It is time to dig a bit deeper into the AE86 again and this time I had a specific model in mind: the Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 Black Limited!
A total of 400 Black Limited AE86 were made in 1986 and all of them are Sprinter Truenos. So no Levins were available in the Black Limited edition! All Black Limited cars were graded as GT Apex.
This is the official brochure from 1986:
Fast forward 27 years and this is how some examples by Carland AE86 look today:
What are the key differences between the normal kouki Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 and the Black Limited?
Black (duh!) paint in colorcode (204) that was not available on the normal lineup.
Gold painted 5.5JJ x 14 inch rims (aka Snowflakes)
Kouki tail lights with a Black Limited mid section
Black Limited gold livery on the doors with a gold pinstripe
Golden Trueno grille logo
Black/grey/orange gauge cluster
Black/grey/orange leather GT steering wheel
Black/grey/orange leather gearshifter knob
Black/grey/orange interior
A very good example of the Black Limited orange livery: Continue reading
Earlier I featured the AE86 GT-Apex Digi Dash and obviously, it raises many AE86 enthusiasts’ hearts. This time I’d like to feature the normal analogue AE86 gauge cluster versus the AE85 gauge cluster. In case you feel you have a deja vu by now: you are completely right about that! I did post the AE86 gauge clusters earlier but reposted it once again with additional information.
AE86 gauge clusters
If you ever owned an AE86 (or watched too much Initial D) these clusters should be quite familiar. There are two types of clusters for the AE86: left-hand drive (LHD) and right-hand drive (RHD). The layout of these clusters has been mirrored: on the LHD the tachometer is on the left side of the cluster, while on the RHD that spot is taken by the speedometer. Also, the warning lights, fuel, water temperature and oil pressure gauges all have been mirrored.
JDM AE86 gauge clusters
the GT Apex cluster and the GT / GT-V cluster. They appear to be identical, however, they do have subtle differences.
The zenki (early) AE86 GT Apex gauge cluster features the speedometer on the left and the tachometer on the right. As the Japanese government mandated speedometers to be limited to 180 km/h since the 1970s, the speedometer has a different scale than all export models. The gauge cluster features a fuel meter on next to the speedometer and oil pressure and water temperature gauges next to the tachometer. On the left and right we also find several warning lights, but I’ll get into that later. In the middle between the speedometer and tachometer, we find the two indicator lamps. Below the tachometer, we find the high-beam indicator light.
On the speedometer and tachometer scales we see intermediate steps about 2/3rds width of the full steps. Also the speedometer features the scale in yellow/orange on speeds above 100 km/h.
Earlier I featured the AE86 GT-Apex Digi Dash and obviously it raises many AE86 enthusiasts hearts. This time I’d like to feature the normal AE86 cluster versus the AE85 cluster.
If you ever owned an AE86 (or watched too much Initial D) this cluster should be quite familar:
It is the standard JDM kouki AE86 cluster for RHD cars. Difference between the kouki and zenki cluster are the the white vertical lines and white needles that replaced the old orange needles.
Difference between JDM and UKDM gauge cluster is the speedo that reaches 150mph (240km/h). Unfortunately I haven’t found a picture of that cluster yet…
Difference between JDM and continental EUDM gauge cluster is the mirrored layout and speedo that reaches 240 km/h. Continue reading
I bought my USDM Corolla AE86 with a cracked windshield. This was mainly due to a design flaw in the AE86: the support for the windshield is a watertrap and after trapping water for more than 20 years it rusts through from underneath. Naturally this stresses the windshield and hence it cracks. So I accepted the cracked windshield, took it out and had its support repaired before replacing the windshield. Then the problems started: a replacement was not easy to find.
Carglass was only able to source a Corolla AE82 windshield and with help from Toyota Netherlands they sourced a windshield from the UK. I’ve heard from many other AE86 owners it is a big problem to find a new windshield nowadays because apparently the AE86 windshield is almost extinct now… So currently the options are either pray or find a used windshield…
Yesterday I read some breaking news on AEU86: a windshield replacement has been found for the AE86!
AE86 windshield replacement: Daewoo Nexia
ZaX mentioned someone told him (max_ae86?) that the Daewoo/Chevrolet Nexia windshield is a 99% fit and the only thing you need to adjust to make it fit is put a little bit more glue on the topcenter (where the rear view mirror is mounted) to make it fit properly.
I know from experience that the EUDM windshield is the same as the USDM, but I have no clue if the JDM windshield is the same…
This is the exact model Nexia you need to borrow your windshield from:
AE86 windshield replacement: Daewoo Nexia
The added benefit of this windshield is that you will have a shaded band on top of the windshield as well! So start hoarding those second generation Nexias!
