mtmetzger

This is a project I started back in August 2012. Figured this may be a good place to share it!


I recently bought this car from a friend who has owned it the past 8 or so years and it is the first AE86 I have ever owned.

It is an original GT-S car and it also has:

-KYB AGX short stroke shock setup
-T3 camber plates
-T3 roll center adjusters
-TRD 8k / 6k springs - I'm thinking these will be pretty harsh for such a light chassis
-Cusco sway bars
-T3 panhard bar
-Prothane bushings
-Koyo radiator
-Trust DD exhaust
-Bride seat
-Konig wheels
-brand new redline tail lights
-MR2 manual rack

The original 4AGE engine was pulled and rebuilt / upgraded, but never found its way back into the chassis, so the car has been sitting for a while.


Coming out of hibernation:



Getting used to its new home:



So the first thing I did was a little interior cleanup and swapped the drop vent hood for a stock one. Didnt really take a pics of it, but its sitting on top of the car.



Emtpy bay:


Then I sourced an F22c from a wrecked 2004 S2000. Worked the deal out and just picked up the entire swap and some extras out of the car.

Truck load of S2000:


The star of the show:


That's about all so far.

I'm debating on using some mounts from a company called JSP fab (JSP ae86 S2000 conversion mount set). The kit uses 1.75" subframe spacers to allow more room for the swap into the tunnel, which I'm not too excited about. The other option is to cut the trans tunnel and leave the subframe where it is. My concerns with dropping the subframe down that low are suspension geometry getting screwed up and less ground clearance. I'm still talking to some folks who have run the setup to get feedback.

mtmetzger

Got my bible out and mocking up some wiring connections to see what I can eliminate. (All door wiring, convertible top motors, EPS circuit, air pump circuit, etc)





In theory, most of this stuff will make it in the corolla...

mtmetzger

Hanging out in the garage drinking beer and decided to make a little video:

mtmetzger

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Progress has been slow as I was deciding what to do about which direction I want to take the car. Full interior with all S2000 controls or simple, gutted race car. I guess it will be somewhere in between.

I know I'm using the S2000 ignition, key and stalks because the corolla ones were worn out. I couldn't adapt them onto the corolla column so I'll be using the S2000 column with a modified shaft. Random tidbit - S2000's and corollas share the same steering wheel mounting hub, if anyone wants to run an S2000 steering wheel for some reason.




I need to get the dash and S2000 bezel back in before I set the final length and position of the column

Then I got a new toy:



Had to build a cart for it, so I obtained a small shopping cart. Cut it up and make a welding cart. Works great!


Buddy Rob testing out the new cage in the corolla LOL!


Then Rob decided to get a little project of his own:


It's a 1JZ vvti swap for his Sc300. This slowed me down for a couple weeks while I worked through the wiring and a few other things. See how much fun it was?


OK, it's done and out of my garage. Back to the Corolla. The S2000 engine had no good lifting points, so I made these:



Fancy, I also got the oil pan sitting level so I could get an idea of the angle of the engine in the bay.



Pulled the oil pan off for modifications. It needed a little more clearance near the subframe so I could drop it down further. tadaa


couple templates for the filler plate:


The radiator inlet and outlet need to be on the driver side rather than passenger, so I had to cut everything off one site (inlet, outlet, fan mounts, and petcock) and move to the other side:


New holes and existing inlet and outlet:


Both items are at Andrew Dimartino's shop for welding. (http://dimartinofabrication.com/)

On to the mounts! I went with 3/16" for the mounts



That brings everyone up to speed. Should be getting to play with a plasma cutter tonight to get them cut out! Stay tuned!

mtmetzger

There really is nothing cooler that cutting metal with an arc and some compressed air.

mtmetzger

There was a little learning curve with the plasma cutter so my cuts weren't the greatest, but it's nothing a little grinding couldn't fix:



Test fitting:





I got the oil pan and radiator back from Dimartino Fab. He did a great job as usual! The oil pan plate was welded inside and out and should work nicely. The radiator turned out very nice as well. You can see the patches he made for the radiator as well as the oil pan:



Then it was time to pull the subframe out...




