Cris' Levin SR

[Cristobolon]

About 4 months ago i found a 1985 Levin SR-5 in decent condition (after a long search). The previous owner had swapped the 4A-C engine for a newer 4A-FE, overall it is an improvement over the original engine. It's got a lot of details that i've been fixing, so here are some pics of the process.

The day i got it:





A few days later (with new wheels!) :







The last few months I've been restoring the car aesthetically:

- Windows tint removed
- Paint
- Upholstery
- New driver and passenger windows (the old ones were badly scratched)
- Inside details (radio, steering wheel, clock bezel)
- Got the rear lights refurbished

The previous owner put some smaller sidelights from another Corolla (as you can see in the previous pics), so we had to make room again for the original ones, a friend lend me his so we could measure the space. The original sidelights are en route from eBay.









A few days ago got the dashboard re done, and the back speaker panel was done from scratch. Also almost all the interior parts that were dark blue are now black (you can't see that very well in the pics tho).





Today installed the inside weatherstrips for the doors and the bezels for the door handles, also got a strut bar:




I've got a few more details coming from eBay, will post pics when i receive them. Greets!

[CloudStrife]

Nice man! I like the gold and blue. The dash came out perfect!

Is it hard to find these cars in South America?

This guy is super cool and smart.. I think he's around you as well?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbjjlE ... uX_u-SkvdQ

[Cristobolon]

Nice man! I like the gold and blue. The dash came out perfect!
Is it hard to find these cars in South America?
This guy is super cool and smart.. I think he's around you as well?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbjjlE ... uX_u-SkvdQ

Yeah, AE86s didn't get, officially, to South America. Here in Bolivia people imported Japanese used ones and then transformed them to left side, others, like mine, were imported new in the 80s (from Europe or the US), left side from the factory. Nowadays is very difficult to find one in good condition, or with the side transformation done politely.

That guy has some good videos! Followed one of them to change the cluster light bulbs. Recommended.

[jinx]

saw this on another forum way back. Unusual rwd rolla swap. This car looks to be in good hands

so the 4AF bolts up to the 4AC flywheel, clutch & 5sp ?
Using the 4AF starter under the intake manifold ?
Throttle body relocated to other end of intake plenum

I suppose that big firewall cutout is to clear the 4AF distributor and coolant housing junction ?

I believe some? US 4AF actually has an oem tooth wheel with sensor at the crank (mine did)
If one did not want to cut the firewall, possibly can use a crank sensor & pickup
Then plumb/modify the coolant union from around the back
I'm thinking, with megasquirt + header/turbo/downpipe = a quick little street rolla
.....powered by a relatively lightweight, small, ez to work on, reliable, common powerplant
Boosted with a rwd automatic transmission would be even stranger. FWD versions rip

[Cristobolon]

saw this on another forum way back. Unusual rwd rolla swap. This car looks to be in good hands

so the 4AF bolts up to the 4AC flywheel, clutch & 5sp ?
Using the 4AF starter under the intake manifold ?
Throttle body relocated to other end of intake plenum

I suppose that big firewall cutout is to clear the 4AF distributor and coolant housing junction ?

I believe some? US 4AF actually has an oem tooth wheel with sensor at the crank (mine did)
If one did not want to cut the firewall, possibly can use a crank sensor & pickup
Then plumb/modify the coolant union from around the back
I'm thinking, with megasquirt + header/turbo/downpipe = a quick little street rolla
.....powered by a relatively lightweight, small, ez to work on, reliable, common powerplant
Boosted with a rwd automatic transmission would be even stranger. FWD versions rip

Yes, the firewall cutout was for the distributor, and yes, it is bolted to the same stock T50 transmission. It's a Japanese 4A-FE, I believe it comes with a little more power than the other country variants. It still needs some cables and tubes relocating to tidy up a bit the engine bay, for example the ECU was just wrapped in a plastic bag hanging in the engine bay, yesterday I bolted it to a secure place in the engine bay, and got rid of the bag hehe.
Weird thing: the ECU says 5A-FE (!?).

[jinx]

wierd... I used the 5AFE ecu/harness/sensors on my u.s. 4AFE as well. No issues.
I used an $11 4AFE head gasket on my imported 5AFE years back. Worked fine
4AFE(1.6L) and the 5AFE(1.5L) externally, look identical to me. Later 5AFE have a different looking intake tho

[CloudStrife]

Curious... What is to the left of the intake manifold in-between the left strut tower mount? Looks like cement?

[jinx]

maybe?

for example the ECU was just wrapped in a plastic bag hanging in the engine bay

[Cristobolon]

Curious... What is to the left of the intake manifold in-between the left strut tower mount? Looks like cement?

That was the ECU wrapped in a dirty plastic bag!

