TheRD86...Build Story!

[RD86]

While we were glad to get the shell off to paint and out of the way for a while, there was a rather large list of jobs that could be done with the sub assemblies in preparation for the shell returning. And it all honesty, it wasn't gone for that long...!!

We set about these as we had done the shell. A fixed amount of time each week, with the three of us on it. Always at least one full day and many weeks we managed to find two full days to spend on the project.

In between times, we'd all be back to whatever jobs we were doing at the time ( I was busy designing and making harnesses for various high end Motorsport, Dobby had numerous self-employed commitments and other car builds he was tacking and Swampy was being Swampy. Generally doing whatever he liked and probably spending a little too much time researching what Japanese parts we need to fit together to make the best of this project!

We started with the rear subframe, partly as we now had a little space and we had to get to the diff stripped, cleaned up and rebuilt with the Kaaz LSD.

In stripping the rear cradle, we also cut out the various balance weights that are welded in as standard. This is a really tough job but its a free 1.5KG or so

Some (all) of the fastenings we inherited from when the shell arrived were aweful. So part of the task was source 12.9 cap heads with the correct shank, then as the back end went back together, they could be cut to length and fitted for good. We basically adopted this strategy for the front and rear suspension

Rear cradle dropped out, notice various bolts that look like they were removed from a farm trailer. And some balance weights (no pics of the ones welded inside, so as not to remind myself what a nightmare it was removing them!)

Dobby and I had this stripped in few minutes.

Guess where these went? Filed under B1N

Proper cap heads, stainless washers and nylocs where needed

Much better!

Another issue with the rear cradle, was when you tightened it up against the chassis, the sleeves inside the bushes were too short so the bush just compressed to nothing. We spent a good while measuring up the exact length require, then had x4 machined from stainless. They are quite heavy but it means the rear subframe is properly located

Some parts back from anodising. Really happy with these

Diff stripped and casing/flanges ready for some paint.

Done!

More shiny parts no one ever sees

Ready to assemble

Finally put together and getting close to needing a backplate

Another job (of many!) was to fit studs into the new front drive flanges. I reamed them to size and pressed in new studs to match the rear

Although we had achieved a great deal by this stage. There was a long way to go!

 

[RD86]

More little jobs completed somewhere along the line!

After much discussion, and then much more, we opted to leave a standard pedal box in the car. Partly as a LHD bias pedal box didn't appear to be available, despite at least two parts suppliers listing them for sale....

We thought about making one, but when added to all the other things we had to do, decided against it. So, although you cant really see it here, we reinforced the standard pedal box quite considerably. Lots of extra welds and doubling plates to give it some more rigidity.

Then finally some paint.

Continuing with the black/white theme. The F20C cam cover was treated to a makover

Wouldn't be needing these for a few weeks, but better to be prepared!!

 

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At this point, the shell was ready for collection, we had put in a lot of hours in building and re-building parts, gathering consumables and fastenings, thinking about the details and I had also done a few of the electrical assemblies. More of that later

So with the shell back at base, and with each component pretty much having its place, we set to work to assemble what would turn out to be something of which we are all very proud!

One of the first jobs, and pretty much the worst job, is to clean out all the threads on the car. We all took turns to limit the damage!

More of this to follow!

I wanted the fuel lines to be as hidden as possible, so they come through the inside of the car and broke out on the bulkhead, near to the fuel pressure regulator. Also tee'd off one of the lines is a dry break, so we can pump out fuel if require. Either for a fuel sample or to work on the tank in future. Or to change fuels

The black & white theme was getting a bit out of hand

3KG lifeline fire system installed, this is FIA compliant for rallying, so again any other form of Motorsport we are likely to do should be covered.

Fuel pressure reg installed on its weld nuts, clutch cylinder in, and also a bulkhead 'pass through' for the main 12v feed to/from the starter and alternator.

As the car wont run a bias pedal box, I tracked down a brake booster/servo delete from T3 tuning. They make these specifically for the AE86. It fitted well although the supplied bolts were not great, I think we swapped them out for stainless versions

Engine bay coming together. Wiper motor and linkage in, Swampy had stripped, cleaned, greased and painted the AE86 motor, so it was looking great

Extinguisher lines are often one of the first parts to go in, the nozzles have to face in specific areas. 3 into the engine bay and 2 into the cockpit. The heater box is now in, as is my engine cassette you can see coming through the bulkhead. The heater is a part I really dislike, they just dont work very well as the fan/motor is so weak. I might change it for something better, who knows.

 

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A few more parts installed as the car was really coming along well now. It was important to me that we didnt rush it just to 'get it done'. If we didnt have the right thing or the right idea, we moved on down the list and worked out a nice solution in the background. As soon as we made one shortcut, it would be a slippery slope to a few more, that quickly equals a car you arent happy with, and probably doesnt work!

Not saying we did everything perfectly by any means, but there was a good reason for every decision and every part we put on the car. There are often many ways to reach the same end goal, this way our way!

Fuel filter mounted on some printed brackets I drew. I had given these to Elliot previously, so he tacked in the weld nuts in the correct positions. Dont worry, the aluminum caps get swapped for black versions eventually!!!

