Hey guys, i'm new to the board, and i'm amazed that the first 86 community i've found is based in Toronto, where i live! such luck.........
Well, here's my dillemma:
I'm 16, and have decided i need a car. I watch lots of anime, and have discoved the AE86. Now i've read tons on it, but i need some first hand experience!
Reliability. Keep in mind, that this is a first car, so i can't have the thing breaking every week, as i don't have the money to keep it going!!! How reliabile is it? What should i look for in a used one?
Interior. Ok, i love the handling, and exterior looks of the cars, but the inside really isn't that nice, and i'd imagine in a used one, it might be even worse. What kinda costs for re-doing the inside? Seats, should the be racing ones, or can you get OEM ones from Toyota still? The dash and gauge cluster is quite cheap looking, and good upgrades there?
Ok, so as i alluded to before, i'm in toronto. Good place to get work done? Order parts? ALso, if anyone knows of some nice 86s, in Ontario (i'll drive anywhere), in the 2-3k range, feel free to drop me a line!!!
K, some other things i may have forgotten to mention!!!
I'm quite good with cars, and have access to a fairly good selection of tools, so i can do most any work not requiring a hoist myself. Even have a welder........which brings me to the topic of framework. If i had most of the things out of the engine bay and passenger compartment for refurbishing anyways, should i consider re-inforcing the frame? If so, how?
Oh yah, what about suspension bits. Anything known to fail that i should think about replacing? I heard wheel bearings go quickly.......
Hi welcome to our forum , I might not have a AE86 but i do have a Toyota and let me tell you even with the car being 15years old as long as you do regular oil changes and baby the car sometimes you should not have too many problems.When you get a used car like that the best thing to do is check the parts that are know to die after that amount of time.Im no expert but im sure some of the guys here will respond fast to that part.As for welding that i know very well cause so far i have done 5 Civic CRX h22 swaps and had to do major welding and custum fitting,if i was you i would check the weld seams for rust if there are holes then i recomend sanding and welding the whole car.In the end adding extra strengh to a car will only improve handling and extra power from modifying the engine.Anyways welcome to the Forum and your free to ask as many questions as needed. :smile:
1) Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. ITs a 15 year old car so be prepared to live by that mentality. Look everywhere for rust...and i mean everywhere...the rear seats, the floor boards, rocker pannels, rear strut housings, rear bumpers, door sils and gulleys. Even if rust isn't apparent, it will be somewhere else not noticable till you start searching high and low. IMO, get one thats in better body condition rather than mechanical condition.
2) DO NOT BUY AN 86 BECAUSE OF A CARTOON!!! You will not be like takumi. You will not be able to drift. You will not win against cars wiht real hp. You WILL get pumped by every other car on the road. Be prepared for a long time project before you can negate any of the above. ITS NOT A HONDA!!!!!
3) The ae86 is a long time project (think of years...cuz i known its taken many at least 2 - 4 years to get it 80% of where it should be. IT will take time and lots of coin to restore it back to normal. Then it will take more time and money to get it to performance quality. Everything breaks on the 86. bolts snap, threads get fukked up, parts are missing, hoses are cracked...so work is required . About 90% of the stuff on the 86 need to be ordered if you have to replace it...so that means if you snap a bolt (i garuantee you will), prepare to wait at least 2 days before you get that one bolt. And for interior parts or hard to get parts like head light motors...if those go...good luck finding them. The best thing to do to avoid this, is buy as many ae86 as possible for parts cars...makes life soooo much easier. All in all, its a lenghty and time consuming proccess....so patience is not only a virtue, its a MUST!
4) Having tools is a must. You have, so thats good. You will find that you will have to do at least 80% of the work yourself unless you got cash out the ass. You will need specialty tools here and now but basically you can do it all yerself if you have the tools and some guidance. Tuners are few and service is very limited. Yoshio is the only name off the top of my head that might have a remote idea of the 86...everyone else, might have slight knowledge. The ppl that will know alot about the 86 are some on this board, some on Dori Kaze's board and some on Club4ag's board. Its alot of brain picking...also it would be handy to get yerself a repair manual (chiltons, haynes, oem toyota bible)
Its a very reliable car. TOyota has to be one of the best in making bullet proof engines. You'll see numerous toyota engines well within the 200 k limit running very well and strong. Mind you they are not running at 100%. You'll need to adress basic internal issues in order to do so.
