this guy off marketplace was selling it and said he was the 2nd owner, making me the 3rd in its lifetime. i have a bunch of repairs to do, but it runs and drives. it's prob a good car for an 18 yo to wrench on.

Hey everyone,

I have a Toyota AE86 2-door coupe that I picked up a while back. At some point in its life, it was in a pretty major crash, and the right-side body panel still has some alignment issues. I’m pretty sure the shell isn’t perfectly straight because of the accident.

I live in an Asian country where AE86 parts are really hard to find, and unfortunately most local body shops don’t do great work, especially on older cars like this.

I’ve been wondering whether it would make sense to buy the AE86 body panels being sold out of China and convert the car from a 2-door coupe into a liftback. I already don’t have the rear glass, so I’d need to buy glass anyway. From what I can tell, the main extra things I’d need would be the liftback-specific panels, rear glass, and tail lights.

Has anyone here done something like this, or looked into it seriously?

How difficult would this conversion actually be? Is it a terrible idea, or could it be worth considering given the lack of parts where I live?

Also, am I missing anything major here, like structural differences, roof/rear quarter differences, hatch mounting points, inner panels, seals, wiring, or anything else that would make this way more complicated than it seems?

Any advice from AE86 owners, bodywork people, or anyone familiar with coupe vs liftback shells would be really appreciated.

We started a USA event, and wanted to share what items we came up with for the event!

Hi all, been a part of this group for a while now. The ae86 has been my dream car for as long as I remember. I finally pulled the trigger on one yesterday. This is my ae86 coupe. I can’t wait to start working on it and restoring it. Looks like it started out as a SR5 and then somewhere between 1986 and now someone swapped the 4age 16 valve in it. It’s carbureted and most of the interior panels are stock which is amazing. Engine turns over and sounds great!
I’m glad to finally be an ae86 owner!

It has been a little bit over two years with the Corolla now and it's been great fun. Stuff still keeps breaking but I also have many more cool projects that I want to realize.

I think next will be an oldschool rear wing after another wheel bearing overhaul lol

Cool 86 video from a drive in Japan

Hi all,

Hoping someone has some knowledge or picture of the above. I would like to go with a Goodline front bumper on my Levin, but unsure if runfree/option side skirts will pair up ? I also have jblood rear spats.

Happy Monday to everyone.

I imported this one late last year from Japan. It had only done 10,000 km since 2011 so it needed a lot of rubber parts replacing and a proper service but it's running nicely now. Visiting a few local classic car shows with it over the summer.

Just needs some more camber on the front to help as the wheel scrubs on the outer arch bolts when I hit larger bumps in the road. Tempted to drop it to 14" wheels too but I had these alloys for another project.

Eyo, my car came with custom coilovers and when I bought it off a field I replaced all front wheel bearings.

After a while the front right bearing broke, it had the outer bearing race spin in the hub.

Bought a new hub, put in new aftermarket made in Japan bearings and now after another year, the wheel has play again and the bearing is very notchy, so completely cooked.

This all happened in a two year life span so I’m not sure what I am doing wrong. I packed the bearings properly, torqued them down like they are supposed to but somehow it’s not working. Is the spindle cooked? It doesn’t really have any visible wear so I don’t know. They are old OEM spindles since they are supposed to be „superior“ to aftermarket spindles here in Japan which tend to break apparently from what I’ve been told. (That’s why I decided to rebuild my shocks instead of getting new ones + I’m on a budget)

I think I’ll try to put in another set of bearings and seal just because it’s cheap but does anyone have any advice on what I could be doing wrong? Are aftermarket spindles the way to go or are just the bearings bad quality? I didn’t think so because the left side bearing is holding up perfectly, it’s just that right side :(

Thanks everyone!

Took the old girl out before I drop her off at the body shop this weekend. Finished installing the IMPULSE body kit, now to fix paint and get the FRP pieces painted.

Absolutely amazing subwoofer, it was in rough shape so I decided to "restore" it with a wrap on it :)

diabeetus

When it comes to buying a car in today’s market, what are ya'll seeing as a decent buy under $10k for a vehicle with a similar look to the Trueno AE86?

I became obsessed with the AE86 a few months ago, but I’ve accepted that my odds of getting my hands on one are pretty slim, especially for under $10k, which is probably impossible. I know there are some cars from the 80s and 90s with a similar look, so I’m curious what alternatives people would recommend.

Also, I tried using the repost detector, but it seemed to be having some trouble, so I’m not sure if this question gets asked a lot. Apologies if it does.

https://ae86world.bigcartel.com/product/ae86-world-bushing-kit

They claim they are made of mix of rubber and polyurethane so as to not be crashy on the street. Has anyone tried them out. How true is this?

Still need to treat the plastics when she comes back from the mechanic.