Author Archives: Garth Ivers

AJPS Traction Brackets

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Being AE86 owners ourselves, we see a lot of AE86 parts day to day; most of them manufactured in other countries like Japan and America. So it’s refreshing to see a product that is Australian made and also particularly quirky product at that. Again Dave from AJPS has got his hands dirty and come up with a solution to all you out there running T18/Celica/Borg Warner drum-brake diffs. There are lots of products to suit the T-series AE86 disc brake diff’s but not many for our other scavenger-esque modifiers.

The traction brackets fix pinion angle issues in lowered cars and adds traction/anti squat to the rear wheels. They also return the rear end suspension to factory geometry for factory traction values. They’re Australian made quality and guaranteed to fit!

One buyer has said:

“I was running wide on the high speed corners at Mallala, but now the car has so much more grip.”

Check out the technical specs and the special ‘ HR Blog’ price after the jump!

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Lightweight RS Watanabe 8-Spoke

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Alexi, fresh from his trip to Nostalgic2Days, has some breaking news:

Falcon had their full range of Watanabes on display but were quite keen to show me their new magnesium wheel, which weighs only 4.6kg in 14×7. It was kind of weird to pick it up, as your brain keeps telling you that it should weigh more than it does.

Cheers to Noriyaro for the Headsup.


Phat Stance Part II

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It really is all about offset. Love  it.


Wallpaper…. Tuesday?

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What’s this? It’s two new wallpapers up in the Downloads section courtesy of Alexi at noriyaro, that’s what!


Custom Garage SPEED N2 Levin

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One of the many cars at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009, but one of the very few AE86’s, the Custom Garage SPEED N2 Levin certainly looked the piece amongst the millions of yen worth of vehicles on display.

Sitting pretty in its mint bodywork and wearing some of the widest and most dished wheels i’ve ever seen this N2 monster will no doubt be a centrepiece of the 2009 N2 race this August @ Okayama. We can’t wait!

Hit the jump for a few extra pics!

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Guest Blog on Speedhunters

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HR Blog has been featured on Speedhunters as a part of their ‘Toyota Month’ in February.

Rod asked me to make a top ten list of the best and most influential AE86’s. I’m no expert on everything Hachi so I decided to ask some of my friends from Australia who run the Hachiroku blog if they could help me out, they happily obliged. So here you have it, the top ten most influential AE86’s through the eyes of Adam Hocker and Garth Ivers.

Have a read and let us all know what you think in their comments! Much love to Jeroen (aka Kultivate) for this opportunity!


It’s Still Rough Out There

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Even though we’ve seen it before, we can always look again! America’s AE86 man Antonio Alvendia is at it again, this time expressing his fanboy lust for the Rough World drift Trueno. Who can blame him? Rough World style is just so f*cking cool! This time he gets intimate with the finer details of the tough circuit beast.

As a drift team, Rough World is like a band of renegade samurai charging through the mountains with “I don’t give a F” attitudes, attacking the local touge roads late at night, stirring fear in the hearts of other drifters that might cross the Rough path; doing battle door to door, with no quarter asked and none given.

So get over there now and check it out.


There’s Something About Luxembourg

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When it comes to hachirokus, nothing gives me more happiness than a nicely sorted street-spec AE86. Sure mental AE86 driftcars and balls-out circuit racers are DAMN cool, but its a part of me that really respects a clean daily driven 86.

This orange bandit belongs to HR forum member Yves. A resident of Luxembourg like previous feature car owner Pentti, Yves says his 1985 GT Levin is nothing special right now and he aspires to bring it to the level of Miguel Newera’s 86, what he deems as ultimate hachiroku perfection!

Let me just say, you’ve not got far to go my friend.

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86 Trackday @ Mondello Park, Ireland

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The Ireland AE86 Owners Club organised a track day at their local circuit Mondello Park last weekend with an eclectic mix of makes and models showing up, not just the hachirokus! Several ProDrift drivers were in attendance as was Darren McNamara of MCNSPORT fame in his newly rebuilt Trueno hatch. Speaking to Darren last week, he mentioned the sheer brilliance of the N2 spec 4A-GE it is currently powered by, so expect a feature on it very soon!

Hit the jump for more info and lots of photos from Irish legend lenseman (say that three times fast…) Paddy McGrath.

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AE86 Levin GT-V: Long Distance Gunner

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Our mates across the Tasman have certainly been busy! NZ has always been a haven for hardcore modified AE86’s but Dan Udy’s Corolla Levin, apparently built for endurance racing, takes the cake! Packing an SR-20 powerplant, this 1985 GT-V not only houses quite a substantial engine swap but it’s presented in flawless show car quality!

With around 450hp flowing down via the rear wheels, and less than 1000kg of mass to push around, this Levin should have no problems being competitive. Truth be told, it actually stands a good chance of winning.

The purists might have a problem with the Nissan engine, but this Levin is just so clean and well executed you just gotta love it.

Read the full article and check out the expansive gallery @ NZ Performance Car Blog.