Watch This LSX Swapped AE86 Barely Hold it Together on the Dyno

The Driftworks AE86 spins it tires on the dyno as it desperately looks for traction.
www.thedrive.com

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Let’s say you happen to have a non-running Toyota AE86 and an old ASCAR, but you want to build a super cool drift car so you decide to sacrifice one to save the other. I hope you weren’t aiming at originality, because the dudes at Driftworks did it already—and it looks fun.

A lot of work and headache went into making this car become the apple of Driftwork’s eye, so to speak. From swapping in the LS3 and the 4-speed Jerico transmission into a strengthened chassis, to fitting massive CCW 18×10.5 et -15 wheels wrapped in 265/35/18 rubber in the rear; nothing came easy. But it achieved its goal – the car certainly went sideways. It easily became a fan favorite during events and even ended up catching the eye of D1 Grand Prix driver Daigo Saito:

He spent a lot of time crawling over it and taking pictures of all the fabrication we’d done. To hear the words ‘This is the coolest 86 we have ever seen!’

Driftworks

The car has  undergone a lot of change, pretty much every season was more work than most enthusiasts care to put in their build over years of sweat and blood. The old LS3 setup only lasted so long before it was pulled to make room for a heavier, more powerful 7.4 liter LSX crate engine. Even the legendary Jerico was pulled at the end of the season to fit a Quaife sequential 6-speed gearbox.

While in Poland, the boys smacked up the rear end of the car enough to convert it to a tube-chassis. Of course, while the car was under, it got yet another motor – swapping the steel 454 LSX with an aluminum block. Followed by another wreck not soon after, and another motor pull because of a failed valvetrain.

The product is the car in the video below, making a massive 676 horsepower while spinning on the dyno:

BONUS: You can (and really should) read the very impressive build thread here. Driftworks has really put in a ton of work on this car and has made one of the most extensive threads I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading through. Hats off, gentlemen.