Tank assembled and fitted. I had already wired the pumps and done the external wiring. I'd taken the wiring to a connector mounted on yet another 3d printed bracket I drew up at some point!

Fuel tank connector, WIP. The final version had a single connector

Column, we used an AE86 column with various brackets to achieve the right height. With the seat quite low, the original wheel position would have way to high,

Lower column bracket, another Dobby special that turned out really nicely!

Told you!

In our quest to never just fit something without looking carefully at it first, the OEM throttle pedal was not very strong. We added some triangulation

In fact, we remade the actual pad too, so that all the pedals sat at the correct heights off the floor and were all in line. Clutch and brake pedal pads were also re made and re aligned to suit. So all we actually kept of this was the bent piece of steel bar....!

Interior coming along nicely, the handbrake (from a GpA Impreza) and various electrical assemblies now in place.

 

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Onto the Wiring!

I didn't want this car to be a regular setup, that is, with a wiring harness and lots of stuff plugged into it. I was building this car over time, and as it was my project I could spend a lot of time on it, without having to track the hours then explain to the customer why it took 45hrs to create a little centre switch panel,

I wanted to house everything nicely, and as grouped together as I could, all having connectors so that things could be bolted/unbolted from the car and connected/disconnected in a flash. Not that I was planning to strip the car anytime soon, but its nice to do things properly to show what is possible with lots of time and lots of thought.

I needed somewhere to house the extinguisher control box. (in the past, I have built them into other assemblies but this time I wanted it on show). I also needed a cicuit breaker for the blower, that also acted as a switch to turn it on and off. As the blower was so infrequently used or even fitted, I didnt want to waste one of the PDM channels just for it. The other useful thing, is a USB port or two, again these are activate (and fused) but a breaker in this box.

Those of you that compete, you'll know how easy it is to forget to arm these things! Its all a very tight squeeze in there, but all fast cars are a pain to build

The dummy connector and boot at the top is just to check clearance. Turns out, there isnt any. Perfect

Again, I made some of these parts back near the start of the project, or whenever I had some time. This was trying to mark the positions of the weld nuts that would be required to bolt it to the shell, with a little foam between the two if we were feeling kind. Printed in graphite SLS, i'm fairly pleased how these turned out, im very much not a mechanical designer so it was a learning curve

 

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Another important part was to be the driver switch panel. I had already decided I wanted to have this as simple as possible, no one likes a load of buttons where they cant see them when they are trying to drive a car.

Many of the controls would be on the steering wheel, so I set about making a list of what the centre panel needed and drawing something to suit. It would mount to the handbrake and be just about in view when strapped in

8 Way Motec keypad. All I needed this for was

-Ignition
-Start
-Fuel pump over ride
-Hazard lights
-Main lights
-Lower lamp pod
-Upper lamp pod
-Rain light

So basically nothing that needed to be used when on track.....hopefully....

Wiring it up would once again be a very fiddly job, it was literally JUST big enought!

Installed in the car, the other functions are on there are (from left to right)

-Master On/Off button that glows blue with the power on
-Rotary switch, can me mapped for different fuels, different ignition maps or whatever. Its just an input into the ECU
-FAN LED, comes on when rad fan is active
-HFS LED, comes on when heated screen is active (intention was to have a heated screen and no blower, but as the shell had a brand new screen fitted, we opted not to cut it out)
-Fire button,
-CAN break in. This is where you can access the Motec devices on the CAN bus. I didnt want to use the normal Motec XLR so used a small Deutsch ASL connector instead, then made an adapter that plugs in

 

[RD86]

The steering wheel assembly was one of the more challenging parts I had to draw. I knew what I needed electrically, but how to make it look good and be functional, and do something that was kind of within my simple grasp of CAD.

I started with a flat plate, pretty conventional, with the buttons mounted to it, then wired on the back. I built this up and instantly didnt like it, it was too simple and the wiring was too visible. There were people out there doing a much better job and I knew I wouldnt be happy unless I gave it a go.

First effort, simple printed plate with holes

Buttons would be wired on the back

It wasnt good enough

Back to the CAD, and sometime later I had come up with this. A two part box, that all the wiring would be contained in, with either an integral connector on the back, or a flying lead to make a coily cable as seen since 1976....(!)

I didnt have a hollow column, and didnt want to go down the road of passing the wiring through the middle, some of my handy work needed to be on show, there was no point in hiding everything!

Version 1, mocked up. Nope, wasnt to last

My newly printed steering wheel parts

Switches assembled, complete with 1 more rotary. This is the secret red button that changes a number on the dash

Switched wired

I used one the premade Leo Bodnar switches, with the PCB on the back, it just needs 5v and signal ground, and the output is 0-5v depending on switch position. Very compact and saves some messing around making 1 myself

Go to be straight, but no one will ever see it....until now!

The box then has a machined spacer that is clamped tight between the two parts.

All sealed up showing the cable exit, also the little speed bulge to allow for the depth of the rotary switch.

Ok this is the car finished, almost. But with a re-trim from Royal Steering wheels it looks almost professional!

