Just how it is around here...

Best wishes to your build or mod list while youre in school. It can be hard to get things done while focusing on school work, but you have to find time to enjoy your car as well.

finally back with an update. so far a bit of fluids have been replaced... after owning the car for more than a month...
i'm not okay with how little time I have to spend on the car...
and since I only had 5 days of break, I wanted to spend time with friends and family so I didn't get much done on the car
the OE oil filter is less than 7 dollars!!!! ahh im in love with this car. I would have never dreamed of a 7 dollar oil filter for my audi.
I ended up just throwing in some mobil 1 for the engine oil. I figure I don't need to go all out since it gets changed all time.

and because I don't really need antifreeze living in so cal, I just threw in a bottle of mocool with water. im a sucker for motul stuffs

this thing stays damn cool with that fat radiator.
here's a little something some of you may be able to help me with. So i was letting the engine push all the air bubbles out of the cooling system but it never stopped bubbling into the funnel... There looked to be some carbon build up in the radiator too so I'm thinking it could be a blown headgasket.
what do you guys think???
Its not that bad, the engine runs strong and the oil and coolant aren't mixing. I just think maybe the pistons are pushing some carbon through the gasket into the coolant.
i'm just hoping that it stays that way

so what's up and coming?
i left the car in san diego at my friends shop to have some work done while I slave away at Cal Poly for dead week and finals week... uhh kill me now haha.
they are gonna throw in the exedy stage 2 3-puck clutch, a ss clutch line, Porterfield r4 brake pads, t3 lsd rebuild kit, and the t3 shifter bushings while im gone.
if you live in so cal, hit this place up. It's called SAE motorsport, you can find them on facebook. These guys are in Oceanside and they go hard in the paint.
the clutch and brakes will probably be bleeded (bled?) with motul rbf600. I got motul 75w90 gear oil for the tranny and 75w-140 lsd oil for the diff. i also ordered brand new outside door handles to get rid of the painted over ones and because the ones on the car have some trouble at actually opening up the doors some oem style seat belts are also on their way because the belts that are in there don't lock up when you yank on them

once all this is done, I think i'm going to attack the steering. it already has a manual rack which is awesome, so i'm looking at getting the quaife quick ratio rack with some hardcore knuckles to get mad steering angle. I'll also be getting a nice steering wheel to replace the worn nardi wheel that's in the car.

Let me know how you like it and stay tuned for more updates!

Definitely love the idea of a car that's a little rough around the edges but is reliable and fun and can still cop a beating at the track. Sounds like you have a reasonable idea on mods too, one thign to check as there are various versions of the quaife quick racks and some have less teeth than others which will limit the amount of lock you can get. Also I wouldn't get too caught up in different knuckles and massive lock, power steering knuckles with a manual rack and a rack spacer is really all you will ever need and keeping the factory ackerman is essential if you want to some grip driving which most aftermarket knuckles change.

I recommend using oem power knuckles/manual rack combo and forgo the rack spacer or any type of shorter than oem knuckle. You won't be able to use all of the angle this setup provides without more mods anyway because the tires will hit the body and/or suspension before you reach maximum lock. Plus you don't need to worry about the number of teeth on the quaife unit since the rack isn't being lengthened by spacers. FWIW I'm currently using the oem length knuckles with a quaife manual rack and it's a VERY good setup (feels like a go kart).

Regarding the cooling system.... how long did you bleed it? Where you getting a constant stream of bubbles throughout the whole process?

Jimmee1990 wrote:one thign to check as there are various versions of the quaife quick racks and some have less teeth than others which will limit the amount of lock you can get. Also I wouldn't get too caught up in different knuckles and massive lock, power steering knuckles with a manual rack and a rack spacer is really all you will ever need and keeping the factory ackerman is essential if you want to some grip driving which most aftermarket knuckles change.

thanks for the input jimmee! and let me apologize in advance for me being a n00b.
more teeth => lower ratio => quicker steering, right? but having a lower ratio will limit my lock? and does it limit it a lot? because the advantage of quick steering for gripping outweighs the benefits of more lock for skidding in my book.

and as for the knuckles, I was just looking at the t3 knuckles because they look beefy and are stock dimensions. i know i sound a like a t3 whore but their stuff is just so cheap! haha. but if I can scoop up some power steering knuckles from the classifieds on here i'll just do that. thanks for warning me about the ackerman though, now I know I wouldn't want to alter it even in the future. and I was pretty skeptical about how the rack spacer works but I've looked into it a bit and it's definitely the easiest way to achieve more lock. thanks jimmee

I think your car is great! what is the end-state of the car

Deuce Cam wrote:I recommend using oem power knuckles/manual rack combo and forgo the rack spacer or any type of shorter than oem knuckle. You won't be able to use all of the angle this setup provides without more mods anyway because the tires will hit the body and/or suspension before you reach maximum lock. Plus you don't need to worry about the number of teeth on the quaife unit since the rack isn't being lengthened by spacers. FWIW I'm currently using the oem length knuckles with a quaife manual rack and it's a VERY good setup (feels like a go kart).

