Is it worth it??? Please Read

[will_drift_4_food]

Boosted

"Yes" if you are a fan of the Hachi and can appreciate its handsome looks, "No" if you are a fan of the Initial D manga and wanna be like Takumi.

I know many people that have bought SR5 Corollas and then gotten rid of them once they saw how much needed to be done to make them drift. The motor is only half of it, as I have seen people turbocharge the stock SR5 4AC motor. A rear axle housing can be hard to find locally,expensive to ship, and it may not have LSD (as in my case). There are also two different axle spline patterns, and this is important when buying a LSD unit. I had the factory GT-S open diff welded, and it was a lot of fun for a year or so.

This is a hard call. You will spend money to turn your SR5 into a drift car, but your car will most likely outperform the stock GT-S when all is finished if you choose the right parts. Just know that when you get done, you will still have a Corolla that makes 125-150hp. (versus 210 for an S13 with the SR20 swap)

I have spent the last two years working on my Hachi. It used to be my Grandmother's car and then it sat for a few years until I got ready to work on it. The wiring is the hardest, because the harnesses are hard to come by in the US, and the ones that you find are 24+ years old. JDM harnesses are easier to find, But they are NOT plug and play, since most USDM cars use an AFM rather than the MAP sensor on JDM cars. I swapped the engine harness, the dash harness, and the headlight harness.

Here's what I did to make it more economical. Go ahead and buy your 4AG motor and tranny, and get some carbs and an intake for it. There's a guy on eBay who sells rebuilt Solex and Weber carbs for cheap. His email is [email protected]. Then, all you will need is an ignition box and coil and preferably an electric fan. You'll need to make some clutch lines or get them from an older model Corolla. Everything else should continue to work until you buy a GT-S or Celica rear end. Do the rear end next (welded diff is cheap and fun), and then move onto the suspension and bushings. Save the paint for last.

If you have a ton of money to drop, go ahead and do a 3SGTE or 2RZFE or 22RE or SR20 (or 7MGTE!!!) swap. The possibilities are endless, and that's one of the things that makes this car an awesome platform.

The car is light and has a cult following. If neither of these are a big deal to you, go find an S13 with no motor and put the SR20 in it. I think I will have close to 13K USD invested after paint, but I LOVE my car and wouldn't have it any other way. What you want to do will require a lot of time and effort, but you will learn a lot along the way and have a car that you can be proud of.

The car is not the easiest to drive, a lot of guys can't drift these cars because of the lower HP figures. With the right suspension, you will have a car that really puts you in the drivers seat and gives sheer driving pleasure.

Sorry this is so lengthy, but it's the honest truth.

[Jay200MPH]

HELL YES that's worth it. Are you in New Mexico? If so that shell is probably 99% rust free if not 100%. Do it, then buy an $800 running GT-S with holes in it from one of the salty states. Swap everything over and poof, you have a rust-free GTSalike for a grand. If you don't like it, flog it up north and use it's unrustyness to make yourself a tidy profit.

I can't believe some of you guys are voting 'no.' If you've never been to the southwestern States you will be AMAZED at how solid the cars are down there, even ones that have been sitting neglected for years like it looks like this one has. I bought a $900 POS Mitsubishi Starion in New Mexico and it didn't have a spec of rust on it anywhere. Cleaned up really nice after I'd gotten it painted.

- J

[will_drift_4_food]

Jay200MPH does make a good point, but now that the AE86 has become popular, even wrecked and rusty GT-S cars are becoming harder to find. I wish that I had the luxury of having a parts car to work from, but I had to source everything from junkyards and eBay. If you can find a GT-S parts car, then I will change my vote to an overwhelming "YES". You can thank Jay200MPH for that.

[Boosted]

will_drift_4_food thank you for your honesty & knowledge, i have decided to wait on getting the car . i have the money but not the time being my wife does not work im always working or if not working im playing with my daughter, the car is located in cloves new mexico if anybody wants it. thanks again for all your help & knowledge

[will_drift_4_food]

Boosted -

I don't want to discourage you, just to let you know what you're up against. You did say that you'd had your eye on an AE86 for a while, and that shows some sort of promise. If you go the carbureted route, you can have a 4AG in that car and have it running in no time. The rest is just a bunch of weekend projects. I just don't want you to think that building this to be a drift car is a simple "Drop in a motor and go" type of thing. If you want that, definately buy an S13 or S14. Or buy one of my Supras. My Financee is about to force me to get rid of one of them, depending on where you're located, you might get a deal.

I don't know where you're gonna find a silvertop here for $300. They never came in USDM cars, and all of the imported ones I've seen go for $800 or more. Add to that the fact that it'll most likely come with a FWD tranny that you don't need, and also that there's a whole lot of work involved in wiring that bad boy up. The 20V silvertop will at most only give you 25-35 HP over the 16V 4AG, but in looking at all of the time that I've spent on mine, I wish I'd gone that route. Or 3SGTE, again a difficult swap.

I think that you should buy the car and start on it, and if it proves to be too much, sell it to the highest bidder. Someone will take it, like a lot of us guys on here (and other AE86 sites). Worst case scenario is that you put the carbed 4AG in it and just drive it around. Still fun, there's a lot to be said for that gutsy little motor.

[Boosted]

supra? how much? i live in texas. i just want some thing i can do a little drifting in.ever since i sold my 67 mustang i miss braking the tail loss