Past Projects
In the fall of 2001 Ryan and I started assembling and modifying cars together. All started in different forms, some from scratch, others from near full build requiring only tweaking and tuning. Nevertheless, all of these cars have been ours… we have a tendency to go through a lot: lots that never even made mention here, and some that I spent hours writing and thinking about. It is some form of A.D.D…. really. In the first few years after we teamed up, neither of us managed to make it through a single season with one car. They came and went. Mostly it was because we liked to dream, but it was also partly because there was always someone willing to buy. Cash just looks so good.
Note: These charts are for fun. Don’t confuse them for us being hard core and bad ass. Check it out.
I browsed through some of my many AE86 magazines last night... (we're back at -20 and snow) Not because I was really interested in looking at AE86's, but because I was thinking about how to make more power for the AW11.
Ideas for more power... are pretty much the same as always... carbs, 20v, GZE... I don't want a turbo in this car. The only power up I've ever done on an AE86 was simple bolt on stuff. Definitely my favorite thing about the 4AG is aesthetics... it sounds awesome, and it can look so nice and clean and vintage. [...]
Work gets busy... and the weather is warming up (for the moment). I want to punch the AW out and get it on the road... but I think my standards slow me down. I was surprised to find that the seat rails I made for my AE86 actually fit the AW11... except... in the AW11 they sit about 2" too wide for the seat. If I modify them slightly however... they will work, and put me in a really nice seating position. Or they could... except there is a weird rail that sticks up about 40mm out of the floor and runs right down the middle of where I want to put my seat. If I just sit on top of the rail, I don't have room for a helmet...
Why can't Toyota just make cars with flat floors?
I took a cutting wheel to that odd stamped rail today, and was surprised to find what looks like a 2kg lead weight stuffed loose inside it. Huh? Seriously... I'll post pictures next time.
Randy is gonna hook me up with some coilover sleeves, perches and 250lb/in springs for the front of the AW. That's nice. Problem is they come with flat top hats, which won't work. I'll have to try and find some conical ones somewhere. Ryan gave me the all his OEM mounting hardware for the factory sideskirts. I've drilled holes for those. Sideskirts seem kinda silly on a car that I intend on thrashing in gravel... that in mind I probably shouldn't be putting them on. They're even fiberglass and not urethane... bad news. But... they just looks so good, and do a lot to give a shapeless car a little bit more flavour. Plus side is... they'll save my kick panels from rock chips. I have three sets of skirts now... to sacrifice to this cause. Other useless stuff will be a front lip which I'll grab from a junk yard car (I won't say which I have in mind yet) and fit to the existing bodywork [...]
CNAC 2003 was our first taste of real driving competition. Up to that point, I had been doing local auto-x for three years, and Ryan maybe six. I say real competition, because, the local events were always really friendly. Sure, we all wanted to win, but we were all nice and friendly about it. That changed with a national championship on the line. Not that everyone threw such things out the window...
Darryl Jones, and Chris Chu were two fellow CSP drivers who we figured would be our biggest challenges. Darryl was from Red Deer, and we'd seen him from time to time in past years at local events in his FB RX7. Chris brought his ITB equipped NA6 Miata from Vancouver where he was the dominant fendered car. A number of other [...]