Regarding the cooling system.... how long did you bleed it? Where you getting a constant stream of bubbles throughout the whole process?

okay, maybe no spacer now. I was writing my previous post when you posted this. I definitely don't want to tub the fenderwells and stuff like that. it's not that much of a dedicated drift and it's not something I want to spend time doing. hahaa. thanks for the warning. I missed hearing completely opposing opinions on the forums

and I bled the cooling system for 20 minutes or longer. and it wasn't constant, but at relatively even intervals a few bubbles would pop up.

grappletech wrote:I think your car is great! what is the end-state of the car

A reliable car that I can beat on at the track and still get home in. Make the engine totally safe for the track which pretty much means just an oil cooler and an accusump and some gauges to make sure everything stays in check. Finish the suspension which should be just the steering and the 4 link minus the little arms and links that I'll get over time. Do a bunch of safety stuff like a nice driver seat and harnesses and a half cage. Do some minor weight reduction where I can. I want to keep the front interior for as long as it's a daily. Then I haven't decided if I want to be a purist and keep the 4ag or swap in an f20c once all that's done, I'll get to restoring it so it looks pretty that's the plan in medium detail hahaha

Using a spacer + power steering knuckles (or shorter) will get you the most lock with a manual rack. BUT, I think many beginners don't realize the amount of work required to utilize a setup like that; at a minimum you'll need to to push the front wheels out for extra clearance (nrca or extended control arms and negative offset wheels), rolled/pulled fenders or over fenders, etc., etc. (there's more...).

The spacers lengthen the steering rack which also increases the steering ratio. When the rack is lengthened the travel also increases which creates extra steering angle/lock. The reason it's important to check that the quaife rack has enough teeth when using a spacer is because of the extra travel. It would be very bad for the rack to run out of travel via the teeth before the rack end (aka inner tie rod) bottomed out on the housing.

My setup is about 2 turns lock-to-lock on the steering wheel. It's probably actually closer to 2.25 turns, but the tire hits the body/frame rail before I can get full lock.

I wouldn't be worried about a few bubbles when bleeding the cooling system. I would keep an eye on it and try to monitor if it's pushing coolant at all.

Deuce Cam wrote: BUT, I think many beginners don't realize the amount of work required to utilize a setup like that; at a minimum you'll need to to push the front wheels out for extra clearance (nrca or extended control arms and negative offset wheels), rolled/pulled fenders or over fenders, etc., etc. (there's more...).

My setup is about 2 turns lock-to-lock on the steering wheel. It's probably actually closer to 2.25 turns, but the tire hits the body/frame rail before I can get full lock.

I wouldn't be worried about a few bubbles when bleeding the cooling system. I would keep an eye on it and try to monitor if it's pushing coolant at all.

Yea, i'm not really down for that work. Maybe when I'm grown up and have the time to turn it into dedicated track machine ill attack that stuff.

and your setup is just the quaife rack with the power steering knuckles??

and thank you for being reassuring about the bubbles

Yea I currently have aw11 quaife rack and the t3 knuckles and outer tie rods (oem power steering length).

you are in san diego?! dude there are TONS of corolla guys out here! im up in temecula now (about an hour up the 15) but yeah... car is a nice little project! i bought one kinda fixed up too. okay REALLY fixed up haha
its also running manual rack with power knuckles. so much lock the inner finders had to be enlarged. a lot.
want more power but stay 4ag? 20v dude. do it. i have a BT with just header and velocity stacks and its a beast.
dang now i want to take my car to a san diego meet haha would be nice to hang with the SD corolla guys again.

well, looks like you have a pretty good direction for this thing. i will keep reading this for sure!

you bought this car from my friend in pasadena! haha glad to see its gone to a good home, its a great car.
is it still smog exempt?

Keep up the great work

Sapporokid wrote:you bought this car from my friend in pasadena! haha glad to see its gone to a good home, its a great car.
is it still smog exempt?

it is still smog exempt

and to give everyone here a very late update on the car.
I was a fool and ordered a 16v clutch when I knew the car had a 20v flywheel in it... exedy does not make a clutch for the 20v and I didn't want to spend the extra money on a lightweight flywheel for the 16v so I decided to go with a competition clutch 4 puck. it's my first time driving with a clutch that is that aggressive and it's not as crazy as I thought it would be. a pleasant surprise.
the tranny now has some fresh motul 75w-90 gear oil.
and that coupled with the solid shifter bushings is making transmission feel great
big thanks to my boys at SAE motorsport in Oceanside for taking care of my car so all my stress could be funneled into organic chemistry

ive decided to find another gts rear end to rebuild instead of rebuilding the one presently on the car. with school I can't guarantee that i'd have the time to finish it in a timely manner and I can't really risk having that much downtime on the car. the one I rebuild will be the daily and gripping rear and then the one that's on the car can be the welded diff I beat on when I go skidding. this also means its time to find a set of supra wheels to put some trashy tires on and DEMOLISH said tires.

