Frequently Asked Questions

I find that I get many email messages asking me similar questions, so I decide to cut and paste some of my frequent answers. I hope this helps some of you out, and please feel free to email me if you have other questions.



I can't find an AE86 in decent shape used and I am getting impatient. How feasible is it to buy a FWD car and convert it to RWD?

Re: Is it possible to convert a FF to FR?

A couple of specifics first:

Until very recently, Honda motors have all rotated the "wrong" way....opposite from everyone else. So putting a Honda motor (other than S2000 or new Civic) in a FR application is going to be a b*tch and a half...reversing the rotating direction, or building a custom tranny or differential that turns "backwards!" Trust me, if it were easier, you would see tons of homebuilt Lotus Sevens/Clubman-type cars out there with Honda power. I have been into Clubmans for ten years and have only ever heard of one! Honda builds great motors, but not great motors for adapting to FR in your own backyard!

My advice to you is to just buy an AE86 or a TE72 or something like that! Especially if you are willing to buy a rough AE86 as a donor, and then put thousands of dollars into a swap??? Just put the money into the AE86 and make it a car you can live with. Buy a rough AE86 if that is all you can find, and put the money for the AE92 swap, plus the money from selling your AE92 into restoring the AE86.

There are some FF to AWD swaps that are easier than FF to FR. The Civic wagon/Civic has already been mentioned, and there are Corolla All-Trac sedans too...very rare, but they are out there! There used to be a very fast Canadian rally car that started life as an All-Trac AE95 sedan and ended up with a 3S-GTE! Another nice local rally car is an AWD Civic wagon with a built Si motor in it. So if you just don't want FF, think about AWD possibilities.

It will be a long, difficult, expensive process, but it is within the realm of possibility. If the thought of designing and building a new floorpan and structural reinforcements for your existing front-wheel-drive bodyshell, plus re-engineering/adapting an entire drivetrain to the new shell doesn't bother you, then go for it!

Since doing this type of swap is all custom work, and pretty all needs to be fabricated, there aren't any easy solutions. There isn't necessarily a pattern to follow or a guide on how to do it....other than design it and do it, or pay someone experienced to do it for you.

I see two reasonable approaches: First, buy a wrecked/junkyard AE86 Corolla or other FR donor car. Then strip your current car, pick up a torch and go to town! If you don't want to take it all on yourself, I would talk to a respected racecar builder/fabricator in your area, and provide them with your current car, the engine you want to end up with, and the RWD donor....and a suitcase full of $$ Many larger communities have a race shop who is experienced with this type of fabricating work...so ask around.

Before you dive into such a conversion, there is a need to recognize a couple of things:

This swap will involve a large amount of "engineering." As an example, a front-wheel-drive car typically doesn't have rear suspension that can accept a drive axle for the rear of the car. So the entire rear-suspension not only needs to be replaced, but the part of the body that the suspension bolts to needs to be replaced also! The easiest way to do this is to adapt the rear suspension and axle from a rear-wheel-drive donor car...but your new hybrid won't be identical to either the original FF car, nor to the donor FR car. There will be aspects of the donor suspension that aren't suited to the new hybrid, and could result in handling compromises. Questions will come up like, "How long should the wheelbase be?" "At what angle/location should we mount the suspension control arms?" "How can we design the floorpan structure to not only provide us with those mounting locations, but also take any foreseeable loads the suspension can dish out?" "Where will the shocks mount?" "What spring rate will work well with the car as a whole?" "Will the front brakes and the donor's rear brakes work well together as a system?...What master cylinder do we use?" I could go on....there will be these type of questions almost endlessly. Since many aspects of this conversion involve "inventing" a new car, the process will mirror the process new car designers go through when they design a new model. If this thought scares you, rethink it now.

Your very best answers to some of the above questions are going to be guesses. And you may not get every guess right...so the end result could end up having unforeseeable flaws worse than that of any new car rolling out of a factory. The flip side of that coin is that you could also have something very cool that ISN'T available new....ISN'T rolling out of anyone's factory. But it will be a process. There may be things that don't work and have to be redesigned or built again...which is a large part of the fun if you have the right attitude!

