Toyota Is Making New AE86 Engine Parts to Keep the Best Corolla Alive
About five years ago, Toyota announced the GR Heritage Parts program to reproduce components for some of its most beloved enthusiast cars, like the third- and fourth-gen Supras, vintage Land Cruisers, and even the rare 2000GT. The initiative even extended to the brand’s more accessible sports cars, like the AE86 Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno, though at first it covered only certain chassis parts for a limited time. This week, Toyota announced that it would be adding reproduction engine parts to the mix, for the AE86 pair’s coveted 1.6-liter, 16-valve 4A-GE four-cylinder.
In this case, AE86 owners who need new cylinder head and block sub-asssemblies are in luck. Toyota says that it’s not only reproducing these parts with modern materials and precision, but that it has also taken into account feedback from the community. For example, engineers gave the intake and exhaust ports in the new block sub-assembly thicker walls—a change that the company attributes to requests received during events.
Current manufacturing methods will improve these components in plenty of ways, Toyota says. For example, the combustion chambers in the cylinder head sub-assembly have “additional machining” that should equalize performance across individual engines that exhibit slightly different compression ratios. A coating process for the intake ports will reduce surface irregularities that could adversely impact performance. And, more cam cap knock pins have been incorporated for “improved assembly workability.”
As for the block, its bores can be machined today to a degree of precision that wasn’t possible 40 years ago. A combination of more rigid cast iron plus a redesign of the crank-cap structure, aided by simulation, should make the part more durable as well. Bosses and ribs have also been incorporated into the design, enabling the engine to be mounted transversely for front-wheel-drive cars beyond the RWD AE86 twins.
If you happen to be in Japan and at Fuji Speedway this weekend, Toyota will be selling these parts there for the first time during its Initial D 30th Anniversary event. If not, well, acquiring them might be a little more complicated—and that’s aside from international shipping issues at present. Toyota says that with these new AE86 components, it’s currently selling more than 200 parts across eight classic models.
