I've been hanging on to this for a couple of months now. It's funny that I had to go to Australia to see one of the best AE86 builds I have come across, a car that is simply on another level to anything I have so far seen in Japan. I give you Beau Yates' drift-spec AE86. Rod and I quickly shot this Levin hatch after the end of the World Time Attach Challenge back in May, in an empty pit garage at Eastern Creek Raceway. Beau, along with his friends, kindly stayed after the event to allow us to drool over his creation. 

Before we began taking some shots, the front bumper was quickly fitted and locked in position with some zipties.

For those reading this from Australia you are probably all clued up on the history of this car, but for those that have never seen it you will be surprised at what lies beneath the full D-max wide body. Beau built the car a few years ago with backing from TRD and Hypertune to participate in the Drift Australia series. Basing the car around the super-clean chassis of his daily driver, Beau wanted to create something faster and more powerful than his old turbocharged 4A-GE powered hachiroku. This was to help him tackle the faster drift courses that, like in Japan, are becoming so popular in Australia. TRD supplied the BEAMS 3S-GE and the R154 gearbox…

…ready for the build. The engine was stripped and fitted with Toda low-compression pistons ready to take the force feeding from the GCG supplied turbo. Westend Performance took care of the engine fitting the TRD main and big end bearings as well as the metal head gasket and TRD valve springs. The stock cams remained to give more response. The GCG 30/76R turbine was fitted with a Tial V-band 0.63 rear housing and mounted on the custom manifold which was joined with not one, but two Tial 44 mm external wastegates. These help keep the boost at 14 psi allowing the motor to develop 260 rwhp.

Beau wanted the engine to sit as low and as far back as possible for better balance and the lowest possible center of gravity. So a Fraser dry sump pan was fitted, allowing the engine to sit 70 mm lower in the engine bay thanks to the custom-fabricated mounts. A Moroso 3-stage oil pump takes care of the oil circulation with the main oil tank being fitted out back in the trunk area along with the oil cooler.

The GCG turbo is low mounted and fed by a custom intake pipe and K&N filter.

The reason two wastegates ended up being used is that the small exhaust housing and high flow of the head created very high pressure in the manifold, so much that one wastegate just wasn't able to vent.

The Hypertune throttle body feeds the beautiful intake plenum of the same brand.  Sard injectors are lined up along the Hypertune fuel rail. Again from Hypertune is the E11v2 ECU, which controls all the engine parameters helping make the most out of this custom set-up. The R154 gearbox is mated to a Xtreme drift clutch and the Tomei IS220 2-way LSD is fitted in an F-series Tarago housing.

The old TRD livery is now gone leaving the white body to shine through. Fluorescent yellow 8Jx16" Rota Grid wheels, running Toyo R1R tires 205/45R16 all round, give a true drift look. Suspension is custom made and based around Bilstein dampers and King springs.  Brakes are stock AE86 items but at the rear are joined by additional R32 Skyline non-turbo calipers for the hydraulic handbrake.

You can see in the interior just how much work went into the chassis prep and roll-cage fabrication. The carbon main instrument binnacle is joined by…

…custom carbon door cards and window winders.

The Haltech MXL digital dash replaces the stock instruments. The rest of the dashboard is trimmed in non-reflective suede.

The Velo Milano buckets. Check out the complexity of the roll-cage behind the seats.

Under that neat and tidy cover is where the main tank for the dry-sump system is located. For weight balance and because of the oil tank location, the oil cooler was positioned flat in the trunk with an extractor fan helping it stay efficient. The center flap gives access to the racing fuel tank.

It was an absolute pleasure to shoot such a special car and to chat to Beau, one of the most down to earth pro-drivers I've come across. We at Speedhunters.com wish him the best of luck for the future!

-Dino Dalle Carbonare