If you are interested in this type of project because you think you can build a hybrid/converted car better/faster/cheaper than just buying a car with the characteristics you want (i.e. RWD) then DON'T DO IT...you won't be satisfied, if you even finish. If you want to do it for the challenge, for the weirdness/different factor, and for the chance to essentially design your own car...and you can afford it....then do it!

I am always amazed when I see this type of swap executed cleanly and in a manner that seems well thought out and developed. I think it is so cool that anyone would be willing to try....mostly because I recognize that it is above my ambitions, and because I like something a little bit different!

Good luck!



I want to buy a used AE86....what should I look for?

Can you tell me anything I should look at when I go to check it out? Any problems I should be aware of?

Rust. Structural. I have heard people talk of cars which have been driven hard developing cracks around suspension mounting points and/or at the "frame rails" on the underside of the car, just in front of the firewall...I haven't seen this type of damage in person myself. Rust check is pretty much like any other car.

Then the usually used car buying stuff: See how easily it starts/runs....and make sure the car isn't warm when you get there to look at it. A car which has been running recently and is still warm will usually run better. The 4AG engine is fairly solid, but doing a compression test can give you a rough idea of the amount of wear on the engine. Snoop around under the hood and at the suspension. Grab each wheel and throw your body into trying to shake it to see if wheel bearings or suspension parts are loose. Look at the condition of belts, hoses, and the wiring harness. Ask if the owner has any receipts for work, or a mechanic with records of service performed. The timing belt should be changed every 60,000 miles, and even though the 4AG is a non-interference engine, if the owner can't prove that it has been changed in the last 60,000, I would plan on doing it, and use it as a bargaining point. While the car is still cool, open the radiator cap and check for oil in the coolant-can indicate blown headgasket. Checking things like the overall cleanliness of the car and, say...the levels of the fluids (coolant, brake, clutch, oil) can give you some idea of whether the car was cared for or not. Try everything out you can think of...do the headlights work? Do they go up and down? Do all of the taillights/brakelights/turn signals work? Does the e-brake work? Does the in-dash fan work? Do the power mirrors work? Does the adjustable lumbar support (hand pump by the center console) inflate the driver's seat, and does it hold air? Do the rear seats fold down/up easily and squarely? If not, it could be time to check for crash damage. Pull the carpet up in the trunk and check under the spare tire for rust? Does it even still have a spare? Think of anything that you could complain about to bargain with. Look for mismatched paint between body panels, or on the inside/outside of the same panel (inside the trunk, inside the fenders, inside door openings and under hood) as a potential indicator of crash damage. Do the tires all match? How worn are they? Look up at the bottom side of the opened trunk lid/hatch for rust and/or signs of water actually leaking in. Do the same around the roof/interior headliner for cars with a sunroof. Ask to drive it...have the owner come along it necessary, and if no go there, reconsider buying it, or at the very very least, try to get a ride in it. Run through all the gears several times up and down to see if they syncromesh is worn anywhere. Test the brakes (in a safe place) for feel and stopping power. Try the brakes again in a straight line with a very light hand over the steering wheel and see if it pulls to one side or another. Does the car pull to one side or another when just driving along?...this can indicate potential alignment/suspension issues, or even hidden crash damage. Give the car one or two good acceleration runs up to redline and see how the engine pulls. Watch the coolant and oil pressure gauges for potential signs of problems during the whole test drive. Take the car up to highway speed at least once if possible. Try some swerving motions and see how it responds. How does the clutch feel? Can you bitch about anything else to make the buyer lower the price? Ask where it usually parked and look on the ground for coolant/oil leaks. Look at the underside of the car for the same. Let the clutch out listening and feeling for bangs/clunks that could indicate some driveline wear or problems. Ummm...yeah...just keep thinking like this for as long as you can about what could be a problem. Do all of this, and you should come away with a good idea of whether the car is in great shape with obvious care and maintenance, or a diamond in the rough, hopefully easy to restore, or a steaming pile of c**p which has never been cared for.

