Lets get down to business then. We already featured this immaculate Levin on our Czech blog once but we love it some much that we cant miss it out over here too. We featured it mainly to show how amazing zenki Levins can look because theres too many Levin owners who blindly convert to kouki frontends without really giving the zenki look any chances… but heres a proof that it works too!

And to be honest we dont think you can get any cleaner then this. Our jaws dropped from many 86s over time but this is a whole different level. This is the embodiment of perfection. And it also shows that simple things are often the most beautiful ones. At first glance this car looks solid, natural and smooth.

There are no unnecessarily wide and provocative fenders and the XR4 SSRs show that 14″ inch wheels are just right for the AE86. It all seems JUST right. Oh and by the way these 6.5″ wide Longchamps costed about 200 USD.

This coupe isnt perfect only because of its looks though, the technical side isnt far behind. Theres a 20 valve blacktop under the bonnet with no silly mods, its all focused on balance.

Same goes for the interior, the balance between the Nardi wheel, Bride seat and air con combines both maximum driver imput and a decent amount of comfort for the trip to the local track or hills in hot summer evenings.

Well, thats how a usual post would end. But we have a small bonus for you this time because we found these amazing sketches when digging through the owners blog. Pretty amazing, isnt it?

Even though its really not cool to drive a boro car in Japan (unlike in the US), these two guys stand proudly behind their boro style and are not ashamed to call their AE86s like that. They wanted cheap cars for skids and these two coupes do the job so theres nothing to be embarrassed for.

There aren’t any specs available because these guys don’t really waste their time with writing up speclists and showing off on the internet. And by the looks of it they probably dont even know all the parts on their 86s. As long as it works then who cares, right?

There isn’t much to spot from the photos either. These 86s are obviously 2 doors but who knows how did they look like when they rolled out of factory. Both are running kouki Trueno rear lamps, kouki bumpers with a zenki lip and the Levin also has kouki headlights with Japanese spec kouki foglights.

Theres the classic combination of bolt-on rollcage and Bride seats in the interior together with desired electrical mirrors (we didn’t get them here in Europe). We have no idea whats under the bonnet nor what chassis setup they use but we’re pretty sure there’s a set of excessively hard coilovers and some LSD on both of them. The Levin owner evidently likes RS Watanabe wheels while the Trueno runs more distinctive SSR Mk.II wheels at the back and some meshes at the front.

We personally think both cars started life as kouki GT-Apex Truenos but, like we said, who knows what they were put together from. And thats one of the things that we really like about these boro bangers!

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PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6

One of the best things about Flyrat is that they dont sell only overpriced vintage cars like old GT-Rs and 240Zs but many reasonably priced and not-that-old-but-already-cool-as-hell models like this awesome KE70.

Here are some basic facts about this 1983 kouki Corolla DX: it has an obligatory 4AGE swap with 65.000 Km on the odometer, TRD 6/5,1 kg/mm coilovers made by Revolver with Tokico HTS inserts, 15×8 SSR XR4 Longchamp wheels with pretty agressive -14 offset. All yours for only 750k Yen or 7k Euros.

Ok, thats a bit more then you would pay for a rusty KE from some old guy from countryside but dont forget whats included in this package. Just take a look how much XR4s in this offset sell for…

Another thing that makes us love this 70 so much is that the owner didnt swap the headlights for the more popular 4 eye ones. We know why everyone loves them so much but you have to admit that this setup looks way smoother.

Things have obviously evolved and changed over time. Rough World became Rauh Welt and AE86s turned into all kinds of 911s but the essence was always the same. No matter if it was “rough” or “rauh”, Nakai-sans creations always represented the very core of this word. No matter if he was building 86s…

… or 911s, his cars were always ROUGH. Ever since we saw his creations for the first time we were mind blown and we were even more impressed when we started learning more about the history of RWB.

Thanks to various blogs and journalists all of us could follow every Nakai-sans move and see his creations almost first hand. We could see the peak of his work in cars like the “Penthouse” 964, “Natty Dread” 993 and of course his personal “Stella Artois” 930. We see these three as the ultimate representation of a “rough” approach to building a car and we secretly hope that our 86s will one day give the same impression.

So whats the problem then? Well, calling it a problem is an overstatement but somehow we just dont see that much roughness in Nakai-sans new cars anymore. Dont get the wrong idea, we still think theyre amazing…

… but ever since he switched to the new “Royal Montegobay” 993 we just couldnt see the same amount of roughness in them. It was clean, tough looking, maybe even mature but it was just too clean to be called “Rough” in our opinion. There were no mismatched panels, no dents, no crazy aerodynamic details, no ruckus in the interior…

And the same thing popped up in our minds when we first saw the Pandora 911. It is extremely well built, has an absolutely mental engine setup, looks very good… but it just isnt rough. It is hardcore, but not rough.

Maybe its just because these cars are too new and they will roughen up gradually. Maybe we just take this shit too seriously. Maybe… Either way it seems that Nakai-san has evolved to a new level. Just like your favourite band that youve been listening to for ten years and to whose newest CD you just cant get into. You still love them but you keep listening to their older stuff more often. Catch my point?

Theres one person though who still seems to stick to the same idea. Nojima-san, the RWB painter, still drives his trusted 86 that he transformed into a complete beast. The car was pretty mean before (check out Noriyaro or Speedhunters for more pics) but its latest transformation is, in our opinion, the truest embodiment of the word ROUGH.

