Koichi Yamashita's Run Free TruenoA simple aero kit manufacturer's car which is one of the most influential AE86's around the world. it's Koichi Yamashita, a former D1 legend, owns the ever popular Run Free specialist AE86 shop; suppliers of the finest in Japanese AE86 bodykits. Run Free kits are sought after by ‘86 tuners the world over who are looking for the best there is to offer but why? Out of all the Japanese AE86 bodykit manufacturers. In its inception in early 2000's, the car was widely considered to be the ‘perfect AE86' Although it's not the world's most powerful Trueno, Koichi's AE86 is finely honed and crafted in such a way nothing is left untouched.
As you can imagine it was laden with his own Run Free branded bodykit parts and some of the widest Work Meister wheels you'll ever see on an AE86. But its not only cosmetics that Yoichi had made-over, under the carbon hood lies a AE92 4A-GE that's rocking Mahle pistons, H-Beam rods, 304/288 degree camshafts and Group-A spec valves. Couple with that a TRD intake manifold, K-works exmani, a RunFree stainless exhaust, twin-row radiator and an Earls oil cooler. Pretty standard affair when you compare it with the others on this list, but therein lies the key. It was the definition of ‘clean street car' for everyone at the time and as such firmly implanted itself as the benchmark for anyone building a street driven AE86. To this day it still is.
Gabriel Tyler's F20C Corolla GT-SThis was the car that brought the F20C engine transplant to the masses. Techno Toy Tuning (T3) have be providing parts for Corolla's and 4A-GEs the world over for number of years and every decent tuning company needs a demo or hero car.
Almost everyone has used or seen a T3 part on their Corolla or AE86 for the last 10 years and it's thanks to T3 owner Gabriel Tyler that we see these cheap and readily available parts nearly everywhere. Like most of us, Gabe has grown up to love the classic simplicity of the humble AE86. It's through his love for the AE86 he created this Honda hybrid monster!
Enter the simple white Trueno. Gabe had the not so simple idea of Taking Honda's best engineered NA engine and putting it in a much lighter and balanced chassis and so the F20C conversion was born and delivered to the world.
T3 fitted the engine and 6 speed gearbox to the pristine white body, which in itself is no mean feat as the Honda engine intake and exhaust are on the opposite side to the factory fitted 4A-GE. Along with T3's full suspension catalogue fitted to the car and various other parts this Trueno has competed in drift and circuit racing and even been driven on the Willow Springs Touge by Keiichi Tsuchiya himself.
The Trueno is fitted with a fat set of Work Equip 03's, over fenders, roll cage and stripped interior so it's natural this car oozes so much presence and style. The car has sat dormant for a while now, only coming out occasionally to the track mainly used as a demo car at the T3 factory, it may be some time before we see something as innovative and awe inspiring again from Gabe.
All this popularity has spawned a number of copies. In the US this is a very popular conversion due to the power of the F20C and the fact the steering, pedals and master cylinders being located on the opposite side of the engine bay compared to the rest of the world, making the whole swap a lot easier. This combined with an extremely light weight body it makes for one helluva ride.
Recently, a workshop by the name of JSP fabrications completed the F20C conversion with a GT30 turbo for added good measure. The car is set up for drift, but as yet has not shown the world what it's capable of, yet another envelope pusher in the crazy world of AE86 tuning.
Keiichi Tsuchiya's Trueno GT-VThe most beautiful AE86 in the list. Lovingly restored a number of years ago in the early 90's as over time it had surrendered to the usual AE86 headaches such as rust, chassis damage, and usual wear and tear.
Tsuchiya had his car rebuilt at Garage Motore in Kawagoe City, Saitama starting with removing all rust and giving it a full respray of Toyota Super White II in the now popular ‘Keiichi' style; white topped bumpers with white sideskirts.
Whilst the car was in pieces the body was seam welded and had a number of braces fitted such as front fender brace that sit under the front guards and smaller metal panels to prevent water sitting on certain parts of the metalwork. All the guards were hand flared to fit the 15 x 7-inch SSR Dori2 mesh wheels. The fitment of a zenki lip to the standard kouki bumper in such a way has come to be known as ‘the Keiichi' method. The interior is also all brand new and a new set of TRD reclinable buckets was fitted.
This car's suspension was set up using Tsuchiya's intimate knowledge of AE86s while using Tsuchiya's own brand of coil over's, the then Kei Office brand. Now branded DG5, the coilovers were coupled with a vast number of Cusco suspension components to build an entirely customised AE86 suspension package.