[Cristobolon]

maybe?

for example the ECU was just wrapped in a plastic bag hanging in the engine bay

Yes! Now the ECU is secured:

[Jayrdee]

A factory left-hand-drive Levin ... now that is cool!

[CloudStrife]

A factory left-hand-drive Levin ... now that is cool!

Yeah, there are actually LHD models for pretty much every chassis, even R32s.

But there are like 5 haha.

[Cristobolon]

Finally! After 3 months of waiting, got the original sidelights (used of course) directly from Malaysia to Bolivia.
Also replaced the dome light, installed a short shifter and had the entire front suspension serviced, all the rubbers were dead, the car couldn't even be aligned!

[Gino1X1]

Vaya vaya, hay que ver que si esta en buenos manos este ochoseis. Congrats for the find and congrats on this well executed rectification. Now, IF you by any chance could get hold of a 7AFE engine..... that would be the best. Same amount of ponies as the early "bluetop" 4AGE and decidedly more and somewhat flat (for a small 4cyl) torque curve relatively low in the RPM band. Top streetability!!!

A factory left-hand-drive Levin ... now that is cool!

Only the US and some middle eastern countries got the Trueno (pop up headlights) AE86s. The rest of the world got the Levins. Know your hachi-roku history my young padawan.

[Jayrdee]

Only the US and some middle eastern countries got the Trueno (pop up headlights) AE86s. The rest of the world got the Levins. Know your hachi-roku history my young padawan.

I knew they existed, but never actually seen one. Factory LHD Levins were Euro-spec only.

You forgot Japan, btw Lol (unless you're only referring to the LHD factor)

[Cristobolon]

Vaya vaya, hay que ver que si esta en buenos manos este ochoseis. Congrats for the find and congrats on this well executed rectification. Now, IF you by any chance could get hold of a 7AFE engine..... that would be the best. Same amount of ponies as the early "bluetop" 4AGE and decidedly more and somewhat flat (for a small 4cyl) torque curve relatively low in the RPM band. Top streetability!!!

Hey nice info! I'll keep it in mind for a future upgrade.

[Gino1X1]

Only the US and some middle eastern countries got the Trueno (pop up headlights) AE86s. The rest of the world got the Levins. Know your hachi-roku history my young padawan.

I knew they existed, but never actually seen one. Factory LHD Levins were Euro-spec only.

You forgot Japan, btw Lol (unless you're only referring to the LHD factor)

Yep, only LHD. Toyota Japan in those days had the Vista Store or Boutique where you could buy the Trueno nosed models and the Corolla Store for the Levin nosed models. Weird but interesting . By the front grill of Mr Cris's AE86 it looks to be like the early (Zenki?) model, a 1984 model. I could be wrong but yeah.....

[Jayrdee]

Yep, only LHD. Toyota Japan in those days had the Vista Store or Boutique where you could buy the Trueno nosed models and the Corolla Store for the Levin nosed models. Weird but interesting . By the front grill of Mr Cris's AE86 it looks to be like the early (Zenki?) model, a 1984 model. I could be wrong but yeah.....

I always think about it being like if the BRZ was sold by Lexus instead of Subaru. Same exact car as the FRS/86, just different versions to suit different markets.

[Cristobolon]

By the front grill of Mr Cris's AE86 it looks to be like the early (Zenki?) model, a 1984 model. I could be wrong but yeah.....

Yes! It's a Zenki model, built in January 1985 in the Tahara plant.

[Cristobolon]

Some updates! Mostly aesthetic ones, got some parts from eBay:

The original sunvisors, you can see below the ones that came with the car:





Sunroof weatherstrip, every time it rained the car ended up soaked in the inside because of this:





The ignition cilinder and the trunk lock, the old ones worked with anything, even a knife or screwdriver hehehe, also the fuel cap:








As i had to disassemble the entire roof, i figured i would reupholster the roof lining, also painted black the B pillars and the horizontal pillar:






I also had some lowering springs stored for some time, yesterday got the time to install them. To my surprise, the front ones were almost the same height and very stiff, and the back ones were cut springs adapted from some other car! The car ended up almost the same height, but the ride now is smoother.

Front

Back



Last but not least, new wheels. I think i never got around the old ones, so looking in the limited market here, got something i think looks much better. (they are metal, in the pics they look white):





So, that's it for now!

[Jayrdee]

Awesome job dude. The little details make all the difference!

[s3cf]

very nice car

[Cristobolon]

Hi everyone, a little update with some things i've managed to come by:

- Steering wheel
- Gear knob
- GTS center console (also fixed the e-brake color)
- Lights and wiper knobs
- Windshield side weatherstrips (didn't have them)

More updates soon, cheers!