Tag: sprinter trueno (Page 15 of 15)

Perfect Initial D Sprinter Trueno AE86 replica #2

February 2, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Remember the perfect Initial D Sprinter Trueno AE86 replica by Impulse I wrote about almost a month ago?

Hachiroku.com.au blog found an even more perfect replica:

Even more perfect Initial D Sprinter Trueno AE86 replica by Autoart

If you look closely you can see it is a scale model! To be more precise: it is a 1/18 scale model by Autoart. The replica is the first version of the car, so it still looks stock and has the first generation 4AGE in it:

Perfect replica of the 4AGE in enginebay

The engine has been done perfectly: I couldn’t really find a big flaw in it. Only thing was that the tvis intake is a bit big for the 4AGE.

Another perfect detail: the sunroof liner:

AE86 Sunroof lining

HR blog already mentioned it as an Initial D trivia: there is no sunroof on the car, but there is sunroof lining inside the car. All I can remember is seeing that somewhere during Stage 4, but not before that. I can’t remember seeing Keiichi Tsuchiya’s car having the same thing, so it must be either done on purpose or an error. Maybe it is somewhere in the comics so I’ll have to re-read all my comics then. ;)

Apart from that the interior is also perfectly done:

Also perfect interior replica

Maybe I’m exaggerating it a bit, but at least this scale model is just as good as the IRL replica Impulse made! ;)

BTW: Pictures are taken from HR blog.

Perfect Initial D Sprinter Trueno AE86 replica

January 8, 2009 / banpei / 9 Comments

Impulse just finished their Sprinter Trueno rebuild and took a picture of it in front of the Akashi Kaikyo bridge (over the Seto Inland Sea):

Perfect Initial D Sprinter Trueno AE86 replica in front of the Akashi Kaikyo bridge
To me it looks like it is the perfect Initial D AE86 replica: it is a 1983 model, it is perfectly painted in panda white/black, it got a set of black Wantanabes, it got the yellow PIAA foglights and it looks like it just rolled out of the factory! What more do you need to make it a perfect replica? (A Fujiwara-tofu sticker? ;) )

I wonder what they will ask for this rebuild when they are selling it through Goo-net? :o

Digidash was a standard feature on the early 3 door zenki AE86!

January 3, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I did some research into the digital cluster on the AE86 since my blogposting about the Impulse AE86 rebuild. Lucky enough I have both catalogues for the Zenki AE86s: both the Sprinter Trueno and Corolla Levin (which are for sale actually!). ;)

If you’re not familiar with the digital gauge cluster of the AE86, this is what I’m referring to:
Zenki AE86 Sprinter Trueno digital cluster
The digital gauge cluster of the Zenki AE86 Sprinter Trueno

I looked into the options and standard features of both the Levin and Trueno:

The 3 door Zenki AE86 Sprinter Trueno GT Apex had a digital cluster as default option

The 3 door Zenki AE86 Corolla Levin GT Apex also had a digital cluster as default option

As you can see: both 3 door GT Apex AE86s have the digital gauge cluster as a standard feature. For 2 door GT Apex cars the digital dashboard was only available as an option. And for all other trims and variants it wasn’t even available!

Both catalogues are from S58 (1983) so that still doesn’t say anything about which years it did feature on the cars…

Digidash standard feature of the early zenki Sprinter Trueno AE86?

December 27, 2008 / banpei / 1 Comment

The Japanese cartuner Impulse is specialized in tuning and restoring Hachi Rokus (Toyota Corolla AE86). They are currently doing a terrific job on this 1983 Sprinter Trueno:
impulse 1983 Sprinter Trueno rebuild
1983 Sprinter Trueno rebuild

Zenki GT Apex wiring loom
When running Google Translate on the page I got this translation under the wiring loom:
APEX based on vehicle type 1 for the first half of digital meters installed by default.
If I read this information correct the first batch of Zenki (type 1) GT Apex trim of the AE86 featured the digital dash by default. That would mean almost all 1983 and early 1984 hachis featuring a GT Apex trim should feature the digital dash unless the owner actually ordered the car with analogue dash. I tried to double check that with Carland86 and Goo-net and so far I could only verify that most early zenki (should that be zenki-zenki?) JDM Sprinter Trueno AE86s feature the digidash. Most of the Corolla Levins were all featuring the analogue cluster, so would it be a Sprinter Trueno only default? And would this also implicate Bunta Fujiwara did order a Trueno without digidash or that it is a late 1984 or early 1985 model??

To get back to the rebuild, look at how immaculate this rear bench is:

An immaculate rear AE86 bench
Never seen anything like it!

Eventhough this Sprinter Trueno probably used to be red/black once (due to the brown interior) it looks stunning in white:

Stunning panda AE86 painting

Keiichi Tsuchiya's 2002 Trueno AE86 rebuild

Keiichi Tsuchiya’s AE86 buildup

August 1, 2008 / banpei / 0 Comments

A few days ago HachiRoku.com.au blogged about Keiichi Tsuchiya’s hachi buildup. It was probably shot somewhere in the late 90s/early 2000s. (2023 edit: it was 2002!) I didn’t want you to miss this video (in case you didn’t read it yet at HR):

You can see Tsuchiya really pushed the car before! Structural damage, cracks in the front towers and the seat bracket ripped loose! All is repaired and the car is repainted in it’s original white color. And what stroke me most was that his hachi suffered from rust on exactly the same spots as mine used to have.