The engine is a ‘Blacktop' AE111 20 valve. Originally it was only a standard engine using a set of cams and custom extractors with management via an E&E Freedom ECU. However, as part of the total rebuild of this car, Sakurai-san built Tsuchiya a brand new engine from the ground up consisting of hi-comp pistons, larger cams, and a secret Sakurai-Spec cylinder head. Again the E&E Freedom ECU was used and all the mechanical work was completed with the assistance of Yasunobu Ishihara at Motore. The new engine apparently makes about 180hp, but this is a fairly conservative estimate when you consider the amount of work that has gone into this engine.
Previously using a TRD 5 gear (1st-5th) gear set and 5.3 differential ratio, they were swapped out for a TRD 3 gear (1st-3rd) gear set and 4.7 differential ratio. Doing this swap at first seemed to make the car slower, but it actually made it a more drivable car in all situations as Tsuchiya adapted to the new mechanical set up.
This car is said to be the scourge of the Gunsai touge but is not unbeatable. Tsuchiya's Trueno has appeared in many circuit and touge battles for Best Motoring and Hot Version, Taking on all comers. Most notably, Tsuchiya has twice Taken on a R34 skyline GT-R and won both times; Once on the touge and once on the circuit.
Pitted against all sorts of varied machinery on the track including many other AE86's from varying workshops, this Trueno and its driver have both triumphed and bowed out gracefully. When it was beaten on the touge by a JWRC Swift and a B18C equipped EG Civic (SEEKER Honda), it was the distinct lack of power that turned out to be the Trueno's only weakness.
Tsuchiya's philosophy of balance over outright power has many times embarrassed more powerful cars with its cornering balance, nimbleness and neutral handling ability. It may not be the fastest car in a straight line but add a few corners to the mix and watch out!
80's Group-A LevinsIn the late 80's to the early 90's, Mount Panorama reverberated with banshee howl of twin cams and 16 valves! Having Taken on Japan and won while famously driven by up-and-coming race driver Keiichi Tsuchiya, the venerable AE86 branched out to take on the Group-A world. These few cars are famous in Australia not only for dominating their class for 3 years, but also for being in the Guinness book of world records; The car racked up 28 wins from 28 starts and nearly 80 podium finishes putting it as the most successful race car in history!
Just to rub salt into the wounds, it held the under 2 litre class record for every track in every state. How many other manufacturers can boast that?!
The fleet of racers used Bilstein suspension, TRD close ratio gearboxes and heavily worked ‘Bigport' 4A engines. It was said they made around 160hp at the rear wheels, but that can neither be confirmed nor denied even until this day as Toyota Japan and Europe kept the vehicle details very close to their chests.
As lot of specs of the car are closely guarded and as the car was initially built in Japan then shipped, it's hard to track down exact information pertaining to the Toyota works cars, as the engineers have passed away or it has been lost over time. A number of the European race cars still exist and are still being raced today. Granted they are using more high tech items instead of the crude ECU's available at the time.
The Australian winning car is now located in Bathurst at the Motor Sport Museum on Mount Panorama along with many other Bathurst race cars. The car itself looks like it finished the final race and was washed, polished and taken straight to the museum and there it has sat since. One lucky owner in Ireland still has an untested and unraced privateer car that he is restoring back to its former privateer glory including original livery!
Tetsuya Hibino's 4A-Powered Levin CoupeLike many of the drivers in the D1GP he is the owner of his own tuning shop called SunRise and as such works on his car himself. Hibino is quite a popular driver as he is one of best drivers of the Toyota AE86 chassis in the D1GP today.
He began competing in the D1 Grand Prix in the sixth round in 2002, though he did not get any recognition until round 3 of 2004 when seemingly out of nowhere, he defeated many well know names such as 2004 season winner Ryuji Miki, Kazama, Imamura and even smoke master Ken Nomura. He is also known for his now infamous Ebisu Jumping Drift, which he first showed at Ebisu Circuit in 2004, where he drift to such a limit the car becomes airborne mid corner jumping the ripple strip.
When Hibino first started out he had no idea about how to drift. In fact, when he bought his first AE86 he didn't even know it didn't come with an LSD! But through his friends and people he hung out with he quickly learned what the strong and weak points of the AE86 chassis are. It was through this knowledge that he transformed his AE86 into the car we see now. Hibino's does all car set up himself by relaying any information and changes that need to be done on the track to his mechanics.
Like Ueo, Hibino had always driven the AE86 since he began drifting and with the combination of its light weight and his aggressive driving style made him a formidable opponent. His Levin coupe is instantly recognisable in its creamy brown colour with its uniquely modified front guards. Although Hibino is yet to win a round yet he has come a close second on a few occasions, proving he has got what it takes to be number one someday.
Which one is your favorite? Or do you think that none of these cars should be on this list?
@ last i'd like to thank http://www.speedhunters.com/
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