Hope this helps...the AE86 is a pretty well built, durable little car, but their personality leads to lots of aggressive driving, and their relatively low values means that people often skimp on maintaining their cars. Let us know how it goes.



I want to get into drifting....how do recommend I get started?

Re: I want to drift!

Track events and autocross are an excellent suggestion. Sometimes at either type of event the organizers are not tolerant of drifting...so maybe just go watch a few in your area first, or ask some people who attend them. The local Porsche or BMW club isn't exactly thrilled when some guys shows up in a $2000 Toyota and start flinging it sideways all over the track! Remember that they don't know you or your skills, so finding a drift-friendly open track event is recommended unless you want to see a black flag.

Another good suggestion is rallycross. This is like autocross, but is held on mud, wet grass, pea gravel, or dry dirt....so sideways fun is not only easy...it is the norm. The events are cheap and teach you a ton about car control.

Another possibility is a "safe driver" type of performance driving course. There are somewhat expensive, but they turn you loose in a car modified to make it very easy to slide around. The point of the course is to teach you about oversteer, understeer, and regaining control, but the skills you learn will help you out....and most of the instructors I've come across are fun-loving and interested in the type of skills you (as a paying customer) want to develop.

Practice, practice, practice....and keep it safe!

For further information, suggestions, and advice about drifting, please read the reference section at Club 4AG



How did you mount the five-point harness in your coupe?

Mine has the lap belt mounted in the stock location. The crotch strap is mounted to the the center of the ridge that the front of the seat mount bolts to...I just drilled a hole and passed a bolt through. The shoulder belts go to approved eye bolts that are mounted to the rear "parcel shelf" behind the back of the rear seat....this is in my coupe. Since the metal there isn't strong enough by its self, it is also backed by a plate of 1/4" sheet steel about....what? at least 4"x6" maybe more like 6"x8". I doubt that there is any structural concern with my setup; I figure that if I can deform this sheet or actually pull it through the metal of the body, the crash will have been so bad that I probably won't survive to worry about it.

A harness bar would be cleaner, and is the option I really wanted. Take a look at what's available off-the-shelf for Porsches for some ideas. They usually go from stock shoulder belt mounting location across to the other side, same place. Two problems for my coupe. My driver's seat is adjusted so that the bar would have to be bent/angled/curved quite a ways back to fit around the seat back. I still use the passenger's side rear seat for passengers on occasion. Many of the Porsche designs mount on the B-pillar *without* removing the stock seatbelts! This would be the perfect solution for street use and track days without too much work in between, but I can't see how to make it work well in the AE86. Plus I am cheap! :) Your seat position and other needs might make a harness bar more feasible for you.

The previous owner of my car had his harness mounted to eye bolts where the rear seatbelt mounted stock. Two problems with this: First you can't leave the rear seat bottom in....not necessarily a big deal, (I ran without a rear seat for years in my coupe) but something to consider. The second is that the angle of the straps is too low for the best safety. It is probably better than nothing, but having the mount up higher is a lot better. Around here, some clubs say anything steeper than 45 degree angle is illegal, and some say anything more than 30 degrees from horizontal is unsafe. On my car with my seat position, the floor mount in back is maybe 45 degrees or slightly steeper!

Good luck, I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more details.



You seem to know a lot about cars...I am new to the scene and want to learn more...How can I increase my experience and knowledge?

I would second the suggestions about reading through Club 4AG reference and Billzilla's site. Also read through as much of this site as you can stand for good info on Toyotas: Matti's Toyota Site If you need some basics on the mechanical side of a car: How Stuff Works When you are done with that, check out my site and follow every one of the links off of my link page...keep surfing and reading and you will soon be the AE86 expert! :)

Hehehe! Start saving your pennies for a second car! That way, you can have your daily driver for reliable transportation, and a second car to mess around with...on whatever schedule you want! This doesn't have to be as expensive as it may seem...if you have some tools and a space to park it, you can buy a car with problems (cheaper) with an eye towards fixing it up! Buy a beater, try and bring it back to life, even if it takes months.

