AE86 Build: The Road to Perfection

Barry welds my bumpers, and we begin the assembly of the Trueno.

this is why we love drifting

We head to Scotland to Dorifest at Driftland, an event focused on style and fun driving.

A New K11 March to destroy

Here are a few photographs of the New K11 March before it went under the knife. Some are from when I picked it up and threw some Drag wheels on it, which came on the black March, an excellent eighties wheel that showed up locally. Then, when we slammed it on the BC coilovers with the Enkei wheels, these wheels are called Enkei Formula J M18’s and were used on open-wheel race cars in the early nineties. Whats also really cool is that most of the March Cup cars also ran these in the ’90s. It’s a wheel I’ve been chasing for many years, as 13 inches is the magic formula for these cars. The Enkeis are just right. The little lip is fantastic. What’s funny is I always end up almost loving this look just as much as the finished product; these cars look great with very little, and even though we did the Tommy Kaira look, this appeals to me just as much.

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Nissan’s Little Cheap Wonder: The Joyful K11 March/Micra

We modify the little Nissan K11 March/Micra and unlock the car’s potential fun.

I Painted My AE86 Black! But why??

I share the unexpected inspiration for painting my AE86 black.

Finally! Paint on the AE86

This post is a monster photo dump. The 48 hours photographed below were some of the best hours of my life. It’s a corny thing to say, but this intimate object has brought me so much joy and misery over the last seven years, from mega highs to mega lows and everything in between. I felt like this day would never come; there were points in this build where it felt like we hit a brick wall with the progress during the pandemic, times when we hadn’t the money or no motivation or similar.

When this weekend finally came, it felt like a dream; the night before, we pulled a super late one to get as much done as we could, and I’ve said it many times, but Jackie and his level of m motivation, even Dylan, who threw some hands-on whenever he could, made this one of the most memorable weekends ever. You have seen the video so that I won’t ramble too much on here, but I know there are people like me who enjoy looking at the photos. I tried to capture as many pictures as possible; I think I have about 400 photos of the same thing on my hard drive, and I kept shooting the same photo in disbelief. Anyway, I narrowed it down to about 60 from that weekend below. Enjoy the most significant milestone on the build!

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The Big Reveal! FINALLY Painting my AE86!

The day has finally come! We get some paint onto this AE86 Trueno after six years of work.

Big News: Taking Juicebox Full-Time!

My AE86 Journey Leads to trying Full-Time YouTube!

Old 86 Parts, New life

I never really appreciated the effort that went into blocking with a paint job because I had picked the best colour for body panels. Jackie was adamant that he wanted this car to be perfectly straight; I even started to lose track of the process, with the Trueno being blocked, spray-filled and then blocked again. Throughout the process, Jackie remained consistent with enthusiasm and attention to detail; most of the time, standing back and admiring his commitment, even after a full day of misery at work, was incredible. It’s been inspiring, and I’ve aimed to keep that mindset in my life as we advance. He wants to do the best he can all the time regarding his craft.

Here are the photos leading up to painting the car. We tried to get the best finish possible because, as I’ve learned, it’s all in the prep.

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Unravelling AE86 History with Old Parts

We unravel a story about an AE86 part while prepping the Trueno for paint.

The Accord Type Rust

The Honda Accord Type R was such a blast to bring on track; leading up to the event, we thought the car would tear itself apart on track, but to our surprise, it was perfect; the only letdown was how soft the springs were. We fitted a new clutch and the Max Peeding free coilovers, some sticky used tyres and used brake pads, and a seat and off we went. We added that BTCC-style wing, too, which gave the car a budget touring look. Overall, this was a great success. I’ve thrown some photos from the shoot we did with it and pictures from the event at Mondello, organised by the Hiro racing lads. Top craic!

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Driving The Worst Honda Type R In The World

We take the Crusty Accord CH1 Type R to a Hiro Racing Honda Track day and see if it can survive the punishment.

The TRD, Goodline Bumper and progress

The TRD wing idea worked out perfectly; it all spawned from having Barry over to gap the panels before we permanently added the hinges and how we would try to make the TRD wing look like it was added from the factory, bonding it on to make the perfect fit was exceptional. These photos are from the excellent weather we had in June last year. It killed me driving up and down to Jdmdistro and then on to work on this, but looking back, Im delighted I committed to the mission; it is all the little things that take forever, but as always, I trusted the process with Barry and Jackie who were always enthusiastic about things related to this car. 

Enjoy some photos from that month: Tip led, filling the gaps on the roof, collecting the Goodline bumper and painting the hinges, figuring out the perfect fit for the wing, and Dylan’s virgin S13 purchase; this was a good month! 

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AE86 Update: TRD Wing Transformation!

We get carried away trying to create the perfect TRD wing for the back of the AE86 and Barry Gaps the 86.

Sim Rig Delivery

Getting gifted a sim rig was such a surreal experience. We use it heavily in the shed at least once daily as we walk past to avoid a task altogether. Honestly, I can’t thank Laurence enough for giving this to us. It’s given us something cool to do when we get fed up with the real thing.

It’s ridiculous that he delivered this in his S13; we are forever in his debt for sorting us out with this. What a lovely moment this was!

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