Jump to content
Samwise

Bringing an 86 back from the dead

Recommended Posts

So despite being a member on quite a few owner's forums for various cars I've never actually made a project thread, usually due to a lack of in-progress pictures or simply being too lazy but I guess I may as well make my first one a big one!

 

So a couple of week's ago I picked up my GT86, I wasn't planning on getting one so soon but I've been keeping my eyes out for a cheap written off one with just the right amount of damage and that's exactly what I got when this popped up!

Warning graphic images! 

 

pRSD4Ld.jpg

Pd2a11I.jpg

wuwbFfo.jpg

eDcE1L9.jpg

 

 

And it was in the exact colour I wanted! So less than 48 hours after it was listed I had placed a deposit and arranged to travel up to Lincoln to pick it up the following Saturday.

The car is a 63 plate and is registered as a Cat N (previously called Cat D) write off meaning that there is no structural damage to the chassis but it was beyond economical repair for the insurance company.

 

So the next Saturday rolled around and I was a little bit worried about what I was getting myself in to but I decided to just feign ignorance and rely on the Insurance insepctors classifying it correctly.

 

SUWHcJp.jpg

 

 

And when I finally got it back home and in the garage thats how it stayed for a couple of weeks as I didn't have the time to crack on with it.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And so finally today I was finally able to get my hands on it and see what was what!

My plan is to take it a little bit slow, not only to lessen the blow to my wallet but also to simply get things done right the first time rather than have to re-visit areas further down the line.
So I had already costed a few bits up before making the purchase, I know that the most expensive parts will be a set of headlights even if they are aftermarket and the Airbag set. Most of the parts im probably going to get from a Toyota dealer or online if they're cheap enough and legit.

So without further ado heres a few pics of my first day spannering on the car!

Here's how it sits in the garage, quite tight compared to the previous occupant and as you can see its still looking a little sorry for itself.

 

ItFrD0I.jpg

h1ARiV3.jpg

 

 

Couple of closeup of some of some of the damage

 

5nFsrzg.jpg

rRljmvr.jpg

rDKdpwh.jpg

 

 

Quite a horrible sight! but with the fenders and the remnants of the headlights out of the way it was starting to look a bit better.

PoVEqfc.jpg

 

Those fenders are a bit of a pain to get off though!

The core support was a little tricky to get off with the washer bottle in the way and a few mildly bent bits of radiator support in the way but eventually after a few hours it was in a much better state and I could start checking out whether there was any further damage to be worried about.

 

Sorry for the blurry pic!

3FJWydU.jpg

 

And the pile of parts that came off...

20180303_150356.thumb.jpg.a83cb0eb3bcb094b6a6cf58c092490f9.jpg

 

So now that the worst has been removed there's a couple of bit's im unsure about so I'm looking for a few second opinions!

 

The Top "branches" of the rad support are clearly bent and I'll replace those along with the enter of it that holds the bonnet lach mechanism however I'm wondering if a couple of other areas are bent which I wasn't expecting, namely these areas:

 

DAgMw9h.jpg

oQKOPtS.jpg

 

It almost appears they've come ever so slightly away and bent downwards from the rest of the frame, thoughts on this?

 

As well as this the bottom of the rad support actually looks straight which I was not expecting, can anyone confirm whether this looks right?

 

8ZRibO6.jpg

V7EHotf.jpg

 

So thats it for now, the battery's completely dead as well so that's a bummer.

I'm going to have to get a shopping list together and start placing a few orders as I hope I've removed all the bent parts so far that don't need their spot welds drilled out, those will come next!

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
31 minutes ago, MartinT said:

You're a brave man!  Will you be looking for scrappy parts to keep the costs down, or using new parts?

New parts pretty much apart from colour reliant body panels probably :)

I hate shelling out for paint work lol

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, will300 said:

Sam, are you a member of the drivers club facebook group?

No? why do you ask?

I was probably going to join eventually but tend to wait a bit

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Samwise said:

No? why do you ask?