Test fits (you can see why the oil pan had to be cut now):



Cut:


More test fitting: Looks good now!



Welded up:



Then I got it mostly cleaned up, almost ready for paint.

mtmetzger

Update!

Got some paint on the subframe and reinstalled it:



Then it was time to make some sparks fly!



Daaaaaaaamn!


Threw the transmission back on the engine:


...and put it in the hole. Took quite a while to find the final position and get everything adjusted exactly where I wanted it:



Subframe assembled with mounts and plates:


Then I made these templates and cut them out of 3/16" plate:


Tadaa! All tacked up


Plenty of clearance down here.


And that's how it sits currently. Next up is making the driver side mount, then the transmission crossmember. Hope to have the car supporting this thing over the long weekend.

mtmetzger

I got the other mount tacked up the other day and pulled them back out for welding. I think they turned out pretty good for a novice! Feedback is welcome.


Look Ma! No hoist!


So Close!


A little trimming here...


A 1/4" spacer at the hinges and dropping the subframe a 1/4" and it shuts! ...with room to spare.

mtmetzger

So I took a pretty good break from working on the car around Christmas time and recently started back on it. Things are starting to move along nicely again.

Here's the process of making the transmission cross member. I used the stock S2000 mount.





Painted:

Installed:


Finally the car is holding the drive train by itself!

The next step was to remove all this


From here:


And here:


Then I tackled the clutch hydros. I used the stock rubber line from the S2000. It met up to a hole in the frame perfectly so all I had to do was run a bolt through to secure it and make this:


It goes under the master cylinder and brake booster so it's fairly hidden. You can barely see the slave down there.


I was pretty excited about this... I was started getting into exhaust mode and realized I had a new flange and gasket that is the same pattern as the outlet of the S2000 cat. From a Turbo II RX7. SWEET!


Next step was making the transmission tunnel. Template:


My redneck metal brake. Worked pretty well!




That's where I am now. I need to do a little more fitting of the tunnel and weld it from the top. Then it's time to pull the engine again. Hopefully I'll be getting the updates out a little quicker next time!

mtmetzger

Welded the end plate on the tunnel and smoothed it out. Didn't want any rough edges:


Pulled the engine back out...


Welded the tunnel inside:


and outside:


Slapped on some seam sealer:



Started cleaning up the bay for paint. Don't need these brackets or tray:


POOF! (still need to remove one more)


Then I had just a little more time so I chopped this


to fit here:


Then I decided this bracket was unacceptable:


So I made this. Not sure if I like it, may scrap it and just do a rod.


Should be getting my hands on a stock heater core and blower motor soon. Then I can finish up any changes that need to be made on the firewall and get the bay painted... More to come soon!

mtmetzger

Thanks guys!

Not a very exciting update, but it's what I've been working on... Figuring out the climate control. The car needs to at least have heat and if I can use the S2000 controls then that would be awesome. The blower box / heater core / diverter boxes from the S2000 were huge, but I think they will work nicely.

A workbench full of junk: S2000 and corolla stuff mixed in. Tried to adapt the S2000 actuators to the corolla stuff, but it wasn't happening.


Decided to trim the fat off the bulky S2000 boxes and use them. Got rid of the evaporator core and some of the casing.


Made some mounts and bolted it up


New location for heater hoses


The diverter box even fits in there pretty well! Go pedal clearance:


This port on the rear is for floor mode. I can't fit any ducts in this car though...


So I got creative and made little diverters.




This is what it looks like from the driver side floor board. Should work pretty well at keeping my piggies warm in the winter!


Like I said, it's not a very fun update, but I needed to figure out what I was going to do with climate control before I painted the bay. I'm hoping to wrap this part up soon so i can patch a few things, stitch weld and paint the bay.

mtmetzger

I've been working on the engine bay again. This part is not much fun at all!

Here's where original heater core came through


Cut


That will work nicely. To the left you will see where the A/C lines will come through.


Ugly, but will work


Started welding the seams. You can also see where I welded up several holes that I wasn't going to use. I'm not really shaving the bay, just doing a little cleanup.