 

[RD86]

A few more build pics, it was all coming along nicely. But looking back, the hours we spent were many many many!!!

Rear brake pressure sensor, tee'd into the rear brake line just behind the handbrake. Its a Mclaren 100bar pressure sensor, discarded by a race team for having a minute signal drift at 0 bar. I could live with that....

PAS lines from the pump down to the rack, sleeved in Raychem DR25, just because....

A little plate to hold some connectors on the engine.

The VTEC solenoid, oil pressure and oil temp sensors would all plug in here

Chassis loom in build, shown here is one of the T transitions that sits along the bulkhead, again mostly out of sight!

The ends will be glued and shrunk once the harness is almost complete and tested,

I took the harness home numerous times, to check and double check fitment of various parts. They could be marked off in situ then terminated on the bench and the harness refitted. This is a luxury, quite often for customers there just isnt the time to go through this, or the customer doesnt want to spend the time/money to go to these extremes. But I wanted it perfect so I took the time.

One of the trial fits in the car

These Molex connectors aren't my favorite, but they are light and they latch pretty well. I used them for the external marshall kill switch and the external fire button. Of course they are fitted transposed, so you cant cross connect them...

 

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More general build shots

Swampy tracked down a set of Ohlins DFVs, someone he knew had them build for an S14, then used them for a track day or two, then had Ohlins make him a set of bespoke dampers....! So these were available and shortly on their way to BG Motorsport for strip, service and bounce.

All we had to do was get the AE86 top mounts to fit....!

Oh, and once stripped, we cut off and repositioned the mounting lugs, as the car would have been a crazy low ride height otherwise...

Various spacers and nuts I drew and had machined locally, to fit the whole lot together

Just right....

Rear corners coming together

More spacers for the rears

Engine bay with PAS mounted, column in, silver heat protective tape on the bulkhead, subframe in etc etc. Nearly ready for an engine

Some time later....

Fast forward a few hours (many hours) and some hoses have made an appearance as have brake lines and bonnet lifters

 

[RD86]

Things are progressing really well by now with the car, we have much of the detail either fiited or at least decided and although the list isn't getting much shorter, its not getting much longer either.

One very big decision was how to livery the car, if at all. The Honda Championship White is a really nice colour, and there is a lot to be said for a plain coloured competition car. But, not a chance. With the original AE86 being very much an 80's icon, I wanted a livery that wasn't modern and up to date. But on the other hand just copying a period livery on this car wouldnt work either, as it has some many parts that are much more up to date.

After many hours on his non windows laptop, Swampy came up with the real deal. A modern take on the classic Toyota Racing Development colours and liveries of the past. He drew it, he could print it, and he could transform the car.....

So he did........

 

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As you can see, this is no ordinary wrap.

As with the rest of the car, every little detail was thought about and tried and tried until it was perfect.

From cutting chrome TOYOTA lettering to go on the grill, to wrapping the boot spoiler, to wrapping the wheel arches as one piece, it was all pretty incredible.

Swampy's patience and attention to the smallest details are what makes this livery, and its easy to see why

 

[RD86]

We needed to fit stickers to show the external electrical cut off, and the external fire switches, as with all competition cars.

Swampy didn't want to fit the usual off the shelf stickers that everyone has, as 'they are crap and we can do better. Watch this'

Complete with black outline to tie in with the rest of the car

Anyone else have 4 layer external cut off switch stickers? Thought not...

 

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Same with the fire switch stickers, although this had less colour....

 

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After so many hours and so many days of picking up vinyl backing paper off the floor, we were finally at a point we could dim the lights and take a few photos!!

You'll notice most of the early build shots didnt show much of the exterior of the car. Thats partly as we actually started the wrap pretty early in the build, knowing so much had to be taken apart anyway, and also knowing how long it could potentially take.

So around the time of this photo, the car wasn't running, but it wasn't far off

 

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Another nice little touch was the logo. We named the car 'RD86'. Of course a play on TRD, my initials and 86

I asked Swampy at least five thousand times if we could have some coloured chrome on the car somewhere, finally he agreed!

Bad picture as its resized, but its red chrome, and chrome chrome! I was happy

 

[RD86]

I had wanted to wrap the backs of the seats since day 1 of the project, but figured we would never get the time to actually do it

Here we are, finding more hours to do more stuff!!

The logo is also laid into the door cards, by layering the logo on first, then wrapping the whole part in satin black, you get this 'pressed' effect

Does anyone notice? Only when I show them.....!

Interior virtually complete at this point, minus the big bit we were putting off (I mean saving until last)

 

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Making a dash was one of the big unknowns from the start. All i knew was I had a second hand LHD original dashboard, in pretty terrible condition, and it wouldn't fit the car whatsoever.

The other thing I had already decided was A) The car needed a dash, they look terrible in my opinion without and B) It should reflect what the car would have had originally, sort of

So we began cutting....

Dobby then did some metal work magic and....

This appeared!

Lots of checking and rechecking, but it was coming along nicely

Needed some end caps to help to mount it, and to act as closing panels

Then it was flocked, simple!

All in all I was again really pleased with what we had made. It was a nice solution to a tricky problem, it looks great, is simple and it fits well