I was probably going to join eventually but tend to wait a bit

I posted the car in the facebook group a couple of weeks ago, as it'd was cheap enough for someone looking for a spare engine. So I was hoping it wasn't me who cost you some money :lol:

Also check the chassis legs as straight. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, will300 said:

I posted the car in the facebook group a couple of weeks ago, as it'd was cheap enough for someone looking for a spare engine. So I was hoping it wasn't me who cost you some money :lol:

Also check the chassis legs as straight. 

Oh right! fair enough :D no problems there! I will check the chassis legs now that i've got all the broken bits out of the way but they're looking okay from what i've been able to see so far. The only bits im worried about are the end of those arms that hold the wings.

2 minutes ago, Lauren said:

Good luck with that, looks like a lot of work. Are you sure the chassis legs aren't bent? Worth checking on a jig just in case. 'Wings' not 'Fenders'! ;)

Haha I know, I got in to the habit of calling them fenders today as I was trying to look up how to remove them and far more results come back saying fenders rather than wings :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Samwise said:

Oh right! fair enough :D no problems there! I will check the chassis legs now that i've got all the broken bits out of the way but they're looking okay from what i've been able to see so far. The only bits im worried about are the end of those arms that hold the wings.

Haha I know, I got in to the habit of calling them fenders today as I was trying to look up how to remove them and far more results come back saying fenders rather than wings :P

Just remember this is England, we are not he 52nd state! :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you haven't already seen it watch " B is for build" on YouTube. He has diy rebuilt 2 BRZs both from far worse crash damage, may be good for motivation and a few tips.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
28 minutes ago, Mikey P said:

If you haven't already seen it watch " B is for build" on YouTube. He has diy rebuilt 2 BRZs both from far worse crash damage, may be good for motivation and a few tips.

I've watched Bifb for a long time so im pretty familiar with his builds :) As much as I love to watch his stuff I won't be taking too many tips from him as I really don't want to diy build some of the parts like he did, alot of the 86 parts are fairly cheap (Atleast in my books lol) for the sake of £150 i'd rather just buy a new front crash bar for example, he can be a little sketchy at times lol.

but I have recently gone back to watch some of his earlier vids, gives a good perspective on what parts go in to the front end of the car and where they all go, etc :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Good luck with the build, out of interest have you done this kind of thing before or just into it as a hobby?

Completely agree with the BIFB comments, interesting to watch but his methods often leave a lot to be desired. Can see why he's having a tough time shifting his 86 and other cars. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 minutes ago, bassett said:

Good luck with the build, out of interest have you done this kind of thing before or just into it as a hobby?

Completely agree with the BIFB comments, interesting to watch but his methods often leave a lot to be desired. Can see why he's having a tough time shifting his 86 and other cars. 

Its all just a hobby for me, I work in IT on the daily telling being to switch it off and on again but I always try and DIY any job I can on my cars with the exception of resprays and welding work.

Mostly all my knowledge is just from my Dad and watching various youtube channels :) We bought a Vx220 a few years ago and since then we've done a load to it which has steadily built up my knowledge, everything from fitting a spoiler, to swapping suspension components/bushing to rebuilding & forging the engine last year! and so I've always had the luxury of being able to take my time with things, do my research and simply lock up and go home if things get a little tricky or frustrating.

Although I don't want to break the bank with repairs I like to do things right as it's me doing the work and I take a little pride in it so it would be nice to have something to show off in that regard and be safe ofcourse!

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I want to verify that the chassis is straight on the car, at some point when its not raining :P i'll do some proper measurements and get some numbers down to compare the level of the chassis legs as well as the how they fair in relation to the rest of the chassis as well as probably the distance between the front and rear lower control arm mounting points diagonally to confirm theres no effects further down the car.

but for now I decided to have another look now that its so much easier to check the condition of the chassis legs and get some pictures.

