The Yellow Flying Fish
There was a time in Ireland where the AE111 Levin was one of the most desirable machines to own amongst the younger car enthusiast. To be somewhat precise, that was about fifteen years ago, a time when fresh new imports flooded the country, people had lots of disposable income and prices were sky high, especially for the Levin, about eight to ten grand to be exact.
These were another alternative to a Civic and was built as direct competition for the EK chassis. For anyone who watched the hyper Rev episode on these, you will remember the AE111 battling and beating the EK4 on track, they were a pretty capable machine. Click this link to enjoy that video.
You could argue, the AE111 put up a great fight as Japans top 1.6 FWD, that was, until the EK9 came out and sadly, Toyota lost that battle forever. When these cars landed in Ireland, a similar pattern emerged. Although we didn’t really use any of our newly acquired Japanese “hot hatch” imports for circuit racing, most of them were used for drag racing and this is where the AE111 suffered big time. The Honda B series was a far superior engine for the highly popular drag racing abuse at the time and the Civic quickly became the favourite car to own here, quickly pushing Levins out of the picture.
Its interesting to note, Toyota also made a Trueno version of this chassis but they have forever earned the nickname “Levin” just like the AE86 will forever be called a “twin cam”, this is how Irish people distinguish between each chassis. As for the JDM AE92 and AE101, these never really caught on. The 86 and 111 were the ones to have and were imported in the thousands.
To this day, I often wonder if the s15 stole a few styling cues from this car. Many will agree that the Levin looks like a baby s15 but this car came out two years before the Silvias were launched. The AE111 is probably the best looking of the three FWD models that came after the AE86, and arguably all of them should have been RWD, but that was never going to happen, it’s a miracle the AE86 even came with the FR platform. Toyota was already after phasing out much of its FR low-end cars. I always wonder what sort of a following the 92, 101 and 111 would have had if they followed the same FR layout as their older brother.
Fast forward twenty-five years later and the AE111 has dropped in price dramatically. Once prices were low, the ever so desirable Blacktop 20valve engines were ripped out and put into pretty much every AE86 build in both Japan and the rest of the world. I think NoriYaro summed these up perfectly in a recent vlog, he calls these cars the 20valve storage compartments. You cant argue, the 4A-GE is one of the best engines to ever come out of Japan and the fact Toyota kept continuously developing this engine for over twenty years is truly remarkable.
They finished off the 4A-GE series with the fifth generation 5 valve per cylinder blacktop engine, otherwise known as the “Blacktop 20-valve”. This boasted Variable valve timing had the highest compression ratio of the lot at 11:1. It came with a lightened flywheel from the factory, higher lift cams and let’s not forget an individual throttle body setup. Its one of the only NA four-cylinder production engines to ever rock the ITB from factory… Basically, you got a relatively high state of tuning out of the box with the blacktop 20valve and its remarkable that this was an option straight from the factory.
Once people realized these were the same engine blocks from the AE86, it wasn’t long before these were ripped from the AE111 and retrofitted into the 86 and other RWD Toyotas. It’s hard to argue, The 20valve engine in an AE86 platform is one of the best combinations out there, it’s the best bang for the buck too as these are roughly 165 PS stock compared to the 115PS of the 16valve that came in the AE86. The sound from the 20valve ITBs is absolutely infectious.
Let’s get back on topic! I admire Christy so much, he picked this AE111 Levin super strut in a relatively stock state. It had a few of the Toms bits which kick-started this whole mission to find everything he could that wore the Toms logo for this chassis. Tom’s is a tuning company that have run many race teams and have developed many cars in partnership with Toyota for the last forty or so years. They have done all sorts of amazing special edition Toyotas id highly recommend you check them out. Christy quickly fell for the charm of the AE111, if you get a chance to drive one you will see why. Bryan from our shed has had both the EK Civic and AE111 Levin chassis and always talks about how the Levin feels like a better car. When they have all the right bits they are a very enjoyable chassis.
