Right, there was me thinking I had a bluetop 4AGE. Anyways, we noticed an external oil drain, which IIRC means AE92 spec on type block.

I've been under the inlet with a mirror and can see it's definitely a 7 rib block.

I'm really starting to wonder what has been done to this engine given I've so far found cams, mucked about with ECU's. Btw the modded ECU is an early (Zenki) one likely off an 83-85 AE86. The stock ECU we've stuck on for the moment is of the same vintage.

I couldn't see the bottom of the block well enough (no access from underneath due to undertray) to see if it's got the thicker horizontal brace just above the sump.

Would be good to know if there is any easy way to determine this?

Oh what fun!

That ecu looks like TRD / Cusco / <Insert japanese brand name here> modification boards that allow for running custom maps. You might have noticed this already: http://www.aeu86.org/viewtopic/mines-e_c...ight=cusco

I doubt you have a redtop head, but only because it has the original TVIS manifold from the looks of it (put up some better engine room pics).
If it is a smallport you should be able to notice an adapterplate in stead of a TVIS plate stuck between head and manifold.
Adding oil drainage to the head is sometimes done by people themselves, mimicking the smallport style drain. I've seen it a couple of times around the forum.. mostly done by european guys.

Thanks, Ivan I hadn't noticed that thread, I'll get my fiance to look at that as he's the electronics expert.

It's definitely a large port head, did some more poking around yesterday.

The block is certainly a 7 rib (so later block). Wonder why people would add the oil drain though? What I will do is try and get a closer look at the horizontal ribbing on the block to see if I can identify it as an early 7 rib or later AE92 on the block.

Okay, had another look today, can clearly see the oil drain and what looks like a tapping for a knock sensor behind the fuel(?) breather pipes on the block. So we think we have an AE92 bottom end, which is not a bad thing really.

Generally it is the water pipes that get in the way of fitting a knock sensor.
Did you buy this car 'blind' lol

I didn't buy it 'blind', I looked at the car, but obviously it's the finer detail I'm now uncovering.

first off nice trueno.

7 ribbed block can still be 40mm crank. Rarely you will see 42mm cranks with bigport heads.

The ECU is modified from the standard rom to a programmable eeprom. This is a mod that was done by TRD as described by Ivan. Though it can be duplicated and thus doesn't tell us anything

The VR1 looks like a controlable resistor which could be for the fuel.

Rest of the car looks good. I wouldn't mess with your current setup. Either replace it completely or leave it. Messing with these setups hasn't helped many people.

Though its alwasy a challange if it isn't your daily

Thanks, Robokill.

I think it's an AE92 bottom end with a big port head given the oil drain and knock sensor tapping. So it ought to have the bigger crank journals.

I think at the moment we are just going to run the modified ECU and hopefully get it on the rollers to check the fueling. Providing that is all okay I will be tempted to leave well alone. Thanks for the info though as I'll pass that onto my fiance as he likes his electronics.

In other news, sold my other car today so finally will have some money to send my car off to the bodyshop to get all the minor bits sorted out and address the little (I hope) bit of rust at the rear of the boot floor. Then it will be off to chassisclean.co.uk for a full dinitrol treatment.

Also brakes and pads have now arrived so I look forward to a weekend of fitting those and checking all the calipers. Fortunately we've done this a fair few times on AW11's so not expecting it to be too different.

The issue:



Can clearly see the problem here, pad backplate is not within the caliper torque bracket:


Front hub disassembled:


Front hub assembly:


Cleaning up the outer bearing:


Bolting up the disc to the hub, easiest to put the hub in the wheel to hold it as needs to be torqued:


New disc on hub:


Lubing up:


Greasing the outer bearing:


New disc and hub on:

Going to put the outer old pads on the front so we have matching pairs and bin the new pads. Think it's a better bet. Expect they'll chew up the new discs, but no other option at the moment.

Still all at sea as to what pads I should get.