Almost just a bare frame right now


I need to finish welding, seam seal and get some paint on the bay and undercoating in thewheel wells and trans tunnel. I'll be happy when i hit that milestone!

mtmetzger

After putting this project on the back burner last year, I started working on it again recently. Hoping to have it done in the spring. Here's what I've been working on:

Disassembled, cleaned, painted, lubed and reassembled front suspension: I love this rust oleum Hammered black!







Undercoated the inner fenders:



Made a bracket to hold the S2000 fuse box. It fits so well right here and the wires tuck nicely through a hole behind it.




Hopefully it wont be long until the next update!

mtmetzger

I finally painted the engine bay! I went with a silver hammered finish and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out...







Cleaned up and painted a few more things...









Installed the flywheel, clutch and transmission. All ready to drop back in the hole. Hoping to do that this weekend.

mtmetzger

Made a little more progress last night.

Cut the hole for the shifter and rolled the edge:


Hopefully the last time I drop the engine in!




Here's where the main harness passes through the firewall. Turned out pretty good I think.

mtmetzger

small update:

Front suspension back on -







Header modified so it would fit:

mtmetzger

After about a year break I started working on the car again..

The gas tank was removed and I swapped the S2000 fuel pump into the corolla bracket. It fit perfectly like it was meant to go there.

S2000 fuel pump & sending unit - original Corolla pump - S2000 pump installed in corolla bracket.


The S2000 pump is much smaller


I was even able to swap the S2000 sending unit to the Corolla bracket and use the corolla arm. It should read the level perfectly to the S2000 cluster.


Next I made a block off plate for the air pump diaphragm since the rest of the air pump system was deleted. Pretty simple - trace the gasket onto some aluminum, cut it out.






Then I got all the brake and clutch hydraulics installed and bled.



I've been making some good progress lately, hoping to keep up the momentum.

mtmetzger

Throttle cable has been made. I used the S2000 cable inside the corolla sleeve. Shortened the whole thing about 18":





Also made the brake booster vacuum hose:


and the radiator hoses:

Blue-Civic-Hybrid

iTrader: (1)

Wow, this is just beautiful! Please keep going with the updates, I can't wait till you get this baby running like a top!

kp

This is excellent, your work thus far is very impressive. One of the best Toyota chassis' combined with (arguably) the best of Honda engine technology. I'll be watching this one.

JapanSalaryMan

This car is going to be unbelievably fun to drive.

mtmetzger

Here's where we left off:








I had a little setback after I filled the engine with oil. After a week I had a little puddle under the car so I crawled under there and found that it was between the engine and trans.



I pulled everything back out and replaced the leaking rear main seal.



While it was out, I took the radiator back to Andrew Dimartino and had him add a bung for my fan switch and weld my radiator mounts on:



The fan is from a civic and fit nicely on the Corolla radiator

Then I tackled the steering column. There wasn't a very good way to mount the S2000 ignition cylinder or stalks on the corolla column so I had to make a Frankenstein column with pieces from both.

First step was installing the seat and figuring where I wanted the wheel to be.



Then it was time to start cutting! Here are some of the parts from both columns.


This is why I couldn't mount the S2000 stuff to the corolla column. The Corolla has a cast aluminum key cylinder / lock / bearing that bolts to the column. The S2000 has a bearing built into the column itself. Corolla on the left, S2000 on the right.


So I had to remove the mounts from the S2000 column:


And mock it up in the Corolla mounts:


The rest of the Corolla shaft (which is really a Supra shaft because it has an MR2 rack in it):


Finding the length:


Welded them together. Don't make fun of my welding table!


The hybrid shaft welded together and fit back into the S2000 tube that is mounded to the Corolla mounts:


Installed in the car:



With the wheel:


Ever seen an S2000 column that tilts? I thought that feature might come in handy so I kept it.

Now that the column is done, I can go back and finish the wiring:


I should be able to start it in the next few days.

JDM_JNKY

iTrader: (4)

So far so good, don't know if I agree w/ killing a real GT-S but to each his own. On board for the progress.

slowDB7

Loving this so far

Bently_Coop

Cool build.