Ian.G's Track/Drift Levin.

[Tony]

Awesome!

[Ian.G]

Oh - and the roof vent

[NoHachi]

Whatever happened to this car Ian? Hope you are finally enjoying it.

Any long term updates? How it feels compared to before, was it worth it in the end? Did you manage to keep it under 1000kgs?

[Ian.G]

Hey guys

sorry I've not updated for a long time but I am pretty damn busy and don't get to visit too often - my work/life balance is a bit messed up

Car is going good here's a run down on whats happened.

Car has now done approx 2.500 miles and only had minor issues to contend with. I had major brake problems for a while but that was rectified by sorting out a problem with the rest pad in the brake servo dropping out of the way - loads better now. I also had a few minor wiring problems - major mis-fire on a very wet and foggy track and total loss of ecu power - both of these caused by adverse weather conditions and where the loom passes into the car is a lot more shielded against water now.

Most of the driving has been quick blasts at the weekend when time permits - I need to make more effort to drive it more often at the track - its just finding the time.

Obviously dropping the X-member has created a few geometry issues - firstly - the complete and total lack of suspension droop - this has seen me lifting the inside front wheel on certain corners - not nice losing half your front end grip LOL. There is an obvious reason why and an easy solution. Given I am running short stroke dampers on shorter casings dropping the xmember and the lower control arm approx 20mm means the damper needs to be 20mm longer. I could switch back to long stroke struts but can't see the point - so a friend of mine designed me some top hat spacers that sit on my camber top mounts in solid works (designed for T3 camber plates) and then had them CNC water cut by his buddy. Basically its a spacer that sits between the gold slider that carries the strut and the red platform that bolts to the turret. I'm testing these out at the moment and its really helping out

My next concern is the natural arc the lower arm would travel through - my tension arm/ARB mounting platforms are still mounted directly to the chassis rails in their original position - so its 20mm higher than the pivot point of the lower arm - this can only but effect the radius the arm moves through and maybe change castor and camber differently to the standard setup - its not massive - but it does feel *different* but hard to quantify without some trigonometry and maths. We are going to CNC machine something to space the Tension Rod/ARB mount down so its in its more natural position relative to the X-member. We'll get some proper geometry alignment done on the car as its done by eye at the moment LOL - I think the back axle is about aligned but we'll check that and go for 0deg tow, 3.2 castor and 3.5 camber and work from there. Anyone agree with my prognosis here ?

Anyway - some media bits.



finally after all this time it looks like I hoped it would. Nice simple clean installation.



doesn't show its age on the road - for a 28+ year old car its in a lot better shape than many cars.



I went through a 'wheel phase' I wanted matching front and wheels front and rear. I had some really cool RS Watanabe in 15x8 ET0 - as nice as they were I wanted more.



I read lots about how well F20C engines respond to turbos - there was a spare GT42 at my friends workshop which we put in the engine bay for a giggle. This engine is staying NA because it suits the car and I can't afford to buy a perfectly made strong Ford Atlas back axle.



I got shot of my E92 M3 and replaced it with a manual E92 330d coupe. Horses for courses - Diesel to munch the miles. My white pony to enjoy them.



We went to a trackday and tried to keep the car in a relatively straight line and not intentionally drift - but - you know those live axle cars just won't work in the wet.

in a straight line in the wet it was lighting up the back wheels at anything beyond 6500rpm in 2rd and 3rd so lots of part throttle to try and stop it LOL.



Nice to be at the track again.



I live 15 miles from the Toyota Manufacturing plant in the UK. I sometimes take the car there and say sorry for ripping out its heart and replacing it with a Honda one. I doubt it will ever forgive me but I don't care



it came out of winter hibernation still covered in the previous summers dead flies so it got a wash - The front windows are not waterproof so a bucket and sponge it is.



I'll run the car into work on dress down Friday. Strange that the building next door has TRD coloured panels on it



After much wheel whoring I finally settled on another set of Work Meister S1 wheels for the front of the car. At 15x8 ET-10 they match the dimensions of the Enkei barrels they replace. These have gone back to their previous owner - but more about that another time :wink:



There is something quite satisfying about un-boxing a Work wheel and applying its stickers and valve stems. Very light wheel - makes your wallet very light but worth it.



Fitted up to the car with some more sensible front camber and I think that about does it for me. 15x8 ET-10 up front and 15x9 ET-10 at the back is perfect - but - I'm ordering another set of 15x8 ET-10 so that I can run 205 width sticky track tyres on all 4 wheels - I don't think I can accommodate more than 215 width at the back.



its also really great to have Chris Paz Parry back rolling in a levin. This is pretty much his tried and tested 4AGE setup but with flat slide carbs instead of ITBS. Happy times for everyone !



Me and the boys took a drive down to the Retro rides gathering at Prescott Hill climb a few weeks ago...



Glad we are not much lower LOL.

We got a few gentle runs up the hill with no timing or helmets

Me

Paz (4age on Carbs)

Sweeps (4age turbo)

Its cool we are all having fun again.

Hopefully over the next few days I'll take a look about the forums - be cool to see what you guys have been up to.

We are back at the track on the 16th of September but before that - hopefully the gopro won't go flat this time and we can get some dry laps on video.

Ian

[The Doctor]

shit... I was there, saw the AE86s, but didn't recognize them!
This year i didn't miss the Newera Imports one, but now i didn't realize which where the others!

[banpei]

Very nice to see/read your progress once again!

[vladx_kc]

And what did Paz said about the F20C inside the AE86? If I remember correctly, he was not satisfied with the engine in his ex coupe...