The twisted tale of a sprinter gone mad.

After the demise of the red AE86, I decided another sprinter was needed. This time was going to be different though, with the car being built so as to be almost exclusively for track work, with road work taking a backseat. I have never really raced a car on a proper circuit, so I figure its about time I started. The new 86 was sourced in the local paper, and the car was purchased for AUS$750. After it was driven home, I started to do my research and at the same time began work on the car. The original engine was removed and the engine bay washed to remove as much grease and oil build-up as possible, so I had a relatively clean environment to create in. The CA18DET is a fairly easy swap into the 86 shell, requiring a shifter hole move and some mounts to be made so the engine can sit on the factory cross-member. The engine sits in and looks pretty neat when fully installed, so it doesn't raise too many eyebrows at the engineers or Department of Transport where it has to be registered. I spent a lot of time reading articles and spare parts catalogues trying to decide what I could get to fit, and how. This can be a very time consuming task, and the car has missed a few deadlines already as I keep changing the specifications and designs as I see things that may suit the car with little mods and expense.

The nickname of Frankensprinter came about through the fact that I have used so many different bits of other cars in this project. Quite a few parts from different manufacturers bits have made their way into the build-up it really is becoming a monster with no real bearing on the original design.

The conversion has been pretty much straightforward this time, with all the major surgery having been already done in the previous shell. This time its a matter of rectifying the mistakes and patches for solutions I never got around to solving last time. Basically I've been tidying up and altering things such as the wiring and hoses so it looks more professional. I'm also much happier with the new intercooler from the Evo5 Lancer as it allows much better routing of the pipe-work, and shorter runner lengths.

The cooling this time is going to be handled by a Calsonic radiator meant to fit a VN Commodore V6 and a pair of 12" Davies Craig thermo fans. Last time I ran a Celica radiator which seemed to work really well except when it came to going up Mt Nebo the temperature climbed too high for my liking. It only had one factory Celica thermo fan on it at that stage as well so I'm reasonably confident that this time it will remain stable in temperature with the two Davies Craig 12" thermo fans working on it.

Engine mounts remain unchanged for the moment although I would like to change the drivers side one at a later stage to something more suitable. I have also come across some adjustable camber tops from an AE101 Corolla. These set me back the princely sum of just $100 from my importers and other then the outside diameter and bolt pattern are fine for the Sprinter. A short spin in a lathe has machined the outer diameter down to fit in the Sprinter tower and after redrilling the bolt pattern to suit the tower pattern they will look right at home, and for far less then a new set would have cost.

Brakes and front suspension has now been upgraded to Nissan S13 struts and hubs with rotors and callipers from an SR20 powered S13 which gives me 280mm vented rotors, a large improvement over the standard 234mm solid brakes Toyota fitted this car with. Shocks and springs are also S13 and are aftermarket giving adjustable height. Custom tie-rod ends and ball-joint adapters are pretty much what I had to make to get it all to fit. The rear should also be receiving the attentions of S13 coil-overs but I am less confident about them fitting adequately there.

The above came with many thanks to Jon - john@toytaturbo.com .. we exchange many a parts while we both owned CA18's!