AE91 Race Car

[PHLEX]

I have recently purchased an AE91 hatch with a 5A-FHE manual. Has just had a brand new clutch installed and the cambelt done and runs mint for the 300,000k its on!

Few questions, I am building it up to do club events such as Auto x (both sealed and grass) and sprints plus anything else fun that comes up!

Firstly, is there anything cheap I can do to the engine to get it to breathe better or give it a slightly better output? I will eventually build a 4A-GTE or drop a black top 20v into it but for now I want to use the engine in it and not spend too much.

Secondly, I did port road street sprints in the weekend and was finding it was understeering alot and the back end was bouncing around alot, I am running factory shocks with dobi super low springs and have been told to put some less worn shocks into it to stiffen it up, before I spend nearly $1000 on new shocks, what are people's recommendations on brand or are there some other shocks I can use to stiffen it up a bit more? Also does anybody have any advice on things I can do to get it to handle a bit nicer?

Also, Are FX-GT Front brakes any different to the FX-ZS ones? I see they both take DB308 Pads but not sure on the rotor size etc.. I will be installing FXGT Rears in place of the drums.

Thanks in advance for everyones help!

Nathan

[Leon]

King springs + Kyb shocks + whiteline adjustable rear sway bar will give you fairly neutral handing in an AE91/02. That's the set up that has been in my AE92 for the last seven years. A decent wheel alignment will assist too once you've got that suspension set up.

Then spend some money on good tyres.

Won't be awesome for Manfeild or Taupo, but will is a reasonable compromise to do a bit of autocrossing, motorkhanas, street sprints, and have fun at the track (but will be too soft for awesome fast track times).

[CAMB01]

AE92 GTZ brakes are a good upgrade.
Caliper pistons are bigger, rotors a bigger, and they use the same pads as a normal corolla.

Have them on my girlfriends corolla at the moment which is the same as your car. 5AFHE powered.

[Bazda]

I have a complete set of ae92 GTZ calipers and discs which have been freshly skimmed. Come with normal road pads as well.

[pc]

Changing brakes technically requires a cert... also if you put bigger front brakes on you will affect the front/rear bias. My car does fine on standard FXGT brakes, and I wouldn't recommend changing from standard ahead of many other modifications.

KYBs should cost around $500 for a set of 4. If your shocks are stuffed, replace them first then see how it goes.

If changing the brakes to FXGT ones (front and rear) make sure you also use the FXGT bias valve - located on the firewall.

...and everything that Leon said.

[PHLEX]

Cheers for everyones advice so far!

Will try and make it up to pick a part this weekend to see if I can score a full set of FXGT brakes and bias, does anyone know if there is any difference in the sway bars for these models?

Also anybody got any engine advice for me? I had a look under it and its running a 2" exhaust with 1 central resinator and what looks like a super turbo style muffler (altho sounds like its stuffed)

[Leon]

Also anybody got any engine advice for me?

Drive it until it blows up, throw it away, add a 4AGE.

Or, if you've got lots of money, add boost, then blow the engine up.

Keep oil level spot on Bloody oil eating Toyotas!

[PHLEX]

Also anybody got any engine advice for me?

Drive it until it blows up, throw it away, add a 4AGE.

Or, if you've got lots of money, add boost, then blow the engine up.

Keep oil level spot on Bloody oil eating Toyotas!

Cheers Leon! Sounds like good advice just to drive it till it blows up, might get the HKS rear muffler I brought as a spare for my skyline welded on there to try and shut it up a bit and just drive it till something goes bang!

[Leon]

Yup, it's just not worth attempting to get power out of it on a budget.

Ultimately, the cheapest way to get a faster car is just buy a faster car

However you'll find that your car is a ton more fun with suspension in it even on your stock engine, not so much at places like Manfeild, but at Slipway you'll have a ball.