I am not sure if this is a serious suggestion or not, but something to consider...

I always learn a lot from helping friends out with their cars...in terms of increasing my mechanical knowledge overall...seeing how different designs use different systems, different adjustments, etc. Tuning the suspension of an Audi is quite different from what I know from suspension tuning on RWD Celicas/Corollas/Starlets! When my housemate asked me to swap a tranny in his Subaru, I politely declined, because the shop I have access to needs to be open for business during the day, and I don't want to swap a 4WD tranny in one evening! On the other hand, tightening accessory belts, or tracing strange noises, looking for vacuum leaks, etc is pretty easy, doesn't take a shop, and hard to mess up...and people usually appreciate the help. I don't promise much, and if I can't fix it, it is no great loss. See if any of your friends would be willing to let you look at their minor problems for free, and see what you can do.

Another suggestion would be to buy a factory shop manual for your car. The Toyota manuals are spendy, but are worth every penny for the savings in labor cost at the mechanics, and the savings in headaches for at-home repair. It allows me to tackle jobs I would shy away from normally, because of the step-by-step instructions, adjustment and torque specs, and wiring diagrams.

Hang out with other people who work on cars...watch and ask questions whenever you can...make yourself a bit of pest, just don't piss anyone off too much.

Read everything you can get your hands on! Online FAQs like the reference section at Club 4AG...then go check out some MR2 sites, then go look at some RX-7 sites for something different, and so on...just take this online information with a grain of saltshaker...not all of it is good info. Read magazines with a more technical side. Grassroots Motorsports is a great magazine for car enthusiasts/home mechanics/racers on a budget, and with older funkier cars...it will have articles about fixing up and hopping up cars like ours. Grassroots Motorsports

Go to used bookstores, and look for older shop manuals there.

Ask around and look around locally to see if you can take some classes on car mechanics. If you are in high school, your school may have some. If you are older than that, check with the local community college. Taking a class for a few terms may not leave you with much time to mess with your car, but once you are done with the class, you will have the time and more knowledge.

Subscribe to the Toy-Mods mailing list. It is an internet mailing list with many members worldwide who know A LOT about fixing and tuning Toyotas. The people on that list get tired of newcomers asking a lot of the same basic questions over and over, so I would recommend subscribing to it, and just read all the messages every day for a few weeks or months before jumping in...there is a lot of knowledge to be had here, and most people are friendly and helpful on the list...but I don't want you to get flamed or jumped on...take a while to get a good feel for the community and the type of posts that are appropriate...so check it out! You will learn a lot about Toyotas and engine, suspension, electrical, turbos, more than you wanted to know! I can't believe how much this list has helped me in the past five years, and I almost never post to it, I just read it! Toyota Mods Mailing List (The website is pretty bare, but just use it to get signed up for the mailing list, and wait for the flood of good emails.)

Good luck, keep reading, keep trying, keep asking questions...and in a few years, you will be amazed at how much you know!



I am thinking about trying an open track day, but I am worried about what I need...what is typically required?

Keep in mind that I don't know your car or what shape it is in, but if things are in decent mechanical condition and you drive sensibly, a close-to-stock Toyota, be it AE86, AE92, or AW11 can do fine for track day driving.

I don't know the particular requirements of the events in your area. It is best to get in touch with one of the event organizers to make sure that you are all set. This guide I have written is a rough one based on my experiences. Your mileage may vary...

A few things to make sure of:

-Decent performance tires...probably at a higher pressure than you would run on the street to keep the tire from rolling under during hard cornering.

-Battery tie down

-Good strong throttle return spring

-Lug nuts properly torqued

-Fresh performance brake pads, plus new brake fluid with brake bleed <-- Very important!

-Check other fluids...coolant, oil, etc.

