Author Archives: Garth Ivers

AE86’s @ Formula D 2010

April 14, 2010 in Events by

Anontio and the crew over at MotorMavens have got their coverage up of the first round of the 2010 Formula D at Long Beach in the USA. Good to see a few hachirokus represented, especially the  (now pink and yellow) Trueno monster of Taka Aono. Jump over to MM now and check out the pics!

MotorMavens

The Road To Heaven

April 4, 2010 in Videos by

…would be made like this.  What a sweet bunch of corners! If you didnt already guess the star of the show, it’s the awesome-sounding Custom Garage Speed N2 Levin. Who says circuit cars can’t drift?

Hatch, Coupe…. Wagon?!?

March 30, 2010 in Random by

Completely unsure if this is ‘photoshopped’ or not, but PeakingDuck dropped these in my inbox tonight, apparently finding them on Minkara.

Hit the jump for more shots!

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Pluspy? Plus P? +P?

March 23, 2010 in AE86 History by

You may have seen this sticker on your freshly imported JDM steel or second hand parts and thought WTF? It is the mark of the oldschool

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LEVIN On The Nürburgring

March 20, 2010 in Videos by

And other European circuits back in the 1980s!  F**k Yeah! I love nostalgia!

One Word To Describe It?

March 10, 2010 in Feature Cars by

Sorted. What would yours be?

Check out the rest of Asayan’s Levin @ Noriyaro

New Sh*t!: AJPS Tie Rods & Ball Joints

February 25, 2010 in Parts & Accessories by

Dave at AJPS shot me an email this morning letting me know about his new slim-line ball joint and tie rod ends. These are some serious modifications for those of you out there running at the extent of the AE86’s stock parts limit.  The ball joints are BJ145 part number and the tie rod ends are TE489L. You will need dual adjustable tie rod tubes (ra40/ke30, ajps, noby booth etc) to fit em on the AE86, which are a necessary upgrade with longer lower arms anyhow!

Manufactured in Taiwan for AJPS to ISO9002 standards, Dave says the quality and manufacturing is second to none:

The joints are fully sealed (no grease nipples), filled with molykote2 super high performance grease from the factory. The boot is also sealed to the housing and on the ball joints is further secured with spring wire. They both have micro finished hardened balls and forged casings further increasing smoothness and strength. The boots are much thicker than others ive tried and since they dont need filling the chance of the boot splitting is also nil. Theyre also UV treated so the rubber doesnt perish.

If you’re running old shagged out suspension or brand new purpose-built items, these parts will give great benefits. Restorers who want to refresh their car and have it last for many years to come, Rally and drifters whose cars get harsh use, Street-legal cars that need to go over the pits or simply cars that want to run a large rca with a small wheel – this is your solution!

David is so sure of the quality of these units hes brought in 100 pairs of each and will be selling the ball joints for $35 each and the tie rod ends for $25 each. Plus, if you get your order in this week, he’ll chuck in free Australia-wide shipping!

Hit the link to for the entire rundown and specification.

HR Forums

Jaromir Cech Talks FT-86

February 23, 2010 in General by

The senior designer of the FT-86 project Jaromir Cech talks to Autocar UK about the design philosophies and ideals behind the European-designed Toyota concept. Interesting to see the enthusiasm for the concept to go directly into production ‘as-is’ from Toyota Japan’s directors, with the hope of not changing much (if anything) from the concepts exterior look.  Lets hope they can get it past pedestrian safety checks and onto the road!

[Via 86ers]

FT-86 Will Be A Reality

February 9, 2010 in Random by

Jim Lentz, President & Chief Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Sales, USA has confirmed (via Digg Dialogg) the FT-86 will be coming to market, at least in the USA, somewhere in the near future.

The video features mostly interview questions on the current Toyota recalls, but at 14:26 a question arises about the future of sports car production at Toyota. To watch the video, head on over to Revision3.

RWD vs FWD

February 7, 2010 in Videos by

So many video posts recently, but this stuff is hard not to share! An awesome video from 1987… i especially love the part after the first braking zone, you’ll see!