Like all of us, Christy got pretty carried away with this build. I remember seeing the car with all the Toms bits back in 2016 and thinking just how good it looked. The beauty of building an AE111 in Ireland is we have such a large variety of parts for these cars as many of them have been killed due to their ever so desirable heart.
Christy slowly made his way around Ireland picking up Toms bits here and there and without realizing it started building himself a T111 replica. After I saw his car in white, I wanted to touch base and show him the T111 which is in the Hyper rev you might have seen in the Vlog but he was already two steps ahead of me.
Christy was already on the path to go full T111 with this Levin. The next time I caught a glimpse of this on social media, the car was Yellow and the wheels were white. It looked incredible, Christy had essentially built the car from the magazines and its presence is hard to match in the flesh. The last real piece of the puzzle was the front bumper, this was sourced from Japan and that really finished the outside look.
The kit really compliments the shape of this car and that rear Toms wing gives me all sorts of fuzzy feelings. Ireland is a very green country so this bright yellow paint scheme bounces off of pretty much every backdrop.
Since doing the photo shoot, Christy has taken out the engine and gone for a rebuild with a selection of tasty mods: Stage 2 Cat cams and valve springs, Toyota oversizes pistons, he’s even got the head ported and polished and a new vvt-i pulley kit has been installed as they are prone to rattles.
This thing must be an absolute joy to drive with the refreshed engine. I also love how the bay looks so period correct. The Toms super air ram, a few nice colours and braces and the Beatrush cooling panel with a few select stickers is a treat for the eyes. It’s nice to see a Blacktop sitting proudly in its natural habitat.
The interior follows the same attention to detail. Recaro confetti SR3 seats which came in the high spec AE111 BZ-R, BZ-G and BZ-V models as standard, the same seats and the EK9 and DC2. There is a sea of Tom’s goodies for the driver to enjoy, the clock bezel, horn, wheel and shift knob. Some Garage Moonpower floor mats tie in with the theme of the cockpit.
What’s interesting is, Christy styled the car off of the two or three photos he found online, it was only very recently that he managed to acquire the magazines showcasing the T111 build and parts list, a car you could essentially buy from Toms or build yourself. I have endless respect for Christy, I absolutely love this car, it’s a chassis that has been quietly disappearing from the Irish car scene and its always refreshing to meet someone who is genuinely interested in building and keeping one of these on the road.
There will come a time the AE111 are all but a distant memory. It’s good to know there are a few people out there like Christy who have fallen for the chassis and will hopefully keep one of these Levins for years to come for others to appreciate. Its cars like this that remind us of a time when Toyota was making some of the coolest cars in the world and amazing aftermarket companies like Toms were modifying them.
Engine:
Stage 2 catcams.
Catcam valve springs Bored out 0.5mm
Oversized Toyota pistons.
Head ported and polished
Valve seats recut
New Vvti pulley
Hks exhaust pulley
Toda flywheel
Exedy clutch
Smr2u air plenum
Sard radiator
Mrp timing belt stabilizer
Mrp lightened pulleys
Magnacore leads
Fgk 4-2-1 manifold
5zigen de-cat
Kakimoto full mega N1 Catback
Omex ECU w/launch control
Beatrush cooling panel
Toms Super Air ram intake
HKS mushroom air filter
Carbon plug cover
Suspension & Handling:
Hardrace rear arms
Carbing rear strut brace
Ultra racing boot brace
BC racing super strut coilovers
Goodridge braided lines
Mtec drilled and grooved discs
Adjustable drop links
Trd short shifter
Trd 3 point strut brace
Ultra floor bar
Exterior:
Tom front bumper
Toms side skirt
Toms rear spats
Toms spoiler
Toyota OEM wind deflector
Interior
Toms gear knob
Toms clock bezel
Toms horn button
Toms wheel
Recaro confetti SR3 seats
Takata harnesses
Carbon dash surrounds
OEM rear floor mats
Garage Moon Power floor mats
Wheels
Toms NA-R 16×7