-SUSPENSION in good condition...bad things include loose wheel bearings, worn out bushings, worn out shocks, worn steering parts. Grab each wheel with the car parked and try shaking it/wiggling it side-to-side, up-and-down, on the diagonal and check for play or clunking.

-I doubt your engine will be a problem if it isn't totally worn out and in need of rebuilding anyway, and provided you don't overrev it. Do you know if your oil pressure is good?

There may be other things, but keep asking around and I'm sure others will chime in if I am forgetting something obvious. Remember that at a non-competitive event, there is no pressure to drive above your limits. Drive with what you and your car are comfortable with, have fun, and the chances of major mechanical failure are slim. Keep your ears open on the track, and keep yourself attuned to the feel of the car, and if something feels/sounds/acts amiss, pull off right away to assess the problem.

I have found that track days lead to many different situations that are hard to boil down into one small description. In the hands of a very skilled driver familiar with the course, an AE86 can hang with most any other street car that shows up at an average trackday. With a very lightly-modded car like mine, and my average level of driving skill, I have a fun time keeping pace with Alfa Romeos, BMW 3-series, Neon ACRs, and various other small-bore machines. There have been times when I have blown past Porsche Turbos which were being driven very carefully and cautiously. There have also been times I have had a very hard time keeping VW Golfs or Austin Minis in sight. There tends to be a wide range of driver skill, driver comfort, and car preparation/tires so you may find yourself surprised at some slow "fast" cars and some fast "slow" cars.

The events I attend at Portland are usually split into three groups, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Beginners are usually people unfamiliar with the track and they get instructors for the first session...and they drive a wide variety of cars. Intermediate includes most four-cylinder cars and many less-modified "fast" cars. Minis, Civics, Rabbit/Golf, Porsche 914/911/944, 3-series Beemer, Alfa Romeo are all popular. Advanced includes everything from Integras with big brakes and racing slicks, Lotus Elise and Seven all the way to Corvette Z06, modded M3's, tubeframe Camaros, and Ferrari F50.

In the events here they usually let you choose your own group. If things aren't working out, they may ask you to move, or you can request a move to another group.....UNLESS you get stuck with some snobby organizers...in which case they will laugh at your Corolla, make rude remarks about how anybody with less than 120hp has to run in beginner, and make you run in beginner....and then threaten to throw you out of the event for disorderly conduct when you request a switch to intermediate. (Ask the cornerworkers who had the passing flag out every time I came by!) This happened to me once and it left a very bad taste in my mouth, so I don't run with them anymore because I don't want to waste my time and money stuck behind the slow cars! Hehehe!

People often ask if their particular car will be allowed. The only real restrictions I have ever seen at a trackday is no vehicles that fail the technical inspection, no convertibles without a roll bar, no mixing of open-wheel and closed-wheel cars, except with the Lotus club...but generally formula cars aren't allowed to run with the street cars because they are considered too hard to see unless you are in another racecar, or are a seasoned SCCA racer with an sixth sense for where other cars will be and will pass.

Just remember that things may vary depending on the track and organization putting it on.

For more tips for beginner Track Day events, and stories of some of my experiences, check my webpage and click on "My Motorsports."

Good luck!



Is it legal to import a car from Japan and drive it on the street? Can you give me some more information about how I could do this?

First off, I am not aware of any laws prohibiting the driving of a right-hand-drive car in the States. My dad used to drive his RHD Austin Mini on the street all the time, and I know plenty of others, it is the import laws plus the crash safety/emissions standards that will get you. It is not easy, and actually largely illegal, to import a streetcar from Japan.

I have been looking in to this possibility for a long time. It is not easy. :( It is possible with several things: lots of time and patience, a registered importer helping you, buckets and buckets of money. The first thing to note is that it is not a question of whether the car in question could or would pass crash-safety and emissions tests, it is a question of whether it has been tested or not....and in the case of Japanese market cars, they haven't been tested by the American government. Getting the car into the country requires you to use a registered importer, there is a U.S. version of the car in question, and you have to prove that the car has been modified to meet the U.S. standards. The penalties for smuggling a car in are stiff...and the car will be crushed if they catch you. There are a few very small loopholes and backdoors, ;) but they still require lots of money.

