A Small Step Forward

Wow. It's been a while.

Finally got some motivation and managed to unpack the partially stripped 4AGE engine block, get it bolted up to a stand and started stripping it down further.

I had left it with the oil pump housing and rear main seal still bolted up with the crank and pistons installed. A few hours of cleaning and wrenching and the block is bare bones. Stock pistons are sitting in a box; likely having seen the insides of their last engine.

Now is the time to find a machine shop to dip and mic the block. And then start following a decision tree.

Mic the block -

Path 1: If the cylinders measure in spec (and they're in beautiful shape, no reason to think they won't) then logic would suggest that the block could be built back up with stock diameter pistons.

Path 2: If the cylinders measure out of spec, overbore 0.5 and build up with oversized pistons.

But then there is Path 3: The cylinders measure in spec but still overbore and oversize the pistons. But now we're playing compression games and head gasket thicknesses and on and on and on.

So what logic to follow? Build for stock and upgrade later or upgrade now and be ready for later?

Luckily, I don't think either is the wrong answer.

Rear Ashtray

Black Car was missing the arm rest and the rear passenger ash tray from the center console.


I tracked down the ash tray but am still looking for the arm rest.

USDM Headlight Bezels & Buckets

So, Black Car came with a JDM Levin front end. For some reason, it also came with it's USDM grille but not with the headlight buckets or bezels. The grille resided on the car-hole wall along with a grille for a dual round headlight setup.


I found a set of USDM headlight bezels and buckets for sale, so I picked them up:


No real purpose for them at this time except that I now have the option of the JDM Levin front, USDM Corolla front, as well as the dual round headlight setup I picked up for Brown Car but never used.

Door Open Light

So, the Black Car came with a gaping hole in the dash were the Door Open light was supposed to be. One of the Previous Owners figured it would be best to just cover Gaping Hole with a piece of black gaffer tape. While this is fine for a 10-foot car, my intentions are to make Black Car a bit better than that.

Unfortunately, it seems that this particular piece is broken or absolutely garbage on each and every car on this planet so finding a decent one is quite a trick. Everyone seems to be looking for one, so it really is a first come, first bought part. My number finally came up and I scored this bit:



Not in the best shape by any stretch of the imagination, but it beats what was there:


Next time the dash is off, this puppy is going in! And if anyone reading this happens to have a light in better shape they want to get rid of, please drop me a line...

Leather Shifter Boot

The shift boot on Black Car isn't stock. That sort of bothered me for a while...

I had the stock shift boot on Brown Car; in fact I found the center console stashed away in a box and I still have the brown pleather shift boot from Brown Car in all it's beat up glory. So all this considered, it really bothered me that Black Car had what appears to be the stock rubber shift boot from an AE86.

Thing is it fit like trash. I think one of the Previous Owners just cut off the pleather boot around the shifter opening and then shoved in the AE86 boot. It doesn't fit right, part of it is popping out while other parts are gap-ing.



I was pleasantly surprised to find someone from across the pond (merry ol' England) selling real leather shift boots for the T50 Tranny. What I wasn't prepared for was how nice it would be! The leather is real soft and finish is top notch. The panels and stitching are spot-on to the stock unit. The wire clip mounting fits and it is all-in-all a remarkable upgrade.


The only downside, and it is ever so slight, is that the leather is thicker than the pleather so it is a bit tight getting the plastic clips to grab the mounting wire. But that is such a little nit to pick it really isn't worth mentioning.


Detail wise, it has the right texture, correct stitching, and correct shape/size so other than being the incorrect material it is a near perfect replacement.

Decals for Gas Door and Hatch Pop Levers

Picked up a set of repro decals for the trunk release and gas door release levers. After 25+ years, these all seem to be worn out. The lever decals on Black Car are all but entirely worn out at this point. It's impossible to tell what the picture are so these will be a neat little touch.

Still Not Much Going On

Even though we're moved into a house now, I still haven't been spending much time with the Black Car. Between long hours at work and wicked hot temperatures in the carhole, I just haven't been feeling up to it.

The Black Car got to go out for a quick spin today. Still don't have insurance, inspection, or registration so it was just a once around the block and back into the carhole. I did manage to snap a few pictures of it in it's new environment.


I've been collecting a few parts here and there. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that the first thing I got for the car was the JAF badge you see on the grille in the picture above. But it was relatively cheap on eBay and it does fit the general vintage of the car.