Parts are hard to come by. Lemme rephrase that....Aftermarket parts are VERY hard to come by and they will come at a price. Two reasons: 1) TRD has to be the all time king of grotesque markup and 2) parts are not a dime a dozen like Hondas so you will be limited as to who you can get from. There's tonnes of sh1t for the 86 in Japan, so if you have the will, you'll have the way. However oem parts can be ordered from any Toyota dealership but expect a waiting period. Can't really tell you if your 86 will die everyday...just depends on the condition of the one you buy. As for the interior, many of those parts are extremely hard to find. so think twice before you start chucking things away. As for structure welding, check the post on spot welding...if you have the patience and skill, go right ahead...it will bennefit two-fold.
Uuh, Nick pretty much summarized everything you need to know about this car.
If it's your first car, don't get it. It's not as reliable as you think.. As Nick has mentioned it's a 15 year old car. Anything can go wrong on a used car that old.
Until you have a secondary car to drive in winter, stay with something simple like a Civic.
Your choice. Nothing much to add to Nick's discussion.
Hey PAddy, I've seen your alias somewhere else before!
Anyway, I think it'd be a good choice for you to get an AE86 if you really wanna learn something about cars. You say that you're mechanically inclined and have access to tools...perfect. You weld too? Perfect, you'll be able to work on the chassis strenthening.
These guys are coming from the point that they've had problems with their AE86's and it almost seems like they have problems every day. For the most part, I think the AE86 is pretty reliable, and very low maintenace...yes they do have maintenace problems that EVERY car gets, so no matter what, if you're talking about an AE86 or a Dodge Arries K-car, to even a Lexus, you'll have stuff you need to fix...no big deal, just deal with it or get a brand new car, and look forward to doing these things in about a few years.
From personal experience, I have not had any terminal problems with my 4AGZE'd AE86. It's fairly rust free except for a few spots that only I know of..hehehe.
Hey, if you got any more questions, shoot me an email, and I'll give you my number...I'd be glad to tell you more.
Ok, well, then i guess it comes down to, this is my first car, so is it gonna be reliable enough? Another possible problem could be my parents.......15 year old car, no abs, no airbags.....not sure what they'd have to say about that.
I'm not buying this car to drift. I'm not buying this car to be takumi. Maybe some AutoX later on, but for now, just looking for good handling and cheap......I really wouldn't mind if i could find a car that needed 5 months of work, provided i could do it all myself, to get it running, i just can't have it falling apart every 2 weeks after that.
So for now, is there anything i've missed? I'll keep looking around, shopping for a nice, rust-freee (maybe not in the best running condition) 86, and see what i come up with. If anyone comes across a car matching that description, feel free to drop me a line at mai1er_demon@hotmail.com
Anything i get won't be until after winter anyways, so i'll just keep looking!
even with all the work 86's are still the sh**. just remeber you are not takumi...and bunta is prolly not your dad...so you are in for some work and practice.
PAddy, haven't I seen your nickname on BBS's like Club4AG?
I was watching Initial D (I've never seen much of it before, and only watched the racing before, because I didn't have the subtittled version), and I find it pretty entertaining. I WISH I had a dad like Bunta..hahah.
Anyway, PAddy...an AE86 doesn't break every 2 weeks..it's very reliable, and other than doing regular fluid changes and maintenance, you should be okay. Just set aside a good budget for things that do need major overhauls, at least $1000-$2000 just in case.
Good luck looking for a good car...be patient and be extra picky. I know one that's for sale that describes your criteria, but it's way above your budget.
i htink it also depends what your needs are for the car.. if you can live with your car being 'out of service' for a few days when you're trying to fix it, then its not a problem..
an ae86 may not break down for sure, but you should keep in mind the chances of that happening are higher because its an older car
and factor in the price of fixing stuff into the total price of the car
exactly. The encouragement that Jover has to offer is very good. I hope you do get one and find it very fun to drive. But there are certain things that you have to expect or at least be prepared for when investing into an 86. It would be naive not to. My only piece of advice is to pick one in the best body condition possible. don't worry about the enigine. Motors are a dime a dozen and take little time to pull out and plop in.
Oh and a note, Jover's ae86 is next to mint. He's one of the lucky ones. For every Jover, there's 5 Kevins, Nick's and So on. Yeah he hadn't any problems...except for some vacum lines, brakes, MC and leaky fuel tank..eh-hem :smile:
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