The power plant.

The WRX lays down some pretty respectable lap times for a mostly stock road car! One thing I knew from the beginning was that if I were to build a dedicated track car - it had to be faster than the WRX around the track or I wasnt going to be satisfied.

The AE86's major strength is its weight, with a bit of weight reduction I figured I could get the car down to ~800kg? The WRX weighs in at over 1200kg's. The WRX has a 2.0 litre turbo engine putting out about 130-140kw atw and all wheel drive. The AE86 (in jap spec) has a 1.6 n/a engine putting out <90kw atw and just RWD. The weight reduction wouldnt be enough, I needed more power! It is possible to build a naturally aspirated 4AGE up to put out similar power to the WRX but it costs big $$$$! I decided to go turbo - cheap horse power! Some investigation revealed that by slapping a T28 turbo from an S14-S15 Silvia onto the 4AGE with some aftermarket management I should be able to cheaply get similar power to the WRX. Then we are in business!

As it happens the 4AGE came out in a factory supercharged version, the 4AGZE. This engine had strengthened block and forged pistons from the factory and is the best base to turbo charge. My dilemma was that I was on a budget and I already had an engine - the basic 4AGE that came spare with the car. I figured I could just turbo that to begin with, keep the boost low and tuning conservative and hope it lasts a few meets before it popped!?

Rust repair...

I bought a little MIG welder - figured if I have a track car I'm bound to be needing to fabricate and repair things all the time so it was worth while to get a MIG. I started cutting out the few spots of rust in the shell and replacing it with fresh metal donated from a Magna door skin I salvaged from the scrap bin at a local panel beaters! It was working out pretty good, I could have been a panel beater in a previous life!?

The teardown - WTF!

So I get the newly acquired Sprinter home and start tearing it down, the old 4AC and gearbox are ripped out, and I start cleaning up a bit of accumulated grease and grime from the engine bay. It was then I discovered the seller was not completely honest with me and I discover a dirty great bow in the left hand front chassis rail!? #$&@!!

I ask around some mates for a panel shop contact to try and get it straightened on the cheap, manage to find a mate of a mate who owns a shop and I cart it off to him to get straightened out. I get it back after a week or so later and am told its all straight so I continue stripping out sound deadening etc. I sell off all the interior - not needed for a race car. Next step is to do something about the dirty great sunroof hole!

The Initial Purchase!

I was probably a bit keen to get started - a little too eager to get my hands on something asap! I found an ADM(Aust. Domestic Market) AE86 Sprinter for sale with a seized 4AC engine, but it was advertised with a complete spare 4AGE. The car had been in a minor front end prang at some stage and repaired since. The seller owned a workshop that specialised in AE86's and he assured me it was straight. The price was reasonable - I thought at the time. It had an aftermarket sunroof that I did not like but figured that could be sorted out later. There was also some damage to the roof as apparently the bonnet had flung open on the previous owner at some stage whilst driving and whacked the roof above the windscreen.

I handed over what I thought was a reasonable amount for the car and spare engine, hired a trailer, loaded it up and took it home. The build was under way!

The need for more speed!

After 3-4 years of 7-8 sprints meets per year, the WRX was starting to get a little tired in some areas, plus I was wanting to get a little more serious with car set-up. I had been racing in Clubman class which allows minimal modifications to the factory delivered WRX(basically OEM engine and ECU with a few suspension tweaks, and non R spec tyres). To move up to modified classes in the WRX meant spending a lot of money on the car to be competitive. The car was also my daily driver and I wanted it to remain that way.

The decision was made to build a dedicated track car, I could then modify to my hearts content without worrying about road legalities, and it also meant that I could break it at a track meet and still have a car to get me to work on Monday! It made sense, I just had to find a suitable car to start with. My criteria was a small light RWD car.

A good friend of mine was big into the Best Motoring International Series DVD's - I borrowed a Hot Version DVD off him one day which featured the AE86 N2 series race with Keichi Tsuchiya at the wheel of the TRD Levin - from then on I was sold on the AE86!

In the beginning, there was AWD...

...in the form of a Subaru Impreza WRX (MY00). Yes, my first taste of going balls out on the race track was in my newly purchased, 2nd hand WRX. The moment I got in it and started belting around the suburbs I realised that this car had a lot more in it than what I could get out of it from daily commuting and wowing my mates with "quick spins around the block"! On joining up with the Impreza WRX Club of Vic. I noticed they ran a Sprint Championship, I attended one of their Sprint meets at Winton Raceway and decided it looked like too much fun to miss out on. I signed up and for the next 3 or 4 years I was content flogging the absolute begeezuz out of the trusty WRX once a month and competing in Clubman class against fellow club members.

Its alive!

My blog site that is - not the race car(unfortunately). Please enjoy the slow, ongoing, never-ending process as HalfArsedRacer(ie. me!) attempts to build a race car in his front yard with very limited resources and skill.