KIDNEY, ANYONE? SCCA AE86, a Corolla with racing pedigree

By now, JNC readers are probably pretty familiar with the AE86’s roots as the weapon of choice during the underground touge battles of the 1980s. It’s no surprise, however, that the Hachiroku was also a formidable machine on the track. While the famed BTCC Corolla GT’s trail “runs cold” after its in the UK victories (last we heard, it ended up in Hong Kong), here is another AE86 with racing pedigree that you can buy, in the US, and at a bargain price. 

Anyone who was into AE86s back in the day will remember this car. It was a star of the TRD USA catalog in the early 1990s. It raced competitively and won its class at the first IT Fest race in Heartland Park, Kansas. It was owned and raced by several important figures in American racing — including Doug Reed former SCCA President and current FIA Senate President Nick Craw, former SCCA Pro Racing Division President Bob Anderson, and SCCA Marketing Manager Doug Reed.

The current owner, Dave Spinnett, was an IT planning specialist at Toyota’s Kentucky plant and has owned it for 20 years. Spinnett, knowing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when it came up, says that he and his wife drove 18 hours to Denver on New Year’s Eve in 1991 to buy this car, damaged from a crash during racing, for $5,500.

He rebuilt it and raced it, but a subsequent wreck required some major surgery. Spinnett says he “replaced the main tub in 1993 with a straight chassis and swapped over all the race parts and much of the sheet metal, instantly dropping my average lap times two seconds and keeping me in the lead pack for more than 15 years at Midwest SCCA events.”

The car comes with a proper SCCA log book to prove its provenance. The laundry list of modifications to transform an AE86 into a true race car is listed below, but suffice it to say, it’s a lot more extensive than simply coilovers and an exhaust. It has almost every period TRD part in the catalog, many of which have been discontinued for ages and are nearly impossible to find. If that doesn’t get you eager to liquidate some assets, the price of this pedigreed race car is an astounding $11,000. When you see bone stock SR5s asking $4,000, the car is simply a smoking deal.

Full list of mods, according to the ad (saved here for posterity).

  • Fully disassembled and re-furbed chassis some years back including roll cage updates and a repaint with Catalyzed PPG Urethane
  • Almost all new Toyota fasteners throughout (done in the latest refresh)
  • Custom strut bar with welded mounts (removable aluminum bar)
  • Custom battery hold down
  • Fuel Safe Fuel cell with chassis sheet metal trimmed and reinforced where the cell mounts
  • Supra fuel pump in spare tire well
  • New Sparco EVO2 seat with custom mounts
  • Gutted doors. Includes factory door glass that mounts with one bolt for
  • transport/security (can easily take out at the track)
  • EGT and o2 gauges
  • SCCA legal cage with double cage bars on both sides with foot well braces
  • TRD steering wheel
  • TRD shift knob
  • Fire system
  • New Sparco Evo 2 seat with hard mounts
  • Manual Steering Rack
  • Custom Delrin Steering rack bushings
  • Custom graphics and License plate 🙂

Suspension

  • Larger front sway bar. TRD and Poly front mounts
  • Adjustable rear bar with custom Delrin mounts and rod ends
  • TRD rear springs
  • TRD adjustable rear race shocks
  • TRD control arm bushings
  • TRD Panhard rod with (giant!) rod ends
  • Long wheel studs “Safety studs”
  • Short front struts
  • Tokico Illumina adjustable front shocks (BZ3099, same as MR2 rear fitment)
  • Front Coilovers,
  • Eibach front springs
  • Custom camber plates
  • Fresh control arms and ball joints
  • Negative roll blocks
  • TRD strut rod bushings
  • Two sets of wheels, Revolution and Panasport Ultralights – Panasports have
  • only had two sets of tires on them since new with mounted Hoosiers
  • Brakes
  • New brake master with new spare
  • Removed backing plates
  • Stainless brake lines
  • Tilton Proportioning valve
  • Spare rotors
  • Replaced hardlines

Engine has been flawless throughout my ownership, with the latest build as follows:

  • 7 rib block
  • .040 over
  • Total Seal rings
  • Match ported
  • Balanced
  • NEVO hard anodized under drive crank pulley
  • Cams timed
  • TRD plug wires
  • Jacobs Coil
  • TVIS and non-TVIS intake “spacers”
  • SCCA fuel sample port
  • New O2 sensor
  • Custom Phenolic intake spacer
  • Custom insulated “cold air intake”
  • R/C Engineering blueprinted injectors
  • TRD header, partial spare TRD header, and handmade 4-1 coated header
  • Stainless steel exhaust and muffler with passenger side exit
  • ECU with 8000+ RPM limit
  • Custom 4 puck solid disc ceramic clutch
  • New Toyota factory radiator water/water wetter for coolant
  • Factory air to air oil cooler with stainless lines
  • TRD motor mounts
  • Modified MAF (reduced spring tension)
  • Only synthetics lubricants used throughout

Driveline

  • TRD Close Ratio Transmission (over $6,000 new)
  • TRD Short Shifter
  • Spare stock transmission (apart)
  • Two fully set up TRD 3rd members – 4.56 and 5.13
  • TRD HD Axles with spare set

Spares

  • Brake discs
  • Brake Master cyl
  • Wiring harness
  • Headers and parts
  • TRD 3rd member LSD (4.56 installed, TRD 5.13 LSD 3rd member included)
  • ECUs
  • MAFs
  • Taillights
  • Front bearing seals
  • Modified stock front pulleys (removed A/C pulley)
  • Motor mounts
  • TRD Rear Axles
  • Spare Hawk blue pads (I think)
  • Washer bottle
  • Various other spares
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15 Responses to KIDNEY, ANYONE? SCCA AE86, a Corolla with racing pedigree

  1. Cesariojpn says:

    Guarans this will find itself sliding into a wall and crushing half of the components.

  2. VincenzoL says:

    Not surprised there is no mention of the Japanese market Zenki bumpers. I find it funny how many older owners of classic Japanese steel don’t pick up on those exterior details. He’s owned the car for decades and probably never noticed. Smoking deal though and whoever the new owner is the should return it to its original livery.

  3. Jayrdee says:

    This is a crazy stupid deal.

    The license plate shows this dude is the real deal.

  4. Spinnetti says:

    Thanks for the kind words… I still have it actually. About time to to put on some fresh tires and race it again. Oh, and I know every bolt, having replaced them all with new parts when I built it up from the body in white. There’s a few more secrets in the car from the TRD catalog just one of which is worth most of the asking price; and i know the bumpers too having sourced the new OEM parts from Japan. For reference, I was one of the first to put a 20v Levin motor in a mki mr2 in the us, and maybe the only MR2 roadster – not to mention my 67’ LHD S800 🙂

    • VincenzoL says:

      Very impressive car(s) and restoration! Cool info on the bumpers too. I’ve always felt they are a great mod not only for aesthetics but weight savings as well. It’s nice to know the all powerful SCCA approved them (as they should have since they are OEM after all). I truly hope it finds the right home!

  5. Gary says:

    Some of us know what happened to the BTCC cars in their ‘life after Britain’

  6. Jason Musgrave says:

    Where is this listed at?

  7. Joseph Stanislaw says:

    Hello Dave, this is Camaro Joe in Mt.Morris, Mi. Do you still this car ??? Joe (810)836-2338

  8. Dan says:

    I’m the current owner. I have brought back the original livery – http://ost.ebeans.ch/albums/userpics/10005/4TR_6893.JPG

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