Well, I feel that it's finally time to introduce myself.

My name is Brian, and I used to work at a Toyota dealership, so I understand how those places work. Since then, I've moved onto greener pastures, but have kept my contacts in the business.

My main automotive interest is in cars. Years ago, I worked at VW specialty shops and we did some fun swaps. Worlds first VR6 new Beetle, etc. I've had my share of VWs, Rabbit/Golf GTI, mk1,2 and mk3 Jetta, etc. All of them were built up with suspension and stuff, but mostly stock-ish powerplants. Handling was the name of the game.

When I worked at Toyota, I bought a 1985 Corolla GTS (also called AE86 or hachiroku), which is a fun and quick car. With some minor mods, it becomes very fun on the racetrack, as well as on twisty roads. It is the last of the sports corollas with rear-wheel drive. Luckily I bought my first one before drifting became too popular, when the prices of these cars skyrocketed due to a japanese cartoon called Initial-D. Still, the cars were fun, and we did regular TRD-suspension modifications, LSDs, and other stuff to make them quick on the track.

My personal project car evolved to become one of the quickest normally aspirated corollas around. I managed to install the highest output 4-cylinder non-turbo Toyota engine produced into the car. The engine comes from a japanese-spec Altezza RS200 (which is the same chassis as the canadian and US-spec Lexus IS300).

This car continues to be a track and show car, and a showcase of what can be done using mostly Toyota parts (and some japanese tuner parts as well). No bastard honda-toyota hybrids here.

Along the way, I started spinning wrenches on corollas, and we call the shop 86tuning. The garage seems to be full of corolla parts. There's a seperate area for truck stuff, which seems to be accumulating as well.





Now what's a car guy doing on a truck forum?

Well, I've also got a 1984 4x4 pickup with small modifications to make it safer and more fun. No pics of the Red Crawler yet. Most of the work has been to fix things, like the steering (broken when I got it) and the clutch (slippy) but there have been a few fun and worthwhile mods:

Rocksliders & rust repairs to the frame
Budbuilt crossmember
Lockrite front locker
33x10.5 BFG KM2
Front axle moved forwards 1.4"

The to-do list is long, and has been tweaked many times. However, spending on the truck has to be carefully thought out in these tough economic times. Oh well. At least I go 4wheeling all the time. Next year, it will be tough deciding between tracking the 86 or wheeling the red truck.

 

that looks fun! your decision is clear, do them both as much as possible

 

I've been playing around in the city, it snowed this week. w00t. The BFG KM/2 works fine on snow, even in 2wd with an open rear diff.

Only pulled out two cars stuck in ditches

 

how does the lockright work in snow? just curious, i just put turetrac LSDs in front and rear. best traction i've seen outside of a subaru in the snow and ice.

 

ive always had a love for those rollas <3 i hope to own one someday when im done with school

 

I'll let you know tomorrow, it's snowing right now, and we're expecting 20cm (8") of the stuff in the city.

Lockrite front/open rear diff works great for regular 'wheeling.

I've got an e-locker sitting on the shelf, awaiting installation. Just gotta figure out if I can pony up for the 2x 5.29 gearsets first, or if I'm going to shim a 4cyl 4.10 gearset to drop in until I have $$$ for the 5.29s. If only money grew on trees.

 

i advise to do gears and traction at the same time, under almost any circumstance. ie, as long as the truck can roll and wheel right now, i would just roll it that way until i could afford to do the whole job at once, even if it takes a year or more to save the cash. its a huge time and money saver, and very satisfying when its done.

 

my sister used to have one corrola but it was the single cam one

 

Yeah, I know, it's a lot of work either way. That's why I've been driving around with the open rear diff for so long.

 

That is one cool Corolla. I didn't realize they were RWD (longitudinally mounted engine). I love sleepers.

I want to hear all about the quirks of a front locker in snow, as you seem to have a pretty positive opinion on them.

 

No quirks.

Finally I have a pic of the truck.

 

welcome to the dark side...

 

very nice....i'm running the same tires/size on my 81.