SoCal RHD

[MrTea]

Forgot that everything is gone, so didn't find my old thread anywhere....so here's a quick recap and some before/after (found the archive)

i've had it for a month now (Aug '10), and have picked up a lot from this site, so thanks to all.
anyhow, here's the start. Mother in law asks my wife if i can help sell a car that's been sitting in her drive, so we go over to look at it. pull the cover and see it's an 86, then find out it's an original RHD....so i just towed it home and kept it!

here's the day it rolled in.


some work has been done to it, but in need of some obvious TLC as well. Suspension seems to be the only mod on it other than speakers. Car did not run and don't have keys, so it made it even more fun.

Coil got me some spark, cool, but still didn't start. no fuel pump it sounded like, also found a kink in the hardline of the bracket, so replaced both of those. now it started and fuel shot all over, #1 injector cracked and rubber seat gone. new injectors fixed that and now she's running.

here it sits now...


pulled AC and power steering (just bypassed the rack until i get a manual) since this car will be on track a fair amount. interior is all pulled, though i still need to clean out all the deadener. drove it around the block and rear suspension seems a bit off. looking for some new rear springs now to ensure cut springs aren't the issue.

goodies on the way for this week. T3 rear links setup and single row crank pulley. ITB adapter and BT ITB's (project I scrapped, but sitting on parts still). Prothane bushing kit and NRG hub and quick release.

still looking for a steering wheel, but other than tires i should be able to at least get the car on track and feel it out from there. Never driven a solid axle on track, so should be interesting.

looks like it's going to be roughly $500 to register the car, so that will be down the line as well, just trailer for now.

...bunch of parts and a bit of work

[Spoold86]

Good call on painting those rims, looks sweet

[MrTea]

I actually cleaned up the older wheels and sold them, the bottom picture is just some XXR 527's I picked up. I haven't even done a lap around the block with this setup in the last year though.

[MrTea]

Finally finishing a needed garage remodel and starting on the car again. Installed a floor lift, so hoping it will help with some of the work, first thing was to bring the 86 inside after 1/2 year under a cover out back!


Hoping I figured out the ignition gremlin in the dizzy, won't know until i get part it, but staying possitive. Here's a shot as we were finishing the garage and my son got to go in for the first time, had the Miata on the lift for testing before i anchored it. still some organizing and paint as well as installing a new doorway, but nice to have a place to work on the cars again. Was at the track this weekend and got me aching to get the 86 working.

[grappletech]

Nice garage, that is a pretty awesome setup

[RuizXIII]

So your mother-in-law just had a RHD Levin sitting in her driveway randomly? Pretty cool.

Real nice garage set-up

[MrTea]

well, her son bought it a couple years prior intending to do something with it, but never did. gave him the option of coming to pick it up and after a year, it was time to go i guess. There was some prior history of it here on the old boards, guess it rolled or something while one of the previous owners was driving it.

Not having much luck with the dizzy yet, but after that alignment is the next big thing before driving it.

[nick619nc]

my old car! i sold it to someone a few years ago and wondered what happened he seemed to have big plans, car was never rolled just run into a guard rail on the passanger side haha. roof damage is from shipping they had another car stacked on top of it! nice find its a sold car and one of the first imported and registered 86s

[MrTea]

that story about the roof make a lot more sense as they are such clean and even dents on the roof. I'm trying to source a dizzy and manual rack from yahoo japan auctions, so hopefully will get it going again in the next month. Hoping to buy some tools to do alignment at the house as well, that's the next big project to get it moving well on it's own power.

Thanks for the update Nick, whoever you sold it too didn't have a chance i guess. It definitely wasn't driven in a long while before i got it, though it hasn't been driven much since i had it either, so that's not saying much. Not going to even try to register it until it closer to running though.

[MrTea]

So rather than spend more time & money on finding gremlins on a setup i plan to swap out anyhow, I've decided to just prepare for the swap rather then the constant frustration. So in the next month I'll be pulling everything out so I can at least start to clean up the bay and work on small productive projects at least. John at JSP has given me an idea on what items will need to be tweaked/custom due to the RHD setup, but nothing seems too crazy.

Anyone have any pointers on pulling everything cleanly? Though i have wiring gremlins with the dizzy, i'm sure i want to keep the harness as in tact as possible if anyone wants a MAP setup, or is it really not a bit issue to just cut it out to make my life easier?

Though i really wished i could have driven the car with the 16v to get used to the car, i'm sure i'll be fine with the F20 in there as well. Been a long project with lacking results, but hoping at least this way i'll feel like i'm making some sort of progress on the car.

[scels12]

That's my friends old car from chino hills ha
So does it run or not?

[MrTea]

nope, it has run, but i think somewhere in the wiring for the dizzy there was a short and just couldn't get a good signal. tried replacing the dizzy (got two from japan) as well as the ignitor and just didn't have the patience to trace down the wire short. The harness is very brittle, so the couple times I tried to adjust sections/wires i had breaks....didn't want to deal with a bunch of those around the fuel rail and through the firewall.

Started pulling it apart today while the kid was napping. hopefully will have the motor/trans out soon, then will just work on cleanup for a while, bodywork and such while saving up for the swap. It's just going to be a track tow for the most part, so not too worried about timing as long as i feel like progress is being made. Still need to buy the coilovers and sways, but other than that it's just cleanup and strip down to get ready for swap and cage.