I got some fresh oem style seatbelts that will be installed shortly so the impact that kills me won't be as severe haha.

some new door handles will also be going on soon. give an ounce of freshness to the car. and so I can open my doors with confidence...

I hope to remove all the tar from the vehicle soon and put back all of the front interior. and remove all the rear interior. anyone looking for some coupe rear seats in great condition??? I need some more money to waste on other car parts haha.

and as for the evolution of the performance of this car, I had a small epiphany over my winter break. to make a long story short, ive decided to cut down the long list of stuff I want to do significantly. save my money for bigger crazier things waayyyy in the future when im done with this school thing and have the time. I just wanna drive the crap out of the 86 and fix it when it breaks.
the only things I really really would like to have before I take it to the track are an oil cooler, and a few gauges. AFR, oil pressure, and oil temp. I feel like that's enough to keep a really good eye on the motor so I don't blow it up haha. and MAAAYBEE if i'm feeling ambitious get a nice baffled, large capacity oil pan. I saw the one for sale on battle garage. anyone here using that one??? a few of the battle garage guys go to school with me so I have a bit of an in with them.

yee guys, that's whats up. i'll get back with some pics of the new seatbelts and new door handles when I get those done. and also mid surgery pics of removing all the tar

Friday I said goodbye to the painted door handles and installed some clean black ones. It's crazy how something so simple and small can really change the overall look.
That's the only real update. My girlfriend was out of town last weekend so I took advantage of that and went out partying like the whole weekend. yaaaay college haha.

besides Saturday morning, I went out on a drive with some subie guys through a little winding section of road almost 20 miles north of my school. It was beautiful and driving this car like it's meant to be driven is just sooo much fun. Even though I had no chance of keeping up with those 300+ awhp beasts hahaha.


it's hard to see but behind the group of kids is an STI swapped legacy. I thought it was pretty badass. It's owned by one of the fine men from Battle Garage. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of the guys behind Battle Garage RS and they are just some awesome people. So passionate about cars.

hope everyone is enjoying the new year!!!

what's up club4ag,

it's been forever since I have made a post. i'm always lurking the classifieds for cool things but i've been so busy with school the car has been pretty much at a standstill. i drive it roughly 4 days a week just around town and with a little freeway and this thing is holding up like a champ! i literally haven't had to tend to anything. but there have been some minor changes to the car

i did get some wheels from mirage turbo to daily on. I think they are pretty badass. they look like corvette fans. and they are pretty rare too. only 900 mirage turbos were sold in the states.


i ditched the passenger seat for an sr5 seat in red. i got the whole seat set and i really like the red interior. i swapped the back seats for the red ones too and i'm in the process of sourcing the rest of the red interior. any one want some damn minty fresh gts rear seats??? haha

and today is what made me actually want to make an update. i saw a bunch of guys going for the e30 trunk lip so i decided to take it one step further. i found a e28 mtech wing on r3vlimited and sat on it for a couple months before i decided to just go for it today. i think it came out pretty well, considering i had one shot to stick it down with that obnoxiously sticky 3M double stick tape. i even have a cool illest emblem that fits in the roundel notch very nicely! please ignore the lack of rear bumper, i got into a little #walltap situation hahaha








then i realized i really needed to get those corners down. hopefully this gets the job done. I drove to my girlfriends like this....


next for the car, I'm gonna go about making a real cheap oil cooler setup for it to make it trackable. i've also decided to keep it more on the daily side than track side of things so i'm gonna put back the whole interior and leave the tar. i'm gonna get some mildly sticky rubber to throw onto the watanabes for the track and i'm really considering pulling the trigger on those fatlace wheels to daily and using the mirage turbo wheels as drift spares. i'll try to be more religious about updating the fine people here on club4ag about what's goin on with my little princess.

until next time!

Wow m1 autosport old school I use to work for them back in the day

That section behind the rear bumper is so clean on yours. How's the 3m taped wing holding up?

Oni-Roku wrote:Wow m1 autosport old school I use to work for them back in the day

Nice! yea dude, I bought the car from Yves (maybe you know him) and ive just left the frame on there. I tried going to the website but its just some under construction thing. Was it a shop in LA or something???

-zenki- wrote:That section behind the rear bumper is so clean on yours. How's the 3m taped wing holding up?

Thanks??? haha I don't have very much 86 experience, are most of them smushed up behind the bumper?? But I am digging the no bumper look more now that the 'wing' is on there.
The 3M tape was mostly just to hold it in place while the construction adhesive dried. It's still drying but it does look like it did it's job. I'm surprised how straight I got it The adhesive dried a little thick though since I couldn't clamp it down in the middle. I think it pulled the tape off the trunk but that's okay because that adhesive should hold it on there pretty damn good. I'm just gonna have to put down a strip of electrical tape or something to cover the little gap that formed... but i'll come back with a report on how well it holds up with actual driving. maybe it'll fly off on the freeway haha
btw, im lovin that picture in your signature