Hidden deep in the English version of JDM Options website lies a translated article featuring many details of Ueo’s legendary Trueno. It won’t be fair to simply copy and paste the whole article though, we will just pick our most favourite part and let you enjoy the entire Engrish piece on the original site over here.

So how did Ueo managed to destroy others who had twice the horspepower? This might give you a hint…

“One of the secrets to the fact that Ueo hardly ever spins out is in the front tires. Since his debut, Ueo had always used 14 inch rims with 185 spec tires. The key setting in this setup is when the machine is drifting and the throttle is depressed, the front tires begin to slide as well. As result of this, when the countersteer is maxed out and the drift angle is at its peak, the vehicle still resists spinning out. If wider tires are installed on this setup, the deep angles that are currently exhibited would not be possible.”

See? We keep saying it over and over again, it’s all about balance and sometimes less is actually more. Keep that it mind!

Remember to visit Options site for the whole article, it’s definitely worth reading over if you haven’t seen it before. If you have the time then take a look at HR.com.au’s comprehensive post on Ueo too, it gives you an insight into his career like noone else does. Also, Super Street featured Ueo’s machine in 2009 as well.

No matter if you love the series or hate all the hype around it, you have to admit that this is one really well build AE86. And as you probably noticed its an exact replica of the famous tofu supplier.

And when we say exact replica we mean it. It obviously doesnt have a race spec Silvertop that revs to 12.000 rpm but otherwise it has absolutely everything taken from the cartoon version.

The base is of course a zenki GT-Apex Trueno that sits on 14×6.5 Watanabe RS (just like in the series, right?). The car was build by Carland 86, one of the most respected AE86 specialists in Japan. They added a few bits and pieces that make this Trueno not only look good but go pretty fast too.

Like we said earlier its not a race-spec Silvertop but were sure this slightly tuned Blacktop can make the drive interesting too. Naturally theres a TRD LSD and a set of Carland 86s own suspension too. The Type-D exhaust is also from Carland 86 and amogst others there are parts like Custo sway bars, Endless CC-X brake pads, KOYO cooler and many more.

While you have to be Akira Iida to get the same engine as in the series you wont have any big issues with replicating the interior. This 86 has it all – red zenki interior, obligatory cup holders and a tiny rev counter on the steering wheel column. And dont forget the ItalVolanti wheel.

And thats it. Were still not sure if we should love it or hate it but we have to say that this is one damn well build Corollas. What do you guys think?

… and thats why we were really happy to come across this set of photos while browsing through the Tofu Trueno owners blog. These pictures are from Hachiroku Festival 2008 where Tsuchiyas GTV was displayed right next to the Initial D replica.

Unfortunately there was no info added to these photos but you all know whats under this Truenos bonnet. But in case you would like to go over its speclist again we added it at end of this post.

TRD SUPER RACING PRO. Well you cant sound any more Engrish then that… Seriously though there are a few details that cought our attention. First of all theres no silly big and loud exhaust tip. Seems like Tsuchiya-san likes to keep it quite in lower revs. Also, did you notice theres no cage inside? The chassis is fully reinforced and spot welded and according to one of the AE86 Club videos its as rigid as the new Integra Type-Rs chassis.

We also had a few lines prepared about its interior but then we found out that we were looking inside of a completely different 86. Well it wouldn’t be a japanese website if it didn’t have a complete mess in the photo section. So heres at least the speclist we mentioned earlier.

Specs:
AE111 20V 4A-GE
DLI ignition with Freedom ECU
Toda cams with 272in/288ex and 9,8mm lift
Toda valves and valve springs
Toda 82mm pistons with 11.3:1 compression ratio
OEM 295cc Blacktop injectors
Custom made TRD exhaust (incl. manifold)
Aluminium 3row water cooler
TRUST oil cooler
DG-5 coilovers (used to be TRD)
All suspension arms adjustable with pillow balls
TRD 2way LSD
4,778 TRD final gear
1-3 TRD gearset
MZ20 Soarer brakes
SSR Dori-Dori Meshes with 15×7 ET+2

This privateer Levin was build to lap Tsukuba in 57 second range and as said before its owner put more then you would pay for a new GT-R into achieving this laptime. We dont know if he succeeded but apparently he got bored with it after driving it two or three times. Or at least thats what the ad says…

…. Thats right, this 86 is for sale. And the price tag is pretty tempting too, this machine is yours for only 2,2 milion yen. Even though this car sat for a while and will need some brushing up, it will still cost you only one fifth of its original price!

Lets get on with the specs. The 16v 4AGE runs 304° TRD cams with 12mm lift on both sides, 1mm oversized valves, Toda Racing inner shim kit, JUN conrods, TRD pistons with 11,5:1 comp ration and a fully balanced TRD Gr.A crankshaft. All coupled together with Motec M4 standalone ECU and individual throttle bodies.

This setup is good for 250hp. Theres no info about this engines rev limit though but were pretty sure it wont be under 8500. Other stuff under the hood includes a dry sump, Earls oil cooler and a V-mounted water cooler.

The interior setup looks pretty much like what you would expect. The whole chassis is thoroughly reinforced with a 26 point rollcage and spot welding and the suspension was modified with equal link arms at back and custom Bestex coilovers.

The spec sheet is a lot bigger, check out AS Garages website to see the whole thing. There are also many more detailed photos. So is this a bargain of the year or what?