JAF 2013: The first impression

May 22, 2013 in event, Events, jaf2013

Unlike last year I wasn’t a visitor at the Japanse Autosport Festival in Assen as my Carina was present on the paddock between the various sportscars. This year AEU86 decided to ask for a club spot on the paddock and we were granted a large spot in the mid-center of the paddock! Awesome!
We managed to get a total of six Hachis and two Carinas. A small impression of our spot:
JAF 2013: The six hachis of AEU86
Cars from left to right: Corolla GT (4AGE+ITB), Corolla GT (3S-GE BEAMS), Corolla GT (3S-GE BEAMS), JDM Sprinter Trueno GT Apex (4AGE), Corolla GT (4AGE)
Another panda red Corolla GT AE86 was parked behind the Carinas (behind the banner) and apart from ours another four Hachis were present atthe Toyota Noord club so altogether ten hachis were present outnumbering various other cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Turbos and such. Not bad at all!

I did not have a lot of time to walk around and shoot pictures of all the cars, but at least I got a decent share of the most impressive cars. One that immediately drew my attention was this pink Impreza: Read the rest of this entry →

WTF: New body panels for the AE86!

March 26, 2013 in WTF

This is excellent news for the three door (aka hatchback) AE86 owners: Impulse AE86 started manufacturing new back panels for the three door AE86!
Impulse AE86 new 3 door back panel
Just imagine the work and effort they put into this product to reverse engineer a 30 year old complex panel like this and make it 100% identical!

In this video you can watch the actual pressing of the new panels: video on the next page

WTF: Fujiwara Tofu Shop Nissan Sunny RZ-1

January 24, 2013 in WTF

I’ve seen many Fujiwara Tofu Shop (private) inspired vehicles so far, but this Nissan Sunny RZ-1 B12 is done in such perfection that if the original was a Levin you had to look twice to see the difference.
Initial D Nissan Sunny RZ-1 B12
Of course it does help that the Nissan Sunny RZ-1 B12 and the (kouki) Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 share the same silhouette and have a similar headlights/grill. Nevertheless I can’t recall ever seeing pictures of a panda Sunny B12.

Found at RCW Malaysia

AE86 Trivia: AE86 and AE85 Gauge clusters

December 29, 2012 in AE86 Trivia

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.
AE86 Trivia header

If you ever owned an AE86 (or watched too much Initial D) this cluster should be quite familar:
AE86 Trivia: Toyota Levin AE86 gauge cluster
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. Read the rest of this entry →

Picture of the week: Cutaway Toyota Levin TE51

December 21, 2012 in picture of the week

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Near the end of November I got terribly busy preparing to do a talk at the Percona Live London Conference where I was invited as a speaker. So naturally I had to drop some of my other duties… After I returned from London I got the flu and had to stay in bed for almost a week and naturally my wife and son also got the flu and I had to take care of them in the meantime.

So to make it up to you, something I found on the interwebs after reading on Jalopnik about a great reddit cutaway thread:
Cutaway Toyota Levin TE51
A very nicely cutaway Toyota Levin TE51!
Note that the 2T-G engine is the electronically fuel injected model. I never knew the TE51 already featured EFI, so you learn something new every day. ;)

Found at Stepho