For more information and a list of registered importers, check out this government webpage: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/

This page also has some information:http://www.japanvehicles.com/newcars/FAQ.htm

The only other approach I know of is to buy a car in Japan and either break it down yourself or have someone there break it down for you. Ship the engine in one container, the body shell in another, the transmission or axle in a third and call them all "spare car parts" rather than a complete car. This is the easiest way to try and illegally smuggle a car through customs at the docks here in the States. Once the car is here, put it back together and then buy a VIN/title for a U.S. market car. Then you swap the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) plates over and register the car as a U.S. model....which is also illegal. Everything about this plan is illegal, but I hear it can work where there is a shared appearance/body shell with a U.S. model. Import a Lancer EVO, buy a wrecked U.S.-market Lancer, then put the two together. Import a Toyota Altezza, buy a wrecked Lexus IS300. Import a Honda Civic Type R, buy a wrecked Civic hatchback. Not cheap, highly illegal, and doesn't work for cars like a Skyline.

It is possible to bring a non-street legal car in for racing use. I guess the Feds want proof that the car will be/is being used only as a race car. I also hear that they have surprising ways of finding out if you ever try to use the car on the street. It is legal to import cars for show or race use only to the United States, but that isn't simple either. You need to get the OK before the car shows up at the dock, and the burden is on you to convince the government that the car can't be or won't be used on the street. They want it to be a race car, so things like stripped interior, welded-in cage, fuel cell, etc. all go a long way towards easing the car's entry into the States.

Contact the Federal Government if you have more questions....you didn't hear it from me. Good luck, hope this helps!



I dream of someday being a rally driver...how can I get involved and try to make my dream come true?

I would like to start by suggesting the idea of starting in a lower-powered two-wheel-drive car. AWD lets you get away with a lot more, so if you get good with 2WD first, you will be a much better rally driver in the end. Look at the early competition history of almost any top-level rally driver today....they all started with 2WD. Turbo cars certainly are faster, but the simplicity, durability, and cheap operating costs of a non-turbo car make it the logical choice for a first-timer. Keep in mind that turbo and naturally-aspirated cars do not compete directly against each other. If you start in an underpowered car, your skills will become more highly refined much faster as you struggle to brake later, carry more speed, and conserve your momentum as much as possible. It isn't hard to get wheelspin in the gravel, even if with grippy rally tires and less than 100hp, so more power isn't the key to success until your driving skills, the organization of your team, and the durability of your car are all beyond questioning.

Budget choices:

-VW Golf/Jetta/Rabbit....the cheapest/most effective/most proven way to be competitive in amateur rally.

-Vovlo 240/242/244/245 series. Heavy, but tough, cheap to buy if not always to fix/tune.

-Toyota Celica....either FWD or RWD. Tuneable, tons of 'em everywhere to rob for parts or buy cheap as parts cars. Pretty strong also.

-AE86 and TE72 Corolla, First-gen RX-7, Isuzus, Mazda Protege/323, Ford Escort, others are all cars I have seen too. Go to some local rally events and check out the cars people are running to get some ideas.

Start driving your street car in rallycross competition if you can...it teaches you a lot about the basics of driving in rally-like conditions. I have similar dreams to yours and I started competing rallycross and road rally locally with my AE86. I also started volunteering at events, timing/scoring/flagging for local events, planning/designing road rallies locally, and crowd control for all of our local SCCA PRO rallies. I volunteered as a mechanic for a local SCCA rally team....you would be amazed how many connections I have built, how much I have learned, and how many doors have started to open as a result of this volunteering. Contact your local SCCA chapter and tell them you are gung ho about rally and see what opportunities there are in your area.

Check out my webpage, look in the "My Motorsports" section for more ideas and advice. Also follow the links to Subiegal's Page as she has a nice section on getting involved with rally.

Best of luck!



Got to Club4AG right now to check out the REFERENCE SECTION!!

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