As being an admin of AEU86 I’ve seen a lot of questions, facts and fun stuff about the Toyota AE86 (hachi roku). I also see a lot of questions returning even though we documented it on the FAQ already.
This time we feature the viscous fan of the stock 4AGE!
So what use has a fan for the engine in general? Well, the engine heats up and is cooled through the water system. The water is cooled through the radiator and the radiator only works well when there is enough airflow (moving the heat from the radiator).
Most of the time when a car is driving it will have enough airflow to cool down the radiator, however during city runs and traffic jams the radiator won’t cool down enough. To overcome this problem a fan is mounted to ensure a airflow through the radiator. This can either be a fan driven by the engine (belt or clutch type) or an electrical fan.
The stock 4AGE has got a viscous fan installed on the waterpump. It is driven through the multibelt (crank, alternator and waterpump) and is driven through an internal clutch system. The clutch system consists of a small reservoir containing oil which reacts on heat. If the engine heats up the oil will get thicker and the fan will rotate faster.
The viscous fan of the AE86’s stock engine is driving the fan constantly, so even though you have enough airflow from driving it will also generate extra airflow from its fan. This is not an effective way of using a fan, but back in the early 80s a viscous fan was cheaper than an electrical fan with a thermostat controlling it. The thermostat is able to turn on the fan when it is needed, so 95% of the time it will remain silent! :)
Another reason for switching over to an electrical fan is an engine upgrade: all transverse mounted 4AGE engines (7 rib big and smallport, 4GZE, 20v Silvertop and 20v Blacktop) have a different waterpump. The waterpump of the transverse mounted engine has weaker bearings which will fail after a while when you mount the fan on it. So either you keep the waterpump and have the chance it will fail, you switch over to the old longitudinal mounted 4AGE waterpump or best option is to switch over to an electrical fan!
So upgrading your 25 year old system with an electrical fan is a good upgrade: it will save you fuel (not continuously driven), increase engine power (not driving the fan anymore) and will lighten up the engine (revving becomes a little bit faster).
Nowadays you can find electrical fans (and thermostats) plenty in the junkyards! For the thermostat the easiest solution is to buy an AE92 16v 4AGE bigport thermostat: it is external and easier to mount between the waterpump and the radiator. Also the 1988 Camry V6 radiator is a good upgrade of your stock radiator and already includes a big electrical fan!
However there are also some doubts upon the numbers of increase of performance: some people even claim 8 HP increase after switching over to an electrical fan. This is very unlikely: 8 HP of airflow is moving more than 10000m3 per hour! Also the viscous fan is driven by a clutch, so it probably won’t rotate too fast at the higher revs as expected unless the engine is overheating! If you get 8 HP increase after removing the viscous fan most probably the clutch system is stuck and the fan rotates at the same speed as your waterpump (or slows down your waterpump)! More likely it will be somewhere around 1 or 2 HP increase. But that’s still an increase of a few percent!
This one already got its viscous fan substituted by a electrical fan:
As being an admin of AEU86 I’ve seen a lot of questions, facts and fun stuff about the Toyota AE86 (hachi roku). I also see a lot of questions returning even though we documented it on the FAQ already.
This week we feature the rotating grille found on the zenki Corolla Levins!
First of all you probably think something like rotating grille? What is that? Well, it is exactly what it says: a rotating grille!
During the 80s Japanese car manufacturers were packing their cars all sorts of gadgets and to keep up with the competition they had to come up with the latest inventions! One of these things was the rotating grille as found on the Corolla Levin AE86, but only in the GT Apex trim. It is just another thing like the side mirror wipers found on the Toyota Mark II X80 series.
Basically what it did was having a closed grille when the engine is under normal operation to improve the drag coefficient and when the engine is under stress it would open up to give it more cooling. It had a thermostat which opened the grille when the water temperature was hot enough. Then the grille would open up and show the twincam 16 logo instead of the Levin logo when closed.
If you want to mount one yourself you definitely need the grille itself and the hoses and thermostat as well! As far as I know these parts are not available anymore at Toyota, so you will have to get almost all parts to make it work!
As said before: it only operates at really high temperatures, so you really need to push the engine far to have the grille open up! Remember that the GT Apex trim was meant as a luxury trim and not a performance trim: therefore the GT and GTV trims got the louvre grille instead of this the much heavier rotating grille.
So is it worth its money then? Well that’s a bit hard to tell: it does serve a purpose to decrease the drag coefficient but it won’t save you much in fuel, especially if you push the car hard to get it open! ;)
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