Theres a few bent bits that need to be replaced however this is all part of the front rad support structure which i'll be removing and re-fitting with new parts, mostly the parts as sub assembly 4 and 5 here as well as both parts labeled 2:

30ee8d08d2b358843535a52d4cba3d2c.png

 

So other than that the only thing to worry about that I can see so far is that the corner of the chassis arm that bolts to the crash structure will need to be tweaked back in to place or maybe even replaced as its part of the sub assembly 4 I noted above:

20180304_121527.thumb.jpg.c3d3822f5a82d31c9ba420a7efbdaa87.jpg

So other than that mos of everything seems straight, heres the face of the other side, again the parts from sub assembly 5 will need to be replaced as mentioned above:

20180304_121541.thumb.jpg.94c1050b94623e054dca95bf7ecf4f82.jpg

 

Other than that most of it looks pretty good, just going to chuck a load of images up :)

 

Top/engine bay side of both chassis legs, no buckling to be seen and the seam sealer is still intact:

20180304_121559.thumb.jpg.f8a42d865d9d9ce623bfb36714ce98b1.jpg20180304_121623.thumb.jpg.de7e0bbd39b1e5a2718aba265f7073b7.jpg20180304_121628.thumb.jpg.050a1f720e8f701492d4b0adba18e30c.jpg

 

Lower rad support is straight and true although the perspective of my phone camera makes it look a bit weird, i'll measure to make sure though when I get a chance:

20180304_121653.thumb.jpg.8796cac2275e6df794d7456ce387ee90.jpg

 

Inside of the arches looks okay:

20180304_121756.thumb.jpg.dd706d1d734f6fa5c99004a2507eb50c.jpg20180304_121806.thumb.jpg.0313aae137c753b1d4f64b98ff1d7c29.jpg

20180304_122626.thumb.jpg.bbed40d82c12fea8391eeb0713663b77.jpg20180304_122557.thumb.jpg.b84fde2e7611d5d2159f0cff65ccb378.jpg

 

And the wishbones themselves don't appear to be bent, although the yare a funny old shape from factory.
20180304_122328.thumb.jpg.3823d8ca2e7620c630143ace90f20c00.jpg20180304_122358.thumb.jpg.78f87d7b70ddeb687345a8a1b40bd441.jpg

 


Sorry for all the boring stuff this time :) Just want to make sure everything is okay before I go ahead spending cash and bolting on new parts to a shagged chassis.

Next week im going to take a few measurements to hopefully confirm this and then head down to Toyota to start ordering a few parts, first will be a new airbag set I think. I've seen a few from Breakers on ebay for roughly £800-1k and i'm hoping the dealership price will be similar but we'll soon find out.

Does anyone know if new wings/bumpers can come painted from toyota? otherwise i'm going to be on the lookout for any red 86's being broken for parts!

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
40 minutes ago, Falix said:

This was a bargain!!!

I'm a little gutted you're just repairing rather than going mental engine, but should be a good read!

Shhhh spoiler alert!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just a small update, bought some goodies for the 86 despite the fact its still in 1000 pieces :lol:

Set of Clear/black/red Valenti lights from Ft86speedfactory in the states, these were my favourite over the smoked or red lensed offerings we get here and they were actually ever so slightly cheaper even after delivery and import costs

Going to get the rear lights installed this weekend but the 3rd light might take a little bit more work to get it to function as a fog light.

20180307_182025.thumb.jpg.61b4fa43d3b089793352d724625989f9.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 minutes ago, Samwise said:

Just a small update, bought some goodies for the 86 despite the fact its still in 1000 pieces :lol:

Set of Clear/black/red Valenti lights from Ft86speedfactory in the states, these were my favourite over the smoked or red lensed offerings we get here and they were actually ever so slightly cheaper even after delivery and import costs

Going to get the rear lights installed this weekend but the 3rd light might take a little bit more work to get it to function as a fog light.

20180307_182025.thumb.jpg.61b4fa43d3b089793352d724625989f9.jpg

These look really nice. How much were the lights shipped to the UK after taxes? Are they european spec lights?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 minutes ago, sazabiskythe said:

These look really nice. How much were the lights shipped to the UK after taxes? Are they european spec lights?

 

19 minutes ago, sazabiskythe said:

These look really nice. How much were the lights shipped to the UK after taxes? Are they european spec lights?

If they are from the US they will need some changing the fog light is sometimes a 3rd brake light as I'm not sure if they run rear fog lights in the US

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, sazabiskythe said:

These look really nice. How much were the lights shipped to the UK after taxes? Are they european spec lights?

About £500 all in after delivery & taxes which I think is similar to what you'd pay from the likes of Amber performance, etc but i'm happy to be proven wrong.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×